#wakayama kiichirou

[tsuki-tsuki-koi-koi]

golden kamuy characters ranked on how i think they would dress in modern settings

(this does not include their work uniforms and most for special occasions, im assuming they would clean themselves up. otherwise “rent-a-suit” would be a popular category lol)

[whydoyouaskmethis]

From Golden Kamuy TV series trailer (2/2)

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Replies to assorted asks and messages

So, as promised, I’m going to attempt to reply to all the asks. I put the replies all in a single post because they overall regard all chap 309/310 and I wouldn’t want to submerge anyone with them.

Also, normally when I do post more asks in a single post I just place a photo of the ask in it, but this time, since there are so many, I also transcribed them in case the image won’t load.

Sorry again for my lateness in replying to everyone.

Anonymous asked:

Hello. I hope I have misread the previews of chapter 310. I must say that seeing Ogata die saddens me very much. but if what is seen is Noda's project, I think she is an idiot as an ending to this amazing character. I understand that it's hard to keep the level of a plot high but making it so rambling is really hard to do. what a disappointment. A greeting

I’m sorry you’re sad. I can’t reassure you saying you had misread something because Ogata really died in chap 310, which I guess by now you’ve seen in the scanlations.

I fear I can’t offer you comfort, seeing a beloved character go is just sad.

I am sad too although, what I wish the most, isn’t he had saved Ogata, but for the whole thing to work differently.

I was grief-stricken when Kiro died and the same goes for when I believed Ariko died or when Kikuta died or when Boutarou died but I could let it go because the whole thing was written differently. I’ve watched plenty of characters I love, I know the pain of losing them from when I was a little kid and stumbled upon “Misunderstood” by Florence Montgomery and “Little women” by Louisa May Alcott. No probably it was even earlier than that, when, as a preschooler, I watched Astroganger die. It’s sad but in it comes also the ability of the author in making it happen in a way you can still feel ‘it works’ and it becomes a good kind of grief that emotionally ties you to the story.

For me this didn’t happen this time. Even more than the sadness of losing Ogata, I felt anger for how his arc was handled to the point if I had known in advance this was where we were heading, I would have been more fine with him dying of poison in volume 19 because all he was used for in those volumes that followed was merely to tip Koito about how Tsurumi was the one behind Hanazawa’s death and his kidnapping and then… nothing. Part of his character was retconned, his actions were unclear, his death is rushed so that the plot can move on.

It’s like Noda wanted to kill Ogata in vol 19 but kept him alive to tip Koito and then had no idea what to do with him, dragged back in the story Vasily, which also did nothing whatsoever and ended up having a  rushed death and then, finally, killed Ogata too so the story could go on how he meant for it to go. At least, I might be wrong of course but for me it felt like that and the fact that a character I loved for how engaging and intriguing he was ended up stopping to be so is extremely disappointing.

Sorry if this is not of comfort and ultimately I ended up venting to you. I hope the pain of losing Ogata will go away.

Anonymous asked:

Just to say I totally agree with the gay fan service part in your ramblings, I feel like the fanbase only talks about this instead of the actual scenario and that’s really sad to see. I also appreciate the FMA reference as I always wished for GK, one of my favorites to get an ending as incredible (probably the best ever imo) as FMA. However, if we keep going with the manga comparisons, it does not ruin my whole appreciation of the manga like other « bad » endings did. Cant explain why but it surely will if « that ball in the head » happens to Ogata lol

Well, credits when it’s due, the fan service is loved in each fandom and OSugi or SugiO is a really popular pairing in this fandom so I get why they would talk about it. As I’m probably the only person in the fandom who doesn’t care with who Ogata or Sugimoto end up, for me it falls flat, especially in such a moment but I can see why others would totally love it.

“Fullmetal Alchemist” is absolutely awesome! It’s really too bad I got into it too late. If you’re still enjoying the story I’m happy for you, it’s bad when the story stop being enjoyable so I hope that it’ll never happen to you.

Anonymous asked:

Wow... just fucking wow. I have no words to describe my emotions about what I saw. The fact that several important characters have been sacrificed in the name of the plot device to trigger a particular event, that one of the most clever characters who has survived a lot of shit is left as an imbecile waiting for Sugimoto to kill him because memes is something I don't know how I should process.

For me the problem is the story went in ‘easy mode’.

Characters can and will die in a story but in the endgame it’s usually not out of bad luck but because the enemy overpowered them in a hard struggle that’s why in the endgame you usually use the ‘hard mode’ because it makes their deaths painful but, at the same time, rewarding and more easy to accept.

Although they’re still sacrificed for the plot, they feel as part of it, and not victims of it, just used as devices to carry the story on. At least, that’s how I feel. We’ll see if this will carry on till the end or if Noda, in the last volume, will change things.

Anonymous asked:

Quite sad that I went from waiting anxiously for the unfolding of the story and, especially, the characters, to simply ocasionally checking who died in an uncreative way. The decline has been undeniable since they arrived at Goryokaku. 310 ain't gonna be pretty. That being said, the journey was incredible.

Yeah, it’s sad how, to me, it felt as the story was going downhill and Goryokaku only made it even more evident. I wish we could have said goodbye to our beloved characters in a different way.

@howtodestroyacharacter asked:

I've seen chapter 309 translated. If before I could have had some doubts about the fact that the character of Ogata was badly closed ... now I am sure. Now it would be nice to understand if the motivation is economic (the funders of the project as "anime" have not seen the desired results) or if over time the author has developed a personal annoyance towards this character. An end that is ridiculous. in the last few chapters Ogata has been: an idiot, a hallucinating madman, a poisoned lucid ...

I don’t think Noda hates Ogata, I think he has long planned this… but he hasn’t managed to develop it in a convincing manner. We know the story took various times different directions from the ones he originally planned… we’ve seen the canon incongruence like how the convicts started to kill each other after they escaped only no, wait, they all survived to the slaughter, even Ueji and Prisoner Number 1 who’re so weak and at the very best only 1 died but actually we’re not sure and his corpse was taken by… Wakayama? Really? Hijikata, Ushiyama, Sakamoto and Boutarou let him get away with one skin? Or the skin count which was messed up and even the OFFICIAL timeline listed facts in the wrong order, we’ve read the interviews in which he saw he changed some things and we’ve seen the differences between the magazines and the volumes but this is likely the tip of the iceberg. There are probably much more changes below but the result is they made less coherent the original plan and we ended up stuck with this, something that leaves open tons of questions, feels like a retcon and is just easy for the plot.

Anonymous asked:

[1] To be really honest, i'm actually enjoying those last chapters, the only thing that really gets me worried here is... WHERE IS TANIGAKI? Honesty, i don't mind if Noda decide to kill him in the ending (even that he's my favorite character), but i can't accept that he died falling from the train with the gunshot. I still hope that he return someway so he can have a better ending, being death or alive. But honesty, if the last time that we're going see him is with that...

[2] But honesty, if the last time that we're going see him is with that scene where he was shot... There is also some other details that i wanted to see from other characters, but i guess it was things that i was with high expectations. But anyways, i'm still enjoying those last chapters... And i'll really miss GK when it ends (sorry for the long text)

Supposedly Tanigaki fell off the train after receiving a bullet in his back. If it went through it, it got to his intestines and Tanigaki will face a slow and painful death. If it stopped on its spine it might have broken him and he’s alive but paralyzed from his waist down. The bullet seems to have gone through him so Tanigaki should die a slow death but Tanigaki is Noda’s favourite so, who knows, maybe it manages to survive without any big damage and Noda has merely conveniently moved him out of the danger zone.

It’s great you’re enjoying the chapters, I wish I could do the same but, honestly, I can’t and I really didn’t expect this, to stop enjoying a manga I loved so much.

@violentmaiden asked:

Rushed over here after reading chapter 310 and I just... there are just no words. It truly saddens me to see the direction Ogata took. Such an interesting character, I truly liked him through all the terrible stuff he has done.  I won't say more in case you read this before chapter 310 but I look forward to your reply when you do. I can almost here the boss music lol.

I’ve read chap 310. There’s not really boss music because at that point my expectations had dropped so much I didn’t care anymore and if Ogata has just slipped from the train, broken his head and had an explanatory death dream instead than an hallucination break up for me it would have been all the same. What can I say? Half of the mysteries that were built up around him weren’t explained but just ‘happened’ and Noda was in a rush to get rid of him so as to continue with the story but he has to protect Asirpa’s ‘purity’ and this happened. Whatever, let’s see if all this rush was at least worth getting to the final chapters.

Anonymous asked:

Hello, I love what you do and reading every week what you think of each chapter with the "ramblings and crazy theory time", I've been following you for a while now. I was wondering if you had read the last 310 chapter that came out? I think that Noda has put in place some good ideas but there is this feeling of wanting to rush the story and it spoils the scenario a bit, I find it sad personally.

PS: I can't get over this last chapter

I read the last chapter and I agree with you. There are some good ideas he foreshadowed through the story, like Ogata actually feeling guilt toward Yuusaku’s death and this being the reason why we couldn’t see his face but ultimately it’s an easy way out to tell a story instead than show it and kill a character so the plot can go on without anyone of the main characters facing backlash for his death. But that’s it. We’ll see what Noda plans to do with Tsurumi.

Anonymous asked:

Ueji Keiji did not die, he makes plot for Noda now. It is so disappointing we can only explain it like this.

I understand your feelings but I think the difference between Noda and Ueji is that Ueji disappointed people on purpose while Noda clearly miscalculated. Except for Conan Doyle there are hardly writers who would risk disappointing their fans that close to the end out of the fun of it. The success of “Golden Kamuy” will not only insure Noda income for the volumes, the anime and the gadgets tied to it but also it might be tied to him getting a better pay for his next manga. So really, I don’t think he displeased us on purpose. It’s his first endgame.

In “Supinamarada!” for his own admission, he messed up the start and so his story got discontinued and he used this mistake to make a better start for “Golden Kamuy”. From “Golden Kamuy” he’ll probably learn to make a better ending. We’ll see.

@okapimstari asked:

This train reminds me of the "Train to Busan". They're all dead on it and all immortal as zombies. But seriously, what if this train is their personal hell? And then thanks to his guilt and the "ghost" Yuusaku Ogata was finally able to get out of there. I also think that Ogata is probably the first and only person in this story who committed suicide for the sake of suicide itself. Please, correct me if I forgot someone from other characters.

LOL, it would be interesting if they all were to turn into zombies now but yes, this is clearly meant to be a train to hell, a reference to Sugimoto’s catchphrase he’ll have VIP seats on it.

Well, the story had characters who wanted to die but they actually fought till the bitter end. We’ve Henmi, who wanted to be killed by Sugimoto but didn’t just made it easy for Sugi but made him work for it, Sekiya, who wanted to be struck down by God himself and again, didn’t make things simple for Hijikata and Kadokura at all and Youichirou, who yes wanted to die before his brain were to leave him, but still attempted to fight with Hijikata and only when he was fatally wounded stopped fighting.

If I’ve to search for something similar to what happened to Ogata the closest thing is, of course, post Karafuto, with Heita who, to stop his other bear personality from killing other people people, somehow manages to stop being controlled by his bear personality that much that was needed for him to deliberately trig the amappo into killing himself. And the reason he suffered of split personality is, apparently, because he wanted his family dead as they were greedy and wasted all the gold he collected and he was guilty of taking home and hiding where everyone slept the remains of the prey of a brown bear, which lead the bear to  came there and murder his own family except him, who was saved by the Ainu.  At least this was said in the changes in the volume version, the magazine version skipped how Heita caused a bear to come there and just said one day his wen kamuy killed his family.

Heita’s suicide was also pretty convenient because Heita was a good guy with mental problems who didn’t mean to harm anyone and it would have looked bad on Sugimoto if he had killed him, even if in self defense.

So yeah, I guess Heita too is meant to parallel Ogata, along with Ostrog and Ueji, at least in his death… in a fashion.

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This is all for the asks.

What follows are replies to the messages left on individual post.

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Replies to the ones who left messages on the post “Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 309 “Bloodsoaked””

@bearseark said:

Hey, i dont usually interact with people on this site, but i wanted to say ive really enjoyed your breakdowns, and found them very useful. I dont always agree with you, but it does show me the more intricate details of this story, and some of the failings. Tbh i had no expectations for this ending arc, just cause i couldn't even guess how this would end. Ive been enjoying it, and honestly im glad i experienced this story at all.

I’m glad you enjoyed my breakdowns and that they were of some use to you. Not agreeing is fine, it’s not like I own all the truths, sometimes I mess up interpretations rather badly. If you’re enjoying the story I’m happy for you! That’s great to enjoy a story and I only wish I could do the same with “Golden Kamuy”. Who knows, maybe the next chapters will surprise me. We’ll see.

@deepfriedegg said:

The "something that's been bothering me for a while finally got resolved" is referring to chapter 187, when Ogata uses the same wording. So it is about the fact he's bothered by Asirpa's sense of morality and decision to not kill people, but now she has decided to kill him. As to why he "can't die quite yet", it's for his goal of leading the 7th division, which is why you see the panel of Tsurumi with the land deed. Pretty sure that's the explanation!

You might be totally be up on something, I wouldn’t have said it was a reference to chap 187 because for me, that something got solved in chap 188, when (by mistake) Asirpa shot him and Ogata grinned as if this was proof she too can kill and he has missed it was a mistake. But yeah, the wording is the same so, despite his grin, evidently he was still bothered. Thank you for your input!

And yeah, since later developments proved Ogata can’t have an ulterior reason, evidently he was really putting his trust into Tsurumi helping him out since the story retconned his distrust of Tsurumi. Tsurumi’s Tsurumisexuality made another victim. So yes, I’m willing to bet you’re right on this one too. So, again, thank you.

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Replies to the ones who left messages on the post “Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 310 “Blessed””

@howtodestroyacharacter said:

Good evening. I found your analysis very interesting. I share the unpleasant feeling of Ogata's character's rapid closure with a literary artifice. Moreover, bringing the character out of his character. Compared to you, I fear that Ogata's death does not end with chapter 310. Golden Kamuy has shown us unlikely resurrections and I am afraid that Vasily, who we did not see die, may find him in agony and do something with him. I add that, as far as I understand, in t

The fun part is it seems Noda has used various convicts to parallel Ogata’s death, as if to prepare us to it, and if I realized it sooner I would have realized sooner as well it was going to be a trainwreck because Heita and Ueji and EXPECIALLY Ostrog didn’t really impress me much to say the least… and I would have preferred for him to prepare us less and work more on the whole thing instead. I’ve heard there’s this theory going around that Ogata might be still alive. I’m honestly not a believer but I might be wrong. With the way the story goes, for all we know it might turn Ienaga is actually still alive and will come to eat Ogata and Vasily both and then will acquire sniping abilities and be the one who shoot down Tsurumi. Just joking of course, I understand your fear but I don’t really feel up to think how Noda could make this worse... and I don’t think he wants to, if only for the sake of sales.

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Replies to the ones who left messages on this ask

@Grossmichel said:

Agree so hard w this

I’m glad you do!

@artist-assassin​ said:

agreed. ogata has always been my fav and even though i could understand if he died in the end or didnt get a happy ending, it seems so ridiculous that he might die so early without clearing up ANY of the loose ends (of which there are many) surrounding his character. it almost seems like he went through a great character arc and then reverted back to his original self in the end :/

Yes, I get not everyone might care about the loose ends but there are fans who were interested and, if there were no plans for those loose ends to be developed it was better not to include them at all. In this way it seems they were just things that happened at random, without reason whatsoever. In short ‘easy mode’ again so that the plot could advance even when Noda didn’t know why the characters would come to act such way.

Also, I don’t want to think committing suicide in such situation could be a ‘happy ending’. It’s still a suicide just after a man has a mental break up. But whatever, it might be a cultural thing so people might disagree with me.

@arsfantasia89​ said:

I agree so much with your analysis of this final arc. Plot wise there were too many easy conveniences & it definitely feels rushed. Ogata was such a complex & interesting character and this “train ride” is greatly disappointing. If he dies now and we are only left with the lame excuse he gave Tsurami, it will be a shame. Everyone’s death had an effect on Asirpa (turning to water) & yet we are supposed to smile like Sugimoto did that she may kill him? It feels conflicting. And I miss Hijikata :’(

Yes, Noda used to write much, much better in the first 20 volumes of the story. Ogata got simplified down, plot threads were left loose and he just conveniently removes himself from the plot just because so the characters won’t have to do it. And yeah, it’s really not a good thing Asirpa sacrificed her ideals and decided to kill and attempted to do so and then the story still protects her purity by causing Ogata to die by other means. Although she’s my other fave character, if she could aim at Ogata and shoot him with the intention to kill him, I would have preferred that she had succeeded than this.

@next-futtture said:

Disagree completely, golden kamuy is a story driven by plot, just bc it focused on different characters it doesn't mean we should spend 10 chapters crying their death. We knew they would die, I adore them and some were my favs but I dont want senseless drama, I need to know who tf gets the gold.

Hum… I don’t know if you want a reply, so forgive me if this is not the case. Disagreeing is fine, of course, but I’m not sure where you read I wanted us to spend 10 chapters crying about their death or something similar? If you refer to the plot, I don’t know where you got this impression and sorry if I gave you it but I really don’t want this. If you refer to personal reactions everyone is free to mourn characters as much or as little as they want and I don’t really patrol their feelings. I don’t think anyone want SENSELESS drama, so you’re not alone in this, but people might have interest different by yours and not care about who gets the gold but about other things. It’s a matter of tastes and de gustibus non disputandum est.

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And with this I hope I’ve replied to everyone?

Again sorry for my lateness and thank you for having shared your thoughts on those 2 chapters!

[fishyoctopus]

Had this idea with Oyabun and Hime sketched for like 4 months (Original fanart date, Jan 18, 2019)

[piagotski]

sketch number.....idek

[transatlanticalien]

today was an inktober catch up day and what a GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO DRAW MORE GOLDEN KAMUY HMM

if someone had told me it had gay gamblers in it I would’ve read it way earlier

[newsintheshell]

Golden Kamuy, online un video promozionale per il nuovo OVA

L’episodio uscirà il 19 settembre assieme al 19° volume del manga.

Diffuso un breve video promozionale per il nuovo OVA di “Golden Kamuy”, incentrato sull’arco narrativo del “Monstro”, che uscirà in Giappone in un DVD allegato alla limited edition del 19°volume manga di Satoru Noda (edito in Italia da J-POP con il nome “Golden Kamui”).

L’episodio, della durata di 23 minuti, vedrà nei panni di Kiichirou Wakayama e Tatsuya Nakazawa, rispettivamente, Banjou Ginga e Hideyuki Tanaka.

Altri due OVA sono stati allegati in precedenza con il 15° e il 17° volume manga. 

La storia si ambienta nell'Hokkaido, durante la turbolenta epoca Meiji. “L'immortale Sugimoto”, un soldato sopravvissuto alla guerra tra Giappone e Russia, ha bisogno di un'ingente somma di denaro per realizzare un obiettivo in particolare… Seguendo una mappa tatuata sul corpo di alcuni detenuti nella prigione di Ashiri, Sugimoto si lancia in una incredibile caccia al tesoro, nella speranza di fare il colpaccio e guadagnare un mucchio di soldi in una volta sola. Cosa lo aspetterà? La magnifica natura di Hokkaido, feroci prigionieri e l'incontro con una ragazza Ainu, Ashiripa!! L'incredibile battaglia per il tesoro sta per iniziare!

L’opera di Noda viene serializzata sulla rivista dal 2014 ed ha ispirato anche una serie animata, diretta sempre da Hitoshi Nanba presso Geno Studio, disponibile sottotitolata in italiano su Crunchyroll. 

SilenziO)))

[FONTE]

[tsuki-tsuki-koi-koi]

Boss Wakayama…..

[goldenkamuyhunting]

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.

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.

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.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 261 “Fire brigade”

New chapter, which likely marks the start of the new volume, vol 27...

...which really remarks how Sugimoto should learn to figure out what his allies really think and keep it into consideration. But whatever, let’s dig into the chapter.

We start with a cover that superimpose on the burning brewery an image of the cast. What’s noteworthy is that there are arrows starting from cast members and pointing to who they want to get.

Vasily for example wants to get Ogata. Ogata, Hijikata, Shiraishi and Boutarou want to get Asirpa. Tsurumi has Asirpa already (and so Tsukishima and Koito), so his hand works as if to part her from the rest.

Sugimoto… although Sugimoto clearly wanted to get Asirpa back, he doesn’t have a arrow going to her but one going to Boutarou whom he looks with an expression of fury and that’s likely there to tell us Sugimoto is so focused in his wish to get revenge on Boutarou he’s losing sight of his main goal, get Asirpa back.

But let’s start the chapter.

After three panels showing the firemen trying hard to stop the fire we see Kikuta still wandering in the brewery, searching for Asirpa. Then, as he’s about to turn a corner, someone points a rifle at his head.

It’s not Ogata nor Vasily, but one of the soldiers of the 7th, who immediately apologizes for his action. Kikuta has finally reached them as they’re hiding inside the building, Tsukishima holding Asirpa still while Usami lies on the ground, wrapped in a cloth.

Tsurumi wants to retreat, avoiding confrontation with Hijikata and Sugimoto, prioritizing to escort Asirpa away… or better to kidnap her as she’s tied and gagged. Tsurumi is also warning Kikuta to exercise utmost caution about the sniper that killed Usami. He doesn’t say ‘Ogata’, so maybe Usami hadn’t managed to tell him about him and he’s wondering if it was Vasily who did it.

He should know after all that Vasily was with the Sugimoto group as well as how Ogata’s eye got wounded so it makes sense he thinks the murderer might be Vasily and not Ogata.

Kikuta is surprised Usami was killed, Koito and Tsukishima seems a bit saddnened.

Was the rifle being pointed at Kikuta’s temple foreshadowing something that will happen in the future? No idea.

In the meantime Ogata is worrying about getting Vasily. He think he might take a position upwind of the brewery, where there’s less smoke.

At this point we get one of those rare looks into Vasily’s mind, a thing we’re apparently graced with only when Vasily is out to kill Ogata.

Well, apparently Vasily, who has also learnt Ogata’s name thanks to Sugimoto (but says Ogata’s name all in katakana), has anticipated Ogata’s previsions on his actions and has decided to do the opposite and therefore he’s down the ground where there’s smoke. He thinks Ogata will try to make his way around to outflank the enemy, moving downwind to use the smoke to conceal himself.

So well, apparently this time it’s Vasily who managed to read Ogata’s potential moves and he’s trying to anticipate him after having been utterly defeated twice.

Now… I genuinely don’t expect Vasily to kill Ogata as having Ogata killed by a random sniper we know nothing about because as a character is hugely underdeveloped would be a waste as having him die in the fire or out of heart attack. If Ogata is meant to going down, his death has to count for something. It can be however that Vasily will manage to wound him and Hijikata will retrieve him, allowing Ogata to regroup with Hijikata’s team as Sugimoto has dumped them.

I don’t know, it’s actually possible Ogata has then figured Vasily’s plan… in fact I’ll go forward a bit and comment on how Vasily is expecting Ogata to move but we keep on seeing Ogata holding his position inside the building and checking his surroundings with the binoculars…

...but well, although this episode sets up the confrontation between the two in the end it ends with nothing done on that department... except for Vasily breathing a lot of smoke.

Meanwhile we go back to Sugimoto facing Boutarou, the irises of his eyes completely white which, we know, is not a good sign, demanding to know Asirpa’s whereabouts.

In English the sentence sounds pretty bad as he seems to talk about a package more than a person.

“Where’d you put Asirpa!?”

In Japanese I fear it sounds more or less the same.

‘Asirpa o doko ni yatta!!’

アシㇼパをどこにやった!!

‘Doko’ means “where” and ‘yatta’, although written all in hiragana, is probably meant to actually be 遣った, which means “put”, “move”, “send”, “dispatch”, so yes, it doesn’t feel really nice.

@chibivesicle​ in a past meta also analyzed how Sugimoto doesn’t choose the best words to refer to Asirpa as a person in the whole kidnapping thing.

Of course we’ve to keep in mind Sugimoto is… well, beyond upset and up till few minutes ago he was suffering of smoke intoxication so he’s not in his best mindset but the fact that he’s not in his best shape also forces him to speak by instinct, revealing his thoughts… which sadly align with the people of his time and culture as Japanese women were seen as possessions that were passed from the authority of their fathers to the one of their husbands to, lastly, the one of their sons.

So while us readers know better, Sugimoto probably is merely acting the way men did in Meiji era… probably even looking more progressive than them as, when he’s in a normal mind setting he tries to speak of Asirpa differently. But whatever, let’s go on.

It turns out Boutarou is really used to use his long hair as weapon as he slaps it straight in Sugimoto’s eyes. Sugimoto still manages to attack with the bayonet he has over his rifle. Boutarou, despite his poor physical conditions manages to grab the rifle and kick Sugimoto, asking him if this can only be settled by the death of one of them.

Sugimoto punches him, retrieves the rifle and uses the butt of it to hit Boutarou’s face, claiming he’s immortal, therefore he’s not the one who will die.

So yes, Sugimoto plans to settle this by killing Boutarou.

We see him pointing his rifle at him but, even though Boutarou says he surrenders this time Sugimoto is determinate to kill him and it’s only thanks to Shiraishi forcing him to move the rifle away that the bullet Sugimoto shot doesn’t kill Boutarou.

Shiraishi, bless the man as the voice of reason, point out how Sugimoto HAS TO CALM DOWN and that killing Boutarou would mean they wouldn’t be able to find out where Asirpa is.

In short, even if finding Asirpa was Sugimoto’s PRIORITY and he’s doing all this in order to find her, his blind rage somehow managed to obfuscate his mind to the point he lost sight of his own goal. Through the whole fight Noda left Sugimoto’s irises white and, I think, the idea is that in a way Sugi is close to the state he reached with Gansoku.

He lost control.

He didn’t mean to, he attacked Boutarou to find Asirpa but somehow in the heat of the battle he lost control and sight of his goal and was going to jeopardize everything for the sake of killing Boutarou who had betrayed him.

Boutarou is fast to point out how Asirpa was taken by the 7th and how they need to team up if they want to get her back.

Sugimoto refuses demanding to know if the ones taking her were Tsukishima and his men and where they went.

Now… okay for asking for directions but it’s pretty unlikely Tsukishima introduced himself before taking Asirpa. Boutarou might remember his name because Koito called Tsukishima but, hadn’t Koito done that, to Boutarou Tsukishima was merely a random soldier among many other random soldiers.

To be honest Boutarou doesn’t really seem as invested as Sugimoto in getting Asirpa back as he suggests to try to use the skins they got and the info he has to try to solve the code, discharging Hijikata’s group… because Sugimoto might not understand this but Boutarou’s betrayal was hinged on the fact Asirpa joined forces with Hijikata and planned to sponsor his plan to the detriment of Boutarou’s goal.

Boutarou could probably stay loyal to Sugimoto with no problems if Hijikata hadn’t been involved as Sugimoto only wanted a meager amount of yens. It’s when Hijikata joins the group that problems arise.

Sugimoto though claims he can’t trust the guy who hit him in the head with a shovel, much better Hijikata…

...who only left him in a jail with a fake Nopperabou planning to use him as a bait and diversion and, in their last meeting, made clear he wouldn’t mind to dispose him (and let’s not forget how he didn’t exactly rush to check on his whereabouts when the brewery started burning).

Honestly no, Sugimoto, Hijikata is not better as he rightfully views you as an hindrance to his plans he would probably need to dispose sooner or later, where instead Boutarou planned to leave you penniless but alive.

Then Sugimoto goes on about how the 7th can’t take Asirpa away because Vasily would stop them.

Too bad Vasily couldn’t care less about all this as Vasily was in this SOLELY to fight Ogata and would probably willing to hand Asirpa to the 7th complete with a nice ribbon if they were willing to give him the chance to fight Ogata.

Overall Sugimoto seems to have a poor comprehension of his allies’ goals, which is what ultimately lead him to end up betrayed by them, as he constantly seems to assume they will put aside their goals to serve to his own when this is clearly NOT THE CASE.

Hijikata wants his republic, Boutarou wants his kingdom and Vasily wants his fight with Ogata. They don’t care about what Sugimoto wants, if not in terms of how much Sugimoto can be useful to their own goals.

However, differently from Sugi, they seem more aware of how Sugimoto isn’t invested in helping them pursue their goals, which lead them not to lean on Sugi as much as he’s leaning on them.

But let’s go on.

While Vasily and Ogata, as anticipated previously, are checking their surroundings in an attempt to spot each other with Vasily expecting Ogata to come out and Ogata apparently not moving from where he is, Sugimoto ends up meeting a tied man. As he frees him and asks him what had happened it turns out the man has other tied companions and that they’re the fire brigade from the Susukino district.

Tsurumi, completely uncaring of how the fire could spread, stole the firemen’s clothes and the carriage with the steam pumper and left them tied there because who cares if Sapporo burns down? He has to have Asirpa.

Well, it’s a tactical choice and it’s very clever but also pretty cruel. I do however wonder though if Ogata or Hijikata noticed that a firemen’s carriage with a group of firemen, instead than remaining where they’re needed, is discreetly leaving as fast as they can.

Anyway Sugimoto thinks that’s why Vasily didn’t stop them, completely missing that, at that point, Vasily wouldn’t have stopped them not even if they had waltzed right under his nose introducing themselves one after the other. Vasily is busy with Ogata, he has no use anymore for Asirpa so if someone gets her, why should he care?

It’s, ironically, a parallel with how Sugi, who instead CARES, was however so caught up with Boutarou and his idea to kill him he forgot if he murdered the man he wouldn’t know where to search for Asirpa.

Anyway Sugimoto realizes that, at this point, Tsurumi has the advantage and they wouldn’t be able to catch him by foot any longer and wonders if there are horses they can use.

Please Sugimoto don’t start you too stealing the firemen’s equipment.

Boutarou, supported by Shiraishi because he’s clearly in a very poor shape calls him, telling him he has found something nice.

It turns out it’s a Sapporo Beer car used for advertisement. With it they can go chase Asirpa.

As Sugimoto asks him how Boutarou learnt to drive a car, Boutarou explains when he met boss Wakayama, he was also introduced to Eddie Dunn, you know, the American who liked to dance naked, wearing solely an Ainu heirloom.

Apparently they really hit off, which means they drove Dunn’s car with Boutarou solely in short, Wakayama possibly naked wearing a collar and Dunn wearing female underwear.

Oookay, I’m not sure I want to know more details but I’m starting to think Boutarou didn’t try to seduce boss SOLELY for his skin. He really might be into this sort of things.

Anyway Dunn taught him to drive so Boutarou can now drive the car and therefore off they go, chasing Asirpa. We’ll see if they’ll manage to reach her before Tsurumi will jail her in that horrible dungeon he planned to use to keep her segregated until he gets all the info he wants from her.

Honestly I hope so as this isn’t something I want to happen to Asirpa… though I wonder if Tsurumi might try to use the steam pumper to stop Sugimoto’s car. We’ll see.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

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.

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. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

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.

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. - Skin owned by: Ushiyama Tatsuma, Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

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. – Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, 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).

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. - Skin owned by: Tsurumi Tokushirō.

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).

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 much more than just one man. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi.

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]

[goldenkamuyhunting]

So let’s again theorize on how to solve Wilk’s riddle...

When coming up with or rejecting theories a fundamental pre-requisite is to have enough RELIABLE information (Umineko readers might know this as part of the ‘Later Queen problem’).

In an action story we generally tend to assume if nothing comes up fast, it’s because nothing was meant to come up, which is what pushed me to dismiss the idea there could be more in the Wakayama arc than what we knew and that Wakayama had been an overall reliable narrator.

Just to give you some data, the Wakayama arc covered chap 63/69, which appeared on the magazine in a period that went from January 21, 2016 to March 3, 2016 and were collected in Vol 7 printed on April 19, 2016.

From those info Wakayama was depicted as someone who was focused in handling his business, not in searching tattooed skin and who merely sent his men to Barato to help a guy who, in the past made him a favor and might not have the slightest idea there’s a skin in Barato.

As for the Barato arc it was printed even earlier.

The whole thing goes from chap 55 to 59, which appeared on the magazine in a period that went from November 5, 2015 to December 3, 2015 and were collected in Vol 6 printed on March 19, 2016.

And now, in chap 236, printed in April 9, 2020, in short 4 YEARS AFTER those two arcs were printed on a volume, it turns out that the mystery of how the Barato skin ended in Barato wasn’t meant to stay a mystery forever and originally Wakayama was interested in collecting the tattooed skins and that HE is the one to blame for the skin in Barato or so he claims.

Long story short this made me think that no, just because we got an info back in the past and then it was never be touched upon again, it doesn’t necessarily means it’s a ‘case closed’.

So I’m re-reading old theories that were ‘dropped’ or not touched upon again just because no more evidence came up and so you could assume they were ‘case closed’.

Among them I found a post dated October 2018 from @chibivesicle​.

In this post @chibivesicle​ wondered if there was a reason why we were never shown Hijikata’s tattoo, just a tiny scrap at his collar (I’ve coloured it in red for better view)

when normally, when a convict was introduced, Noda would hurry show him naked... hem... I mean, he would hurry to show us his tattoo so that I ended up having a collection of images of naked men... I mean of convicts’ tattoos for reference.

My reply at the time was that we actually were shown a copy of Hijikata’s tattoo when Hijikata showed the copy at Ushiyama really early on.

Now, showing Ushiyama a fake copy was risky, since Ushiyama could have had in the future the chance to see Hijikata’s tattoo and, while he might have not memorized the lines, he might have remembered the kanji on it (雨 仮) so, at least, the kanji had to be genuine.

Time went by and now we know that what Asirpa was meant to remember was Wilk’s Ainu name, Horkew Oskoni (ホロケウ オシコニ Horokeu oshikoni) and that Asirpa assumed there was a connection between Wilk’s name and the kanji written on the convicts’ backs.

In short, if Asirpa’s theory were to be correct, we wouldn’t need to collect 24 skins, just 8, the ones in which one of the kanji written on them could be read as one of the katakana used to write Wilk’s name.

Following this theory Golden Kamuy central compiled this useful list:

ホ＝Ho　？

ロ＝Ro　呂 (on Tsuyama)

ケ＝Ke　記 (on Nihei)

ウ＝u　迂 (on the convict shot by Ogata in book 1)

オ＝O　？

シ＝Shi　歯、仕 (on Gotou)

コ＝Ko　？

ニ＝Ni　弐 (on Shiraishi)

Interesting enough, the two kanji we were shown on Hijikata’s copy do not seem to be useful, however there could be other kanji we didn’t see and anyway, as we saw the copy of Hijikata’s skin in chap 12, a chapter printed on a magazine on November, 06 2014 and collected on volume 2 on February 19, 2015 and, in-story MORE THAN A WHOLE YEAR has gone by without Ushiyama claiming the copy he was shown was fake, I ended up thinking that the copy was the real deal.

Now, as Wilk wanted an allegiance between Hijikata and Asirpa which is why Hijikata is the only one who knows Asirpa’s Japanese name and search for her, it would have made a whole lot of sense for Wilk to give a ‘right kanji’ to Hijikata as well so I assumed that yes, Hijikata should have a right kanji, only we merely hadn’t been shown it yet because we hadn’t seen the whole of Hijikata’s tattooed skin.

So yes, I was more or less on the same page as everyone else.

Wilk sent out 24 tattooed convicts, the ones who’re relevant to find are only 8 and the rest are mere disturbance.

Now in the past I remember Tumblr used @scyllua​ raising the problem of how Wilk was playing a huge hazard sending the map to find the gold tattooed in 24 convict skins as everything could happen to those convicts so there was no way to be sure that the map could be reconstructed (I apologize for any inaccuracy in reporting @scyllua​’s point but I failed to track down that post so I’m going by my poor memory. Any correction or help into tracking it down is hugely appreciated).

At the time for me it didn’t feel like a big deal because, right in the first chapter, we were made aware of how hard it would have been to pass that info outside of Abashiri. So yes, Wilk played a huge gambling in an absurdly high-stakes game, making the whole thing a gambit roulette but he had no better options and, as in many stories, ultimately Wilk’s plan would wear a plot armor because otherwise the story would end way too soon, with the cast simply accepting (Like Wakayama and Boutarou did) that it was impossible to track all the skin and we’ll do better to apply for more concrete jobs and less dangerous live choices.

We also have discussed many times on Discord on how cruel and absurd it was from Wilk to ask Asirpa (or anyone for the matter) to track 24 dangerous convicts… convicts that might require getting killed and skinned before they would ‘spontaneously’ let her check their tattoos… but this seemed to be the basis of the story so be it.

I remember wondering, really early on, if it could be that actually all the tattoo were fake and the convicts were merely a disturbance, a way to distract Tsurumi from pursuing Asirpa and using her as a hostage to blackmail Wilk into revealing him where the gold was. Yes, it’s not a theory I wrote down because I wasn’t really confident in it.

Now though, I try to piece all that past thinking together and come up with something inspired by all that… which again, might be completely wrong and just another guess as we don’t know if we’ve all the info we need.

So let’s go on with this new theory.

The first premise is that the copy Hijikata showed us of his tattooed skin was fake, and @chibivesicle​ was right in saying there was a reason why Noda, in around 24 volumes, never showed us Hijikata’s real skin, because we would have realized it.

The reasoning between this is:

1) As mentioned previously, since Noda wanted Asirpa and Hijikata to be in an alliance it would make sense if Hijikata’s tattoo were relevant.

2) In chap 208 Tsurumi gave Kikuta a speech about how copies aren’t reliable. Of course in the context it makes sense, as Kikuta asked him why they didn’t give Ariko a written copy, unaware that Tsurumi had fake copies of the skins.

3) When Hijikata showed to Ushiyama that copy, they weren’t allied yet. Ushiyama could have grabbed it and try to run for it. Hijikata likes risky gambles but he’s also a careful bastard willing to sacrifice allies and he’s aware Ushiyama is a dangerous foe. In Ushiyama were to escape with a copy, thinking it was the real deal, he would remain with nothing in his hands. So, Hijikata is similar to Tsurumi, who wears one of the skins to make sure no one will get it. He wears his own tattooed skin and let everyone believed they can still get it through a copy that’s actually fake… which is more or less what Tsurumi did as he handed out fake skins.

4) We usually get to see a relevant piece of the tattooed convict either when he shows up, or when he’s acknowledged as a convict (we see Heita’s tattoo only when we discover he’s a convict) the only cases so far being Hijikata and Sekiya and, for Sekiya, we didn’t get to see his tattoo merely because so we could be tricked into thinking the one Ariko bought to Tsurumi was Toni and that he wasn’t in an alliance with Hijikata (on a sidenote it’s possible the candy peddler is also a tattooed convict and we don’t see his tattoo because, as Wakayama hinted, he has ruined it).

5) Current developments showed that just because it’s years we don’t talk anymore about something it doesn’t mean something new about it can’t be discovered. If we believed the mystery of who carried that skin in Barato would remain a mystery… well, we were wrong. Who knows, we might even learn more about its owner in the future, or finally see Tsuyama’s face. For the same reason so maybe it’s premature to write off the copy Hijikata’s showed to Ushiyama as true, just because the idea it was fake never came up before.

So okay, LET’S ASSUME THE COPY IS FAKE AND HIJIKATA’S TATTOO IS DIFFERENT.

Why would this be relevant? Are we going to assume someone will steal it and think he has collected all the tattoos only to be disappointed later on because he has a copy? Possible but that’s not where I want to go.

The following part of the theory is that actually the kanji written on Hijikata’s skin share the reading of all the 8 Katakana syllables of Wilk’s name, meaning  THE ONLY TATTOOED SKIN NEEDED TO FIND THE GOLD IS HIJIKATA’S.

The reasoning between this is:

1) As Asirpa reminded us in the new pages included in Vol 21 and many other times along the story, her father wanted her and Hijikata to join forces, meaning it would be good if he were to give Hijikata a useful tattoo.

2) If Asirpa had immediately remembered the code and Hijikata had the only tattoo needed they could have found the gold as soon as they got together.

3) It’s clear Wilk didn’t blindly trust Hijikata to care and prioritize Ainu interests (in fact Hijikata’s goal is to protect Japan and he doesn’t hesitate to put Ariko in troubles), so not telling him his tattoo is the only one needed insure he’ll have to go search Asirpa’s allegiance and until he doesn’t show her full cooperation and hands her his tattoo the code can’t be solved.

4) It’s also likely that Wilk knew Tsurumi was aiming at the gold. Sending him on a wild chase for 23 dangerous convicts would provide Wilk, Asirpa and Hijikata time.

5) Wilk likely assumed Asirpa won’t manage to do things on her own, she needed allies and Hijikata could be a solid ally. If Hijikata were to fall in Tsurumi’s hands before the gold was found it was game over anyway as Asirpa would lose his help and Wilk might have assumed without someone with the connection and experience Hijikata had she wouldn’t manage to handle the situation as young as she is.

6) Being cunning, motivate and dangerous Hijikata is the less likely convict that would fall easily in Tsurumi’s hands. As Tsurumi doesn’t know he would have to go solely for him he would likely leave him for last, possibly thinking if he were to collect the 23 tattooed skins he could still crack the code on his own.

7) We know that kanji that could fit the reading of Wilk’s name were placed on convicts. It’s possible that actually there are more so as to complete Wilk's Ainu name. If Tsurumi were to get the skin from 23 convicts but not Hijikata and learn the code from Asirpa, he could assume he already owns all the pieces of the map only to be sent again on a wild chase because his map is wrong.

8) Boutarou pointed out how sometimes you might have something really close to yourself and yet be unable to find it. It might be an ironic way to point out how Hijikata always had the tattooed skin he needed right under his hands and yet, persuaded more were needed, he couldn’t even realize his tattoo would have been enough.

9) Wilk too might have realized something could happen to the convicts that could cause their tattoos to never be retrieved. In this sense sending the only relevant tattooed skin to Asirpa by means of Hijikata searching for her reduces greatly the chances the relevant tattooed skin won’t reach Asirpa’s hands.

Also, but this is just something I’d like

10) This would make Wilk a less jerk of a dad as he didn’t ask his daughter to chase dangerous convicts and kill and skin them but just to make a copy of the tattoo of his ally to solve the riddle while, at the same time, providing her all the time to act while Tsurumi is busy elsewhere. In short although he pushed on her a huge burden, he still tried to help her, not to give her more troubles than needed. Also his plan becomes less of a gambit roulette and more of a Xanatos Gambit where the winning condition is that Tsurumi will never get the gold.

Of course, this is just a theory that suffer of a huge lack of information as there’s probably still a lot we don’t know and therefore I might be completely off track and, of course, if this were Wilk’s plan, he failed to take into calculation external interferences like Sugimoto joining forces with Asirpa and beginning to collect tattooed skins, Tsurumi not really devoting himself much to the work thinking he could let Sugimoto do the work and then steal them from him, Asirpa not remembering the code, Hijikata failing to find Asirpa and get her trust and give them his own so that he too starts chasing tattoos and Asirpa has no idea he has the right tattoo.

Long story short, Wilk’s Xanatos Gambit was hugely complicated by misfortune… though since I think it will be unlikely Tsurumi will get the gold for himself, its Xanatos Gambit nature will probably live till the end.

At least… this is my speculation. We’ll see how it’ll go.

Still I’ll be waiting for the moment in which Noda will show us Hijikata’s tattooed skin as it’s tattooed on his skin.

Come on Noda! We wanna see Hijikata naked! Or at least shirtless! We’re sure he still conserve his manly charm! Give him to us! ^_-

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 236 “King”

And so in this chapter we learn something important about how someone was…

…yeah, an unreliable narrator as there was more than a bit of trouble in Barato and it was caused by a tattooed skin, tattooed skin he left there. Still, kudos to @bloody-fabre​ for guessing Wakayama was the one to blame for the skin which ended in Barato.

There’s to say the situation is much more complicate than what it looked like when we first met Wakayama and a side of me is very happy that a arc that seemed to go nowhere (the Wakayama arc didn’t seem to have effects on the plot beyond giving Sugimoto an extra skin) is now becoming a relevant part of the plot.

But let’s dig into the chapter.

We resume where we have left, with Boutarou and Sugimoto fighting.

Despite the punch Boutarou doesn’t even let go of his gun but hurries to point it to Sugimoto. Sugimoto however put to good use his experience as a war veteran and grabs the gun in such a way not only he manages to move it slightly away from his face but also takes care to place his hand between the hammer and the bullet, so that when Boutarou pushes the trigger, the gun can’t fire.

Hand-to-hand combat is where Sugimoto excels after all, with tons of life threatening battles on the battleground, surrendered by other soldiers all willing to kill him. It’s in these moments Sugimoto’s six sense and experience, let him find a safe way out in the blink of an eye.

It’s kind of amazing as he just knows how to do.

This is not being a tactician genius though, that requires long term planning. Sugimoto doesn’t have the time to plan, he’s just a man who, when in extreme danger in a hand-to-hand fight, can find the right countermeasure in a blink thanks to his huge experience and talent in this sort of things.

Give Sugimoto two days to think of a plan and he likely will come up with only a vague idea of what to do. Give Sugimoto five second to stop a fatal blow and he’ll come up with the perfect method to stop it and, if possible, to retaliate.

So, now that he has stopped Boutarou from firing, Sugimoto tries to retrieve the gun from himself and at the same time damaging his enemy by attempting to cut away his fingers from it with his bayonet.

Who has good memory might remember Sugimoto doing the same with Nihei, cutting his fingers to stop him from holding his weapon.

(Japanese people knew very well how big of a harm it was to lose fingers, that’s why Yakuza used to cut the pinkie of a Yakuza who failed them, because afterward he would have troubles holding his sword)

Boutarou though isn’t a rookie either.

He’s quick enough to let go the now useless gun, so that all that Sugimoto’s bayonet hit is the gun itself and uses his powerful legs to kick Sugimoto hard enough not only he send him flying against the wooden railing but makes it partially crack. As someone who can jump out of the water like the merman he obviously is Boutarou clearly has strong legs and if he had kicked that way another men, the poor guy might have been sent out of commission.

Meanwhile the postman is still shooting like crazy, Boutarou’s accomplice swearing he’ll kill him but, thanks God (or should I say thanks Kamuy?), Asirpa is there to save the day.

She calls him and hurries him to come with her, telling him there’s spare ammunition there, then catches her chance to retrieve Sugimoto’s rifle and kick him off the boat at the same time, forcing him to swim away.

Asirpa is a genius and this constitute as planning as she considered her options, laid out a trap for the postman and put it to work.

Boutarou, on the other side, has recovered his anchor and is tossing it at Sugimoto, who manages to avoid it before Asirpa reaches him. Sugimoto worriedly asks her if she’s hurt.

I wonder if he realized how, while he was busy punishing Boutarou for putting her in danger, he had left her to fend for herself as Boutarou had an accomplice and that postman was completely out of it.

Boutarou’s accomplice informs him the postman has escaped leaving behind the money.

Shiraishi in a scolding tone stops Sugimoto from fighting further, reminding him there’s something they have to ask Boutarou.

This is the problem with Sugimoto losing control and getting himself into battle. In his attempt to ‘avenge Asirpa’ he had left her on her own and has risked jeopardizing his chances to get info out of Boutarou. His actions weren’t a smart move, they were just the result of his feelings overtaking him.

However, after a moment of hesitation, Sugimoto now makes a powerful and rather smart gesture, throwing Boutarou’s gun in the water.

Why is it a powerful gesture?

Because normally it’s assumed that the one with a gun is at a huge advantage toward the one who haven’t it. By tossing it away and therefore by apparently tossing away an advantage, Sugimoto gives a clear demonstration of not having aggressive intentions and only wanting to talk.

Why is it rather smart?

Because Sugimoto is rather bad with firearms and much, MUCH better with his bare hands and therefore for him the gun is more of a disadvantage than a help as it keeps one of his hands busy and, if he were to lose it by mistake, Boutarou could manage to get it back.

Boutarou accepts the truce with another of his smiles, acknowledging Sugimoto by his name. I wonder if his name also rang a bell or he’s just repeating it to make sure he would remember it/got it right.

‘Omae… Sugimoto tte iu no ka’

「お前… 杉元っていうのか」

“You… are called Sugimoto, right?”

We’ll see.

Honestly I doubt Boutarou heard of Sugimoto before but it’s possible. Everyone and their mom know Sugimoto in the 7th so that they could even open a fanclub. People talk and maybe rumours of Sugimoto had reached Boutarou as well. But still i think it’s unlikely, as Boutarou didn’t act as Sugimoto’s name rang a bell.

Meanwhile Shiraishi asks for clarifications about what Boutarou said on how there’s a rumour about how it’s no more possible to solve the code, also asking him if, due to it, he’s no more collecting tattoos.

In the panel we can see clearly Shiraishi and Sugimoto. Asirpa is present too but she’s in it only partially due to her head and due to the ballons covering her partially, hinting at how in a way she’ll be cut out from the discussion even if she saved the day.

Boutarou tells Shiraishi that a little over one year ago he met Wakayama in Sapporo… and approached him planning to murder and skin him. From the way the scene looks like, with Boutarou naked on a bed, I’ll say his way to approach him, was to try to seduce him.

Wakayama though, evidently realized something was off, had his men encircle him. Among them there’s Nakazawa (princess), while the others are all dressed in black suits with sunglasses (okay, no, they don't have sunglasses, it's just their eyes are so deeply shadowed they seem to wear sunglasses, which fits with the stereotype of Yakuza wearing them so I love Noda's visual choice).

Wakayama tells him that the code can’t be solved. He then explains he killed (and skinned) one of the tattooed men just after he escaped but then dropped by to Barato and left it as a payment for a game he lost.

As he says so we see the same image we saw in the Barato chapter, showing how the Hidoro gang got the skin, but not showing it was Wakayama giving it to them.

As Boutarou asked him why he did so, Wakayama claims the tattooed code can’t be solved because the other convicts might have ended up in the sea and be swallowed by a fish (and at this we’re shown an image of Henmi meeting this fate) or killed by a bear on the mountain (and at this we’re shown an image of Gotou).

Or that a certain weird guy (which I bet is our dear candy seller) might ruin it on purpose.

Long story short, Wakayama leaves without skinning him, which convinces Boutarou he was sure that the tattoo code couldn’t be decrypted.

At this Asirpa is reminded of how the candy peddler commented that ‘Boss Wakayama’s disappointed face was pretty great too, though’.

Shiraishi also whispers to Sugimoto that this might be connected to what Asirpa overheard the candy peddler saying, both of them sweating as, after this story, the possibility he was right, seems even more concrete.

And maybe it means nothing but in the panels, even though the group thinks exactly the same thing Asirpa is visually ‘parted’ from Sugimoto and Shiraishi.

They’re in separate panels, the panel with the candy peddler divising them.

Now… let’s stop a bit and recap what we knew about Wakayama and the Barato skin PRIOR TO THIS CHAPTER.

Time unknown (It could be before Wakayama was arrested or afterward): Wakayama entered a gambling den by chance and was charmed by Nakazawa’s (Hime’s) skill in rolling the dice. After an initial refusal, Nakazawa betrayed his group, ran away to Wakayama’s place, spent a hot night together, but the yakuza pursuers were already outside… we’ve no idea how it ended as Noda interrupted the story here. [Noda Satoru’s Q&A]

FEBRUARY

- Wakayama escapes with the other prisoners…  [GK according to Noda begins at the end of February, the convicts, supposedly, escaped a bit sooner than that]

MARCH

- Wakayama with a young man drops by in Sapporo World Hotel. Ienaga locks the younger man in the underground and tortures him, and the guy admits that the man he was with has the same tattoo as Ienaga and is an escaped convict from Abashiri. When Ienaga goes to check on him the morning after Wakayama has disappeared, supposedly planning to go in Hidaka to meet an American named Dun. [The guys went to Ienaga’s hotel in April, she said Wakayama was there a month before] [Chap 55-63]

APRIL

- Things escalates in Barato between the Hidoro gang and the Umakichi gang after a guy went to their gambling hall, lost a lot of money and left a tattooed skin as a collateral. Nagakura, Hijikata and Ogata went there and manage to retrieve the skin from Hidoro. [Chap 55-59]

- Wakayama buys horses from Dun [chap 69: When meeting Wakayama again, Dun said he’s the guy who bought horses from him a month before]

- Kiroranke takes part to the Tomakomai race on Wakayama’s horse in place of the jockey who has escaped. However, instead than throwing away the final race he wins it. [Chap 61-62]

May:

- While trying to deal with 3 bears Sugimoto group ends up hiding in the same place in which Wakayama and Nakazawa (Princess) had met the guys who organized the race. Wakayama explains the oddity of him not having men around with sending all of his men to Barato to help a guy in Barato who did him some favors. It’s unclear if the guy is Hidoro or Umakichi but I would say it’s Umakichi as the visual shows him.

It also turns out it was Nakazawa who exposed the heads in plain view because Wakayama cheated on him with a prostitute.

It also turns out the prostitute ended up being killed, although Nakazawa denies killing anyone (was it Jack who killed the prostitute? I wonder... after all Jack kills prostitutes in Sapporo although so far it seems he focused on females).

Wakayama complains he should have left him in Sapporo.

Due to various happening Wakayama and Nakazawa die, Wakayama’s skin ending up in Sugimoto’s hands. [Chap 65-69: Noda said chap 64 is placed in May]

And this is were I thought Noda placed the words ‘THE END’ to Wakayama’s story.

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Turned out that’s not the case.

In fact, whose info made it look like Wakayama had no interest in the skins, in fact he was back handling his betting business instead than searching for convicts, which made me think it would be weird if he had taken his time collecting a skin and then… dropped it somewhere, as if it were to be useless.

I mean, if he went through the trouble of getting that one skin, I would expect the guy who beat a bear wouldn’t let it go easily.

However this chapter and chapter 233 added some interesting info to Wakayama’s story.

The first is that yes, Wakayama in the beginning wanted to collect the tattooed things but then something, or more likely ‘someone’ (read ‘our dear candy peddler’) persuaded him that it would be impossible to do it, suddenly making the skin he had collected to look worthless.

Hence it was possible for Wakayama to have an abrupt change of heart and drop collecting skins.

I wonder if the candy peddler, to persuade him, told him about Henmi’s death, or just showed him he has completely ruined his own tattoo.

Hard to say.

However he and Wakayama likely met pretty early on, likely in March as, by then, while he was in Ienaga’s hotel he was already thinking to go meet Dun to buy horses from him, meaning he wasn’t going to devote all his strength in pursuing convicts but was going back to his horse betting business.

Note that this is just my speculation, I might be completely off and maybe he wanted to pursue both.

We don’t know what pushed him to leave abruptly Ienaga’s hotel, maybe he couldn’t find the man he was with and assumed Nakazawa killed him, or maybe Nakazawa dropped by in his room and he left with him or maybe he was actually penniless and couldn’t pay the bill of the hotel nor the man he came with and left.

Hard to say.

We aren’t even sure back then he was already with Nakazawa as we don’t know when the two met.

However, according to what he says to Boutarou, we’re to suppose he moves to Barato alone, went into a gambling hall, lost a lot of money and left the skin he had with himself as collateral, tattling out the whole tattooed skin matter that could set everyone and their moms hunting for him.

As he did so he clearly didn’t act like a Yakuza boss, Shuhei wasn’t impressed by him and even said they planned to have him work in the fishery, meaning they didn’t realize Wakayama could be a dangerous fighter or even a Yakuza himself.

Why going there alone?

We get he likes to gamble but unless it was Nakazawa who again worked against him as Wakayama complained Nakazawa kept on trying to screw him over it seems weird he would just put himself into a huge debt.

Or did this happen really early on, when Wakayama hadn’t yet managed to reach his underlings?

After all it seems his headquarters are in Sapporo, it can be that moving from Abashiri to Sapporo he just stopped to Barato, which is on the way...

...ended up losing money in the gambling hall and, not wanting to lose face, he hid his own identity.

Anyway, after he left the skin there, he meets Boutarou in Sapporo.

The cover of chap 233 showed Sugimoto and Shiraishi looking at huchen/Adonis flowers, which we know can be observed in April, so if Wakayama and Boutarou’s meeting in Sapporo happened a year before than we supposedly were in April. Boutarou says a little over a year though, so it can be it was in March.

This time Wakayama has plenty of his men around himself, among which Nakazawa.

But figuring out when this meeting exactly takes place becomes hazardous and that’s not the only problem.

When talking with Sugimoto Wakayama declared he went to meet Dun alone because he sent all his men to help someone who helped him in the past (supposedly Umakichi).

As his men were with him when he was in Sapporo we’ve to assume the fight in Barato hadn’t taken place yet (Umakichi will die during it so he can’t really ask for support afterward) so he hadn’t sent his men there yet.

Overall the thing seems to be a bit shaky.

If Umakichi was someone who helped him, why did boss went to bet at Hidoro’s place instead than at a friend’s place? Or was that the moment in which Umakichi helped him? Because Umakichi should have helped him BIG TIME if boss sent ALL HIS MEN to help him… yet he didn’t warn him pursuing that tattooed skin was useless as we know Umakichi was actually pursuing it?

And Umakichi didn’t know Wakayama was also someone who escaped from Abashiri?

Because if he had known sending all his men to help him retrieve the tattooed skin would be dangerous as then Umakichi might try to get Wakayama’s one.

Besides we don’t even see a single man, among the ones with Umakichi, dressed in black suit and tie as Wakayama’s men. Sure, maybe they changed so it’s not big deal but overall the whole thing is weird, so weird even Sugimoto found odd how Wakayama went there alone.

Did Wakayama lie to Sugimoto, whom he knew was searching for the tattooed convicts?

Is there another reason why he sent all his men to Barato but didn’t go there himself?

Or actually he was there also for some other reason than punishing the two at the race (he said he wasn’t expecting Kiro and the others to show up and it makes sense, Wakayama didn’t meet Kiro back then so I’m not even sure if he would have recognized him)?

I don’t know but I’m starting to wonder if we’ll learn more about boss and how that skin ended up in Barato, maybe through Shinpei, who left Barato with Chiyoko and might have transferred temporally to Ebetsu.

It would be interesting to meet Shinpei again as we were never told exactly how his meeting with Ogata ended, we just saw that Ogata gave him a scolding...

...then the scene was cut and we dealt with Hijikata’s group reaching the place, Hijikata and Nagakura getting in to talk with Ogata who now owns the skins, the bodies of Shinpei’s parents nowhere to be seen.

The next we see Shinpei he’s with Chiyoko, first observing the place burning down,

then ready to start a new life with her.

Besides, Shinpei was there when the skin was left to his family, he might tell us exactly how things went and if Nakazawa or the candy peddler were involved and if he knew if Wakayama had a relation with Umakichi.

LOL, overall I’m curious.

When I first read the Wakayama arc it felt like its only purpose was to hand Sugimoto a new skin as it seemed to bring no other development, so now I’m extremely intrigued at the idea there could be more behind it.

And always about Wakayama… what the candy peddler said that made him so sure the tattooed skins can’t be used anymore? Did he ruin his own tattoo? Or, since Wakayama was spot on about a convict ending eaten by a fish and another by a bear someone warned him about Gotou and Henmi’s deaths? Because okay, Gotou’s death is normal enough and one could guess it but Henmi’s death is a bit of a stretch. They were supposed to go to Otaru after all, not go to fish whales or orcas so one of them drowning wasn’t something one should consider a normal occurrence yet it’s the first thing Wakayama comes up with.

But yes, it could also be a lucky guess.

Long story short though… I don’t know anymore which of Wakayama’s words were true and which were a lie, making him an unreliable narrator. I’m only sure that he believed they couldn’t use the tattooed skins anymore to find the gold but that’s it.

I wonder if more will come up in the future.

Back to the story, Boutarou explains that since Wakayama was sure the tattooed skins couldn’t be collected he also decided stopping collecting them.

Shiraishi, clever guy, asks him if he found the place in which the Ainu gold is hidden.

Boutarou though, might act friendly but he’s clearly not a stupid.

He doesn’t directly answer, he just says it’s possible to get close to it but he’s confident Noppera-bou wouldn’t have hid it in a place that’s easy to spot once you get close by.

So Boutarou asks Shiraishi and Sugimoto to join forces with him and help searching for it. He claims he wants Shiraishi in his team because Shiraishi is fun and Sugimoto because Sugimoto is strong and both are things he likes he claims as he wraps his arms around them.

Shiraishi though, using a joking tone, points out they might end up on fighting over how to split the gold.

Boutarou claims they can become his vassals as he wants to become the king of a warm Southeast Asian small island on which he can grow and sell fruits to other countries and have so many kids he can make a country of his own family.

The way Boutarous smiles as he asks them to become vassals in his kingdom is kind of cute, like the one of a happy child.

Shiraishi laughs a bit uncomfortable at his ambitious dream while Sugimoto wonders on why everyone wants to be in charge of something as huge as a country.

He covers his eyes with his hat at this, shadowing them completely even though he smiles, making hard to read his expression. It’s usually no good when Sugimoto’s eyes can’t be seen.

I think Sugimoto believes Boutarou is moved by either ambition or greed or both, therefore by something negative, and that due to this he’s getting in his way when he instead aims at something much smaller and that should also help a person he loves.

I think Boutarou gets what Sugimoto is implying and that’s why, although he keeps his smile he looks much more serious as he makes Sugimoto a personal question.

‘Do you have any family?’

Sugimoto’s face is shadowed and his eyes fully black as he says he doesn’t, Boutarou clearly touching a sore spot.

Boutarou goes on, asking him if they’re dead. He’s still smiling but he’s not being overly cheerful.

Sugimoto, also smiling but with his eyes downcast, admits they died due to tuberculosis.

I think that’s the first time Sugimoto talked with someone about how his family died. Sugimoto, Asirpa and Shiraishi are a group but, except for Asirpa who occasionally talk about her father or about Huci, they hardly talk of any personal matter. Credits when its due both Shiraishi and Asirpa tried talking with Sugimoto about personal matters but both stumbled on the Umeko issue (Shiraishi asking him if he had someone and Asirpa asking him what he planned to do with the gold) and Sugimoto closed up to Shiraishi and wasn’t quite honest with Asirpa so talks never went that far… when instead it was probably important they did. They’re risking their life together, they should be able to share the burdens of the pasts with the others.

Anyway at Sugimoto’s reply Boutarou’s smile stay even if his expression is much more serious.

Then Boutarou goes closer to Sugimoto (WOW, Boutarou seems quite a bit taller than him), wrapping his arms around him in some sort of conforting or kinship gesture and telling him his family died too, although what killed them was smallpox, and adding ‘you know what it’s like, right?’.

He’s likely not referring to smallpox but both to the pain of losing your family but also to the sad fate of victims of contagious illness. Places in hospitals were scarce, which means they would have to stay home until one would free, infecting, if they hadn’t already, their family members.

Back then there was no cure for illness like smallpox or tuberculosis same as there is no cure for coronavirus now and they also had a lot less mean to protect themselves from infection.

The result would be that neighbors, in fear of getting infected, would ostracize the families whose members would fall prey of an illness, mock them, claim if they got sick it was because they did it was due to something they had done, as if illness was some sort of divine punishment, abandoning them to their sad fate and refusing to help.

It’s easy to feel empathy for Boutarou and Sugimoto’s conditions, especially considering how even now, in a time in which superstition shouldn’t rule us way too many people had felt entitled to mock or blame or turn their backs to those who would get coronavirus cases.

Boutarou found himself living this situation when he was a child and, as he was a child, he came up with this naïve dream.

‘If I become a king, nobody would ever shun my family.’

For a child this makes sense. He was powerless to fight what was happening so he assumed if he were to be the most important person he would have had control and would have been able to stop the world from rejecting and abandoning him and his family to their fate.

In a way it’s not a completely wrong assumption as we see that people in position of power or with a lot of money can get tested sooner than people who aren’t and they also get better health care, everyone hurrying to find a comfortable place for them in the most comfortable hospital.

Child Boutarou was aware of this as well but instead than thinking that the system was unfair and wanting to fight the system decided he would ride it.

If only who’s in power, who’s rich get help, he would be that person.

A king.

And then he wouldn’t have to suffer that fear and that pain anymore.

This thought helps him to survive.

He decided to stop being afraid of getting smallpox, to pursue his dream and look at the world in a positive manner and this allowed him to carry on to the point that adult Boutarou thinks it was his own attitude that kept smallpox away from him.

Boutarou makes it simple but it doesn’t really work like turning a switch on. You’ve to persuade yourself that you aren’t afraid, that you’ve to feel positive day after day, wearing these thoughts as if they were a mask that covers fear and negativity until the mask becomes you and you believe in all this… but sadly it’s not so easy and it doesn’t necessarily work smoothly.

Often the mask remains just a mask that stops us from facing what we’re really thinking. Only we’ve been wearing by so long we just delude ourselves the mask is us when it’s always just a mask and, since what’s behind it remains there unchallenged, it slowly poisons our life.

For Boutarou by now it’s probably hard to say if he smiles because he’s genuinely happy or if he smiles because HE MUST BE POSITIVE.

And he’s not the only one who hides behind a smile. We saw how in this chapter Sugimoto too smiled as he said his family died. His smile is a lot less cheery than Boutarou, it’s clear it’s a sad smile but Sugimoto too tries to cope with pain through a smile… although Sugimoto more often than not use it to cover his fear.

We saw him smiling when he punched the bear and it didn’t work, when he faced Tsurumi for the first time he smiled and even joked around even though he knew he was in deep troubles.

Although smiles are usually connected to happiness, they don’t necessarily mean the one showing them feels genuine happiness because they’re also more often than not used as a mask to show confidence, to hide troubles, pain and fear to the others and to yourself.

So I’m not so sure always smiling Boutarou is as happy as he looks like, and I don’t know if his obstinacy in having a positive outlook might cause him to miss facing something negative, becoming a maladaptive behavior. We’ll see but, for now, I think there’s more in Boutarou than just a happy guy, and the same goes for other Golden Kamuy smiling prone characters.

Who knows, maybe as @osomanga has suggested, maybe the funny Shiraishi too has behind himself a sad backstory and let’s not forget the friendly Kiroranke hid behind himself a partisan fighter who had remained alone after he believed Wilk, his hero, betrayed him.

Golden Kamuy is a story with characters with a complicate psychological background after all, we shouldn’t just wave them off as just black and white.

So, back to Boutarou, now we know it’s not greed or ambition what’s behind his wish, but merely a traumatic past that forced him to face on his own the powerlessness of watching your parents and relative die due to a terrible illness and the people turning their back to you.

What Boutarou GENUINELY wishes is fundamentally to never again live that experience, to erase it from the universe but, as this is not possible, he came up with this, with a dream that deludes him he won’t be abandoned, that he will be able to control his fate, that he and his family will be able to live happily.

Not being abandoned, having a measure of control over our fate and live a happy life with our beloved ones are really normal things, things we all wish and that we normally pursue through more normal means but as Boutarou lived in desperate times he decided to use desperate measures.

And, in a way, Boutarou’s dream is overall pretty similar to Tsurumi’s goal and to his men’s dream. They want a country in which they will be safe, happy and in control.

And yes, although what they fundamentally wish is something really normal and human… their wish is sadly a very selfish one as, to fulfill it they would sacrifice other humans. Their world is not a perfect one where everyone is safe, happy and in control but one in which they are.

However, as they perceive they were sacrificed first, they have a hard time realizing sacrificing others is wrong, that they should just accept they were wronged but that it’s not okay to retaliate, to return just retribution for the pain they were made to suffer.

It’s sad. It’s wrong. And it’s also something that happens way too often in life.

As Boutarou explains his dream, Sugimoto’s eyes are still downcast...

...and he remembers himself as he watched over his sick father, Sugimoto’s eyes back then, completely void of light.

This transition reminds me a bit of the transition Noda used to shift from when Asirpa asked Ogata which was his favourite food to when we saw him with Hanazawa.

We know that Sugimoto’s father was the last to die, before him Sugimoto lost three other family members.

One of them was likely his mother, the other two are either his grandparents or two younger siblings (Sugimoto’s name implies he’s the firstborn as it contain the kanji for “1”).

His father is probably the last surviving member of Sugimoto’s family and he’s there, sitting at his bedside, watching him slowly die due to illness.

There are many stress lines under Sugimoto’s eyes and his expression is grim. He likely knows there’s no hope, that there’s nothing he can do, that he can only stay there and watch.

Sugimoto’s father tells him not to hope he’ll manage to get a bed in the sanatorium. For who’s not familiar with the term,  in a time in which they had no antibiotics against tuberculosis, they assumed you could cure the illness just by giving the ill person a regimen of rest, fresh air and good nutrition. But beds in sanatorium were scarce, that’s way Sugimoto’s father is warning him he won’t get a bed in one… and since sanatorium were assumed to be the only place in which one could heal and he finds unlikely he’ll get a bed in one, basically Sugimoto’s dad is telling Sugi to prepare to the idea of his death.

His father then tells Sugimoto he’s kind and this causes him to end up stuck with the worst roles… same as it used to happen to his father, a personality trait which didn’t seem to want to change.

Sugimoto’s father looks like Sugimoto, only older, thinner and sick. He’s in a bed whose covers are dirty with the blood he should have coughed. The poor guy choughs occasionally but he’s smiling and, contrary to Sugimoto, there’s a light in his eyes.

Sugimoto’s father probably sees the shortcomings of being kind but, at the same time I think he also sees the good sides of it.

It’s not a personality trait that doesn’t want to change, it’s him who didn’t want to change it.

And this makes me think at how it should have been terrible for Sugimoto to accept to kill in order to survive. Because killing is all but kind and he should have made a lot of mental gimmicks to accept to do it and receive a lot of mental scarring.

So of course his reasoning to cope with it is that enemies are soulless bad guys, which Asirpa waved off as an excuse one would give to a child.

Probably a side of him, to protect himself, reverted to a kid and came up with such a silly excuse, same as Boutarou who can’t let go of his childish dream, and then he clung to it and he keeps clinging to it even now, a maladaptive copying mechanism that helped Sugimoto survive the war but that’s now plaguing him, a mask he uses to try to cover the fact he views himself as no more kind as his father said he was.

Sugimoto is a complicate psychological mess and I’m sorry for him because deep down he should be suffering a lot inside and hiding it deep inside himself, covering it with a smile and a kind attitude and not really facing it, which only result in more psychological harm for him.

Again, it’s sad.

The scene changes, Sugimoto is outside of the house and a black cat comes to him.

Contrary to what us westerns say Japanese people back then believed black cats to bring good luck and ward off against illness.

As the cat comes to him to be patted Sugimoto, who has shown through all ‘Golden Kamuy’ to be superstitious enough he even absorbed Ainu superstitions, complains with the cat that the cat was supposed to cure tuberculosis and asks him if this is happening because the cat hardly comes there, therefore making the cat useless. The cat leaves at that, leaving Sugimoto alone to watch him walk away, bringing away with itself even the silly hope the cat could fix everything.

It’s another bit of life experience that forms Sugimoto’s mind, a bit that explains why he’s not very good at cooperating, because back then he could do nothing but entrust his hopes to a black cat and yet he was left alone to deal with it.

Sugimoto stands there as he watched the cat leaving, clearly trying hard not to cry. He’s alone stripped even of the delusion the black cat would magically save his father. No one will help him.

He can’t do anything and no one will help him.

At this point I think he remembers what his father told him, he told him to leave the house and not let himself trapped by tuberculosis. He told him he could live for his own sake, that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

The words, the memory of them after the cat’s abandonment, push Sugimoto to run.

He wants to do it, to escape from that house, but more exactly to escape from that pain. However, as he’s about to get out of the fence he stops, unable to go further.

He looks at the world that extend itself outside the fence, he looks at the freedom, at a place in which he isn’t plagued by the specter of getting infected with tuberculosis each day. He squeezes his eyes shut. In his home his father is still lying in his bed, coughing.

And, I think, at this point Sugimoto knows he can’t leave him to die alone.

In fact in the past flashback we learnt that his father managed to find a spot in a sanatorium… but then he died there and only when the note he was dead reached Sugimoto he managed to leave his home.

So, even though Sugimoto wants to escape, even though he can’t bear it any longer, he can’t leave either. For his torn mind not to crack under the pressure of this two contrasting things, wanting to leave and wanting to stay, his psyche build up a narrative meant to help him to cope.

Sugimoto is a good judoka, isn’t he?

Well, this is a fight, a fight to death against him and tuberculosis, a fight Sugimoto isn’t going to lose. He states he’s going to live and then challenges it to try and kill him, like he will challenge the Russians much later on war, stating he’s immortal.

The image depicts him as if his aura was a fire, a fire burning around him but his expression is contracted, ugly. Not as bad as Usami when he murdered Tomoharu but still… ugly.

You can see in it determination… but it’s a forced determination.

Sugimoto is forcing himself to think all those things to overcome his fear.

Telling himself he’s immortal is the copying behavior he has chosen, a behavior that fits with how he’s a fighter at heart but it’s also just a big lie. He’s not immortal and he’s not really facing the realty of the situation, that he’s a mortal taking upon himself a risk.

He’s young, the situation is so traumatic and terrible he simply CAN’T face the truth, but that copying behavior will follow him traumatic situation after traumatic situation, covering his fear behind a wall of fake confidence into something that’s simply not real.

It’s true that a strong will can overcome a weak body, but will can’t do miracles. Sugimoto is a normal person and therefore he can die like any other person. Just because he has more endurance and luck (and a solid plot armor) than others it doesn’t mean all of sudden he’s immortal and this wrong belief might end up doing him more harm than good.

The flashback ends and we go back to present time and to Boutarou, asking Sugimoto what he plans to do once he finds the gold to reach HIS OWN HAPPINESS and if he doesn’t have any dream.

It’s clear Sugimoto started this adventure hoping he could get gold enough for himself to cure Umeko but also to be capable to present himself in front of her as a man who’s better than the one who left her, if not in actions (Sugimoto is plagued by the fact he’s a killer now), at least in finances.

Although Toraji clearly wasn’t rich I always had the feeling he was a little better off than Sugimoto and Sugimoto was afraid this influenced Umeko’s choice... so, since he can’t clean away the blood he has shed I think he hopes he can ‘hide it’ by presenting himself as someone who’s better off economically and can provide Umeko with the means to cure her eyes.

I think he’s afraid to present himself to her but wanted to believe by going back rich and capable to cure her he could find the guts to show himself to her again and get what he truly wanted, her love back.

However many things had happened and more than a full year went by from when he started hunting skins, not mentioning the time that had gone by from when he returned from war.

This goal had moved always further from him while his hunt for the gold became a sidequest that didn’t help him to go back to Umeko but that actually kept him away from her.

So Sugimoto likely knows what he used to dream for when all this started, what he believed would give him happiness… but instead than getting closer with any skin he gained, it only got far. The shading on him isn’t uniform, it’s swirling, I think it hints Boutarou’s words forced him to realize, if not this, at least ‘something’.

Meantime the boat has almost reached Ebetsu.

Boutarou, the gentleman pirate, apologizes to the passengers, telling them he didn’t mean to cause them troubles and commotion so he won’t steal things from them, he’ll just settle for taking the money that was sent as registered mail. As he says so though, he spot Sugimoto opened back with, inside it, Heita’s skin and the tobacco case he always carried with himself.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess this means troubles for his alliance with Sugimoto, Shiraishi and Asirpa… which, to be honest, never got involved in the alliance. Boutarou just wanted Shiraishi and Sugimoto and they didn’t mention having a third member in their group even if it was kind of obvious Asirpa was connected to them.

I’m a little annoyed at this, it’s not the first time Asirpa is handled as a minor part to the group even though today she’s the one who saved the day by handling the problem of the crazy postman (along with Shiraishi who got information from Boutarou and set the basis for an allegiance)… but well, I guess it can’t be helped. We’ll see if things will change in the future.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

FULL LIST OF THE KNOWN TATTOOED PRISONERS (20 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 Saichi-tachi o Bikō Shite Ita Shūjin (杉元達を尾行していた囚人 “Prisoner who was tailing Sugimoto Saichi”): Status: Deceased (Killed by Ogata) - Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

3. Hijikata Toshizō (土方 歳三): Status: Alive - Crime: He was on the enemy side in the battle of Hakodata and therefore is considered a political prisoner. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

4. Shiraishi Yoshitake (白石 由竹): 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), Sugimoto Saichi (copy), Tsurumi Tokushirō (copy).

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

6. Ushiyama Tatsuma (牛山 辰馬): 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. - Skin owned by: Ushiyama Tatsuma, Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

7. Nihei Tetsuzō (二瓶 鉄造): Status: Deceased (Killed by Retar) - Crime: Murdered three thieves who stole prey from hunters and also killed them when they threatened to do the same with him. – Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, 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: Alive - Crime: Killing a bunch of patients and transfusing their blood into himself. - Skin owned by: Ienaga Kano, 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 (Cause unknown) - Crime: Unknown. - Skin owned by: Hijikata Toshizō.

11. Wakayama Kiichirō (若山 輝一郎): 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 (original), Hijikata Toshizō (copy).

14. Sakamoto Keiichirō (坂本 慶一郎): Status: Deceased (Killed by Tsurumi Tokushirō) - Crime: Thief sentenced to life prison in Kabato. He escaped and was captured and sent to Abashiri. - Skin owned by: Tsurumi Tokushirō.

15. Anehata Shiton (姉畑 支遁): Status: Deceased (Died of heart attack while having sex with a bear) - Crime: Animal rape and animal slaughter. - Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi, Tsurumi Tokushirō.

16. Toni Anji (都丹 庵士): 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 managed to make 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).

20. Matsuda Heita (松田 平太): Status: Deceased (Suicide) - Crime: He was discovered while murdering and eating a man while wearing a bear pelt… but actually he had killed much more than just one man. - -Skin owned by: Sugimoto Saichi.

21. ?

22. ?

23. ?

24. ?

AT CHAP 222 THE SITUATION BETWEEN THE THREE MAIN GROUPS CHASING THE TATTOOED SKINS IS AS FOLLOW

Sugimoto Saichi (2 skins)

Gotō Sugimoto Saichi-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) Heita Matsuda

Hijikata Toshizō (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 fake skins

Tsurumi Tokushirō (15 skins)

Tsuyama Yūbari no tankō jiko de shibō shita shūjin Shiraishi Yoshitake (copy) Sakamoto Keiichirō Gotō Sugimoto Saichi-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)

Sofia (1 skin?)

Gansoku Mahiru (copy) [We don’t know if Sophia managed to make a copy]

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I've been rereading GK in its entirety lately and thanks to your post about the full list of the convicts so far image/179772895093 and the additional convicts we've met since then (Boutarou, Ueji the candy peddler and that Japanese copy cat of Jack the Ripper), it seems that we're only short of one convict that we haven't met at all. Since it seems we're heading towards a big showdown in Sapporo, do you think it's possible that one convict/tattoo truly disappeared 1/2

I’ve been wondering about this as well.

Noda is basically setting things up so as having a big showdown in Sapporo. Everyone is going there.

Narratively speaking in a firework show it seems the big finale in which a lot of fireworks are shoot at the same time.

So, if the big show is at when we’re at convict 22/23 what about convict 24?

I mean you’ll expect the final convict to be involved in a epic arc that would conclude the story or, at least, the convict hunt but really, what could be bigger than a convict hunt for two dangerous convicts in Sapporo with basically all the cast there?

Wakayama has hinted it can be that Ueji’s tattoos are the ones who can’t be used... and it would make sense, as the guy likes to tattoo himself so he could have added other tattoos to Wilk’s original handywork so that you can’t really differentiate what Wilk wrote and what Ueji wroke.

Of course Wakayama might have been talking of someone else as well, Ueji saw him giving up but we don’t know what happened that made him give up.

So back to the 24th convict and that story that will be tied to him.

So far we touched many types of crimes so it can be this one has another that’s pretty peculiar... but the point is apparently there’s no news about him committing crimes (even though it’s a bit weird Jack waited a year to resume killing... so maybe this guy just waited for the other convicts to be out of the way before resuming his criminal activity...).

Is he someone incredibly strong? We don’t know.

In itself while the addition of Kadokura to the plot was useful to introduce the convicts, ultimately is a weak point. I mean, Kadokura should know who were the tattooed convicts, so they should have just asked him who were the missing convicts. Of course this would have ruined the suspance of the plot but they could have had the scene off screen.

I think this might be a weak point in Noda’s work as, at first, he was clearly aiming at having Hijikata use Inudo’s information... then remembered he has Kadokura (who should have known from where Youichirou was but who cares).

Now... let’s assume the convict is someone we already know.

We don’t have many options.

If it were to be Kirawus, Kadokura should have recognized him unless Kirawus is in disguise.

I think Asirpa would have noticed if Makanakkuru had ended in jail.

It’ll be pretty fun if the guy in Nikaido’s hospital turned out to be a convict...

...but his chest doesn’t seem to be tattooed.

Who else remains that we know and is still alive?

The pimp in vol 1? Would be interesting as Sugimoto basically had a convict right in his hands and never recognized him but I think chances are low. I mean, unless the guy is better than Suzukawa at disguising and has poor memory he should have recognized both Shiraishi and Ushiyama, who were quite famous and would have not helped Sugi to track down convicts.

Takuboku was an historical character so I don’t think he can be a criminal.

Kantarou doesn’t seem to be the type.

It would also be surprising if the barber Yamamoto were to be a convict... but honestly I don’t think so.

Honestly no other recurring chara comes to my mind.

Of course it can be that the 24 criminal was actually a man of the 7th who pretended to be a criminal. This would explain how Tsurumi knew Wilk has completed his tattoo puzzle because his spy informed him.

Or the 24th convist might be already dead and someone own his skin and never said so until now.

Or the 24th criminal is surprising for some other reason.

Who knows, maybe he’s the guy who was really responsible for murdering the Ainu and who ended up in jail for another crime. Or someone who was innocent and arrested by mistake.

It’s hard to say... but it surely is an interesting choice to have a big fight before presenting him. Or maybe the big fight won’t take place as something will happen that will cause Jack and Ueji to leave the city before the mess start and join hands with a third convict.

Or, alternatively, he’s in the city as well and we just weren’t told yet.

We can only wait and see but I’m rather excited about it. I don’t think we’ll have more than 30 volumes, I would say they’ll be 28 and we just ended vol 24 so really we’re getting close to the end and I really want to know how things will go! I can’t wait!

Thank you for offering such an intereting point to wonder about!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Oh! I´m happily surprised to see that Noda went with my hunch about Oyabun, thanks for remembering! Also, I think the prostitute Oyabun thinks Hime killed, was the one Ienaga tortured. As for the timeline, I really wish we get canonical chronology of the events at some point, it would help a lot, however I think your approach to it was the closest one yet.

Of course I would remember your theory,

as I said back then it was very interesting!

I’m still wondering if there’s more that Wakayama isn’t saying because if we compare the image that was shown in chap 56 with his own, the two don’t really match.

The guy who gives away the skin seems very short haired like Nakazawa and he also seems to lack sideburns, while boss’ hair is much longer and with prominent sideburns and it were as such in prison also (see chap 172).

Even if we go and stretch things and assume Noda didn’t give him the right character design, Noda didn’t fix things in the volume in which Wakayama said he did it redrawing him or redrawing the scene from another perspective but, basically, removed the image of the person handing the skin.

So I wonder if there can be more in this.

I also was sure the prostitute he talked about was the one Ienaga killed... LOL, I’ve even discussed about it recently... because, after all, that seemed the end of Wakayama’s story so it seemed unlikely to assume there was something more in the death of that prostitute.

Now though I’m wondering because the only way Wakayama had to be sure the prostitute was death and not that someone caused him to escape, was for him to see the body... but if Ienaga kept the prostitute in her dungeon to torture him, it’s unlikely Wakayama managed to find the dungeon and see the body or he would have also seen Ienaga torturing him.

Besides quite a lot of time passed between when Wakayama dropped by to Ienaga’s hotel and the time in which he blamed Nakazawa for a prostitute’s death... so it can entirely be that ANOTHER prostitute died in the meantime.

Overall I don’t really know.

Like you, before this chapter, I wa willing to bet the prostitute was the one Ienaga murdered.

I’ve tried more than once to reconstruct the timeline but Noda is very vague with it and there’s probably a retcon in it regarding the Nopperabou incident as in February Asirpa said the Nopperabou incident happened 5 years ago,

however Abashiri takes place in September of the same year, so not even a year after and yet Kadokura had been watching over Nopperabou for 7 years?

Long story short it’s extremely hard to figure when something happened.

Barato for example should have happened in April while the meeting with Wakayama in May... yet from Wakayama’s words the two seem to happen at the same time... so well, it’s a mess.

Noda is probably having a lot of fun letting us guess!

Long story short we can only wait and see, still again congratulation for guessing right and thank you for having shared your theory with me! You’ve been awesome!