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Most of the times I am very tiring in my review, but I will try to express myself in an as lightweight manner as possible. So I apologize in advance.

So, Souboutei, I started this manga thrice, and the first two times, I dropped it around the seventh or tenth chapter. But it was not until having read the rest of the author's works, that the interest for Souboutei began rising inside me. I broke through the barrier of ten chapters in my third time reading it, and I was hooked. The story was fairly paced, with nice "stops" as I refer to them, in order ... to dwell upon the backstories of its characters and then the action scenes, which have two purposes, stalling and climax. Stalling because battles are used to prevent our protagonists from advancing in the plot, and climax because they pose a final step before the resolution of a storyline. This technique may cause some pacing issues sometimes, but most of the times it is a nice gearshift in order to raise the speed in the next lap.

By reading Souboutei I noticed that the author loves to follow a certain trope in his series. He lays a extensive group of characters, and begins by slowly and steadily exploring each one of them, giving a deep backstory to every character, and trying to serve each character his own personal conclusion and reward in the climax of the narrative. The characters are always distinctively portrayed and in such ways that you instantly create a separate box inside your head for each of them. Different Motivations, different backgrounds but the same core purpose, which is a recurring them in the author's works.

In the art section, the author Fujita Kazuhiro as always outdid himself. His shot in the horror genre was somehow expected, since his previous works had some creepy and eerie vibe into them, but Souboutei is the pure horror entry in his entourage of works. The excellent usage of shadows, and the attention in detail of the decay and rot of the scenery immerses the reader inside the world, making him partake in this chilling and dreadful narrative. Even knowing Fujita-sensei's colouring style, I was amazed by how fitting the colour selection in the colorpages was. Each distinct colour was used to represent the aspects of the series. Ghostly green, eerie purple, ashy purple and blue, deep red and hallowing white makes the series feel like a halloween horror movie which went the japanese way, and it works out perfectly. And the last thing I want to talk about is the emotion depiction. I get the chills whenever a character has a mental breakdown in Fujita-sensei's works, mainly because he showcases the emotion through every small detail of the character's body, from their posture, to the wrinkles in their face, the body language explodes into a firework of pure emotion, and overwhelms you. The pages feel full of tension and you almost want to avert your gaze, depending on the emotion expressed. Which gives the art a glorious 9. Why not 10 you say, too much perfection sets the bar too high, don't you think?

I will wrap up this review with my overall opinion. This read was enjoyful, I still read the series weekly, but the catching up was worthy to say at least. It was not as strong as the previous works, but still packed a punch. I really look forward to the series completing in the near future, so I can come back and write a full review of this exceptional and bizarre series.

I first discovered this series in 2015, when I downloaded some manga apps on my phone. Initially I thought that a Japanese Western sounded meh. Then, in 2018 the anime was announced, and I was hooked by the first PV. I had a month before the anime release, so I went and binged the whole manga. I have followed both anime, manga and OVAs since. An exquisite journet nonetheless. So let's start with the in depth review.

1. Story: 10/10

The story is addictive at least. When you start reading, you can't stop. This is a problem now that I am caught up with it and reading ... weekly, since I literally devour the chapter. It begins from a basic premise and then branches out and expands to this literal adventure, with the scenic Hokkaido as the setting. The best of the series' qualities is the combat. I was amazed how incredibly skilled the author is to convey action scenes. There is always the feeling of tension and speed, while the strikes, the slashes, the explosions, everything echoes inside your mind. And we still haven't touched the combat as it is. Fast paced, realistic and violent, these characters are no teenagers trying to play heroes, they are not adults fighting for justice, but for their own survival, and they will fight like beasts for it. When a character bleeds, it has meaning, but when the combat becomes unrealistic, when the author saves characters from severe wounds, get ready because the next plot element is incoming, and impact is guaranteed.
The absurdity and the comedy. This manga is absurd, in a way that it is captivating. World history references, world art references, movie references, pop culture masked and transfigured to fit the setting of early 20s century, manga tropes performed in such ridiculous fashion that they become incredible comedic moments and at last, the suggestive humour. This series has a lot of Suggestive humour, which at times may trigger some sensitive readers, but in general it is incredibly absurd, out of place and you never thought that it could fit there and make you go loooooooooooool. Moments that are played seriously for our characters are totally comedic for us, and watching some characters are lowly degenerates adds a refreshing touch to the whole story.

2. Art 10/10
I already referred to some of the art qualities while explaining the action packed story telling, and accidentally described the scene compositions :P, and thus, I will be quick here. The art is good, the character designs are rememberable, cool and blend beatifully with the next part which is the scenery. The sceneries are magical. This is the only comment I need to do, just read the manga and then you will understand. No words can convey my feelings. So to the next part.

3. Character 10/10
What to say, there are so many things about the characterization that we could write till tomorrow, but I will keep it short. The characters are humans. You will say, "you don't say" but yeah, they are humans, they worry, the love, they hate, they feel depressed, they feel unmotivated, they need to feel freedom, and this last one is very very important. I am writing this review in 2021, and if you are reading from the future you may not understand, but in 2020 and 2021, people needed this feeling of freedom, and this characters gave it to us. Personally, watching the characters duke it out, fighting savagely gave me motivation, it energized me to not give up. Their darkest sides, their griefs resonated within me, because they were human emotions, and I know that I would feel the same being in their place. All the characters are likeable, and enjoyable, that deaths hit you, because you know that they are gone.

4. Enjoyment 10/10
I mean, of course it would be a perfect score, since until now I have not stopped praising the series. From the previous takes on each section, you understand. Binged the series in a month, rewatched the first season of anime twice, gladly watched the whole anime and reread some arcs from the manga for fun. Golden Kamuy is the Western you did not think you needed, but actually when you have it, you don't leave it.

5. Overall
To summarize, I fell in love with this series. I placed it in my top 10 almost immediatelly, and it continues to amaze me even until now. With my current taste, I doubt that there will be another series to kick Golden Kamuy out of my Top 10, and this is terminal. I recommended it to friends, tried to promote the manga even before the anime, and really planning to buy all the volumes one day (at least when my pay days begin again T-T).