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Characters in order of appearance:

Transcript

  • Episode begins with Asirpa showing Saichi pine cones in the snow*

Asirpa: Look, Sugimoto. These are pine cones that have been eaten.

  • Asirpa bends over and grabs one of the pine cones*

Asirpa: There are lots of them.

  • Asirpa and Saichi look up at the tree above the pine cones*

Asirpa: The Ezo Pines are feeding grounds for squirrels. If we lay a stick up against the trunk, the squirrels will get lazy and use it as an easy way to climb up. Then we put kukuri traps made out of wire on the stick. When the squirrels put their heads through, it strangles them. Saichi: Ehh? You eat squirrels? I like squirrels, though. Asirpa: I like them, too. They only eat nuts, so their meat is delicious. And you can sell their pelts to get money, too. I hope we catch a lot.

  • A log up against a tree is shown with several kukuri wire traps*

Saichi: Yeah… Asirpa: Let’s set them up on other trees, too. Saichi: If the escaped prisoners are looking for the gold, they’ll stay in Hokkaido. I’ll find them Asirpa: Hokkaido is a big place. Saichi: The prisoners aren’t wild animals. They won’t be able to survive hidden in the mountains. But in a small village, outsiders stand out. An escaped prisoner is likely to want to hide in a large town, where he won’t stand out in the crowds. The most populated cities in Hokkaido are Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa…And this place.

  • Saichi and Asipra walk over to a cliff, overlooking a large city, Otaru*

Saichi: Otaru.

  • Scene changes to various shots of Otaru as it is described by the narrator*

Narrator: The last days of the Meiji era. Originally a port city, Otaru had grown into a financial center so powerful it was called “The Wall Street of the North.” It was the largest commercial city in Hokkaido, and there were Ainu villages nearby.

  • Scene changes to a bath house in Otaru, where Saichi questions a patron, while bathing himself*

Saichi: Hey, you come here often? You seen any customers around here with weird tattoos? Bathhouse Patron: What kind of tattoos? Saichi: Not like the ones the yakuza have. A mix of curves and straight lines… Bathhouse Patron: Hmm…Nope. What about it? Saichi: No, never mind then.

  • Saichi steps out of the bath*

Bathhouse Patron: Ah…You a soldier?

  • Saichi’s body is shown to be riddled with scars, from blades and bullets*

Bathhouse Patron: I’ve never seen anybody with those tattoos, but I’ve never seen a guy with a body like yours, either. It’s thanks to people like you and the way you fought that we were able to get Karafuto back. Thank you, really. Saichi: …

  • Scene changes to Asirpa showing a woman a drawing of the tattoos*

Asirpa: Have you seen any customers with tattoos like this? Purple-Kimono Woman: Nope. I’ve never had a customer with something weird like that. Shop Owner: Hey!

  • A large man, grabs Asirpa from the back of her coat, and lifts her into the air*

Shop Owner: What the hell is an Ainu brat doing in front of my shop? Blue-Kimono Woman: Leave her alone, the poor thing. Shop Owner: You don’t have a tattoo yet. I’m told Ainu women tattoo the skin around their mouth when they’re old enough to get married.

  • The man throws Asirpa over his shoulder*

Shop Owner: But that’ll scare off the customers, so maybe I’ll sell you off somewhere first!

  • Asirpa draws a knife from a sheath, before punching the man in the eye*

Shop Owner: Augh!

  • The man drops Asirpa, who lands to her feet behind him*

Shop Owner: You stupid brat! Saichi: Hey.

  • Saichi pokes the man’s shoulder*

Saichi: Look at my thumb. Shop Owner: Huh? Who are you?!

  • Saichi slams his thumb into the man’s throat*

Shop Owner: Kuh!

  • Saichi puts his arm around the man’s head, placing it under his armpit. Before bringing him to Asirpa*

Saichi: You ever see this tattoo?

  • The man shakes his head*

Shop Owner: *groans* Saichi: Hmm…Just like I thought, they’re staying away from any place where they have to show their skin. Shop Owner: But a man once asked me the same question. Saichi: Heh…So they had the same idea I did, huh?

  • Scene changes to Saichi and Asirpa questioning the owner of a clothing store*

Clothing Store Owner: A tattoo? No idea. Saichi: I see. Thank you.

  • A man, Kanjiro, watches Saichi and Asirpa while hiding behind a building. Saichi and Asirpa leave Otaru and head back into the forest, as Kanjiro tails them*

Saichi: How many? Asirpa: One man. Kanjiro: How far are they going to go? I was planning to find out where they slept.

  • Kanjiro pulls a revolver from the inside of his coat*

Kanjiro: But I guess I can do it here!

  • Kanjiro walks down a tree trunk bridge, over a river. Kanjiro ducks down underneath a log, before walking through a kukuri trap, which causes a log behind him to be lifted in the air as the wire tightens around his neck, and pulls him off the ground*

Kanjiro: Augh!

  • Kanjiro frantically tries to undo the wire around his neck, before he pulls open his shirt, revealing his tattoos*

Saichi: Got him. There’s my first one!

  • Scene changes to Kanjiro lying unconscious in the snow, with his hands tied behind his back. Kanjiro wakes up to find Saichi sitting beside him, holding his revolver*

Saichi: Where are the other prisoners? Kanjiro: Hmph! Saichi: I heard you need all those tattoos to decrypt the code. You’d have to stay together for there to be any point. Kanjiro: Yeah, I thought the same. At first. Saichi: Why did you leave? Kanjiro: We killed each other. All of a sudden, without warning, we started killing each other! I had no idea what was going on, so I started running! I couldn’t trust anyone, so I was hiding alone. Saichi: I see. So one of the prisoners realized. Kanjiro: Huh? Saichi: What, you don’t know? Those tattoos are only usable if you kill the owner and skin them. Kanjiro: Keh…That brutal bastard…So what, you’re going to hunt us down one by one? You’d be better off hunting rabbits, mister!

  • Saichi stands up and points the revolver at Kanjiro*

Saichi: Is that all you have to say? Kanjiro: Uh! Saichi: Don’t worry. Once you’re dead, it won’t hurt if I rip off your skin. Kanjiro: … Saichi: … Asirpa: Hey, Sugimoto.

  • Asirpa appears behind Saichi, holding a large amount of firewood*

Asirpa: You promised not to kill him. If you kill him, I won’t help you. Saichi: Asirpa, you need to play along, okay? I was going to scare him into telling me some things. Kanjiro: Eh?

  • Scene changes to sunset, as Asirpa, Saichi, and Kanjiro sit by a campfire. Kanjiro’s wrists are tied to a stick, behind his head and on his shoulders, which itself was tied to a tree branch. Asirpa draws Kanjiro’s tattoos on a canvas*

Saichi: You’re good at this, Asirpa. It’s well-drawn.

  • Asirpa holds up a pencil*

Asirpa: This is great, Sugimoto. You call it a “pencil”? It’s very convenient.

  • Saichi rolls the pencil between his index finger and thumb, causing it to move like a noodle*

Asirpa: Kah?!

  • Asirpa cuts the tip of the pencil with her knife*

Asirpa: My father was good with his hands, too. So women loved him. Ainu men give makiri they made themselves to the women they love.

  • Asirpa’s ornate knife sheath is shown*

Asirpa: The women look at how well-made it is and use that to determine how well the man can support them. My father made me this menoko makiri.

  • Asirpa sheathes her knife*

Asirpa: What kind of man carved that tattoo? Kanjiro: “Noppera-Bou.” Saichi: …? Asirpa: …? What does that mean? Kanjiro: He had no face.

  • Kanjiro is suddenly shot in the forehead, with blood shooting from the back of his head*

Saichi: …!

  • Saichi pounces on Asirpa, taking cover behind the log she was sitting on*

Asirpa: Ah!

  • Asirpa raises her head to find blood splattered on her canvas*

Saichi: Who’s there? Did he have someone with him after all?

  • Asirpa crawls over to a bush and begins cutting it*

Saichi: What are you doing?! He’ll shoot you! Asirpa: I’m making a smoke screen. Saichi: I’ll give you covering fire. Hurry!

  • Saichi fires his revolver in the direction of the shooter*

Hyakunosuke: A Type 26 revolver…At 300 meters, the bullets can’t reach me.

  • Hyakunosuke supports the end of his rifle on the blade of a knife embedded in a tree*

Hyakunosuke: Huh?

  • The forest begins to become covered in a white smoke*

Hyakunouske: She put green wood on the fire, huh?

  • Hyakunosuke takes his knife out from the tree and walks forward. Saichi and Asirpa run deeper into the forest, as Hyakunosuke reaches the campfire site.*

Hyakunosuke: Huh?

  • Hyakunosuke looks down to find footprints in the snow. Hyakunosuke follows the footprints to a log, which he begins to duck under. Hyakunosuke leads with his bayonet, unintentionally poking it through a kukuri trap, which causes the wire to tighten around it and lift it into the air, out of Hyakunosuke’s hands*

Hyakunosuke: What?!

  • Saichi suddenly appears in front of Hyakunosuke, swing the butt of his rifle towards his head. Hyakunosuke ducks under the swing before tackling Saichi to the ground. Hyakunosuke pulls a knife out of a sheath, before thrusting it down towards Saichi, who catches the guard of the knife with the side of his rifle. Saichi and Hyakunosuke push against each other*

Saichi (Thinking): I planned to take him alive, but…

  • Saichi launches Hyakunosuke off himself with a kick, before placing his hands on the ground and back-flipping to his feet*

Saichi (Thinking): I can’t beat this guy if I hold back!

  • Saichi points his rifle at Hyakunosuke*

Saichi: Move and I shoot! Hyakunosuke: Hmph!

  • Hyakunosuke opens his hand to show Saichi the bolt assembly of a rifle, revealing that he took it from Saichi’s rifle as he was launched by his kick*

Saichi: Ah!

  • Hyakunosuke takes off his hooded coat, revealing his military uniform, complete with red epaulets*

Saichi (Thinking): A soldier. I knew it. And the regiment number on his epaulet…The Hokkaido 7th Division, the strongest in the army! Narrator: The Imperial Japanese Army’s 7th Division. During the Russo-Japanese War, they were sent into the deadliest battlefields, like the Siege of Port Arthur, and despite suffering heavy causalities, they contributed to the victories there. They are the army’s strongest division, and the people of Hokkaido call them the Guardian of the North out of fear and respect. Saichi (Thinking): The prisoners are dangerous, but these guys are bad enemies to have, too. Hyakunosuke: Who are you with? Saichi: I was with the 1st, but my enlistment term just ran out, and I left. Hyakunosuke: I see. Then we may have met at 203 Hill. You don’t seem to understand how dangerous a gamble it is that you’re making. Are you after money? Saichi: Nope.

  • Saichi drops his rifle to the ground*

Saichi: I’m doing it for the girl I love.

  • Hyakunosuke charges at Saichi, thrusting his knife at his head, who move his head to the left to avoid it. Hyakunosuke swings the knife to the right, as Saichi ducks underneath it. Saichi attempts to hit Hyakunosuke’s knife with his left fist, but Hyakunosuke jerks his arm back to avoid it. Hyakunosuke thrusts his knife at Saichi, who ducks under it, before grabbing Hyakunosuke by the shirt and throwing him over his shoulder and slamming him to the ground. Saichi grabs Hyakunosuke and bends his arm behind his back, causing it to make a slight cracking sound, before taking the knife out of his hand and holding it above his head*

Asirpa: Sugimoto!

  • Saichi looks back at Asirpa*

Hyakunosuke: Sugimoto of the 1st Division.

  • Saichi turns back to Hyakunosuke*

Hyakunosuke: Immortal Sugimoto?

  • Hyakunosuke suddenly jumps up and pokes Saichi in the eyes*

Saichi: Ow!

  • Hyakunosuke runs off while clutching his right arm. Saichi throws his rifle at Hyakunosuke, hitting him in the back of the head with it’s butt. Hyakunosuke falls to the ground and begins rolling down the hill*

Asirpa: He’s going to fall!

  • Hyakunosuke tumbles off a cliff, hitting his face on the rock wall as blood flies from his mouth, before falling into the river below*

Saichi: If he’d escaped, his friends would’ve come after us. This was for the best. Asirpa: “Immortal Sugimoto.” What does that mean? Saichi: There’s one way to not die that I learned in the war. Don’t be killed. Asirpa: … Saichi: Asirpa, I’m not a murderer. But if they’re going to kill me, I’ll kill them first without hesitation. “The weak get eaten.” That’s the same everywhere, right?

  • Saichi and Asirpa walk through the forest, as Asirpa’s stomach growls*

Saichi: Even in a situation like this, you still get hungry, huh? Asirpa: We’re alive, so of course we get hungry. Let’s prepare dinner at my hunting tent.

  • Saichi and Asirpa sit in a tent made of leaves, around a pot over a fire*

Asirpa: We’ll eat the squirrels we trapped. I’ll make them into chitatap. Saichi: Chitatap? Asirpa: You chop them with a blade to make ground meat. It’s an Ainu dish. First you skin them.

  • Asirpa begins to skin a squirrel*

Asirpa: Once you score the pelt, you can take it off like you were removing a suit of clothes.

  • Asirpa peels off a squirrel’s pelt*

Asirpa: Squeeze out the contents of the organs and wash them clean. The gall bladder is bitter, so we remove it. You toss the whole brain into the chitatap, but it’s delicious even by itself. Sugimoto, you can have the brain. Saichi: Eh? Asirpa, do you eat it raw?

  • Asirpa glares at Saichi*

Asirpa: What does that mean? Do you have a problem with the way we eat? Saichi: No…I’m just not used to eating stuff like that.

  • Asirpa presents the squirrel’s brain to Saichi on a wooden utensil*

Asirpa: Then eat the brain.

  • Saichi grabs the brain*

Saichi: Ah…

  • Saichi places the brain in his mouth and chews. Asirpa continues glaring at him*

Asirpa: Is it good? Saichi: Yeah…

  • Asirpa chops the squirrel meat with her knife*

Asirpa: Squirrels are small, so we chop the meat with a tashiro to make a chitatap. A chitatap doesn’t have parts that are hard to eat, so you can eat the whole thing. Saichi: Who taught you how to hunt? Asirpa: My father. I don’t have any brothers, so my father always took me hunting. I like the mountains more than I like weaving at home. *sighs* Take my place. Chitatap means “something we carve together.” The “we” comes from the fact that we take turns chopping.

  • Saichi grabs the knife from Asirpa*

Asirpa: Say “chitatap” as you chop.

  • Saichi begins chopping up the meat with both his knife and Asirpa’s*

Saichi: Chitatap, chitatap, chitatap. Chitatap, chitatap, chitatap. Chitatap, chitatap, chitatap. Asirpa: Chitatap is only made from fresh kills. Saichi: Chitatap, chitatap, chitatap. Asirpa: You eat it raw, after all.

  • Asirpa grinds the meat in a bowl*

Asirpa: But you’re a rich and refined Sisam, so I’ll put it all into an ohau for you. Saichi: A meat version of fish ball soup, huh? Thanks.

  • Asirpa boils balls of squirrel meat in a pot*

Asirpa: The blood and bones went into the Chitatap, too. So the salt and broth tase will soak into it.

  • Saichi makes himself a bowl*

Saichi: Thanks for the meal.

  • Saichi places a piece in his mouth*

Saichi: Mm! It’s good! There’s no bad smell to the meat. It’s slightly sweet. And the tiny chopped bones in the soft meat give it a nice crunchy texture!

  • Asirpa raises and lowers the bowl of chitatap in front of herself*

Asirpa: Hinna, hinna. Saichi: What’s that? Asirpa: Words of thanks. We say them to the food. Saichi: Hinna.

  • Asirpa eats the chitatap*

Asirpa: Hinna, hinna. Saichi: Hinna, hinna.

  • Scene changes to later that night. Hyakunouske lays in a bundle of cloth on the snow*

Soldier: We found him on the riverside in the evening. Any later and he would’ve died of hypothermia.

  • Hyakunosuke’s face is shown to be swollen, with a blue tint*

Horseback Soldier: Someone attacked him in the mountains? Why was Private Ogata out in the mountains by himself?

  • Scene changes to the next day, as a tattooed man is caught in a kukuri trap*

Yoshitake: Kwah! Saichi: There’s the second one!

  • Scene changes to Saichi, Asirpa, and Yoshitake sitting by a campfire. Asirpa draws Yoshitake’s tattoos on a canvas, as his wrists are tied to a stick, which is tied to the tree above him*

Saichi: Did you run from the other prisoners after they tried to kill you, too? How many prisoners are there? Where were you supposed to meet Noppera-Bou’s friends? Did the trap crush his vocal chords? Yoshitake: Is that Ainu your pet?

  • Saichi grips Yoshitake’s face, as Yoshitake makes muffled noises*

Saichi: You want me to break your jaw so you really won’t be able to talk? Asirpa: Stop it, Sugimoto. I don’t care. I’m used to it.

  • Saichi lets go of Yoshitake’s face*

Saichi: There’s no need to be used to it. Asirpa: Sugimoto! Saichi: Huh? Asirpa: Look! A rabbit! Saichi: Where? I can’t see it. Asirpa: You can see the ears there, right? With black tips. Saichi: You’re right.

  • Saichi grabs his rifle and aims it at the rabbit*

Saichi: But it’s hidden, so I can’t hit it. I don’t want to just wound it. Asirpa: When a rabbit’s running around during the day, it’s because the weather is getting bad, and it needs to find a safe place. Let’s catch him and hide in the tent for today.

  • Yoshitake coughs up a small bundle of cloth, tied to his tooth*

Narrator: This man’s name with Shiraishi Yoshitake.

  • Yoshitake grabs the bundle with his foot, and undoes it to reveal a small blade*

Narrator: A master escape artist called “The Escape King.”

  • Yoshitake holds the blade in his foot and begins to cut the bindings around his wrists*

Asirpa: *roars*

  • Asirpa pounces on the rabbit. Asirpa holds the rabbit up by it’s feet*

Asirpa: Well, Sugimoto? I got it! Behind you! Saichi: Huh?

  • Saichi turns to find a freed Yoshitake running deeper into the forest*

Saichi: What? You’re kidding me!

  • Saichi runs after Yoshitake*

Asirpa: Sugimoto, don’t go too far! The weather! Saichi: You head to the tent, Asirpa! I’ll catch him! Asirpa: I want to eat this rabbit now, though.

  • Saichi runs to the edge of a cliff, looking down to find Yoshitake climbing down the side of it*

Saichi: You bastard…Get back up here! I’ll shoot you! Yoshitake: Go ahead, and do it! I don’t care if I get shot now or later!

  • Saichi and Yoshitake notice a loud noise*

Yoshitake: Eeh! Saichi: Gunshots?

  • Asirpa stands in the forest*

Asirpa: Nipusfum. Narrator: Nipusfum, in the language of the Ainu, means “The Sound of Splitting Trees.”

  • A wave of freezing cold air is shown propagating through the forest, cracking the trees*

Narrator: A brutal cold wave of -30 degrees Celsius causes a rapid drop in temperature, which causes the water contained with the trees to freeze, and the trunks to shatter. Saichi: Wait, damn it!

  • Saichi chases Yoshitake down a slope underneath the cliff. Saichi falls into the snow, down to his waist*

Yoshitake: Huh?

  • The slope around Saichi and Yoshitake begins to crack and fall through, as it is shown to be all snow underneath them. Saichi and Yoshitake fall into the river below*

Saichi and Yoshitake: Aah!

  • The wave of freezing cold air reaches the river. Saichi emerges from the river, shivering.*

Saichi: This is not good!

  • Yoshitake emerges from the river, shivering*

Saichi: This cold is too much! Yoshitake: My head feels like it’s splitting! Saichi: Fire! We need to start a fire, or we’ll die!

  • Saichi tries to light a match, but the tip of the match crumbles against the side of the box*

Saichi: It’s no good! Narrator: They have only ten minutes to take action to survive.

  • Yoshitake spins a log on the top of a tree trunk*

Yoshitake: Let’s rub wood together to start a fire… Narrator; Hypothermia results in muddle-headedness. Saichi: That’s not going to work, you moron! Yoshitake: … Narrator: Hypothermia results in an unconcerned expression. Saichi: Right! My gun! Where’s my gun?!

  • Saichi looks up to find his gun at the top of the slope they fall from*

Saichi: Ah. Is that it?

  • Saichi looks into a box that contained his bullets*

Saichi: I dropped all my bullets with gunpowder in them! Damn it! I’m not going to give up! I’m going to survive! I’m Immortal Sugimoto!

  • Saichi dives into the river*

Yoshitake: What are you doing? Saichi: You! If you don’t want to die, find the bullets that fell into the river! We should be able to use the gunpowder…inside! Yoshitake: We make a deal! I’ll help you, so let me live! Saichi: You can shove your deal up your ass! We’re both going to die! Yoshitake: Are you going to take the deal?! Well?! Saichi: Fine! Just get in the river and start looking for those damn bullets!

  • Yoshitake coughs up a wrapped bullet, tied to his tooth*

Saichi: Huh? Yoshitake: In case I ever need to shoot the lock off a jail cell. It’s so cold, I forgot.

  • Saichi places the bullet in between a cracked tree trunk, wrapped in fungus*

Saichi: Okay…all…ready!

  • Saichi slams a rock on the hilt of his knife, hitting the blade against the bullet, causing sparks to make smoke from the wrapped fungus. Saichi and Yoshitake frantically exhale on the smoking fungus, and it ignites into a fire, after they place firewood around it. Saichi and Yoshitake grab each other*

Saichi and Yoshitake: Heh!

  • Scene changes to later in the night, as Saichi and Yoshitake sit by the fire*

Yoshitake: There are 24 tattooed prisoners in all. Who knows how many are alive? As for Noppera-Bou’s friends, I really have no idea. The only one who knows is the leader of the prisoners, who lead the escape. Saichi: What’s he like? Yoshitake: I thought he was just some old man who was a political criminal. He was a quiet, model prisoner. But he had us all fooled.

  • Flashback shows Toshizo cutting a 7th division soldier across the chest with a sword*

Yoshitake: He stole a sword off one of the soldiers right in front of me…

  • Toshizo turns around and slashes the soldier behind him across the chest, before slashing a fleeing soldier across the back*

Yoshitake: …and in less than a second, three men were dead. I learned later that he was a survivor of the Hakodate War thirty years ago. A samurai from the old shogunate. What I was told was that he was supposed to have died during the Hakodate War. The Demon Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizo… Saichi: … Yoshitake: I’ll tell you one more thing. This is what Noppera-Bou told us prisoners. “Go to Otaru.” Saichi: Shiraishi, is that your name? Give up on the Ainu gold, and get out of Hokkaido. It’s not just the other prisoners and Noppera-Bou’s friends who are after the tattoos. The 7th Division, back from the Russo-Japanese War, is after them, too. Yoshitake: I’m the Escape King! No matter who catches me, I’ll escape like smoke. See you around, Immortal Sugimoto.

  • Scene changes to a house in Otaru*

Soldier: Lieutenant Tsurumi! Ogata’s woken up! Tokushiro: I see.

  • Tokushiro gets up from his chair. Tokushiro is revealed to have skin missing from the area around his eyes with a white plate covering his forehead*

Tokushiro: Then I guess I’ll pay him a visit.

  • Episode ends*

Episode Rating

Story & Pacing (9.2/10)

The narrative progresses at a brisk pace, seamlessly weaving together survival, combat, and mystery elements. The shift from tracking escaped prisoners to engaging in life-or-death battles against an unknown sniper and dealing with the brutal winter of Hokkaido keeps the tension high. The episode expertly balances multiple subplots while never losing sight of the core objective—finding the gold.

Characterization & Dialogue (9.5/10)

  • Sugimoto continues to shine, proving his tenacity and adaptability. His ability to survive extreme conditions while maintaining his wits makes him a formidable protagonist. His moral complexity, particularly regarding killing, remains a compelling aspect of his character.
  • Asirpa is given more development, highlighting her resourcefulness, wisdom, and unique worldview. Her scenes with Sugimoto continue to provide humor and cultural insight. The "Hinna, hinna" moment adds charm and character depth.
  • Ogata Hyakunosuke debuts in a terrifyingly efficient manner. His cold, calculating demeanor as a sniper makes him an immediate threat. The brief yet brutal duel with Sugimoto shows his skill.
  • Shiraishi Yoshitake, "The Escape King," adds some levity while also proving that he’s more than just comic relief. His survival instincts and adaptability make him an interesting wildcard.
  • Tsurumi Tokushiro is introduced in a chilling fashion, with his disfigured face and eerie demeanor. His mere presence suggests that the 7th Division will be a major and dangerous force in the story.

Action & Visual Storytelling (9.4/10)

  • The ambush sequence is particularly intense, with Sugimoto and Asirpa forced into a tactical standoff against Ogata. The kukuri traps being used against both Kanjiro and Ogata showcase creative and intelligent combat tactics rather than just brute force.
  • The hand-to-hand fight between Sugimoto and Ogata is thrilling, showing the difference in their fighting styles—Sugimoto’s raw, instinctive power versus Ogata’s surgical precision.
  • The hypothermia sequence is excellent survival storytelling, accurately depicting the desperation of trying to start a fire in freezing conditions.
  • The flashback to Hijikata Toshizo’s sword skills is a chilling reminder that the old world of the samurai still has some bite in this new Meiji era.

Worldbuilding (9.6/10)

  • The Ezo squirrel hunting scene and Asirpa’s culinary traditions continue to ground the story in authentic Ainu culture.
  • The explanation of the 7th Division’s history and reputation adds more depth to the military’s involvement.
  • The introduction of Otaru as a bustling city gives a sense of scale and contrast to the wilderness-heavy setting so far.

Themes & Symbolism (9.3/10)

  • "The weak get eaten" is a recurring theme, as we see in both the survivalist aspects and the moral dilemmas about killing prisoners.
  • Man vs. Nature is a core struggle, with the hypothermia scene emphasizing how unforgiving Hokkaido can be.
  • The contrast between Sugimoto’s battle-hardened pragmatism and Asirpa’s cultural perspective on death and morality adds depth to their growing relationship.

Final Verdict: 9.3/10 – An Outstanding Episode

  • Tense action sequences
  • Strong character development
  • Rich worldbuilding with authentic cultural details
  • Introduction of multiple compelling new characters

This episode is even stronger than the first, expanding the stakes while maintaining the intensity, charm, and intelligence that make Golden Kamuy stand out.