This is a real big one for me personally, and that is that a lot of what happens in Golden Kamuy is based in reality. There was a Russo-Japanese war around the time that this series was set in, there were real rumors of a gold rush in Hokkaido, and there were deadly criminals shipped to Hokkaido. In fact, many characters, not all, but many are based on real people who existed in this time. It creates a fantastically bewitching tale due to being based in reality heavily, and the fact that it’s not another sengoku jidai anime or a twisted history anime. While some are good, there are plenty of poor ones that are not as good or are just riddled with bizarre setups with real historical figures that do not make sense. That is probably why this series stands out so much.

Something that Golden Kamuy does right, is that it does not mock the culture of the Ainu as presented in the series. Anime, and Japan too, love to play the ignorance card as if the internet hasn’t been at their hands for more than two, almost three, decades. Often culture and foreign things are quick to be mocked. In this one, the Ainu are not only represented correctly and accurately, their language and more are presented, and accurate at that. The Ainu have been treated very cruelly at the hands of the Japanese government throughout time and weren’t even recognized as real indigenous people of Japan–which they are despite what old talking heads in Tokyo may claim–until almost 2008. So to see their culture displayed respectfully and accurately really makes this show fantastic. It’s not about being PC, it’s about being inclusive, respectful, and giving people the dignity they deserve. That is why we like this anime so much.

Oftentimes, anime has this problem where it will put its hands in too many genres in order to make itself appealing while failing to secure the base it originally set out to capture with its story. Golden Kamuy balances Action, Comedy, History, and Adventure, like it is nothing. The series transitions so smoothly between them that it feels so great and it’s almost disarming when you move from one to the other due to how well the story does it. We could be watching them cook one minute, while someone cracks a joke about how someone isn’t saying “Hinna Hinna,” everyone laughs, and then we are moving forward on our journey into the face of danger. It just works with Golden Kamuy