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Oct 25, 2022 11:20 AM
#1

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Aug 2011
6405

https://myanimelist.net/anime/50528/

Plot Summary

Fourth season of Golden Kamuy.


Other Information

Type: TV
Episodes: 13
Status: Currently Airing
Aired: Oct 3, 2022 to ?
Premiered: Fall 2022
Broadcast: Mondays at 23:00 (JST)
Producers: NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, Tokyo MX, Good Smile Company, Sammy, Shueisha, JR East Marketing & Communications, Twin Engine
Licensors: None found, add some
Studios: Brain's Base
Source: Manga
Genres: Action, Adventure
Themes: Adult Cast, Historical, Military
Demographic: Seinen
Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

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Oct 25, 2022 11:21 AM
#2

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CR Forum Thread

https://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-1076402/golden-kamuy-season-4-discussion

It's great to be back with this show after an intense search for Asirpa that happened in season 3. So with that, here's to some more of Asirpa's unusual recipes, the dick jokes, and the interesting supporting cast that really make this show go. Expect to hear an announcement for season 5 at the end of this season's broadcast, which will be the final season now that the manga has finished.

Episode 40

Here is an episode that's focused on Koito as he was quite close with his late brother. Koito comes from a rich family, and after they moved to Hakodate, Koito was kidnapped. But he wasn't kidnapped by just anybody as these are guys from Russia who held him hostage, and given the tenuous relationship between Japan and Russia that saving him meant starting a war. But Koito fought back to give his father and Tsurumi a hint about his location, and they came to the rescue. Wanting to repay the favor for being saved, Koito enlisted in the military under Tsurumi. That was quite a transformation of Koito's character there as he went from being a spoiled rich kid to an elite soldier who can make his father proud.
Oct 26, 2022 2:45 PM
#3

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Oct 2022
26
I really like how they do backstories of the character in this show. It doesn't feel like a filler, but rather helps you understand the plot and maybe even advance it forward.
Oct 31, 2022 8:35 AM
#4

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6405
Episode 41

And now, Asirpa and company are making movies. But given the times, there are cameras that can only record pictures and not sound. Asirpa sure can't think of doing anything that's not about dicks. But when they go into a theater, Asirpa sees a memory of her father inside. While it's great for preserving the past, it doesn't help maintain the Ainu way of life as that's something for Asirpa to decide. That was great to see Asirpa learning more about her background and that Sugimoto is there to help Asirpa out preserving the Ainu heritage that's being threatened by the hunt for the gold.
Oct 31, 2022 9:19 AM
#5

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Oct 2022
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This was a nice change of pace. It was amusing seeing Asirpa play director, and then her seeing that film of her parents actually brought tears to my eyes. The film burning up was a shock, though, giving a sense of finality to the fleeting memories.
Failure is always an option.
Nov 7, 2022 8:30 AM
#6

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Episode 42

And the buildup continues as Sugimoto and company leave Cikapasi and the village to continue their hunt for the gold. Tsurumi's motive is revealed as he wants the gold to finance production of arms using Hokkaido's resources, and then establishing his own government in Hokkaido and going into Manchuria to make it Japan's territory. Shiraishi overheard that conversation with Koito, and now it's a race against time seeing that they need the code and will stop at nothing to crack it. So with that, things are about to get intense as if Tsurumi's ambitions weren't trouble enough, Sugimoto's team isn't on the same page at the moment.
Nov 7, 2022 8:43 AM
#7

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My god, that was quite a lot of intrigue this week. The blind guy actually survived the avalanche; Ariko became a double agent, but Hijikata is in on the bamboozle; Tsurumi has some really big ambitions; and now Sugimoto and Shiraishi have a falling out. What's going to happen next!?
Failure is always an option.
Nov 7, 2022 5:52 PM
#8

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Oct 2022
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OH CRUD!! Someone on the series' main staff died last week, so the rest of the season has been postponed indefinitely!!

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2022/11/07/main-golden-kamuy-anime-staff-member-has-passed-away
Failure is always an option.
Nov 7, 2022 6:51 PM
#9
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Nov 2022
81
Galaxy-Crisis said:
OH CRUD!! Someone on the series' main staff died last week, so the rest of the season has been postponed indefinitely!!

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2022/11/07/main-golden-kamuy-anime-staff-member-has-passed-away


Oh that tragic..
Nov 7, 2022 6:53 PM

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Whoever is tasked with replacing that staff member has some big shoes to fill. Just terrible that this happened.
Dec 9, 2022 4:38 AM

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The new season will be rebroadcast from the beginning starting in April of next year. Dang, we have to wait until May for new episodes!?

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2022/12/09-1/golden-kamuy-season-4-anime-resumes-broadcast-in-april-2023
Failure is always an option.
Dec 9, 2022 8:35 AM

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It's a long wait, but it takes a lot of time to recover from a staff member suddenly passing away. Not only emotionally, but the studio needs to scramble and find his replacement, get him up to speed, and then fill in the role, which is not a quick process. Not to mention, there's no place to put the show in the winter season lineup since all the timeslots have been spoken for with so many shows coming on the air next season.
Dec 9, 2022 11:55 AM

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I was under the impression that all the episodes were already delivered to the broadcasters, so not much work needed to be done on their end. That said, your comment about timeslots being full up next season probably makes more sense.
Failure is always an option.
Dec 9, 2022 6:34 PM
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Nov 2022
81
It going to be a long wait.....
Apr 1, 2023 3:57 PM

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I guess I didn't go back far enough to find this buried thread, so I assumed that no thread was made of this in the first place and made a new one.

Now that my attention has been brought back here, I'm bringing this thread back to the front.  As I mentioned before, the season is set to start from the beginning on Monday, which means new episodes should start in mid-May.
Failure is always an option.
Apr 1, 2023 4:05 PM

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Feb 2019
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Galaxy-Crisis said:
I guess I didn't go back far enough to find this buried thread, so I assumed that no thread was made of this in the first place and made a new one.



Check the show discussion index thread
Apr 1, 2023 5:41 PM

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HOOfan_1 said:
Galaxy-Crisis said:
I guess I didn't go back far enough to find this buried thread, so I assumed that no thread was made of this in the first place and made a new one.



Check the show discussion index thread
It's a moot point now.
Failure is always an option.
May 6, 2023 1:54 PM

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Bringing this thread back to the front, as new episodes should resume next Monday, May 15.
Failure is always an option.
May 15, 2023 8:23 AM

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After a long layoff, this show is back and today is the first new episode.

Episode 43

Last time, there was big trouble brewing, and seeing that Sugimoto and company come face-to-face with Tsurumi, that's exactly what happens.  Asirpa shot her arrowas in order to get away and head towards the ferry to escape Karafuto and head back to Hokkaido.  And after stabbing Koito, they got away and managed to get on a ferry.  But Tsurumi and his goons are in pursuit on the sea.  Instead of trying to outrun them knowing that their ship is faster, Sugimoto and company are walking on the ice floes to hide from Tsurumi and company.  And that worked like a charm seeing that those white cloaks make them hard to spot, and at the other end of the floe they got their ride back to Hokkaido.   It was a long wait, but it comes back strong.

And as a reminder, this season is 13 episodes and with the manga having wrapped up, season 5 is expected to be announced at the end of this season that will bring this series to the end.
May 15, 2023 8:46 AM

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It's been a long wait, but it's finally back.

It was silly seeing one of Asirpa's arrows getting stuck to Shiraishi's noggin; good thing they weren't poison-tipped.  And Sugimoto went ballistic again during the escape to the ferry, where they had to leave Tanigaki behind.  But Tsurumi refuses to give up the chase.  After Sugimoto used their pursuers' cannons to their advantage, they escape across the ice, using white sheets to camouflage themselves.

Now Sugimoto, Asirpa, Shiraishi, and Vasily the Russian lieutenant have returned to Hokkaido, but Tsurumi and his soldiers will get there eventually.  Also, Ogata is on his way there as well.
Failure is always an option.
May 22, 2023 8:28 AM

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Episode 44

Sugimoto and company are back in Hokkaido after a dramatic escape from Sakhalin Island.  And here come the bears as Heita is being chased by one.  This death row inmate has been carrying bear pelt even though he knows that he threw it away as it turns out that the bear pelt has a mind of its own, and as such Heita turned into a wenkamuy that has him going on a rampage.  In the end, Heita was killed by a poisoned arrow by one of those traps.   Heita is a cautionary tale for Sugimoto and company as Heita became that monster due to his lust for gold, and he ended up finding something else that would make him into an entirely different person.
May 22, 2023 8:55 AM

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Sugimoto's group try looking for gold in a river, which leads to them learning about platinum being brought up with the gold.  It turns out the guy who tells them this, Heita, is one of the escaped tattooed prisoners, and he has multiple personality disorder.  Heita's greed drove him insane, and in his scuffle with Sugimoto he trips an arrow trap and gets shot in the neck.  Hopefully, Sugimoto's group won't get too greedy themselves, lest they end up like him.
Failure is always an option.
May 29, 2023 8:24 AM

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Episode 45

Now that they got a new skin after killing Heita, it’s back to finding the gold, and the next target is Botaro the Pirate.  While that’s happening, Tsurumi’s past is explained as he trained hard in a doko and became close friends with Tokishige and Tomoharu.  But then things took a turn when Tomoharu decided to quit and Tokishige’s personality changed and he stomped Tomoharu in the neck wanting to prove that he’s stronger than Tsurumi.  And then Tokishige would kill him and place the blame on a horse to become Tsurumi’s partner in crime.  Quite an interesting backstory that was going to show how Tsurumi and Tokishige became the ruthless soldiers that they are today.
May 29, 2023 9:05 AM

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While Sugimoto's group has their next target, a tattooed prisoner who's an experienced diver, there's another one killing prostitutes in Sapporo.  Tsurumi sends Usami and Kikuta to find this serial killer.  Now we have some backstory about Usami, and god did he really have a mean streak back then.
Failure is always an option.
Jun 5, 2023 8:24 AM

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Episode 46

It has been quite some time since Inkarmat last showed up as she’s pregnant.  Tsukishima is sent to kill Tanigaki and Inkarmat, but with some help from Koito, Tanigaki and Inkarmat get away.  But Tsukishima is hot on his trail and those two follow Tanigaki to the village.  While that’s happening, Inkarmat goes into labor, and Tsukishima at least agrees to hold off on killing anybody until the baby is born thanks to Koito’s invervention.  That was quite a mean thing that Tsukishima was about to do, but in the end cooler heads prevailed and Inkarmat is a mother now.  
Jun 5, 2023 8:45 AM

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This was quite a profound experience.  I don't think someone giving birth is commonly depicted in such vivid detail in any medium.  So now Tanigaki is a father, and even though things ended well, the new family likely still has to watch their backs, even with Koito covering for them.
Failure is always an option.
Jun 12, 2023 8:28 AM

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Episode 47

Botaro the Pirate has joined Sugimoto's party after a confrontation on a postman's steamship en route to Sapporo.  Sugimoto threw the men overboard so that they would not get caught up in their fight, and the postman was fighting back with a gun as at that time, Japanese postmen carried guns.  Of course, he never fired a shot and that's because somebody else fired the shot for him.  In the end, Sugimoto and Botaro have one thing in common in that they lost their family due to disease, so they team up seeing that Botaro has big plans and would have no chance at finding it without Asirpa seeing that nobody else can decipher the skins.  He has some screws loose, but the pirate ought to be a useful companion.
Jun 12, 2023 8:44 AM

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Hah, the diver that Sugimoto's group were looking for came to them, and after a standoff that included dealing with a postman with delusions, Botaro offers to join them.  But during the whole situation, Vasily got left behind as the boats the steamship was towing got separated.  Meanwhile, Hijikata and Ogata are in Sapporo as well, so some tense fighting is sure to break out if they encounter Kikuta and Usami.

I was not expecting that bit of backstory about Sugimoto's family succumbing to tuberculosis.
Failure is always an option.
Jun 19, 2023 8:24 AM

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Episode 48

Sugimoto is thrown overboard into the river, and it causes the paddle wheel to get busted leaving them stranded on the river.  But seeing that Sugimoto managed to catch a sturgeon while in the river that Asirpa makes a feast of caviar out of it. While that's going on, Usami and Kikuta are involved in a masturbation battle, all while there's a killer on the loose, taking the kidneys of his victims in the process.  And then Hijikata's group comes in looking for that guy and talk about him being like Jack the Ripper.  And then Sugimoto's party arrives in Sugimoto and they are searching for Ueji, who is another tattooed prisoner.  Pretty much, this episode gathers everybody in Sapporo where something big is about to go down.  One more episode left to go this season, and I'm expecting an announcement for season 5 after that, which will be the final season.
Jun 19, 2023 8:40 AM

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Botaro found out Sugimoto's group was looking for him, and the resulting scuffle sends him and Sugimoto into the river.  A school of sturgeon keeps Sugimoto from drowning in Botaro's element, and afterwards Botaro agrees to work with him.  Meanwhile, Usami plays detective via masturbation (that was really weird), and find the serial killer in Sapporo.  He gets away, but Kikuta saw his face.  The serial killer is copying the Jack the Ripper murders from London.  Meanwhile, Sugimoto's group realizes they met another of the tattooed prisoners before, a child kidnapper.  Everything's about to come to a head in Sapporo, as all the parties converge on that location.
Failure is always an option.
Jun 26, 2023 8:25 AM

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Episode 49 (Season 4 Finale)

To end this season and to set up the 5th and final season that was announced at the end of the broadcast, more tension builds up as the Tsurumi and Hijikata parties are waiting in Sapporo.  Over in Sugimoto's party, they are in the woods where Sugimoto and Asirpa are trapped under a fallen tree that were carelessly cut down by a bunch of lumberjacks, and Shiraishi rescued them.  They talk about the kamuy as Asirpa is given a gold coin that Botaro found at the bottom of Lake Shikotsu going to show that Asirpa knows what she needs to do.  Not much of an ending as to be expected, but it does the job to set the stage for the ending.  I'm looking forward to seeing this series wrap up.

Final Thoughts

The storytelling takes things up another notch this season as it continues to develop all the main players in this battle for the gold, and developing them well.  That's the thing that sets this show apart from others like this as all the characters have interesting backgrounds.  But in particular, Tsurumi's party was well-developed this season to make them much more relatable than most villains are.  So in all, the story telling takes a step up in this season, all while the show continues to be crazy and violent at the same time with a lot of manservice mixed in, and balancing all that quite nicely.  Just about the only issue with this season is the pacing as things took awhile to develop.  In any case, this season was designed to set up the final season, and it accomplished just that.

Grade: A- (9/10)
Jun 26, 2023 8:50 AM

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Now Sofia has made it to Sapporo, and she has to restrain herself to keep from attacking the 7th Division troops.  Meanwhile, Sugimoto and Asirpa get trapped under some felled trees cut down in a chain reaction by some lumberjacks, and Shiraishi and Botaro have to get them out of the pile.  After Botaro gives Asirpa a gold coin he found at Lake Shikotsu, she has finally found her reason for finding the gold.

So the wife of Sugimoto's war buddy (the person Sugimoto plans to use some of the gold to pay for treating her eye disease) could have been Sugimoto's wife had his family not succumbed to TB.  Not a lot of increasing tension between last week and now, but a fifth season has been announced, so we'll just have to wait until then before things really ramp up.
Failure is always an option.
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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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