Golden Kamuy

I have not read the manga or seen the anime series so this was my first experience. The pace of the movie was good and does not feel slow. It has the difficult task of introducing so many characters but by the end you end up understanding pretty much everyone's motivation for finding the gold. The acting was matured and spot-on and does not feel very cartoonish. I would have liked the action to be a bit more innovative, but for now it will do. Anna Yamada does a good job in portraying her character, who is still a bit naive to the outside world. Kento Yamazaki plays the ruffian protagonist to perfection, but also does a great job in where he has to some emotional depth. Yuma Yamoto's portrayal of the slightly crazy Shiraishi is great, and I would love to see some more depth in his character development in the later parts. But I think Hiroshi Tamaki steals the show as the deranged officer Tokushiro Tsurumi. You can see the menace in his eyes and expressions.

I watched this adaptation familiar with the storyline of the anime version, which was one of my favorites. Storywise, they did a good job condensing the first few episodes from the first season of the anime into this movie. Actionwise, it was pretty solid and good. I still thought Kento Yamazaki was miscast as our main protagonist, Sugimoto. But Anna Yamada, as Asirpa, was fantastic! I loved her performance here. Like seeing an anime character brought to life. They capture the spectacular natural landscape of Hokkaido really well. From clusters of trees in open fields to winter wonderland landscapes that were full of snow, mountainous craggy cliffs, and majestic blue skies, it was beautiful. The portrayal of the Ainu tribe was also very spot-on. At first, I was afraid they couldn't recapture the funny and unhinged comedy from the anime because, personally, I thought the comedy was pretty hard to reimagine in live action format, but I was wrong. It's still funny even in the live action version. The story in the movie was only the beginning of the prologue to something much bigger. I can't wait for more because the sequel is coming and it's in series format. The craziest part is yet to come!

You first have to understand that this is an adaptation of a manga that's easily long enough to make 3-5 movies and which already has an anime adaptation that no doubt influenced the movie. So, yes, it's a bit of a live-action cartoon. Also, it's Japanese so don't expect Hollywood-level special effects but, even still, they did a pretty good job with the bears, Retarr, etc.

Most of the casting is great, costumes are on point, scenery is excellent. The scenes inside Abashiri prison look like they were probably shot on-location. It's a museum now, you can go there next time you're in Hokkaido (pick up a few bottles of Abashiri Prison Stout from the gift shop and thank me later).

I was worried that they'd try to condense the whole long story down to fit into movie length which would really ruin it. I'm very glad to see they haven't done that which means they're hoping to film a series of these. Hopefully they will but, if not, there's still the excellent anime series.

From the actor's performance to the scenery to the outfits everything was so well considered taking into account the manga and the anime. I think a better job for an anime adaptation has not been made in such great detail. Being a big fan of the manga and anime, my hopes were low for the live action, but I was proved wrong and rightfully so. They also gave great detail to making the set exactly like the story, from the jail to Asirpa's house and so on. Not to mention they followed the story so well, not leaving anything out and putting in parts that even the anime didn't incorporate. The actor's interpretation was really good. Truly an amazing job I cannot wait for the second movie!

The Golden Kamui manga should make for an amazing quasi-western. It's got the frontier setting, with war vets seeking their fortunes, native peoples in the mix and swords and guns determining survival and justice. In other words, it has everything a great western needs.

Unfortunately the great story is wasted by terrible direction and an average style. Instead of a cool, stylized western, we get a run-of-the-mill, fit-for-tv drama. This isn't surprising considering the directors less-than-impressive library (a bunch of high-low movies). What's worse, the costumes look like bad cosplay. And the actors look straight out of the make-up room, too clean and pretty for their situations. The final product looks and feels so corny. Where's the grit? Where's the style?

Oh well. I'm going to go rewatch the old Abashiri prison movies to get this bad taste out of my mouth.