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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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Suicide by arson, or, basically, let’s talk about Nikaidō Kōhei

No, don’t worry, I’m not trying to guess which will be Nikaidō’s future…

But let’s go in order and start with…

A PREMISE

This is another of my analysis about how Tsurumi used a ‘perverted version of love’ which is Dante Alighieri’s way to refer to the capital vices, to manipulate men to serve him and kill for him, the first one dealing with Tsukishima Hajime and his main vice, Acedia.

In the premise for that one you might find a more detailed explanation on how I came to wonder ‘can it be to depict how Tsurumi used love to manipulate his men, Noda also took inspiration by the capital vices?’ if you’re curious about it.

So, here ends the, this time very short premise and back to Nikaidō we go, and to the vice that caused his downfall, a vice that can be compared to a consuming fire, Ira.

What’s Ira, some of you might wonder?

Well, many of you probably know it by the name of ‘wrath’ and yes, you would be, more or less, spot on.

IRA

The etymology is dubious, but Ira is fundamentally a state of uncontrolled anger, rage, and even hatred, which manifests itself in violent actions, in the wish to seek vengeance and which may persist long after the person who did another a grievous wrong is dead. So yeah, you can translate it as ‘wrath’ as the meaning is more or less the same.

Now, before we start we’ve to remember that there’s a huge difference between getting angry and indulging in the vice of Ira.

Sometimes we need to get angry, sometimes it’s even the right thing to do, we should get angry at certain things… but we shouldn’t let the anger take control of us, until it’s all we can feel.

And we should remember that what turns anger into the vice of Ira isn’t if it’s justified or not, it’s if we lose control of it or not, if we overindulge in it or not.

This point is often missed but it’s valid for all the capital vices.

Being proud, not spending money easily, feeling physical attraction, loving a special food, getting angry, thinking someone is unfairly favoured or deciding to not care about something, isn’t necessarily ALWAYS a despicable capital vice.

Those are all things one actually needs to do, things that are part of being humans, things that, if we don’t do, might produce more harm than good, but in moderate, controlled amounts, otherwise, if we lose control of it, if that’s all we can think and rules our actions… well, that’s us indulging in a capital vice and letting it consume us, and Ira is maybe the most consuming one of them all, it’s a killing thing that turns people into a beast, blind them and devours them, burns them alive and consumes everything until it’s too late.

But to better get things into perspective let’s dig into Nikaidō Kōhei, the ‘Fukushū no futago kataware’ (復讐の双子片割れ “Twin bent on revenge”) and how amazing Noda’s portray of him was.

“All I care about is killing that fucker Sugimoto Saichi as soon as humanly possible!” [Chap 45]

Whoa, calm down, let’s slow down and start from the beginning, okay?

PART 1 INTRODUCTION: THE TWIN MINIONS

The first time we see Nikaidō is in chap 15.

He’s a character who’s with us by long time, and he too, like Tsukishima, at first seems to start like a nameless minion, a mob character inserted in the story to do Tsurumi’s bidding, but with a peculiarity Tsukishima didn’t have, there’s two of him.

Nikaidō, the Nikaidō I will be talking about, is the older of a pair of twins, his name is Kōhei and his younger brother is named Yōhei, their names divided just by a kanji… but, since at the beginning the two siblings are seen as a single unit, I will talk a bit about them both.

Physically they look EXACTLY the same and, since they’re both wearing a military uniform, this makes even harder to distinguish them.

To a fan who asked how to recognize who is who among them Noda replied.

Q37: Please tell me how to distinguish between the Nikaidō twins.

Noda: At the cram school I went to there were two twin brothers as well and I couldn’t distinguish between them so I’d just ask, “hey, which one are you?”. Nikaidō twins got the same treatment by Tsurumi and Co. [Q&A section from the Golden Kamuy fanbook]

So basically, not even the people in the 7th could recognize them… which… is not nice really. After all each twin is a single person in his own rights, with his own identity, tastes and experiences. Those were other times though and maybe the twins had grown so used to be considered a single unit they didn’t even realize they’re two different people.

As long as Yōhei is alive, Noda usually will depict them together, often in the same panel, often making them also physically close, their expressions more or less mirroring each other.

They are two but, to a casual reader, they seem to be a single unit, a single body with two heads like a military version of a Dōmo-kōmo (どうもこうも), a two-headed Japanese creature with gray skin which originally was the ghost of two doctors fused together, something for which we can also blame the fact that Noda tends to depict one of the two lowered and the head of the other above him.

Yet, they’re not the same and, if we pay attention to their story we can find out a small difference in their look as they don’t dress in EXACTLY the same manner. One wears puttees (Yōhei), the other wears gaiters (Kōhei).

Which yes, at first isn’t exactly helpful because whoever look at their feet to try to recognize who’s who, especially since Noda mostly shows us their faces, not their feet, but it’s still a difference between them, something that tells us ‘hey, actually they aren’t the same person, they exist as different people even in a setting that would put on them an uniform that would make them look the same’.

This too is, in a way, a hint they are more than just mob characters and, in fact, they’ll stop being as such soon enough, Noda setting the shift from nameless minions to characters rather early in the story.

PART 2 WHEN A VILLAIN IS THE HERO IN HIS OWN STORY: KŌHEI AND YŌHEI

We are at chapter 17 and, one of the first things we’ve to notice is that, differently from many other characters, the Nikaidō brothers aren’t introduced by their surname first and only later we’ll learn their name… but we’ll learn their name first and only much later we’ll learn their surname.

Kōhei (浩平) and Yōhei (洋平).

As said before, their names differ only in a kanji, which makes sense as in Japan it seems it’s pretty common to give twins similar names.

According to Golden Kamuy Central their names ironically mean:

Kōhei (浩平): 浩 “Large, generous”, 平 “Peace, flat”

Yōhei (洋平): 洋 “Large ocean”, 平 “Peace, flat”

The twins though, are pretty far from being peaceful.

As soon as we know their names their identities become visible because it immediately turns out Yōhei is the one who hit Sugimoto’s face, so this means our Kōhei is the one who wanted to kill him right then right now.

So, if we go back and rewatch the scene with this knowledge in mind, we discover they’re also slightly different in character.

The first time they face Sugimoto, Kōhei is the first to stand after being sent on the ground, and the one who basically traps Sugimoto. What he’d like to do is just to shoot him and get it done… but he tells Sugimoto to bend down because if he’ll shoot him while standing the bullet might go through Sugimoto’s head and kill other people.

It’s a cold, yet murderous and practical type of violence, aimed SOLELY at who attacked them though. Kōhei didn’t mean to make unnecessary victims, nor cause Sugimoto unnecessary pain. What he wants to do is just to kill him and be done with him.

I think for the rest of his life Kōhei will regret not shooting Sugimoto in that moment.

Yōhei instead feels the need to vent on Sugimoto as soon as the latter is helpless. Where Kōhei would just shoot him and be done with him, Yōhei first hits Sugimoto’s legs, causing him to fall, then with the butt of his rifle hits Sugimoto’s face over and over. Where Kōhei’s anger is cold, Yōhei is burning hot. He doesn’t just want Sugimoto dead like Kōhei, he wants him to suffer first.

Overall the twins have in common the fact that, although in different ways, they’re both violent and prone to vengeance.

These traits will remain.

When they go see Sugimoto after he had been captured, Yōhei suggests cutting his guts to see if he would be healed the day after (ironic since he’ll be the one who’ll get his guts cut out) and then plans to cut his fingers to force him to talk. When they go into the room again, Yōhei is the one who wants to do the job of finishing off a tied Sugimoto. Yōhei is the younger, but he clearly wants to be the one to do those sorts of things.

Between the two he’s the most violent, the one who longs for violence.

Kōhei instead remains dismissive, colder and more rational. He doesn’t believe Sugimoto is ‘Sugimoto the immortal’, he tells his brother they can’t kill him or they won’t get info from him, and when they decide to kill him Kōhei is the one who realize they can’t use a gun or they’ll do too much noise… and have Yōhei hand him the gun because he likely doesn’t believe Yōhei would manage to control himself and not use it.

Kōhei had no idea that in this way he would let Yōhei defenceless against Sugimoto (since Sugimoto managed to steal Yōhei’s bayonet as they were talking) and this is probably another thing Kōhei will never forgive himself for.

It’s worth to note that, until now, we weren’t given a backstory for Nikaidō, we only have a bunch of extra info, like how he come from Shizuoka and how he was part of Ogata’s rebel group... and likely his brother was part of it as well.

We don’t know if they were always so violent or if war changed them the same way it changed so many soldiers.

What we know is Noda chose one of them to pose Sugimoto a question during the flashback in which Sugimoto pulls off the sledge Toraji and offers it for Tsukishima.

“Are you sure?”

I like to think the one asking it is Kōhei, who, prior to Yōhei’s death, proved not liking causing unnecessary deaths and who knows that Sugimoto’s actions mean the other soldier will die if they take his sledge.

So, overall, I don’t think Noda wanted to depict them as heartless from the start… but honestly I’m not sure we’ll get a backstory because it can be that this is all that is to Kōhei.

He was a soldier who has grown not to think too much of killing people but still didn’t relish in killing and hurting, a soldier who deeply cared for his little brother and then… he lost said little brother and his world shattered. And he changed.

So it can be there’s no flashback because we don’t need it. War might have damaged him, but Kōhei’s breaking point was Yōhei’s death, not something happening in his past. What will cause him to sink into the vice of Ira is just this. He lost his brother and went mad with grief and anger as a result. He changed and became another man, no more Kōhei but Nikaidō, a mix of himself and his brother.

But we’ll get there later.

For now let’s look at something else.

There’s something else worth mentioning in the introduction of Nikaidō and that Noda sets up well.

As soon as the twins appear on the door of the soba shop in which Sugimoto is in, asking where’s the guy looking for tattoos, Sugimoto attacks them, hitting them as hard as he can.

Both twins will get a bloody nose out of that attack.

Sugimoto will then proceed to attack another soldier, sending him on the ground and then slamming his foot on his face.

At a first glance this, for a reader, is no big deal since we were still in the mind setting they’re nameless minions of a bad guy and Sugimoto is the hero.

We’re supposed to cheer for Sugimoto and those are random minions, who cares if he maims them a little? In tales minions exist just for the hero to knock them down, it’s hard readers will stop thinking Sugimoto is doing something bad hitting them when they’re merely doing their job, after all the 7th division had previously attacked him, so why should he restrain himself?

And that’s the moment in which the Nikaidō twins start to slowly stop being minions and become characters.

Not only because, as said before, they start to show their differences in characters but also because they return what Sugimoto did to them and their companion by beating up his face in retaliation.

Normally, even when nameless minions get the upper hand for plot reasons, they don’t go for retaliation. No, that’s something characters do, because characters have characterizations, minions only have roles.

Those two retaliate and retaliate as hard as they got if not worse, setting violence as their main character trait.

They’re among the most violence prone characters of GK, longing to maim/kill their opponents.

What’s more, if we acknowledge them as characters, it’s Sugimoto who wronged them FIRST, who attacked them first (which really wasn’t a good move as it made him even more suspicious in Tsurumi’s eyes) when they merely asked where he was.

Many in the fandom normally see Nikaidō as a ‘villain’ but if “Every villain is the hero of his own story” this fist meeting set up as villain of Nikaidō’s story Sugimoto.

And what a villain Sugimoto will be for him, a villain way more terrible than Ogata for Vasily.

Noda really outdid himself in this one, escalating things so that his relationship with Sugimoto will keep on worsening till the breaking point.

In fact later, the twins will be in Tsurumi’s office, hearing Tsurumi speaking with Sugimoto. Again, they still seem nameless minions… but there’s a third man in the office and yet we don’t see his face and the characters don’t interact with him… but the same can’t be said for the twins.

They aren’t just shown laughing as Tsurumi cheerfully will confirm he’s missing a part of his brain, they will interact again with Sugimoto… and guess what? Sugimoto will remark his role as villain in their story.

Now, to Sugimoto’s credit, he has the tendency to act aggressive and confident when he’s cornered, so as not to look as such therefore he’s not really doing it for the evolz or pure sadism.

So, when Tsurumi recognizes him for ‘Sugimoto the immortal’, the one who caused Ogata to end up in a hospital and the twins stop him from leaving, punting at him their rifles and telling him to sit down again, Sugimoto attacks them verbally.

He complains about having been hit by them (completely overlooking he hit them first) and blaming them for looking the same he demands they put a mark on their forehead so he can recognize who’s who, shifting on them the blame of how people can’t recognize them.

It’s worth to mention Sugimoto didn’t say ‘assholes’ that’s added in the translation to better drive in Sugimoto’s tone. His ‘omae-ra’ is just a not polite but neither offensive “you” (plural).

‘Omae-ra sokkurida na? Jū de ore o nagutta no wa dotchida? Shirushi o tsuke toke yo o deko toka ni’

おまえらそっくりだな��銃で俺を殴ったのはどっちだ？印をつけとけよおでことかに

Lit: “You look exactly the same, right? Which one hit me with a gun? Make a mark on your forehead.”

Regardless, this is said to anger them, and it works as a charm as they swear to kill him again.

‘Koroshitayoru’

殺したよる

“I’ll kill you.”

If they didn’t like Sugimoto first, now they like him even less and from here it will only go worse. As they’re violent and vengeful, they make Sugimoto a visit as he’s held prisoner with the aim to hurt/kill him to get him to talk.

Of course, part of the visit might be because they’re in the rebel group. Maybe, like Tamai, they wanted information from him BEFORE Tsurumi would get them… and later decided it would be more convenient for their rebel group to kill him off. Maybe.

People often wonder why and how Ogata joined the rebel group but the truth is we don’t know the details about the Nikaidō brothers either, and often we don’t worry about them, so focused as we are on the main characters.

Anyway Sugimoto will manage to turn tables on them and break Yōhei’s tooth, making them now physically different and, obviously, also making them even more vengeful toward him. Honestly Sugimoto here acted in self defence, but prisoners at the time had no right to defend themselves and Sugimoto also taunt them, worsening things.

In the end Sugimoto will survive the meeting but, at this point Tsurumi himself will understand the twins must not be let near Sugimoto. Tsurumi can see where this is heading, it had gotten too personal with them, someone is going to get killed.

Can you notice the crescendo in the Ira, how they’re already showing the signs they’re into this vice?

Sugimoto hurt them, they retaliated beating him and wanting to kill him.

Sugimoto made fun of them, they went in his prison to hurt him even if their boss wouldn’t like it.

Sugimoto broke Yōhei’s tooth and made fun of them and they decide they’ll kill him even if Tsurumi forbids it.

Kōhei was, at the start, a bit colder than Yōhei, but it was Ira all along for both.

And Ira is what signs their downfall as, when attempting to murder Sugimoto, Yōhei get killed, while Kōhei is right out of the room, so close and yet unaware of what was going on until it was too late.

It’s the third thing Nikaidō probably can’t forgive himself and what, in his mind broken by the death of his brother, ultimately will cause him to see Sugimoto as THE GREATEST VILLAIN OF ALL.

Yōhei will die, Kōhei will survive and will later become the Nikaidō we know.

Of the two, we can say Yōhei had the better fate.

Still, the Nikaidō we know didn’t exactly have birth immediately after Kōhei’s death. Short after it we’ll see he’s still in Tsurumi’s army and, apparently, his mind works well enough as he faces Ushiyama.

People tend to think little of Nikaidō because he’s often used as a comic relief (it’s a bit like when people judge Shiraishi dumb when he can be rather smart) but it’s Nikaidō who manages to shoot Ushiyama’s shoulder and we’ll see this will incapacitate Ushiyama for a while.

But he’s still ‘just Kōhei’ to us, and we might not have realized Noda has set him up for more than just being a minion.

PART 3 WHAT REMAINS OF THE TWINS: PRIVATE FIRST CLASS NIKAIDŌ

We learn Kōhei’s surname, the name with whom we’ll learn to call him regularly, when Tsurumi, after having been told Ogata has disappeared from hospital, is informed that Private First Class Nikaidō Kōhei has been missing by quite a bunch of days (by the way, that flashback tells us that Kōhei, in his first apparition, was the one on top of his brother).

And then we see him, Nikaidō, with Ogata in Huci’s house. And maybe it’s Noda who forgot about it or maybe it’s deliberate, but, during the chase we’ll discover this time Nikaidō isn’t wearing anymore gaiters. He’s wearing puttees like his brother used to do.

I like to think it’s deliberate and it’s our first hint that Kōhei is somehow merging with Yōhei in his mind but honestly, I’ve no idea if that’s the case.

So let’s talk a bit about this Nikaidō.

He’s with Ogata, who’s a superior private and therefore higher in rank than him, and it’s clear Ogata is in charge and Nikaidō is taking orders from him.

We don’t know if it was Ogata’s idea for Nikaidō to give Huci a backrub, maybe, maybe not, we probably will never learn the truth.

Anyway the fact they belong to a rebel group start to take shape, that maybe it was just Ira what moved the twins actions toward Sugimoto, but maybe there was also something more.

It’s the second time Ogata leaves the division without permission, and we were told Nikaidō, who’s with him, did just the same for a bunch of days before. Although Tanigaki is clearly afraid they’re there for Sugimoto (and maybe they were), as soon as they see him their interest focus on Tamai, Noma and Okada and what had been of them. They both don’t think Tanigaki could have been saved by Sugimoto and both mistake his nervousness for him being responsible for Tamai and Co’s death and trying to cover it up.

The whole of the Ogata/Nikaidō cooperation serves to establish their characters through the contrast between their actions and reactions, as well as the reactions they get from Tanigaki despite their apparent common goal.

Tanigaki is overall submissive with Ogata, a superior officer, but doesn’t let himself be put down by Nikaidō.

Tanigaki and Nikaidō know each other, they’re of the same rank, but they clearly don’t seem to be on friendly terms.

Nikaidō shows, same as Ogata, he is capable to catch the problems in Tanigaki’s answers and don’t swallow them blindly.

Tanigaki should have delivered a message to explain the situation, the fact he didn’t do was suspicious. While Ogata acts calm and in control, Nikaidō’s remark is vaguely insulting, aimed at getting a reaction and, in a way, it gets one.

It’s also worth to note that, differently from the anime, Ogata is represented as serious though the initial part of the questioning, where Nikaidō is the one who is smiling.

Anyway Tanigaki feels danger is approaching and tells Osoma to bring Huci away, which makes things even more suspicious.

Maybe Ogata would have waited some more, seen if he could get more info from Tanigaki without compromising himself, but Nikaidō has already drawn his conclusions and he’s ready to act.

The panel shows him slipping in anger, in his vice of Ira, as he grabs painfully Huci’s shoulders and asks darkly ‘Corporal Tamai told you, didn’t he?’

Tanigaki won’t immediately connect the dots, he’ll just get angry because Nikaidō seems to be hurting Huci for no apparent reason.

Ogata takes back control, outright demanding if Tanigaki killed the others… but, differently from Nikaidō, without giving away WHY Tanigaki could have done that.

Nikaidō is set up to be smart enough to understand Tanigaki is hiding something, but Ogata is set up to be smarter than him and much more in control.

Of all the cast of Golden Kamuy, Ogata is the one who’s less prone to fall into the vice of Ira, remaining cold and collected, so it’s an interesting choice to pair him up with Nikaidō, because it generates contrast.

As Tanigaki looks at his rifle, Nikaidō aims his gun at Huci, taking advantage of his position behind her, basically threatening Tanigaki to use violence if he tries something… which is exactly what Nikaidō wants to do. In what is a call back to when he wanted to kill Sugimoto there and now in their first meeting, he’ll reveal, in some more panels, he would have liked to kill Tanigaki right there right now and not waste his time trying to do it later.

Nikaidō is changed though.

Previously Nikaidō worried not to involve others when he would shoot Sugimoto, now he doesn’t care if Huci and Osoma, an old woman and a little child, get involved.

It’s not because they’re Ainu, Nikaidō could be respectful with Inkarmat. It’s just that they’re in the way and this new Nikaidō doesn’t care about involving bystanders anymore.

After all, if he hadn’t worried and had immediately shot Sugimoto when he had met him, his brother would have still be alive.

Back to the plot, Ogata doesn’t bother aiming his rifle. He differentiates from Nikaidō as he doesn’t want to use violence right there, nor threaten Tanigaki into compliance. He has turned Tanigaki’s rifle useless by removing the stopper and wants to question Tanigaki further without compromising himself.

Although Tanigaki shows that he wants to protect Huci and Osoma by begging him not to hurt them, he doesn’t use them against him to extort information, no, he decides they’ll leave and take Nikaidō away, but first asks Tanigaki about Sugimoto. That’s ironically the only thing on which Tanigaki was ready to lie about, so, this time, he manages to do so.

When Ogata tells him to leave with him, Nikaidō obeys but it turns out from a discussion taking place short later, this wasn’t what Nikaidō wanted.

Nikaidō doesn’t care anymore about not killing innocents, like in the past he tells Ogata they should have just killed Tanigaki and be done with it, but this time didn’t care they would end up involving and having to kill Osoma and Huci.

Ogata decided against killing Tanigaki there exactly to spare them, setting up Nikaidō as someone who now is more murder prone and violent than Ogata is and that Kōhei was when they met Sugimoto.

Yes, this is the start of Nikaidō spiralling downward.

We saw Tanigaki looking down at Nikaidō, it’s possible Tanigaki never liked him or that he just didn’t like him due to the situation they were in, it’s hard to say. What we know is that Tanigaki thinks that even if he were to kill Ogata, Nikaidō wouldn’t escape.

Nikaidō is fearless. And stubborn. Two dangerous traits.

We discover also Nikaidō is in the rebel group with Ogata… but now his interest in the rebellion is fraying away. Now all he wants is to kill Sugimoto… or, in alternative, to go back home. He can’t stand Hokkaido any longer.

And even though he sounds angry as he says so, it’s clear his anger, which already was present in him, has also turned into a maladaptive copying mechanism to deal with his loss. He’s pushing all the blame for Yōhei’s death on Sugimoto. He’s probably thinking if he kills him he’ll feel better… he won’t feel guilty, he won’t feel that crushing pain for the missing Yōhei.

Killing Sugimoto is slowly becoming all he cares about.

Not the gold, not his companions.

Killing Sugimoto.

He’s still not completely lost though.

It’s Tsurumi who gives him the final push.

When Tsurumi captures him after he had been attacked by a bear, Nikaidō does not flinch as the latter cut his ear off, nor he falters as Tsurumi promises him torture.

No, what wins him over is Tsurumi’s promise he’ll be allowed to indulge in his vice of Ira and avenge his brother.

“How about I let you kill Sugimoto?”

This is all it takes to win Nikaidō’s loyalty. He immediately gives Tsurumi a name, Komiya, and goes back on being loyal to him.

Sugimoto Saichi’s death is all he wants, all he cares, it’s his obsession, his way to soothe the pain, to fill the void Yōhei’s death has caused.

As far as we know he doesn’t resent Tsurumi for what he did TO HIM or, if he does, as of now, he never tried to take revenge. No, all he cares is killing Sugimoto who murdered HIS BROTHER.

However all this also lead him into an unhealthy mindset.

Nikaidō will become more and more unhinged, carrying around the ear Tsurumi cut, claiming it’s Yōhei, talking to it as if the ear were Yōhei himself, for example saying to it he agrees that Ogata is an exceptional yet dangerous soldier but they never really liked him [Chap 58].

Later, he notices ‘Yōhei’s’ ear looks like Tsurumi’s so he asks Tsurumi to give him his ear, asking him if he doesn’t feel sorry for how Yōhei was left stuck with only one ear, causing Tsurumi to promise him he could have his ear once Tsurumi is dead (although unlikely I wonder if this originally was planned to foreshadow it).

Nikaidō is serious about this, about finding another ear for his brother, we can see him searching for one in Edogai’s house as well, although he’ll conclude only Tsurumi’s ear could match. Later Edogai will somehow sympathize with him enough he’ll make him an headgear in which Nikaidō can insert Yōhei’s ear right against his kin so that he can comfortably speak with it.

Nikaidō continues to think that killing people is the easiest way to deal with problems, in fact he suggests killing Edogai and search his house instead than just talk to him... but what’s really worth to point out though that, despite the previous betrayal and how Nikaidō now is unhinged, Tsurumi continues to use him.

However it’s not Noda involves Nikaidō in the plot just because he’s a face familiar to readers or to show Tsurumi is keeping him under control.

Nikaidō is good at close combat, in Yubari we’ll see him putting Hijikata in troubles (even though Hijikata is still more awesome than him) and in Abashiri we’ll see him putting up an impressive fight with Sugimoto, even though the latter will manage to prevail. He also cool headed enough he can direct the assault at Edogai’s house.

Nikaidō is more than a comic relief, he’s a seriously dangerous fighter with a stubborn streak.

But Nikaidō’s whole being is possessed by his wish of revenge, by the Ira he feels for Sugimoto.

We see it in chap 82, the chapter named ‘Nikaidō’ like he is.

Nikaidō was leading well that mission and, although Hijikata is amazing, Nikaidō was still managing to hold his ground, pushing him on the ground and getting above him even though Hijikata, despite being older, is somewhat stronger than him.

However, as soon as Nikaidō ears Sugimoto’s voice calling Hijikata, he loses it. Even the visual seems to represent him burning, his Ira and wish of revenge possessing him as he completely forget Hijikata and attempts to stand to go fight with Sugimoto.

And Noda shows us immediately what a huge mistake this is as it gives Hijikata the chance to attack from behind, cutting Nikaidō’s leg.

In a way it’s a cold shower for Nikaidō as this, despite the loss of his leg, allows him to focus back on Hijikata and hide before the latter could deal the finishing blow. Hijikata will be forced to retreat with Sugimoto and Ogata due to the place burning… and Nikaidō too will have to escape, leaving his leg behind.

The new mutilation harms Nikaidō’s psychological state.

Chap 94 delves in this and, although it does in a humorous way, Nikaidō’s situation is clearly serious. He begins to talk more with Yōhei’s ear and laments how YŌHEI’s leg got burned in Edogai’s house so he can’t go after Sugimoto and kill him with his leg missing.

We can see here that Nikaidō is starting to consider his own body as ‘Yōhei’s body’. He started with his own ear, which became Yōhei’s and now he’s moving to his own leg as well... but we can also see another side of Nikaidō’s Ira.

His Ira as well as his wish for revenge are copying devices to face the pain of his loss.

When he thinks he can’t kill Sugimoto anymore, is Ira turns against him. He begins to steal morphine and inject himself secretly, likely more than to cope with the physical pain, to cope with the pain of his loss.

There are bags under his eyes, a clear sign he’s not well, possibly that he has troubles sleeping.

He ‘recovers’ only when Arisaka brings him a prosthetic leg which can also shoot two bullets, giving him the idea he has again a decent chance against Sugimoto.

We see Nikaidō is again back into action in the Lighting Bandit arc, where he seems back to normal, calm, in control and ready to act (despite the slipper stairs)…

...only to lose it again in Abashiri, for the same reason as before, he hears Sugimoto’s voice. Tsukishima has to physically restrain him to stop him from going to fight Sugimoto, Nikaidō protesting that he was promised to kill him. And Nikaidō won’t let go.

As Tsurumi’s men will be attacked by the convicts Kadokura freed, Nikaidō ignores his companions and still searches for Sugimoto. He finds the passage the latter has used to escape and chases Sugimoto. Alone.

Nikaidō’s poor luck allows Sugimoto to realize he’s behind him before Nikaidō could kill him, so they fight again. Sugimoto manages to send him on the ground but Nikaidō thinks he’ll use his prosthetic leg to turn tables around. Out of sheer good luck, Sugimoto, who didn’t know the prosthetic hid weapons, moves Nikaidō’s leg away.

Nikaidō’s leg fires anyway, hitting Sugimoto’s leg, which causes Sugimoto to fall. Nikaidō rises and tries to use his leg to shoot at Sugimoto’s face but, before doing so, wastes time telling Yōhei how Sugimoto is on his way to join him.

Sugimoto catches his chance to turn Nikaidō’s leg against him, so that when it fires it blows away Nikaidō’s right hand. He then rips the prosthetic leg away and uses it to beat Nikaidō into unconsciousness.

Again, Nikaidō’s blind Ira toward Sugimoto caused him to lose a body part. The past time it was his right leg, now it’s his right hand.

PART 4 CONCLUSION: DAMNATION OR SALVATION?

At this point, Noda makes something interesting.

He has Tsurumi tell Nikaidō that Sugimoto died at Abashiri. Would, knowing Yōhei’s murderer is dead, heal Nikaidō? Would, knowing the target of his Ira doesn’t exist anymore, help him to go back live a normal life? Or would Nikaidō find another target on which to vent his Ira?

Neither.

Chap 148 shows us that, after he got the news, Nikaidō turned into an empty shell of himself who remains under the blanket and doesn’t eat anything, deep into depression and apathy.

It’s worse than before, when he lost his leg as, back then, he was at least trying to steal morphine to cope with the pain. Now he’s not even doing that, he has no purpose, he’s a void.

In order to persuade him to eat, Tsurumi tries to tempt him with morphine.

Although this get some vague attention from Nikaidō, ultimately the plan fails, as Nikaidō now is also mourning the loss of his right hand and he needs said hand to eat. Or, in Nikaidō’s mind, was it Yōhei’s hand?

This time Nikaidō doesn’t let us know to whom that hand belonged.

And all this remarks even more how Nikaidō was indulging in the vice of Ira because his Ira is what allows him to get through the day. Without it, the pain of his loss is so big he’s a shell of himself.

Still, Tsurumi has uses for him, he doesn’t want to just let him die of starvation. Again, he ropes in Arisaka, who’ll give Nikaidō a prosthetic hand.

Later we’ll find out Nikaidō is then sent with Usami at Noboribetsu to heal.

In Noboribetsu he seems more healthy than when he was in the hospital in Asahikawa and he’s still willing to be faithful to Tsurumi as he gives no info to Kikuta (though we don’t know if Nikaidō knew both Ogata and Kikuta worked for Central). He shows some interest in Inkarmat and Ienaga’s fate though, but it’s unclear if it’s out of curiosity or because they might have been connected with Ogata.

However Nikaidō’s better state is actually illusory.

In chap 223 it turns out that Arisaka has been experimenting the methamphetamine his friend Nagai invented on Nikaidō, who prior to take it was lacking in energy.

So that’s what Nikaidō has turned into when he doesn’t indulge in his vice of Ira. He copes with his pain through drugs, which is a rather modern take in a way.

Ira is a vice, but it’s also what allows Nikaidō to go on without drugs. Without it, left on his own, he’s an empty shell and to go on he needs drugs. And that’s a rather interesting message.

Like Tsukishima, Nikaidō indulges in his vice to cope with what life threw to him… but differently from Tsukishima, if he drops his vice, he just can’t march forward without the aid of drugs.

Nikaidō is trapped, with no one on his side, turned into a weapon and a guinea pig Tsurumi and Arisaka can use.

Koito doesn’t realize it’s the drugs that cause him to act in a certain way and makes fun of him by HIDING HIS PROSTHETIC HAND and then placing in it Yōkan in place of the chopsticks.

Nikaidō, differently from Tsukishima, is not a popular and beloved character, beyond loving his brother to the point of madness and being a dangerous foe he hadn’t shown characteristics that made him likable… and so fans of GK, like everyone else in the story, turn their gazes away from him.

He’s left alone, like many people who fall victims of addition and is used by others who take advantage of his addition.

It’s extremely unlikely Nikaidō could even be saved, could even drop his vice and return living like a normal person.

We see how he lapses back into his maddening Ira when he sees Sugimoto, to the point he understands nothing, that he would have even hit Asirpa, everything to kill him as killing Sugimoto is his only goal, he gets to the point not only he can’t listen to reason but Tsukishima has to restrain him.

Again Nikaidō won’t manage to carry out his revenge though, at least, this time he won’t lose any limb.

The discovery though, doesn’t help him to part ways with Tsurumi. He hands him Asirpa, though he complain he was lied at but ultimately let it slide because what Tsurumi says is true, it’s better if Sugimoto is alive for Nikaidō, the thought he might get a chance to kill him helps him to carry on.

So Nikaidō remains stuck.

Nothing can save him. Even if he were to kill Sugimoto he won’t manage to free himself from Tsurumi and the hold of drug.

His vices, Ira and drugs, are basically his extremely maladaptive copying methods, are doing nothing to solve the real problem he has to face and is refusing to deal with: his grief for his brother’s death, likely combined with his sense of guilt for not managing to protect Yōhei.

Nikaidō’s mind is, in a way, gone, desperate to keep Yōhei alive by mistaking his own body for Yōhei’s.

Being killed so that he could join again with his brother would probably feel like an act of mercy to him… and it’s terrible that Nikaidō’s destruction can yes, blamed to his vices… but also to how he lost a person he loved, wasn’t able to cope with it and ended up being used by others.

Sure, his fate has dealt to Nikaidō’s terrible cards, cards that will likely only lead him to his own self destruction.

On another note… I do wonder if Noda remembers how Nikaidō was interested in Tsurumi’s ear. There’s to wonder if, before the end of the story, Nikaidō might feel like taking it on his own. We’ll see.

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 4 years

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Some Tweets Remember Keiji Fujiwara

Keiji Fujiwara died of cancer at the age of 55. The news was devastating for the seiyuu community. Many seiyuu are remembering and looking back on their times with Fujiwara and the impact he made on them. A lot of anime I’ve watched wouldn’t have been the same without Fujiwara. From Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to Dr. Stone, he shaped a lot of characters that I look back and smile thinking about.

The following were all translated by @granblue_en on Twitter.

Takuya Eguchi