English Dub Review: Golden Kamuy”Edogai-kun”

A corpse party.

Overview:

Tsurumi visits a young taxidermist.

Our Take:

Tsurumi goes and confronts the person we say in the graveyard last time and we see who he is: Edogai, a well mannered young man with a secret. Granted, he’s not normal- Edogai is definitely weird. He skins things and makes them into clothing items. He also has a very sheltered upbringing, acting polite but being willing to murder as well. At the same time, it really doesn’t feel like he’s so bad? Beyond his creepy hobbies, it really seems like he just wants to be accepted, and not in a ‘bad guy has a sad backstory’ type thing. It seems like he’s just a kid with weird hobbies that want some form of recognition. He hasn’t actually killed anyone, and despite his eccentricities, it seems like he’s pretty harmless all things considering. I’m not sure if I like Edogai since he is extremely out there. But at the same time, I don’t think he’s that bad. Him being on Tsurumi’s side definitely changes things.

I’ve said it before, but Tsurumi’s team on the gold hunt is the furthest behind. Unlike Hijikata’s team and Sugimoto’s team, Tsurumi is only in possession of one skin. He has more manpower, government contracts, and could potentially be a great threat. However, he’s pulled in the least results. In the hunt, he casts an imposing figure, but he hasn’t actually been able to grab more of the skins. Of course, this could possibly be because Sugimoto and Asirpa are the protagonists, but also, there is still a power imbalance thus far.

With Edogai on Tsurumi’s side, things change rapidly. Now Tsurumi has the ability, if Edogai completes them, to add fakes to the hunt. If that comes into play, then only Tsurumi’s faction will know what’s the true gold, and the rest can end up somewhere completely different.

Also, we see Tsurumi’s charisma at play. We know he’s extremely intelligent, as he was able to see through many ruses and hold his own, but we don’t know why his men have such a fierce loyalty to him. Now we can finally see some of that: he’s strange, but he knows how to communicate with people. He understands what people want and what appeals to them. This isn’t false either- he is genuinely invested in other people. There’s no surprise that people, especially outcasts, would be drawn to him.

It’s good for this series to be back. The production value is still mediocre, but it’s still such a fun ride.