#gk sofia

[bowietiee]

⎣ GOLDEN KAMUY x astronomical bodies ⎤

all stars appear and tell us their stories for a reason

it took me a plenty of time to finish this thing, and every single manga frame bears its own meaning

if even one single soul is interested, i can make a post about my choices. im desperate abt this creation and i really NEED the world (hello my fellow gk fandom you're my whole world) to see it. not gonna tell you how many times i dropped my tears while making it

so yeah

enjoy my salty tears

[pemcb]

Women for women’s day

[amidonexor]

vladivostok gang

[kingslayerstew]

Kiroranke, Wilk and Sofia ▪︎ Golden Kamuy s3e9 "Revolutionary"

[glorifiedwalkinggun]

gansoku's bisexual awakening

[here-lies-golden-kamuy]

any thoughts or headcanons on sofia, wilk and kiro, and what it was like for them to be on the run after killing the czar? i have sooo many ideas i would love to share abt this, and even a backstory i wrote for sofia. so many fics to write, so little time,,

Hey there, @interstellarshipwreck! Thank you for your ask, love! I apologize for the delay in my response, I had to research a bit on the three and really think of their dynamic together. I especially love this one because they’re characters that aren’t so popular (at least, on my side of the fandom), I’m thankful and glad to be given the chance to write about them! ALSO “so many fics to write, so little time…” IS SUCH A MOOD. HANDSHAKE EMOJI WITH YOU RIGHT NOW, MY GOOD FELLOW

I would absolutely love to hear about your own thoughts and backstory (OMG A BACKSTORY PLEASE FEED IT TO ME) about this!!!! I would love to hear more 🤲🥺

Sofia, Kiroranke, and Wilk Ten Year Runaways

Okay, I’m gonna lay my main card down already: I hc that Kiroranke loved both Wilk and Sofia. His love for Sofia is canon. But honestly, Kiroranke’s devotion and love for Wilk during their revolutionary days were so deep and intimate, I can’t see it as just plain old war buddies type of love. He loved that man, hence it hurt so much to see the Wilk he loved since his teenage years grow into someone he didn’t know and couldn’t relate to anymore in the end. It was like betrayal. Maybe one day I should write more about that. But yes, sometimes I think the manga was framing the trio as some sort of love triangle, and it was, but it was Kiroranke loving the both of them. I argue that in that aspect, he was their emotional core. 

I think Kiroranke and Wilk had moments together — Kiroranke, a teenage boy in love with someone older than him, desperately kissing an injured Wilk after the assassination. He would be embarrassed about it, ashamed of his actions, but Wilk said nothing but thanks for his concern. Kiro looking deep into shining blue eyes crinkled in mirth underneath a layer of blood, you fucking bet he realized right then and there he would follow this man wherever he goes. I feel like in those ten years, they had some kind of tension between them that wasn’t platonic in nature. Kiro would be passionate and show his adoration for the older man in actions rather than words — being loyal to his leader, following orders without any complaints. Wilk was calculated and cautious, hence he wasn’t verbally affectionate, but he’d always had his hand on Kiro’s shoulder in greeting or leaning into his bigger bulk when resting… there was definitely some quiet affection shared between the two of them. 

Asirpa in the early parts of the manga tells Sugimoto that a lot of women fell in love with Wilk because of his fine motor skills, especially when crafting something from his own hands. I hc that Sofia wasn’t any different. In my mind, there was a point during their runaway days where Sofia asked Wilk to teach her how to hunt, and Wilk crafted her a simple knife Ainu-style while telling her stories about his childhood to pass the time (maybe she heard about the story of child Wilk and the wolf during this time). She started to fall for the man who was passionate about his heritage and was willing to do anything for the people he loved. When it was finished, Wilk brought her along to a two-man hunt. She wasn’t successful at hunting, despite Wilk’s instructions, but Wilk — who had caught their dinner for that night — encouraged her by telling her that she can practice hunting with him and Kiroranke if she wanted to. 

Sofia can’t cook for shit, Kiro can manage, but Wilk was the master at their, er, makeshift kitchen. I can see Sofia being the Sugimoto to Kiroranke and Wilk’s Asirpa, wherein the boys would cook something that is “exotic” to Sofia’s tastes. Initially, she subconsciously balks at the ingredients and cooking processes, but then later reminds herself that her culture and their culture were equal — they both deserve the same respect and reverance. She ends up liking the mixed cuisines a lot. Also, Wilk who came from both Polish minorities and Ainu people probably did a lot of fusion dishes for fun. 

I can see Sofia to be their spymaster. Sofia is a pretty woman, knows French and Russian, and isn’t wanted by the police. Hence, she’s the least suspicious out of the three. I bet that she was really good at her job because she’s a great actress. I’m willing to bet she used her aristocratic knowledge to steal from a fellow nobleman during their runaway years. The reason why she started slipping when it came to Hasegawa was because for the first time in ten years, she felt at peace (this was primarily because of the close presence of Olga, Hasegawa’s child). I can even extrapolate that she enjoyed holding Olga close to her because she would daydream of her own child with Wilk. 

Wilk knew that both Kiroranke and Sofia loved him, but didn’t do anything about it. He also knew that Kiroranke was in love with Sofia, and made hints to Kiro that he knew, but he was passive when it came to emotions like that. Maybe he saw that maintaining the emotions and reciprocating even a tiny bit was beneficial for him as a leader. Although, I can see him being more partial to Kiroranke because of their shared goal.

Wilk has a great singing voice, I can see him as a baritone. Which means that his voice is well-suited for lullabies and humming. Sometimes when Wilk was on the watch for their group, he would hum songs from his childhood. Both Kiroranke and Sofia would pretend that they were already asleep to hear him quietly and gently string notes that would form soft lullabies about Ainu proverbs and stories. More often than not, they both fall asleep into deep slumber whenever they hear Wilk. It’s a soothing rumble, a very nice sound to let go of consciousness and clutch dreams.

[piduai]

the church arc was a rollercoaster for me personally emotionally speaking, it tempered me like a sword and it kept hitting and it went so low it was about to break both itself and me. but by the end all doubt was burned away and the image became crystal clear, pure gold, pure bliss. the way it all happened in a church, at night, by candlelight. tsurumi's lengthy monologues? a confessional, though of doubtful sincerity. he's the serpent and the spurned martyr. it's always biblical with this horse

[allseeingbirchtree]

/ gk finale spoilers

one of the things i love most about golden kamuy (though there are hardly any things i don’t love about golden kamuy) is the characters’ deaths. it’s almost surreal how good noda is at evading the little things that can make a fictional death melodramatic and silly and hitting you straight in the heart.

ienaga and ushiyama both finding “perfection” and fulfillment in dying so that another person can live. botarou finding the true realization of his dream in dying so that another person can live and remember him. hijikata recalling his youth and letting new young warriors take his place. sofia dying forgiven after a lifetime of guilt. toni anji’s quiet death that is devoid even of sound effects on manga’s pages. nikaidou getting split in half (physically) and through this, at long last, reuniting with his other half (metaphorically). usami receiving tsurumi’s grand gesture of love, in a way that he’s aware of (the “brother in arms” speech) and in a way that he’s unaware of (the pinky finger). kiroranke calling out for sofia. heiji koito thinking of his son as he’s sinking with his ship. ueji seeing his father’s disappointed face in his own and laughing as he falls to death. inudou dying by the object of his life-long obsession. sekiya’s death proving to him that the world is more than simply a sequence of random events. henmi’s obsession with death and sugimoto’s mercy of giving him a good one. heita’s “i managed to beat it”. ogata’s entire dying monologue as he can’t deny his true feelings anymore.

“but really… it’s such a relief”.

death as a relief. death that completes a person or one that brings them happiness and fulfillment. one of the most intimate parts of human experience. noda writes his deaths in a way that allows the readers some alone time with the dying character — as we learn the conclusion to their story.

immaculate.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

While anon's ask about the GK women isn't wrong about love being a central part of their character arc/plot, I personally think it's very surface level to say love is the only big part of the female character's arcs in Golden Kamuy. Personally when I think of the most important characteristics of charas like Asirpa, Inkarmat, Sophia, etc etc I don't think of how they show/depict love right away (though no doubt it's a big part of their character and arguably what distinguishes them from the men/male charas), but more their own personality and strengths/abilities, which help support how they give and receive love. It's a lot more indepth than most female characters would give in most shounen stories so I appreciate Oda writing female characters with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Hum...

credits when it's due, anon said and I quote ""love" be a part (or central) to their character plot", not just that 'love is central to their plot'.

Note how central not only is the second option but it's also between brakets. I might be wrong but I think not even anon meant to imply love is all there is to those girls (anon is free to correct me though).

As I've linked in that same reply my rather long and detailed view on female characters, I didn't feel necessary to rewrite all their respective strenghts. As I said in the past, I think that for being a Seinen GK does well enough in regard to characterizing female characters.

It's also worth to note that shonen are aimed to a younger audience compared to seinen, so characters aren't necessarily expected to have the same depth (mind you, I'm not saying they can't be deep and well characterized, just that there's often less request for it... but in the end it depends on the author).

Now, just to put things into perspective on why people has disappointed by the way females seems not to exist independently by males, there are 30 female characters (sort of) in GK which, as I've said in the past are many, diverse and well characterized but yes they're almost all tied to 1 or more male characters and, if they weren't, they wouldn't be in the story.

Let's see how they're split.

They've no name and are just some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother

1 Nihei's female populated family

2 Kiroranke's wife

3 Hidoro's wife

4 Edogai's mother

5 Tanigaki's mother

6 Ogata's grandmother

7 Youichirou's wife

8 Tanigaki's daughter

9 Makanakkuru's wife

They've a name but they're in the story because they're some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother/love interest/sister

1 Kenmochi Umeko (Sugimoto's initial love interest, Toraji's wife)

2 Chiyoko (Hidoro Tamotsu's lover and love interest of Hidoro Shinpei)

3 Inkarmat (feels one sided love for Wilk, will become Tanigaki's wife)

4 Tanigaki Fumi (Tanigaki's sister, Aoyama Kenkichi's wife)

5 O-gin (Sakamoto's lover/wife)

6 Ogata Tome (Ogata's mother, Hanazawa's ex-lover)

7 Harumi Chiyo (Tsukishima's love interest)

8 Hasegawa Fina (Tsurumi's wife)

9 Hasegawa Olga (Tsurumi's daughter)

10 Koito Yuki (Koito Otonoshin's mother, Koito Heiji's wife)

11 Noriko (Heita's brother's wife)

12 Hanazawa Hiro (Hanazawa's wife and Yuusaku's mother)

13 Kaneko Kaeko (Yuusaku's arranged fiance, she gets a crush on Sugimoto)

They are strongly connected to a male and won't be in the story without said male but they've also a goal/role that's independant from male characters

1 Asirpa (Wilk's daughter... she's dragged into the gold quest because first she wants to avenge her father and then discover his role in the Ainu slaughtering, she's also Sugimoto's partner... but through the story she manages to develop a goal that's independant from males, aka protect the Ainu culture)

2 Riratte (Wilk's wife... though yes, she's also Asirpa's mom which is more important.. though Asirpa doesn't know her if not for what her father told her)

3 Sofia (one sided love for Wilk which lead Kiro to think she's the best to give them info about Wilk that might help them solve the code, Kiroranke's love interest... but she's also a revolutionary who wants improve Russia... too bad she sacrifices her goal to fulfill the one of Wilk and Kiro)

4 Svetlana (leaves her family to follow a male but wants to see Saint Petersburg)

5 Sister Miyazawa (Shiraishi's idealized love interest, she doesn't even know of his existance and wants just to do her role as a nun)

6 Monoa and the other Ainu women of her village (they were the mothers/wives of the Ainu of their village, who were held captive by escaped Kabato convicts and would want to marry Ushiyama... actually I'm placing them here solely because in the end they carry on living on their own without men but without the Kobato convicts they wouldn't likely be in the story)

7 Osoma (she got a totally unncesssary crush on Tanigaki... that she overcomes thanks to a crush for a boy her age... but she's also Asirpa's cousin and that's more relevant)

8 Enonoka (while she was doing good at being a female character on her own, ultimately the story implies she'll marry Cikapasi once she grows up... and yeah, technically she's in the story to help her grandfather with his job and to carry Sugimoto's group through Karafuto)

They aren't in the story due to a male!

1 Susupo (she's Asirpa's grandmother and while it can be argued she became as such by marrying a male... well, said male is deceased and never seen in flashbacks and it's only worth is it's established early on Susupo is an important figure in the village because her husband was)

2 Kaneko's maid (not only she's not in the story due to a male but encourage Kaneko to not think her worth is tied to how handsome her husband will be)

It's... basically almost the totality of the female cast who's dragged into the story due to male characters who're mostly the focus of the story so that even well rounded characters like Asirpa or Inkarmat or Sofia just feel too tied to the male characters... and the fact the story feels the need to give them unnedessary crushes for male characters (did Asirpa really need to have to crush on Sugimoto? Couldn't she just see him as a brother figure? Especially since Asirpa is rather young? Did Sofia really need to have to crush on Wilk? Couldn't they just be companions? Did Inkarmat really have to crush on Wilk also? Same as Asirpa couldn't she just see him as a brother/father figure?)

So while I think that GK is doing remarkably well in regard to female representation for being a Seinen... well, this is very far for equal opportunities representation and I'm not surprised if someone is annoyed and feel like females are ALWAYS sidelined compared to male characters in manga... especially because in many countries shonen and seinen are the predominant manga which get translated, so if you aren't aware of what's a shonen, shoujo, seinen, josei but collect each story under the umbrella term of manga, the disparity gets even more marked.

That's why my stance is to aknowledge GK for how he's doing better, but also aknowledge that female representation in it is far from perfect.

Also... I think it's just a typo but Oda is "One piece" creator... "Golden Kamuy" was made by Noda... ^_-

Sorry for the long reply you probably didn't ask for.

The whole 'females in GK' would probably deserve a full meta which, at this point, I'm not going to write but, in honor of all those who complain, I wanted to write I also understand why they've problems with them, because indeed there are problems with them, even though I tend to see GK as a work that, for a seinen, deserves more praises than criticisms in that aspects.

Again sorry for the long reply.

[grimescum]

SORRY FOR THE GK SPAM but i forgot to mention that me and my mom are on season 4 of golden kamuy now!! i've been watching the dub with her every day for the past few weeks (ive already watched the sub on my own, she just prefers dub)

her opinions on the characters as of rn are below :o3

asirpa: her absolute favorite

sugimoto & shiraishi: her two husbands. gets all giddy when sugi is on screen. got on me bc i said shut up to shiraishi

ushiyama & tsukishima: she says theyre her friends. she feels particularly bad for tsuki and thinks his face is funny

kiroranke: she says she thought he was a little cute but shes mad at him right now

koito: she's only said "coitus" everytime hes come on screen so far

ogata: she understands him but i dont think she feels any particular way

hijikata: she doesnt understand me 💔

tsurumi: she thinks hes weird

sofia: she thought she was cute in her youth but once she got older she said that she looked "mannish" and like an old man (derogatory). i did not let that shit fly. she respects her now

usami: she had trouble w connecting names to faces before but did so a lot quicker with him. wants to see more of him,, hasnt seen how freaky he is yet though

gansoku & tanigaki: "big babies". she thinks gansoku is cute though (based!!!)

sekiya: we both agreed he looks like sheldon big bang theory. "his eyebrows are worse than mine"

[bowietiee]

it's still us.

part 1 || part 2

god i love golden kamuy as much as i love creating things that make you think and feel and cry and think even more about the story

it took me a while (a day) to find all these panels and GOSH im obsessed

[pemcb]

Bosses

[megamindvhs]

the first ep of GK s4 was really good!! I decided to go through the relevant manga chapters and see what they cut/changed from this episode. The episode starts from chapter 201 and goes to 203. The second half the episode adapts chapter 172 (+the last few pages of 171).

Right at the beginning as the gang is leaving Russia they cut a scene of them stopping at a Karafuto Ainu village and eating “Grandma’s chewed dango”. Losing out on some choice Sugimoto Faces

as well as this page that shows Koito starting to connect the dots re: his kidnapping. (Since they skipped Koito’s entire backstory in season 3... it wouldn't make sense to include)

In chapter 202, because of the cut rice/dango scene from before, Shiraishi no longer throws rice into the air for the crows, instead ripping up and throwing the Russian sweet instead. (a very minor change, but still lol)

Another minor change, In chapter 203, the man that walks past Koito and Tsukishima is just one guy, not a comically large family piled onto one horse.

Later on, after Asirpa and Sugimoto contemplate Sophia’s whereabouts, we miss out on the scene of Sofia beating the shit out of Gansoku and ripping her shirt off +saying she's going to Hokkaido. (though maybe this will be in next ep?)

As for the second half of the episode, I found it interesting they decided to go back and adapt Sekiya’s arc now. So far it didn't seem to cut out anything really. I guess the anime crew really does love Hijikata most </3

[kingslayerstew]

teen revolutionaries

[ruinikaido]

the ending of gk season three is seriously amazing. Everything from tsurumis and sofia/wilk/kiros backstory to the ogata and asirpa scene to everything oh my goddddddddddd

[glorifiedwalkinggun]

speaking of ageless beauty, i love her