Golden Kamuy: This is how you do historical stories!
Wow, just wow.
I don't even know how to describe this insane trip of a story. Though I'm still in the reading process for it, I have to share this manga and rant about it here.
Set during the early 20th century during the gold rush in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese war, Saichi "Immortal" Sugimoto is looking for money after being discharged from being a soldier after killing one of his superior officers. On the battlefield, he fought like a demon, getting up after normally fatal injuries and continuing on. His ferocious stamina earned him the nickname, "Immortal Sugimoto". When panning for gold in an attempt to make a lot of money fast, a villager tells him about a old tale that circulates around the region of Hokkaido Island, where they currently are. During the initial flood of the gold rush, where people could find pieces of gold as big as beans and coins in the river, the native peoples of the Island, the Ainu, collected a huge amount of it to fight back against the Japanese government who had stolen their land and banned them from performing their traditions and way of life. Then one man stole everything, killing everyone in his way, before getting caught and put in prison. The criminal wanted to tell his friends on the outside where the gold was stashed, but was under rigorous check-ins by the guards, so his solution was to....
tattoo the prisoners' bodies within that cell with the information necessary to find the gold. To avoid being caught or decrypted by anyone else, these tattoos only make sense when combined. The money is necessary, as Sugimoto's childhood friend passed on the battlefield with his last wish being that Sugimoto has to return home to protect his wife and kid.
Sugimoto has to embark on a journey across Hokkaido to hunt down the escaped prisoners with a young Ainu girl looking for her father who was a victim of the murders, learning about native foods and culture along the way. This story is intensely well-researched, brimming with tidbits of historical knowledge and Ainu culture. It plays with your emotions, shooting from hilarious scenes to emotional lows, with such interesting characters based on historical figures the time and legends from the Russo-Japanese war. I've truly never read anything like it and highly recommend it to anyone who's looking to learn, laugh, and clench in fear from the wonderful storytelling. There never feels like filler, instead there is a smooth mix of action and side quests, forming a crazy story that makes you sound insane when you're trying to describe it. This experience is one-of-a-kind! Please read!
I don't even know how to describe this insane trip of a story. Though I'm still in the reading process for it, I have to share this manga and rant about it here.
Set during the early 20th century during the gold rush in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese war, Saichi "Immortal" Sugimoto is looking for money after being discharged from being a soldier after killing one of his superior officers. On the battlefield, he fought like a demon, getting up after normally fatal injuries and continuing on. His ferocious stamina earned him the nickname, "Immortal Sugimoto". When panning for gold in an attempt to make a lot of money fast, a villager tells him about a old tale that circulates around the region of Hokkaido Island, where they currently are. During the initial flood of the gold rush, where people could find pieces of gold as big as beans and coins in the river, the native peoples of the Island, the Ainu, collected a huge amount of it to fight back against the Japanese government who had stolen their land and banned them from performing their traditions and way of life. Then one man stole everything, killing everyone in his way, before getting caught and put in prison. The criminal wanted to tell his friends on the outside where the gold was stashed, but was under rigorous check-ins by the guards, so his solution was to....
tattoo the prisoners' bodies within that cell with the information necessary to find the gold. To avoid being caught or decrypted by anyone else, these tattoos only make sense when combined. The money is necessary, as Sugimoto's childhood friend passed on the battlefield with his last wish being that Sugimoto has to return home to protect his wife and kid.
Sugimoto has to embark on a journey across Hokkaido to hunt down the escaped prisoners with a young Ainu girl looking for her father who was a victim of the murders, learning about native foods and culture along the way. This story is intensely well-researched, brimming with tidbits of historical knowledge and Ainu culture. It plays with your emotions, shooting from hilarious scenes to emotional lows, with such interesting characters based on historical figures the time and legends from the Russo-Japanese war. I've truly never read anything like it and highly recommend it to anyone who's looking to learn, laugh, and clench in fear from the wonderful storytelling. There never feels like filler, instead there is a smooth mix of action and side quests, forming a crazy story that makes you sound insane when you're trying to describe it. This experience is one-of-a-kind! Please read!
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