#japanese firemen’s coat | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

Text

Golden Kamuy Volume 1 Data Hunting

So this is a collection of assorted information about Golden Kamuy Vol 1 inclusive of data, points to ponder, notable quotes and so on.

It was a terribly long work and I don’t expect it to be perfect. If you notice something is wrong (especially in the translation from Japanese) or missing please, feel free to drop me a note.

I will try to do something similar for vol 2 as well but I don’t promise at all I’ll manage it.

Anyway, I’ll hope you’ll enjoy this!

VOLUME 1

Cover: Sugimoto Saichi

Chapters: 7

First printed: 19/January/2015

Volume only extras: A page explaining the Blakiston line, a map of Hokkaido and south Karafuto, Asirpa wearing an Attus, frontal and back image, the Ainu sentence ‘Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam’ (“Nothing comes from heaven without purpose”).

GENERAL INFO

Notable or recurring Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ), pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三) , Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Wilk (ウイルク), Tsuyama (津山).

Maps of the places mentioned:

Meiji years mentioned: Meiji 1= 1868, Meiji 2= 1869, Meiji 23= 1890, Meiji 37=1904, Meiji 38= 1905, Meiji 40= 1907, Meiji 41= 1908, Meiji 44= 1912.

Weapons used:

- Arisaka Type 30 rifle: Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto, Toraji, Gotō, Ogata

- Arisaka Type 30 bayonet: Sugimoto, Ogata

- Mosin–Nagant M1891 rifle: Russian soldiers

- Ainu bow (Karimpaunku) and aconite poisoned arrow (Ay): Asirpa

- Ainu short knife for women (Menomakiri): Asirpa

- Ainu hunting knife (Tasiro): Asirpa

- Sharp stake: Ainu hunters

- Koishikawa Arsenal Type 26 revolver: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group, Sugimoto

- Murata Sword: Hijikata

Convict appeared and their tattoo owners (at the end of the volume):

1. Gotō: Sugimoto

2. Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group: Sugimoto

3. Hijikata Toshizō: Hijikata

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake: Shiraishi, Sugimoto (copy)

5. Tsuyama (Tsurumi)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01. SUGIMOTO, THE IMMORTAL (不死身の杉元 FUJIMI NO SUGIMOTO)

First printed: 21/August/2014 Weekly Young Jump 38

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ), Toraji (寅次), Umeko (梅子), Toraji and Umeko’s child, Asirpa (アシㇼパ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Abashiri Prison in Abashiri.

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Hokkaido Gold Rush (1617), Meiji Restoration (4 January 1868)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Toraji, Umeko and their kid.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Hokkaido gold rush caused Ainu to store up 75 Kg of gold to fight the Japanese, who even after the Meiji Restoration were oppressing them by forbidding them to hunt salmon or deer, and stealing their lands. And then a single man stole it all, and killed the Ainu who owned it. The police were after the man, so he hid the gold somewhere in Hokkaido. But he was caught before he could tell anyone where it was, and thrown into Abashiri Prison, to be sentenced to death. He wanted to tell his comrades on the outside where the gold was, but he never wrote a letter as the guards would just steal it. No matter what they did to him, he didn't tell anyone where the gold was. In the end, one of the guards turned out to be a horrible man. He cut the tendon of one of the man's legs so he couldn't escape. So he tattooed on the bodies of his fellow inmates a code that revealed the location of the treasure. He mixed charcoal with saliva, and then slowly carved that ink in with a needle he'd kept hidden. Only his comrades on the outside can decrypt the code and this is what he said to the other prisoners: “Escape from this prison. Whoever succeeds can have half the treasure.” To crack the code, one needs all the prisoners' tattoos. Some of the lower members of the military heard the rumors about the tattoos and dragged the prisoners out of their cell, saying they were going to "transport" them as they were after the gold, too but that was the prisoners' chance to escape. The prisoners killed all the soldiers, and every last one disappeared into the forest. Nobody's caught them. And nobody knows what happened to the gold, either. (Source: Gotō)

Asirpa’s father was also among the men killed that night, during the ‘Noppera-bō incident’. (Source: Asirpa)

Character deaths: Japanese soldiers (shoot by the Russians), 6 Russians (killed by Sugimoto), 7 Ainu (killed in the Noppera-bō incident), guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners), Toraji (during the war), Gotō (killed by a bear)

Animal deaths: mother bear (killed by Asirpa), bear cub (killed by a bear)

New Ainu words:

- Kamuy: “God”

- Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam: Nothing comes from heaven without purpose

- Attus: “Bark”. Traditional Ainu coat made from fibers harvested from the bark of the Manchurian elm or the Japanese linden

- Ainu: “Human being”. It seems however that among Ainu, you called Ainu only the men after the age of thirty, giving it the meaning of “man” more than just human.

- Matakarip: “Those that move in winter”. Bear which missed hibernation.

Food and drinks: Ant, Sake

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The first page of the chapter is coloured in red and green. All the soldiers are green except for Sugimoto who’s red, making him easily identifiable. The choice of the red though fits with the fact he’s the main character (in many colour coded groups the red character is the main character) but also with how red is one of Sugimoto’s colours (the cover of the volume has him in predominantly red colours despite the fact Sugimoto’s coat should have been blue) as red well fit with Sugimoto’s character.

- Sugimoto calls the Russians ‘Roske’ (露スケ) “Russky” (also written as 露助). The anime however preferred to change this, having him refer to them as ‘Roshia’ (ロシア) “Russians”.

- Gotō uses ‘-san’ to talk with Sugimoto. Sugimoto never refers to him by name, just with ‘Anta’ (あんた “You”) or ‘Oyaji’ (オヤジ “Old man”).

- As Gotō calls him, Sugimoto instinctively removes his hat as if to greet him to place it back on his head, realizing it’s just him. It’s notable because Sugimoto hardly removes his army cap.

- When talking with Gotō Sugimoto will remarks that he wants money, that he needs it. Later, when talking with Asirpa he’ll remark he needs money more than anything.

- Sugimoto took part to the Russo-Japanese war during which he fought like a ‘Kishin’ (鬼神 “Demon god”/“Ogre god”) (for more info go here) and was nicknamed ‘Fujimi no Sugimoto’ (不死身の杉元 “Sugimoto, the Immortal” [Lit: “Sugimoto, the not-dying”]) because despite the serious wound he received he didn’t die and healed fast.

- Sugimoto explains he didn’t get a medal and a cozy retirement because he almost killed an official he didn’t like (‘Kiniiranai’ 気に入らない “he didn’t please me/suit me”). This was never developed further though I hope the ‘didn’t please me’ is actually a Japanese polite way to say ‘he was a jerk’ otherwise Sugimoto had quite an overreaction. On another side attacking a superior officer was quite a serious crime that could warrant you a dead sentence so Sugimoto really got it easy.

- The “Order of the Golden Kite” (金鵄勲章 ‘Kinshi Kunshō’) was an exclusively military award, conferred for bravery, leadership or command in battle. It ranked just below the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan’s highest order. The award came with an annual monetary stipend and was awarded for the lifetime of the recipient, and following his death, it would be awarded to the recipient's family for one year after.

- When Gotō talks about the Ainu collecting the gold he says the Ainu were going to fight against the Japanese that EVEN AFTER THE MEIJI RESTORATION had stolen their land and forbidden fishing and hunting. The bit about the Meiji restoration is cut in the scanlations but it implies that the facts are taking place AFTER 1868. Instead, while the stealing took place after that date, the collecting took place much, much before. This will become relevant later on because, as soon as they boys will discover it, they’ll realize the gold is much more than they were told.

- The word used for tattoo is ‘Irezumi’ (入れ墨 lit: "inserting ink") and, during the Edo period (1603–1868), it referred to the tattoos tattooed to criminals' faces or arms, which marked that they had been found guilty of their crimes. Yakuza often would also have tattoo that were obligatory in some clans and had birth in protest for the branding of criminals with tattoo. However not all the tattoo had a negative meaning in Japan. ‘Horimono’ (彫り物 Lit: “carved/engraved thing”) were large tattoos, which covers a person's whole back, or arms, or chest, or full-body that weren't branded on criminals but on fishermen, firemen, and so on, people who had jobs were they wouldn't be wearing many clothes, so their skin, and the tattoo, would be visible most of the time. Buddhist priests would also have tattooed on themselves sutras or religious designs while ‘Irezumiko’ (入墨子) were the tattoos sex workers would make to show their romantic devotion to their regular customer and it would start with the customer's name, and end with inochi (命), meaning life. In total, the tattoo meant "I devote my life to (customer's name)".

- Gotō told Sugimoto he saw an Hokkaido wolf, and although the latter didn’t believe him as he thinks they’re extinct, this might mean Gotō spotted Retar.

- Sugimoto remembered/dreamed his friend Toraji told him to go with him to Hokkaido to search for gold because he wanted his kid to go to college so he doesn’t grow up to be an idiot like him, escaping from a life of poverty and a good doctor to look at his wife, Umeko as his eyesight is getting worse every day. Toraji heard from an American pal of his working for the railroad industry that America has the best eye doctors so he estimated for the boat fare and the operation a cost of 200 yen with the boat fare doubling if he goes with her. In his dream Toraji told him he has to hurry as relations with America will worse after the war and begged him, crying, to take care of Umeko for him, as they had been friends all their lives and nobody will want a woman with bad eyes and a kid. Sugimoto then saw Toraji being limbless and with intestines exposed sinking in a pool of blood as he claimed “I can’t go back to Japan” (俺は日本に帰れない ‘Ore wa Nihon ni kaerenai’).

- Although when Gotō attacked him it was kill or be killed, Sugimoto didn’t kill him. When he chased him his first though was he clearly wanted to know more about what Gotō knew but then he talked himself into how he was chasing him because otherwise Gotō would kill him.

- The poison on Asirpa’s arrow is a fast-acting one made from a red stingray spine and aconite root but a brown bear can move for 10 second after being hit by it.

- Sugimoto refers to the bears as “Monsters” (バケモノ ‘Bakemono’)

- When talking about Toraji first Sugimoto defines him as his childhood friend (‘Osananajimi’ [幼なじみ “childhood friend”]) then switches to comrade (‘Senyū’ [戦友 “comrade in arms/war buddy”]).

- When asked about what he wanted to do with Gotō’s body by Asirpa, Sugimoto at first claimed he wanted to take him to a nearby village, skipping to mention he planned to use him to find the Ainu gold and only when Asirpa told him he would have to kill the bear to keep it he told her the truth, begging her to help him to kill the bear.

- In scanlations Asirpa claims that night will be a moonless night, which clashes with the fact in the next chapter we’ll see a full moon in the sky but in the Japanese version her sentence might be read as ‘the moon won’t appear’ (because hidden by clouds). In fact in the next chapter for a while it will be pitch black then the moon will appear from behind the clouds.

- Umeko calls Sugimoto ‘Saichi-chan’ (佐一ちゃん) and he calls her just ‘Ume-chan’ (梅ちゃん).

- Asirpa believed her father was among the Ainu killed THAT NIGHT.

- The way the tattoo wraps around the chest and arms and is sectioned off at the median lines of his body is the same way one would mark a bear or a deer before skinning it. This, according to Asirpa, implies the man tattooing them never wanted to share the gold with the prisoners but wanted them to be skinned.

- Gotō might look like a plot device to let Sugimoto know about the gold, set him on chasing it and helping him to meet up with Asirpa however he’s also a symbolic representation of the temptation for Sugimoto (Sugimoto has stopped killing people but if he tries to chase the gold he’ll resume doing so), but he can also work as an interesting parallel with Sugimoto. Our first impression of him is of a harmless, friendly drunkard. When he later tries to kill Sugimoto it’s obviously because he feared for his own life, not out of hate or cruelty. However late it’ll turn up he ended in Abashiri because he got drunk and while drunk he ended up killing his wife and kid. In short he lost control of himself and ended up murdering his family. And much later Sugimoto will have troubles controlling himself.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Worse comes to worst, we take a bite out of one of those damn Russians. I won’t die here.” (‘Iza to nattara buttobashita Roske no shiroi ketsu o kajitte demo ore wa ikinuite yaru’ いざとなったらぶつ殺した露スケの白いケツをかじってでも俺は生き抜いてやる Lit: “When the moment come, even if I’ve to take a bite out of the white asses of the Russkies I’ll kill, I will survive.”)

- Sugimoto: “I want money. I need money.” (‘Kane ga hoshī. Kane ga hitsuyōna nda’ カネが欲しい。カネが必要なんだ)

- Gotō: “They called you… ‘Sugimoto the immortal,’ didn't they? They say you fought like you were possessed by The devil himself. That you were running around the day after receiving a mortal wound. bayonets, bullets, cannonballs. None of them could take you down. Are the stories true?” (‘Fujimi no Sugimoto tte yoba re teta n datte? Kishin no yōna tatakai-buridatta-sō janai ka. Hinshi no jūshō o otte mo yokujitsu ni wa hashirimawatteru. Jūken demo kikan jū demo hōdan demo sugi moto o korosenai tte… hontona no? Sono-wa?’ 「不死身の杉元」って呼ばれてたんだって？鬼神のような戦いぶりだったそうじゃないか。瀕死の重傷を負っても翌日には走り回ってる。銃剣でも機関銃でも砲弾でも杉元を殺せないって…ほんとなの？その話？Lit: “You were called Immortal Sugimoto, weren’t you? It seems that you fought like a Kishin. Even though you were seriously injured, you would run around the next day. A bayonet, a machine gun, or a shell can’t kill Sugimoto... is it true? This story?”)

- Sugimoto: “They’re true. I just don't seem to die.” (‘Nakanaka shinenai mon sa’ なかなか死ねないもんさ Lit: “It’s hard to die for me.”)

- Sugimoto: “If I hadn’t nearly killed an officer that pissed me off… I’d have the order of the golden kite, and be enjoying a cosy retirement right now.” (‘Kiniiranai jōkan o hangoroshi nakya kinshi kunshō moratte imagoro wa nukunuku nenkin kurashida’ 気に入らない上官を半殺しなきゃ金鵄勲章もらって今頃はぬくぬく年金暮らしだ Lit: “If I hadn’t half killed a superior officer I don't like I would have received the Order of the Golden Kite and nowadays I would be living thanks to my cosy retirement.”)

- Wilk: “Break out of here. I'll split half the gold ingot among anyone who succeed” (‘Koko kara datsugoku shiro. Seikō shita yakko ni wa kinkai o hanbun yaru’ ここから脱獄しろ。成功した奴には金塊を半分やる Lit: “Jailbreak from here. To the successful guy I’ll give half of the gold.”)

- Gotō: “The tattoos on all the prisoners only had meaning when they were combined.” (‘“Shūjin tara no irezumi wa zen'in de hitotsu no angō ni natte irurashī”’ 「囚人たらの入れ墨は全員でひとつの暗号になっているらしい」Lit: “‘It seems the tattoos on the prisoners were all forming a single encrypted code.’”)

- Toraji: “I can’t go back to Japan” (‘Ore wa Nihon ni kaerenai’ 俺は日本に帰れない).

- Sugimoto: “So then…what was that crazy story he was just telling me? Suddenly it's starting to sound a lot less crazy. Maybe he knows something else.” (‘Nanda yo… sakki no yotabana ga kyū ni shinjitsumi o obite kita jane~e ka! Aitsu mada nani ka shitteru no ka?’ なんだよ… さっきの与太話が急に真実味を帯びてきたじゃねぇか！あいつまだ何か知ってるのか？“What's going on... That gossip story suddenly tinged with truth! Does he still know anything?”)

- Sugimoto: “It’s kill or be killed” (‘Yara reru mae ni yaru shika’ やられる前にやるしか Lit: “I have to do it before him”)

- Asirpa: “It'll get extremely dark soon. There won’t be a moon tonight. It’ll be so dark you can’t see your own hands.” (‘Mō sogu makkura ni naru kon'ya wa tsuki ga denaikara jibun no te mo mienaku naru’ もうそぐ真っ暗になる今夜は月が出ないから自分の手も見えなくなる Lit: “It'll get extremely dark soon. Tonight the moon isn’t visible so it’ll be so dark you can’t see your own hands.”)

- Asirpa: “The weak get eaten” (‘Yowai yatsu wa kuwareru’ 弱い奴は食われる)

- Sugimoto: “It was my childhood friend… my comrade’s request” (Osananajimi de Sen'yū ga nokoshita saigo no tanomi’ 幼なじみで戦友が残した最後の頼み lit: “My childhood friend… my comrade left me with this last request”)

- Sugimoto: “I need money more than anything!” (‘Dōshitemo kane ga hitsuyō nanda’ どうしてもカネが必要なんだ)

- Sugimoto: “So basically… they had planned all along to kill and skin him. And that's why he has tattooed like this?” (‘Tsumari… koroshite kawa o hagu koto ga zentei de kono irezumi wa hora rete iru tte koto ka?’ つまり… 殺して皮を剥ぐことが前提でこの入れ墨は彫られているってことか？ Lit: “I mean ... is this tattoo engraved like that on the premise of killing and skinning him?”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

02. WEN KAMUY (ウェンカムイ WEN KAMUY)

First printed: 21/August/2014 Weekly Young Jump 38

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Retar (レタㇻ).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February, 12 hours before sunrise (In Sapporo from Feb 16 to Feb 28 sunset is at 5:14PM and sunrise is at 6:22 AM so we’re at around 6:00 PM)

Historical events mentioned: Hokkaido Wolf extinction (1890)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Five years ago Asirpa’s father and six men from other villages were killed while transporting the gold to a new hiding place. Their bodies were chopped up and animals got them, scattering their remains. One of the lump of flesh resembled Asirpa’s father. Ainu were never even told that the man who'd killed them was arrested and sent to Abashiri prison, let alone anything about the tattooed prisoners. (Source: Asirpa)

Anybody involved with the case has probably been tight-lipped with the facts, since they’re all trying to get the gold themselves. (Source: Sugimoto)

Since Gotō is still living in hiding, this means the gold wasn’t found and the people in charge in the prison won’t execute the one who murdered Asirpa’s father and the others until they find the gold but the minute the gold is found the man’s life is forfeit. (Source: Sugimoto)

Character deaths: 2 Russians (killed by Sugimoto)

Animal deaths: Bear (killed by Sugimoto)

New Ainu words:

- Wen Kamuy: “Evil God”. Animal God which killed a human and can’t eat anything else but humans so he no longer fears humans and turn violent and dangerous.

- Sitat: Bark from white birch trees.

- Retar: White

- Sisam: “By my side”. Non-Ainu Japanese people.

- Asirpa: “New Year/Future”

- Teine Pokna Mosir: “Wet Underground World”. An Ainu hell in which all souls who do evil and commit taboo are sent after their death. It is a dark, cold, muddy and damp place, the lowest netherworld out of six. Being there is like a live burial, suffocating and lonely in a sort of karmic payback in which to hurt another is to dig a grave for yourself.

Food and drinks: Bear meat

Useful info and points to ponder:

- When Asirpa praises Sugimoto as a good warrior she comments it’s impressive ‘for a Sisam’ (a not Ainu). Actually Ainu didn’t have the monopoly of brave warriors so her comment comes out as prejudiced.

- Asirpa calls Sugimoto ‘Sisam’ until he’ll introduces himself as Sugimoto Saichi. Then she’ll call him just ‘Sugimoto’.

- After learning her name, Sugimoto calls Asirpa, ‘Asirpa-san’.

- Asirpa’s Ainu name (アシㇼパ) is written with a small ‘ri’ that needs to be read as just ‘r’ while the ‘shi’ needs to be read as ‘si’. Now, in the manga, Japanese characters usually write/pronounce Ainu words in the Japanese way (‘Citatap’ becomes ‘Citatapu’) while Ainu pronounce them in the correct way. However in Asirpa’s name case it seems everyone writes/pronounces it correctly, with a small ‘ri’ (though I’ve heard in the fandom this is up to debate). The anime didn’t care AT ALL about this and had even Asirpa say ‘Ashiripa’.

- While Asirpa didn’t specifically say the Ainu men killed were of HER village, the context implied she believed they were and even Sugimoto assumed so. We know though, the men weren’t all from her village. The Doylist explanation is Noda retconned this, the Watsonian explanation is that Asirpa doesn’t remember the fact correctly as she was a child.

- Sugimoto asks Asirpa to team up with him to find the gold. He acknowledges it belongs to the Ainu in the first place so he won’t ask for 50:50, just for a share. When Asirpa refuses because this would mean track and kill the prisoners and she doesn’t want to kill anyone Sugimoto claims that by finding the gold, they’ll trigger the execution of her father’s murderer, ensuring she’ll get revenge for her father and that Asirpa helped him because this is exactly what she wanted, so he volunteers to be the one who dirties his hands as she’ll only have to share her knowledge with him.

- It’s worth to mention that, although Sugimoto didn’t ask for an even split, it was never exactly established how much Sugimoto wanted. The scanlations say he asked for a small share but in the Japanese version he asked just for a share (‘Wakemae’ 分け前), without claiming it also had to be small. He likely hoped it wouldn’t be as in chap 3 he said he would also become rich.

- Ainu do not eat a bear who killed a human nor take their fur.

- The last page of the chapter has two panels, in one there’s Sugimoto and Asirpa, Sugimoto claiming he’s in this for the money and Asirpa is in this for revenge and therefore their destinations are different but they’re walking the same path and together they can be unstoppable. The panel below shows the bodies of the convicts, implying their path is built above the corpses of the convicts.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- In the magazine Asirpa says Retar’s name out loud, in the volume she just thinks it.

Notable quotes:

Asirpa: “When a brown bear kills a human, it is cursed to never be able to eat anything else.” (‘Higuma wa ichido ningen o korosu to batsu to shite ningen shika kuenaku naru.’ ヒグマは一度人間を殺すと罰として人間しか食えなくなる。Lit: “Once a brown bear kills a human, as punishment, he can only eat humans.”)

Asirpa: “It no longer fears humans and turns violent and dangerous, it becomes a Wen Kamuy (Evil god)” (‘Ningen o osorenai kyōbōde kiken'na Wen Kamuy (warui kami) ni naru.’ 人間を恐れない凶暴で危険なウェンカムイ（悪い神）になる。Lit: “He become a vicious and dangerous Wen Kamuy (evil god) who does not fear humans.”)

Sugimoto: “I guess the bear figures out just how weak human beings really are…” (‘Bare chimatta wakeda... Ningen-sama ga yowai ikimonodatta’ バレちまったわけだ… 人間様が弱い生き物だった Lit: “The bear understood it. . . Human beings are weak creatures.”)

Sugimoto: “Just try and kill me, dammit! I'm Sugimoto the immortal!” (‘Koroshite miro ~tsuore wa fujimi no Sugimoto da’ 殺してみろッ俺は不死身の杉元だ Lit: “Try to kill me! I'm Sugimoto the immortal!”)

Asirpa: “You're brave and know your way around a fight. A most capable warrior! Impressive, for a Sisam.” (‘Yūki to tatakai no sainō ga aru. Yūshūna senshida. Shisamu ni shite wa yaru na’ 勇気と戦いの才能がある。優秀な戦士だ。シサムにしてはやるな Lit: “You have courage and fighting talent. An excellent warrior. Impressive for someone who’s just a Sisam.”)

Asirpa: “My father and six other men from the village were killed while moving the gold stash to a new hiding place” (‘Chichi o fukume mura no otoko-tachi 7-mei wa kinkai no kakushibasho o idō sate iru dōchū ni korosa retarashī’ 父をふくめ村の男たち７名は金塊の隠し場所を移動さている道中に殺されたらしい Lit: “Seven men from the village, including my father, seemed to have been killed on the way while moving the gold to a new hiding place.”)

Sugimoto: “Listen, Asirpa. Let's team up and find this gold together. It belongs to your people in the first place, so I won't ask for 50:50. All I'm looking for is a small share.” (Nā Ashiripa-san. Ore to kunde kinkai o mitsukeyou. Moto wa anta-tachi no kinda. Yamawake to wa iwanai. Daga orenimo wakemae ga hoshī ‘’ なぁアシㇼパさん。俺と組んで金塊を見つけよう。もとはあんた達の金だ。山分けとは言わない。だが俺にも分け前が欲しい Lit: “Hey, Asirpa-san. Team up with me to find the gold. Originally it was your people’s gold. I’m not saying to split it equally. But I also want a share.”)

Asirpa: “We ainu don't eat the meat of a man-eater. We don't take the fur either. A bear that does evil things and becomes an evil god is sent to a hell called Teine Pokna Mosiri” (‘Ainu wa hito o koroshita inoshishi wa kuwanai. Kegawa mo toranai. Warui koto o shita kuma wa warui kami to natte teinepokunamoshiri to iu jigoku ni okura reru’ アイヌは人を殺した熊の肉は食わない。毛皮も取らない。悪い事をした熊は悪い神となってテイネポクナモシリという地獄に送られる Lit: “Ainu do not eat the meat of bears who killed people. We also don't take its fur. A bear who does bad things becomes a evil god and is sent to a hell called Teine Pokna Mosiri”)

Asirpa: “I don’t want to kill anyone.” (‘Watashi mo hito o koroshitakunai’ わたしも人を殺したくない)

Sugimoto: “Killing people sends you to hell? then I guess they'll be rolling out the red carpet for me!” (‘Ningen o korose wa jigoku-ikidato ku? Sorenara ore wa tokutō sekida’ 人間を殺せは地獄行きだとく？それなら俺は特等席だ Lit: “Killing humans sends you to hell? Then I guess I’ll get a special seat!”)

Sugimoto: “I'll be the one getting their hands dirty. All you need to do is share your knowledge with me. I'm in it for the money. You're in it for revenge. Our destinations are different, but we're walking the same path. If we work together, we'll be unstoppable!” (‘Te o yogosu no wa ore ga yaru. Asirpa-san wa chie dake kashite kure. Ore wa kin de Asirpa -san wa oya no kyū. Mokuteki wa chigaedo michi wa onaji. Futari de te o kumeba oninikanabōda’ 手を汚すのは俺がやる。アシㇼパさんは知恵だけ貸してくれ。俺は金でアシㇼパさんは親の仇。目的は違えど道は同じ。二人で手を組めば鬼に金棒だ Lit: “Getting their hands dirty is what I’ll do. Asirpa-san, please lend me only your wisdom. I'm in for the gold and Asirpa-san is in for her parent's revenge. The purpose is different but the road is the same. If we join hands together we’ll give a metal rod to an ogre (we’ll be even stronger).”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

03. TRAP (罠 WANA)

First printed: 04/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 40

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), unnamed merchant, unnamed prostitute, Tokiko (時子), unnamed pimp (妓夫太郎 ‘Gifutarō’), unnamed prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’).

Location: Near Otaru and Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa, Southern Karafuto (current Southern Sachalin)

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

If the escaped prisoners are still searching for the gold then they wouldn’t have run to mainland Japan but remain somewhere in Hokkaido. As they’re not animals they can’t survive hiding in the mountains and an outsider would stand out in a small village so Sugimoto imagine they would want to go to a big town and blend into the crowd. (Source: Sugimoto)

Character deaths: None.

Animal deaths: Squirrel (Killed by Asirpa’s trap).

New Ainu words:

- Ikayop: Quiver.

- Ay: Arrow.

- Karimpaunku: Bow wrapped in cherry tree bark.

- Tasiro: Hunting knife.

- Ekimnekuwa: Hiking stick.

- Menokomakiri: Short knife for women.

- Cinru: Snowshoes for use on crusty snow.

- Saranip: Knapsack.

- Yukker: Deerskin boots.

Food and drinks: Fried shrimp, squirrels, soba

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Sugimoto admits to like squirrels therefore he wouldn’t want to kill them. Asirpa says she likes them too. As a food. It’s possible though Asirpa didn’t get Sugimoto didn’t mean ‘as a food’ hence why she was so upset when he didn’t want to eat them later.

- Asirpa, with her hunting abilities, becomes the money provider of the group as money will come from the animals she hunts and sell, for example squirrel fur but also in the previous chapter she explained how to sell the part of the bears that got killed.

- In hindsight Sugimoto’s plan to find the convicts is based on completely wrong premises that show how little he knew about Hokkaido and the convicts. Not all the prisoners were searching for the gold and one even left Hokkaido (Gansoku Maiharu). Nihei could have survive hiding on the mountains if he had wanted to and Hokkaido has plenty of seasonal workers who also travelled in small villages or small towns.

- Of course, while having a bath Sugimoto isn’t wearing his cap. However he has a towel on the top of his head. When Sugimoto removes it, Noda covers the top of his head with vapour.

- When the men at the bath comments he never say a body like Sugimoto his sentence is phrased as if he means ‘good looking’. When, however, we see Sugimoto’s body as well we are meant to get he’s referring to the fact his body is badly scarred, making impressive how Sugimoto managed to stay alive.

- When thanked by the man in the baths because he helped ensure the financial prosperity of Otaru Sugimoto points out the merchants are the only ones getting rich and he thinks he’ll get rich too, no matter what he has to do.

- The prostitute calls her co-worker ‘Tokiko-chan’.

- When the pimp grabs Asirpa his first worry is she’s there to make fun of the girls working there. A prostitute defends Asirpa, telling him to let her go, calling her ‘Kawaisō’ (可哀想 “poor thing”). When Asirpa beats him they side with her, calling her ‘Ojōchan’ (お嬢ちゃん “young lady”)

- The pimp asks Asirpa if she’s 12 or 13 claiming Ainu girls get tattoo around their mouths when they come of age. Coming of age for Ainu girl varied from 14 to 18 according to the village in which the girls were in. Noda doesn’t tell us which is the rule in Asirpa’s village.

- The pimp plans selling Asirpa, likely to a brothel.

- Asirpa hits the pimp with the butt of her small knife in the eye, forcing him to put her down but not harming him permanently. Sugimoto hits him with his thumb on his trachea, while it won’t do permanent damage, a blow on the trachea is very dangerous, as we’ve seen with Usami and Tokishige.

- The method chosen to capture the convicts is the one used to capture squirrels. However, there was a chance the convict would have ended up slowly strangled in the process or, worse, it could have broken his neck and kill him instantly. Actually, considering how fast the rope seems to move and how it manages to pull him up, it could have even been possible to decapitate him.

- When Sugimoto claims they got a prisoner he uses ‘hikime’ (匹目) which is the counter for ‘small animals’ not for ‘people’. So he’s basically saying they got one small animal. While part of his sentence is tied to the fact they caught him with the same method they use to catch squirrel it’s possible Sugimoto was already dehumanizing convicts so as not to empathize with them.

Notable changes from the magazine version: None

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “What, you're going to eat a squirrel? But I kind of like them…” (‘Ee~ risu kuu no ka? Ore risu-sukina ndakedo nā’ ええ～リス食うのか？俺リス好きなんだけどなぁ Lit: “Eh, do you eat squirrels? I like squirrels…”)

- Asirpa: “I like them too. They eat nothing but nuts, so their meat is really tasty. We can also sell their fur and make some money.” (‘Watashi mo sukida. Risu wa konomi shika tabenaikara niku ga umai. Kegawa mo urerukara genkin ga tenihairu’ 私も好きだ。リスは木の実しか食べないから肉が美味い。毛皮も売れるから現金が手に入る Lit: “I like them too. Squirrels eat only tree nuts, so their meat is delicious. Since their fun can be sold you can also get money.”)

- Sugimoto: “Hey, old timer. are you a regular here?” (‘Nā otchan wa koko no jōren?’ なあおっちゃんはここの常連？ Lit: “Hey, middle aged man, are you a regular here?”)

- Sugimoto: “Have you seen any guys with strange tattoos recently?” (‘Saikin koko de myōna irezumi no kyaku o mitakotonai?’ 最近ここで妙な入れ墨の客を見たことない？ Lit: “Recently have you ever seen customer with a strange tattoo here?”)

- Merchant: “Young man…are you a soldier? I've never seen any strange tattoos…and I've certainly never seen a body looking like yours. I can harldly believe my eyes. It’s amazing you’re still alive. It's thanks to soldiers like you that we got back southern Karafuto. Thank you for giving so much.” (‘Nī-chan… heitai-san kai? Hen'na irezumi wa mita koto naiga, anta mitaina sugoikarada mo mita koto nai na. Kori yā. Anta sore de yoku iki totsuna nā. Nīchan-tachi ga tatakatte kuretakara Nihon wa minamikarafuto o torikaeseta. Okage de kono Minatochō wa korekara motto motto sakaerudarou. Hontōni gokurō-samadeshita.’ にいちゃん…兵隊さんかい？変な入れ墨は見たこと無いが,あんたみたいなすごいからだも見たこと無いな。こりゃあ。あんたそれでよく生きとつななあ。兄ちゃんたちが戦ってくれたから日本は南樺太を取り返せた。おかげでこの港町はこれからもっともっと栄えるだろう。本当に御苦労様でした Lit: “Young man... are you a soldier? I've never seen a strange tattoo, but I've never seen an amazing body like yours either. Wow. It’s amazing you’re still alive. You young men fought, so Japan was able to regain Southern Karafuto. Thanks to this, this port town will prosper more and more from now on. Really thank you for your hard work.”)

- Sugimoto: “...the merchants are the only ones getting rich. And I'll get rich too. No matter what I have to do.” (‘..Mōkaru no wa shōnin dakedaro. Ore mo taikin o tsukande yaru. Don'na te o tsukatte demo’ ...儲かるのは商人だけだろ。俺も大金を掴んでやる。どんな手を使ってでも Lit: “…Only the merchants are making money. And I too will grab a lot of money. No matter what kind of means I’ll have to use.”)

- Sugimoto: “Gotcha! there's prisoner number one!” (‘Kakatta Mazuwa ichi hikime!’ かかったまずは一匹目! Lit: “Got him! We’re starting with one small animal!”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

04. NOPPERA-BŌ (のっぺら坊 NOPPERA-BŌ)

First printed: 11/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 41

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), unnamed prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 ‘Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin’), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三) , Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Wilk (ウイルク), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助)

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Pencil introduction in Japan (Meiji era from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Wilk.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

Although the tattoos are worthless on their own, the prisoners split up because the other prisoners just suddenly started killing each other. The prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group had no idea what was going on so he just ran away and since he couldn’t trust anyone he has been laying low all that time. (Source: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group)

The killing means some of the prisoners must have realized they had to start skinning the other convicts. (Source: Sugimoto)

The guy who came up with the escape plan was a cold, violent bastard, a monster, compared to whom the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group is just a small time punk and Sugimoto should have seen how had died the greedy soldiers who came after them. (Source: prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group)

Character deaths: Guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners), prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group (Shoot in the head by Ogata Hyakunosuke)

Animal deaths: None

Flashbacks or info about the characters past: None

New Ainu words:

- Makiri: “Knife”

- Menomakiri: “Knife for women”

Food and drinks: None mentioned.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- We will never get the name for the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group. Maybe it’s a nobody as Shiraishi claimed. Maybe there’s more to discover about him and it will be revealed in the future along with his name.

- The gun Sugimoto is holding is the one the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group owned and that he likely stole it from the soldiers who were escorting them, as this sort of guns were used by officers in the army (we saw Koito owning one). Nice catch for one who defines himself a small punk but, when Sugimoto will use it, Ogata will assume it’s Sugimoto the one who stole it from an officer, also because they were expensive (22 yen + 100 rounds of ammunition for 3 yen) and normally not given to the soldiers (the officers would buy them themselves). the price was 22 yen (currently around 44,000 yen) and 100 rounds of ammunition for 3 yen (currently around 6,000 yen).

- The scanlations talk of a ‘bloodbath’ but the Japanese version merely says they just started killing each other (Koroshiai sa “殺し合いさ”). Now, even if the Japanese version is tamer, there were 24 convicts and 22 for sure walked out of it just fine (we still don’t know the whereabouts of the last convict) and, even if we assume Wakayama killed the convict whose skin will become the Barato skin during that moment… well, it’s hard to think many tough guys who also were interested in the skins (Hijikata, Ushiyama, Boutarou, Sakamoto) just escaped from him or watched him doing so or let him escape with a corpse (Sakamoto would have reached him). It’s much easier Wakayama killed the poor guys AFTER the convicts have parted ways. The Doylist explanation is the attempted slaughtering was removed from the story, the Watsonian that the prisoner either lied or overreacted to the prisoners attacking each other… or maybe Heita just went rampaging and this impressed him… or they just gave him an hallucination drug… but, as Sugimoto trusted him, he never questioned Shiraishi about why the convicts parted ways.

- Although chapter 2 implied Sugimoto’s plan was to kill the convicts and then skin them it turns out Asirpa agreed to help Sugimoto after he promised her he wouldn’t kill anyone. Her idea was they would just draw down the tattoos instead than skinning the convicts.

- When Asirpa will interrupt Sugimoto, reminding him he promised not to kill people, Sugimoto will claim his plan was only to threaten the convict he would kill him in order to get him to talk, but he clearly never discussed this with Asirpa.

- It turns out Asirpa has good drawing skills even if she has never used a pencil before.

- Asirpa will reveal her father was good with his hands too and this made him popular with ladies. He’s also the one who made her Menomakiri.

- Ainu men craft Menomakiri for the woman they like, so that the woman can look at their work and see how good of a providers they are.

- The prisoner will say the one who tattooed them was called ‘Noppera-bō’ (のっぺら坊 “Person who’s faceless”) because he didn’t have a face. He doesn’t explain how Wilk came to lose his face. Was it through torture? Or was his face the lump of flesh that was found and made people assume he died?

- Ogata was distant 300 meters when he shoot straight in the head the prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group.

- In hindsight if he wanted to kill the whole group Ogata should have shoot Sugimoto first, as the convict couldn’t go anywhere as he was tied, so the fact he shoot him first means he didn’t mean to kill Sugimoto.

- Sugimoto’s first assumption is that Ogata was another convict or, at least, one of his allies.

- Sugimoto acknowledges Ogata is a dangerous adversary which can’t be taken lightly.

- The number on Ogata epaulette is 27 but the 7 is hardly visible in both shoulders.

- In this chapter and in chap 5 there’s light in Ogata’s eyes. There won’t be light in his eyes in the following chapter. A retcon in the character design or it means something?

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- This chapter had a colour cover in the magazine version. In the volume version it has been turned into a black and white one.

Notable quotes:

Prisoner: “It turned into a bloodbath. The other prisoners just suddenly started killing each other. I had no idea what was going on, so I just ran like hell. I couldn't trust anyone, so I've been laying low all this time.” (‘Koroshiai sa. Totsuzen nani no maebure mo nashi ni shūjin dōshi ga koroshiai ni natta. Ore wa wake mo wakarazu nigedashita no sa. Dare mo shin'yō dekine~ekara hitori de senpuku shi teta nda’ 殺し合いさ。突然何の前触れも無しに囚人同士が殺し合いになった。俺は訳も分からず逃げ出したのさ。誰も信用できねぇからひとりで潜伏してたんだ Lit: “They started to kill each other. Suddenly, the prisoners started to kill each other without any notice. I didn't understand the reason and ran away. I didn't trust anyone, so I hid myself.”)

Prisonier: “Those greedy soldiers that came to get us? They were practically teenagers. You should have seen how they died. Listen, buddy. You'd be better off chasing rabbits.” (‘Kinkai ni me ga kuranda gaki mitai ni wakai tondenhei-tachi ga don'na shinizama o shita ka misete yaritakatta ze. Usagi demo okkakete tamauga mi no tameda zo, ni ̄-chan’ 金塊に目がくらんだガキみたいに若い屯田兵たちがどんな死に様をしたか見せてやりたかったぜ。ウサギでも追っかけてたまうが身のためだぞ、にーちゃん Lit: “I’d like to show you in which manner those young military settler colonists died, they were like brats blinded by the gold. It is better for you to chase the rabbits, bro.”)

Sugimoto: “Is that all you’ve got to say? Well, don’t worry… after you’re dead, you won’t feel a thing when I skin you.” (‘Iitai koto wa sore dake ka? Nāni… shinde shimaebahin muka reyouga itami nantenē sa’ いいたいことはそれだけか？なあに…死んでしまえばひん剥かれようが痛みなんてねえさ Lit: “Is that all you want to say? Well… if you die, you won’t feel the pain of being skinned.”)

Asirpa: “Hey, Sugimoto! You promised not to kill anyone! If you kill him, I won’t help you!” (‘Oi Sugimoto-! Korosanai to yakusoku shita hazuda zo! Korosunara watashi wa kyōryoku shinai’ オイ杉元ッ！殺さないと約束したはずだぞ！殺すなら私は協力しない Lit: “Oi Sugimoto! You promised not to kill! I will not cooperate with you if you kill him.”)

Sugimoto: “Asirpa, I was kind of hoping you'd play along. There goes my plan to threaten him and get all his information.” (‘Asirpa-san, soko wa engi shite notte kurenai to. Odoshite iroiro kikidasu tsumoridattanoni’ アシㇼパさん、そこは演技してノッてくれないと。脅していろいろ聞き出すつもりだったのに Lit: “Asirpa-san, here you have to act. I was going to threaten him to get out of him many info.”)

Asirpa: “I like this thing. this "pencil". It's useful.” (‘Sugimoto, kore ī na. Enpitsu tte iu no ka. Benrida’ 杉元、これいいな。鉛筆っていうのか。便利だ Lit: “Sugimoto, this is good. Is it a pencil? It's useful.”)

Asirpa: “Ainu men craft a Makiri and give in to the woman they like. she looks at the craftsmanship and decides how good of a provider that man is.” (‘Ainu no otoko wa sukina on'na ni jibun de hotta makiri (kogatana) o okuru. On'na wa sono dekibae de otoko no seikatsu-ryoku o hakaru nda’ アイヌの男は好きな女に自分で彫ったマキリ（小刀）を贈る。女はその出来栄えで男の生活力を量るんだ Lit: “An Ainu man gives to the woman he likes a carved Makiri (little sword). The woman measures the man's ability as a provider by his craftsmanship.”)

Prisoner: “…Noppera-bou. That's what we all called him.” (‘… Nopperabō sa. Oretachi wa sō yonde ita.’ …のっぺら坊さ。俺たちはそう呼んでいた)

Prisoner: “He didn't have a face” (‘Kao ga nai nda’ 顔が無いんだ)

Ogata: “Sounds like he’s using a type 26 looted off a dead soldier.” (‘Heishi o koroshite ubatta nijūroku nenshiki kyojū ka’ 兵士を殺して奪った二十六年式挙銃か Lit: “A stolen 26 model handgun gotten by killing a soldier?”)

Sugimoto: “I was hoping to take him alive, but this isn't the type of guy I can afford to take lightly!” (‘Ikedori ni suru tsumoridattaga… tekagen dekiru aite janē’ 生け捕りにするつもりだったが…手加減できる相手じゃねえ Lit: “I was going to take him alive… but this isn't an opponent I can afford to take lightly!”)

Box: “The instant they moved apart… the man had pushed down the bolt stop and pulled out the bolt, rendering Sugimoto’s rifle useless” (‘Hanare sai… Shunkan-teki ni jū no waki ni aru borutosutoppā o oshinagara boruto o hikinuki sugi moto no jū o shiyō funō ni shita’ 離れ際… 瞬間的に銃の脇にあるボルトストッパーを押しながらボルトを引き抜き杉元の銃を使用不能にした Lit: “When they had moved apart… in a moment he had pressed the bolt stop at the rifle’s side and pulled out the bolt rendering Sugimoto’s rifle useless.”)

Sugimoto: “He’s a member of a unit of frontier soldiers chasing after the gold. The unit renowned as the strongest in the army. The Hokkaido 7th division.” (‘Kinkai o otte iru tondenhei no butai rikugun saikyō to utawa reta Hokkaidō no dai nana bumon’ 金塊を追っている屯田兵の部隊。陸軍最強と謳われた北海道の第七部門 Lit: “A military settler colonist of the unit chasing after the gold. The Hokkaido seventh division, which was claimed to be the strongest in the army.”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

05. HOKUCHIN UNIT (北鎮部隊 HOKUCHIN BUTAI)

First printed: 18/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 42

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: 203 hill in Port Arthur (current Lüshunkou) (China), Mukden (currently Shenyang) (China).

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Russo-Japanese war (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) Siege of Port Arthur (1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), Battle of Mukden (20 February - 10 March 1905)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: None

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None

Character deaths: None (although Ogata will be assumed dead)

Animal deaths: None.

New Ainu words:

- Kuca: “Temporary hut”. A cone shaping hut used for short camping trips in the wilderness.

- Citatap: “We mince it”. An Ainu dish.

- Ohaw: Boiled soup

- Pukusakina: Soft wildflower

- Hinna: “Thank you (for the food)”.

Food and drinks: Citatap with squirrel and ohaw in which it’s cooked.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The name of the ‘Hokuchin Butai’ (北鎮部隊) or “Defeat the north unit” is formed by two kanji. One means ‘north’ and actually refers to Russia, the other means both ‘to calm down/to pacify’ but also ‘to dominate/to subdue’.

- When facing Ogata Sugimoto comments the sniper and his companions are probably “the dregs/failures of the unit” (師団の中のはずれ者 ‘Shidan no naka no hazure-sha’). This is actually wishful thinking on his part.

- When facing Sugimoto Ogata actually asks him “Who are you with?” (きさまどこの所属だ ‘Kisama doko no shozoku da’), which Sugimoto interprets with “Which unit were you with?” when it’s more likely Ogata is interested in knowing with who Sugimoto is working NOW as there were few people aware of the gold hunt, the convicts, the soldiers of the 7th, Inudo’s men and Wilk’s allies. That’s why Ogata relaxes when Sugimoto misunderstands and says he was with the first division but reached the term of his service and was discharged, because he indirectly confirms he’s not affiliated with any group searching for the gold and that’s also why Ogata talks about ‘kane’ (カネ “money”) not ‘kane’ (金 ‘gold/money’ though it seems when it means ‘gold’ the more common pronunciations are ‘kin’ or ‘ougon’ or ‘kogane’ or ‘kigane’)).

- Ogata uses ‘Kisama’ to say you, when talking with Sugimoto. Nowadays it would be considered very offensive, as if he has told him ‘you bastard’. However, up to WW2 it was the normal way soldiers would say ‘you’ among them (and prior to it, it was used by samurai and it was a polite way to say you… in fact it contains ‘-sama’). Hard to say though if Noda is using it keeping this into consideration or not.

- When Sugimoto tells Ogata he was in the 1st division he adds he reached the end of his term of service and was discharged. This doesn’t necessarily mean he was discharged AT THE END OF THE WAR. It seems in Meiji time soldiers were enlisted for 3 years, with them being called to enlist at 20. A recruit entering the Army was given the rank of 2nd-dass private and, as a rule, was automatically promoted to 1st-class private after 6 months so Sugimoto, who goes to was as a first class private, has already spent 6 months in the army. This means it’s possible Sugimoto was 20 in 1903, when he was enlisted (April/July), did his 6 mandatory months as 2nd class private, was promoted to 1st class private and, by February 1904, he was ready to take part to the Russo-Japanese war and would have to stay in the army till 1906. It’s also worth to mention that, although he doesn’t mention it to Ogata, Sugimoto claimed he beat half to death a superior officer. If this is true and wasn’t reconned, this might have affected his time of permanence in the army (prolonging it).

- Once learning Sugimoto was in the 1st division, Ogata wonder if they had met at the 203 hill. While possible, so far we only know that Sugimoto has met Tanigaki during that battle.

- While talking with Sugimoto Ogata scratches the back of his head (the sound effect in the scanlation was removed). Noda might have retconned the gesture into becoming his signature hair petting gesture.

- Sugimoto will reply to Ogata he’s not doing it for money but for the woman he loves [‘Horeta’ (惚れた) can mean “to fall in love”, “to be in love”, “to lose one’s heart to” so he’s clearly not implying just simple fondness]. Ogata will remember this.

- After sending Ogata on the ground Sugimoto breaks his arm and retrieves his bayonet, presses the tip on his neck and then attempts to stab it but Asirpa interrupts him, saving Ogata. Ogata will also remember this.

- When Asirpa calls Sugimoto by name Ogata connects the dots and realizes that Sugimoto of the first division can only be ‘Sugimoto the immortal’.

- Ogata escapes because he’s aware he can’t beat Sugimoto the immortal, especially with a broken arm.

- When Ogata begins to fall Asirpa attempted to reach for him while Sugimoto was surprised. Clearly neither wanted that outcome.

- Ogata falls from a cliff in the frozen river with a broken arm and after hitting his face and breaking his jaw. Sugimoto and Asirpa are above the cliff so they can’t recover him but assume he would die. Ogata managed to reach the riverbank and was found by the 7th division at dusk without him having succumbed to hypothermia. How he managed to do it is considered amazing by the members of the 7th division. People in the fandom speculated he might have received outsider help to survive (maybe from Kiroranke). As of now, if he made it on his own or someone helped him out of the river and then left him on the riverbank is unknown.

- After Ogata falls Sugimoto claims this was for the best and explains to Asirpa that, although he had promised her he wouldn’t kill anyone, if his life is on the line he won’t hesitate to kill. Considering they’re meant to face dangerous convicts Sugimoto had to know he wouldn’t be able to keep the promise when he made it.

- During that speech Sugimoto claims he’s not a murderer (in the scanlations he say “I don’t enjoy killing”) and quotes Asirpa’s line in his speech “The weak gets eaten” (弱い奴は食われる ‘Yowai yatsu wa kuwa reru’) although scanlation changed it in “The strong survive, and the weak perish”.

- Asirpa has several huts in the area.

- Asirpa knows so much about hunting thanks to her father who carried her along in all his hunting trips as she has no male brothers and prefers to be out than knitting at home.

- When Asirpa offers him the squirrel brain and Sugimoto complains he explains his complain not with “it’s all so new to me” but with “I’m not used eating this kind of things”.

- Sugimoto is introduced to ‘Citatap’, ‘Ohaw’ and saying ‘hinna’ to thanks for the food.

- The word ‘Citatap’, when said by Asirpa, is written ‘チタタㇷ゚　’ with a small ‘pu’ (プ) which implies you’ve to read it ‘citatap’. However when said by Sugimoto (and, in future, when said by the other Japanese members of the cast), it’s written ‘チタタプ’, implying they actually say ‘citatapu’.

- The image of Asirpa and Sugimoto happily having Citatap and saying ‘hinna hinna’ is placed in direct contraposition of Ogata’s bandaged and wrapped up in a cover body. However, although there are voices around him, no person can be seen near him in the page.

- Due to the dialogues of the soldiers we learn that the soldier who attacked Sugimoto is the ‘Superior Private Ogata’. Tsurumi’s troops actually don’t know why Ogata was wandering through the mountains.

- It was impressive how Ogata, despite the wounds, managed to crawl out of the river.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

Notable quotes:

Box: “The 7th division of the Imperial Japanese army. During the Russo-Japanese war, they were sent into the worst fighting during the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden. Despite suffering heavy losses, they were a vital contributor to the Japanese victory. The people of Hokkaido reverently call them the ‘defender of the north unit’. Tasked with defending Northern Japan, they are the strongest unit in the army.” (‘Dainipponteikoku rikugun dainanashidan! Nichirosensōde wa Ryojun kōryaku-sen hōtenkaisen to iu gekisen-chi ni okurikoma re dai songai o dashitsutsu mo shōri ni kōken. Dōmin wa ikei no nen o kome `hokuchin butai' to yobu. Kita no mori o ninau rikugun saikyō no shi kuni.’ 大日本帝国陸軍第七師団！日露戦争では旅順攻略戦・奉天会戦という激戦地に送り込まれ大損害を出しつつも勝利に貢献。道民は畏敬の念を込め「北鎮部隊」と呼ぶ。北の守りを担う陸軍最強の師国。 Lit: “The 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army! In the Russo-Japanese War, it contributed to the victory while being sent to the fierce battlefields of the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden, despite suffering great damage. The people of Hokkaido in awe call it the “Hokuchin Unit”. It’s the army's strongest division responsible for the protection of the north.”)

Ogata: “What unit are you from?” (‘Kisama doko no shozoku da’ きさまどこの所属だ Lit: “Who are you with?”)

Sugimoto: “I was in the 1st division… though I reached the end of my service term and was discharged.” (‘Dai ichi shidan itaga konaida manki jotai shita’ 第一師団いたがこないだ満期除隊した Lit: “I was in the 1st division… though I reached the end of my service term and was discharged.”)

Ogata: “Oh, really? Then maybe we saw each other at 203 hill. Listen, you’d be better off handing that corpse over to us. It would be a shame to survive the war and then throw your life away over some money. I don’t think you understand what a dangerous game you’re playing.” (‘Sō ka? De wa nimarusan kōchi-atari de atte ita kamo shiren na. Sakki no shitai wa otonashi ku kochira ni Watari shitahōgaī ano sensō de hirotta inochi wa kane ni kae raren zo. Dore dake kiken'na bakuchi ni te o dashite iru no ka wakatte oran noda’ そうか？では二◯三高地あたりで会っていたかもしれんな。さっきの死体はおとなしくこちらに渡した方がいい。あの戦争で拾った命はカネに換えられんぞ。どれだけ危険な博打に手を出しているのか分かっておらんのだ Lit: “Really? So maybe we meet at 203 hill. The corpse of before, you should quietly give it to me. The life you picked up in that war cannot be exchanged for money. You don't know how dangerous of a gambling this is.”)

Sugimoto: “It’s not for money. It’s for the woman he loves.” (‘Kane janē. Horeta on'na no tameda’ カネじゃねえ。惚れた女のためだ Lit: “Not for money. For the woman I fell in love with.”)

Sugimoto: “During the war, I figured out the trick to staying alive. You don't let anybody kill you. I don't enjoy killing… but if my life is on the line, then I won't hesitate to kill whoever I need to. the strong survive, and the weak perish. It's a universal truth isn't it?” (‘Ore ga sensō de mananda shinanai hōhō wa hitotsu sa. Korosa renai kotoda. Asirpa-san ore wa satsujin-kyō janai…de mo korosa reru kurainara chūcho sezu korosu. Yowai yatsu wa kuwa reru. Doko no sekai mo sore wa onajidarou?’ 俺が戦争で学んだ死なない方法はひとつさ。殺されないことだ。アシㇼパさん俺は殺人狂じゃない…でも殺されるくらいなら躊躇せず殺す。弱い奴は食われる。どこ��世界もそれは同じだろう？ Lit: “During the war there's one lesson I learned in order not to die. You can’t let anybody kill you. Asirpa-san, I’m not a murderer… but if my life is on the line, then I won't hesitate to kill whoever I need to. The weak gets eaten. It’s always the same no matter where you are, isn't it?”)

Asirpa: “And what is that supposed to mean? Do you have a problem with Ainu cuisine?” (‘Dōiu imida? Watashitachi no tabekata ni monkude mo aru no ka?’ どういう意味だ？私たちの食べ方に文句でもあるのか？Lit: “What do you mean? Is it a complaint for our way of eating it?”)

Sugimoto: “Err, N-No…No problem at all. It's just all so new to me…” (‘A … iya sōiu tsumori janai datte ore sō iu no tabe nare tenaishi’ あ…いやそういうつもりじゃないだって俺そういうの食べ慣れてないし Lit: “Ah... No, I don't mean that, I'm not used to eating that kind of thing.”)

Asirpa: “Citatap means "We mince it." It's because we all take turns mincing that we call it Citatap.” (‘Citatap wa wareware ga (ci) kizamu (tata) mono (p) to iu imida. Kōtai shinagara tatakukara `wareware'Na nda’ チタタプは我々が（チ）刻む（タタ）もの（プ）という意味だ。交代しながら叩くから「我々」なんだ Lit: “Citatap means we (chi) mince (tata) it (p). It's "we" because we take turns hitting it.”)

- Asirpa: “Hinna, hinna! ” … “It's what we Ainu say to show appreciation for the food. We say it as we eat.” (‘Hinna hinna’ … ‘Shokuji ni kansha suru kotoba. Watashitachiha tabenagara iu nda’ 「ヒンナヒンナ」「食事に感謝する言葉。私たちは食べながら言うんだ」 Lit: “Hinna, hinna! They’re words to say thank you for the meal. We say them while eating.”)

- Soldiers: “We found him on the riverbank at dusk. Any later and he would have succumbed to hypothermia. Frankly, I’m amazed he was able to crawl up onto the bank with those injuries.” (‘Yūgata ni ni kawagishi de mitsukemashita. Hakken ga mōsukoshi osokereba tei taion-shō de shinde itadeshou. Kono kega de yoku kishi made hai agatta monodesu’ 夕方にに川岸で見つけました。発見がもう少し遅ければ低体温症で死んでいたでしょう。この怪我でよく岸まで這い上がったものです Lit: “We found him on the riverbank in the evening. If it was discovered a little later, he would have died of hypothermia. Despite these injuries he still somehow managed to crawl on the shore.”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

06. PERSECUTION (迫害 HAKUGAI) 25/SEPTEMBER/2014 WEEKLY YOUNG JUMP 43

First printed: 25/September/2014 Weekly Young Jump 43

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Wilk (ウイルク), Umeko (梅子), Umeko’s mother, Toraji (寅次)

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: Kabato prison in Tsukigata

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: None

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Sugimoto, Toraji, Umeko and about Shiraishi.

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape: None.

Character deaths: None

Animal deaths: Hare (killed by Asirpa… if not right then in the next chapter)

New Ainu words:

- Nipus hum: “The sound of trees splitting”. It’s a phenomenon where a sudden, extreme drop in temperature causes the sap inside trees to freeze and the trunk to split open.

Food and drinks: Hare.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- Same as when they caught the previous prisoner here too, when Sugimoto claims they caught the second prisoner he uses ‘hikime’ (匹目) which is the counter for ‘small animals’ not for ‘people’. So he’s basically saying they got the second small animal. The trap seems the same they used for the previous convicts and for squirrels, though now it also looks like the one for hares.

- When questioned, Shiraishi, differently from the previous prisoner, refused to speak. At this point Sugimoto asked him if he’s keeping silent because his throat was crushed by the trap (‘Wana de nodo tsubureta ka’ 罠でノドつぶれたか), showing he knew their trap could be dangerous.

- Shiraishi’s reply to Sugimoto is actually based on a racist joke as he asks him if ‘that Ainu’ is his ‘kai inu’ (pet dog) since the word ‘Ainu’ and ‘kai inu’ sound similar and Japanese used to call Ainu dogs due to the following wordplay アッ、イヌ (“ah, inu” meaning “ah, a dog”) sounding like the word ‘Ainu’. Shiraishi is clearly trying to insult Sugimoto, who has referred to him as well as an animal, asking him if he also consider Asirpa too as an animal (normally Shiraishi never refers to Ainu in such a rude manner) but, of course, since Sugimoto doesn’t view her as such, he thinks he’s insulting Asirpa. At the same time his reaction shows a certain hypocrisy. He’s not okay with people he loves being called animals but he’s fine with doing so to the convicts.

- Asirpa, stopping Sugimoto from hurting Shiraishi, points out how she’s used to hear such things so she doesn’t care anymore. Sugimoto complies but thinks ‘where’s the need to get used to it?’ (‘Nareru hitsuyō ga doko ni aru’ 慣れる必要がどこにある), which, combined with his attempt at hurting Shiraishi hints at his disapprobation of Asirpa’s passive and non violent stance, thinking it would have been right to beat Shiraishi up or, at least, scare him into silence. He doesn’t get though that if Asirpa got used to it, is because way too many Wajin do those racist comments and that if she were to use violence or threats like him to make them stop she would end up at war with them as he won’t spend the rest of his life beating up whoever were to insult Asirpa. He’s missing the full picture and not really looking forward to an Ainu rebellion besides, when Asirpa in the future will consider not being passive anymore, he’ll insist others should fight in her place. Sugimoto means well but he is of no help whatsoever. It’s a bit like when he complained Ainu should have just let him kill their prisoner. He means well but he wants to butt in into things without a full picture, claiming his methods are better even if, at least, he doesn’t force them.

- After thinking there’s no need to get used to it, Sugimoto’s mind, by association, goes back to his past, to how his family got infected with tuberculosis and ostracized by the village while Umeko, the person he loves, is told to keep away from him. As three of his relatives dies and his father ends in a sanatorium, people started suggesting to just burn his house down. It’ll be Sugimoto who’ll burn it down one night, when he’ll hear his father died. Umeko will reach him and he’ll tell her he burned the house and will leave the village, while she should just marry their childhood friend Toraji who has liked her from when they were child and who’s also liked by Umeko’s parents. Umeko begs him to carry her with him but he refuses, running away in fear he could be infected as well. He however thinks to wait two years and, if he’s not sick he’ll come back for her, implying he planned to marry her then. However, when he comes back, he sees her dressed in a nuptial kimono also called Shiromuku kimono (白無垢, lit. "white pure-innocence") with her Wataboshi (綿帽子, lit. "cotton hood"), an all-white hood up, about to get married to Toraji.

- Umeko calls Sugimoto ‘Saichi-chan’ while Sugimoto calls her ‘Ume-chan’.

- Sugimoto claims he would feel bad if he were to scare the hare… a hare he would have tried shooting down if it weren’t hidden.

- Shiraishi was originally imprisoned for robbery but after repeatedly escaping and being imprisoned again his sentence for escaping became far longer than the original one for robbery. Since he’s a genius at escaping he’s nicknamed the “Escape king” (Datsugoku-ō 脱獄王). He’s able to easily dislocate any of his joint and can hid all over his body needles, wires, a razor blade and even a bullet.

- Shiraishi is sure Sugimoto wants to kill him, which is what pushes him to not cooperate with him, no matter if Sugimoto has him at gunpoint or if them both could die. He accepts to work with him only when Sugimoto promises him he won’t kill him.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “There’s prisoner number two!” (‘Ni hikime’ 二匹目一匹目! Lit: “Second small animal!”)

- Sugimoto: “What, did the trap crush your windpipe?” (‘Wana de nodo ga tsubureta ka?’ 罠でノドがつぶれたか？Lit: “Did your throat get crushed by the trap?”)

- Shiraishi: “I see you have your very own pet Ainu. Does she do any tricks?” (‘Sono Ainu wa omae-san no kai inu ka?’ そのアイヌはお前さんの飼いイヌか？Lit: “That Ainu is your pet dog?”)

-Sugimoto: “How about I smash your jaw, and make it so you really can't speak?” (‘Ago o kudaite hontōni shi ~yaberaren'younishiteyarouka’ アゴを砕いて本当にしゃべられんようにしてやろうか Lit: “Shall I crush the jaw so that I can speak really?”)

- Asirpa: “Stop it, Sugimoto. It doesn't bother me. I'm used to people saying things like that” (‘Yose Sugimoto. Watashi wa kinishinai, nare teru’ よせ杉元。私は気にしない、慣れてる Lit: “Stop, Sugimoto. I don't care, I'm used to it.”)

- Sugimoto: “But you shouldn't have to get used to it!” (‘Nareru hitsuyō ga doko ni aru’ 慣れる必要がどこにある Lit: “Where is the need to get used to it?”)

- Sugimoto: “You know, Toraji… he’s a good, dependable guy. And he’s liked you since we were kids. I know I can count on him to take care of you. You should listen to your parents and marry him.” (‘Toraji wa… majimede ī yatsuda. Chīsai koro kara omae o sui teru. Aitsunara makase rareru. Goryōshin no susume ni shitagaubekida’ 寅次は… 真面目でいい奴だ。小さい頃からお前を好いてる。アイツなら��かせられる。ご両親の勧めに従うべきだ Lit: “Toraji is… a serious and good guy. He love you since he was little. I can entrust you to him. You should obey to your parents’ advices.”)

- Umeko: “Saichi! Take me with you!” (‘Saichi-chan tsuretette!’ 佐一ちゃん連れてって！)

- Sugimoto: “I don’t want to kill you, Ume.” (‘Ume-chan o koroshitakunai’ 梅ちゃんを殺したくない)

- Sugimoto: “I’ll wait a year… no, two years. If I don’t show any symptoms in that time, I’ll come back to the village. I’ll come back for her, and then…” (‘Ichinen… iya ni-nen tatte. Hasshō shinakere wa kono mura ni modotte koyou. Kanarazu mukae ni…’ 一年…いや二年経って。発症しなけれはこの村に戻ってこよう。必ず迎えに… Lit: “One year ... no two years from now. Let's return to this village if the symptoms don’t appear. I’ll certainly come to pick you...”)

- Shiraishi: “Pull the trigger, then! Getting shoot now or getting shot later makes no difference to me!” (‘Yatte miro ~tsu. Kotchi wa ima uta reru no mo ato de uta reru no mo isshoda’ やってみろッ。こっちはいま撃たれるのもあとで撃たれるのも一緒だ Lit: “Try it. It’s the same to be shot now or to be shot later.”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

07. THE ESCAPE KING (脱獄王 DATSUGOKU-Ō)

First printed: 02/October/2014 Weekly Young Jump 44

Characters: Sugimoto Saichi (杉元佐一), Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹), Asirpa (アシㇼパ), Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三), Gotō (後藤), Wilk (ウイルク), Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助), Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎), Tsuyama (津山).

Location: Near Otaru.

Other Places mentioned: None

Time: 1907/1908 (?) Late February

Historical events mentioned: Founding of Nippon Match Company (日本燐寸製造株式会社) (January 1907), Battle of Hakodate (4 December 1868 to 27 June 1869), Death of Hijikata Toshizō (20 June 1869)

Includes flashbacks or info about the characters past: No, none

Info and the characters’ theories about the ‘Noppera-bō incident’, the gold and the escape:

The tattooed prisoners are 24 but nobody knows how many are still breathing. The leader who took care of the escape is the only one who knows something about Noppera-bō’s friends. During the escape he pulled a sword from one of the soldiers and killed three of them immediately. (Source: Shiraishi)

Noppera-bō told to all the prisoners to head for Otaru. (Source: Shiraishi)

Character deaths: Guards that were transporting the prisoners (killed by the prisoners, 3 by HIjikata only)

Animal deaths: None.

Flashbacks or info about the characters past: Yes, about Hijikata.

New Ainu words: None

Food and drinks: Hare.

Useful info and points to ponder:

- The matchbox from which Sugimoto pulls out the match seems to be from the Nippon Match Company (日本燐寸製造株式会社) which was established on January 1907.

- Due to being wet and the sudden cold Sugimoto and Shiraishi have only 10 minutes before they’ll succumb to hypothermia.

- On a weird note Shiraishi’s adventure kind of parallel’s Ogata, only it’s much tamer. Ogata will have his jaw broken, while Shiraishi was only threatened to have his jaw broken. Asirpa stopped Sugimoto from killing Ogata, and stopped him from hurting Shiraishi. Ogata ends in a river and has to get himself out of it, risking hypothermia. Shiraishi falls in the river with Sugimoto and, although they both risk hypothermia they cooperate to save each other. Noda has said he originally planned Shiraishi to be a one-off character but it’s clear he changed his mind pretty soon. I guess I’ll never stop wondering how Shiraishi’s story would have been if he had stuck to the original plan.

- Shiraishi seems to be affected by the cold more than Sugimoto, even if, despite this, he still manages to make a deal with him, also thinking if he’s going to die no matter what he prefer sit there and watch Sugimoto die and won’t help him until he’ll agree with to make a deal. Once they’ll do though, not only he’ll help Sugimoto but he’ll also give him information.

- Although Sugimoto will claim he didn’t want to kill Shiraishi, just to keep him captive until they find the gold, he’ll hesitate making a deal with him.

- It’s worth to mention the idea to keep captive an assorted number of potentially very dangerous convicts for a prolonged time was beyond unbelievable.

- When Shiraishi will give Sugimoto info he won’t report how the convicts tried to kill each other nor if one of them died during it. He only say nobody knows if they’re still alive.

- Shiraishi says previously leader who took charge of the escape had been a model prisoner and all though he was a political one but he believes this was all a act. Shiraishi later found out he was a samurai who fought for the Shogunate and ended up on the losing side of the battle of Hakodate in which he was thought to have died and that he is Hijikata Toshizō also known as the “Demonic vice-commander” (‘Oni no Fukuchō’ 鬼の副長) of the Shinsengumi.

- The battle of Hakodate happened 30 years ago. During which Hijikata Toshizō supposedly died.

- Shiraishi refers to Hijikata first as ‘Jī-san’ (ジイさん) then, as he talks about him after the escape as ‘jijī’ (ジジイ). They both mean “old man/grandfather” but the first is more respectful than the latter which will be the one to which Shiraishi will stick.

- When Shiraishi moves to leave in the scanlations Sugimoto says next time they’ll meet he’ll take his tattoo. Actually the sentence is more vague because it’s just ‘the next meeting time’ (次に会うとき ‘Tsugini au toki’) without saying with whom Shiraishi could have that meeting so it can imply ‘the next time you meet ME’ or ‘the next time you meet SOMEONE ELSE’ those someone else being the other prisoners or the 7th division about which he warns Shiraishi moments after. Sugimoto after all has no reasons to go after Shiraishi as they have made a copy of his tattoo and he’s warning him to escape, meaning he’s not really planning to go after him. However he could have left the ambiguity to persuade Shiraishi to escape.

- When Sugimoto warns Shiraishi about the 7th division being after the convicts, he tells him they know the most efficient method to do it is to kill and skin them. This hints that even if Sugimoto agrees with Asirpa not to kill prisoners, he thinks it’s not an efficient way.

- We can’t see the soldier who informs Tsurumi of how Ogata regained consciousness. In the anime he has Tsukishima’s voice.

- Tsurumi says he’ll pay Ogata a visit.

- Behind Tsurumi we can see a tattooed skin hanging from a wall as if it were a painting.

Notable changes from the magazine version:

- Tsurumi’s character design was changed. In the magazine he has light in his eyes and the metal place covering his forehead is much bigger and also partially circles his eyes.

Notable quotes:

- Sugimoto: “Damn it! I am not giving up! No matter what, I'll make it out of this alive!” (‘Chikushō ~tsu! Akiramenē zo! Zettai ikinuite yaru’ 畜生ッ！あきらめねえぞ！絶対生き抜いてやる)

- Shiraishi: “We thought he was just some old guy, a political prisoner. He was always real quiet. A model prisoner in every way. But as it turns out, that was all an act. Keep in mind that this is only a rumor, but…apparently, everyone thought that old man had died at the battle of Hakodate, but…he's actually the merciless vice commander of the shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizou!…or so they say.” (‘Tan'naru seiji-han no jī-sanda to omotteta. Otonashī mohan-shū sa. Tokoroga dokkoi neko kōmutte ya gatta. Kore wa akumade uwasadaga ne… ano jijī wa hakodatesensō de senshi shita to iwa re teru… shinsengu no oni no fukuchō hijikata toshizō datte….’ 単なる政治犯のジイさんだと思ってた。大人しい模範囚さ。ところがどっこい猫被ってやがった。コレはあくまで噂だがね…あのジジイは箱館戦争で戦死したと言われてる…新選組の鬼の副長・土方歳三だって…)

- Sugimoto: “The next time we meet, I’m taking your tattoo.” (‘Tsugini au toki wa sono irezumi o hippegasu ze’ 次に会うときはその入れ墨を引っぺがすぜ Lit: “The next meeting time, that tattoo will be ripped off.”)

- Shiraishi: “I'm the Escape King! even if I'm caught, I'll just vanish like a puff of smoke.” (‘Ore wa “datsugoku-ō”da. Dare ni tsukamarouga kemuri no yō ni nigete yaru sa’ 俺は『脱獄王』だ。誰に捕まろうが煙のように逃げてやるさ Lit: “I'm the "Jailbreak King". No matter who catches me, I escape like smoke.”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOLUME COLOR GALLERY

#Golden Kamuy #Sugimoto Saichi #Asirpa #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Shiraishi Yoshitake #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Wilk #Retar #Golden Kamuy Data Hunting #Gotou Takechiyo #Kenmochi Umeko #Kenmochi Toraji #Tsuyama Mutsuo #Kasahara Kanjirou

19 notes · View notes