Where To Watch 'Golden Kamuy'

The Spring 2018 anime season can feel a bit overwhelming as seemingly every great and highly anticipated anime series is premiering at the same time. One such series is Golden Kamuy, the debut of an anime adaptation fans have been waiting for quite a while.

But where can you watch Golden Kamuy when it premieres on April 9? Here are the places you will be able to stream the series from:

• Crunchyroll - There is a monthly subscription fee to watch episodes (in Japanese with English subs) the day of release, but they also offer a free option to fans who don't mind waiting a week after initial release to watch a new episode.
• FunimationNOW - The simuldub premiere is yet to be announced, but Funimation will be releasing the English dub at a later date.

Here's the official synopsis for Golden Kamuy's anime adaptation:

"In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi "Immortal" Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive."

Main characters Saichi Sugimoto and Asirpa will be voiced by Chikahiro Kobayashi (Gintama) and Haruka Shiraishi (A Centaur's Life) respectively. Hitoshi Nanba (Heroman, Fate/Grand Order: First Order) is directing the series while Noboru Takagi (Baccano!, Durarara!!) is writing scripts for it. Kenichi Ohnuki (Gundam Build Fighters) is designing the series' characters, and Koji Watanabe is designing the firearms.

Further staff announcements include: Takahiro Kawakoshi as assistant director, Junichi Hayama as main animator, Shinya Asanuma as prop designer, Ryō Sumiyoshi as animal designer, Atsushi Morikawa as art director, Takahiro Mogi as color designer, Yuichiro Tozawa as director of photography, Yuuko Okumura and Yasutaka Hamada as CG directors, Jin Aketagawa as sound director Hiroshi Nakagawa as Ainu language supervisor (which is the language used by most of the characters in the series, include main character Asirpa), and Kenichiro Suehiro as music composer.

For those unfamiliar with Golden Kamuy, the series was originally created by Satoru Noda. First published in Shuiesha's Young Jump in 2014, the story follows Saichi Sugimoto, a miner in Hokkaido taking care of the widow of his dead comrade after surviving the battle of 203 Hill in the Russo-Japanese War. He hears rumors of of a stash of gold hidden by a group of criminals, and decides to go look for it with the mysterious girl Asirpa after she saves him from the harsh wilderness.

The series has been licensed for an English language release by Viz Media and has been collected into 12 volumes. The manga has more than 3.2 million copies in print, and series creator Satoru Noda received a Manga Taisho award for the series in March 2016. It was also nominated for Best General Manga at the 40th annual Kodansha Manga Awards, and for the 20th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016.