Common Name: Golden Kamuy
Score: 10/10, 5/5
Overall Score: 9/10, 5/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Overall Length: 24 Episodes, 1 OVA
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Military, History
Summary: The mad and dangerous race to find, kill, or enlist the aid of the remaining Abashiri inmates continues. Over the course of their journey Asirpa, Sugimoto, and Shiraishi have managed to collect a number of companions and tentative allies along the way. While they all are feuding, plotting, and working to serve their own interests, though, the 7th Division has not been idle. Slowly but steadily, the time is coming when the only option available to either side and faction is to do the impossible and capture the man who may very well be Asirpa's father--the mastermind of the tattoos that lead to stolen Ainu gold, Nopperabo.
Review: The first season of Golden Kamuy functionally existed as a strange but incredibly compelling kind of Japanese Western. Its story went to great lengths to blend absurdist comedy, thrilling action, and informative historical accounts of the Ainu people. Yet, in doing so, it always felt like it was working on its back foot. It had a lot to tell and a lot to offer in regards to all of its parts but it never really managed to bring them all together into a cohesive whole. While it was steeped in the comedy or historical aspects of the show, it always felt like the main story was falling by the wayside. Toward the middle, the main push of the show's actual story, the hunt for the prisoners and gold, came to feel like some vestigial growth that was only there to point to the original concept that evolved into a fantastic adventure/comedy series. Episode to episode, some progress always was made to further the plot little-by-litter but the fact of that progress always got drowned out by how silly the characters acted when given a moment's break. Even when things seemed like they weren't moving forward, progress was still getting made but it was hard to see past the show's fascination with Ainu culture and their respectful, loving relationship with the natural world around them. Even when the action reached a peak excitement, it was difficult to see the show's quirky and distressingly weird antagonists seriously as they went toe-to-toe with Sugimoto--a man who suffers and lives through everything to see his and Asirpa's dreams realized. Yet, in spite of all that muddling of themes and aspects, it was hard to not love the first season in all its bizarre glory. As of this season, though, there's no "in spite of" clause; this show has actually realized what it was setting out to do in the first place and has done so perfectly.
Don't get me wrong, it's still weird beyond belief, but its definitely gotten a lot better overall.
It is in the second season that all the various parts that make up Golden Kamuy are refined down from their singularly wonderful but incompatible parts into something truly spectacular. The historical anecdotes are fewer and far between in this season but are still present enough to engage those who fell in love with this look into Meiji-era Ainu culture. The comedy is, if anything, more insane than it ever was before but it also doesn't dominate the screen nearly as much as it used to, making way for this show's greatest improvement. While all the parts are still present and fantastic in their own right, they finally leave enough room for the story to take the dominant role it was meant to. So, while we are still treated to all the things we loved about the first season, this season kicks up the action, stakes, and drama of the whole hunt for the Ainu gold in such a way that it becomes something equally worth watching. Moreover, it speeds things up so much that it almost entirely makes up for how much the first season dragged on. There's not even any skippable episodes here and no themed, episodic nonsense to bog things down to the point that it all feels pointless.
Even the weird shit ultimately serves to endear us to new characters
and interpersonal dynamics that move and change with the plot.
In the place of those skippable, theme-of-the-day formula episodes, the second season of Golden Kamuy spends its time breaking up its plot into segments to follow the various pairs and factions that populate the show. As things progress forward, though, these factions eventually come together in interesting ways, making for some of the best character-focused political drama I've seen in a long time. Everyone in this show is seeking the gold or working together for their own reasons. Some of them, like Sugimoto and Asirpa's, haven't really changed all that much beyond the cementing the connection and camaraderie they share. Others, like Shiraishi and Hijikata, become infinitely more complex as they become mired in the politics of playing both sides and just trying to stay alive. This, in turn, offers some fantastic character development and revelations that only serve to make even the simplistic characters more defined. Some are still greater than others, obviously, but various shades of gray and even a few non-binary colors are added to the mix for many of them, making it easier to relate to the cast but also infinitely harder to tell who is "right" and who is "wrong." In particular, Sugimoto undergoes a great deal of personal conflict as he wrestles with his desire to return to his old life and the scars, both seen and unseen, that the war inflicted on him.
Rather than a zealously good person, Sugimoto slowly evolves into something more akin to an antihero
whose actions are detestable and personally damaging but are ultimately necessary.
So, as this drama is brought into Sugimoto's story along with everyone else's, character relationships and group dynamics slowly begin to change as well. Seen first in Shiraishi, as he starts to believe that Sugimoto might just murder him outright if his double-dealings with Hijikata's group are found out, he starts to act and make decisions that make his role in the group even more precarious. On the same token, group dynamics also shift as other characters start to put their self-serving plans into motion, spreading misinformation and inconvenient truths to further divide and complicate the relationships between characters. Specifically, there's a lot of back and forth between Inkramat and Kiroranke as they accuse each other of treachery over their separate but shared history with Asirpa's mysterious father. When all is said and done, it becomes impossible to tell who is on whose side and whether or not anyone can really be trusted. Yet, in spite of that, they all still understand that they cannot hope to succeed in getting to the gold on their own. So, ill-advised as their tentative alliance might be, they all still work to keep things relatively simple until the time finally comes for each to act on their own schemes.
All the while, Lieutenant Tsurumi and the 7th Division are working to further their shared ideal.
Political drama was definitely a big part of the first season, but the way it is implemented this time around is turned into a means of making antagonists and allies alike legitimate threats to the ultimate goal. That tension is then used to propel the story forward as things successes and failures alike push the cast closer and closer to the goal of finding the gold and the truth of Nopperabo's identity. So, as things play out, we're given more than just a great, weird story that speaks to being a kind of Japanese Western. We also get a story that is driven by fantastic characters with properly fleshed-out motivations and complications that make their journey all the more engaging. Yet, to make it all the better, it does this without losing any of the qualities that made the first season is so enjoyable. Rather, it spreads all those more niche interests out so that they meld into the fun of the story instead of eclipsing the story outright. So, at the end of the day, I have little to no reservation in calling this season perfect. At the very least, it's a massive improvement on the first series. Considering how good the first season was, though, I think that statement alone should say enough. It's still a weird and quirky show that might not be for everyone but I think these improvements might open it up to a wider, more action-focused audience.