May 1, 2022
With its recent conclusion, Golden Kamuy has stuck the landing and guaranteed its continued reputation as one of the finest adventure manga ever made. Author Noda Satoru's myriad fascinations, such as Japanese history, Ainu culture, judo, serial killers, western (meaning the genre) films, and cooking, are continuously present in the story and make it feel really special and personal to him. The plot starts out simplistically enough as a sort of reimagining of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but with every story arc comes a set of surprises and new context that makes it so much more. Alliances exist in the world of
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Golden Kamuy, but are always fragile, as nobody is to be trusted. This tense setting is used to its fullest potential time and time again to bring about incredible, massive climaxes befitting of the Sergio Leone movies from which Noda is sure to have drawn his inspiration. None of this is to say that the series never takes its time to breathe, there are countless low-energy, reflective moments as well as gut-busting comedic sequences that are just as big a part of what makes Golden Kamuy special as the action and adventure present in the main plot.
The illustrations here are already distinctive and impressive, particularly on the cover pages, but what Noda excels at the most is character designs and giving the pages a good flow. It's often taken for granted, but the ability to gracefully string panels together to tell a story with just the right speed and feeling to them, is just as important a skill as being able to draw, and this is a series which excels in that regard as well as in everything else I value in an adventure oriented manga. What was already an instant favorite of mine long before its conclusion, has officially sealed the deal. I loved this series to death and am endlessly excited to read whatever its creator makes in the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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