Friday, April 29, 2022

Golden Kamuy

 Another Great manga that recently finished its serialization and who expects Manga series that had Ainu Culture as its main theme would be such a great ride! A Seinen adventure manga, Golden Kamuy story takes place in 20th Century Japan shortly after Russo Japanese War. A veteran from the war, the main character went to Hokkaido in search of fabled Ainu Gold relying to find a group of Tattoed prisoners as the lead to the fabled gold. In search of the gold, the main character is accompanied with an Ainu Girl for an epic adventure across Meiji era Hokkaido, encountering wide range of characters including some famous Shinsengumi hero and their journey will somehow lead to some big conspiracy which determine the Fate of Imperial Japan and Ainu people.

 As a manga, Golden Kamuy is one of the few that has complete package for its story. This series is more capable to make the readers laugh and cry at times. Props to the mangaka who is capable of making very colorful cast of character especially the Convicts who can exhibit some really interesting behaviors that leads to some great Dark Humor situation. Golden Kamuy's main strength is no doubt lies in its comprehensive depiction of Ainu Culture which is no simple feat for a weekly basis manga that tend to sacrifice quality for quick output, nevertheless by far this is the best manga when it comes to Ainu subject matter.

If i have to point out this series flaw, Golden Kamuy had rather rushed and abrupt end, hinting the possibility of the series getting axed considering plenty of the main characters died in quick succession in the last part of the series while even the secondary convicts took their time for their death. Personally i think the main antagonist Tsurumi is one of the best antagonist out there from recent works and could have delivered something more which won't happen due to unfortunate circumstances. But my main personal gripe would be the location of the Ainu Gold which is rather disappointing. Considering the manga spent most of the chapters narrating the attempts of the protagonists searching for overly elaborate Ainu Gold location hints, only to have the stash located at one of the most famous landmark in Hokkaido. In any case Golden Kamuy managed to wrap up its story properly and i will be looking forward to some Gaiden story related to the series.

No comments:

Post a Comment