Golden Kamuy vol. 5

What’s new in the land of “Kamuy?”  Sugimo and Asirpa have just pulled the latest convict with a tattooed skin out of the sea at a fishing village.  Unfortunately for them, they don’t know that he’s the man they want or that he’s a serial killer with a death wish.  While he’ll kill a man at a drop of a hat to keep his identity safe, this guy just wants an epic death and he thinks Sugimoto is the man to give it to him.  While the series maintains its breakneck pace through this section, aided in part by the surprise appearance of Lieutenant Tsurumi, it also gets queasy assist from the killer’s overtly sexual response to the thought of being killed by Sugimoto and a ludicrous boost when a killer whale gets involved in the action towards the end.  Whether or not these things constitute positive additions to the story will likely depend on the reader’s tolerance for such things.

Much easier to appreciate is what comes next as the story goes back to Asirpa’s village to show us what awaits soldier Tanigaki now that he’s mostly recuperated from his injuries.  That would be the arrival of two fellow soldiers who believe that he may know something about the anti-Lieutenant Tsurumi conspiracy they’re involved in. This leads to a series of tense strategic showdowns as Tanigaki has to figure out how to get out of the village and take out a sniper who’s just as good as he is with only one bullet.  It’s good stuff and that’s even before the bear gets involved in the conflict.

While it’s nice to see that mangaka Satoru Noda can hold the reader’s interest when he shifts the focus entirely away from his protagonists, he does circle back around to them by the end for some key revelations.  The minor one being Asirpa’s Japanese name, and the major one being her connection to Noppera-Bo — the thief who stole the gold everyone’s after from the Ainu in the first place. This sets up what looks to be a very promising storyline as our crew is going to have to break into a jail to get some answers.  With the help of no one less than the biggest goofball in the series, of course.