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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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I've noticed a kindness/tolerance afforded to children even by adults who've committed horrendous acts. (like Tsurumi & Sakamoto/O-gin's child) Hostility towards children is an oft used shorthand for the depths to which one might sink, so it's refreshing to see it avoided. I think a lot of the subterfuge surrounding Asirpa can be traced back to an unwillingness to use cruelty against a child like they might with an adult. Parental relations/expectations seem to be a very important theme.

Hum…

…actually the question ‘children’ for how I see it is pretty complicate.

In media hostility towards children more than just shorthand for the depths to which one might sink, the trope of ‘would hurt a child’ has been used way too much as ‘Moral Event Horizon’ to prove a particular character to be irredeemably evil to the point it cheapened it but well, it still made it pretty effective.

And here it’s the problem and why you don’t see people hurting children often in Golden Kamuy.

Because Noda doesn’t want to depict characters who can be waved off as irredeemably evil, he wants to depict them as complex human beings and he takes pain to describe how they moved from normal people to monsters. They weren’t ‘born evil’ they just became ‘monsters’ due to circumstances and this is meaningful in that intriguing study of how trauma can reshape a person that GK is.

So it’s not so much that ‘they’re kind to children’, it’s more often that they need to be shown as such to force us to accept they aren’t just monster.

Basically Noda is subverting the trope so that we’ve to say ‘Oh but that character hadn’t sunk to the rock bottom of depravity yet’. It’s a narrative expedient more than a character trait.

And in truth Noda is quite a master at using it to shape and reshape our view of the characters.

Think at Tanigaki.

When he appears he threatens Asirpa… then he even use her as a human shield… quite a terrible person isn’t he? But then he’s friend and caring with Osoma and Huci and even take care of Cikapasi… isn’t he such a sweety?

And Ienaga? She tortured and murdered so many people and even wanted to eat Asirpa and kept on trying to eat Kantarou… but she died protecting Inkarmat and her unborn CHILD, so she can’t be that bad.

And then, as you mentioned, we’ve Sakamoto and O-gin, complete monsters who loved their kid so they can’t be that bad either, can they?

And so on and on.

And in truth it’s just a trope and if we’re careful and read in between the lines Noda knows as well and knows that real humans aren’t defined by merely crossing a moral horizon.

I’m sure Tsurumi loved his child and would have handled her with care. And he had no reasons to harm Sakamoto and O-gin’s child so he was nice with him too. But I’m also sure if pushed he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child or have it killed, he made it clear when he threatened to destroy Ariko’s whole family, when he planned to trap Asirpa in a basement for all the time he needed, even years.

And what about Tsukishima who’s so sweet with Sakamoto’s baby in his arms and yet not only was capable to kidnap Koito but, with his chase to Tanigaki, not only might have caused Inkarmat an abortion or wounded her, killing her baby?

Sakamoto and O-gin loved their kid… but would they have spared someone else’s kid?

Probably not but it doesn’t matter. When those two monsters die, we’re left with the knowledge they loved each other and THEIR KID. While this doesn’t wash away all they’ve done (most of which we didn’t saw so we don’t have a clear image in our mind) the fact they were loving parents psychologically stop many readers from waving them off as just monsters. They could love.

And that’s exactly what Noda wanted, a world of people, a world where there’s no black and white but many shapes of grey.

So for me it’s not really refreshing children aren’t harmed as it’s a mere consequence, what is refreshing is that characters aren’t meant to be black and white but that they’re depicted as humans. Terrible humans, humans who make mistakes, or generally good humans who sometimes screw up, or humans who due to trauma were turned into monsters. But humans, like you and me and with whom we can sympathize.

So this ends up giving Asirpa a VERY STRONG plot armor to the point she doesn’t even get hurt when attacked by a bear and really, I think the only time she got scratched was when she had a whole forest fall over her and Sugimoto.

Otherwise even before, when people weren’t aware she had a code or didn’t care she had it, she never got hurt. She couldn’t.

So well, of course if we analyze this from a Watsonian, in-universe perspective we’re dealing with people who, most of the time, care for children, who wouldn’t hurt them. But from a Doylist point of view we’re merely dealing with an author who wants to make sure his characters won’t be seen as merely evil villains.

You hit a nail when you say ‘parental relations/expectations seem to be a very important theme’ because they are. Noda works a lot on them and on how they shape a human.

In a way you might read his story also as an analysis of society and how it can harm humans.

From Hanazawa who, due to society’s pressure discharges Ogata and, due to his rank, put Yuusaku in the flag bearer position, to Wilk, who fears for the future and therefore wants Asirpa to forge a better future for Ainu, to Ueji’s father who basically broke him with his expectations, to Boutarou and Sugimoto, who lost their beloved family and were ostracized by society due to their sickness, to Tsukishima whose father his ostracized by the islanders who believes him to be a murderer and use this against Tsukishima as well.

We’ve parents of every sort, many of them trying to be good, few of them succeeding because back then there were beliefs about how to handle children that were actually not good.

And in the end we’ve plenty of children, children who often had grown up and became adults, yet carry inside themselves the harm their parents did to them, or their expectation or the loss of them, or the hope to surpass them and become better parents.

Think at Shinpei and Chiyoko or at Tanigaki and Inkarmat, couples who had/are about to have a child and are hoping they’ll be good parents.

In a way it’s a progression from the oldest generations, represented by Hijikata and Huci, to the new ones up till Asirpa and Cikapasi with Enonoka and Osoma with that unnamed Ainu kid.

And maybe it’s just me but this is part of what makes GK a story I love.

Thanks for your ask!

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jojobaimagines · 4 years

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now that you've made me watch golden kamuy with your amazing writing and I'm hooked, do you know any imagine blogs? I've read all your stellar fics and need more Sugimoto, p l e a s e?

Ahh thank you so much for your kind words! I know three other Golden Kamuy imagines blog so far, they are @hinna-hinna-osoma , @golden-kamuy-imagines and @immortalmagines ! Sadly all of them are on hiatus :( i think i’m forgetting another blog but can’t really remember rn. Also remember you can always request more Golden Kamuy stuff when the askbox is open! Actually, i would really like some gk to write because i have currently 0 gk requests :(

-lettuce

#non-writing

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chibivesicle · 5 years

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Is Asirpa’s character trying to be too many things for GK readers?

As I have been reading GK and having a great dialogue with many other people about the series, I have had a few ideas stewing in the back of my mind. When I first started watching the anime, Asirpa was really my fav character b/c she was interesting and seemed to go against a lot of bad tropes that could be applied to her. I like strong and independent female characters, so I was glad to read about her. I started reading the manga and I really liked her character and began to have mixed feelings about how the anime had decided to depict her. I have already written about how I was disappointed in the second season of the anime here: https://chibivesicle.tumblr.com/post/181363749182/do-you-like-golden-kamuy-anime

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I’ve wanted to construct this argument. I’ve decided to tackle this by examining different aspects of Asirpa.

1.) Asirpa as a representative of the Hokkaido Ainu

When Asirpa is first introduced as a character in the manga, we have Sugimoto looking up at her as he thinks “An Ainu!” when they fight the bear that had not gone into hibernation and was a fallen kaumy.

She then takes him to her kotan and introduces him to her Huci, uncle Makanakkuru and her cousin Osoma. At the beginning of the manga, Asirpa is the readers guide to all things Ainu. She explains things like how her father made her menomakkiri for her. The concept of these personalized knives will come back in regards to Kironranke’s makkiri as “evidence”.

I obviously can’t speak for all other readers of the series but I perceive Asirpa’s character to be the guide to all things Ainu at the beginning of the manga. This likely was due to the fact that her character is Ainu and before the series was stable enough to not worry about being cut. Keep in mind that reader reviews and polls do make or break a manga series. I don’t think Noda was going for tons of other characters (Japanese or Ainu) at beginning to not overwhelm people.

She explains natural and weather events as well as hunting skills to Sugimoto (who really would have died many times over). For example the sudden temperature change with a drop of 30 degrees C here:

Explaining tureunpe for Sugimoto here with her Huci.

I really don’t want to dwell on this first point a whole lot. I think it is pretty clear that Asirpa is the reader’s introduction to the Hokkaido Ainu and she explains things to Sugimoto (and in turn to the reader).

What Asirpa’s character does not do, is explain racism or forced cultural assimilation. The random man from the whore house tries to threaten her by selling her into prostitution here, pointing out that she doesn’t have a tattoo yet (which were already banned by the Meiji government). Thankfully, since she is a strong female character she is able to defend herself and even gets extra comments from the girls stating that she showed the man who is the boss at that moment.

When Sugimoto and Asirpa catch Shiraishi with their modified squirrel traps, Shiraishi refuses to talk as Sugimoto questions him. This then leads Shiraishi to make the common racist remark that Asripa is a “pet” of Sugimoto’s likely in reference to the comment by Japanese that the Ainu were dogs (Ainu sounding similar to Inu (dog)).

Sugimoto is quick to attack Shiraishi’s racist remark as he physically threatens to break Shiraishi’s jaw but Asirpa simply states the following:

But other than these two early instances in the manga - most of the depictions of the Ainu are in the context that they are just doing Ainu things in the background. They live in their kotans and they are still hunting and fishing as they always have. This is clearly misleading since many of their practices were already being attacked by the government including the arrow traps but likely depending on locations this was difficult to enforce. Various info boxes in the manga report historical records of certain cultural practices still happening much past the time period when the government had already banned them.

To make a manga that would appeal to a wide audience one would have to walk a fine line of being historically accurate in regards to the terrible suffering faced by Asirpa and her community at that time and not making that the major aspect of the manga. The story is supposed to be about their quest for the gold not generations of cultural genocide. I don’t want to just ignore the historical injustices but at the same time the author is writing a story for a major reader base who likely don’t their own history in this area so . . . . yeah. I can’t tell how much of this is a result of the cultural context that the manga exists in where Japanese would not be a blunt about this topic even if many of us readers would want it to be much more upfront about these issues.

2.) Asirpa as a Leader

Throughout the manga, there are characters who have different skills and roles as leaders. In previous posts, I have used the terms large L, Leader vs small l leader. This has been my person way to distinguish between characters who have the ability to lead small groups of people vs those who have grand ideas or the gift to really inspire and lead many people for a cause that is far greater than they are.

The big L leaders that are adults in the series to date are:

Wilk/Noppera-bo/Asirpa’s father - he was a Russian Partisan, the child of a Polish political prisoner and a Sakhalin/Karafuto Ainu. His goal was to create a confederation of the different cultural groups in the Northern Far East to fight colonialism and imperialism.

Tsurumi/Hasegawa - former Japanese spy operating in Russia, turned military commander. de facto commander of the 27th. He wants to make Hokkaido an independent military state, that he is the dictator of as well as to manufacturer arms and medical supplies for WWI. He is a very charismatic leader and acts as a second father to many of the “lost” members of the 27th.

Hijikata - the not actually dead, former Vice commander of the Shinsengumi. Looking for a battle to truly fight and die in? Does he also want to establish another longer lasting Republic of Ezo? Will he take the concerns of all of the people on the island into consideration or was his relationship a marriage of convenience between him and Wilk in prison. Yet he can inspire men to follow him to death with little effort and is clearly charismatic as a leader.

Sofia - Wilk and Kiroranke’s partisan leader. Mastermind of the the assassination of the Tsar in 1881. Respected leader of Russian revolutionaries. Likely still looking to overturn the Tsarist government. Perhaps, she will shift her focus to Hokkaido now . . . .

The small l leaders that are adults in the series to date are:

Ogata - tactically astute and observant sniper formerly of the 27th and traitor to Tsurumi. Works well in tricky combat situations; e.g. Nikaido as his spotter, sniping and directing yakuza in Barato, defending against the 27th in Yubari, aiding Sugimoto against Koito, saving everyone on the mountain pass, rescuing Tanigaki in the swamp, shot out at the onsen etc. Sadly, no one takes him seriously even though he as been a good team member.

Tsukishima - the “mom” of the 27th. Tsurumi’s right hand man from Niigata, does some of his dirtiest deeds, and current leader of the small expedition team to Sakhalin/Karafuto. Tsukishima is intelligent and hardworking and knows some of his men well, for example Koito, so he was able to find underhanded ways to motivate him (those bromides of Tsurumi) but at times really struggled how to command and as a result control both Sugimoto and Tanigaki on Sakhalin.

Yulbars/Kiroranke - the only Ainu male character who was referred to as Kiroranke Nispa by Asirpa. He planned the stealing away of Asirpa at Abashiri with his cat partner in crime, Ogata. He leads the journey to Karafuto/Sakhalin with Asirpa, Shiraishi and Ogata so that Asirpa can remember the key to the gold as he educates her about her father’s past and also introduces her to Sofia. His background and skill in explosives as well as having the goal to free Sofia shows some leadership skills but made both Shiraishi and Ogata uncomfortable and ultimately neither of them trusted him but Shiraishi still cared about him as a friend.

Between these two groups of leaders, Asirpa clearly falls into the first, the big L Leader group. She throughout the story thus far has mediated and shaped the various teams and groups that she has been a part of. She respects most of the characters (she does care about Shiraishi but I worry about her copying Sugimoto’s bullying of him). With all of the Japanese male characters, she does not refer to them as Sugimoto-san or Shiraishi-san etc, she just calls them by their last names which says a lot about her personality. Only Kiroranke was spoken to with respect keeping the Nispa title, which is in part likely to the fact that Kiro was Wilk’s best friend and almost an uncle to her.

Asirpa was able to get anti-social characters like Ogata to participate in her “team building” activities and she always praised him when he assisted in hunting related things. Even if most of the other characters either stayed away from Ogata or fought with him (Sugimoto) she always treated him fairly.

I think her best example of persuasive leadership to date was with her ordering Ogata to protect Tanigaki in the swamp. Now other people will argue that Ogata didn’t do this b/c Asirpa told him to and instead will read it as an Ogata-Sugimoto conversation. But I will always see this as an order coming from Asirpa. Why? Asirpa is the one who orders Ogata to protect Tanigaki.

Ogata is in a very powerful position, he’s atop the grain silo, he’s in a very relaxed position with his body language, and he’s got his rifle at ready. Everything about this shows that Ogata is the one in the safe position. Yet, Asirpa is the one who says this. Sugimoto wouldn’t think to ask Ogata to protect Tanigaki, later even when they are looking for Anehata in the swamp, Sugimoto tells Asirpa never to order someone like Ogata to save him in a similar situation since he doesn’t trust he would nor does he think he would do it. Ogata retorts back that he needs a reason to protect him and he correctly states that Tanigaki is following them on Tsurumi’s orders.

Sugimoto fills in part of the background that Tanigaki did not kill Tamai and co as Ogata has concluded and that they were killed by a bear (set into motion by Sugimoto’s actions). I find Sugimoto’s lines to Ogata to be self-projection. At this point, Ogata has not willingly ate brains so Sugimoto thinking of an Asirpa punishment that he would not want to have but Ogata is likely not swayed by this. He later does eat reindeer brains and nods that they indeed taste like Yuk with Asirpa on Karafuto/Sakhalin.

Instead, there is a panel of a very firm looking Asirpa, she’s got a sweat drop but the entire time you can see that she’s kept eye contact with him. She also explained that Tanigaki just wanted to go back to the Matagi and was healed by his time with her Huci. Ogata does a major cat stare down at Asirpa, but he does state that his options are limited. Asirpa only breaks eye contact with Ogata after she follows his gaze to the group of Ainu men who are certain Tanigaki is the culprit, and she realizes that they need to hurry to save them.

Yet, despite his stand off with her, he ultimately saves Tanigaki just as she had requested and did not harm anyone in the process and even sacrificed his cloak and his rifle case with his decoy. That is saying a lot for a man who hides himself in the cloak and was likely already thinking about where he will get another case to cover the rifle. . .

The key point is that Asirpa was able to convince Ogata to do something and she didn’t need to manipulate him or bait him with something. He followed her orders. Flashbacks seem to indicate that Tsurumi was in part likely ordering Ogata to perform certain actions but with a reward attached, Asirpa’s lack of manipulation was likely a factor that convinced him to follow her request.

3.) Asirpa as an innocent

The cast of GK is full of grown men who are broken to varying degrees and dealing with the impact of PTSD in the first major event of what we would now call modern warfare. Sugimoto survived by fighting with a level of brutality that made him seem like a demon. Tanigaki ran away from home in a quest for revenge and as a tondouhei in the 7th fought in the war. Ogata is a man who was damaged from his very birth and somehow ended up in the 7th (we still need to know his reason for enlisting or if he was drafted). Kiroranke passed himself off as an Ainu volunteer but once his Partisan past is revealed, it shows he’s been though countless traumatic events. Tsukishima had a similar background to Ogata with a broken home and was on death row after the Sino-Japanese war. Hijikata is a ghost of the former shougante and missed his chance to die at Hakodate. All of these men have killed others and none are dealing with ways to heal, instead they’ve all thrown themselves in the hunt for the gold since many of them are good at killing. Recent events revealed that Kiro truly was attempting to acquire the gold for the future of the native peoples. However, Sugimoto is doing this for the money (and the woman he loves), Tanigaki is doing it to run away from facing his problems and revenge, Tsukishima is doing this b/c he feels likely trapped by Tsurumi, and Ogata, well, his still unclear motives changed on the the ice but a part of him likely figured he’d be good at this b/c he thinks he’d be good at it since Ogata thinks he is broken.

The entire time, Asirpa has been traveling around Hokkaido with these men who have killed and will kill again while she has kept her vow to not kill anyone in the process. Again, I’ve already pointed out that Asirpa has occasionally drawn her bow at other humans in the story making her walk a fine line. This finally comes to ahead when she accidentally shoots Ogata in the right eye. She is “saved” by Sugimoto’s quick thinking even though his scream is the event that startles her and causes her to shoot him in the first place. . . .

Sugimoto wants to keep Asirpa’s innocence in the whole situation but the longer this quest goes, the more and more chances she will have to either violate her “no kill” policy. The entire concept is hypocritical and likely we as readers are supposed to wonder how she maintains her own personal values in such a dangerous game.

There are other innocent characters in the series; Shiraishi, Inkarmat, Cikapasi, Enonoka and Ryu I guess. I mean Ryu is a dog so it is hard for him to do evil human deeds. Shiraishi, while not a morally upstanding member of society, is one of more innocent adults, he has not harmed another person and he has become loyal and dependable. Inkarmat also has not killed anyone (as far as we know) and instead thought she was acting with the best intentions for Asirpa and Wilk; but she is a trickster so her methods are similar to Shiraishi. Cikapasi is younger than Asirpa and is being forced to take care of himself and others. His encounter with Enonoka has been positive for him, he’s seen a more mature peer and she’s gently getting him to become more responsible for his own fate. I think the character growth for all of the above is that they have much easier tasks to achieve; learn to help and care for others, let go of the past and how to become more responsible.

What is different between these innocent characters and Asirpa is that no one is as driven to uphold their moral code as she is. Asirpa wants to understand who her father was, why he entrusted the gold to her, and what she will do with the “power” derived from it. Asirpa doesn’t just have to uphold her personal values, she has to do it in the context of a quest where her father designed it so that you would have to murder and skin a man to get the answer you are looking for.

Asirpa’s innocence also puts her relationships with other characters in an unequal balance. Ogata wanted to release her from the stress of being the key to the gold, Sugimoto is lying to her to protect her from the very same thing. These characters are seeing the need to protect her innocence as a reason to not be honest and straightforward with her.

4.) Asirpa as mixed race

So Asirpa is first introduced as a Hokkaido Ainu character. But very quickly it is revealed that her parents are both dead and that she has a unique appearance, where she has blue eyes - like her father. When Sugimoto first meets Hijikata, he makes a comment about how she must have some Russian blood in her background. Slowly it unfolds that Hijakata knew that Noppera-bou was not a Hokkaido Ainu, revealing to Nagakura, Ushiyama, Ienaga and Ogata that he is a Partisan fighting against the Russian government and that he likely has other comrades that are hiding among the Hokkaido Ainu [Kiroranke].

Her eye color is frequently referred to - when she first meets Inkarmat, she mentions that her eyes are just like her father’s.

All of this is linking Asirpa to her father and how her eyes are a direct physical trait to him and how she is to inherit his legacy. In chapter 73, Asirpa has her dream about her time with her father and he speaks of how she is mixed race and that this is beautiful and important. Interestingly, he refers to his blood as being different (as a Polish-Karafuto Ainu) with that of her mother a Hokkaido Ainu. The mixing of these different people resulted in her and that she will be a new woman for the future and she will lead the Ainu b/c of the strength that she has from this combination.

This is the first half of the flashback that she will finally remember as they are attempting to reach Russia with Kiroranke, Sofia, Shiraishi and Ogata. What is most important though is that Wilk is a person who saw strength through diversity and that this would be the best way to save their people from the imperial and colonial powers and the death of their cultures and absorption into these empires as minorities lacking the rights of the ruling majority.

Wilk’s link to Russia is very subtly mentioned here as Sugimoto, Shiraishi and Ogata are crossing over the Daisetsuzan mountain range. Asirpa sets up a small rodent trap and explains that it is used by a small indigenous group in Russia uses to catch squirrels.

Asirpa is a Hokkaido Ainu, there is no way she would have learned about a trapping method used by a native group in Russia from her community. Only one person would have taught her that and from the very beginning of the manga we’ve known that she was taught by her father. I wonder if this is a reference to Kiro being a Tatar who grew up on the Amur river or another group as well. . . .

All of these events are subtle clues to Wilk’s backstory and what he was hoping to achieve for the native peoples of the region.

Besides Wilk being a mixed race character, Kiroranke is another main character who is mixed race as well. When he is trying to convince Inkarmat that they are on the same “side” he states that his son are Hokkaido Ainu and therefore their causes are the same. Only much later does he explain his background as a Tatar on the Amur River with Karafuto Ainu heritage as well.

As Kiro reveals more about Wilk’s past for Asirpa, the revolutionary trio of Wilk, Kiro and Sofia emerges, a team that drew from the strength of each of their commitment to the cause as well as making a very effective team. Their team shows that women can be excellent leaders, that the unique background of each one of their lives brings out the best possible result and that they are a prime of example of diversity = strength.

Therefore, it couldn’t be any more obvious that Asirpa falls into this group where she will be a successful person and leader b/c she has the background to do so. If she just lived a simple life in her kotan, never learned to hunt, was not educated by her father she would not be a character with the ability to change things far beyond herself.

5.) Asirpa as an “idol”

As the story unfolds, the two main male characters, Sugimoto and Ogata independently figure out what her father’s plan for her future is; that she was being trained to be a populist revolutionary with a skill set to fight imperial powers through guerrilla warfare in the “frontier”.

This first comes out in chapters 136 & 137 when Sugimoto finds Wilk at Abarashi and confirms his identity by showing him her menomakkiri. Sugimoto then asks him why he set her up to be a major player for the gold.

Sugimoto wanted to avoid having the two meet since he doesn’t want Asirpa to come to terms with the fact that Wilk tattooed all of those prisoners and hid the gold and he killed his fellow Ainu comrades.

Wilk trained Asirpa from the start to become a partisan, or a Hokkaido version of a partisan at least based on the info that is revealed at this point. Wilk working with HIjikata, leads Sugimoto conclude that Wilk wants to use Asirpa the face and the leader of an Ainu independence movement and aid in the creation of an independent Hokkaido. He accuses him of setting her up to be an Ainu Joan of Arc.

Sugimoto is clearly upset with this as he sees Asirpa as a little sister and he has made it clear through his actions that at times, he feels that as an adult he gets to make decisions that are good for her even if it means withholding information or protecting her.

After Ogata shot and killed Wilk and injured Sugimoto as well, he continues to journey north under Kiro’s leadership for Asirpa to remember the key to the gold based on Wilk’s past and also the goal to break Sofia out of prison. Ogata has been observing Asirpa for a long time by this point, he immediately figured out who Asirpa was in Yubari, one of the few times he’s hand an internal dialogue.

As they travel north, Ogata has his fever dream flashback involving Yuusaku and the hypocrisy at the heart of Yuusaku’s philosophy instilled in him from their father. Asirpa and Ogata are both linked to their father’s visually by inheriting their eyes and the fact that both of their fathers had high expectations for their children. The irony is that Asirpa is supposed to become a leader like her father and up until this point she has been successful in being a leader and having the skills to lead in the future. In contrast, Ogata is the abandoned son, who likely has the skill set to be a military leader that his father so desperately wanted which was clearly lacking in Yuusaku. This leads to the awkward conversation in chapter 187 that he has with her as he loses it after she rejects him. . . What is most important about this is that unlike Sugimoto, Ogata bluntly calls out Asirpa. She has sworn that she will not kill anyone in the fight for the gold. But as their group learns more and more about Wilk’s unwavering dedication to the creation of a confederation of indigenous peoples of the far North East, it becomes clear even to Asirpa that she was trained in more than just hunting animals as any Ainu would.

Where Ogata likely gets his mental wires crossed is when he thinks that Wilk told Asirpa that she should not kill other humans. Thus, he sees Asirpa as just like Yuusaku, keeping his hands clean b/c Hanazawa told him that he alone must remain pure and not kill.

To date in the story there has been no scene or flashback where Wilk has told Asirpa that she must not kill others. As far as we know, Asirpa’s no killing policy is both an Ainu policy but also her own personal moral code. Until other evidence is revealed in the manga, I’m going with that. When she and Sugimoto first met, she made it very clear that she won’t kill in the quest for the gold and that she saved Ogata from Sugimoto b/c he promised her that he wouldn’t kill him in that instance.

Both Sugimoto and Ogata think that her father was setting her up to be an idol/martyr for the Ainu cause, but both are projecting their own problems onto her in this idol position. It is true that Wilk raised Asirpa to be a leader with an obvious partisan/revolutionary slant but he also instilled in her sense of the importance of her cultural identity and heritage and how they should preserve it against greater powers.

6.) Asirpa as a female character with agency

The cast of gk is dominated by male characters and definitely fails the Bechdel test, as Asirpa’s motivations are about her father (a man) and she is working with a man who she has a kid crush on, Sugimoto, and is interacting with very few women such as her Huci, her cousin Osoma and Inkarmat. Inkarmat only becomes involved with her b/c of a man, Wilk, so until the moment on the roof of the prison that Inkarmat realizes it is about Asirpa and not about Wilk.

The good thing is that Asirpa is a female character with agency and there are other female characters also with agency in the cast. She sees herself as a partner with Sugimoto and they have been reunited and have re-established their partnership. When Sugimoto abandoned her in Otaru, she rescued him and then punished him with the sutu.

I’ve stated in other meta that their partnership is still unequal and Sugimoto is “protecting” her by not telling her the full details but he at least isn’t treating her like a complete inferior in the partnership. But Asirpa entered this partnership viewing it as an equal so we know that her own approach to it has to do with her own involvement.

Asirpa has been able to order various adult men to do as she has asked, she gets them to pitch in to the cooking duties, saying citatap, and contributing to the team which is another remarkable skill.

This overlaps with another concept where Asirpa acts as a mother to all of these lost boys. She is always looking out for everyone and she has all of them obeying her like little chicks lined up for citatap feeding time here in chapter 119.

She has lost her family, so it is clear that one of her roles is to try to reform a family, just her family consists of a bunch of emotionally damaged Japanese war vets, a petty criminal and Inkarmat and Cikapasi to an extent. This is not exactly the best family to have but is what is happening with the people she encounters. One could write a lot more about Asirpa as a mothering character but I don’t want to dwell on that concept here.

Asirpa is not a character with agency in a vacuum, instead her decisions are being influenced by the adults around her. She was whisked away to Karafuto/Sakhalin by Kiro and Ogata to contribute to the Partisan cause but this really gave her distance from Sugimoto to realize that he was also influencing her decisions more than she was aware of which is good. The sad part is that Kiro died and she almost killed Ogata to get this perspective. In some ways this is very realistic, everyone influences each other through relationships and encounters. A good way to approach her agency is that she is almost like a child ruler. She inherited the secret to the gold and now adults are trying their best to use her for their own self interest. This in part has forced her to face issues the average kid wouldn’t have encountered at her age but this is part of the role her character is playing in the manga. I also try to remind myself that the concept of kids being immature and not little adults is a very new concept for most socieities so even though we as readers know that she is being asked to make decisions on things she shouldn’t, at the time it is less unusual. Yes, research has shown that kids and teens are different physiologically compared to adults with a lot of that in their brain development. But that was not known at the turn of the century so treating her more closely to an adult isn’t unusual or odd. Keep in mind Kiro became involved with the Partisans only a few years older than she is. . . .

Thankfully she isn’t the only female character with agency. Inkarmat wields a high amount of agency in the series, she is a drifter and uses that to her advantage. Unfortunately, she is motivated by her memories of her time with Wilk as a child and has spent too much of her adult life chasing after him or perhaps the memory of him . . . she wears his mother’s clothing and keeps using her divination to try to give her an answer about Wilk’s fate than what the facts have told her. But she does her best as a woman in a society where she lacks a lot of power to try to influence the hunt for the gold. It really is a shame that she and Kiro were unable to find something to unite them, but Tsurumi worked hard to make sure she would doubt him as much as possible.

Enonoka is another female character with agency. She is a business savy Karafuto Ainu girl who is also very good at ordering others to do things for her. She uses her knowledge of Japanese to help with this and I like that she is a strong character as well. I love the scene where she makes the deal with Koito for the use of the dogsleds and shakes his hand.

Sofia is another female character who is the leader of the Russian Partisans. I was hoping for more from her character with her introduction and brief time with Kiro, Ogata, Shiraishi and Asirpa. But she will be back, Asirpa said she would fine her when she needs to and I think that will be the case.

Last but not least, Umeko, Sugimoto’s love also is a character with agency. She chose Toraji and when Sugimoto returned, she supported Toraji and pretty much showed that she would support him not matter what happened even if Sugimoto beat his ass.

Out of all of these women, Asirpa is the woman with the most possible power and agency. This leads into my last point.

7.) Asirpa as the future.

Asirpa is supposed to represent the future of the Ainu. This is embodied in the name that Wilk gave her. She would be a new and innovative leader for her people. She was trained in the ways of hunting like a boy would have been but is a girl. Based on the previous 6 points, they all combine to make Asirpa a character who is set to inherit the “future” and the power that comes with it. She hasn’t been as damaged as the adult characters but she will be altered due to this entire experience. She is the one who ultimately is the key to finding the gold and the decision to find it will likely come down to her.

Will she fulfill her father’s goals for her? Likely not, as she learned from the journey but will continue to question if the gold is something that should be found.

So I just described many of the roles that Asirpa is playing in the manga. What does this all mean and how do I as a reader feel about this?

I think that Asirpa’s character is doing too much in the manga in the context of the story.

I don’t think it was done intentionally, but as the story developed she got more roles and events tied to her. I personally think this is a disservice to readers b/c she’s too multifaceted and I fear many readers will simplify her role as to not find all of these angles to be too confusing.

The anime took this approach - Asirpa became an Ainu girl who is super cute and is tied to a man who is a former Russian revolutionary who wanted her to have the secret to the gold to lead the Ainu.

This is something that I really have been thinking about seriously since it is hard to get a grasp of how her character is being understood in the context of this being a Japanese manga. Do Japanese readers look at Asirpa the same way that I’ve listed above? Do they see beyond the fact that she is cute? I was talking with a friend of a friend in Japan who is Japanese and he simply saw Asirpa as a cute spunky female character. Did he see her as a girl torn between her culture and the forced assimilation of her people and lost of her culture and racial discrimination? Likely not.

In dialogue with American Ainu, I have also learned that Asirpa is being used as a cute mascot for cultural tourism where her family is from in Hokkaido. It seems like a misuse of a character who is playing all of these complex roles in the manga to be reduced to a friendly cute native welcoming you to be a cultural voyeur as you eat Ainu cuisine and say “Hinna hinna.” You can visit her culture but she can’t actually practice her culture. This seems to be a quite the difference from what her character is doing within the manga.

I wonder if she makes a good icon b/c she is a cute, nonthreatening native welcoming you to enjoy her culture but not fighting back for her rights? I keep dwelling on the idea that a lot of readers in the English language fandom did not like Kiroranke’s character. Is this b/c he is a threatening man who was fighting back against the government and imperialism? What if Asirpa were actually a male character? Would a male Asirpa being fulfilling all of these roles in the manga that she is? Likely not. One part of me likes the fact that Asirpa is mixed race, this is a good thing to bring up to Japanese readers who still struggle with their own approach to mixed race people and still stick to the idea that they are a homogeneous people and nation forgetting that they have a poor history with native peoples that have been oppressively ruled by them for centuries. The other part of me would have preferred she be a normal Hokkaido Ainu and instead be linked to Wilk being a Partisan Ainu native who worked with Sofia and Kiro as a non-mixed race Karafuto Ainu. By having Asirpa, Wilk and Kiro as mixed race it still leaves non-mixed race Ainu out of the story as having less power and agency.

#golden kamuy #gk meta #asirpa #asirpa as an ainu #ainu #sugimoto saichi #wilk #kiroranke #sofia #tsurumi tokushirou #ogata hyakunosuke #inkarmat #fighting imperialism #lone female leader #girl among men

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osomanga · 5 years

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Se-no GK 201: Abayo, Russia

1. Chibi GK Characters!!!

They’re all soooooooo cute!!! This is the cutesiest cover ever...

Se-no! Hajimaruyo~

Kinda like: Ready, steady and go~! (begin!)

Even if...

uh....is that a ref this 4-koma Yuyushiki’s anime’s OP: Se-no! ( せーのっ! )

Ogata with both eyes and uniform!

Aww...if I call “Kamuy” the Boss side, ain’t it cute how Cikapasi and Ryu are the last bosses! Hyakkun’s a Kagemusha like Kodama...and a butterfly like no other.

Aww...all our army boys(ex- and non-) have mittens...I think the Russian word is Varezhki??

2. Doi has a twin sister that lives abroad in Karafuto!

3. True Love sans borders v.2

Tani: You two’r disgusting...

C’mon...this is nothing.

4. Koito kun no like bonbon

Especially since he looks like a storm is brewing coz Ogata called him Bonbon in Russian as Tsuki translted for him without getting a context in return but...in anycase, the clues, now this can go a million which directions..except...or nah.

5. Asirpa’s eyebrows are ++ and she looks so cute as a button through the chapter

6. Osoma, Sugimoto....Osoma!!!

How could you no....

Oh.

Good boy, yoshi, yoshi-chan!

7a. Vacations over, say bye bye to Russia....

I dun want to!

Shiraishi’s so kawaiii!!

7.b) ...if you can

No!! Shiraishi! Owwwww

8. Tanigaki, no!!

You’re squishing them all in your endless fat!!!

Inkarmat better get well soon...at this rate forget the gigolo, Tanigaki’s gonna be the communal big-bosomed, muddleheaded, stay-at-home, looks-after-all-the-kids wife...while Inkarmat’ll have to wear the pants for all o them.

9. I spy.....Vasya!

If Ogata = Carlos Hathcock + Simo Häyhä + in case, if he becomes a one-eyed sniper...

Then, Vasily = Vasily Zaitsev + Simo Häyhä(in injury especially)

Except he heals way too fast.... Simo Häyhä also got shot through the cheek like Vasya which left him with a shattered jaw and unconscious for a long time. On that note, if Vasily’s jaw got broken too, then both Hya-kun and he are like the White Death himself(who is incidentally a small boy in their world at present). Also, Vasily Zaitsev was injured in the eye but got proper treatment and retained his sight.

10. And Vasya spies...our guys.

Well...he didn’t quite get the memo that Yulbars is waiting for his soul to pass unto the next world for when his body sinks into the water...and Vasya’s significant other, the true white death Ogata Hya...is one eyed and recuperating. Except, uhh, these guys crossed over...nah, he’s on the wrong end of the border. Oi, Vasya! Don’t dare forget what a sniper makes.

Also,

Enonoka and her grandpa can adopt Koito forever...Koito’s cutesy expressions are starting to become like the gramps. (who thinking about it looks a lil like papa Heiji)

11. Asirpa still has some faith in her boy....In whatever direction...

Tani(I guess): It’s a sniper’s routine tactic.

Asirpa: ...sniper

It’s Ogata Hyakunosuke! Ogata has already come back(after us).

Seriously...the Hya is the sort of guy who is better if on your side, but a terror as an enemy.

Sigh...how fast do they think Ogata’s healed and clothed and re-armed and caught up and maintained his aim...not impossible but still...he really is terrifying, eh?

12. Love makes you mad.

And if you have brain damage....

Stop You Miso for Brains Sugimoto!

And what has that poor new heap of miso ever done to you?

Ok next chapter preview of Sugi ‘doing it’ was a next chapter preview last week. This week’s news:-

Next week: Ogata’s hot-and-cold new lover meets his real husband. (Jk...)

Ed note: The Misomoto always comes late!!!

(Naruto: ‘The hero always comes late’)

Next Week: 味な真似を...

A witty remark...? Are you making em editor-sans? (Miso-pun!!!!)

But ‘tis interesting the varieties of 味な真似を....

Action, manner, mimic, pretense...

The one- What a smart move...not!

Like, seriously?!

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy raw #golden kamuy spoilers #gk 201 #asirpa #Shiraishi Yoshitake #saichi sugimoto #tanigaki genjirou #koito otonoshin #tsukishima hajime #cikapasi #enonoka

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

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Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 231 “Birth”

So new chapter and it’s a chapter about some really important things among which there is…

Yeah, courage.

No one would think GK characters are lacking guts, they’re veterans they can face bullets and dangerous situations and yet, almost all of them show they’re afraid to face what really matters: their own inner fears so I’m really glad to see them trying to do so in this chapter.

But let’s dig into the story.

We��ve left Tanigaki and Inkarmat reaching Huci’s house.

We see that Huci’s next move is to go call Osoma’s mom so she can provide her help as a translator (Huci doesn’t talk Japanese) but also during the childbirth.

Personally I’m glad to see Osoma’s mom. Previously we never got to see her, only Osoma’s father, so I was a bit worried Osoma was another motherless character. I’m glad that’s not the case, though I wonder why Noda, in addition to telling us this woman is Osoma’s mom, didn’t tell us her name as he had done for Koito’s mom.

Normally hiding a character’s name in Golden Kamuy often ends up meaning we need to learn more about that character, so it can be Osoma’s mom is more than she looks like. Wouldn’t it be interesting if it were to turn out she’s Ariko’s relative for example? She doesn’t share his tanner skin nor his eyebrows but her oval and the shape of her nose might remember the ones of Ariko’s mom, Ikaripopo. Not that Tsurumi mentioned Ariko having another sister beyond the one who moved to Hidaka but it can be he just didn’t finish his list. Or maybe Osoma’s mom is meant to be relevant for something else, something that’s uniquely hers and not related to a relative. We’ll see.

On the other side as Osoma’s mom is an Ainu there’s the small chance Noda hadn’t found a suitable name for her yet.

Again, we’ll see.

It’s a bit sad but I’ve noticed Noda isn’t really ‘naming Ainu prone’. Many of them are labeled just for their relations to Asirpa or Huci… probably because coming up with Ainu names isn’t as easy as coming up with Japanese names for Noda (it’s worth to mention we don’t have yet Huci or Asirpa’s mom name either!).

Back to the story as Tanigaki worries ONLY NOW about how the 7th division might be keeping watch of Asirpa’s village, Osoma’s mom informs him he’s a lucky man as the guy the 7th division sent to check on the village… gets regularly drunk thanks to Makanakkuru offering him a lot of alcohol to the point Osoma can step on his face and only wakes up around noon.

Really, I don’t know what they were thinking when they sent such a fail to keep guard.

On a sidenote I still wonder if Tsurumi has a spy in Asirpa’s village. It would make sense as that village was Wilk’s village and Tsurumi knows all of the people involved in the gold incident and their relative, as we saw when he dealt with Ariko. It would explain the choice of such a soldier for keeping it controlled. The soldier is just for outside appearance. As they’ve someone inside, they don’t really need a capable soldier to check the place. Oh well, we’ll see.

Meanwhile Tanigaki worries about what Huci is doing to Inkarmat.

We get some explanations about how Ainu think they can figure out if the baby is a boy or a girl and how they handle those two childbirths differently due to their own beliefs. What’s more though we learn of how Huci was assisting births since she was 19 and she’s a veteran midwife who assisted Asirpa’s birth as well.

On a sidenote I normally don’t pay much attention to the line on the cover because it’s usually something not Noda but the editor wrote but I’ve to admit I particularly like how, this time, it says ‘purpose is handed down from heaven’.

It’s a call back to the line that’s written in each Golden Kamuy volume 'Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam' [“Nothing comes from heaven without purpose”] an Ainu proverb that’s important in this story because it well remarks how everyone matters.

Anyway now, since Tanigaki thinks he can leave Inkarmat in Huci’s hands, he points out how Tsukishima, pardon, the Tsukinator, knows about that Kotan, would probably realize they came there and therefore how Tanigaki plans to lead him into the mountains to face him in a terrain that will be advantageous to Tanigaki.

Well, this isn’t completely bad, at least Tanigaki figured out he has been BEYOND OBVIOUS in choosing that place to hide, that the Tsukinator will figure it out and that drawing the Tsukinator on a terrain in which Tanigaki would have the advantage would be a good idea.

Of course it would have been ENTIRELY MORE INTELLIGENT to make a PLAN prior to go rush save Inkarmat and not attempting to make one after everything has gone downhill due to complete lack of planning but whatever, I think I stressed how bad this was in the previous chapters.

Back to the story Inkarmat though has probably figured out that, advantage or not, Tanigaki isn’t even remotely a match for the Tsukinator and tells him not to go.

Tanigaki, either thinking he’s being reassuring, protected by his noble goal or that Sugimoto’s supposed immortality is infectious claims ‘he’s immortal’ so he’ll be back. Honestly he would have been more reassuring if he had said he has a plan, or that he knows exactly what to do or knows of the Tsukinator’s weakness. Everything but trying to feed an adult, intelligent woman an impossible story.

So, of course, Inkarmat, who’s not a child and who has a working brain, points out how no, Tanigaki isn’t immortal and should just escape.

Tanigaki instead blindly runs out to face the Tsukinator … and basically doesn’t make in time to make a step out of the house that the Tsukinator has ripped from him his rifle, used the butt of the stock to hit him in the face and then kicked him in the face for good measure, sending him back into the house.

So much for Tanigaki’s immortality and his plan to ‘face Tsukishima into the mountains’. -_-

So time for plan 2. Tanigaki tells the Tsukinator he MUST NOT lay a hand on Inkarmat, Huci or the rest because he only needs to kill him.

Note I don’t know why Tanigaki felt the need to include Huci and the rest in the equation.

I can understand the Tsukinator wanting to kill Inkarmat, as she can be a threat to Tsurumi’s plans but Huci and the rest are specifically kept alive by Tsurumi to draw Asirpa there. They aren’t deserters or anything and it’s worth to point out the Tsukinator is in his full rights to kill Tanigaki, as he’s a deserter.

However, as long as no one tries to get in the Tsukinator’s way, there’s no need for the Tsukinator to make a massacre there all due to Tanigaki.

Anyway okay, plan 2 is even worse than plan 1, really, as Tanigaki is overvaluing a lot of things here:

- his own importance (Tsukishima won’t sacrifice Huci, an important paw to draw Asirpa, just to punish Tanigaki)

- his influence on the Tsukinator (yeah, of course Tani, if you tell the Tsukinator do not lay a hand on them he won’t… he’s so scared…)

- the Tsukinator’s murdering impulses (Tsukishima isn’t someone who likes to murder everyone, Tanigaki, please!).

So Tsukishima (yeah, I’ll call him Tsukishima here) gives him a reality check. They didn’t end in that situation due to Tsukishima. They ended up in that situation because Tanigaki screwed up, long, long ago and kept screwing up and he’s still not realizing it.

Yeah, Tanigaki has been screwing up from a long time, from when, after he broke his leg and said leg healed, he decided not to come back to the 7th division (and this only because Tsukishima doesn’t know that Tanigaki actually could have turned back even sooner, when he had been saved by Nihei… or maybe even prior to it if he were to manage to walk that much). Tanigaki, who had blamed Ogata and Nikaido for deserting, is actually no better than them. He wasn’t allowed to just decide he won’t go back to the 7th division but pursue his own sidequests (capturing Retar, repaying Huci, bringing Asirpa back…).

Although it might not look like it, the 7th division is not just Tsurumi’s fanclub, from which you can decide to drop out if you grow out of love for him, it’s an army division and you don’t drop out of the army at will, this is called desertion and it’s a crime.

I think deep down a side of Tsukishima was always a little angry at him as Tanigaki had been allowed by Tsurumi (for Tsurumi’s own goals) to do as he preferred as if he were a spoiled child instead than continuing to serve in the division as the others were forced to do, and Tsukishima was probably even more annoyed by how Tanigaki didn’t seem to realize it. Tanigaki basically deserted when he decided to pursue Retar and in a way deliberately got in Tsurumi’s way by trying to support Hijikata and Sugimoto into having Asirpa met her father but Tsurumi took him back in the 7th division after Abashiri without even giving him a slap on his wrist and Tanigaki didn’t even seem to realize how lucky he was not to end up having his nose and ears cut before being forced to commit Seppuku (Tsurumi declared this would be the punishment for deserters).

No, what’s worse is that Tanigaki not only didn’t realize it, in Karafuto he seemed to think HE could just drop out at will, ‘sorry boys, I’m a Matagi, your silly Wajin problems don’t really regard me’

and when Tsurumi tells him ‘sorry, no, it REALLY doesn’t work this way and if you hadn’t gotten it before I’ll make sure you’ll get it NOW’ Tanigaki just attempted to shrug it off again and Tsukishima should have felt he really had enough.

While Tsukishima had to threaten Koito to stay loyal or he would have to kill him,

Tanigaki went and though he could desert AGAIN. And now he’s painting things as if it’s Tsukishima who’s being mean and he’s being noble and self sacrificing when actually if Tanigaki hadn’t deserted in the first place they would have never gotten to that point. Really, I think Tsukishima is feed up and, if this wasn’t bad enough, Tanigaki doesn’t even seem to realize Tsukishima isn’t enjoying this a single bit.

He doesn’t want to have to shoot Tanigaki and Inkarmat but he views himself as ‘forced to do so’.

In the middle of all this Koito, who also has figured up where Tanigaki would escape (because really, who in the world wouldn’t have?) reaches them.

Really, the Karafuto trip did good to Koito as he had the good sense to chase them on a horse (Tsukishima has chased Tanigaki, who was on a horse, by foot).

Koito calls Tsukishima, ordering him to stop.

Tsukishima’s face his shadowed and he barely turns to look at him, asking him if he followed him just to see if Tanigaki and Inkarmat would manage to escape safely. Really, this makes me think Koito and Tsukishima exchanged words at the hospital before Tsukishima started chasing Tanigaki and Inkarmat because he knows Koito isn’t there to help him get them back but to support them in their escape.

Instead than answering Koito tries to get Tsukishima to reason.

He points out killing them would do any good because actually Tanigaki isn’t their only way to find Asirpa so, if Tanigaki doesn’t want to help them and wants to run away with Inkarmat they should just let him go.

This… seems a really nice solution but Tsukishima points out the foolishness of it, the real core of the problem.

A threat loses its meaning if one isn’t willing to go through it and won’t serve as a warning to ‘anyone else’ (read: ‘Koito’ in this specific case... but also anyone else really because if Tanigaki can drop out, what would stop the others to do the same?).

Tsukishima then claims he has warned Koito he would kill him if he were to get in his way. I think this doesn’t refer to just what they said in chap 210, probably Koito had already tries to stop Tsukishima when they were at the hospital and Tsukishima had told him to stay out of his way… because Tsukishima then points his gun at Koito and asks him if he’s also planning to betray Tsurumi.

And this is part of what pushed Tsukishima to become the Tsukinator, I think. He HAD to kill Tanigaki and set an example for Koito, so that Koito would know Tsukishima’s threat was serious, wouldn’t try to betray Tsurumi and Tsukishima wouldn’t have to kill HIM.

So Tsukishima tries to scare Koito into compliance again. His gun pointed on Koito he asks him on which side Koito is, if he’s going to join the traitors because he and his father were used and therefore this caused him to lose faith in Tsurumi.

The scene is interesting. On the upper part we can see Tsukishima’s eyes. They’ve a lot of stress lines and on the right side of his face we can see that the veins are still prominent due to Ienaga’s injection. The shadows on Tsukishima’s face are made with a swirling screentone that usually points to inner turmoil. The background behind him moves from dark to a very clear grey as the panel moves toward Koito.

In fact on the lower part we can see Koito.

His panel is small compared to Tsukishima’s and it’s worth to note next to it there’s also the previous panel with Tsukishima.

Koito’s panel is surrounded by Tsukishima’s panels, pressed down by them, trapped by them.

Also, contrary to Tsukishima, Koito’s eyes are barely visible, as if to conceal his feelings (or better his eyebrows as they often betray what a character is feeling). From the little I can see he still seems to look straight at Tsukishima, possibly with a determinate expression. We can well see that there are many stress lines below them, maybe even more than there were when he let Tanigaki and Inkarmat go. Although the screen tone on his face seems to slightly darken near his eyes, it’s barely noticeable and not swirling. He’s not sweating and his mouth is close in a firm line. It’s the background behind him that’s made by many swirling lines.

I think the idea is that the focus is on what Koito will say now, that’s why Noda is showing us his mouth, because we should listen him, and listen him well.

And, I’ll be honest, Koito will be almost as awesome as Shiraishi here!

In fact this time, Koito won’t let himself be intimidated, nor he’ll panic or will let his feelings overtake him.

Calmly, looking straight at Tsukishima, he ORDERS him to lower his weapon.

‘Jū o orose, koreha jōkan meirei da’ [銃を下ろせ、これは上官命令だ “Drop the gun, this is your superior officer's order.”]

He then says that he has every intention of watching Tsukishima and Tsurumi to the very end, but this time he’s not doing it from the position of a blackmailed man, but from a position of power. It’s HIS decision to watch, something he chose on his own, not something Tsukishima forced him to do. Tsukishima doesn’t control him, Koito is still his superior officer, as he underlines in his order, and Tsukishima is the one who has to obey him.

And this is probably the very first time we see Koito acting like an officer with Tsukishima. Normally Koito deferred to Tsukishima and, even if here and there he told him to do something, it was clear Tsukishima would do it only if he were to be okay with doing it. We see it right in their first interaction when Koito tell Tsukishima to make him some glue and Tsukishima flatly refused (chap 101).

Koito was the officer but we saw him asking Tsukishima tons of times what to do. When he acts on his own is never from an authority position but from an impulsive position, with Tsukishima scolding him afterward.

This time though, Koito is his own boss and his compliance has nothing to do with Tsukishima’s threats or his dependence to him.

Tsukishima is clearly surprised.

In a way this is the second time they have a serious conversation, the first being in chap 210 when Koito asked him explanation but back then Tsukishima didn’t take him seriously and, although Koito had done some solid thinking back then, he still wasn’t in control as he is now. He asked Tsukishima for explanations, he clearly wanted Tsukishima to give him reassuring answers, when he didn’t get them he lost it and didn’t manage to remain in control of the conversation.

He was upset, sweaty and grew angry and rash when he didn’t get what he wanted, to crumble completely when the truth he should have been expecting came out. He knew Tsurumi had used him, that Tsukishima had been his accomplice… but wasn’t really ready for it and that’s why he crumbled and Tsukishima took control of him, forced him into compliance.

Now time has gone by and Koito is finally ready to face Tsukishima for real.

He’s firm, he’s calm and, what’s more, he’s willing to listen Tsukishima.

Koito refreshes Tsukishima’s mind on what he told him, about how if Tsurumi uses people to save them, then people has no right to complain. Koito says he can agree on that. In a way he humbles down, he accepts that he can be used as a pawn for a greater purpose, that people don’t own him the truth or to view him as an equal… but he claims he’ll accept this, only if the purpose is something his sense of justice can accept.

Koito won’t bow blindly to Tsurumi anymore. He wants to know his goal and wants to be allowed to judge it, decide if it’s a goal he can accepts working for. Salvation isn’t enough if the price is supporting something he can’t accept otherwise he believes he’ll be tormented by feelings of guilt and regret.

While there’s a bit of Koito’s prideful self, in how he believes Tsurumi’s goal, to be valid, should live up to KOITO’s standards of justice, when Koito is clearly not a model of virtue or impartiality, his reasoning is still very solid, much more solid than Tsukishima’s idea of blindly following Tsurumi in hope everyone would be saved without really knowing where they were going.

Koito’s position might be self centered, but his stance is valid. One has to know the goal of the leader he’s following and share the belief it’s a goal worth pursuing or he can end up supporting him to reach a horrific end, one that would disgust him as well. One must not give his all for a cause that’s wrong for him. Blind obedience always ends up leading to disaster.

And that’s why Koito thinks they must absolutely not kill Tanigaki and Inkarmat. Because killing them goes against Koito (and Tsukishima’s) idea of justice and if they were to do it they would be tormented through their whole life.

Tsukishima counters it’s too late for him.

This time it’s Tsukishima who’s losing his composture, not Koito. Koito has found the right words, he has affected Tsukishima he has stuck a nerve. Tsukishima overreacts because Koito’s words were the words he needed to hear and yet, at the same time, he rejects them, he’s afraid to accept them.

He points out that he has killed too many and used too many, causing them to die. As he says so he thinks back to Edogai, whom he clearly regretted leaving behind.

Tsukishima is clearly not in the ‘redemption’ camp.

He doesn’t believe he can get redemption. He knows he did evil, he believes this can’t be fixed and, therefore, to him, this means he can’t do anything else but evil. Tsukishima too has a black and white mentality and, since he is black now, he believes it’s too late for him.

‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/Making the green one red.’

Once a murderer, always a murderer, since he can’t fix his wrongdoing he must continue doing wrong.

It clearly pains him but… at the same time it’s a very convenient mentality as it requires him to do no effort to improve, to correct his way and… and it’s terrible at the same time because it means he won’t stop doing wrong. That since there’s no salvation for him, no redemption, to way to fix things, then he’ll have to continue murdering, using people and leaving them to die… because that’s what happens to people when they stop believing they can turn page, they can change their life.

It’s unlikely they’ll shoot themselves in the head, they’ll just continue doing wrong and before justice, human or divine will reach them they would have caused the death and suffering of many others.

So yes, I know many in the fandom are sick and tired of redemption stories but that’s why instead I find them SO IMPORTANT.

Many focus on how when someone has done too many wrongdoings he can’t pay back the victims.

It’s true, it doesn’t take a genius to say even in this case Tsukishima won’t be able to pay back his victims as, for Tsukishima’s own admission many of them are dead and Tsukishima can’t resurrect them… but he can stop making more victims for a change.

We can fix the past but we can try working for a better future.

So no, Tsukishima can’t make up to those he has abandoned, to those he has killed and to their families who suffered for what Tsukishima has done.

In this he’s right. It’s too late. Too late FOR THEM. He can’t save them anymore. But it’s not too late for Tanigaki and Inkarmat. He could save them. He can turn page.

And Koito slams it on his face.

It’s not too late, Tsukishima doesn’t have to continue on a way HE KNOWS IS WRONG, A WAY HE REGRETS FOLLOWING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

And at this Tsukishima points out something really relevant. His problem is not just he hurt others. His problem is not just he stepped over his sense of justice and did things he knew were wrong.

Tsukishima’s biggest problem is he gave up on what was truly important to him and threw it away.

As Tsukishima says so, we see images from chap 150, images that points to how Tsukishima accepted Tsurumi’s words about Igogusa and, so as not to get further hurt, threw away her hair. He gave up on her, gave up on returning back to her. He was afraid to discover Tsurumi lied to him and she’s dead and because he was afraid to know the truth he gave up on knowing the truth, on trying to find her. He was torn.

He believed Tsurumi lied to him yet he couldn’t accept the idea she was dead for real so he refused to know the truth. When he refused for Inkarmat to find something for him, it wasn’t that he was afraid she was trying to turn her to her cause. He was afraid she could tell him the truth.

If Igogusa is dead… he believes for him this would be a heat shattering pain. But if she’s not… he had given up on her and this is equally horribly painful. Tsukishima is stuck between a rock and a hard place and obeying to Tsurumi is his own idea to hide his head in the sand and escape from the pain.

Tsukishima believes it’s too late for him because he is simply afraid to turn back and discover there’s nothing but terrible pain waiting for him. By not knowing the truth, he thinks he can protect himself.

The truth can be terrible after all, Koito had to face it first hand… but, differently from Tanigaki, who discovering Kenkichi didn’t murder in cold blood his sister couldn’t just go back to his father, tell him as well the truth and admit he was wrong in pursuing revenge or from Tsukishima, who has been actively trying to not know the truth at all, Koito has faced the truth. Sure, he has suffered, he has hesitated and almost bowed to the crushing weight of truth but now he’s reacting.

He’s fighting.

He’s not focusing on his mistakes in the past, he’s looking straight at his future and trying to see what he can do. In short he’s being awesome and I’m proud of him.

So when Tsukishima claims all that’s left for him is to do his job, Koito doesn’t just wave his words away. Koito listen to him and understands him. He understands Tsukishima is being so unbending because what he threw away was SO VERY HUGE… but by understanding it, by voicing this, Koito helps Tsukishima to face again what he thinks he threw away.

Igogusa.

We finally see her face, how she smiled as she looked at Tsukishima.

And as Tsukishima concedes himself to think back at her all of sudden he can’t give up on her any longer and finds the courage to try to ask Inkarmat if she…

he trails off, his expression broken but still Inkarmat stretches her hand toward him.

She’s willing to help him to try to read and find what Tsukishima is desperately searching but… call it bad luck or the tiger curse, anyway Tanigaki’s baby can’t wait any longer.

Inkarmat bows in pain and Osoma’s mom, the other awesome person in place tell the men they can finish their business later as Inkarmat is about to give birth. Then, without waiting for them to answer, she starts to assign them jobs.

Tanigaki has to boil water, Koito to gather straw and Tsukishima to watch Sakamoto and O-gin’s child and this is maybe the most clever thing. Tsukishima needs some gentle human contact right then, something soothing and at the same time something that won’t mentally exhaust him. Holding a baby, carrying for him while the baby can’t question him or threaten him or judge him is perfect for him to get human contact, get a sense of self worth and, at the same time… emotionally rest.

Add to this that in a way Tsukishima and that baby are connected, as they’re both the children of people Tsukishima deemed monsters and therefore condemned to grow up as terrible people according to Tsukishima. Holding that baby can help Tsukishima to revalue himself, to realize he wasn’t born rotten.

So as we see the other working and giving their all to help Inkarmat, Huci and Osoma’s mom and getting instructions and information and then working some more all in a frenetic way, we also see Tsukishima sitting, the child in his arms, letting the little boy gently touch his face.

As the moment of the delivery comes and the men are chased out of the house we can see that he’s sitting down, clearly emotionally drained, his gaze downcast and looking really small, like a lost child not like our always in control and competent Tsukishima. Koito, who, is worth to mention, was still convalescent and yet has left the hospital and rode till there, has retrieved the kid and is holding him, letting Tsukishima have a break even from caring for the child (Koito is good with little kids), while someone should have bandaged Tanigaki’s arm and we can see he tries to peek back in the house, clearly nervous.

In the last pace we can see the baby finally had birth, and we can hear her crying voice. She’s probably a girl as Ainu believes girls has to be delivered facing up and boys facing down and she was delivered facing up.

We can’t see Inkarmat. I hope she’s well. Honestly, I worry for her. From her survival depends not only Tanigaki’s happiness now but also Tsukishima’s and possibly Koito’s.

They got the tiger curse and, unless it’s broken (but can be broken) the three of them are fated to a unhappy life but I hope the idea won’t be that Inkarmat will have to die to reach this goal.

On a sidenote I wonder if the baby will get named after Ienaga, who gave her life to help them to escape… or, since Tsukishima might help them, after Igogusa (are we going to finally learn her true name?).

Last but not least… we still have no news of Nikaidou who also was in the hospital from which Inkarmat escaped. If Koito could track them… Nikaidou can probably track them as well and Nikaidou has a grudge with the three of them, Tanigaki who caused him to be attacked by a bear, Tsukishima who watched as Tsurumi cut his ear in punishment for his betrayal and Koito who stole his prosthetic hand and his chopsticks.

Really, I’m worried but, at the same time, I’m really glad I got to see Koito further growing up, managing to overcome his fears, managing to keep his calm, managing to stay rational and managing to be supportive and pursuing the right concept of justice.

He’s been a complete spoiled brat for a long time but he’s finally growing and he’s growing well.

And I’m glad Tsukishima is trying to face his fear too. Tsukishima, for his own admission, did plenty of wrong things, things that probably can’t be forgiven, things for which people won’t forgive him also because they can’t, as they’re long dead and you can’t fix this… but I hope he can at least turn page.

Tsukishima… like almost everyone in GK, wasn’t born evil. He took the wrong path. I think it would be awesome if he could finally find the way back and now pursue the right path or, at least, try to do so. Face his fears, his actions, Tsurumi himself and improve. I’m so very afraid he won’t get the chance but at the same time so very wishing he will get it because this would be so important, so beautiful, it could help not just Tsukishima but also so many people…

But, as usual, we’ll see.

Lastly... I hope Tanigaki will profit as well from this experience, not just becoming a father but also by doing some personal grow, learning that he might need to revalue people as they aren’t so black and white as he seems to think and can even change and also learning to revalue himself. He got into his mess because he made a mistake after the other, starting, as Tsukishima said, when he felt entitled to remain in Huci’s village, which basically equated to deserting the 7th.

Well, actually Tanigaki’s mistakes dates before than that, when he didn’t listen to his father and chased Kenkichi pursuing an useless revenge but it would be nice if he were to get at least some of them. Only when you realize your mistakes and face them you can grow and improve and I want for Tanigaki to grow and improve. Maybe holding his own child will also help him to realize he’s stubborn and hardheaded as his father and finally make up with him.

Last point worth to ponder, this chapter showed Tsukishima with his eyes nearly closed when he talks of how he had given up what really mattered, his eyes nearly closed like Usami's were when he said he did what he did (murdering Tomoharu) because Tsurumi told him (to fight there).

Not only same expression means same feeling but I wonder if this is meant to be our clue that, for Tsurumi, Usami sacrificed Tomoharu, which, despite what Usami said, also really mattered to him. We’ll see.

Anyway Noda really delivered a great chapter and I can’t wait for the next.

#Golden Kamuy #Asirpa #Tanigaki Genjirou #Inkarmat #Tsukishima Hajime #Koito Otonoshin #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Koito Heiji #Osoma #Makanakkuru #Golden Kamuy Ramblings and Theories #Susupo #Harumi Chiyo

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osomanga · 5 years

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First thought on reading about GK having a fragrance line...

(As this is Golden Kamuy need I give a strong language warning???)

What GK fragrances should really smell like:-

Asirpa: Citatap and deer brain

Sugimoto: Blood, Sweat and Bayonet Steel. And Miso.

Shiraishi: Osoma.

Ogata: Gunpowder and Gun(wood+metal) and Fish

Tsurumi: Brain injury pus, last note of tanning chemicals and Sweets(yeah, sweets)

Additional:-

Kiroranke: Explosives, Fishes, Tobacco, and Horses

Tanigaki: Stinky hairy-guy sweat and kane mochi and...boner

Ryuu: that Doggy smell

Nihei: Gunpowder, blood, boners, vitality and the mountains

Inkarmat: Fox fur and generally, foxy

Koito: Saber steel, sweat and something hyperactive

Also,

Hijikata: Katana and leather but a nice musky, fancy old man smell

Nagakura: Sword steel+nice, clean old man smell.

Ushiyama: Sex

Ienaga: Blood and human flesh and chemicals and fancy Meiji era western perfume

Kadokura: Asshole

(the inside of one, not the person type)

Henmi: Blood and herringmeal

Edogai: Tanning chemicals mixed in all notes

And most importantly-

Tsukishima: Clean and soapy

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy fragrances #asirpa #sugimoto saichi #shiraishi yoshitake #tsurumi tokushiro #ogata hyakunosuke #tsukishima hajime #....unfortunate that these are un-bottleable

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chibivesicle · 5 years

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Golden Kamuy chapter 189. The pursuit of Kiro and Ogata arc does not resolve itself neatly.

Chapter 189 did not go the way that I was expecting . . . even though Ogata and Asirpa had a huge amount of tension between them, when you look at it, Ogata’s current character ended with a whimper and not a bang, he passed out and received some really in your face first aid from Sugimoto. So when I saw the chapter cover for 189, I was shocked at the cover. . . .

. . . to see Kiro dragging himself along the ice with his rifle and Nihei’s rifle as well in tow, as he is bleeding out onto the ice.

This scene immediately gave me more feelings about Kiro and about his dedication to the cause to help the native peoples of the region fight imperialism. Now, many of you know that Kiro is one of my favourite characters, I found him fascinating trying to walk the thin line of caring for his family, the greater Ainu community, facing down the threat of assimilation and cultural death at the hands of imperialism. He tried to fill in Wilk’s shoes (which ultimately he can’t). So one part of me was thinking, “Yes, go down fighting like the revolutionary you are!” while the other part of me was thinking “His death will be a very dirty one with a lot of collateral damage just based on his facial expression. I was expecting him to slowly bleed out on the ice next to a concussed Tanigaki but I was so wrong. . . .

And oh boy, Kiro as far as we can tell will go down with a ripple effect on the remaining characters. He’s got more equipment and he is a clever and cunning man with years of experience fighting as a revolutionary. . . this becomes key in this chapter. We know that he is even older than Tsukishima as he is Tsurumi’s age.

Let’s look back at his role in fighting the Russian border guards; to assist Ogata in the sniper battle with Vasily, he baited the rest of the guards. They knew to an extent that the boarder guards would be used as bait in the sniper battle so he makes sure to eliminate them with a simple trap that works against their trained nature, to investigate something.

As they set off the delayed grenade, Kiro explains it to Asirpa and Shiraishi. He is now distancing himself from the act by explaining the chemical reaction that will kill the two guards.

I really like how his eyes are drawn completely black, with no sparkle and they are even more straight like when we see Ogata go into distant kill mode. What this shows us, is that Kiro has a wide range of skills with explosives and he will likely use this again.

This comes up when Tsukishima and Koito are pursuing Kiro. Koito falls for the trap since it is a “shiny” object and doesn’t even notice Tsukishima commenting that the blood trail goes another direction, indicating that it is not something they should pay heed to.

Koito picks up the rifle and sets off the delayed grenade booby trap.

Tsukishima does what he’s been trained to do once seeing the grenades, he pulls Koito out of the way and protects his head from getting hit (likely due to not protecting Tsurumi all the way previously).

This results in Tsukishima getting seriously injured, we see him bleeding from the neck and all he does is ask if Koito is okay. And then Koito runs off by himself even though Tsukishima tells him not to, to fight Kiro.

He’s in an angry rage as he chases after Kiro, he’s too flustered to figure out how he went back on his tracks to cover them, if he hadn’t left Tanigaki alone with Kiro, he would have had Tanigaki’s help in this situation. He’s only lucky that the random seal popped up out of the ice and made a seal noise that caused him to turn around and spot Kiro since the seal was behind Kiro. Just like the fight with Tanigaki, Kiro gives Koito hell. Kiro flips the rifle over and moves the butt towards Koito’s strike (which is the thickest part of the rifle) and his sabre gets stuck. Kiro and Koito both hand punches on each other and again Kiro tackles his opponent, and manages to stab his short knife through his right wrist/lower arm which is the only thing that saves Koito from being stabbed in the chest.

Due to the close combat, Koito cleverly pulls Kiro’s knife out of his gut and the chapter ends with him likely laying a fatal blow to his neck. He is angry at what Kiro did to his men, his subordinates!

We don’t know if Koito will land this blow. Honestly, it really doesn’t matter, by pulling the knife out of his gut wound, he will bleed out much more quickly. Kiro’s dead either way but he is causing as much collateral damage as possible.

No matter what the outcome, this makes the chapter title page just give me the chills. Kiro has thrown away everything that would have distracted him from the cause; his [best] friend, his wife, his children all for the greater good.

All in all how do i feel about this? I have lots of feels. I’m glad that Kiro fought all the way to the bitter end. I knew he was going to die but I didn’t want him to die in some sad and pathetic way. I have respect for him. I am saddened that he felt his true job was to fight for the “cause” even if it meant he sacrificed his best friend and he left his family behind. This will cause other problems for them in the future but he made the decision as a partisan. But all in all, I feel good about his ending.

So now I’m going to turn to another things that happened in this chapter, the second sad rifle fate in a second chapter. . .

What really makes me sad about this chapter is the fate of Nihei’s Murata rifle that Tanigaki inherited. Tanigaki was warned by Ogata multiple times to keep his rifle safe at all times as the groups gun control mom. Ogata may be filling a void in his life with his rifle(s) but he does treat them with respect. Recall here, that Kirawas recognized that Tanigaki had Nihei’s rifle.

This rifle is important, as this is how he was able to outwit Ogata in their sniper battle back near Asirpa’s kotan. Osoma finds the rifle that was left by Asirpa for Ryu. Having Nihei’s rifle saves Tanigaki’s life and he has to adopt his one shot philosophy.

We also learn from Kirawas that there was a story behind the notches in the rifle which he tells him while they are drinking and celebrating. This story tells Tanigaki what he should do, go back to the Matagi and become a hunter again. Nihei saw his son in Tanigaki.

Tanigaki looks like he’s listening to this story - and he’s to follow Nihei’s wishes . . . but he doesn’t.

This is the ultimate fate of Nihei’s [son’s] rifle. It is used as a booby trap and likely is destroyed by Kiro and Koito.

Koito can’t help but investigate it since as far as he knows, the rifle is Tanigaki’s. In chapter 188 Ogata’s rifle likely symbolically falls into the ocean indicating that he must no longer rely on his rifle alone to survive but to work with others. The destruction of Nihei’s rifle will mean something for Tanigaki. I’m not sure what I want to conclude from this just yet. I have a few theories.

1.) Nihei’s rifle was supposed to save Tanigaki and get him out of the gold hunt and go back home and heal. This would allow him to do what Nihei’s son could not. This did not happen. Did he not understand this message?

2.) Tanigaki heard the story about Nihei’s son but he did not listen . . . the rifle was a precious treasure to Nihei and he never took good care of it, people kept stealing it from him and it only brought him misery; getting framed for violating animals, having a random Russian convict beat him up and then losing it to Kiro who also beat him up.

3.) Tanigaki should have never accepted the rifle in the first place. He should have used it in the sniper battle with Ogata but then left it behind with Huci and Osoma for Ryu’s comfort. He could have gotten another rifle but he kept using this one.

Tanigaki took the rifle seriously in one scene, when he has sex with Inkarmat here. . .

So he does always link the rifle to Nihei but I don’t know what he sees in it or what purpose having it does for him.

I’m really not sure what all of this will mean other than his rifle care and subsequent loss is in direct contrast with Ogata’s. Ogata’s rifle in part brought him misery by making that his security blanket, the manifestation of his will, and how he covered his self-doubt and inadequacies. Tanigaki doesn’t have a hole to fill in himself the fact that he didn’t take good care of the rifle shows that he didn’t see it as a part of himself like Nihei did; it was all he had left of his son. I wonder if his sloppy rifle care was a reflection that he refused to face that he had been a poor son, he hurt his family but he’s too scared to go home and give his family himself back? Nihei was the person who saw where Tanigaki hurt the most and saw that he was running away but Tanigaki did not heed his fatherly advice.

As far as the pacing for the story, I agree 100% with @goldenkamuyhunting‘s hypothesis that chapters 188 and 189 were switched in presentation by either Noda or the editor. Chapter 186 had 3 different plots happening which set everything in motion. Based on that I expected more jumping but for 187-188 it was very smooth and served the Ogata-Asirpa story well but pushed the eye loss a chapter early to be in line with the reference to the book of Matthew. Plus, 189 tells us the events are happening a few minutes earlier than when Sugimoto catches up to Ogata and Asirpa. This format helps the reader better and is less disjointed but I think the GK readers are smart enough to respect the hat tip to the book of Matthew from Noda, he’s a great storyteller and we get the reference.

I have many things to say about Koito, but I shall answers those in an ask about Koito. I really wanted to talk about Tanigaki and Kiro in this meta.

#golden kamuy #gk meta #chapter 189 #kiroranke #tsukishima hajime #koito otonoshin #tanigaki genjirou #nihei #rifles #rifle sadness

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