Golden Kamuy tells the epic story of Sugimoto, a Japanese soldier trying to support his best friend's family. While searching the rivers of Hokkaido for the gold of the Ainu (Hokkaido's native people), he hears that someone has already stolen it and tattooed a treasure map on a group of prisoners. Sugimoto begins his search for the prisoners and along the way meets Asirpa, a young Ainu girl whose father died collecting gold that Sugimoto is looking for.
Golden Kamuy's portrayal of Hokkaido's culture and history is sure to captivate you. Viewers learn about the stormy history of the island nation's struggle for independence. But the anime also has a lighter side, thanks to its oddly likable characters and the comic relief they bring to some of the series' heavier scenes. Surely everyone can appreciate an anime that has struck the right balance between education and comedy like Golden Kamuy.
Golden Kamuy takes place in the period after the
Russo-Japanese War, mostly in Hokkaido and the surrounding regions. Depicting the very real political, technological and cultural developments of Japan at the time, several key parts of the series are fictionalized versions of real-life people and events. A particular focus is given to the local Ainu people and their culture, such as exploring their language and how they respectfully use natural resources to thank the Kamuy they believe provide for them. The later parts of the story also explore the various subcultures within the Ainu and the hardships they suffered by being caught up in Japanese-Russian territorial conflicts. The plot also explores the difficult struggles of soldiers and war veterans, with moral ambiguity, survivor's guilt, honor, repentance, and virtue ethics being common themes.
The central MacGuffin comes from an in-universe story about an Ainu mining group who allegedly discovered 20 kan of gold. One miner kills the others and hides the gold, only to be captured by the Japanese authorities before he can share the location. Missing from the government and hidden in Abashiri prison, the Ainu miner is isolated, limping and tortured for location. To convey the location to the outside, the Ainu miner tattooed many pieces of an encrypted map on his fellow prisoners, offering them some of the gold to share with their comrades outside. The prison eventually recognized the code but was unable to read it and attempted to transport the tattooed men elsewhere; the tattooed prisoners overpowered and killed their captors as they scattered into the night.
Saichi Sugimoto, a veteran of the Battle of Hill 203, works as a digger in Hokkaido to support his dead comrade's widow. Sugimoto is approached by a drunken old man who tells him a dubious legend of a huge cache of gold; can only be found by connecting an encrypted map divided into strange Abashiri prison escapee tattoos. Sugimoto laughs off the tale, only to wake up the next day to find the old man pointing his gun at him, apologizing for saying too much. Overtaking the old man, Sugimoto chases him into the forest, finding him killed by a bear and with a large geometric tattoo on his chest, back and shoulders. Saved from the bear by a young Ainu girl named Asirpa, Sugimoto realizes the story is true and suggests they find the Ainu gold together. Asirpa is not interested in the gold, but wants revenge for his father, one of the Ainu miners, who was killed in the betrayal.
Examining the body, they realize that the tattoos have stitches, meaning that the prisoners were always meant to be killed and skinned. Due to her opposition to unnecessary killing, Asirpa suggests that they try to cooperate with the prisoners they find by simply tracing their tattoos. Soon recruiting Shiraishi, a fugitive artist and tattooed prisoner, Sugimoto's group finds themselves clashing and collaborating with other tattoo collecting parties: First Lieutenant Tsurumi, the mad leader of the 7th Division, and Hijikata Toshizo, who is touted as the last living samurai .
Topic: Story of Golden Kamuy (Read 479 times)
December 06, 2023, 01:04:50 AM