Summary
- Golden Kamuy exploded in popularity in Japan and features a diverse, older readership.
- The anime adaptation has brought attention to Ainu culture and history.
- Crunchyroll recently added 5 new OVA episodes while awaiting news on the fifth and final season premiere.
Golden Kamuy was a big recent hit of the Young Jump (YJ) magazine, the “Shonen Jump for adults” magazine, in the sense that they’re both published by Shueisha, are the biggest magazines in their segments and share somewhat similar marketing strategies (it’s the same magazine in which Oshi no Ko was serialized).
Young Jump might serialize gory and more “mature” content, but it’s not that all titles will be like that. Some can even be mistaken for shounen or even shoujo titles (it sometimes happens with Kaguya-sama: Love is War, another YJ manga).
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Anyway, Golden Kamuy has been a hit, and although we don’t have any news on the fifth and final season so far (it was announced in July 2023), Crunchyroll recently added 3 OVAs to its catalog. Except for the last one, each of them consists in 2 episodes, so there are 5 new episodes to watch. The OVAs are titled “The Bodyguard of Barato / Terror! The Mysterious Giant Bird”, “Love Made Me Escape From Prison / The Terrifying Battle of Deadly Poison! A Massive Snake Deep in the Hokkaido Wilderness!” and “Monster.”
These OVAs were released from 2018 to 2019. There is one more episode, “Shiton Animal Record”, that hasn’t reached the service so far. Alongside the new Golden Kamuy content, the service also added Kizumonogatari: Koyomi Vamp and The Concierge movies on the same day.
A Story Featuring the Ainu
It exploded in popularity in Japan
Golden Kamuy, penned by Satoru Noda, was serialized from 2014 to 2022, totaling 31 compiled volumes. The main character, Saichi Sugimoto, is a war veteran, having fought in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), which ended as a huge victory for Japan (and a big blow to the Russian czar), making way for the Japanese hegemony in Manchurian territory (although Manchuria was still officially considered to be Chinese territory, Japan secured special rights).
After the war, Sugimoto goes to Hokkaido, where he partners with Asirpa, an Ainu girl, to search for a hidden treasure. The plot is fictional, but Noda did study the real history of Hokkaido during that period (Meiji Era. 1868-1912) and ties this political background to the story. So the author tries to depict the Ainu people, an indigenous minority group from Northern Japan, in a real and honest way. For example, the story features the Abashiri Prison, a real brutal prison whose inmates were both criminals and political prisoners.
The anime adaptation helped to boost the series’ popularity in Japan, bringing a lot of sudden attention to Ainu culture, which is a good thing considering the oppression they have faced. So far, four seasons have been broadcast: seasons 1 and 2 aired in 2018, season 3 was broadcast in 2022 and season 4 debuted in 2022.
Studio Brain’s Base (To Your Eternity) was in charge of the latest season, replacing Geno Studio, that animated season 1-3. Shizutaka Sugahara also got in charge as director, replacing Hitoshi Nanba from previous seasons. The series has also spawned live-action movie adaptations.
The fifth and last
Golden Kamuy
season premiere remains to be announced. The series is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Source: ANN
Golden Kamuy
- Release Date
- April 9, 2018
- Studio
- Geno Studio, Brain’s Base
- Creator
- Satoru Noda