Golden Kamuy Episode 12 (Final) Review: Trickster Fox

Season finale, dayum. I’m really sad to see this anime go. This last episode set the ground with a pretty compelling character and some good laughs to remember.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 誑かす狐

Plot

Quick summary. Ushiyama and Ienaga are alive, and perhaps dating. Who knows. There is nothing this anime could do that would surprise me at this point. But yeah, I do hope they’re dating. They’re a cute couple and Ushiyama was so keen on putting the croissant in the muffin, if you get my culinary drift, oh yeah.

The episode is off to a nice violent start with good OLD Hijikata (I will never, ever be able to learn all these names, I swear. I can hardly remember my own) cutting off some young person’s hand and warning them that any old people alive after a huge war are PROBABLY some really bad-ass motherfuckers, having survived that shit. And he is so right; I never thought of it this way. Just now, tons of images of old people dying at war in film flashed through my eyes. How horrible.

In the meantime, our protagonists are roaming the land looking to couch-surf with some of the local Ainu, who just happen to be hosting a fortune teller going by the name of Inkaramat, who is as weird as she is hot. I would totally ship her with anyone, really, everyone at the same time, I don’t care, just give me some action. Her outfit and makeup are also ridiculously F A B.

This fortune teller lady is really good at fortune-telling by throwing fox skulls around and Shiraishi has this genius idea of taking her to the horse races so she can help him win some monayyy. And so she does, all while selling him stupid amulets and making some cash out of him.

The rest of the group join them and Kironake (also too shippable to function) is asked to ride a horse and make it lose so that some Yakuza dude can make some monayyy. He, being a horse lover, tricks everyone, abd asks Shiraishi to put his money on his horse and sets off.

And that is where the magic of this episode happens: Inkaramat, gives a false prediction to Shiraishi, who hands her all his money to buy tickets. Asirpa tries to stop her, but after some emotional blackmail, she disappears, throwing all the newly bought tickets to her face. And the tickets are all for Kironake’s horse. WHAT’S UP WITH THAT.

Episode Highlights

Fortune telling intentions: I’m not sure how she operates, but there’s something so eerie about Inkaramat (apart from the fact that she’s super hot. I so wanna do my makeup like she does). Not only can she read the future (or can she?) but also she somehow seems to be interested in encouraging Asirpa to meet her father even though she doesn’t wanna let it show. HMMM.

Ignoring Shiraishi: Well yeah, he does deserve it. I used to feel a bit sorry for the old slimeball, but during the last few episodes, he has been a traitor and majorly useless. The only thing he offers to the team is the fact that he cannot be tied down. No, seriously. Apart from that, he is a waste of space. And monayyy.

Such horrible animal abuse: Where do I begin? Asipa’s trap that lets poor foxes suffer to their death? At least this is one that is somehow historically related to survival… The poor horses though and what they are going through before the races… So, so horrible.

Themes & Trivia

Freaks, Perfect Blue reference?: One of the two or maybe both. That ‘I build a gambling thing’ ugly guy who gets no screen time whatsoever is like a character from both. Those distant frog-like blurry eyes like rotting fish, ewewew.

Yuubari: Yūbari is a city located in Sorachi Subprefecture in Hokkaido. The city is famous for the Yubari Melon and the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, which skipped a show in 2006 due to the city’s financial crisis. Not sure why but I found this funny.

Cool story bro

If I could read the future, I’d probably tell you that the 2nd season is coming up in OCTOBER!!! And I’m totally looking forward to it. Out of the many anime I’ve reviewed, Golden Kamuy was one of the most enjoyable. Please, make it look a tiny bit more polished in the next season, and I will be so, so, sooo happy.

What did you think of the last Golden Kamuy episode of this season? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Spring 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!