On February 20th, Friday Road Show (Nippon TV, Friday 9pm) will broadcast the terrestrial television premiere of "Golden Kamuy" (2024), a live-action adaptation of the popular comic series which has sold over 30 million copies in total, with an extended 35-minute run.
Saichi Sugimoto (played by Kento Yamazaki), a former soldier nicknamed "Invincible Sugimoto" for his demonic fighting prowess on Hill 203, the most brutal battlefield of the Russo-Japanese War, spends his days panning for gold in Hokkaido at the end of the Meiji era in order to obtain a large sum of money for a certain purpose. Sugimoto learns of the existence of a huge gold nugget that has been stolen from the Ainu people.
The man who stole the gold, "Nopperabo," hid it just before he was caught, tattooed the location of the gold on the bodies of 24 prisoners, and helped them escape. The tattoos of all 24 prisoners form a single code.
At that time, Sugimoto is attacked by a wild brown bear and is saved by an Ainu girl named Asirpa (Yamada Anna). The girl's father was killed by a man who stole the gold. Sugimoto, who is pursuing the gold, and Asirpa, who wants to avenge her father, join forces.
Lieutenant Tokushiro Tsurumi (played by Hiroshi Tamaki) of the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army is also after the gold. He plans to conquer Hokkaido for the sake of his division members who risked their lives fighting in the Russo-Japanese War but were not rewarded for their efforts, and he plans to use the gold as military funds.
Another escapee is the Shinsengumi's "Demon Vice-Commander," Hijikata Toshizo (Tachi Hiroshi), who was thought to have died in the Boshin War. He joins up with his former ally, Nagakura Shinpachi (Kiba Katsumi), and searches for gold to realize his ambitions.
Next week on Friday Roadshow on February 27th, we will be showing a special edited version of the drama series "Golden Kamuy: The Battle for the Hokkaido Tattooed Prisoners" (2024).
