Hinna, hinna! The Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date for the restart of the broadcast is confirmed for April 3, 2023, the Spring 2023 anime season.
The anime production committee had Golden Kamuy Season 4 delayed into 2023 due to the unexpected death of a main staff member on the animation production team.
The 4th season originally began airing on October 3, 2022, and the fourth season’s finale, Golden Kamuy Season 4 Episode 13, was originally intended to release on December 26, 2022. But then the Golden Kamuy Season 4 Episode 7 release date was delayed indefinitely due to the death of an indispensable main staff member on November 1, 2022.
Rather than completely stopping the Fall 2022 TV broadcast, the Golden Kamuy Production Committee decided to re-broadcast the first 6 episodes alongside OAD 1. The broadcast of the fourth season will restart in April 2023 beginning with Golden Kamuy Episode 37 (Golden Kamuy Season 4 Episode 1).
Crunchyroll’s Golden Kamuy Season 4 English dub release date was on October 17, 2022. Presumably, the English dubbing will resume in Spring 2023.
Golden Kamuy Season 4 will have 13 episodes in total released as three Blu-Ray/DVD volumes. Each volume includes the short anime episodes called Golden Travelogue Theater. The release of the BD/DVD volumes was also delayed by the unexpected death to July 26, 2023, August 30, 2023, and September 27, 2023, respectively.
Since the fourth season was only one cour the anime TV series will need a sequel to complete the story from the Golden Kamuy manga’s ending (please see the manga comparison section below for more details).
A single cour TV season is not enough episodes to adapt the remainder of the Golden Kamuy manga unless the story is heavily condensed. As such, fans should expect to watch the Golden Kamuy Season 5 anime TV show in the future.
Anime fans hungry for more episodes have been asking for a long time about when Golden Kamuy Season 4 will be released. The announcement of the Fall 2022 time frame was made on the magazine cover of Weekly Young Jump Issue 18, 2022.
The exact Golden Kamuy Season 4 premiere date was initially revealed by the second preview trailer.
The Golden Kamuy Season 4 anime will feature the “Immortal” Saichi Sugimoto and Asirpa journeying through Karafuto back to Hokkaido after they’re reunited. The Ainu girl recovered her memories and now she holds the key everyone is desperately seeking.
During Anime Japan 2022 on March 27, 2022, a new Golden Kamuy Season 4 trailer preview was released.
The initial announcement of Golden Kamuy 4 officially took place during a special event held on Sunday, December 5, 2021. The Golden Kamuy special event featured the main anime cast meeting together for a presentation at Kawaguchi Comprehensive Cultural Center Lilia in Saitama.
On August 5, 2022, it was announced that Kenyu Horiuchi, the voice behind Re: ZERO -Starting Life in Another World’s Wilhelm van Astrea, is joining the cast of Golden Kamuy Season 4. Horiuchi will voice Warrant Officer Kikuta, a member of the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army.
On August 12, 2022, announced that Masaaki Mizunaka, the voice behind Kakeru Ryuuen in Classroom of the Elite, was also joining the Golden Kamuy Season 4 cast.
On August 19, 2022, it was announced that Tomokazu Seki, the voice behind One Piece Film: Gold’s Rob Lucci, will voice Bōtarō the Pirate (Kaizoku Bōtarō).
Ahead of the December 2021 event, anime news leaker SPY teased the Golden Kamuy Season 4 announcement since they tweeted, “Golden Kamuy!!!! Stay tuned.”
When Anime Japan 2022 began making its announcements on March 26, 2022, anime news leaker Sugoi LITE leaked the cover of the Young Jump magazine that revealed the time frame for the Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date in Fall 2022.
This information was also announced at the “Golden Kamuy New Information Lifting Stage” event at 1 PM JST (midnight EST) on March 27, 2022. The main cast was featured.
The big surprise was actually that Golden Kamuy Season 4 will be animated by a completely different Japanese animation studio! Brain’s Base will be taking over from Geno Studio from hereon.
Geno Studio was founded in late 2015. They’re a complete subsidiary of Twin Engine, and they’re mostly known for animating the Golden Kamuy anime.
When the studio change announcement was made, anime news leaker Sugoi LITE pointed out, “A possible explanation for why Geno Studio [is] no longer in charge of Golden Kamuy animation while [the] Production Committee stays consistent is (very likely) they’re working on another Big Anime Project.” In 2021 and 2022, the only notable projects produced by Geno Studio were one episode in Star Wars: Visions and the Shine On! Bakumatsu Bady Boys anime which came out in Summer 2022.
Studio Brain’s Base is best known for anime like the 2010 Durarara!!, the 2013 Blood Lad anime, the first season of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Spice and Wolf Season 2, Crunchyroll’s In/Spectre anime, and To Your Eternity.
In/Spectre Season 2 anime confirmed to be in production by Crunchyroll. The To Your Eternity Season 2 anime is also in production.
We already knew for certain that the intention was to keep producing more Golden Kamuy anime seasons so that’s why a studio change is a surprise. The day the third season ended, the Season 3 director tweeted about how difficult it was to decide how to end the third season.
He says it can be considered the reunion of Sugimoto and Asirpa, but Geno Studio purposefully left an opening for the fourth season.
“I ended the last part of [Golden Kamuy] Episode 36 with the intention of continuing,” he tweeted. “It would be nice if the 4th season was decided.”
Sugimoto voice actor Chikahiro Kobayashi and Asirpa voice actress Haruka Shiraishi had both previously tweeted about hoping to meet again for doing Golden Kamuy 4.
The main staff for creating the fourth season at Studio Brain’s Base includes some returning names. Before the fourth season, the staff had remained the same.
Director Hitoshi Nanba (Fate/Grand Order) is being replaced by Chief Director Shizutaka Sugahara (Grimms Notes). Series composition and scriptwriter Noboru Takagi (Attack On Titan, Durarara!!, Hell Girl, In/Spectre) is returning.
Artist Kenichi Ohnuki (My Hero Academia) is replaced by Takumi Yamakawa (the animation director for 5 episodes of To Your Eternity Season 2).
Music composer Kenichiro Suehiro (Cells At Work, Darwin’s Game, Fire Force, Goblin Slayer, Re:ZERO Starting Life in Another World) also returned to create the music.
The third season’s opening (OP) theme song music was “Grey” as performed by Fomare, while the ending (ED) was “Melted Snow (Yusetsu)” by The Sixth Lie.
The Golden Kamuy Season 4 OP “NEVER SAY GOODBYE feat. Mummy-D” will be performed by ALI, while the ED “Subete ga Soko ni Arimasu Yo ni.” will be performed by THE SPELLBOUND.
FUNimation’s Golden Kamuy Season 3 English dub was released as a SimulDub during the Fall 2020 season. Crunchyroll was streaming the English subtitles version the same day as Japan.
The third season’s finale, Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 12, was released on December 21, 2020.
- Updated December 9, 2022: Added Golden Kamuy Season 4 restart and BD schedule info.
- Updated October 3, 2022: Added total episode count and BD/DVD details. Added OP/ED video trailers.
- Updated September 16, 2022: Added key visual.
- Updated September 3, 2022: Exact Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date confirmed. Added new trailer PV and OP/ED info.
- Updated August 19, 2022: Botaro Golden Kamuy Season 4 cast.
Updated August 12, 2022: Golden Kamuy S4 cast updated again.
Updated August 5, 2022: Golden Kamuy S4 cast updated.
Updated April 6, 2022: Golden Kamuy manga ending in April 2022.
Updated March 25, 2022: Added Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date time frame.
- Updated December 5, 2021: Golden Kamuy Season 4, studio , and main staff confirmed!
- Updated May 11, 2021: Added Golden Kamuy climax announcement for manga series.
- Updated December 21, 2020: Added Golden Kamuy Season 4 Twitter comments by staff/cast.
This article provides everything that is known about Golden Kamuy Season 4 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Why the Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date is in October 2022
While the Golden Kamuy anime series hasn’t been overly popular internationally, it has been quite a sensation in Japan. In fact, a Golden Kamuy crossover with Spider-Man was used to promote the Spider-Man movie to the Japanese!
As of the release of Golden Kamuy Volume 18, the manga series had sold over 10 million copies. By September 2020, the Golden Kamuy manga series had sold 14 million copies, and by December 2021 it was up to 18 million copies in circulation.
Although streaming revenue is now the largest factor for financial success in the anime industry, the Golden Kamuy Blu-Ray and DVD sales have been good. The first two seasons both sold around 3,800 copies in their first week. The third season’s first Blu-ray/DVD volume went on sale in Japan on January 29, 2021, selling 3,402 copies in its first week.
Arguably, the anime has been consistently successful to the point that it’s not a surprise that the anime production committee greenlit Golden Kamuy Season 4 for production. The manga currently has enough chapters for a fourth season and even a Golden Kamuy: Final Season (see the manga comparison section below for more details).
Director Hitoshi Nanba had indicated in 2020 that the Golden Kamuy Season 4 production decision hadn’t been made yet. If the studio scheduling had remained about the same, we could have expected the Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date to be in fall 2021.
But since the production decision involved a studio change anime fans needed to wait until at least late 2022 since anime productions are scheduled years in advance.
On the plus side, the weekly manga had a chance to get further ahead of the anime. In the past, when the second season’s finale aired the anime was almost caught up to the anime. Therefore, the wait for Golden Kamuy Season 5 could be a little shorter.
The Golden Kamuy manga was originally planned to be a historical hunting story
Golden Kamuy may be an epic action anime, but it’s not necessarily a story of good versus evil. The interesting characters all have their own competing motivations for their actions and the plot always keeps audiences guessing what may happen next.
The intensity is balanced out by crazy comedy, history, Ainu culture moments, and the occasional step into Food Wars! territory. Thoroughly underrated, the catchphrase is “a Western where you never know what you’ll get” and it could be argued it’s a Tarantino-style movie in the form of an anime.
The story for the anime series is based on the Golden Kamuy manga by Satoru Noda. Believe it or not, the original inspiration was to create a Food Wars!-esque hunting manga that featured a soldier returning from the Russo-Japanese War to the Hokkaido region.
Oddly enough, Noda doesn’t like reading cooking manga. But as a creator, he takes his art seriously so he endeavored to properly research to ensure the cooking scenes were done properly.
According to interviews, Sugimoto Saichi is actually named after Noda’s great-grandfather, who severed as a tondenhei (farmer-soldier) during the war. But the character model for Sugimoto was Funasaka Hiroshi, a man who survived the blast from a hand grenade.
Noda’s managing editor introduced him to a novel about hunting set in Hokkaido and the rest was history.
“I think ‘hunting’ includes everything from catching an animal and eating the meat, using the fur and bone to make daily goods, to selling the goods to get money. So the depiction of food was naturally part of it,” he explained. “But if it’s only about hunting, I would quickly run out of materials, so I decided to throw in various other elements.”
The clash between Japanese and Ainu culture is a pivotal part of the series. Noda had known about the Ainu culture since he was a child and had always found them fascinating.
While it’s a delicate subject due to the history of persecution and discrimination, Noda felt that if he created an Ainu-themed manga that was “cheerful and interesting” then it’d become popular.
When he was doing his year of research, the Ainu people also told Noda, “’Don’t make Ainu pathetic beings, and draw strong Ainu.’ I always try to depict characters fairly and carefully to render (the way Ainu people lived) as faithfully as possible.”
Like many of his characters, Noda is something of an odd duck. He’s tried eating many things, including badger’s brains, which are supposedly hinna-hinna. When the characters react to different foods, their reaction is usually based on how Noda himself reacted.
But it’s not just the weird foods that make this creator a little odd. Noda seriously once said in an interview that his favorite scent is “cat’s balls” and that Marilyn Manson was his favorite imaginary creature.
He also claimed that if he was forced to spend 1 million yen in a single day then he’d buy “penis enlargement surgery that’s worth 1 million yen.” Noda does not consider himself evil, but he admits he’s the type of guy who will walk his dog and not clean up the osoma.
Golden Kamuy manga ending in 2022 – Story entered climax phase in May 2021
The manga has been serialized weekly in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine since August 2014. The manga series is up to Volume 29 as of April 19, 2022. The Golden Kamuy Volume 30 release date was on June 17, 2022, and the Golden Kamuy manga’s ending in Volume 31 was released on July 19, 2022.
VIZ Media is publishing the official English translation of the Golden Kamuy manga series. The English manga was up to Volume 26 as of May 2022, with Volume 27 scheduled to be released on September 20, 2022.
According to Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine, the manga series by creator Satoru Noda entered its climax phase with the May 2021 release of Golden Kamuy Chapter 277: Operation Defend Hanazawa Yuusaku’s Virginity.
Golden Kamuy Chapter 314 finished the entire story on April 28, 2022.
Golden Kamuy manga compared to the anime
Many manga fans have complained that the anime has made a hash of the manga based on the way the story was adapted. Geno Studio condensed the story by skipping some chapters and certain scenes in order for the first season to reach Chapter 62.
Golden Kamuy Season 2 picked up the story again with Chapter 70, which meant that several stories of escaped convicts were skipped entirely. The second season was even more faster-paced in order to reach that critical plot juncture in Chapter 139 of Volume 14 which involved Sugimoto and Nopperabou, Asirpa’s father.
This meant that the anime skipped chapters 55 through 59, 63 through 70, 83 through 85, 87 through 91, 102 through 107, and 108 through 113.
Thankfully, some of the skipped funny moments were released online on YouTube as animated 30-second shorts while lengthier story arcs were released as OVA episodes.
OVA 1 adapted the Barato story arc in Volume 6 (Chapters 55 through 59), which featured a battle between the sniper Ogata Hyakunosuke and Bakumatsu hero Hijikata Toshizo.
OVA 2 adapted the “Escape King” Shiraishi Yoshitake’s backstory from Volume 9 (and Chapter 104) that the main anime skipped.
OVA 3 adapted the Monster Bear & the Yakuzas story arc from skipped chapters 63 through 70.
OVA 4 adapted the crazy/censored Shiton the Animals’ Friend story arc from Chapters 108 through 113.
The third season’s adaptation pacing averaged around four manga chapters for every episode. Episodes 1 and 2 adapted the second half of Ch 139 (the first half ended the second season) and finished up through Chapter 147.
Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 3 slowed the pacing down a little to focus on Hajime Tsukishima’s emotional backstory.
Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 4 adapted the few pages of Chapters 151 and 154 that focused on Sugimoto’s group and then finished the Yamada Circus arc with Chapter 158. (Yes, the chapter really did end on an osoma note.)
Here’s a guide to how the anime’s third season adapted the manga:
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 1: Chapters 140 – 143
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 2: Chapters 144 – 147
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 3: Chapters 148 – 150
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 4: Chapters 151 (partial), 154 (partial), 155 – 158
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 5: Chapters 159 – 162
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 6: Chapters 163 – 166
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 7: Chapters 166 – 170
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 8: Chapters 171 (partial), 151 (partial) – 154 (partial)
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 9: Chapters 176 (partial) – 179
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 10: Chapters 180 – 184
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 11: Chapters 184 – 189
- Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 12: Chapters 189 – 191 (partial), 192 (partial), 196 (partial), 197 (partial), 200 (partial)
As you can see, until the last episode the third season was a much more straightforward adaptation of the manga based on the progressive flow of the story arc. Each chapter leads directly into the next major plot point and the best stopping point for the anime just happens to be within 50 chapters.
Based on the pacing of the anime, the finale, Golden Kamuy Season 3 Episode 12, found a stopping point shortly after the ending of the Akou Prison Break story arc.
It’s the best stopping point since it’s the aftermath of a major confrontation between the two groups and it shows what happened to Ogata. Plus, Sugimoto and Asirpa decide to head back to Hokkaido.
Similar to how the second season ended by adapting a partial chapter, the third season reordered events from multiple chapters in order to focus Sugimoto’s true motive for continuing his journey. In order to pull this off, a short side story arc and a Koito flashback were skipped and the final panels of Chapter 192 were used for the closing scene.
That means Golden Kamuy Season 4 Episode 1 should pick up the story again somewhere around manga Chapter 201.
The good news is that the manga series already provides enough story material for the Golden Kamuy Season 4 anime to be produced right away with a single-cour season that ends with Chapter 273. Golden Kamuy Season 5 would then finish off the remaining chapters.
But if Golden Kamuy Season 4 is two cours then it will likely finish adapting the entire manga.
English-only manga readers in the United States who want to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to English Volume 20.
Golden Kamuy OVA 5 to adapt Pet Monster story arc?
Initially, the anime skipped the Youichirou the Manslayer arc, which was Chapters 151 through 154. The side story featured Toshizou Hijikata, Tatsuma Ushiyama, and Shinpachi Nagakura. Rather than being adapted as Golden Kamuy OVA 5, the story was shifted to Episode 32/Season 3 Episode 8.
Episode 9 did in fact skip the Pet Monster story arc, which runs from the second half of Chapters 171 through part of 176. Therefore, this story will likely be adapted as Golden Kamuy OVA 5 since it can’t fit into the context of Golden Kamuy Season 4’s timeline.
Note: Golden Kamuy OVA 5 hasn’t been announced yet.
In the story arc, Sugimoto stops a rogue Ainu man who temporarily captures Enonoka after murdering someone else in a nearby village. Sugimoto offers to execute the killer himself since the Ainu don’t have a death penalty.
The Ainu refuse, but the killer’s fate is probably worse. Rather than killing murderers directly, the Ainu use a method called itoyuri where they stab the criminal’s eyes with needles and then bury them alive in a casket without a bottom. The casket containing the murder victim is placed on top and thus the perpetrator and victim are buried together.
The rest of the Pet Monster story arc focuses Toshizou Hijikata and Tatsuma Ushiyama searching for the tattooed Abashiri prisoner Sekiya Waichirou in the Lake Akan area. Former head jailer Kadokura is known as a man of great misfortunate and he’s also seeking Sekiya.
A former veterinarian, Sekiya killed 30 people with poison. Sekiya tricks Ushiyama and Hijikata into consuming poison, thus paralyzing them. Both men end up being buried in a casket in a near-death state where the air will only last several more hours.
Sekiya is hoping to blackmail their allies into giving up their tattooed skins in their possession. Of course, things don’t go exactly as planned…
Golden Kamuy Season 4 anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The manga’s story seemingly has a long way to go before ending. There are 24 Abashiri convicts tattooed with the map leading to the gold. Although more than half have been collected, Asirpa is the only person capable of deciphering the coded skins since she’s realized that Wilk’s Ainu name is the key to solving the tattoo code.
The treasure quest seemingly getting closer to an ending, but Noda has way more craziness in store for anime audiences.
“I think things that occur to us suddenly can also be easily expected by readers, so I drive myself to a corner, and before I’m cornered, I find an escape route that is unexpected,” he said. “Contrary to expectations, what’s needed is the boldness to create s**t, not to create the highest-grade curry prepared from various high-class ingredients.”
The last time audiences watched the Golden Kamuy anime, the history and true motives of Asirpa’s father were finally revealed. Asirpa recovered her memories, and after Kiroranke died, it was decided that they’d travel back to Hokkaido.
Back in Noboribetsu, the men of the 7th Division are resting at the hot springs and they hear a strange story about a man wearing geta in the dead of the night. The tale leads some of the men to a hot spring in hopes of finding another convict, but the night-time confrontation becomes a duel in a place known for its volcanic gas emissions called Hell Valley.
Meanwhile, Sugimoto’s group travels to a Nivkh settlement near Akou. Asirpa wants to return home to her grandmother, but she knows Lt. Tsurumi won’t allow that. Asirpa believes her father would have wanted the gold entrusted to Hijikata Toshizou’s group.
When Asirpa asks Sugimoto if Wilk/Nopperabou had said anything about his plans for her, Sugimoto lies, not telling her that Nopperabou had trained Asirpa to fight and lead the Ainu people. They both decide to team up with Lt. Tsurumi and gather the remaining tattooed skins.
Secretly, Sugimoto feels it’s his duty to bring everything to an end by freeing Asirpa from the fighting over the gold. This is where the third season ended but the manga told the story differently in order to present the backstories of more characters.
When they’re trying to decide what to do with the wounded Tsukishima and Ogata, Sugimoto simply wants to kill the latter man if Ogata’s motive for joining Kiroranke had been greed for gold. They need to find a doctor, but it’s dangerous for Japanese soldiers to be in Russia illegally so they disguise themselves as the Nivkh.
Sugimoto quickly blows their cover, but the doctor examines both men. Ogata will need surgery at a hospital, but that means they’ll be reported to the Russian government.
Sugimoto doesn’t want Ogata to die just yet since he wants to question the man in hopes of saving Asirpa. So Sugimoto’s group preps Ogata for transport.
Things appear grim at the clinic, but Ogata not only survives, but also escapes! Ogata manages to surprise 2nd Lieutenant Otonoshin Koito and take his gun.
Being trapped in these circumstances causes Koito to think back on his childhood and why he’s so dedicated to First Lieutenant Tsurumi (and how the older man manipulated Koito via a fake kidnapping). This flashback is multiple chapters (197 – 200) so it’s possible it could be adapted as OVA 6 episode.
Back in the present, Ogata makes his escape on horseback. Sugimoto tries to stop him by shooting at the horse, but all his shots go wild. Sugimoto hopes Ogata will recover just so he can kill him.
Sugimoto’s group must track down the Japanese sniper (and face off against Russian sniper Vasily again) and escape from Russia and Karafuto. They’ll face many dangers and obstacles, including a Bear Man and an Abashiri convict named Boutarou the Pirate, but how will they cross the ocean with Koito and the 7th Division’s destroyer standing in their way?
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Golden Kamuy Season 4 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!