What can you say, really? There’s no containing the madness that is Golden Kamuy. Last week I mused “one might reasonably conclude that with Sugimoto’s group having two more critical skins and fleeing the scene, we might see a step back in the manic pacing that’s started the season”. HA! But then I added, “with only so many episodes left to cram in more insanity, I can’t imagine Noda is going to let any of them pass by in anything like measured fashion. More likely it’s an uninterrupted sprint to the finish line”, thus redeeming myself.
Of course I also wrote “Expungement of prominent characters seems likely to be a common occurrence over this last stretch – some of these guys just aren’t going to make it to the end”. We didn’t lose three this time, but the one major player who checked out was a pretty big one, Boutarou. Of course everyone in GK acts like they’re the main character, but Boutarou pulled it off more convincingly than most. He was a full-fledged magnificent bastard and I’m sorry to see him go, even if he did go out in pretty epic fashion.
What we got of Boutarou’s backstory didn’t make seeing him off any easier. His dream of being a king with a family and a country who’d always remember him is up in smoke, but Shiraishi certainly will. That tidbit about Shiraishi being abandoned at a temple was interesting too – I don’t believe we’d heard that before. Of course, as we left him last week Boutarou was headed inside the beer factory to rescue- well, just Asirpa as it turns out. He did bring on his own demise, to be fair – he always had a scheme working, no matter the situation. He left Sugimoto and Kadokura to die, although – as he reminded Asirpa – he could easily have killed them.
Boutarou probably gets away with Asirpa, screwing Sugimoto and Hijikata in the process, if Koito and then Tsukishima don’t show up when they do. The ridiculous number of wounds start piling up, but the pirate king is still about to finish Koito off underwaterbeer when Tsukishima – against orders and Koito’s own wishes – lets Asirpa escape in order to save him. Wounded yet again, Boutarou kicks away beneath the surface and Asirpa crawls about looking for Tsugimoto. Eventually Nikaidou finds her and delivers her to Lt. Tsurumi, where she’s trussed up like a sack of barley and plans are made to retreat.
That was the sane part of the episode. But of all the lunacy that happens from here out, my favorite part was the way Kadokura-san survived. Everything about this guy is just beyond hilarious – including the seiyuu. He thinks he’s unlucky and he is in some ways, but his horrible luck always winds up being good luck in the end. It’s a great conceit for a great character, a real turn of genius by Noda-sensei. Once Kadokura is safely tucked away on a mattress with a blanket a a beer, we’re reminded that the two snipers are still here, obsessively trying to outsmart the other (I think we know how that one is eventually going to turn out).
Boutarou discovering a Sapporo Beer-mobile and the three of them (he, Sugimoto, and Shiraishi) using it to chase down the fleeing Tsurumigumi (disguised as firefighters) is another glorious absurdity. Hijikata soon joins them on horseback, and when the 7th splits up Hijikata winds up following the decoy while the beer buggy follows tank truck with Asirpa (and Tsurumi, Tsukishima, and Kikuta). Boutarou finally takes so many wounds that even he can’t keep going, the last of them taking bullets for Shiraishi. Before he goes, the pirate tells the escape artist his secret about the Ainu and the gold – though whether it will prove to be accurate or useful is yet to be determined.
And so Asirpa and Sugimoto are split apart again, after a whole season spent reuniting them. Sugimoto and Shiraishi will obviously not rest until they track her down – whether they stay allied with Hijikata is another question, though I believe he’ll still consider himself short of the necessary quote of information on the gold without Asirpa. Tsurumi has the upper hand for now, but so many enemies – including Sofia, who had to turn up sooner or later the way things were going. None of these people should be buying any green bananas, but with Noda in charge they’re going to suck every drop of madness out of whatever time they have left.
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