If you are coming to watch Golden Kamuy S2 after enjoying the first season, then most likely you enjoyed the first season. More than likely you will enjoy this season as well. It continues to build on the big cast as we have 3 main factions in this series: Sugimoto & Asirpa, Tsurumi & Hijikata. These sides battle for the gold, and what makes this anime great is that, outside maybe Asirpa, nobody here is purely good or evil. Everyone has their clear motivations for aiming for it. There is a clear humane side to these characters, which is great.
One huge strength of this anime is its mix of comedy with the various hunting and gourmet scenes while also having some mature, deep themes mixed in. The anime does an outstanding job blending it. It makes you fall in love with the cast. Even the characters on the side of the antagonist of the series. The anime does a fantastic job with its voice direction and music, which enhance various scenes. Animation could be better, but it’s decent enough.
There is much less of that ugly CGI work that was used much more often in S1. Partially it comes from some of the cut content. If you only watch anime, then I fully believe that this anime is a must-watch. With that being said, it’s hard not to compare Golden Kamuy with the manga that it adapts. The anime doesn’t dive into the Ainu culture with its world-building that it does in the anime. But for some people this could just be the cherry on top. The art direction, much like S1, doesn’t compare to the manga, but if you made it this far, I doubt that would stop you.
As a manga reader, Geno Studio did much better in this S2 than S1. S1 cut Sugimoto’s backstory, which is an essential part of the story. S2 covered everything they needed to adapt, and the pace felt better as they cut some side arcs. Of course the anime cuts the fat here, as mentioned, less world-building, but that is more acceptable.
What really brings up S2 is how well they adapt the final arc. And boy, did they nail it. Again, voice direction and music nailed the big scenes. Even with my criticisms of Golden Kamuy as far as the adaptation is concerned, the anime is worth watching if you read the manga, as S2 is a step up from S1. The voice acting and music are worth watching for it alone. If you are anime-only, you would probably realize the things I am pointing out and would love the series. Once you finish S2, you will be wanting more and jump straight to S3.
I give S2 an 8/10.