After Action [COMPLETED]

[WS] "FORMAL REVIEW:「ゴールデンカムイ」"

Note: instead of a still from this particular animé, I have decided to post a link to the first opening song.

Written 19 November 2019

'Golden Kamuy': the Japanese equivalent of a Raymond Khoury novel, in animé form

Have you watched a show so criminally underrated, you wish that more people know of it―only to say to yourself later, "a few appreciative admirers is better than a toxic fandom"? With 'Generation Kill', a famous seven-part HBO miniseries, and the latest entry to the Internet "mercenary's" (formal) animé review―ＧＯＲＲＲＲＲＵＤＥＮ　ＫＡＭＵＩ~！ (dramatic ending flourish)―I did actually experience that hypothetical scenario. And this (formal) animé review is long overdue.

'Golden Kamuy' is the animated adapatation of the mānga series bearing the same title, set in Hokkaido at the beginning of the 20th century. (As far as I know, only this, plus Arakawa Hiromu's 'Gin no Saji', are both mānga series set in Hokkaido.) It is a story featuring the "Immortal" Sugimoto Saichi, a young veteran of the bloody Russo-Japanese war―panning for gold on one of the most isolated places in Japan at the time―stumbling upon a secret, initially dismissed as a dubious story, involving a metric fuckton of gold―and "the will of a single man" that led to the murder of seven Ainu elders who knew of both its existence and location. (Other details include the legend of tattooed prisoners, locked up in one of Japan's most brutal prison systems, and the reworked legend of Japanese folklore: the "Noppera-bo".) After a deadly encounter with the infamous 3D CGI bear, which has since become an icon exclusive to the animé, Sugimoto has teamed up with Asirpa, a young Ainu girl who . . . also holds a secret of her own.

I have stumbled upon this animé last year, when I was scrolling through all earlier posts by [Siscon The Unconquered]. And, after a quick search on Wikileaks―I mean, Wikipedia (ARRRGH!)―I decided to give it a shot, because animé shows like this are a rarity these days, especially that most viewers are inclined to watch rom-com shows that offer little innovation to the romance genre as a whole―with the exception of 'Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai', for one; rom-com animé shows that use the tried and tested―more like tired and beaten to the point of death―clichés one can find in the nearest Filipino telenovela, for just a dime-a-dozen. (Looks with disdain at 'Nise-fucking-koi', and 'Go-toubun-no-fucking-Hanayome', which I can only write with the addition of an expletive infixation―pardon my French.) As the story progressed, with each passing episode of the first two seasons, and―oh, boy―the aforementioned secret I've written earlier is just a small drop in the vast ocean of a grand conspiracy, stemming from the Edo period, and tainted with blood, both old and new. One of the participants in this conspiracy is actually a ghost from the twilight years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, among others.

'Golden Kamuy' holds true to the message it conveys―which, coincidentally, matches with Frederick Forsyth's moral views found in his novels: "The world is made up of predators and prey, and only the strong survive". However, 'Golden Kamuy' is also known for its blatant homo-eroticism, unbridled violence, and light-hearted comedy that serves as a stark contrast to the more serious, mature themes; the 3D CGI model of what was supposed to be a brown bear, plus the equally-infamous 3D CGI model of a supposedly-extinct Ezo Wolf, and the lesser-known but equally cheap 3D CGI model of a locust swarm; and the harsh, desolate landscape that is Hokkaido. It also exposes the plight of Hokkaido's first settlers, the Ainu―and how their relegation as "second-class" citizens―and their subsequent assimilation as "Japanese"―have slowly killed their culture, tradition and ancestry as a whole. Nonetheless, this Internet "mercenary" has enjoyed the whole "experience"―warts and all. The story, while being purely fiction, draws heavily from real-life events of that time period; it does remind me of the experience I have reading a novel from Raymond Khoury―which is fiction drawing from real-life, historical events. One might think of 'Golden Kamuy' as a hidden chapter in Japan's turbulent, bloody history as an island nation. And since the producers have announced that a third season is on the works, I can barely contain my excitement on watching 'Golden Kamuy' once again.

Final rating: 10/10