This review on Golden Kamuy 3 contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the chapter, we recommend that you do it and then go back to read the review.
Chapter 3: Stenka
The blackmail by the Russian continues, but Sugimoto spares his life because he has a plan, they will fight in the stenka. That night the mysterious tattooed man appears, but it's the same person Sugimoto met in his first stenka. The fight is brutal and everyone culminates in beating until some madman drives the people away and has his personal fight with Gansoku. After a game of nature, mental health returns, the cold in Russian water is so great that all conflict disappears. In the sauna, Gansoku tells Sugimoto that he met this Asirpa girl, but it seems that she ...
Chapter Opinion
It was a good chapter, albeit with some uncomfortable points, because I felt some unnecessary parts. The humor in Golden Kamuy has been edited over the past few seasons, so it's understandable and Japanese, but there is a saturation and repetition of the same that becomes funny and tired at other times, which no longer creates grace (although perhaps so for the Japanese public and in the end the product is mainly aimed at them).
That seems to me to be the main reason why I didn't feel I had pushed this chapter further. I hope they don't abuse these elements as much and the story is better told which on its own is very good and catchy.
Maiharu Gansoku: the sad monster
He is the newly introduced character, another prisoner that Ushiyama met. It seems to have sadomasochistic behavior, which is not the case in the characters of the anime, that it is something strange because they all have flamboyant behavior. It's easy to put it in this world because this world in itself is extravagant, not out of tune, but you can feel a parody or reach the absurd. Even so, he is not bad as a character and it seems he will have his meaning as he is even in the opening. Hopefully, if he joins the group, his behavior will be regulated and his extravagance will come out at the right time.
Stenka and madness
The stenka is the battle of two walls and two walls that met, the Japanese soldiers against the fleeing Japanese. The fight was very good and I like the way they do the mockumentary in detail because it allowed us to get to know Gansoku better. Recommendation: try not to fight and if you do avoid hitting the head. After so many beatings, Sugimoto went crazy and attacked everyone. He made the real Stenka levitate (all against all), but he also killed him for making everyone flee.
The madness was so great that he didn't even feel cold while he was outside, and it got so much that he almost faced a wolverine with his bare hands, and that's not what a man does, but a madman or if not, a Russian.
References
I may have had more references, although I've only come across two references, one historical-social and one on anime. The second is easy to know what it is, and it happened when Sugimoto faced everyone with a clean hand and exclaimed the recognizable: pray, pray, pray, pray (Me, me, me, me) flapping his hands left and right. The former comes up later, but in the theme of Sugimoto's Madness, he grabs the hammer and sickle, which are the symbol of communism and the emblems that were on the flag of the Soviet Union (Russia was still being a tsarist at the time of the anime, although with an important one socialist influence). These are the two best-known references.
Big kids and the end of madness
Enonoka and Cikapaki are good characters, one within innocence and precocity, the other within a child's maturity. Both manage to snatch the dogs from the Russian without the help of the adults and with a gun to shoot the bolt. You meet Sugimoto in crazy mode and want to escape, but Cikapaci falls and the wolverine appears, has a confrontation but manages to get out.
Sugimoto wanted to face the wolverine, but Tanigaki's arrival helped knock the wolverine down and inflict a stretch on Cikapaci. Then Gansoku and Sugimoto confront each other with bare fists while the madman blurts Asirpa's name out. When the fight is over, the others come to stop them, but the water they enter stops them because they were on ice. In the sauna, Gansoku reveals certain words he heard from this Ainu girl, implies that she is fine and waits for her.
Asirpa ...
We saw Asirpa in the last scenes when he is striving for a lion from the Dead Sea and in which he appears at the end of the credits and eats the sea lion. He Flashback It made you think that he only got on with Shiraishi because before we even heard she looked sad. When we see them interact with the others, it feels normal, although it might be because they enjoy doing something they enjoy. But what makes me suspicious is Kiroranke's calm. We'll see what happens, though it's hard to believe that Asirpa could betray Sugimoto.
The songs that will accompany us have already been shown. I like this very special The EndMeanwhile he opening It seems fine to me, but in everything I feel it's a generic one. What is shown in the songs I like, the artistic design is very good.
