#ANYWAY ME WHEN I NOTICED THAT THERE IS A MANGA PANEL WHERE VASILY HAS HIS HOOD OFF. HE IS EATING CURRY. I SAW AND I JUMPED FOR JOY

[grand-line-shenanigans]

Schrodinger's Igogusa. Or something

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapter 259 & 260 - predictable events [shrugs]

Chapter 259 starts with a flashback to Abashiri Prison as Boutarou is released from solitary confinement.  Shiraishi asks him what he did to land in solitary, specifically who he beat up - and we learn it was Ueji.  This goes back to the story by Ueji about how he told Boutarou he saw his aunt, a woman that Boutarou has now confirmed never existed.   Since Ueji was messing with Boutarou, he was upset/offended enough that he had no problem killing him.

This shows us that Boutarou seems to be sensitive to joking/teasing/bullying as Shiraishi chides him for his frequent trips to solitary.

This allows for us to see a contemplative/serious facial expression on Boutarou’s face before he continues the conversation with Shiraishi who is picking his nose with his toes? 

This then allows for a wistful looking image of Shiraishi replying that he doesn’t have any family waiting for him outside of prison, and he was abandoned at a temple as a baby.  This knowledge of abandonment is how Boutarou wants to connect with Shiraishi; that they are alone in this world at the present.

This allows Boutarou to ask him if he’d return to the temple, but Shiraishi could careless; he ran away in the first place and it likely doesn’t exist as it seemed to be on its way out.  As expected, he just jokes if he had a lot of money he’d spent it on prostitutes (and implying that he’s filling his emptiness with transactional sex).

Nihei, reminds them the only thing that matters is to use the tattoo as a way to get out of prison and do whatever you want unrelated to the gold.  This is expected for the man who returned to the mountain to hunt.

They return to Boutarou’s goal, to amass a small fortune e.g. the gold and create his own kingdom.  The next page or so just focuses on how he came from a large family with 14 members and how he was the only one who didn’t die of smallpox.  He isn’t just interested in having a large family to compensate for his lost family, he goes beyond that where by becoming the king, he’ll always be remembered and not forgotten as the founder.  He is a man who wants to preserve himself not only genetically through having lots of kids but also through mythology and nation building concepts.

Shiraishi and Nihei tease him a little about his dreams which they find to be completely unrealistic which he is not amused with.  Speaking very frankly with him, Shiraishi points out that Boutarou is a lonely guy and that his dream is a reflection of his loneliness. 

This exchange is interesting to me for two reasons.  1.) This shows us that Shiraishi is an observant guy which we know but it is another instance of it in his past. 2.) He can be very blunt and forward with Boutarou.  I find him to be very assertive with Boutarou, a man who just came out of solitary for beating up another prisoner.  Yet, Shiraishi can speak like this with him and this also alludes to their current time line interactions where Boutarou respects Shiraishi and understands him well - as well as Shiraishi understands him.

This frank openness between them continues on the next page.  Shiraishi jokes back that he’s been a king - and escape king.  But Boutarou’s critique of him is a valid and honest one.

Breaking out of jail isn’t a long term plan.  Having a dream like Boutarou’s is a viable plan, that since he is unwelcome in current society, he’s like ‘fuck this - I’ll just make my own society’  He lost his home and community support and it was clearly influential on him as a child both having a family and then the loss.  So, for him creating his own special home is his driving force in his actions and reason to become involved in the hunt for the gold.

And not missing a beat, he tells Shiraishi he also needs to create his own home if he lacks one - just like him.  The level of frankness between the two of them - they clearly have more than just a passing ‘professional’ relationship.

The manga returns to the current events and Boutarou is telling Asirpa to let go of the door so that she can return to her home with Sugimoto and that they can become a family.  I get it, he knows she has a crush on him and all little girls dream of finding a man and getting married etc etc.  I don’t doubt Asirpa’s crush on Sugimoto, but she is also not the type of young teen girl who would be so simple minded.

Sugimoto is struggling to breathe in a corridor of the brewery as he falls into his rather pathetic monologuing about how pathetic he is.  Nice copy and paste of the rifle there Noda.  We saw it a few chapters ago when Ogata was eyeing Usami’s which was also Ogata’s when Vasily sniped at them.

Why do I not take Sugimoto’s whole ‘boo hoo’ bit seriously?  Because this shows us how he actually sees Asirpa and her relationship with him.  He ‘finally got her back’ she ‘got stolen away again’.  Even with the English translation, the intention is still clear, Asirpa is like an object to him. 

Read these following sentences;

1. Kiro and Ogata stole Asirpa from Sugimoto.

2. Kiro and Ogata kidnapped Asirpa from Sugimoto.

3. Kiro, and Ogata took Asirpa to Karafuto.

As an objective reader of the manga which of these is the most factually correct?  Number 3, at heart Kiro and Ogata had a plan to take Asirpa to Karafuto to learn the code and connect with Sofia.  Yet, this is not the narrative that Sugimoto tells himself or others.  He continues to go with number 1, that Kiro and Ogata stole Asirpa from him and now Boutarou stole Asirpa from him.  Asirpa is something that he possesses.  This is problematic as it shows how unequal their partnership is. 

I’d argue a more equal partnership if he used number 2.  That she was kidnapped which is a word we use to distinguish people from mere objects in English.  Is my argument 100% based on this - not quite since we are working with the translation of the original text, but ever since Karafuto, Sugimoto has acted like Asirpa is something that he and only he has privy to and completely ignores the fact that she is her own person and will exercise free will. 

Therefore, this also pokes holes in Boutarou’s reading that Asirpa will cave to the idea that if he tells her to go home and marry Sugimoto that will solve her problems.  I’m pretty confident that Asirpa does not see her relationship with Sugimoto the same way that he sees her and Shiraishi already made a point about this back before they were to meet up with Tsurumi.

Anyways, back to the action.  We don’t see if Asirpa let’s go of the door, we just see that Koito is aggressively approaching Boutarou with his sabre raised and notices that he has Asirpa.

With is luscious locks, Bouatrou is able to distract Koito and punch him with his long reach.  He goes to shoot Koito, but a shot hits his hand with the revolver and it is Tsukishima close behind.

He orders Boutarou to withdraw, and he dashes out with Asirpa and heads to a lower level where the beer flood happened.

Asirpa is still resisting trying to hold onto the railings of a staircase, making his fast escape a bit of an issue.  She also is able to raise a fundamental question - the gold was supposed to be used by the Ainu to create their own country.  Therefore, if the gold is stolen by Boutarou, she will be unable to protect her own homeland - the one he keeps telling her to go back to.

We get an image of the clear cutting of the forest in Hokkaido that almost killed her and then she thinks of the kotan where Wilk was born that is now a fox farm.  The traces of her Karafuto relatives is already gone, taken over by the Japanese for less sustainable practices. 

Boutarou sweats nervously, he doesn’t have an answer for her since this is now an example of conflict with their own dreams and goals for the gold.  However, this philosophical pause from him, allows for Koito the strike him with his sabre from behind.  Koito prepares for his second strike as Boutarou falls back into the pool of beer.

Asirpa meanwhile still clings to the stair railing as Koito is ready to strike again.

Boutarou swims off and it is unclear where he’s gone to.  Koito is impressed by Boutarou’s toughness as Asirpa coughs on the stairs.  Only then do we hear Tsukishima’s voice asking Koito where he is.  And with that I internally groan.

Me - goddammit Koito!  Why did you go and do almost the exact same thing you did on the ice floe and with Sugimoto.  Don’t rush ahead with no back up.  You just realized he’s a tough guy.  Well, at least this time he tells Tsukishima where he is and to come quickly.

He says that he secured Asirpa and doesn’t notice that Boutarou has emerged from the beer and is clearly going to attack him.  He looks like a gross beer/swamp monster, his teeth visible and eyes covered by his long hair.

By time Tsukishima arrives with his rifle at ready he sees Asirpa and only Koito’s sabre.

[facepalms]

Come on Koito, I’m rooting for you buddy, but please stop running ahead.  You are slowly getting better, but one aspect of being a leader of men is to have men to lead, not leave behind.

And the chapter ends with his heightened tension that Koito has been pulled back under the beer.

I have other deep thoughts (lol. terrible pun) about chapter 259 so lets move onto 260 which goes back a few seconds to show us what happened to Koito.  Boutarou reaches out towards Koito and he’s able to overpower him.

Asirpa tries to crawl away as Koito drops his sabre and is drug under the surface of the beer.  We all know that Boutarou is going to try to drown him as he can hold his breath longer than his victims.

Tsukishima finally reaches where Asirpa is and he flat out asks her were Koito is.  She ignores him and tries to dash away, but he grabs onto her wolf pelt cloak.  The last panel then shoes her as she draws her knife and swings at Tsukishima!

Yes! Asirpa is about to use her knife against him!  There is so much desperation in her behavior.  Koito then reaches his hand up as bubbles come to the surface, and we see Tsukishima holding Asirpa’s hand on her knife.  Tsukishima calls out for Koito and Asirpa tells him that he was pulled into the beer.

He then uses his rifle to hold her against him and still holds her hand with the knife out of the way as he tells himself that Asirpa is more important than everything else.

Koito is held underwater as his boot sticks out and we see that Boutarou is trying to strangle him with his hair (he truly has impressive hair!) as Koito begins to weaken.  We are left briefly wondering if Koito will be abandoned - but come on, we know what will happen.

Tsukishima kicks Boutarou in the head allowing Koito to sit up.  Tsukishima then shoots Boutarou, and we see some blood diffuse out into the beer.  Tsukishima is focused as he ejects the empty shell and Boutarou swims off.

He tells Koito to get out of the beer as he may return, and Koito angrily asks about Asirpa.  She’s heading out on her own, as the smoke causes her to cough her knife out and ready.  Koito is upset that Tsukishima[aaaa] let her go to save him.  This is so interesting to me as it does show that Koito felt that he is less important than Asirpa.  He was willing to potentially die which, despite his impulsive behaviors, this time he at least seems to be aware of it.

Tsukishima can’t look at him as he apologizes and Koito berates him that saving him is not a priority.  This pretty much seals the deal for these two men.  Tsukishima is Koito’s older brother and he has shown that he doesn’t have it in himself to hurt Koito for Tsurumi. 

This is at least one instance where Koito does at least own up and state that he should have followed orders.  So, kudos to more self-aware Koito, though I’m sure he’s still thankful that Tsukishima saved him.

Nikaido is randomly wandering around (clearly no longer wanting to kill Sugimoto) as he finds her.

She again aggressively goes to strike him with her knife.  Asirpa is beyond desperate - is she trying to mirror Sugimoto by just forging ahead and attacking everyone with no thought about harming them?

But just like with Tsukishima, she is immediately overpowered.  Without her poison tipped arrows, she’s at a huge disadvantage.  Emulating your crush’s fighting style isn’t going to work.

Thankfully, karma intervenes and she doesn’t harm him.  Instead, she activates his chopstick dispenser and she’s taken down by a chopstick to the forehead.

This is rather fitting since, she’s been stopped by an item she would find important, chopsticks which along with spoons facilitate one of her loves - food.  And with that she is delivered to Tsurumi who praises Nikaido.

The next page is when things get really interesting.  Nikaido is upset that Sugimoto is alive and Tsurumi blows him off.  Very rough looking Tsukishima and Koito then make it to Tsurumi to see that Asirpa has been caught.  Likely on autopilot, Tsukishima starts speaking . . . but Koito then continues and reports to him as the commanding officer of the two.

He then mid-explaination becomes incredibly uncomfortable unable to speak.  We can’t see Tsurumi’s facial expression, it would be nice to know what Koito sees as he only awkwardly ends stating they were in the brewery. 

Koito is sweating profusely, whatever Tsurumi looked like, he just realized that he should have let Tsukishima do the talking as he’s given away that his fear of speaking to Tsurumi is gone.  The fact that Tsurumi hesitates before telling him that he understands, leaves Koito in shock as Tsukishima is likely trying to not lose it with him.  Since he now knows that Koito has given away something about his changed status towards Tsurumi.  Since Tsurumi is in the realm of super smart villain, I’d guess Tsukishima knows that Tsurumi knows about how Koito learned something about his kidnapping which was what lead to his in ability to speak to him in the first place.  Recall, that when they were in Kagoshima, young Koito could speak to Tsurumi with little issue.

Tsurumi then calls for a retreat and avoid any more fights.  Apparently, he now has enough information to crack the code.  Okay Tsurumi - does this mean you can do so with Asirpa?  Since, he still doesn’t know the Ainu name that is matches with. . . .

Nikaido pouts in the background as Koito looks like he wants to fade into the background.  Tsukishima clearly doesn’t look happy either as he holds Asirpa.  I guess being Tsurumi’s right hand man means he gets to hold onto her?

He likely feels uncomfortable about things since now that Koito has let the cat out of the bag, Tsurumi will likely ask him about what happened between them.

Boutarou exits, pissed off at how he lost Asirpa but seems to be alright overall.  Of course, the next page reveals Sugimoto charging towards him to give Asirpa back. Yep, attack first, ask questions later/maybe Sugimoto.

Sugimoto pretty much has murder eyes as he thinks attacking Boutarou will solve his problem.

Now, the fact that Boutarou has survived this well, tells me that he likely has the same ‘luck’ that Sugimoto has.  He was stabbed by Sugimoto, his ear cut off, slashed by Koito, and shot twice by Tsukishima.  It is pretty damn obvious that Boutarou is to be both a foil and a twin to Sugimoto.  The only difference between them is Boutarou became a criminal, while Sugimoto became a soldier a man with a license to kill under the laws of the government while enlisted in the army.  Since leaving the army, he’s killed many people in the quest for the gold, but that doesn’t make him a ‘good guy’ because he’s a former soldier.

Sugimoto is always trying to tell others how he’s better than they are.  He’s better than the convicts because he didn’t break the law.  But, if we look at his own actions, he may have been worse than some of the convicts having killed more people than they did.  Think of Shiraishi or Nihei.  Nihei killed those hunters, but he refused to go off to war and lost his son in the Sino-Japanese war.  Therefore, we could argue that based on the number of people killed, Sugimoto is far worse than Nihei as he was almost karmic in his revenge.  Furthermore, Nihei even let himself be arrested, he killed the one man but didn’t even fight the police as his revenge was complete and he accepted his fate.

What I’m getting to is that Boutarou is the character who is going to disrupt Sugimoto and make him very uncomfortable and be unable to keep acting like he’s on the ‘right’ side of things.  Sugimoto needs to stop othering the convicts and tell himself he’s better than all of them - his own decisions led him to this just like something drove Boutarou to become a pirate and criminal.

I predict that Shiraishi will rush in to stop Sugimoto from killing Boutarou.  We still need to learn more about their past and what is the full connection between Shiraishi and Boutarou.  There is much more to learn, Shiraishi is too open and frank with him and he lets Boutarou get close to him physically and emotionally.

Hijikata’s group then regroups and decides what to do.  Of course Hijikata being the manly man that he is, states he’ll enter if required.

Kirawus then begins to panic that that no one has seen Kadokura.  Apparently shooting off the firework was too distracting for him and he didn’t keep track of his drinking buddy.  What were you doing man?  Where were you?  You aren’t very good at these sorts of things?

Kadokura apologizes to Hijikata for failing to stick with him to the end as he lie on the floor of the room with the mash pots. We see Kirawus at his most emotional as he cries out and Kantarou holds him back.

Is Kirawus a softy at heart?  I was predicting that he’d have gone in to save him but no, we get a demonstration of Kadokura’s good bad luck as the collapsing building makes a bed for him, tucks him into the futon and even gives him a beer to enjoy.

I personally like this use of extremely unlikely events surrounding him.  Sometimes, I find some of the more crass humor in GK to be not my cup of tea, but this sort of absurdist humor is good.  For a very action and emotionally charged chapter this is a good resolution of the tension. 

Kadokura is rewarded for trying his best by being rescued by the building.  Yep, he’s certainly more competent than he appears.  Is he the secret weapon of team Hijikata? 

Conclusions on these chapters.

As I stated in the title, things are pretty predictable, but rewarding for the readers at least.

Asirpa has shown that when she loses her cool, she leads to her own capture.  Separated from Sugimoto, she makes many poor decisions.  She tries to leave Koito to be killed by Boutarou.  She attacks Tsukishima and Nikaido.  She tried to use the poison arrow on Kikuta.  As a character who started out with a strong do no harm to other humans, she’s quickly sliding into grey.  I think the worst part was almost ignoring Koito.  She is hesitant to tell Tsukishima what happened and uses his pause to try to attack him.

Her capture is the worst outcome of events.  She should have listened to Kikuta and found another solution. She could have just let Boutarou escape with her and bide her time.  It seems that her reckless and aggressive behavior has backfired.  Sure, some readers will be like ‘She was just defending herself!’ but without her arrows, she is at a huge disadvantage and should know when to give up.  I’m pretty sure that this mindset comes from her being with Sugimoto.

Boutarou will team up with Sugimoto with Shiraishi as the mediator.  ‘Cause it is obvious.

Koito is freaked out that he gave away his personal growth, Nikaido is stewing in the background and Tsukishma just looks guilty.

Hijikata’s group will likely retreat with Kadokura leaving Shiraishi, Boutarou, and Sugimoto behind.  Since other than Shiraishi, the other two men are just annoyances to Hijikata.

Ogata is somewhere.  Is he going to continue his sniper battle or will he retreat?  He seemed pretty chill when he walked by Kikuta.  The smoke and fire and chaos will really mess with things, but Vasily is likely losing his cool.

Vasily, the character who had potential but currently is lame may be waiting for Ogata?  Or maybe he could pull back?

Lastly, where is Kikuta?  Does he know that Ogata shot Usami?  I can’t help but seeing him stroll into the headquarters of the 27th and be like “Hey everyone.  What did I miss?” [as he strikes a sexy pose and lights a cigarette].

It would be neat to learn if they at least chatted about something.

Well that is all for now.  Let’s see how the insanity continues to unfold.

[chibivesicle]

Volume 17 has small changes to Ogata’s facial expressions that really change his emotions.

I purchase the manga digitally to get the official english language editions, but I do not purchase the hard copies as I’m trying to have less comics on my bookshelves.  I made an exception recently to purchase the Japanese editions of vol 7 with Kiro on the cover and vol 17, the second Ogata cover.

I finally had some time to look through the tankoban and these are the Ogata specific changes that really stood out for me from the weekly publication.  I’m not addressing the additional panels since I can’t compare them with the original anyways.

If you want another comparison of Volume 17 with the original publication here is a link to @goldenkamuyhunting‘s post.

https://goldenkamuyhunting.tumblr.com/post/184234880638/can-u-share-the-difference-between-magazine-and

What quickly stood out for me as a reader is that Noda tweaked several of Ogata’s facial expressions.  He however, did not change anything that I could notice for chapters 164 - Bad Omen and 165 - Flag Bearer.  I was expecting edits to these chapters but that was not the case.  Noda instead wanted to focus on Ogata’s emotions before those events.

I apologize for the not quite quality images of the tankoban, I had to take the pictures while holding it open. My tablet assumes I’m right handed so I had to hold the book down with my left while taking the pictures with my right which is awkward for me.

The first change is with chapter 161 as they get shot at by the Russian border guards.

In the magazine Ogata’s mouth is open as he peeks out over the sled with Asirpa next to him hidden.

The change is that he is frowning in the tankoban. The shading around his nose is completely different and he’s got lots of stress lines under his eyes which weren’t under his right eye in the magazine version.  His eyes were also completely redrawn with them looking less round and more rectangular and his eyelids are different, especially his right eye looks more open at the top.

These changes seem to switch his expression from somewhat curious looking to much more serious.  I think this is to indicate that he’s now in sniper mode, he’s turning off what little emotions he expresses to his deadpan look that we see later in the trenches in chapter 165.

The next change is with when he is addressing Asirpa and Kiro [indirectly].  In the original he’s looking more towards the viewer with a bit of a side glance.

In the tankoban, his gaze is shifted to Asirpa to indicate that he is addressing her and hopes she understands the full meaning of his words. Noda also removed a lot of the screen tones from both Ogata and Asirpa’s faces to make them look less like they are reacting to the emotions and danger and more that they are talking to each other.

By changing it so that Ogata’s gaze is looking at Asirpa it shows that he is directing his comments to her and to get her to think what might be happening.

Interestingly, one of my all time favorite panels with Ogata got changed.  I love the scene where he shots the spotter Ilya and then uses that distraction so that they can escape and re-group.

In the printed version his eyes are changed and a loose strand of hair has been added (nice touch with the hair there Noda).   His eyes are much more open, and stress lines have been added under them.  His pupil/irises are much rounder and focused in the direction that he shot as well as where the rest of the border guards are.

The shift in his gaze and making his eyes more open makes him look more involved.  In the magazine panel he looks a little stiff and robotic.  This corrected panel looks much more dynamic.  Is this an indication he’s more involved in protecting everyone?  *shrugs*

The next change also involves his gaze again, this time towards Kiro.  In the original he’s pulling up his hood to prepare to head out and snipe Vasily.  He promptly informs Kiro that no gods were involved, they escaped due to his sniper skiils.

In the final version his eyes and mouth have been adjusted.  His eyes are less open and he really glances towards Kiro vs toward the reader.  He also has a more open and down turned corner of the mouth.

These changes make Ogata look more serious and much more focused.   Comparing with the original he again looks more stiff and robotic. It also makes him look less passive in regards to his “partnership” with Kiro.  Ogata is throwing Kiro some clear shade.  I like this redone panel a lot as well.

The last panel that looks different is the one where he’s laying in wait for Vasily.  The original one had his mouth obscured by his collar of his cloak.  It is hard to tell what his expression is here.

This was changed so that his mouth was clearly visible - now it is clear that his expression is the same as his frown from chapter 161 that was added in (the first image of this post that was from the tankoban).

Nothing else was changed in this image, his eyes are the same as well as the loose strand of hair.

Again, i think this shift to a blank frown indicates that Ogata is in full sniper mode.  He’s detached himself from everything but beating Vasily in their sniper showdown. 

I think all of these edits achieve a goal of give Ogata more emotions that are visible to the reader.  He has his deadpan, sniper mode which shows up in chapter 165 (not changed in the book) and these changes make him more consistent and in line with the parts that follow.  Based on how Ogata’s backstory was elaborated in chapter 103, it seems that Noda really wants to put a lot of effort in the tankoban versions to really make Ogata to be a clearer character.

The other three changes above make him look more engaged - less of that rectangle detached eyes and rounder more focused eyes with a clear character with whom he is talking to.  These really make him look much less passive and like many other readers, I was concerned about his silence during Karafuto/Sakhlin arc. With these changes, his eyes show much more engagement in the group and he is not as disengaged as originally thought.  I feel that all of these changes make Ogata look much more emotional in this arc as it leads up to the big reveal about his past in 165.  By making him more connected emotionally to the group, Asirpa in particular can indicate more of why he had his melt down on the ice in 187 & 188.  He’s clearly more concerned about Asirpa with these facial expressions than before.