Golden Kamuy (ゴールデンカムイ)

Bitter.

We're gonna starve down here.

If I gotta take a bite out of a Russian's white ass

to stay alive, I'll do it. I am not gonna die.

Ready, Men? Charge!

C'mon!

Just try and kill me!

-- Die! --

I'm the Immortal Sugimoto!

Hey, c'mon, pal. I'm talkin' to you here.

Saichi Sugimoto, can you hear me?

You just got back from the war with Russia, right?

So why the hell are you here?

I heard you were so tough

they called you the Immortal Sugimoto.

Never woulda guessed an easygoing guy like you

was such a monster. They say you clawed your way up from the pits

of hell, leaving a mountain of corpses in your wake.

Bayonets, machine guns, even cannonballs couldn't kill you.

So, let's hear it. That true or what?

I'm just sayin' it's fishy.

If you did all that stuff, they'd give you a medal or

a pension or some crap, but here ya are lookin' for gold.

Yeah, well, I got pissed off and beat the crap

out of a superior officer,

so they weren't feeling too charitable.

Well, that's a shame!

Y'know. I got an interesting story, too.

It's about gold, so it'll probably tickle your fancy.

Now you keep this one between us.

I'm only lettin' you in on the secret 'cause I like ya, kiddo.

Back in the day, you could find gold all over Hokkaido.

Their riverbanks had pieces as big as soybeans.

People were comin' back with 30 monme worth of the stuff,

day after day. That's what I call a "gold rush," my friend.

Around that time, some Ainu were storing up tons of this gold

to fight the Japanese, who were still oppressing

them even after the Meiji restoration,

forbidding them from hunting and fishing,

and stealing their land.

Ha,ha. Hell, 'least they were rich, right?

And then one man stole it all.

Killed every last Ainu guardin' it, the maniac.

Twenty kan in solid gold! That's enough to buy

every brothel in Otaru, with plenty to spare!

Anyway, the police caught wind of the story,

and the killer had to hide the gold in Hokkaido.

And then he got caught before he could tell anyone

where he stashed his treasure.

They threw him into Abashiri Prison,

at the ends of the earth, sentenced to death.

He wanted to tell his comrades on the outside

where the gold was, but he never wrote a letter.

The guards would probably just steal it you see.

He knew everyone was looking for this gold.

Those guards tried every trick in the book,

but they couldn't get a word outta the man.

In the end, one of the guards turned out to be

a real sick bastard. Just to make sure the man

wouldn't escape, he cut a tendon in his leg!

What would you do, if that hidden gold was yours?

If you were locked up in most heavily-guarded prison

in Japan, how would you get a message out with all those

guards breathin' down your neck?

What'd he do? Just tell me.

He hid the message on a body... Or bodies.

He tattooed the flesh of cellmates with a code

that revealed the location of the treasure.

He mixed coal with saliva.

And with a makeshift needle, he formed a map across their

skin that only his friends on the outside could understand.

When it was over, he had only one thing to say.

"I've given you the answer, now break out of this prison

and half the gold is yours."

That doesn't make sense.

Just send a coded letter with them.

Tattoos are too conspicuous.

That's what you think.

It wasn't until later they understood the truth

behind the tattoos.

They're all unique, so you can't crack the code

unless you had all of 'em together.

Some disreputable soldiers heard the rumors

about the tattoos and had the prison hand over

the inmates, sayin' they needed a transfer.

The military wanted that gold, too.

But that was the prisoners chance to escape.

They knew someone would get greedy,

and take all of them out of the prison,

thinkin' that they could figure out the code.

As you might guess, the criminals killed all the guards,

and disappeared into the woods.

Then what?

I dunno.

So nobody found the prisoners or the gold?

Nope. That's the end of the story. Pretty crazy, huh?

All a' that gold, just out there waiting. Real pity.

You seem to know an awful lot about this.

Who told you the story?

Another one of your tall tales.

Like that Ezo wolf you said you saw. They all died out.

It's been years now.

I'm freezing.

Saichi, you should come with me.

There's still plenty of gold to be found in Hokkaido.

You don't have anything tying you down, right?

I need to try and make money for my family.

Umeko. She loses more of her eyesight every day.

There's no time.

It makes me sad to think about her not being able to see

her child grow up.

I have to try, Saichi.

Yeah, I know.

They say America has the best eye doctors in the world.

I did the math.

The ship passage and the operation would cost

about 200 yen.

That's a lot, but one lucky day of panning for gold and I'm set.

Once this war's over, our relations with America

are probably going to get worse. There's no time.

Saichi, please take care of Umeko.

Nobody will want to marry a woman with failing vision.

Not with a child, too.

You're my best friend. I'm begging you.

Don't say that. It'll work out, Toraji.

I can't go back with you. I'm sorry.

Wait! No!

You're family's waiting for you, damn it! Toraji!

Stop!

Aw. Crap. It ain't your fault, but I said too much.

Go ahead and try. Let's see if I'm immortal or not.

All right. Now we're locked and loaded.

I'll be damned.

That crazy story of his might not be so crazy after all.

He already came after me once.

If I let him go, he might do it again. It's kill or be killed.

-- --

Okay, that's weird.

What happened? Why are you buried like that?

A brown bear.

It took one bite and buried the rest for later.

His neck was broken.

The thing killed him before he could even scream.

Some luck. Oh well.

Wait. What the...?

Is that what I think it is? No way.

A tattoo. You were one of the prisoners all along.

That about settles it, then.

No wonder that old drunk knew so much about the gold.

So, this is the treasure map, huh?

Or at least a piece of it.

Better get moving.

I can't leave him out here.

When that bear comes back, it'll eat him for dinner.

That means no more tattoo.

-- --

A bear cub? It's alone? No, hold on.

That means the mother must be...

Huh?

I'm screwed.

Move away.

The poison I used is made from red stingray spine and

wolfsbane root, so it acts fast, but the bear can still lash out.

That girl... She's an Ainu.

Is it dead?

Its hairs aren't standing on end anymore, so yes.

What're you doing?

Cutting out the part where the poison arrow hit.

Otherwise, the poison will spoil the meat and the fur.

He was killed?

Uh, yeah. He was gutted and buried in the snow.

The mother bear ate his insides.

Mother bear?

There was a cub in a tree and she burst out of a hole

over there to protect it.

That's not right.

Huh?

When a bear first comes out of hibernation,

its stomach is shrunken, so it can't eat yet.

Even if it did attack a human to protect its cub,

it couldn't eat them. Look. The stomach is empty.

So, you're saying he was attacked by a different bear?

It's a " matakarip ".

It means "those who wander in the winter".

If it ate meat, then it has to be one.

They're bears who missed hibernation.

Very aggressive.

What are you going to do with that man's body?

I'm not sure. Take him to a town?

Bad idea. A matakarip won't give up so easily,