English Dub Review: Golden Kamuy “To Live”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Asirpa and Sugimoto walk to rejoin the others and converse about Kiroranke and Ogata. Meanwhile, Koito and Kiroranke are in a heated struggle as Sofia tries to reaches Kiroranke but the ice cracks. Hajime and Tanigaki reach them and shoots Kiroranke. Right before they were about to finish Kiroranke off Asirpa stops them. She asks Kiroranke about why her father had to die. However, he dies telling her to run and go with Sophia as she confirms that she remembers the key to the maps.

The group buries Kiroranke before Asirpa and Sugimoto encounter Gansoku and Svetlana nearby. They stop by the Nivkh village to treat the wounded. Hajime tells Svetlana to leave a letter for her parents, and Svetlana heads to Russia with Gansoku. When Ogata’s wound worsens they find a doctor and he gets treatment. However, Ogata later escapes after threatening the doctor with the nurse’s life. The next day the group makes their way back to Hokkaido continuing to their quest for the gold.

Our Take:

Golden Kamuy wraps up on Kiroranke’s part of the journey and we get the key to the tattoo maps for the gold. Their journey was filled with action, comedy, and food, so it’s natural that the season ends that way.

Kiroranke’s last fight with Kioto and the other was gritty with the knives. Kiroranke’s determination to live and fight to the bitter end is effective with his last bomb which gets cut by Koito. His conversation with Asirpa never gets the answers she wanted, but Sugimoto at least confirms that it wasn’t Wilk that killed the Ainu. Kiroranke’s death was good from passing the torch to Asirpa on fighting for the minorities. Sofia and Shiraishi’s reactions to his passing were effective too.

The pace of the episode slows down after Kiroranke’s fight with Koito and the others. They’re in the Nikvh village to recover before leaving for Hokkaido. There’s a food scene on a traditional Nivkh dish called mosu which uses fish skin as an ingredient. The downtime for the group was nice. The thread on Svetlana’s part in the story ends with her giving Hajime a letter to let her parents known that she’s alright. Admittedly Gansoku part was a bit unexpected but it’s confirmation that he’s heading to Russia with Svetlana and they end up having an adventure of their own.

Then there’s Ogata and the adults know that he’s dangerous and Sugimoto is ready to kill him despite saving his life to make sure that Asirpa doesn’t end up like the rest of the cast. Ogata’s escape from the doctor’s place was good. The revelation that Ogata speaks Russian worked to surprise Koito and his gamble to escape as he rides off on a horse laughing crazily gave me chills. This might be the last time we see the cold sniper and his motives will be a mystery now.

Now with the key to the map inside Asirpa’s head, they continue to make their way back to Hokkaido for the other tattooed skins. On top of that Sugimoto’s goal of freeing Asirpa from the war is nice. It shows his thoughts on Asirpa’s involvement in the conflict while working to get his share of the gold.

Overall the episode was a good conclusion to the season’s journey. It essentially boils down to figuring out the key to the tattooed skins. The quest for the gold is long, but the journey there is amusing and packed with weird characters and fights. I look forward to seeing if they actually find the gold if there’s going to be another season.