English Dub Review: Golden Kamuy “The Immortal Sugimoto Harakiri Show”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Asirpa’s group hunts a musk deer while Sugimoto’s group chases after a kid who has their copied tattooed skins. After catching the kid at the circus, Sugimoto gets the idea to be in the show to let Asirpa know he’s alive. However, Koito steals the spotlight with his athleticism while Sugimoto participates in the Harakiri show as the other two perform with the girls. Sugimoto and the other men are increasingly irritated with how well Koito is doing and one of them sabotages him with a copy of Lieutenant Tsurumi’s picture as the show is in the middle of its performance while Koito chases after the photo.

When it’s revealed that Tsukishima did the sabotage in order to make Koito’s performance not stand out too much. Unfortunately, Koito admits to switching out the fake katana that Sugimoto was supposed to use with a real one when he does the harakiri show. However, before Sugimoto can complete the show the Russians interrupt it and Sugimoto has no choice but to defend himself. Afterward, they find out the ringmaster was in the Imperial Army as an intelligence operative in Russia for years they bury the bodies and get intel on a group of minority people in the largest prison in Karafuto.

 

Our Take:

This episode is pretty standard for Golden Kamuy. We get a fact about the musk deer and a cultural fact about Ainu boys and the triangle forehead ornament with Asirpa’s group. While we get the fact, it’s obvious that Kiroranke is using the moments to try and gain Asirpa’s trust as he mentions her father, Wilk and his childhood.

Then crazy hijinks with Sugimoto’s group as they prepare and perform in the show. The whole circus act was entertaining in between the guy’s envious expressions on Koito getting all the attention to Koito’s mad chase for the photo of Lieutenant Tsurumi. Tanigaki was amusing with his sparkly eyes on Beniko’s determination to make her last show a good one. Sugimoto’s harakiri show was cool, especially with the scene of him cutting the first Russian’s hand off like a sharp knife cutting through paper. Admittedly I wasn’t expecting the ringmaster to be an Imperial Army spy during his years in Russia. Furthermore, I was even more startled when Fumie, the circus dance instructor shot the last Russian like it was nothing. The men’s unease in that scene was relatable.

Overall the episode was good and wasn’t a waste of time as Sugimoto’s group gets a lead on where Kiroranke could be leading Asirpa too with the minority group in the prison for plotting a resistance.