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thebookbin 's review for:
Golden Kamuy, Vol. 1
by Satoru Noda
challenging
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m back at work which means I’m reading manga! Today I ordered a customer recommendation called Golden Kamuy by Noda Satorou. This is a historical fiction manga about a Russo-Japanese War veteran in the wilds of Hokkaido after the war. Before he was discharged he was known as The Immortal Sugimoto because he won’t die, no matter how injured he gets.
At the beginning of the book, Sugimoto does feel a little unstable—he has frequent flashbacks to his time in the war. The book is graphic in its violence that lends it an almost horror feel to it, kind of like Attack on Titan. When a drunk tells Sugimoto of a hidden cache of gold, he sets his sights on it. At first you think it’s for personal gain, but then over the course of the book, Sugimoto’s backstory is slowly revealed: he wants to money to take care of his best friends widow.
Along the way he meets a young Ainu (indigenous to Hokkaido) girl named Aspira, who’s clan the gold originally belonged to. He asks for her help and only a small cut of the gold, because it truly belongs to her people. Sugimoto accepts her help and as they travel together, Aspira teaches him about Ainu culture and he’s very respectful. We do get hints of Sugimoto’s murderous rage hidden under a thin veneer when they’re confronted by bandits, but he seems to be a good person traumatized by the brutality of war.
I will definitely keep reading the series but I’m gonna hold off on buying it until I really feel I love it. The graphic nature of the violence makes it a bit hard to swallow even though I love where the story of Sugimoto and Aspira is going.
4/5 bloody, bloody stars
At the beginning of the book, Sugimoto does feel a little unstable—he has frequent flashbacks to his time in the war. The book is graphic in its violence that lends it an almost horror feel to it, kind of like Attack on Titan. When a drunk tells Sugimoto of a hidden cache of gold, he sets his sights on it. At first you think it’s for personal gain, but then over the course of the book, Sugimoto’s backstory is slowly revealed: he wants to money to take care of his best friends widow.
Along the way he meets a young Ainu (indigenous to Hokkaido) girl named Aspira, who’s clan the gold originally belonged to. He asks for her help and only a small cut of the gold, because it truly belongs to her people. Sugimoto accepts her help and as they travel together, Aspira teaches him about Ainu culture and he’s very respectful. We do get hints of Sugimoto’s murderous rage hidden under a thin veneer when they’re confronted by bandits, but he seems to be a good person traumatized by the brutality of war.
I will definitely keep reading the series but I’m gonna hold off on buying it until I really feel I love it. The graphic nature of the violence makes it a bit hard to swallow even though I love where the story of Sugimoto and Aspira is going.
4/5 bloody, bloody stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation