The writing is a bit lacking with its "pray and spray" war tactics and telepoting buddies who save the day on last possible second, but the atmosphere quickly makes up for this. In the first 5 minutes of episode 01, we get a scene where drunken man sits on a snowy river bank, gazing into nothingness while the heat from his campfire seems to be his only comfort. This scene is perfect. It gives us understanding of the series universe and shows us with what type of mindset the series should be approaced with. Not to mention that the animated fire itself is glorious as hell. Almost like from triple A video game. Golden Kamuy doesn't take its time, it directly goes into business by explaining what it is all about. Something which most seinen anime adaptations and shows from current season in generally have failed to do.
From its production, Golden Kamuy has clearly learned from others' mistakes. I was afraid this would suffer from the downgrade effect we have seen in the past with series such as Blade of the Immortal, Hellsing and Shin Angyo Onshi. On the other hand, I was afraid the overall feel of the series would be destroyed with CGI/art directing like Kingdom did with its S01, or Drifters or *shivers* Berserk with its newer adaptations. Reality is the opposite. This gives us hope that maybe Wit Studios won't make Vinland Saga unwatchable after all. Smarter choices. Golden Kamuy art and animation perfectly represent the series. I am genuinely surprised.
The story and characters were never the strongest part of this series, and the production team seems to be well aware of this. It plays with tensions, build-up and audiovisual execution exactly as it should. On top of that, every new episode has been better than the last. I highly recommend this series especially to manga readers who have already given up hope on the lesser medium. The fans of 'Seirei no Moribito' and 'Blade of the Immortal' should check this out ASAP as well.
