Golden Kamui is a pretty seemless attempt to recreate the American Western genre. At first, calling ti a western seems strange. The only settings westerns are common are the eponymous American west, and occasionally in fictional settings. But, the creator of GK successfully found a place in Japanese history where the genre fits beautifully.

Think about it. The story follows a legedary ex-soldier on a quest for a hidden stache of gold that requires gunning his way through corrupt soldiers and a dangerous outlaws. To help him, a native of the region joins his quest and helps him learn to survive the rugged undeveloped natural world. The more you look at this story, the more it's clear that it is the exact definition of a Western.The onyl reason it's hard to notice is that the work on this series is so steeped in Hokkaido and the early 20th century that thinking about it as a reproduction of a foreign type of genre fiction is hard to detect. With it's historical fiction sensibilities and it's intensely Japanese setting, that makes it a deeply unique western.

I'm a sucker for novelty. This isn't the greatest manga ever made. But, it's a different take on something I thought I was comfortable with, and that's worth a round of applause.

I am not quite sold yet and his previous hokey manga may be a bit better but the scenario is fresh enough for a manga (but not for European comics) so i will wait it out for a bit. The leading "coupe" have a highly weird comedy dynamic and the series features a strange mix of quirky comedy / high octane gore. I am a born Russian btw. and recommend Akira Kurosawa´s Dersu Uzala to study up the themes of this narrative.

History of any kind is not my favorite, but there are a few manga in that genre that have stood out to me. This is definitely one of the better manga I've read, but brutal, again not my cup of tea, but an amazingly well balanced story in my opinion. Im actually excited for history..... This is strange xD.

... Last updated on January 24th, 2016, 6:10pm

It is like some sort of Ainu version of Otoyomegatari plus some sort of Gold Rush setting, just brilliant, I've read about the Ainu before and also about the Russo Japanese War but this manga gave some new terminology to search about to improve my knowledge.

Interesting story, educational and brutal, while tender at times, it has a strange humor regarding food xD... no wonder it is a nominee for the current Taisho Awards in 2016.