English Dub Review: Golden Kamuy “To Karafuto”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The search for Asirpa starts off the third season as Sugimoto and the squad arrive at Karafuto. After convincing the others that the stowaway Chikapasi will be useful in gaining the trust of the Karafuto Ainus, the group heads into town to gather info on Asirpa’s whereabouts. They stop by a hurep wine store that Koito partakes in a sample of the wine. The lady tells them about an Ainu girl who came with a man. The group heads to the forest where the Ainu girl was spotted, unfortunately, when they reach her it turns out to be a Karafuto Ainu girl, Enonoka. Then she says that Asirpa stayed with her and her grandfather a few days earlier, but the group is attacked by a wolverine only to be saved by Karafuto Ainu’s grandfather and his sled dogs.

When they get to Karafuto’s houses they stay for a bit before while discussing Asirpa and eating hurep. Afterward, Koito requests a ride on the sled dogs and they go to a town and enters a Russian bar to question them on Kiroranke. Unfortunately, they get into a fight which results in the sled dogs getting stolen by the Russians. Then the group has to participate in a stenka to replace the guy that Sugimoto punched earlier in order to get the sled dogs back. The group participates in the stenka and wins against the Russians as a figure in the crowd comments on their win.

Our Take:

It’s a good episode to kick off the third season with a mixture of action, history, and plot progression. The search for the mountain of gold is placed on hold until they find Asirpa as she’s now an important key to the skin maps with her father now dead, shot by Ogata in the previous season.

It wouldn’t be a Golden Kamuy episode with some facts on Ainu culture and food. The herup wine and the cultural difference between the Hokkaido Ainu and the Karafuto Ainu because of geography was a nice informational tidbit. Personally, I enjoy how the anime gives us information on the background and history of the characters rather than just a slapstick adventure to find a huge amount of gold. Furthermore, the herup links Sugimoto to Asirpa even though they’re separated right now. Food has always been a connection for people to talk and enjoy with others after all.

Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting Sugimoto’s group now to be working so amicably since Koito and Hajime are a part of Tsurumi’s fanatical Seventh division. However, they managed to do with the brawl in the stenka. In addition, Hajime’s Russian really helped break the language barrier in this episode.  Speaking of the Russians, it was a great detail to add them to the mix by considering the effects of the Russo-Japanese War on the story’s world.

Overall the episode was a good one and it looks like we’ll be in for another stenka round with the mysterious member in the crowd. Hopefully, that fight will move the plot forward rather than just be a slugfest.