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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Golden Kamuy” (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I DON’T really recommend it (but you can still enjoy it... though really, read the manga, it's much better!).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Golden Kamuy (ゴールデンカムイ)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: “Golden Kamuy” (ゴールデンカムイ) seinen manga by Noda Satoru.

Genre: Adventure, Historical, Japanese-style Western

Directed by: Nanba Hitoshi

Written by: Takagi Noboru

Studio: Geno Studio

Original run: April 9, 2018 – June 25, 2018

Episodes: 12 + 12 Golden Dōga Gekijō (ゴールデン道画劇場 “Golden travelogue theater”)

WARNINGS: There are murder, loss of limbs, gruesome deaths, animal killing (for survival purposes), war and a lot of reference to history. There’s also some male nudity, a lot of mental issues with plenty of chara dealing with PTSD.

The plot in short: In Hokkaido a veteran from the Russo-Japanese war, Sugimoto Saichi, discovers a man stoles a huge amount of the Ainu gold and hid it then, once in jail, tattooed on assorted prisoners the code to track down the gold, then had them escape. Sugimoto, in desperate need of money, decides, with the help of Asirpa, to hunt the convicts so as to find the gold but he isn’t the only one who is taking part to this gold hunt. First Lieutenant Tsurumi Tokushirō and ex Shinsegumi member Hijikata Toshizō are also hunting for the gold, as well as the convicts themselves, minorities partisans and Japan government.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I saw the promo for the anime and it got me curious so, as soon as it came out, I started watching it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ve debated with myself if this should cover all the series and OAD or I should just give my two cents of ramblings for each of them. Ultimately I decided to keep everything split. Also this isn’t a ‘let’s sing praises of this anime’ sort of review, quite the contrary. “Golden Kamuy” is an awesome manga but its anime doesn’t live up to its standards. If the idea of reading a review commenting on its mistakes and weak points bothers you just stop here.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The series uses as opening “Winding Road” by Man with a Mission and, as ending “Hibana” (火花 ‘Spark’) by The Sixth Lie. Honestly I’m not that fond of the first opening. I get the idea behind it but the visual isn’t great, it’s mostly a collection of disjointed images, the focus on how Sugimoto first was alone and then joined hands with Asirpa in this adventure but it’s overall misleading of their characters and doesn’t tell much about them or the story. The music is nice though but I much favour the ending song (possibly my fave “Golden Kamuy” theme)… although the visual of the ending after a couple of images of Nopperabō, is merely a panning on a really long image that shows all the characters involved in the first series until we get an image of Asirpa and Sugimoto looking at each other and then of them looking at the night sky. But still endings aren’t that much elaborated usually and this one has a touch of van Gogh in how it’s coloured so I think it’s very nice, colourful and pretty. I love how they drew the night sky and even the few transitions it contains are done well so yeah, I like it a lot.

The plot: The manga of “Golden Kamuy” has one of the most amazing, complex and well constructed plots. This season covers only a small fraction of it and, sadly, didn’t take its time to do so but went through it in a bit of a rush, with the result bits, sometimes relevant bits, and a whole arc were cut out, never mention things that got changed from the original. Credits when its due, they had already decided the arc cut was going to be turned in an OAD that would be sold with the manga, but the way they cut it in the series is poor and confusing.

The characters: The manga of “Golden Kamuy”, in addition to an awesome plot, has also awesome characters… which the anime felt the need to simplify, cutting also part of the characterization in the process. I think they still managed to come across as likable and interesting, albeit much inferior to their manga counterparts and with their characterizations undermined or changed in some points.

The visual: It’s… not so great when not outright ugly. I don’t mind so much the horrible computer graphic (the bear they animated in the first episode became famous for it) but the fact they preferred to go with long shots instead than focusing on the characters’ expressions, using close up like the manga did, leaving all the job to transmit a character’s feelings to the voice actors… and as a final straw, they favoured still shot so much that even the manga felt more dynamic than the animation.

The musical background: It’s not bad but not memorable either. I still thinks it’s enjoyable, but Suehiro Kenichirō isn’t Kanno Yōko so don’t expect anything big.

Overall: This is a poor anime transposition of an amazing story that would have deserved a much better anime. Still, since it likely was meant to be solely a promotional anime that would end with this season and not go further, it serves its purpose. It introduces you to the story and gives an idea of how much of an awesome manga “Golden Kamuy” is, and it encourages you to read the manga to discover the many things they left out… and since the plot and the characters are still so good, despite its poor quality you might still enjoy it enough to like it. But really “Golden Kamuy” deserved better than this.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

So… the manga of “Golden Kamuy” is a story I love and when I say I love, I mean I love it with the passion of a burning sun. It has great plot, great characters, great theme, great historical research. It’s awesome really, and I wouldn’t have gotten into it without the anime, as that was my first approach to the series… and honestly the animation was so bad I almost dropped it halfway and if it wasn’t for the story that really hooked me, I would have never gotten till the end nor would I have checked the manga.

So… the good part is this anime has the “Golden Kamuy” story which is so very cool you get it’s cool even despite the poor animation and the cuts… but that it doesn’t really enhance it, actually it makes a worst job than the manga at conveying it.

Now, I’ll spare you mentioning the mistakes in the subs. They happen even in better anime.

I’ll go quickly through a bunch of things that really affect the quality of the animation because visual is important for the enjoyment of a story but here there’s just too much to say if I stop for every single thing it’ll become endless.

1) In many episodes there’s an abuse of long shots instead than the close up that were used in the manga.

A long shot is a cheap choice as you can use the same shot despite more characters talking but it fails to deliver the feelings of the characters. If the scenery or the movements or the placement of the characters weren’t important to see it’s just a bad choice. It doesn’t help in the manga the characters are very expressive so losing this means to lose part of their charm.

2) The sceneries aren’t that great anyway.

I realize Studio I.G and Kyoani and Troyca and Ufotable and A-1 Pictures and some others might have spoiled me but since “Golden Kamuy” is a series also about discovering Hokkaido I think it was important to present us with beautiful scenery. But this is not the case. Except for some nice shots more often than not the background scenery is rushed in and not really detailed. It’s not ugly, far from it, it’s just not something that will make you think ‘how pretty!’ or ‘how detailed!’.

3) The colouring doesn’t really tell us much.

Noda has started recolouring all the pages of “Golden Kamuy”. Even in images which use few colours his colours are vibrant and beautiful. The same can’t be said in the anime. Never mentioning some scenes are just so dark it’s hard to see what’s going on.

4) The computer graphic is bad and, often, unnecessary.

The first bear barely moved. They could have just drawn it and get better result, no need to animate it in computer graphic if they weren’t up to the task. The bear doesn’t feel more ‘real’ it actually feel even more fake. The same goes for the second bear, which actually would move a little more… but moves so poorly and ineffectively they could have just drawn him. I mean in the ancient “Seton Dōbutsuki: Kuma no Ko Jacky” (シートン動物記　くまの子ジャッキー ‘Seton Animal Chronicles: Jacky the Bear Boy’) dated 1977 (!) they animated a bear without computer graphic and they had it move better than this one.

5) It’s animation so animate those draws!

One of the plus sides of turning a manga into animation is that you can finally see the art being animated, as in ‘move’. Not in this anime though, where they prefer to use still images same as in the manga when instead they could actually give us a cool animated scene. Tsurumi talks of how Sugimoto fought like a demon? It’s a great moment to animate Sugimoto fighting but no, let’s place a still image of Sugimoto fighting, an image that looks more static than the one Noda himself used in the manga. And… has someone seen the scene in which Retar slams around Tanigaki? Nothing is shown, just the camera panning on the background and then lines that should imply fast motion because this is way too fast and easy to drawn than a body slammed around. And I get they’re trying to be clever and show us things from Tanigaki’s point of view but don’t even have the courage to do it till the end by having everything turn dark when Tanigaki loses consciousness. This is not how you do a character’s point of view, this is how you try to skip work by not animating a difficult scene.

6) Movements are, here and there, weird if not outright wrong

In the first episode, when Sugimoto gets shot, his body falls backward. When he has reached a 30° inclination from the ground if not less, he stands straight… which is not humanly possible. When the bear supposedly hits Asirpa, she actually seems to jump backward more than being slammed away by the bear. Asirpa, when dropped by the pimp, falls in a more awkward position than the one shown in the manga. Instead than having Prisoner number 1’s tattoo being exposed due to his clothes getting tangled in a bark and pulled, the man, despite being strangled by a cord, drops trying to free his neck from the cord and spontaneously opens his clothes, when pushed on the ground by Ogata, Sugimoto falls too slowly, Ogata wouldn’t have managed to pull out the bolt from Sugimoto’s rifle moving like that and so on.

7) The direction is overall not smart

Noda in his manga takes full advantage of all the visual tricks he can use to drive home a point or a certain feeling or make a transition. The anime is not even trying to either develop the same tricks or use the ones that are proper of its medium.

So yeah, the animation is bad.

In this mess though and despite the cuts, they managed to salvage most of the plot and that one is good. The premise, the adventures in the story, the way the characters are introduced and how their arc connect, all this (which comes straight from the manga) is very, very good. Noda studied an awesome plot and, even though this is only the start of the story, it’s easy even with just these 12 episodes, to see it’s a well studied story. I love it and if you’ll give it a chance you’ll likely love it too.

Now instead we sadly go back to another problem of the anime.

Partly due to the aim of the anime at merely be promotional, partly due to the cuts, partly due to the quality or lack thereof of the animation, partly due to the lack of direction, partly due to how anime tend to be tamer and simpler so as to appease a wider audience, the characterization of the characters is affected.

Now, “Golden Kamuy” has an impressive cast of well studied characters. They aren’t just visually different, they’re well studied and complex human beings with their goals their bad and good sides and zero black and white morality. They’re all various shades of grey which ends up painting them as very human.

The anime ended up simplifying them and trying to fit them in the black and white categories.

This is often a downside of anime transposition, as almost all of them are forced to simplify the characters so as to cut away sides that can affect negatively a wide audience (it happens also in great anime like “Yūkoku no Moriarty” or “Joker Game” for example) but in “Golden Kamuy” it gets even more marked because characterization is changed at random.

In fact one of the big downside of the animation is… they don’t really seem to look at the source material when drawing characters’ expressions with the result the characters seem to react differently in the anime for no reason at all.

I mean, I understand how anime has to tone down violent or gory scenes or scenes in which the morality is questionable… but when you have Sugimoto waking up from a dream with tears in his eyes in the manga for a completely understandable reason (he dreamt of his best friend’s death) and with eyes completely dry in the anime (and the anime makes a close up on his eyes!) you wonder WHY there’s such change as crying for the loss of a friend is not something that’s better to censor.

So what can I say about the characters or, more specifically, the changes made to them?

Let’s start with a general approach first.

The character design is close enough, sure, they changed a bit the eyebrows (in the manga in many cases the characters has some lines, the anime turns them into solid blocks) but it’s no big and the only real sin they did was on placing what the fandom ended up defining a ‘dead animal’ on his chest instead than the hair he had, which were nowhere as much as the ones the anime gave him (hence how what they did ended up being nicknamed ‘a dead animal on Kiroranke’s chest’).

As the anime tends, for no clear reason, to change the characters’ expressions for how they were in the manga in more than one scene, this apparently minor detail ends up affecting our perception of the characters. It might not feel a HUGE change, because when all is said and done, they end up on doing the same things since manga and anime follow the same plot, but still it affects our perception of their character.

Some cuts, some choices in changing expression might also seem an attempt at making the characters more ‘black and white’ than they were in the original.

So I’ll go a little deeper in the comparison here.

Sugimoto Saichi in the manga was presented as more social right from the start. He talks with Gotō with nonchalance where in the anime he seems a lot more aloft, acting like he wanted to ignore Gotō and pays him minimal attention, a point also made by the opening that depicts him as wandering alone until he met Asirpa. The anime also tends often to give him an angry or serious expression when in the manga he has more natural or even funny expressions. The anime will also completely cut his whole backstory with Umeko (except for the part in which he says he’s doing it for the woman he loves, though since Umeko is cut it gets very hard to connect this sentence to her) or the parts in which Sugimoto implied he wanted to get rich. As his backstory with Umeko is Sugimoto’s reason for being in the gold hunt, the why he would take part to the gold hunt becomes confusing. Overall the anime tried to paint him as a more positive character than in the manga (for example they cut Hijikata commenting there’s violence lurking behind the surface of Sugimoto).

Asirpa is an extremely expressive character in the manga… but in the anime they tend to draw her as expressionless way more often than she is in the manga. The opening also depicted her as a smiling child BEFORE meeting Sugimoto which was untrue as, thanks to meeting Sugimoto she recovered her smile.

Ogata Hyakunosuke in the manga is presented as a capable man and an amazing sniper. In the anime you might still get he’s good at sniping even if the anime doesn’t really explain why, but they cut the explanation on why he rationally decided to escape or how Tamai praised his abilities and didn’t show his expression during most of the discussion with Tanigaki or how he tried to push for the formation of a sniper division so as to reduce casualties in war and his proposition was rejected. Ogata’s reasonings as he faces Tanigaki is also cut (how he warned Nikaidō about the dangers of the binoculars reflecting light or how he figured out Tanigaki’s plan to escape from behind). Then they cut the Barato arc, and therefore most of his role in it, leaving only the start of it and the ending, which ends up on being misleading because it might lead you to think it’s Ogata who single-handedly slaughtered all those people to get the skin and hand it to Hijikata. As a result Ogata ends up losing most of his characterization.

Shiraishi Yoshitake is depicted in the manga right from the start as a great escape king, the narration informing us of his previous stunts and of how prepared to escape he is. He also escapes from Sugimoto and Asirpa despite them being close by. The anime doesn’t bother telling Shiraishi’s past and have him escape when Sugimoto and Asirpa are far, so that he looks less competent. In the manga is Sugimoto who suggests they’ll use Shiraishi to enter in Abashiri, revealing his identity as tattooed prisoner to Kiroranke while in the anime Shiraishi volunteers to help Asirpa on his own, presenting himself as a convict, so it doesn’t really make sense when Kiro asks what his title means and how Shiraishi is scared when Sugimoto explains Shiraishi is a tattooed convict as Kiro should have figured that out from Shiraishi’s speech, but mostly it makes Shiraishi dumb because it makes clear he didn’t want to reveal it to Kiroranke yet he bragged about it in front of him.

Tsurumi Tokushirō is left mostly as he was, they cut how he wanted to turn his soldiers into elite guards but, overall, I can’t remember the changes affecting him that much.

Nikaidō Kōhei (and Yōhei) the twins are more or less like they were in the manga, although the manga drew them more scary so as to better deliver they were a threat to Sugimoto, and Kōhei’s pain as he cried for his brother was better delivered (in the anime he seems more angry than desperate).

Hijikata Toshizō in the manga doesn’t pick Shibukawa for an allegiance at random but because the latter owed him. In the anime this is cut so it seems Hijikata is going around picking up random criminals to help him. In the anime he also make more clear if Shiraishi doesn’t join him, he’ll kill him so he seems a more negative character and they cut the scene in which Hijikata compares Sugimoto to a bunch of Shinsensumi members which Sugimoto doesn’t recognize, so that Sugimoto’s comment Hijikata seems a weird old man feels out of place as Hijikata merely asked if he could hold Asirpa and which was her Japanese name.

Ushiyama Tatsuma remains more or less as he was in the manga.

Nagakura Shinpachi also seems to have been left unchanged, if anything there was maybe a little less emphasis on who he was but this shouldn’t really have affected Japanese viewers who were supposed to know anyway.

Tanigaki Genjirō in the manga is smart enough that, when he believes Asirpa can’t understand him, he gestures what he wants from her and, although he talks with her, he doesn’t expect a reply. In the anime he just verbally repeats it as if expecting although he can’t understand her, she would for sure understand him and continues to talk with her as such. In the manga he also looks scarier when he tells her to drop the bow, so as to prepare us for how, later he’ll use Asirpa as a human shield. Here he doesn’t. In the manga Tanigaki also didn’t get the chance to defend himself from Retar… but in the anime he first protects himself by placing the rifle in between them, which okay, is smart, then, instead than trying to escape he weakly tries to kick Retar away… which is dumb. They also cut Tanigaki referencing his father and, while not big, since part of Tanigaki’s backstory was about his conflict with his father, it’s a pity. The anime doesn’t show Tanigaki being surprised by Nihei’s knowledge and the part in which he tells Asirpa’s group to leave him there to die so that he can die in the wild. In the anime when Ogata and Nikaidō are at Huci’s home he seems to relax when he sees Osoma… when this wasn’t the case.

Nihei Tetsuzō in the manga there are references to how Nihei has daughters and Asirpa reminded him of them. In the anime this is cut and he seems rougher with Asirpa. In the manga she manages to make him drop her after she bites his ear, in the anime he tosses her on the ground. In the manga he grabs her as she tries to stand up and escape, in the anime he seems to press her face on the ground so as to suffocate in the snow her complains.

Ienaga Kano’s male, wrinkled body in the manga was clearly visible but the same doesn’t apply for the anime. They also cut a bit of his past in Abashiri or how she acquired the hotel and remodelled it.

Tsukishima Hajime gets his role cut, as they removed the discussion he had with Thomas. On the plus side though, while Noda wasn’t consistent with his chara design back in this part of the story as he was still working on defining it, the anime instead is consistent so you can easily recognize Tsukishima in each scene he appears and they even added him in some scenes in which he didn’t appear in the manga.

Kiroranke in the manga was fishing when Sugimoto’s group happened to meet him. In the anime he just appears when Shiraishi falls into the river and is captured by a fish so as to save Shiraishi, which makes his apparition look more suspicious. The fact that in the anime they cut all the casual talks Kiroranke had with the group before asking Sugimoto if he’s ‘immortal Sugimoto’ also makes Kiroranke seem more suspicious, especially with how long Kiroranke takes before saying he was not under Tsurumi. It doesn’t help they cut more casual talk and had Kiroranke jumps on relying that Hijikata was searching for Asirpa and that he knew what happened in Abashiri and how Nopperabō is Wilk. Plus they changed Kiroranke’s stance as in the manga he points out how hard it would be to talk with Nopperabō and tells Asirpa it would be impossible to ask him, while in the anime he claims this would be easier than tracking convicts, implying this was what he wanted her to do with his revelation. The scene in which Kiroranke lies and claims he doesn’t know why Wilk tried to take the gold as well as the one with Kiroranke’s family is cut. While cutting Kiroranke’s family cuts part of his character’s background the fact Kiro lied would turn relevant in future arcs. We also don’t see how strong of a fighter Kiro is.

Inkarmat is overall the same, if anything she felt a bit creepier in the manga when she said Asirpa’s eyes are the same as her father but that’s all.

So again, it’s worth to repeat that, if this series were to stop at being a promotional one, the cutting and oversimplifying wasn’t necessarily a big deal, because, although it still makes it a poor transposition, the series goal wasn’t to stand on its own but to encourage you to read the manga, so you could find all the info about the characters. In short this would be kind of like a summary, and a summary wouldn’t tell you everything, would it?

But it becomes a big deal if you want to judge this anime as a transposition, because if we view it as a transposition of the first chapters, it’s not faithful and poor, rushed in and not really planned beyond a general ‘how can we tell this story as fast as we can?’

On the plus side the voice actors do a great job to try to bring to life the charaters. When the animation fails to give the characters an expression because it chooses to go for long shots or similar things, it rests on them to pass the characters’ emotions to the audience and they really do a good job at it.

We reach the climax of ‘this is a promotional work, not an anime that stands on its own’ in the last episode.

Episode 12 starts by presenting us with 1 minute of animation that will be later used as the start of the first OAD which will be sold with volume 15 of the manga starting from September 17, 2018 (episode 12 was transmitted on June 25, 2018). In the manga this is the beginning of the Barato arc which loosely, either took place at the same time as the Ienaga arc or at the same time of the Inkarmat arc.

It’s however a parallel arc to one of the two with evident no point of connection with them.

Well, episode 12, after showing us that 1 minute, completely ignores the Barato arc and fully focus on the Inkarmat arc… to abruptly return to the Barato arc short before the end showing us another minute of it which is basically its conclusion, without really explaining anything of what that had happened in between the start and the ending, so, as mentioned before, it seems Ogata slaughtered all those people single-handedly. Those 2 minutes were completely unnecessary to the story, they could have just skipped them. They don’t serve as a connection with the Barato arc which is a relevant arc, yes, but completely disconnected from the events of the Inkarmat arc. They’re placed there solely to promote the Barato arc… which will be sold with the manga so they work as another big “buy the manga!” promotional message.

And really, there’s nothing wrong in a promotional series but this doesn’t mean it has to be done with such poor quality.

“Golden Kamuy” is an amazing story, they could have made a little more of an effort in animating it so that the quality of the anime would also work into promoting the series. Instead, if we were to judge from the quality of the anime alone, this story is saved only by the stunning plot.

Now, someone might have noticed I skipped commenting on the “Golden Dōga Gekijō”. What are they?

A set of 12 original net animation (ONA) which were released, one after the other, on NBCUniversal Youtube channel as the anime was ongoing and made available only for one week, after which they would be no longer accessible. Now the quality of the animation is beyond bad, but the idea for those less than 20 seconds bits is merely to be a bonus. They add nothing to the plot they just depict in as less frame as possible an omake or even a cover or a short moment which didn’t make in the animation.

They’re an extra, so it makes complete sense their animation quality is lower than the anime (which already has low animation quality) and they’re fun and kind of cute so I’ve no complains here.

And with them I’ll wrap this long commentary up to remark that IT’S REALLY A SHAME how “Golden Kamuy” wasn’t animated better and that I definitely recommend you to read the manga instead than watch the anime but, if you really want a preview or a quick recap, a sample of some sort to see if you can get interested into the story before tackling a manga that’s likely going to be more than 31 volumes long, well, yeah, the anime will work just fine as an introduction.

Despite everything I complained about it’s still enjoyable and covers enough of the story to give you an idea of what you should expect, so if you really want a general idea of the story before tackling it, well, the 1st series of the anime is what will be perfect for you. Just remember that the manga IS SO MUCH BETTER IT’S IMPRESSIVE! So really, READ THE MANGA!

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: 命に嫌われている。 [Inochi ni kirawa rete iru "Hated by life itself"]

youtube

#Golden Kamuy #Geno Studio #Adventure #Historical #Japanese Style Western #Anime television series #Seinen #Not recommended #2018

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tosikoarts · 4 years

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鶴見篤四郎 • Tsurumi Tokushirō

I'm your god of death. Your life is a candle, and I can blow it out anytime I choose.

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy aesthetic #tsurumi tokushirou

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blondeboyfriend · 9 months

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𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐄 (𝟏𝟖+)

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐒 𝐃𝐍𝐈

[ PAIRING ] Tokushirō Tsurumi x f!reader [ SYNOPSIS ] Your obsessive crush on your father's subordinate drives you to the depths of moral degeneracy. [ WORD COUNT ] 3.2k [ CONTENT ] Canon AU, y/n has yandere tendencies, alcohol, dubcon (sex under the influence; y/n gets him drunk), blackmail, age gap, I made up some random military officials, size kink, exhibitionism, oral sex (m receiving).

Lieutenant Tokushirō Tsurumi had been in your sights for a while, a marvelous distraction running circles around your head. He was a catalyst for your madness. Before he entered your life you were even-keeled and level headed. Your placidity was prized amongst your family. You held little to no interest in older men, especially the ones your father, a flag officer, associated with. You favored ones your own age, the kind with bright smiles and a youthful glint in their eyes.

But the Lieutenant changed everything. He came into your life and demolished any semblance of sense you held dear. You were possessed, overwhelmed by lust that for so long lay dormant in the depths. Anytime your father mentioned having company over you eagerly demanded to know if Lieutenant Tsurumi would be coming.

“Father, will he—”

“Yes, yes,” your father said, his tone bristling with irritation. “Don’t bother him like you did last time. It’s distasteful. And I doubt the man wants you to talk his ear off again.”

“I won’t,” you replied.

You fully intended on doing so. No one was going to get in your way. In fact you were going to amplify your distasteful behavior by getting the Lieutenant a gift. You knew he had a sweet tooth as he mentioned it to you in the past. You would never forget his affinity for red bean paste.

Monaka. That was what you’d get him. You grabbed your coat and quietly made your way to the front door. Immediately your father pounced on you.

“You are not going anywhere.”

“Can’t I please go for a walk? That’s all I’m going to do. I promise,” you said with pleading eyes.

He stared at you, eyes sharp like when he ordered around his subordinates; it was a standoff. You were undeterred though. You were unwavering, intending to win.

Your father sighed. “I want you back here in a half an hour.”

“Of course, of course. I would never want to disappoint you.”

He was so easy to trick. His faith in you wasn’t unfounded. For so long you were the ideal, dutiful daughter. He didn’t realize how degraded you had become, how your mind had morphed into a lecherous beast.

Getting the monaka went off without a hitch. The box was small enough to be concealed in your clothes and your father was none the wiser. The rest of the day crawled by, leaving you vibrating with anticipation. When you finally heard a knock at the door you nearly vomited, your excitement getting the best of you.

“Good evening, Lieutenant Tsurumi,” you said upon opening the door.

He looked stunning in the gloaming’s soft, rosy light. You didn’t bother greeting the other men which elicited a loud groan from your father.

“Good evening to you too,” he said with a smile as they all entered.

You were plagued with dismay when your father told you to busy yourself as he and his guests were going to have a private discussion. You lingered in the hall outside the sitting room like a wanton ghost. The monaka was burning a hole in your pocket. Your patience was nowhere to be found. You needed to see the Lieutenant. You needed to get close enough to take a whiff of his sleek, raven hair. You needed to stare at his fingers and imagine what they’d feel like curved inside you. You needed to dig your claws into him, drag him away, and ravish him. You would remain a mess until then.

It was all too much to bear so you locked yourself away in your room and fingered yourself until your soul had settled. You laid in bed in somewhat of a daze. The sound of boisterous laughter brought you out of it and on your feet.

The door to the sitting room was open and the stench of alcohol permeated the rest of the house.

“May I come in?” you asked coyly, holding your hands behind your back.

“Yes!” your father exclaimed. “Come in, come in!”

He was drunk off his ass. And it seemed everyone else was if their pink cheeks and sweaty visages were anything to go by. Though suspiciously Lieutenant Tsurumi was spared these afflictions. You took a seat next to him. He didn’t even smell like alcohol.

“And how is my luh—lovely, stupendous daughter?” your father slurred.

“She’s fine last time I heard,” you replied. The men erupted into laughter.

“My, my. How you’ve grown,” said a man with starved eyes. “I remember when you were this big.” He let his hand hover above the floor.

Your mouth filled with saliva. He sounded so creepy.

“You remember Captain Akimoto, don’t you?” your father asked.

“I don’t sadly,” you said apologetically.

“Well you must remember me,” said the other mystery man.

“Yes! Of course I remember you! How could I forget? You’re my favorite out of all my father’s associates.”

“Really?”

“No. I’m sorry. I can’t remember you either.”

Again, an eruption of laughter. Drunks were so easily entertained.

The conversation they were having couldn’t have been more boring. Your father’s dealings were never of much interest.

Thankfully you were more than happy to stare at the Lieutenant and imagine what your wedding would be like. It didn’t take him long to notice your dreamy gaze. Your father got up to show Captain Akimoto and the other stooge his shiny new Type 26 revolver that he kept in his office. It was then that Lieutenant Tsurumi addressed you.

“Do I have something on my face?” he asked with a smile.

“No, but I have something to give you.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm.”

You patted yourself down and felt nothing. You must have dropped it in your room when you hastily undressed. The box was probably on the floor, waiting to be found.

“Uh. I think it’s in my room actually,” you muttered.

You stood to go get it and a brilliant idea struck you. It was a longshot, but your desire made you confident.

“I’d hate to leave you alone in here. Why don’t you come with me?”

“I shouldn’t,” he said demurely.

“You should though.”

“It wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“I don’t want to be a bad hostess. My mother always said, ‘Never leave a guest unattended.’”

“Your father is the host.”

You found yourself getting frustrated with him, a new development. You wanted to slap him for being so difficult, but refrained. You wanted the first touch to be him cupping your face in his hands while you kissed him.

“And last time I checked you weren’t a mere extension of him.”

“You’re right. I’m not. But I still wish you would come with me,” you said with a little pout. “Wouldn’t that be more enjoyable than me telling my father you’re a liar?”

He was unphased. “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“He doesn’t like to waste his whiskey, you know? It’s expensive.”

Lieutenant Tsurumi narrowed his eyes. “I’m not follo—”

“He won’t even let me look at the bottle. Me, his own daughter that he loves and trusts more than anything. That’s how important it is to him.” You looked down at the Lieutenant. “If he finds out you haven't been drinking it, he’ll be so offended. Forget him ever respecting you again,” you said, tacking on a little laugh.

“What makes you so sure I haven’t been drinking?”

“Your complexion is too even. Everyone else looks like they have a fever. And you don’t smell like alcohol… More like a field of poppies.”

Silence enveloped the room.

“My father hates liars. And he’s very vindictive. If you value your career, you’ll come.”

He studied your face. It made you nervous to be examined so closely, but there was something pleasing about having his eyes on you. It made your skin feel electric.

“Can I ask what you have for me?”

“You’ll see,” you said, grabbing a hold of his wrist.

You led him into your room. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, but you knew he was on edge. Your drunk father was down the hall and he certainly wouldn’t appreciate an older man in his daughter’s bedroom.

The box of monaka was on the floor near your bed just like you were suspecting, but you needed more time with him. This was a once in a lifetime moment; you couldn’t afford to screw it up.

“Now let’s see if I can remember where I put it,” you said.

“You can always give it to me another time.”

You wanted to hurl something at him. His attempts to get away from you grew more tiresome by the moment. You wanted him around, but you also wanted him to shut up.

As you continued your faux search you noticed the bottle of imo shōchū you kept tucked away for special occasions which was essentially anytime you were bored in your room. Seeing it gave you the perfect idea.

“You know,” you began, looking over your shoulder at Lieutenant Tsurumi, “my father’s pretty perceptive. Even if I do keep your secret, he’ll probably find out.”

“What makes you so sure?”

You had no idea.

“He has his ways,” you replied, grabbing the shōchū. You turned to face him. “Why not have a—”

“Your resolve is impressive, but I would rather your father hold me in contempt for wasting his whiskey than finding me drunk in his daughter’s bedroom.”

He made his way to the door, but you rushed and slid between him and the exit.

“Just have one drink with me,” you said, hoping you didn’t sound too unhinged. It was becoming impossible to control yourself. “One drink, I give you your gift, and you’re free.”

“I—”

“Pleeeease?” you interrupted. You masked your frustration with sweetness.

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. One drink.”

His reluctant participation filled you with inexpressible joy. You began to walk forward, urging him deeper into your room away from the door.

“I don’t have any glasses though so I’m going to have to get creative serving you.”

As he walked backwards he bumped into your bed.

“Take a seat,” you purred.

The look of resignation on his face disappointed you. In your fantasies he was eager, begging to be at your will. But the reality was vastly different. He took a seat, and it became clear he was just going through the motions. You heard your father belch and start telling one of his long-winded stories. The pressure to rush through everything evaporated.

You crawled into the Lieutenant’s lap, straddling him. “Open your mouth.”

His body was tense, his muscles made of stone. You wanted him to relax and getting him drunk would be the most effective way. He’d probably be more cheery, maybe even flirtatious. As your mind went wild dreaming up outcomes, you opened the bottle and poured it into his mouth.

He coughed. “What did you get me anyway?”

You had almost forgotten about it. You took a swig from the bottle of shōchū.

“Oh. Uh. Monaka. I remember you saying you liked anko,” you said shyly, wiping your lips.

He opened his mouth unprompted and you gave him more.

“If you hate them, don’t tell me. My pathetic, little heart won’t be able to take it.”

“I’ll be sure to leave you out when I go complain to everyone about how revolting they were.”

You rocked your hips, rubbing your bare cunt against his lap. His eyes were flat, not even a hint of light. He wasn’t going to fully break anytime soon and it was killing you.

“Do you like me?” you asked, feeding him more alcohol.

“I suppose.”

“Do you ever think about me?”

“All the time.”

“Really?”

“I’m a liar, remember?”

You flared your nostrils. He was so irksome and it was so surprising. You went back and forth taking sips from the bottle. The effects took hold of him faster than you were expecting.

“How do you feel?”

He was quiet, his eyes glassy. You placed the bottle on the floor before stroking his cheek in an attempt to coax an answer out of him. All he did was nod. You felt satisfied now that he was pliable. You wanted putty in your hands and there it was, waiting to be manipulated. You pushed him back onto your bed and began to undress him, starting with his pants. He took initiative and removed his ornate attila jacket.

You carefully freed his cock, gazing at its considerable length. As you stroked the underside, it came to life in your hand. You heard your father laugh loudly and your nerves crept up on you. You froze with his turgid cock resting in your palm. Lieutenant Tsurumi didn’t seem concerned, if anything he looked a little annoyed. He roughly pulled you into a kiss, his moustache tickling your upper lip. His mouth tasted astringent and slightly floral from the shōchū.

You heard your father once more, but louder. You feared he was coming down the hall and your door was still open. Instinctively you went to shut it, but the Lieutenant wasn’t letting you go anywhere.

“I’m not letting you back out now” he murmured between kisses.

You had created a monster, and you were sick with pride.

You guided his cock into your cunt. He groaned as you sunk down on it. Your breath hitched as it filled you, stretching out your tight hole. You clung to him and he began to thrust. His hands slid under your ass, grabbing onto its soft flesh. It was as if your body was singing. The feeling of his cock swollen inside you was a dream come true. You almost couldn’t believe it was happening.

“Ouch,” you whined.

His cock bruised your cervix after a particularly deep thrust. He slurred an apology as he moved you onto your back. You liked seeing him from a new angle. It was a perfect view of him coming undone. Limp strands of hair hung in his face and his breathing was heavy. You reveled in his moans, feeling wholly accomplished. Power wasn’t something you came by much in your life and now you felt ripe with it.

You clenched around his cock.

“Shit!”

His volume was surprising. He had been so quiet up until then. Your eyes were glued to your doorway. The last thing you wanted was to be caught by your father or even worse that pervert, Captain Akimoto.

“Not so loud,” you whispered.

He didn’t respond and you found yourself caring less and less as he rutted against you. Your body was tingly, almost like you were dissolving into pure pleasure. You felt high. You weren’t sure if it was from the feeling of his cock throbbing inside you, or the fear of being seen. What you were sure of though was the overwhelming need to come.

A whimper fell from your lips which snowballed into lilted grunts and moans. You tangled your fingers in his hair and pulled on it. He held you close as you came, his thrusts picking up pace. All the tension that had ever resided in your body had melted away into nothingness. You were pure light, nothing but ecstasy.

His pained voice brought you out of your post-orgasm haze.

“Where should I—”

“My mouth, my mouth,” you pleaded, pushing him onto the floor like he was a rag doll.

You crawled off the bed and braced yourself on his thighs. You wrapped your lips around his cock and bobbed your head up and down. His hand made its way to the base of your skull and pushed you down further. Warm cum dripped down your throat. The urge to gag was there, but you remained strong and swallowed it all. You didn’t want there to be any evidence.

“Oh,” you said, noticing the neglected box of monaka on the floor.

You scurried to your feet and grabbed it. Lieutenant Tsurumi remained on the floor in a daze with his cock hanging out of his pants.

You held the box out to him. “Here.”

He slowly looked up at you, his eyelids heavy.

“Huh?”

You shook the box, but it failed to get a reaction. You rolled your eyes and sat beside him, opening the box. You pulled out one of the delicate cookies.

“Open.”

You placed it in his mouth and awaited his reaction.

“Delightful,” he said, mouth muffled by anko.

You grinned. “I’m so happy you think so.”

You helped him to his feet and steadied him as he tucked his cock away. Just as you went to button his jacket you heard a throaty gasp.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

Surprisingly it wasn’t your father. It was the dreaded Captain Akimoto. As he came closer you noticed his eyes were bloodshot and wet, practically bulging out his head. His steps were loud and lacked grace. All the commotion alerted your father who sped past the lumbering pervert.

“Lieutenant Tokushirō Tsurumi!”

“Oh no, he said my full name. I’m in trouble,” he muttered, reaching for another monaka.

Despite this he didn’t seem concerned, but you knew that was the alcohol.

“What is going on?” Your father’s drunken rage turned to one of concerned confusion.

“I found him outside in the garden!”

Your father continued his interrogation. “You did?”

“Yes! He was half-dressed and talking to Tasogare!”

Tasogare was your overweight, odd-eyed bobtail cat. She was a known attention grabber. Your father turned his attention to the Lieutenant.

“Is—is this true?” he asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

You nudged the Lieutenant.

“Yes, sir. I”—he yawned—“apologize for my lack of… tact. Your cat was… simply too alluring.”

Your father erupted into laughter and grabbed the Lieutenant’s shoulder.

“Tsurumi, my boy! You have nothing to apologize for. This is actually a relief! I was starting to think you were a bore.”

“Oh good,” he said, shoving another monaka into his mouth.

“I know it’s getting late, but come have another drink before my daughter kicks everyone out, hmm?”

Your father was so jovial; you almost felt guilty. He didn’t even let Lieutenant Tsurumi answer before he led him out of your room. He was leaning heavily on your father, arm draped around his shoulder and head tilted towards his. You couldn’t deny your jealousy. It wasn’t fair. You loved your father, but he didn’t deserve that intimacy. It was yours. You had earned it. Who was he to sweep the man of your dreams off his feet and away from your embrace?

You cleared your throat. “Lieutenant Tsurumi,” you sang.

He stopped dead in his tracks and nearly sent your father stumbling to the ground. He craned his head back.

“Yes?”

“You forgot something.”

You held up the box of monaka. He was in front of you in an instant. You placed the box in his outstretched hands. He held it like it was a small animal, a creature needing tenderness and a gentle touch. You checked to see if anyone was watching. Captain Akimoto and the other officer were more concerned with making fun of your father for almost falling on his face.

You cupped Lieutenant Tsurumi’s face in your hands and kissed him one last time. “Goodnight, Lieutenant. Don’t let my father bully you too much.”

#tsurumi tokushiro x reader #tsurumi tokushirou x reader #tokushiro tsurumi x reader #tokushirou tsurumi x reader #golden kamuy smut #golden kamuy x reader #tsurumi x reader #x reader #reader insert #.fics #.gk #.tsurumi

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blondeboyfriend · 4 months

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MERRY FIRST LIEUTENANT TOKUSHIRŌ TSURUMI'S BIRTHDAY

#who the fuc is chrismast #.text

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papers4me · 3 years

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Hope all is well with you. Came across your Golden Kamuy posts & loved them. wonder why you don't write more? Now everybody is talking about the latest chapter & the fake Yuusaku theory. Seems that it isn't enough that Tsurumi turned Ogata into a killer, now his brother is involved one way or the other!

Hi anon! First of all, thank you for liking my Golden Kamuy posts!!I’m planning to write more but GK require lots of in depth reading & examining of the characters!! I welcome fun posts as well.

I’ve read the latest chapter & I gotta admit I didn’t understood your “ fake Yuusaku theory “until I searched. hmmm... seems fun & plot twisty. Moreover, it casts double attention into both Ogata & Sugimoto.

You see, Ogata is one of my favorite characters. However, I don’t like the “ Tsurumi turned Ogata into a killer” statement. Don’t get me wrong, Tsurumi, indeed asks or “manipulate” his men to kill others & dirty their hands, but Tsurumi mostly picks men with criminal potential. Men who already are dirty handed but need a lil push towards “his own”goals. Lets not forget that Ogata killed his own mother by his own will at a young age. This is not a healthy, normal person. This is a broken person with unstable mentality caused by love deprivation at a young age. Noda doesn’t write Ogata as a characterless, bland, easily swayed, dumb, & helpless person & doesn’t excuse his characters’ crime no matter how tragic their past was. Unlike many fictional characters at the hands of many writers, Noda chose to give Ogata “double motivation”:

Ogata acts by his own will: Ogata was driven to kill by being deprived of parental love. Tragic & somewhat understandable, however, Noda never excused Ogata’s actions towards his mother. Neglecting mother or not, young children don’t normally kill their mother with poison & coldly wait for the father to come. Young Ogata had this fantasy in his head that if his mom died, his dad will finally come to visit. The father didn’t. Adult Ogata, while being intelligent, perspective & ruthless, is still seeking his father’s love. so, Tsurumi or not, Ogata would’ve found away to punish or “test” his dad. Trurumi helped put Yuusaku in the way, which led Ogata to go into another fantasy “If I killed him, dad will love me & I’m not alone in not feeling guilt at all, others are like me, Yuusaki is the up normal one”. Ogata is one of the rarest 7th division men who saw through Tsurumi. He was NOT swayed by his ‘sweet lies”. Didn’t care for his “theater” (Tsukushima), didn’t love him ( Usami), didn't idolize him (Koito). He followed Tsurumi;’s plan to kill Hanazawa cuz He (Ogata) wanted to. The moment he got into the carriage, he internally mocked Tsurumi.

Ogata is still influenced by the others in a way: Usami’s words helped push Ogata towards indulging into his own delusions that he isn’t weird for not having guilt. Tsurumi’s words abt “noble blood” triggers Ogata. Sugimoto’s words abt the woman he loves “loving someone” stuck with Ogata & he remembered it months later. Asirpa’s words abt not wanting to kill, matched Yuusaku’s words & sent Ogata into a mindless frenzy. Ogata at the very end of his encounter with Asrpia abandoned logic, cool & his own goal (whatever that was) & he just wanted to prove to her that EVERYBODY KILLS. Anybody can be like ME. Her killing him makes him WIN cuz she “the innocent Asirpa” has become a killer like Ogata the sniper.

So, basically, Ogata is a smart, mentally twisted character with personality & will. He isn’t a powerless, easily controlled dummy & he isn’t an unmatched mastermind either. He is flawed. If you accept Ogata’s flaws & saw his sins, you’ll see the depth of his character. Ogata didn’t regret killing anybody YET. Even killing Yuusake, he still mocks the ghost. He’s at war with Yuusaku the ghost to prove him wrong.

Now Yuusake could be fake or real. It doesn’t matter. It won’t change that Ogata killed an innocent man who showed him pity. Yuusake could be Hanazaw mini me & a big Jerk to sugimoto or whoever, it won’t change the fact that the guy Ogata killed was innocent who genuinely hugged the ever love-deprived Ogata.

Noda write his characters with respect. They could be as crazy as Tsurumi, but they’re not dumb. Even Tsurumi the big baddie of the story, has an equal argument to support how smart yet how crazy he is, all with proof from his past. These characters are made with care!

I could say more abt Ogata, but I’ll stop before this becomes another long post! Thank you for the ask! I enjoyed it!

#golden kamuy #gk manga #gk chapter 274 #hyakunosuke ogata #yuusaku hanazawa #asks #anonymous friends #excited paper #Tokushirō Tsurumi #Ogata #Tsurumi #Yuusaku

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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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So I’ve managed to get my hands on some settei for the third anime series and since they come with a list of character heights I report them as usual.

Enonoka (エノノカ): 100 cm Cikapasi (チカパシ): 100 cm Asirpa (アシㇼパ): 120 cm Chōkichi (長吉) 134 cm Beniko (紅子): 141 cm Yamada (山田): 152 cm Yōyanke (ヨーヤンケ): 161 cm Tsukishima Hajime (月島基): 164 cm Yamada Fumie (山田フミエ): 167 cm Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹): 170 cm Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形百之助): 171 cm Koito Otonoshin (鯉登音之進): 173 cm Sugimoto Saichi(杉元佐一) : 175 cm Kiroranke/Yulbars (キロランケ/Юлбарс): 184 cm Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣源次郎): 185 cm Gansoku Maiharu (岩息舞治): 193 cm

Extra:

The Arisaka is drawn as 128 cm long without the bayonet and as almost 160 cm long with it.

The Russian guys that attack Sugimoto during his circus show are 180 cm, 185 cm and 187 cm.

HOW TRUSTWORTHY ARE THESE DATA?

Now... Noda, in his fanbook, didn’t give heights, he just tells us if the characters are taller, shorter or of the same height as some others.

However, as you can see, if we add the old and the new heights given by the anime settei, they match with Noda’s prospect, so I'll say the anime is accurate enough.

1 Cikapasi (100 cm according to the anime) 2 Asirpa (120 cm according to the anime) 3 Nagakura Shinpachi, Ienaga Kano (160 cm according to the anime) 4 Henmi Kazuo, Inkaramat, Anehata Shiton 5 Tsukishima Hajime (164 cm according to the anime) 6 Nikaidō Kōhei, Nikaidō Yōhei, Okuyama Kantarō 7 Kadokura Toshiyuki 8 Kirawus 9 Hijikata Toshizō, Usami Tokishige, Sofia (168 cm according to the anime) 10 Shiraishi Yoshitake (170 cm according to the anime) 11 Ogata Hyakunosuke (171 cm according to the anime) 12 Edogai Yasaku 13 Tsurumi Tokushirō, Koito Otonoshin (173 cm according to the anime) 14 Sugimoto Saichi, Toni Anji, Wilk (175 cm according to the anime) 15 Vasily 16 Nihei Tetsuzō 17 Kikuta Mokutarō 18 Kiroranke/Yulbars (184 cm according to the anime) 19 Tanigaki Genjirō, Ariko Rikimatsu (185 cm according to the anime) 20 Ushiyama Tatsuma (188 cm according to the anime)

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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

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FULL LIST OF THE KNOWN TATTOOED PRISONERS (23 OF 23)

1. Gotō Takechiyo (後藤竹千代): Status: Deceased (Killed by a bear) - Crime: He murdered his wife and son while he was drunk.

2. Kasahara Kanjirō (笠原勘次郎) Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 “Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Ogata) - Crime: Unknown.

3. Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三) aka Oni no Fukuchō (鬼の副長 “Demonic vice-commander”), Bakumatsu no Baragaki (幕末のバラ餓鬼 “Lingering ghoul of the Bakumatsu”), Baragaki (バラガキ “Brat with a thorny personality”): Status: Alive - Crime: He was on the enemy side in the battle of Hakodata and therefore is considered a political prisoner.

5. Tsuyama Mutsuo (津山睦雄): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsurumi Tokushirō) - Crime: He killed 33 people.

6. Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山辰馬) aka Fuhai no Ushiyama (不敗の牛山 “Ushiyama the Undefeated”): Status: Alive - Crime: He killed his master, wounded several of his master’s students causing one to remain bedridden for the rest of his life.

7. Nihei Tetsuzō (二瓶鉄造) aka Kumauchi (熊撃ち “Bear hunter”) and Tōmin-chū no higuma mo unasareru akumu no kumauchi (冬眠中の羆も魘される悪夢の熊撃ち “The bear hunter who gives hibernating bears nightmares”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Retar’s mate) - Crime: Murdered three thieves who stole prey from hunters and also killed them when they threatened to do the same with him.

8. Henmi Kazuo (辺見和雄): Status: Deceased (Killed by Sugimoto Saichi) - Crime: Murdering over a hundred of people around the country.

9. Ienaga Chikanobu (家永親宣) aka Ienaga Kano (家永カノ): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsukishima Hajime) - Crime: Killing a bunch of patients in order to get their blood and, from it, their youth.

10. Takara Tetsuo (宝井哲夫) previously just known as Barato de irezumi ninpi nomi torihikiki sa rete ita shūjin (茨戸で刺青人皮のみ取引きされていた囚人 “Prisoner whose tattooed skin was traded in Barato”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Wakayama Kiichirō) - Crime: Unknown.

11. Wakayama Kiichirō (若山輝一郎) aka Oyabun (親分 “Boss”) and Wakayama no Oyabun (若山の親分 “Boss Wakayama”): Status: Deceased (Killed by a bear) - Crime: He’s a Yakuza boss who makes his living with gambling and clearly has killed other people… though we don’t exactly know why he ended in the jail.

12. Funabashi Sōroku (船橋荘六) previously just known as Yūbari no tankō jiko de shibō shita shūjin (夕張の炭鉱事故で死亡した囚人 “Prisoner who died in an accident in the coal mine in Yubari”): Status: Deceased (Killed by a mining incident) – Crime: Unknown.

13. Suzukawa Kiyohiro (鈴川聖弘): Status: Deceased (Killed by Koito) - Crime: Being a con artist.

14. Sakamoto Keiichirō (坂本慶一郎) aka Inazuma Gōtō (稲妻強盗 “Lightning Bandit”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsurumi Tokushirō) - Crime: Thief sentenced to life prison in Kabato. He escaped and was captured and sent to Abashiri.

15. Anehata Shiton (姉畑支遁) aka Anehata Sensei (姉畑先生 “Professor Anehata”): Status: Deceased (Died of heart attack while having sex with a bear) - Crime: Animal rape and animal slaughter.

16. Toni Anji (都丹庵士) aka Mōmoku no tōzoku-dan no oyadama (盲目の盗賊団の親玉 “Leader of the Blind bandits”): Status: Alive - Crime: Unknown.

17. Gansoku Maiharu (岩息舞治): Status: Alive - Crime: He was initially imprisoned for dojoyaburi (t/n: challenging dojo masters and bringing them to ruin) and his crimes got heavier while in prison because he kept causing mayhem.

18. Doi Shinzō (土井新蔵) aka Hitokori Yōichirō (人斬り用一郎 “Yōichirō the Manslayer”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Hijikata Toshizō) - Crime: We know he was a hided assassin who killed countless people for a samurai who served the emperor but what caused him to end up in prison was merely the fact 8 years ago he murdered a man to get his wife back.

19. Sekiya Waichirō (関谷輪一郎): Status: Deceased (Killed by Hijikata Toshizō) - Crime: He killed 30 people with strychnine.

20. Matsuda Heita (松田平太) aka Dōtō no higuma otoko (道東のヒグマ男 “The Bear Man of East Hokkaido”) and Heita Shishō (平太師匠 “Master Heita”): Status: Deceased (Suicide) - Crime: He was discovered while murdering and eating a man while wearing a bear pelt… but actually he had killed way more than just one man.

21. Ōsawa Fusatarō (大沢房太郎) aka Kanbō no kaizoku (監房の海賊 “Pirate of the prison”) and Kaizoku Bōtarō (海賊房太郎 “Pirate Bōtarō”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsurumi Tokushirō and Kikuta Mokutarō) - Crime: 55 known cases of robbery, murders, injury, arson, theft plus many more still unknown.

22. Michael Ostrog (マイケル・オストログ) aka Jack the Ripper (ジャックザリッパー): Status: Deceased (Killed by Sugimoto Saichi) - Crime: around 10 years ago he stabbed multiple times a prostitute in Yokohama. He’s also responsible for murdering prostitutes in London.

23. Ueji Keiji (上エ地圭二): Status: Deceased (He slipped from a high chimney) –Crime: he’s a murderer who abducted tons of kids and buried them in his garden.

24. NOT A CONVICT: It turned out that the 24 tattooed convict is actually not a convict but Kadokura Toshiyuki (門倉利運) former Abashiri head jailer, currently Hijikata Toshizō’s loyal ally, whose tattoo is however incomplete. The image above doesn’t include him because this was meant to be a list of convicts and Kadokura isn’t.

THIS LIST DOESN’T INCLUDE THE SITUATION BETWEEN THE THREE MAIN GROUPS CHASING THE TATTOOED SKINS UPDATED TO CHAP 263

That’s because:

- Tsurumi handed Hijikata some real skins among the fake ones, but we don’t know which they are.

- the tattooed skins entrusted to Kadokura has partly ended in Tsurumi’s hands and partly in Sugimoto’s hands.

Long story short, we don’t know anymore which skins has Tsurumi, which skins has Sugimoto and which skins has Hijikata.

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papers4me · 3 years

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List of Intriguing Golden Kamuy Characters: (part 1)

As I read more chapters of Golden Kamuy, the characters get more fleshed out & layers upon layers of their broken selves get explored.

A general theme: is the the changing mentality of men before, a mid & after wars. How their psyche & mind change as the brutality of war breaks them apart.This manga is very unique in presenting its characters as human with degrees of good & bad in every one of them. None of these men is innocent & naive. They’re all aware of their current position as war soldiers whether deserters, discharged or on duty. Basically it is a manga abt broken men. Asirpa, the sole female protagonist, is presented as an innocent but practical character, but will she stay the same or will the hunt for gold & the worry for Ainu future change her?

Fascinating aspect: the dynamics between characters are one of the most entertaining in anime that I’ve read! truly unique. The characters, thanks to the plot, are forced to change sides & join different groups repeatedly throughout the story & each time, I discover new brilliant dynamics!!! The humor is good with a dash of adult jokes! The deadly hotel dynamics, the circus dynamics, the trip to Abashiri, the trip to Karafatu dynamics! & more, are all well-done.

Below, I’ll write very short & general broad summary of what I find fascinating abt each character. I’ll divide them into groups. ( contains spoilers)

1.Sugimoto's group:

Saichi Sugimoto: the protagonist. A discharged soldier. He is a troubled soul who has very low self worth despite his immense desire to stay alive. His kindness contrast his violent brutality. He kills criminals/soldiers with no mercy yet he’ll put himself in danger for those he cares for. I’m especially interested in his journey to reconcile with past self. I need for him to have a journey away from Asirpa & everybody. A self cleansing path where he accepts that perhaps it’s okay for him to not end up in Hell. His own personal issues with his past & the guilt he carries coupled with his fear that Umeko (his first love & his friend’s widow) will see the monster that he believes he’s become is highly fascinating to me! How will he deal with that? & if he were to ever meet Umeko again will she sense the past Saichi or the blood drenched Sugimoto or if there will be a different Sugimoto when the gold hunt is over? Perhaps, we won’t ever know. Perhaps letting her go & letting all his past go is part of his new journey? Can you start new while ignoring the past? I need to see Sugimoto’s own journey!

Asripa: 12 or 13 year old girl who is independent & capable to sustain herself without the need of any man. This child’s young age is especially important for the story that is full of adult & veteran men of war as she represents the hopeful future. The future is the children who shouldn’t be plagued by their parents’ sins & desires. Her father put her in the center of danger & threw a huge burden on her. His own dream that is conveniently introduced as the salvation of her ppl. A dream that kept changing with every new step he takes, a dream that clashes with other men’s dream & for them to achieve theirs, they need Asripa who is is in the middle of it all. I want Asripa to find a path that is hers, not her father’s. Moreover, I want her to grow independently from Sugimoto whom she now considers the center of her own dream. She needs to see the world & grow up as a woman before she ties herself with others for life.

Shiraish: A comic relief convict with unique escape skills, who in the later chapters has grown immensely without loosing his comic value! I love his growth!! & yet is to come! he’s become the rational one in the group while being super silly! Very satisfying indeed!

2.The 7th Division: (aka the most fascinating set of characters)

Tokushirō Tsurumi: One of the most well-written villains that I’ve recently come across. He’s fluid, entertaining, manipulative & fascinating. You literally can’t predict his moves or even his moods! Can’t tell if what he’s saying is truth or lie. Tsurumi is the writer’s unchained character cuz while Hijikata is tied a bit by historical reference to a real character, Asirpa to the Auni & Sugimoto as her bodyguard. The writer can simply write Tsurumi freely to fit every shape & every mold. There’s even logical reason for his mood swings & erratic behavior; he lost part of his brain in a war explosion & wears a metal plate to cover the open wound. He’s extremely clever, analytical & his schemes go along way into the past. He even molded & exploited his men to his advantage. He has a tragic background & in the later chapter was able to validly show the pros & cons of Wilk & Hijikata’s plan’s while masquerading his as the more logical one. He can be a comic relief, terrifying, genuine, cunning, loving, despicable, handsome, disgusting & above all it creeps me out how alive he seems in the chapters! he’s so animated I feel he’ll leave the manga panel & invade my space!! good stories need well-written antagonist & the writer really hit it with Tsurumi! well-done.

Hyakunosuke Ogata: Another unpredictable character. Like Tsurumi, he’s given a tragic background & just like Tsurumi as well, he makes unexcused & horrible decisions. Clearly he’s mentally unstable (a running theme in GK). Ogata, in addition to being the best sniper in the show & performing well in war, chose to add innocent victims to his list. He shot his brother & even attempted to kill Asipra, any writer will make this as simply a lunatic character, but this writer chose to tie such unexcused behavior to Ogata’s unstable psyche to show that from his own perspective; it makes sense! Afterall, it’s simply “ normal” to not ever feel guilt over killing human. His brother comes to haunt him in one of the most cinematic scenes & even plays with his mind. You’d think Ogata has gone rouge against everybody? Guess again, he’s got allies. Told you it’s hard to predict!

Genjirō Tanigaki: loved, endearing & dumb. lol. he’s simply a “shoujo girl” in a historic war manga. Tanigaki started dark, torn, filled with guilt in one of the tragic background stories, but was released from his tormented soldier persona by a convict who taught him, it is okay to start a new again. Desert the army, let go of the past & start again. he’s rewarded with a wife & a daughter but not before going on a journey with the others to showcase his manly charms & naive persona! love him.

Hajime Tsukishima: Another fascinated character that silently took me off guard with how much I cared for him! I had to go back & see where did he start! He was a background character assisting Tsurumi, then slowly became a prominent character with his own fascinating background story where you feel for him & see the depth of Tsurumi’s manipulation. I can’t even begin to explain Tsukishima mentality & psyche in this short summary! he’s got depth! that’s for sure.

Otonoshin Koito: the youngest in the division & one of the youngest men in the entire cast, but got high army rank thanks to his father & joining a military academy. You wanna know how manipulative Tsurumi is? read Koito’s background story. epic! Koito is impulsive, stubborn, inexperienced & highly skilled. He’s a bit naive at times but not dumb. He’s got amazing comic relief value tied with plot importance! His dynamics with Tsukishima & Ogata & Sugimoto are brilliant! you’ll never get bored!

Tokishige Usami : another unstable character. He shares Ogata’s belief that it’s normal to not feel guilt. Through him the writer argues that whether you come from tragic background (Ogata) or loving family (Usami), not feeling the slightest guilt over killing human is not normal. Ogata kills his mother while Usami kills his friend, both were young when they did their first innocent kill. However, unlike Ogata, Usami is very loyal to Tsurumi & obsessive of him. He’s strong, skilled, deadly & very creepy!! like very~~~~ creeeeepy~

Kōhei Nikaidō: from one of the creepiest sadistic soldiers to a sad, mentally unstable & tormented shell. He’s become such a valuable comic relief! I used to shudder when I see him, now I can’t stop laughing. Hard fall for the sadistic Nikaido! lol.

Kiktua: a new addition. So secretive & appears level headed & has good sense of morals.

Airko: another new addition: Ainu soldier. Appears naive, with high morals yet indecisive.

I could say more abt each character, but this is meant to be a summary. Each character is deep & has broken mentality that led to their decisions whether excused or unexcused. The convicts & Hijikata are next! But I had to start with Sugimoto & the 7th division! cuz that’s the main dish!

#Golden kamuy #my 1st manga!#sugimoto #tsurumi #asirpa #koito #tsukishima #Tanagiki #Usami #Shirashi #Ogata #excited paper

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goldenkamuyhunting · 3 years

Text

Characters’ Heights and Weights

So... a commercial message first. Buy the fanbook, it’s great!

...in case someone is wondering why I’ve it already I also decided to buy a digital copy in addition to the physical one. I really couldn’t resist!

And now let’s go back to business.

A while ago I shared this image that came from the anime settei and which includes the heights of the characters according to the anime.

People wondered if the heights included were accurate or a wild guess.

Well, the fanbook didn’t tell us the heights but told us for each character who’s taller and who’s shorter than him.

So, if one sit down patiently he can at least figure out in which order of height they go and the same goes for the weight.

So, without further ado, this time from the tallest to the shortest...

1 Ushiyama Tatsuma (188 cm according to the anime) 2 Tanigaki Genjirō & Ariko Rikimatsu (185 cm according to the anime) 3 Kiroranke/Yulbars 4 Kikuta Mokutarō 5 Nihei Tetsuzō 6 Vasily 7 Sugimoto Saichi, Toni Anji, Wilk (175 cm according to the anime) 8 Tsurumi Tokushirō, Koito Otonoshin (173 cm according to the anime) 9 Edogai Yasaku 10 Ogata Hyakunosuke (171 cm according to the anime) 11 Shiraishi Yoshitake (170 cm according to the anime) 12 Hijikata Toshizō, Usami Tokishige, Sofia (168 cm according to the anime) 13 Kirawus 14 Kadokura Toshiyuki 15 Nikaidō Kōhei, Nikaidō Yōhei, Okuyama Kantarō 16 Tsukishima Hajime 17 Henmi, Kazuo, Inkaramat, Anehata Shiton 18 Nagakura Shinpachi, Ienaga Kano (160 cm according to the anime) 19 Asirpa (120 cm according to the anime) 20 Cikapasi

I’ve heard someone managed to find that Noda confirmed Asirpa’s height but I couldn’t find that bit.

Now, weight, alwasy from heaviest to lightest.

1 Ushiyama Tatsuma 2 Tanigaki Genjirō, Sofia 3 Ariko Rikimatsu 4 Kiroranke 5 Kikuta Mokutarō 6 Nihei Tetsuzō 7 Sugimoto Saichi, Tsukishima Hajime, Vasily 8 Tsurumi Tokushirō 9 Toni Anji 10 Koito Otonoshin 11 Ogata Hyakunosuke, Shiraishi Yoshitake, Nikaidō Kōhei, Nikaidō Yōhei, Usami Tokishige, Wilk 12 Kadokura Toshiyuki 13 Kirawus 14 Okuyama Kantarō 15 Hijikata Toshizō, Edogai Yasaku 16 Nagakura Shinpachi 17 Henmi Kazuo, Ienaga Kano 18 Anehata Shiton 19 Inkarmat 20 Asirpa, Cikapasi

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

Photo

FULL LIST OF THE KNOWN TATTOOED PRISONERS (23 OF 24)

1. Gotō (後藤): Status: Deceased (Killed by a bear) - Crime: He murdered his wife and son while he was drunk. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

2. Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 “Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto’s group”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Ogata) - Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石由竹) aka Datsugoku-ō (脱獄王 “Escape king”): Status: Alive - Crime: Robbery was what put him in juvenile prison but due to his many escaping from prison to prison he ended up in Abashiri. - Skin owned by: Shiraishi Yoshitake, Hijikata Toshizō (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy), Sugimoto Saichi (copy) (?) [We don’t know if Sugimoto made a copy].

5. Tsuyama (津山): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsurumi Tokushirō) - Crime: He killed 33 people. - Skin owned by: Tsurumi Tokushirō.

8. Henmi Kazuo (辺見和雄): Status: Deceased (Killed by Sugimoto Saichi) - Crime: Murdering over a hundred of people around the country. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

9. Ienaga Kano/Chikanobu (家永カノ/親宣): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsukishima Hajime) - Crime: Killing a bunch of patients and transfusing their blood into himself. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy).

10. Barato de irezumi ninpi nomi torihikiki sa rete ita shūjin (茨戸で刺青人皮のみ取引きされていた囚人 “Prisoner whose tattooed skin was traded in Barato”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Wakayama Kiichirō) - Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Wakayama Kiichirō, Hidoro Tamotsu, Ogata Hyakunosuke, Hijikata Toshizō.

11. Wakayama Kiichirō (若山輝一郎) aka Oyabun (親分 “Boss”): Status: Deceased (Killed by a bear) - Crime: He’s a Yakuza boss who makes his living with gambling and clearly has killed other people… though we don’t exactly know why he ended in the jail. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

12. Yūbari no tankō jiko de shibō shita shūjin (夕張の炭鉱事故で死亡した囚人 “Prisoner who died in an accident in the coal mine in Yubari”): Status: Deceased (Killed by a mining incident) – Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Edogai Yasaku, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

13. Suzukawa Kiyohiro (鈴川聖弘): Status: Deceased (Killed by Koito) - Crime: Being a con artist. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō, Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

15. Anehata Shiton (姉畑支遁) aka Anehata Sensei (姉畑先生 “Professor Anehata”): Status: Deceased (Died of heart attack while raping a bear) - Crime: Animal rape and animal slaughter. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

16. Toni Anji (都丹庵士) aka Mōmoku no tōzoku-dan no oyadama (盲目の盗賊団の親玉 “Leader of the Blind bandits”): Status: Alive - Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Toni Anji, Hijikata Toshizō (copy), Sugimoto Saichi (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy).

17. Gansoku Maiharu (岩息舞治): Status: Alive - Crime: He expressed himself through violence so likely he was sent in jail for brawling and since he kept on doing it even hen in jail his sentences piled up, in fact, he says he spent most of his life incarcerated but never that he murdered someone. - Skin owned by: Gansoku Maiharu, Sugimoto Saichi (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy), Sofia (copy) (?) [We don’t know if Sophia mande a copy].

18. Yōichirō/Doi Shinzō (用一郎/土井新蔵): Status: Deceased (Killed by Hijikata Toshizō) - Crime: We know he was a hided assassin who killed countless people for a samurai who served the emperor but what caused him to end up in prison was merely the fact 8 years ago he murdered a man to get his wife back. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō.

19. Sekiya Waichirō (関谷輪一郎): Status: Deceased (Killed by Hijikata Toshizō) - Crime: He killed 30 people with strychnine. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō, Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy).

21. Ōsawa Fusatarō (大沢房太郎) aka Kanbō no kaizoku (監房の海賊 “Pirate of the prison”) and Kaizoku Bōtarō (海賊房太郎 “Pirate Bōtarō”): Status: Alive - Crime: 55 known cases of robbery, murders, injury, arson, theft plus many more still unknown. - Skin owned by: Ōsawa Fusatarō, Sugimoto Saichi (copy) (?) [We don’t know if Sugimoto made a copy].

22. ? (?) aka Jack the Ripper (ジャックザリッパー): Status: Alive - Crime: around 10 years ago he stabbed multiple times a prostitute in Yokohama. – Skin owned by: Michael Ostrog.

23. Ueji Keiji (上エ地圭二): Status: Alive – Crime: he’s a murderer who abducted tons of kids and buried them in his garden. - Skin owned by: Ueji Keiji.

24. ?

AT CHAP 240 THE SITUATION BETWEEN THE THREE MAIN GROUPS CHASING THE TATTOOED SKINS IS AS FOLLOW

Sugimoto (3 skins?)

Gotō Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin Nihei Tetsuzō Henmi Kazuo Wakayama Kiichirō Suzukawa Kiyohiro (copy) Anehata Shiton Toni Anji (copy) Gansoku Maiharu (copy) Shiraishi Yoshitake (copy) (?) [We don’t know if Sugimoto made a copy] Heita Matsuda Ōsawa Fusatarō (copy) (?) [We don’t know if Sugimoto made a copy]

Hijikata (9 skins)

Hijikata Toshizō (copy) Shiraishi Yoshitake (copy) Ushiyama Tatsuma (copy) Ienaga Kano/Chikanobu (copy) Barato de irezumi ninpi nomi torihikiki sa rete ita shūjin Suzukawa Kiyohiro (copy) Toni Anji (copy) Yōichirō/Doi Shinzō Sekiya Waichirō All the 6 fake skins

Tsurumi (15 skins)

Tsuyama Yūbari no tankō jiko de shibō shita shūjin Shiraishi Yoshitake (copy) Sakamoto Keiichirō Gotō Sugimoto-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin Nihei Tetsuzō Henmi Kazuo Wakayama Kiichirō Suzukawa Kiyohiro Anehata Shiton Toni Anji (copy) Ienaga Kano/Chikanobu (copy) Sekiya Waichirō (copy) Gansoku Mahiru (copy)

Sophia (1 skin?)

Gansoku Mahiru (copy) [We don’t know if Sophia made a copy]

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

Note

Would you write a post analyzing Tsurumi as a villain? His characteristic, his purpose, his force, his effection, etc (many other aspects). If it's already done before, pls tell me. Thank you a lot. I love your articles. Keep up the good works. We'll always support you!

Thank you for loving my articles and supporting me!

Now... a full analysis would take really a lot of time so no, I can’t make it right now, but if it’s okay with you I’d love to talk about him a little.

I’ll warn you, I talk about Tsurumi as a character, not as a ‘villain’.

Why not, since Tsurumi clearly does terrible things?

I don’t really like the term of ‘villain’ as it gives me the impression of someone who does things for the evulz and ‘people’s tears are all the pay he'll ever need’, someone who doesn’t do what he does for a reason but due to one or more abnormal vices (pride, greed, wrath, envy…) so that he’s no more human, he becomes the ‘final monster to defeat’ for the hero because no hero can be a good hero if he doesn’t take down a great villain in a battle of good versus evil.

“Golden Kamuy” is no battle of ‘good versus evil’, just of humans versus humans, and Tsurumi, despite what he does, is more than just the big bad for Sugimoto to defeat.

Tsurumi is a character in his own right, representing a certain type of humanity in the REAL WORLD that did, does and will do terrible things, not an abstract concept like ‘evil’.

Dismissing Tsurumi as another ‘Dark Lord’ not only doesn’t do Tsurumi justice as a character, but stops us from realizing that ‘Tsurumis’ exist even in our world, and we need to make sure we will not follow them or ends up as their prey but also that we won’t create them or become them.

So I honestly doubt Tsurumi exists in the story solely to provide Sugimoto a ‘final boss’ to defeat.

Sure, Tsurumi is everyone’s antagonist and sure, Tsurumi is currently the most powerful one.

Tsurumi however works as a foil to represent many things.

For start how a charismatic leader can collect people’s legitimate discontentment, unite them and push them in the wrong direction. Tsurumi’s underlings were soldiers tossed in the war as cannon fodder, poor people who, when they came back, believed they were unfairly punished by the same government who exploited them.

They don’t follow Tsurumi because ‘they want to do evil’ but because they feel the government of Japan horribly mistreated them so they don’t own it any loyalty, and because they hope in a better life, in being saved by Tsurumi.

Tsurumi promises them justice, presenting himself in a way similar to ‘Code Geass’ Zero, who promised to the Japanese, mistreated and discriminated by Britannia, a better world, only Tsurumi does so in a sadly more realistic way.

He doesn’t promise them an equal world, a world better for everyone, a lovely utopia, but a world in which they will have the money they need, which, in the classist world in which they are, will allow them to be given the right that should be bestowed to any human, as they will be no more disposable cannon fodder but appreciated honor guards. In short a world that will be better FOR THEM.

It’s propaganda of course, and it won’t nowhere near as simple as he paints it to be, but it works, it has always worked and sadly it will always work like a charm.

His men believe they were mistreated, his men believe Tsurumi understands them, loves them and will make things ‘right’ for them.

We see it when Tsurumi talks to the nameless group of men from the 7th but we also see it when Tsurumi talks to the men in private.

Tsurumi’s modus operandi is all the same, he listen to their miseries or find them out, offers them his understanding, appreciation and moral support and then presents himself as their savior. He knows what’s better for them, he will take care of them and they… they follow him.

Even Tsukishima, who knows Tsurumi lies more often than not, believes who’ll follow him will find salvation.

Do they really have a chance to find salvation?

Yes and no.

If a man is left in a situation in which he’s abused, mistreated and finds no one to understand him, to offer him a way out, he, more often than not, can end up in troubles.

Edogai could have become a murderer if he kept acting following the voices in his head. Tsurumi freed him from them so in a way he saved him

So yes, the men of the 7th could have ended up worse than they are. Could. We don’t know.

On the other side, if someone saves you from hell merely to use you… well, for you the detriment you’ll get from this, might be worse than the benefit.

And, in this specific case, for a lot of them will be surely worse.

Many of Tsurumi’s men will die to help him reach his goal. They will be judged rebels by central command who might have them executed once it gets his hands on them.

Following blindly someone is never a good idea but it’s so very human to entrust yourself in the hands of a person who seems to understand and care for you and seems to know better than you…

Tsurumi though, doesn’t represent just this but also the way things worked back then.

Selling weapons and drugs was and sadly still is one of the most common means to get a lot of money and it’s sadly something not just men do but even states. States profited and still profit by war and, for a time, they even profited by selling opium.

Tsurumi doesn’t want to get into the weapon and drug trade ‘because he’s bad’ but because back then it was what the leader of a state could do and it’s important to acknowledge this, so we can fight this. It’s not ‘just Tsurumi’, it’s way too many state-heads, way too many politics.

What Thomas says talking with Tsurumi is sadly true, nothing is more profitable than war.

So, Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見篤四郎) .

Birth (around) 1866 in Shibata in the Niigata prefecture from an once wealthy family, possibly the 4th son (this is speculated due to his name containing the kanji for 4, something that was very common at the time in the 4th son). Student at Takeda’s dojo he attended to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy where he likely graduated as a Second Lieutenant at the age of 21 and then he was deployed for his mission as a spy in Vladivostok, under the identity of Hasegawa Kōichi’s (長谷川幸一 ) a man who came in Russia as a teenager following his father who moved there due to work and who inherited a photo studio.

As Hasegawa Kōichi he married a local woman, Fina and had a daughter, Olga.

In 1891, when he was 25, Wilk, Kiroranke and Sofia asked him to teach them Japanese. His cover got eventually burned and in the following firefight between the secret police and Wilk’s group his wife and child died and Wilk’s group left.

In 1893, at 27 he’s back in Japan, belonging to the 2nd division of the Imperial Army as a First lieutenant but spends his time teaching at Takeda dojo.

In 1894 Takagi Tomoharu is killed by Usami in front of him and they blame Tsurumi’s horse for this.

In 1894-95 Tsurumi takes part to the Sino-Japanese war with Tsukishima death and, once back from war he is demoted to a position in Hokkaido in the 7th division because Tomoharu’s father resented him for his child’s death.

In 1896 helps Tsukishima to get out of jail, with him will go to Tsukisappo where the special service agency is located and will head back to Russia as an intelligence officer.

In 1900 he meets Koito Otonoshin in Kagoshima.

In 1902 he stages Koito’s kidnapping and he’s sent by the army to help ‘rescue him’ gaining Koito Heiji’s thankfulness.

In 1904-05 he takes part to the Russo-Japanese war, his platoon being the one that raised the flag atop of 203 hill. During the battle of Mukden a shell blew away a part of his brain.

Once he’s back to Hokkaido he orchestrates the murder of Hanazawa Koujirou and, while Inudo is absent, tries to bring to Abashiri the 24 tattooed convicts, who however manages to escape. He’s been searching for them from then, while at the same time trying to find support to built up an army factory and an opium factory in Hokkaido and blackmailing commander Yodogawa so as to have free reins. Among his more notable actions in this time period there’s the assault to Abashiri prison, with the extermination of all the prisoners and guards.

This is his life in short.

Now…

We don’t really know what Tsurumi is aiming at...

...or better we do know he wants to find the gold, use it to buy weapon and built a weapon factory and a opium factory, take control of Hokkaido as a military dictator and probably stretch his control on Manchuria as well.

What we don’t know is why.

It’s clear Noda doesn’t mean him to act just for the evulz, Tsurumi has a motive, a reason why he wishes so that is based on his experiences in life.

Noda gave us hints but he only scratched at the surface of the problem, so it becomes complicate to correctly understand how badly those happenings affected him and why they pushed to become such a person and therefore to understand him and mind you, understand him doesn’t mean to absolve him, it just mean to realize what moved him to do those acts and see if people in his shoes would have also done the same mistakes, the same horrible things.

This won’t make what Tsurumi does right… just human. Humans can do terrible things and if we want to stop this, we need to understand what went wrong along the way.

We’ve always to remember how important it is to understand why people do what they do but that the reason for doing something is just the reason for doing something, not the magical excuse that makes right do something wrong.

For now we’ll know:

- his family once had wealth but lost it.

This could have been due to the Meiji restoration, therefore creating a possible reason for why Tsurumi is resentful toward the government as it stripped his family of their wealth… which is not as painless as some might think.

- It’s speculated Tsurumi could be the 4th son due to the 4 in his name (which could also be just Noda’s pun for death) but he doesn’t seem to have family members alive, relatives that are in the army and can support him.

Did he lose his family as a consequence of the loss of their wealth? Did they die fighting for or against the restoration? Were they executed?

- Noda raised the possibility Tsurumi’s family was... not the best place in which a child could grow.

Some might have missed it, but he had Ogata said two rather famous sentences and then Tsurumi say similar things. As it’s unlikely Ogata influenced Tsurumi, very likely Ogata learnt them from Tsurumi.

1) The first sentence regards how you’ve to kill your parents to leave the nest.

Ogata: “Killing your parents is... a rite of passage for leaving the nest.” (親殺しってのは... 巣立ちのための通過儀礼だぜ ‘Oyakoroshi tte no wa... sudachi no tame no tsūka gireida ze’) [Chap 59] (said after killing Shinpei’s father when the man was about to kill his son)

Tsurumi: “Now, hold on. You will shoot your mother. You will decide according to your will, Edogai-kun... You have to leave the nest. Because your nest was distorted, you grew up distorted.” (ホラ握りなさい。キミが母君を撃つんだ。決めるんだ江渡買くんの意志で...巣立たなきゃいけない。巣が歪んでいるからキミは歪んで大きくなった ‘Hora nigiri nasai. Kimi ga hahagimi o utsunda. Kimerunda Edogai-kun no ishi de sudatanakya ikenai. Su ga yugande irukara kimi wa yugande ōkiku natta’) [Chap 72] (said while encouraging Edogai to ‘kill’ his mother)

2) The second sentence is “Children can’t chose their parents.” though it’s worth to mention that in Japanese the two sentences are vaguely different but with the same meaning:

Ogata: 子供は親を選べません ‘Kodomo wa oya o erabemasen’ [Chap 103] (said when admitting Hanazawa didn’t love his mother, after Hanazawa commented he had no right to blame him for leaving his mother because the woman was insane and disgusting and Ogata should have felt the same as him)

Tsurumi: 子供は親を選べない ‘Kodomo wa oya o erabenai’ [Chap 107] (said when discussing how the Lighting bandit and O-gin’s son is the child of two monsters who however were in love)

Where Tsurumi’s parents abusive like Shinpei’s and Edogai’s? Neglectful like Ogata’s? Monsters like Sakamoto’s child’s?

Or it’s actually in the reverse? We shouldn’t look at Tsurumi’s parents but at Tsurumi AS A PARENT and how his job caused the death of his child? But Olga was a tad too young to ‘leave the nest’....

- The whole Vladivostok mess with Wilk and co.

In that day Tsurumi lost his cover as a spy, his wife and his child.

It’s unclear if he was betrayed by the government as Kiro thought, or if it was a plan to gain Wilk’s and Co trust and, if this was the case, who came up with such plan.

It’s implied though he also holds Wilk as accountable for Fina and Olga’s death

- The wish to be ‘reunited’ to Fina and Olga.

One of Tsurumi’s most famous speech was about having Japanese soldiers’ bones rest in Japanese soil. While it can be just a propaganda speech, it can also be he wishes to conquer Vladivostok to be reunited with Fina and Olga’s bones as he could only carry with himself Fina’s finger (and possibly Olga’s).

We’ll have to wait for more info but surely there’s more to learn from Tsurumi as he’s one of the mysteries that make intriguing this story. We’ll have to wait to discover them or, in the meantime, we can try to have fun guessing. ^_-

Thank you for your ask!

#Golden Kamuy #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Ask #Edogai Yasaku #Wilk #Hasegawa Olga #Hasegawa Fina #Ogata Hyakunosuke

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

Text

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 227 “Partners In Crime”

And so we reach this important chapter which talk about what one truly needs in order to turn someone into a murderer…

Too bad Tsurumi never had the chance to hear this Beatles song, he might have found it inspiring… (and by the way ‘diabolical mastermind’ is the name of a trope fitting him) but let’s go with order as this chapter is rather psychologically complicate and hard to judge objectively.

Why is that?

We’re dealing with a flashback whose settings were set in the previous chapter but… with a twist. Although this is fundamentally a flashback about Usami and Tsurumi’s past, in the previous chapter we didn’t really get a glimpse of the mind of either of them. The mind we were shown is the one of Takagi Tomoharu with the result we were influenced by his perception of the situation so we were unprepared for what Usami did (which was likely the point of hiding his point of view by the way).

The second is that since we know Usami and Tsurumi by a long time we tend to view them according to their present identities and it gets hard to think that in this flashback Usami was in between childhood and teenager years (12/13) and Tsurumi has already lost his wife and daughter but hadn’t taken part to any war yet, and he’s not even in the 7th.

And now let’s start.

The cover seems to be a redraw of the last panel of the previous chapter, although with some differences.

In addition to the increase in size we can see Usami’s foot is still above Tomoharu as if he has just hit him or he’s about to strike him again (in the last panel of the last chapter he seemed to be about to lower it), Usami’s face now well visible and clearly enraged. We can also see Tsurumi is now running to stop him.

As a cover isn’t necessarily a continuation of the story but can also merely be a summary of what happened previously, we can’t tell if the cover is meant to hint Usami is planning to hit Tomoharu again or it’s just here to summarize, to who had missed the previous chapter, what had happened before this chapter will show us how Tsurumi pushes away Usami and kneels on Tomoharu.

Usami’s expression seems back to normal as he’s pushed away, and maybe hurt. Is it because Tsurumi is getting in between or because he realized what he did to Tomoharu?

Anyway, when Tsurumi tells him to call a doctor, instead than just doing so, Usami starts to blurt out his reasons.

He didn’t want to do it, it was Tsurumi who said “to do it in this wide area” (こっちの広いところでやりなさい ‘Kotchi no hiroi tokoro de yari nasai’).

His choice of words is... kind of scary. In the scanlations they left ‘the two of you’ but Usami actually cut the initial ‘kimi-tachi’ (キミたち “You (plural)”) which was in Tsurumi’s speech in the previous chapter so that it seems as if what he’s saying is that ‘he didn’t want to do it but Tsurumi told him to do it (murder Tomoharu) there’... honestly, I worry for Usami’s mental state as in this chapter he sort of remind me of Heita.

Anyway as Usami speaks his eyes are either close or almost close as you basically see only a thick black line. There are lines on his forehead, which are usually used as signs of distress in manga.

The fact that instead than doing what Tsurumi told him, Usami is trying to defend himself shows he’s aware he did something wrong and, in the perspective of someone who’s barely a teenager, the things he lists (which are factually true), probably felt as if enough of an excuse, something at which Usami can cling.

The reaction ‘it’s not my fault’ is often typical of someone who’s trying to cope with shock or something traumatic by distancing himself from the deed he did.

In short, although we see Usami standing there apparently calm, he’s likely not that calm and comfortable with what had happened, his gaze turned away from Tsurumi and Tomoharu as if not seeing would equate to make the whole situation disappear.

Killing is always traumatic and men do a lot of mental gimmicks to excuse themselves when they commit murder but the younger you are, the better you are to wrap your own narrative around a traumatic fact so as to protect your mind from breaking.

The problem is that if you don’t face what you’ve done you only end up damaging yourself further.

Who instead is surprisingly calm given the situation is Tsurumi. Although I’m pretty sure he was surprised when Usami crushed Tomoharu’s throat, if I study the visual of the scene, it clearly wasn’t that shocking for him as his eyes remained black and Noda tends to represent shock by whitening the eyes.

While for us Tomoharu is a side character just introduced, Tsurumi clearly knew him by a while. He helped training him, he saw him grow, he seemed happy when both he and Usami wanted him to do randori with them. He should also have had a similar relation with Usami, seeing him grow, training him.

I’m not saying he had to feel a father/son bond with them but still he supposedly should care for them in some way, after all he had acted like he cared when he had supposedly supported and encouraged Tomoharu in his wish to have a last standing with Usami.

Now he wasn’t witnessing something merely ‘surprising’, he was seeing one of his students attempting to murder another of his students. Poor, agonizing Tomoharu wasn’t an enemy or just ‘a random boy he never met’, he had just volunteered to overlook on his and Usami’s match which implies also taking care of their safety. Tsurumi isn’t yet a war hardened veteran.

In short, he shouldn’t be so comfortable dealing with the idea one of his students might die. He should want him to live, even if only because there could be consequences for him as well if Tomoharu were to die.

Remember when Tsurumi asked Tomoharu ‘how his father was doing?’ a chapter ago? It wasn’t just a question out of politeness. Tsurumi asked about Tomoharu’s father so as to show proper respect to a superior officer because Tomoharu’s father is a higher up in the 2nd division in which, at the time, Tsurumi belonged. That’s also why Tomoharu is going to Tokyo, to get into an army school (like Koito did).

In short Tomoharu’s economical and social situation is drastically different from Usami, who’s apparently the son of a farmer and is supposed to stop studying to help him in the fields… but it’s also clear that Tomoharu’s father is someone who could be powerful enough to cause Tsurumi lot of troubles if his son were to die while under his supervision.

Yet from this point on Tsurumi will stop caring of Tomoharu’s survival, he’ll stop attempting to give him some sort of medical aid. Chatting with Usami is more interesting.

So, he turns to look at Usami, a dark background behind him and instead than urging again Usami to call for a doctor, he calmly claims he did all he did because he had no idea Usami would have done that ‘to his friend’. To be exact Tsurumi uses ‘Shin'yū’ (親友) which means something like “close/intimate friend” and, by extension, can be translated as “best friend”.

It’s worth to mention Tomoharu is still alive right then, fighting to draw another breath, even if Tsurumi doesn’t care about it anymore.

Now we readers too probably assumed Usami and Tomoharu were close friends. TOMOHARU was always calling Usami, wanting to spend time with him, wanting to beat him, desperate to leave him… Tomoharu.

We never saw Usami being interested in him and now that Tsurumi has called Tomoharu ‘his best friend’, Usami clearly begs to differ as he repeats ‘my best friend’ his expression turning enraged again.

In what looks like a fit of hysteria, nodding his head back and forth, the visual making him look almost as if he had two heads, as if to depict his contrasting feelings or a split in his personality, his face still a mask of rage, Usami starts listing all the times in which Tomoharu didn’t act like a ‘best friend’ would. In a way it reminds me of when he beat Ariko. Here it’s a clear sign of distress even if it’s also a clearly disturbing sight that makes him look as if he’d gone mad.

So, while the previous chapter focused on Tomoharu’s side of his relationship with Usami, now we get Usami’s side.

Usami in a clearly disturbed tone, if the font Noda is using can be taken as a hint, points out to how Tomoharu always interrupted his time together with Tsurumi forcing Tsurumi to give him attention because Tomoharu’s father is a big shoot in the 2nd division.

[It’s worth to note that Usami didn’t say ‘bastard’ when referring to Tomoharu, that’s just something translators chose to use as Usami didn’t use any way to refer to him. Usami’s exact words are “Itsudatte Tokushirō-san to no jikan o jamajiya gate” [いつだって「篤四郎さんとの時間」を邪魔じやがって] which means just “Always getting in the way of ‘(my) time with Tokushiro-san’” and they are clearly missing the subject (Tomoharu) which translators had to include and chose to do so by having Usami calling him ‘bastard’ to better drive home how enraged Usami is.]

Usami points out how Tomoharu was planning to go to the Army Youth School in Tokyo so as to get close to Tsurumi by becoming an official like him.

He points out to how he looked down at him till that day, by refusing to tell him the truth.

Then, for each thing he lists, he says he can forgive him, in a big, normal, bold font (in the Japanese version. In the scanlations scanlators chose to use the same font).

In a way the 2 heads he seems to be having also can represent this, one head is for listing ‘Tomoharu’s wrongdoings’ in a disturbed tone, the other is to say ‘he’ll forgive him’ in a loud tone. Usami is split between his rage and the fact he wanted to forgive Tomoharu.

Now… the flashback showed Usami being trained by Tsurumi in 1893. In 1891 Tsurumi was shown being in Vladivostok. Fina and Olga’s death might have taken place in autumn (when Kiro and Wilk were hunting martens they were more lightly dressed than when they dropped by Tsurumi and Fina and Olga died) and then Kiro, Wilk and Sofia used the drift ice that forms in winter to reach Karafuto.

All this to say that till around the end of 1891 Tsurumi was likely still in Russia, so he moved in Japan in either 1892 or 1893.

Why this is relevant?

Because it tells us Tsurumi hadn’t been always present in Usami’s life, by the time the flashback started he was back in Japan by a little more than 1 year at best, or more likely, by much less. It would explains why Usami’s father have no idea who this Tokushiro-san his son is talking about is, because Tsurumi had been for a long time in Russia so the people in the town don’t remember/know him.

On the other side Tomoharu could have been around Usami from when the two were small. They could have been friends… maybe best friends the way kids can be best friends… before Usami developed a mad crush/obsession for Tsurumi and started interpreting everything Tomoharu did as Tomoharu’s attempts at getting between him and his love interest.

Of course WE know Tomoharu never planned to do such thing, he likely was totally unaware of Usami’s crush but jealousy is an ugly beast that warps everything and so Usami was completely fooled. He’s in between 12 and 13 and very young and immature and completely taken by Tsurumi it’s no surprise he misinterpret.

On the other side it’s true Tomoharu wasn’t a perfect friend as he didn’t understand Usami at all, tried to use him to gain confidence (the idea if he were to beat him he would find the courage to live in Tokyo), wasn’t fully honest with him (how he couldn’t tell him the truth about going to Tokyo) and didn’t care of how Usami would feel if he were to finally beat him. Of course as Tomoharu is rather young it’s pretty normal his friendship with Usami is still self-centered and that this could end up hurting Usami even though Tomoharu didn’t mean to.

However… it’s interesting to wonder… before starting to obsess for Tsurumi… how did Usami feel in regard to Tomoharu? Did he consider him as a friend? Is he so enraged because he saw him as a friend in the past and felt that friend had left him down? Or he never liked Tomoharu to begin with and had to get along with him merely because Tomoharu was up in the social scale?

Honestly I think it’s relevant how, when he says he’ll forgive him, the font used is a normal, big and bold one.

It makes me think Usami is being sincere in saying he forgave Tomoharu and that there’s the possibility that Usami originally viewed him as a friend and wanted to forgive him like a good friend would do.

Still, it’s hard to say and anyway it doesn’t matter anymore.

Usami goes on listing Tomoharu’s actions which he perceived against him, claiming the last one was something he could never forgive. It’s at this point we learn Usami has overheard Tomoharu and Tsurumi’s discussion in the dojo (it’s from that discussion Usami learnt Tomoharu was going to Tokyo) and that said discussion continued after the bit we were shown in the previous chapter.

The discussion continued with Tsurumi fundamentally saying to Tomoharu he could beat Usami, that he can become stronger than him.

And this is what breaks Usami as we see that when Usami overheard it, his face contorted in rage.

Usami, very naively, believed that him being the best in the dojo is something that connected him to Tsurumi, is something that made him ‘special’ in Tsurumi’s eyes as if it were some sort of love declaration and not merely an acknowledgement of his ability.

If Tomoharu were to beat him, Usami wouldn’t be number 1 anymore in Tsurumi’s eyes and would lose his connection with Tsurumi, the only thing Usami claimed he had, the only thing that mattered to him, opposed to Tomoharu who, due to his father being in the 2nd and him going to become an officer, would have many more things that would connect him to Tsurumi.

Usami wants to be Tsurumi’s number 1 but Tsurumi told Tomoharu he can easily replace Usami. Is it true? Why is Tomoharu doing this to him, trying to snatch away Usami’s spot in Tsurumi’s eyes? That’s what Usami was likely thinking.

In his mad jealousy Usami doesn’t see Tomoharu has no interest in connecting with Tsurumi, just with Usami.

When Tomoharu found Usami outside the dojo, although he looked calm, Usami clearly had a storm inside and Tomoharu… didn’t realize at all, didn’t worry at all of how Usami would feel if he were to lose to him. I don’t mean he had to understand Usami was unhealthily obsessed with Tsurumi, it would have been enough to understand Usami took pride in being number 1 and could be saddened by losing the way Tomoharu was saddened by losing, instead it doesn’t even brush Tomoharu’s mind. He’s young, it’s normal he would focus on himself and not on the consequences this could have on Usami.

Tomoharu is just young and immature but his insistence in fighting as well as the fact Usami overheard Tsurumi thinks Tomoharu can beat and replace him, ends up causing Usami’s control to shatter.

Usami can’t allow Tomoharu to beat him and snatch his place in Tsurumi’s heart, he has to show Tsurumi he’s number 1. The result is something we all know. When Tomoharu ends on the ground and refuses to accept his loss, Usami loses it and ends up attacking a vital spot, effectively silencing him and giving him a slow death.

If you think at it calmly and rationally it’s fully insane but if you’re barely a teen, possibly in a hormonal storm with a crush that’s bigger than yourself, a sense of jealousy that’s planet-sized and the possibility to actually murder your love-rival you can delude yourself this makes sense.

There are two things that come to my mind here, one is a scene from “Magia Record” (“Puella Magi Madoka Magica” sidestory).

If you’re unfamiliar with it the plot idea is that ‘magical girls’ are forced to risk their life fighting witches (and yes, this is no “Bishojou Senshi Sailor Moon”, magical girls can die) but if they accept to become magical girl they can get one free wish at… everything really, they can even ask for a miracle.

Anyway a girl accepted to become a magical girl in order to get a date with the boy she liked. She admits they had broken up in the end, so it wasn’t like he was the perfect person for her, and this has stuck her in that dangerous situation from which she’d like to escape and that she regret becoming a magical girl but she still states that, at the time, dating that boy meant EVERYTHING to her.

In short when you are young and in love your emotions might cause you to blow things out of proportions. A date with a boy that wasn’t even perfect for her wasn’t worth that life but still at the time she couldn’t see it.

Usami is the same. For him Tsurumi’s words that he’s the best are EVERYTHING.

The second thing that comes to my mind is from “Video Girl Ai” and it’s about how people are prone to give most of the blame or the full blame not to their loved one but to the one with whom they loved one betrayed them.

In short Usami, instead than feeling as if Tsurumi had made fun of him or had lied to him by telling him he was the strongest only to tell Tomoharu he could beat Usami, took it out on Tomoharu.

At this point Tsurumi embraces the still enraged and out of it Usami, APOLOGIZING TO HIM and telling him he said such words because he assumed Tomoharu would give up and go home if he were to tell him that as USAMI IS STILL HIS NUMBER 1.

Tsurumi’s expression as he apologizes and says he lied to Tomoharu is pretty detached and, at first, he’s not even watching Usami who was still shaking with rage. However this is enough to cause Usami to make a 180° turn. His face go back to normal, his rage dissipates and he smiles claiming he feels relief.

Now… remember what I said before, at the start of this meta?

‘If you don’t face what you’ve done you only end up damaging yourself further.’

Usami succumbed to rage and jealousy and committed murder supposedly over a misunderstanding (honestly I’ve no idea if Tsurumi triggered his rage on purpose or decided to capitalize on what had happened only later, when he realized what he had done).

He was young and although some countries think 10 is an age in which a child can be prosecuted as if he were an adult for murder, the majority thinks you’ve to be much older to realize the implications of your actions and have the necessary self control to restrain yourself in a stressing situation.

Tsurumi could have used his influence on Usami to help him to understand what Usami did WAS WRONG. I could give him a pass for covering up Usami’s murder as Usami was young and acted in a moment of emotional storm but not for VALIDATING Usami’s actions as if they were RIGHT and RIGHTFUL.

In this way he encouraged an already emotionally unstable youth to consider murder as the best option in any situation. Usami, from this experience, doesn’t learn to control himself, he learns to vent his worst emotions and that’s why he grows up as an adult who thinks the best option is to murder people.

And so the attention moves back on Tomoharu again.

This time Usami refers to him directly, not calling him ‘bastard’ but calling him ‘sore’ (それ “It/that thing”). He’s not insulting him, he’s objectifying him, denying the fact he was human. He’s distancing himself from him as he asks if Tomoharu is dead. The visual is interesting as well, because it shows Usami pecking at Tomoharu while holding Tsurumi’s arm and almost hidden behind him as he claims they’re ‘Kyōhan’ (共犯 “partners in crime/accomplices”).

In short he’s persuaded Tsurumi agrees with his actions but at the same times he’s searching still his support and protection. He’s turning Tomoharu’s death into something that validates their relation, that unites them, reframing it into something good and precious. Tsurumi let him, actually he supports him in this by making a cover story for Tomoharu’s death and sharing it with Usami.

The story is that Tomoharu had been kicked by the horse Tsurumi was riding and that’s why he died. The result is that Tomoharu’s father went berserk with rage and killed Tsurumi’s horse under Usami’s eyes. Usami is clearly shocked by this, his eyes going fully white.

Tomoharu’s father’s actions told him what he did was wrong, that HE should have been the one ending like the horse. Usami tried to bury it inside himself but we saw how, in chap 225, Usami supposedly murdered a horse, and then looked at it in the same way he looked at Tsurumi’s horse.

I think the idea Noda is trying to deliver is that although Usami worked hard to reframe Tomoharu’s death into something good, a side of him deeply buried inside him, still felt guilty for what he did and he took it out on the horse. This is something Usami can’t face, he can’t face or he’ll break, his mind split between how Tomoharu wasn’t a good friend because he tried to steal Tsurumi from him and how he would still forgive him because Tomoharu probably had been a friend for him before his obsession for Tsurumi started.

Meanwhile we go back to 1895, Tsurumi and Usami standing on the yard where Tomoharu died that Usami called ‘his sacred place’. Now Usami confirms that’s so because that’s the place where he first killed a person, the info box adding ‘where he lost his virginity’ or, more specifically it says just ‘Boku no dōtei sōshitsu’ (僕の童貞喪失 “The loss of my male virginity”) where ‘dōtei’ specifically refers to male chastity/virginity.

So yes, Usami is comparing what he did to having sex with Tsurumi, not just to a vague loss of innocence. He then claims he had come to those sacred ground countless times to remind himself about that day, to better wrap himself in that lie, claiming it’s a secret between just him and Tsurumi. In short he managed to fully persuade himself what had happened was something good, something romantic, something that ties him to Tsurumi.

Usami than says he heard from Takeda that due to how Tsurumi’s horse caused Tomoharu’s death, Tomoharu’s parents hated Tsurumi and made difficult for him to remain in the second division.

It’s interesting how now Usami is using ‘ano ko’ (あの子 “that child”) to refer to Tomoharu. Of course he might be quoting Takeda but normally we don’t quote people word for word, we report what they say in our words unless their words were peculiar or needed to be reported exactly. So it’s possible that, although Usami is still refusing to call Tomoharu by name, he’s starting to acknowledge him back as a person, or more specifically as a child. Or maybe not. Hard to say as manga often have people quoting other people word by word even if this isn’t exactly normal.

Usami anyway seems touched Tsurumi would cover up for him even if he knew this would have happened, likely framing it as another proof Tsurumi loves him.

Tsurumi claims that’s why he was demoted to a position in Hokkaido but claims this is all right as being farther away from central command allows him to act with more freedom than he might have had otherwise.

Now… since in the Sino-Japanese war Tsurumi was still in the 2nd division with Tsukishima and the Sino-Japanese war has just ended, his being moved in Hokkaido should be a recent thing... but the fact he was demoted well explains why, despite being so good, he’s still stuck at the rank of first lieutenant. It’s not just lack of family support, it’s also due to an officer hating him.

Then Tsurumi cleverly wraps the whole thing as if it was all something he did for Usami by saying he thought it would be an awful waste if someone as interesting as Tokishige-kun ended up being destroyed.

Yeah, Tsurumi defines Usami as ‘Kyōmibukai sonzai’ (興味深い存在 “Interesting being/existence”) and maybe it’s just me but this sounds more like he finds Usami some sort of interesting specimen than a love declaration but Usami misses this and, again, warps this in his mind as some sort of love declaration.

Now, it’s worth to mention this time, when Tsurumi speaks Tokishige’s name isn’t written in katakana anymore (usually when Tsurumi would talk to him his name would be written in katakana [トキシゲくん ‘Tokishige-kun’]) but in kanji [智春くん ‘Tokishige-kun’]. Japanese readers interpreted this as Usami rising in importance for Tsurumi… or better for Tsurumi’s plan.

Anyway Tsurumi stretches his hand toward Usami, saying he’ll be waiting for him to join him in the 7th division.

It’s worth to note that the Hokkaido division was a territorial division which was converted to field infantry division in 12 May 1896, in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War. We’re in 1895 but Tsurumi might be aware of the conversion and think that place would be a good place in which to cultivate his ambitions for dictatorship.

The part of the flashback that regards Usami’s meeting with Tsurumi ends here.

We’re still in flashback zone though as now we’re shown how Tsurumi’s discussion with Takeda, which started in chap 225, continued. Remember when they were talking about how men found difficult to kill people?

Tsurumi continued talking with Takeda about it, about how to make soldiers who would kill enemies troops without hesitation, explaining how he witnessed ‘an incident in which someone overcame is resistance in killing’ (basically he’s talking of how Usami killed Tomoharu) and how that fact stuck within him and he continued to think at it and finally, during the war, he discovered the answer on what caused that boy to act that way.

He claims what motives soldiers to kill isn’t hatred for the enemy troops, nor fear or difference in political ideals (yeah, as if common people of that time were interested in politics… Tsurumi, really!).

Tsurumi, with an helated face, claims it’s love what pushed people to kill, behind him appearing the images of Ogata, Koito, Usami and Tsukishima, as if to hint that they all committed murders out of love.

Now, while some info box informs us of how, during the World wars and during the Vietnam war soldiers claimed they found easier to kill due to the powerful and loving relationships they formed with their comrades and out of fear of betraying the expectations of superior officers they admired and adored and fellow soldiers they loved we see how Tsurumi manipulated Tsukishima, Ogata and Koito.

For Tsukishima there’s the whole ‘I lied to save you my precious friend’ which pushed Tsukishima to risk his life to save tsurumi, for Ogata there’s the scene in which he promises him acknowledgement in the 7th division and for Koito there’s the scene in which he helped him to stand after beating him and how Tsurumi went to rescue him.

We don’t get anything for Usami but, I think, it’s unnecessary as it would mean to show us what we just saw in the flashback.

This basically tells us they all were manipulated into ‘loving Tsurumi’ and doing everything for him… or so Tsurumi assumed, even if this is clearly a flash forward as Tsurumi will manipulate those three only AFTER speaking with Tanaka.

Anyway Tsurumi’s idea he has been successful is quite mistaken.

Tsukishima saved him out of inner kindness, quickly discovers the truth but remains loyal to him due to believing there’s nothing else he can do. It’s not love it’s hopelessness.

Ogata did things for love… but not Tsurumi’s love, he wanted to get his father’s love.

Koito crushed on Tsurumi as well also thanks to his naivety but the one he loves the most are clearly his father and Tsukishima, Tsurumi being merely an infatuation.

Tsurumi has barely grasped the mechanisms that push a man to kill another.

It’s not just ‘I love my boss and my companions’ but also ‘I’m trapped in this situation with no way out, dealing with overwhelming emotions that cloud my judgment and naively think this will solve everything’.

There’s a huge component of desperation that pushes men to act, as well as rage, self preservation, fear, confusion, sense of entrapment, pressure.

Tsurumi is over-simplifying everything, thinking he discovered the exact formula to rule men and their hearts when he’s just grazing at the surface of things.

No wonder he fails with Ogata and gets easily discovered by Tsukishima while Koito planned to drop him as soon as he had discovered the truth. He doesn’t understand his men, he creates illusions, offers them sweet lies to influence them in the moment in which they’re psychologically at their weakest and thinks that’s the key to hold them in his power forever, that they will never question him or rebel to him.

And in the end, even if love were to be the key, Tsurumi doesn’t offer them love, just an illusion of it. His men delude into thinking he cares when he’s just using them.

I think that’s why he should lose to Asirpa, because Asirpa offers genuine love to the people she cares for but we’ll see.

Tsurumi tosses in it’s also a battle between the soldiers and guilt but he doesn’t really care to dig into it much, he worries more into how to create soldiers who could do any sort of dirty deeds for him. He then goes and claim that many soldiers are just sheep but occasionally among them there’s one who’s a dog, who’s born soldier, who’s aggressive and loyal and feels no guilt or remorse about killing people and Tsurumi feels it’s vital to have soldiers like that in his troop.

Well, normally we would say a ‘wolf’ but the choice of the word ‘dog’ ties this well witht he story Asirpa told in chap 225 and with a characteristic Tsurumi wants his men to have and that stereotypically belongs to dogs but not to wolves. Dogs are loyal to their masters (opposed to wolves who have no master).

In short Tsurumi aims to have an army of loyal psychopaths without knowing psychopaths aren’t as easy to control as he seems to think… and that many people he exchanges for ‘ideal soldiers’ are actually just traumatized guys, not naturally born psychopaths but people who either went through trauma or reacted in the wrong way to pressure and ended up twisting themselves so that they suppressed their guilt and become extremely murder prone.

Anyway, as Tsurumi says so we go back to present time and to Usami, of whom Tsurumi has understood nothing. Usami’s hysterical crisis was a sign that Usami wasn’t a natural cold blood killer, otherwise he would have just shrugged off calmly how he murdered Tomoharu (not mentioning we would have had a lot more signs of Usami being a sociopath during his youth) and wouldn’t have cared to murder again a horse that much later.

Usami is currently unstable and very dangerous as his actions of that day had been excused and legitimated and he never properly faced them but was encouraged to continue through that way. No wonder his eyes have the ‘crazed whiteness of the irises’ in a permanent manner now and no light.

Usami says to Kikuta the murderer kills for the sake of killing, that he will return to the crime scene, fantasize about it and masturbate to his fantasies, and this is something he can understand...

...implying he did the same... which would already clash with Tsurumi’s idea that murders are moved by love... and, more than anything, would clash with the reason why he killed Tomoharu which was merely the fear to lose his connection with Tsurumi, not the enjoyment to kill people. Though well, over the years things might have changed for Usami, and in his attempt to cope with what he did and the way he chose to cope with it (seeing it as an act of love toward Tsurumi) he might have grown to transfer this to all his following murders and therefore ‘enjoying them as proofs of his love for Tsurumi’. Or just having turned so deranged, even the initial gimmick of connecting them to his love for Tsurumi got lost and, like Pavlov's dog, he subconsciously conditioned himself to enjoy murdering.

Now, you’ve probably heard how ‘The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime’. In truth is not true for all the crimes, it tends to be true only for crimes of ‘passion’ as the culprit, as Usami said, gets off relieving the crime. Psychopaths who’re good at planning their crimes for example tend not to do it as it would be stupid. Arsonists instead are a lot more prone to do it.

The FBI "Crime Classification Manual" roughly divide serial killers in 3 categories: organized, disorganized and mixed.

Organized serial killers are normally the smart type who plans their crimes beforehand which includes carrying a weapon with them and, once they’re done, feel no regrets and wouldn’t be that stupid to go back to their crime scene.

Disorganized serial killers obey an uncontrollable urge, use weapons found on the scene and might have regrets in the aftermath either out of guilt or fear to be discovered which can push them to go back to the crime scene.

It’s clear Usami’s murder was out of sudden rage and he coped with it by romanticizing it and transforming it into some twisted form of manifestation of his love for Tsurumi when instead it was just him losing his cool out of jealousy and getting so angry he couldn’t contain himself and stomped on his ‘love rival’s’ throat.

Even his recurring habit to go to the crime scene is nothing else but a way to cope, to reassure himself of his own action… which clearly made him a very disturbed individual but not an organized serial killer.

Now our ‘Jack’ carried with himself his own knife and clearly planned his murder. He chose the timing, night, and his target, a drunken prostitute in a poor area which he drew in an empty place before abruptly murdering her. Then he performed his sick ritual of eviscerating her, confident no one would come bother him.

I’ll say Jack is a much more organized murderer than Usami who, in Tomoharu’s murder, clearly lacked in the planning department a lot and nowadays never get a honorable mention for planning something, ending up on getting discovered when he tried to do spy work for Tsurumi.

It’s hard to say if his murders are out of ‘passion’ because, even if people tends to think that the murder of sex workers is tied to it, this isn’t always the case.

Gary Ridgway killed killing 48 sex workers just because they were easy preys, as he could easily pick them up and won’t be reported when going missing.

Peter Sutcliffe instead murdered sex workers because ‘the voice of God told him so’.

Samuel Smithers apparently did so because so traumatised by his abusive childhood that he hadn’t really known what he was doing.

Rurik Jutting was just a sadistic sexual predator.

So it changes according to the case.

As for Noda he showed us both organized and cold murderer, like Sekiya, and disorganized and passionate ones, like Henmi but, interesting enough, it was Sekiya who went back to his crime scene, and not to get his jollies out of it but merely to draw more victims. Henmi didn’t bother doing so, nor did Sakamoro and O-gin even if they were clearly having a blast when killing.

So… it’s hard to say what Noda will chose to do with ‘Jack’.

Personally I would like for Usami to be wrong if only to slam in his face not everyone works like him, that what he did is not the norm. I fear it’s too late by now to help him realize what he did but who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Though the things I would find more interesting is, if like he had done with Koito, Ogata were to manage to instill the doubt toward Tsurumi in Usami’s heart. But this might be just me.

Elsewhere in the hospital Koito and Inkarmat are, Nikaido is searching for his prosthetic hand that, apparently, disappeared while he was sleeping.

Koito, snickering and hiding something under the covers suggests ‘someone’ hid it because the thing Nikaido does with the chopsticks is annoying. It’s not really hard to guess who that ‘someone’ is.

Personally I find this an assholish move like few others.

You DON’T steal someone’s prosthetic, it’s not fun, they’re like a part of that person’s body. They need them.

Inkarmat then volunteers to use clairvoyance to find it, which makes Nikaido extremely grateful (he even calls her respectfully ‘Inkarmat-san’).

Inkarmat senses a strong sense of it coming from Koito. Me too and I’m not into clairvoyance.

Interesting enough though now Inkarmat uses ‘Koito Nispa’ instead than ‘Koito-san’ as she did in chap 222. Was that a mistake? Or she has started calling him ‘nispa’ out of late?

We’ll see.

Anyway Koito, naïve child he is, is shocked he got found out and hands Nikaido’s hand back. Tsukishima claims he too could have guessed it and really, I’m disappointed in him. He shouldn’t have allowed Koito to do it.

Meanwhile Koito starts praising Inkarmat’s ability munching on an Ikema root that guards people against evil. Inkarmat evidently gave him a discount because she sold it to him for 20 sen while Shiraishi paid 70 sen. That or she starts with a low price and then increases them on the way.

Tsukishima says she should stop swindling money form Koito. He could have told Koito to stop hiding Nikaido’s hand for a change. That was more harmful than getting 20 sen from Koito.

Koito defends Inkarmat, claiming if Tsukishima doesn’t believe her he should just ask her to search something for him. Tsukishima gives him a sideway glance then turns his gaze away claiming he refuses. Not meeting Koito’s gaze, Tsukishima? Do you maybe feel guilty?

Inkarmat volunteers to search for him something he can’t find or that he’s searching for. We get a flashback showing us Igogusa’s hair, making clear that’s what Tsukishima is thinking about.

Tsukishima still tells Inkarmat she shouldn’t try to think she can win him over to her side.

Basically Tsukishima thinks Inkarmat’s actions are so that Koito and Nikaido will become her allies and that she’s trying to win him as well but this won’t work on him, no, much better to trust in Tsurumi’s ‘sweet lies’ that promise him a place in his royal guards than in Inkarmat’s that promise him to see the person he loves again. Really, Tsukishima, you should reconsider who you put your trusth in.

Inkarmat, with a sad gaze points out to how Tanigaki should have returned from Hokkaido but hadn’t dropped to see her so she asks if she’s a hostage.

Tsukishima doesn’t reply, his face is hidden but shadowed.

Meanwhile Nikaido complains his chopstick don’t come out of his hand and, there’s something stuffed in. When he manages to pulls it out it turns out it’s Youkan, an emergency ration Nikaido can eat without chopsticks so evidently Koito hadn’t just stolen the hand, he also has tampered with it, obviously exchanging Nikaido’s hand, if not Nikaido himself, for some sort of toy he can play with.

Someone give him a spanking please.

I’m really sorry for all the troubles he had to face and for the situation he’s in but he’s being a brat in need of a spanking and if he gets one maybe he can stop following Tsurumi like a lost child and start following someone who’s more morally sound since, in order to get him to behave, all Tsurumi needed to do was to give him a slap.

Anyway, with this, the chapter ends.

Well, to start from the end it’s clear Inkarmat is aware of her condition and I like how she’s trying to win allies over. Clearly, if she weren’t in such an advanced state of pregnancy, Tsurumi won’t manage to keep her there for long.

Something else worth to ponder is that Tsukishima can claim all he wants he’s fine the way he is but he’s still thinking at Igogusa and can’t let her go even if he can’t find the guts to dump Tsurumi and go search for her.

I’m not sure of what’s going in Koito’s mind as he just seems to be enjoying his time in the hospital, free of responsibilities and worries. Maybe he’s just metaphorically attempting to hide his head under a cover and forget about the situation he’s in.

I pity Nikaido. He’s not a good person but they had basically broken him and turned him into a guinea pig for drugs and this is inhuman.

I still don’t know why Tsurumi wanted Usami and Kikuta to tag along unless he aims to get rid of Kikuta because Kikuta still isn’t willing to do every dirty deed Tsurumi would want him to do… which might have been originally why Nikaido and Usami were sent in Noboribetsu ahead of Tsurumi.

Then Toni Anji got involved in the mix and things became troublesome and the plan to get rid of Kikuta, who had moral values and a rank that’s rather high, got scrapped.

We’ll see.

I honestly hope Tsurumi’s plan to use love to control people will blow in his face. As hard as possible. Thinking that he should warp something as good as love making his men worship him and turn into remorseless murders is… I’ve no words for it.

As for Usami… a part of me pities him.

When he kills Tomoharu he’s barely a teen, and it’s clearly not a planned thing, it’s out of an excess of negative emotions, piling up stress and delusions. Killing a person in a fit of anger is something that sadly happens more often than not to grown up adults who should know better but just ‘lost it’.

As for kids… it is rare for a child under the age of 14 to kill someone; approximately 74 children a year do so in the United States which is less than 1% of all homicide perpetrators with the vast majority (90%) being boys between the ages of 11 and 14 who, about 75% of the time, kill someone older.

That’s because children usually fall in one of the following groups.

1- Older sibling beating to death the younger sibling of 0-2 when taking care of him or her.

2 - Child kills a relative, usually a parent or grandparent who abused of him.

3 - Child grabbing a gun and killing a peer during a moment of anger.

4 - Young teen shooting an adult stranger during a robbery or break-in.

5 - Teens (often gang members) attacks a lone victim or group of victims as part of an ongoing conflict.

Although Usami didn’t use a gun he clearly fell in the 3rd group. His martial arts proficiency and the situation worked like a charm to turn him into a lethal weapon even without the gun.

Children control poorly their anger and aren’t fully aware of the consequences of their actions. Their brain just isn’t developed enough yet. Usami was enraged, delusional, stressed and dangerous. What’s worse, when the deed was done no one helped him to cope with it.

Nihei too killed people in a long lasting bound of anger for they had targeted him, not stopping not even when the last one was caught by the police but then he realized his mistake. It took him time but he at least managed to realize by doing so he had downgraded himself to the level of a beast.

There’s no one to tell young Tokishige what he did WAS WRONG, that there was no good reason to excuse it, helping him to cope with it in a correct way. No, he’s only helped to think what he did was right and encouraged into doing again for Tsurumi. From the way Noda depicts him… I fear Usami had gotten too twisted to realize what he did, what he’s still doing, was wrong. In a way maybe the fact Usami still uses ‘boku’ to say ‘I’ instead of going with the much more adult ‘ore’ as the rest of the soldiers might be Noda’s way to tell us Usami never truly grow up from when he was barely a teen and killed Tomoharu. For him time stopped to that day.

In a way it did. That day probably split him in two, an Usami pre-murder who was like any other normal kid and an Usami post-murder, obsessed with Tsurumi, what he had done for him and what he will do for him in the future. Yet the murder of the horse let me wonder if, in a small corner inside him there’s still a small Tokishige who knows the truth and regrets Tomoharu’s death.

In a way Usami might be similar to Heita… or Sugimoto as he too has inside himself the kind and gentle Sugimoto of before the war and ‘soldier Sugimoto’ who can easily murder whoever he sees as a threat. We’ll see.

On another note… if the whole thing between Tomoharu and Usami on a side resembles Sugimoto and Toraji’s relation, it also presents elements of similitude with Ogata and Yuusaku. Tsurumi, who initially seemed to hold Ogata in great esteem, then starts to switch his interest on Yuusaku, praising him and his noble blood. Ogata, the poor child like Usami versus Yuusaku, the son of an officer like Tomoharu. And Ogata, like Usami did with Tomoharu, kills Yuusaku but this time it’s not for Tsurumi. It’s for Hanazawa as the love Ogata is desperately searching is the one of Hanazawa. That’s why Tsurumi’s words that promised Ogata great prestige might have fallen flat on Ogata. Ogata didn’t want such promises from Tsurumi but from his real father, he wanted genuine fatherly love, not Tsurumi’s attempt at seduction.

Maybe that’s why Tsurumi can’t understand Ogata.

In a way Tsurumi is egocentric, he thinks he can get his men to worship him and die for him but Ogata is unwilling to do so and Tsurumi can’t understand why his ‘Tsurumisexuality’, as we jokingly call it in Discord, failed on him.

We’ll see.

Well, this is all for this chapter.

I’m kind of surprised Noda placed the flashback in what basically will be the middle of the volume instead that at the end as he did for Tsukishima and Koito but well, Ogata’s flashbacks also were placed in the middle of the volume so it’ not such a surprising occurring.

Well, we’ll see what GK has in store for us.

Last but not least many apologies if this meta isn’t as good as the others. There were tons of things I wanted to say and I had to rewrite it many times but it still feels lacking so I apologize. All I can say is I attempted to do by best. I hope it didn’t turn out too bad.

#Golden Kamuy #Usami Tokishige #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Takagi Tomoharu #Takeda #Inkarmat #Nikaidou Kouhei #Koito Otonoshin #Tsukishima Hajime #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Tanigaki Genjirou #Golden Kamuy Ramblings and Theories #Michael Ostrog #Kikuta Mokutarou #Harumi Chiyo

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