The current anime season features many continuations and reboots of beloved series, with everything from Strike Witches to Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? to Is the Order a Rabbit? to Osomatsu-san getting new seasons, and even a rebooted Higurashi When they Cry series. But the show I was most anticipating and am really enjoying now is the third season of Golden Kamuy, an awesome adventure story about the search for stolen gold set in the Meiji Period. But since some J-List readers haven’t yet discovered this amazing gem, I have to ask, why aren’t you watching Golden Kamuy??
The Story of Golden Kamuy
As I’ve written before, Golden Kamuy is an anime based on the popular manga by Satoru Noda that follows a former Japanese soldier nicknamed the Immortal Sugimoto because of his heroic adventures in the 1905 Russo-Japan War. Sugimoto hears of a trove of Ainu gold which can only be located by reading a map that’s tattooed onto the backs of several convicts who have escaped from prison. With the help of a band of unruly men plus an Ainu girl named Asirpa, the men set out across Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido and beyond on a great adventure to find the gold before several competing groups can get to it.
Five Reasons Why You Should Be Watching Golden Kamuy!
The story is direct and the characters are amazing. From the stoic strength of Asirpa to the relentless nature of Sugimoto to the intensity of sniper Ogata, you won’t easily find characters like these in any other story. And while I love anime, I’ll gladly admit that the majority of stories we watch often don’t have the best writing or structure. Golden Kamuy is a happy exception.
You can learn history! What’s better than watching an entertaining anime and learning about the history between Japan and Russia from the late 19th century through the Meiji Period at the same time. You can also learn about Japan’s indigenous Ainu people who live in northern Honshu, Hokkaido, and the disputed islands the Soviet Union seized after Japan surrendered. The series is being overseen by experts to ensure the accuracy of the background details.
It’s a totally fresh concept. In a world where fans love to complain that anime is being dominated by isekai, idol, moe-blob, harem, and neverending shonen anime, Golden Kamuy is absolutely a breath of fresh air. Yet despite the intense goal all the characters are working — a trove of Ainu gold — there’s always time to take a break and enjoy some outrageous comedy.
You’ll be on the edge of your seat. As the story unfolds, especially sub-plots focusing on the most dramatic and interesting characters, you’ll experience stories so intense, you’ll be amazed. Catching up on the current episodes last night, my mouth was literally agape.
The animators are putting their all into it. Sometimes you really get a feel for how animators are really challenging themselves to do a great job. In Japanese this is called 気合を入れる kiai wo ireru, literally meaning “to vocalize a shout to show how fired up you are as you put your heart into your work,” and you can really tell that the staff at Geno Studio love the original work and are putting extra effort into the animation. One of the few bad moments in the first season was when the characters were threatened by a horribly-animated CGI bear, but when a similar bear attack happens in season 3, they made sure to animate the action scene well.
Thanks for reading this post on the awesome third season of Golden Kamuy! Got any topics or series you’d like us to write about? Hit us up below, or on Twitter!
Today, November 11, is Pocky Day, a day to celebrate Pocky, since 11/11 looks like four sticks of Pocky lined up. J-List is celebrating by announcing the return of chocolate to our site, with lots of fun Pocky, Meltykiss, Crunky, Japanese Kit Kat, and other popular chocolate products, which are removed from the site during the hot summer months. Browse our awesome Japanese chocolate products today, or pick up the new J-List Box snack box for November!
