Bears, wolves, and killer whales, oh my! The deadly predators in this series just get bigger and scarier!
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Satoru Noda
Translation: Eiji Yasuda
What They Say
A tale of high adventure and survival!
In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi Sugimoto searches the wilderness of Hokkaido for a hoard of hidden gold. With only a cryptic map and a native Ainu girl to help him, Saichi must also deal with every murderous cutthroat, bandit and rogue who knows about the treasure!
Sugimoto and Asirpa’s hunt for the tattooed treasure map has led them to a fishing village on the coast, where a deranged serial killer lies in wait. Lieutenant Tsurumi and his renegade soldiers are also hot on their trail, and if he catches up to them it’s guaranteed that there will be hell to pay. Toshizo Hijikata also closes in, while an old friend shows up with a secret about Asirpa that no one wants to believe—but it just might take them closer to the gold than ever before…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The trio of gold seekers get a new lead on another tattooed criminal. Shiraishi knows of one criminal that is a killer through and through, and leaves his calling card on the dead bodies. Shiraishi can also identify the man, so they have traveled to a fishing village that is likely the hiding place of this killer. Of course, this is Golden Kamuy, so in no time Shiraishi, Asirpa, and Sugimoto find themselves aboard an Ainu whaling boat chasing down their next meal!
Their time in the fishing village becomes a bizarre game of cat and mouse with more than one cat in the mix. The killer recognizes Shiraishi first, and decides that he wants to battle the Immortal Sugimoto to see who is a better killer. This leaves Sugimoto at a big disadvantage since he doesn’t realize the fisherman he’s paling around with the killer he’s hunting. Then the soldiers of the 7th Division suddenly show up at the fishing camp, forcing both Sugimoto and the killer to take turns as the mice.
While all that is going down along the coast, rogue members of the 7th Division have tracked Tanigaki down to Asirpa’s Ainu village. These soldiers are going to betray the 7th Division, but for now they are trying to keep it a secret, and that means they must kill Tanigaki. This explodes into a hail of gunfire threatening the villagers before spilling into a game of sniper cat and mouse in the surrounding forests.
There can be no doubt there will be a pile of dead bodies by the time this volume is over. But who will be among the unlucky?
In Summary:
This manga series is awesome; plain and simple. Great art, amazing setting well researched and detailed for the readers, and massive number of characters that make it easy for the reader to become invested in their desires and struggles. The author masterfully balances the historical and natural information about the Ainu and Hokkaido with the adventures of the gold hunting soldiers. The characters drive the story while the natural history lessons balance the characters and give the story an amazing amount of depth. Then this volume goes and ends with a bombshell revelation about Asirpa’s father. Never a dull moment in Golden Kamuy.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 19, 2018
MSRP: $12.99
