[Spoiler Review] Anime 'Golden Kamuy' Season 5 Episode 55 (S5E6) "The Root of All Evil"

On February 9, 2026, an extraordinarily weighty episode aired, laying bare the "grudges" at the very foundation of this story. True to its subtitle, the fragmented truths about Wilk and the true nature of the obsession driving the man called Lt. Tsurumi were finally exposed to the light of day. Despite having no flashy action sequences, the quiet intensity overflowing from every word left me unable to shake the lingering emotions long after the episode ended.

Overall Impression: The Calamity Gold Brings, and the Curse Called Salvation

This was the episode that revealed the ruthlessly cold "mechanism" hidden behind the entire journey. The "poisoned arrows" of words fired by Lt. Tsurumi corroded the bonds among the Ainu from within, driving Wilk into the abyss of Abashiri. The lieutenant's calm demeanor as he narrated this process in measured tones only made the immeasurable void inside him more palpable, evoking a quiet sense of awe.

The taut atmosphere of this episode was remarkable from a directing standpoint as well. In the scene where Lt. Tsurumi speaks about his wife and child, the story's entire tone shifts, and a suffocating heaviness takes over as if the room itself is being consumed by his obsession. Each of his words lands as an inescapable question in the hearts of his retainers—and the viewers—with weight in every moment of silence.

The subtle shifts in character emotions that the production team has built up over the years also seemed to reach a major milestone in this episode. The cold will dwelling in the lieutenant's eyes in a room where no light reaches. And Tsukishima and Koito receiving it from beyond the door. Information beyond words was packed into the tense atmosphere and the spaces between breaths. I was reminded once more that this work is not merely an adventure tale, but a story of lost love and obsession.

Episode 55: The Root of All Evil

The story progressed from Wilk's transformation after arriving in Hokkaido to the exposure of Lt. Tsurumi's "poisoned arrows." By contacting Ariko's father and feeding him Wilk's past, he sowed seeds of distrust among the Ainu searching for the gold. Watching the once-peaceful cooperation transform into brutal killing over a single seed of suspicion sent chills down my spine. I was reminded that the true terror of Tsurumi lies not in brute force, but in his ruthlessly precise ability to exploit the fragile parts of the human heart.

The path to survival that the cornered Wilk chose was nothing short of horrific. Peeling off his own face and placing it on another corpse to fake his death. The scene where Lt. Tsurumi reveals "I saw through that deception" conveyed a clash between monsters operating in a realm beyond ordinary comprehension. I could feel the blank period being filled with the scent of blood as Wilk fled into Abashiri Prison and was incarcerated as "Noppera-bou."

The atmosphere in the room plunged to its deepest point when Lt. Tsurumi began speaking about his wife and child. Revealing that Wilk had killed his family, his personal vendetta was inextricably bound to the grand cause of Japan's prosperity—even as he himself was aware of it. Within his calm manner of speaking, I sensed an abyss burning cold. Wrapping personal tragedy in the shield of "a greater cause" to justify himself as he pressed forward. That bottomless obsession filled every word of his quiet monologue.

The depiction of Tsukishima and Koito listening from beyond the door was another major highlight. Upon learning that the lieutenant too possessed "human loves and hatreds," Tsukishima's face showed something like relief—a sense of salvation. Koito, meanwhile, appeared to be reaffirming the lieutenant's truth as a foundation for his own loyalty. Two retainers transforming their commander's confession into their own salvation. The eerie stillness and the distance of a door between them highlighted the distortion in their master-servant relationship.

What the episode title "The Root of All Evil" points to doesn't seem to be a single entity. Is it Lt. Tsurumi's schemes that shattered the Ainu's trust? Or Wilk's karma, having sacrificed others' lives for his own survival? Yet the root that drives them all to madness, pushing people onto the path of carnage, may ultimately be the gold itself. That beautiful yet inorganic gleam dragging out humanity's ugliest obsessions, spawning chains of tragedy. The absence of salvation in it all left me deeply contemplative.

What left the strongest impression was the scene where the lieutenant proclaimed, "If there is a kamuy in the gold, it is..." The "Golden Kamuy" that brings calamity upon the Ainu. The moment the work's very title was overwritten by the lieutenant's curse-like definition, the atmosphere shifted palpably. The brilliant gold is nothing but a poison that leads all who touch it to ruin. The lieutenant, speaking this cruel truth as if preaching gospel, seemed to embody the very curse that governs this story.

Next Episode Preview

The next episode is titled "Ipopte." With Lt. Tsurumi pressing Asirpa for the cipher key, she has finally spoken her father's name, "Horokewoshikoni." In a race against time before the cipher is decoded, what kind of pursuit will Sugimoto and his group mount?

What decision will Ariko make, torn between identity and loyalty? The clash between Sugimoto's desperate attempt to reclaim Asirpa and the Tsurumi camp's cunning and violence promises a breathless development. As the story accelerates toward its final stretch, I cannot look away for even a moment from the fate of the "will" each character fights to protect.