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 8: Murder
Hijikata is looking for a former cellmate whose whereabouts are unknown to him, but whose trace he was able to recover in prison. He gives up his trail and decides to run after him, only now that the murderer is sometimes portrayed as a helpless and delusional old man, but several people hunt him down to cut their heads off in revenge for all those he murdered. In the attempt, the old man shows more strength and a handling of the space and his incredible body that bends. After killing some, he escapes and Hijikata goes after him, finds him and kills him in self-defense, but not before speaking little of his ideals. After this is complete, Kiroranke drafts a plan elsewhere for the release of 250 prisoners.
Chapter Opinion
It was an excellent chapter that would have been better treated if it had been broken into two parts, but it’s still very good. One of the things that confused me was the appearance of Tsurumi and the memory of Tsugimoto with Asirpa, which doesn’t have much to do with what happened but just serves as a kind of reminder of what we already know Asirpa is the key. This whole Youichirou miniarch was very good as a stand-alone story. When we realize it, it doesn’t seem that what we saw was relevant to the plot other than showing us hijikata and further exploring its ideals. What has more weight in development is the last part with the plan to free the prisoners, yes.
The track and the old man
Hijikata received a lead in prison that would lead him to an old prisoner known as Shinzou Doi. On the advice of a Kushiro Ainu, it turned out to be a bird’s beak that can only be found in Nemuro. From there we went for a stroll by an old man who is marginalized by his age and has been ridiculed by some of those fishermen’s companions younger than him. Only one defended him. However, it turned out that this old man was Youichirou, an assassin serving the Japanese Empire who was betrayed. Several people are looking for him to kill in order to complete their revenge. We already know the rest.
Against ideals, one goal
One of the most striking things is the historical and ideological theme represented in the protagonists of the chapter. Before the Meiji era, Japan lived under the politics of the shogunate, a shogun was the one who directed the domestic and foreign policy of Japan. During this period Japan was “isolated” until the 19th century. The emperor was then imprisoned in his palace and served as an influence for the shoguns. It’s called the “Meiji Restoration” because it literally restores the emperor’s power as supreme head of state and mimics European politics, especially Prussian or Austrian.
Youichirou represented the imperial power, which contained any kind of power that opposed it. One of them was Hijikata, which managed to form a country in Hokkaido but was quickly suppressed. Despite the fact that in the anime Hijikata accepted that the best for Japan was done with westernization, he is beginning to realize that all this power has not achieved much and therefore certain state structures need to be reformed to give more freedom and with it Restore a state in Hokkaido and compete in power with Japan and the major countries. In short, with some flaws, this is the context on which ideologies are based.
Human life and plans
When he died, Youichirou mentions that Ainu means human and that he has just lived as a human in his peaceful life. Being a killer takes humanity away, but look at Ogata. When you get cheated on, you want to get away from it all so that you don’t feel that pain again. When the murderer looks at his wife, who has given him back his humanity, he can finally die in peace. Then we transport ourselves with Kiroranke and the group, where they tell us about their plans to free SofĆa. This is the only possible way to free the 250 prisoners.
As I thought about the chapter, I had to think about these inconsistencies and random things in the chapter. Why did they find him just to kill him? This is partially answered, but that doesn’t prevent it from being able to kill him first. If he lived there for a few years, why wasn’t he known or hated before? They are just strange things. I don’t know if the next chapter will be on Hijikata or Kiroranke, but we’ll see.