Golden Kamuy

Sugimoto Saichi, called "Immortal Saichi" for his incredible powers of survival, is panning for gold in the far north when he hears a story about buried treasure, hidden by a death row inmate. He decides to go after the treasure, but it will be a journey far longer and far more dangerous than he'd ever imagined...

Saichi and Asirpa head to Otaru, the largest town in the area, in seach of the tattooed prisoners. They quickly find out that they're not the only ones after the treasure. The army is looking for it too! Saichi has to face off against a deadly sniper, and a horrible cold front is setting in too...

While hunting for food, Sugimoto and Asirpa are seen and pursued by four 7th Division soldiers. They split up, and one soldier finds Asirpa, but she is saved by the wolf Retar. Sugimoto is also caught but dives into a nearby bear's cave. When a soldier shoots into the cave, the bear charges out and kills them, but it also dies from its wounds. Meanwhile, Asirpa stops Retar, the last Horkew Kamuy, from killing the soldier who caught her. Sugimoto and Asirpa then travel to Asirpa's village, taking with them the baby bear that Sugimoto rescued from the cave. While staying at the village, Sugimoto learns much about Ainu culture. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Tsurumi leads a search party for the four missing soldiers. When reprimanded by Captain Wada for wasting resources, he bites a finger off the captain's hand. When the captain orders Tsurumi shot, a soldier shoots the captain instead. Meanwhile, in a brothel in Otaru, Hijikata Toshizō ambushes the tattooed Ushiyama the Undefeated and then offers to work with to him collect the other tattoos by making copies, and stealing the tattooed skins already collected by the 7th Division.

While fishing for sculpin with Asirpa, Sugimoto meets her uncle who tells him that the gold is cursed as it was taken from their sacred rivers, protected by the goddess of water. Sugimoto spends more time in the village, becoming acquainted with the Ainu and their culture. Asirpa’s uncle tells him the story of how Retar became Asirpa's loyal friend, but not her pet. Sugimoto leaves the village and returns to Otaru alone where he finds out about the incident with Ushiyama in the brothel. However, after a fierce fight with troops, he is captured by Lieutenant Tsurumi who calls himself Sugimoto's Grim Reaper. Tsurumi accuses him of being the one who beat up Private Ogata, but although Sugimoto denies that he is "Immortal" Sugimoto, Tsurumi doesn't believe him. Tsurumi's intention is to use the gold to buy weapons to take Hokkaido back from the Japanese Army. Meanwhile, Asirpa and Retar track Sugimoto to Otaru where she finds Shiraishi who tells her that the 7th Division has Sugimoto prisoner. Inside the headquarters, Sugimoto attacks the two soldiers he fought with earlier, twins who plan to torture him.

Shiraishi takes Asirpa to the 7th Division headquarters to rescue Sugimoto. Meanwhile, Sugimoto is being beaten up by the twin soldiers, but he is saved by Tsurumi's intervention. Later, Shiraishi breaks into Sugimoto's cell, freeing him, so that when one of the twins returns to kill him, Sugimoto kills him first. Sugimoto then feigns a stomach injury and is sent to the hospital, but he uses the opportunity to escape. He is pursued by Tsurumi, but after Asirpa shoots Tsurumi's horse, he allows Sugimoto to escape, calculating that Sugimoto can collect the tattoos more efficiently. Back at the headquarters Shiraishi, disguised as a soldier, realizes that he couldn't find the tattooed skin because Tsurumi was wearing it underneath his jacket. Sugimoto contritely returns to the village where Asirpa gives him a mighty thump. Meanwhile, Hijikata buys weapons and goes with Nagakura Shinpachi to meet Shibukawa Zenjirō a bandit leader, and form an alliance. However, Shibukawa refuses and attacks instead, and he and all of his men are wiped out. Later, while hunting deer, Asirpa and Sugimoto come across the tracks of two men with a dog. One is the famous bear hunter, Tetsuzō Nihei and the other is Tanagaki, a Matagi soldier.

猟師の魂

After killing a bear, Tetsuzō Nihei tells Tanagaki that he wants to hunt the last wolf. Meanwhile Asirpa and Sugimoto track their wounded deer and find it the next day. However, at the last moment, Sugimoto freezes and cannot fire his rifle and shoots wildly as the deer hits him, but the wolf Retar brings it down. Retar detects the other hunters, so Asirpa and Sugimoto leave, taking what meat they can. Nihei and Tanagaki hear the shot, and after they find the dead deer and wolf tracks, they then prepare to hunt the wolf. When Asirpa and Sugimoto return to their camp, Shiraishi is waiting. He has news that tattooed prisoner named Nihei with an Ainu dog has been seen in Otaru. As the hunters wait for the wolf, Asirpa, Sugimoto, and Shiraishi track the hunters. Sugimoto ambushes Nihei, but his dog deflects Sugimoto's rifle and Nihei counterattacks which results in a bloody confrontation.