English Dub Review: Golden Kamuy “Revolutionary”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Sugimoto’s group is close to Asirpa’s location as Asirpa’s group stays at a Nivkh village. They have Shiraishi smuggle in Nivkh clothes and a letter to Sophia. Kiroranke discusses his past with Sophia and Wilk as they learn Japanese from a photographer named Kouichi Hasegawa. He lives in Russia due to his parent’s work. During the Japanese lessons, Hasegawa mentions their quirks but he never reports them to the authorities.

Then one day Hasegawa tells his wife to visit her family and wait for him. When the trio arrives for their next lesson he tells them that they should leave. The Russian secret police knock on the door and it turns bloody as they demand to know who sent them. The officer reveals that they went sent for Hasegawa who is a spy. They kill the Russian secret police, but Sophia accidentally shoots Hasegawa’s wife. The trio leaves for Hokkaido by taking the icy trail north. However, Sophia stays behind in Russia as Kiroranke and Wilk, walk to Japan. Hasegawa reveals his true name to his dying wife: Tokushirou Tsurumi.

Our Take: 

Golden Kamuy has an unexpected way of dropping information. It’s certainly a small world for this cast of characters as they hunt for the Ainu gold.

The pacing of the episode worked well. For example, Sugimoto’s group shows up first reminding us that they’re close to Asirpa’s group. Then Kiroranke telling the group about his time learning Japanese. There’s the red herring with Wilk and Kiroranke’s wanted posters in the flashback. It worked well to throw us off the trail of the Russian secret police’s real target. The action for the fight was good too. Admittedly I didn’t expect Hasegawa’s camera to turn into a golden machine gun. We get to Sophia and Wilk, Asirpa’s father mercilessly making sure that none of the police leaves there alive.

Hasegawa’s comparison of the trio to the three men that led Japan in the Meiji restoration gives us their personalities. It also gives us a hint of Hasegawa’s true identity. He’s very observant as he catches Sophia speak French, a hallmark of Russian nobility. Then when the Russian police admit that they’re looking for Hasegawa, his tinted glasses make him suspicious. Despite being a spy, Hasegawa truly cared for his wife like when he firmly told her to wait for him. When the episode reveals that Hasegawa is Tsurumi, that bombshell left me stunned. However, it does fill in the gap of his past before he became a lieutenant driven with madness.

Overall the episode was good with the action and the bits of comedy. That bombshell of a reveal certainly makes things interesting, and hopefully, next week will be exciting as well.