#Okapimstari

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I always like to read your chapter reviews, answers to questions or just fandom's discussions. I can agree with almost every word in your posts. You are a very sensible, reasonable and well-read person and you know how to notice a lot of details and build interesting logical chains. Thank you very much!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I can’t really express well how happy it makes me to hear you saying so, especially in a moment in which my ramblings are likely pretty boring since they aren’t just gushing praises for the writing so again THANK YOU!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Perhaps Noda removed the moment with "smoothtalking bastard" to play with the reader, make a plot twist and remind what Ogata really thinks. It is possible that right now Ogata is doing to Tsurumi what he did to him and others. Manipulates, gives hope (salvation from this train), allows to think desired. And that's why Tsurumi got angry at the end - when he realized that Ogata was mocking. At least I would really like it to be that way. And not because Ogata became a idiot in favor of the plot.

To be honest...

I think many of us, myself included, hope that Noda removed those bits not to retcon them but to delude us into believing Ogata trusted into Tsurumi only to later remind us he never did.

I’ve to say it would be interesting if this was Ogata’s idea of getting his revenge on Tsurumi. Acting as if he fell for his tricks and sweet words and then had a jealousy attack in an attempt to manipulate Tsurumi with ‘sweet lies’ as well.

Though Ogata wasn’t painted as a good liar so yes, Tsurumi might have smelled up the fact Ogata is just tricking him (never mentioning Tsurumi is very clever and an expert liar so he might have smelled it up even if Ogata were to be good).

On the other side there’s this bit in Vol 10...

...and I’ve always wondered if it would eventually come up again. Ogata has been presenting for so long a certain image that he (and Tsurumi too) might have lost part of their sense of self.

And they also act very confident and in control so as to make people believe in them.

But we’ll see. As I’m pretty involved in this topic I’m not really the most reliable one, never mention Ogata’s words were often vague enough that even translation matters might be at play.

What confort me is I’ve heard a good part of the Japanese fandom too, despite being able to read the story in Japanese, felt confused by this development.

I just want to hope everything will end in a satisfactory manner as we’ve been trying to figure out Ogata for a long time and a retcon would be the most displeasing result. Thank you for your ask!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I remember that one of the old japanese (and not only japanese) methods of contraception for men was overheat. It could be a hot bath or something similar. The activity of spermatozoa decreased and the man lost the ability to reproduce for some time. Even now men are warned not to get carried away with heated seats in the car for example. Obviously this method had effectiveness. So I thought about Ogata who puts the stove between his legs at every opportunity... Hm. Interesting it's purposeful?

Oh, this is interesting...

although I find funny how  I would have never have guessed I would learn such things by being in the GK fandom! ^_-

It’s kind of fascinating!

I don’t think it’s purposeful, I think it falls into the joke of him being a cat... and I sympathize with him because I’m also the sort of person who get as close as possible to each heat source (which is precisely what I’m doing as I type... I’m always all pressed up against a heater... but well, I’m also on the ending line of the joke ‘you’re like a cat’... even my cat watch me and say ‘you’re one of us’...) but I think it’s still interesting.

Who knows, if Noda is aware of it, keeps Ogata alive and thinks to a flash forward in which everyone have a normal life maybe it’ll come up in the plot?

Thank you for this new info!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

In theory now thanks to Kadokura fake skins can be found. After all, he fell with it first in a puddle and then on the kettle. But in brewing are used copper boilers including in Sapporo. It is even called copper. The tannin with which Edogai tanned the skins gives a color reaction with iron, not with copper. So, I think that this is an artistic license. But what if this is an unexpected plot twist and fake skins will not be found?

Ops...

I’m not really familiar with brewings so I was so sure that thing was made with iron and that was the whole point of having wetted the skins and then having Kadokura slam against it! I feel so dumb now...

>_<

Noda probably did his research though, so I fear this means the ‘slamming against boiler’ scene didn’t cause the wet tattooed skins to react.

Maybe he’ll have them react to something else... or maybe Sugimoto and Shiraishi will end up captured by Tsurumi and it’ll be Tsurumi himself who will reveal the trick when he’ll check if their skins are fake or not.

We’ll see.

Overall I expect someone will divide the fake skins from the real ones. At this point I’m not sure who will be the one who’ll do the trick but I really wish for a reason why the fake skins also had to get wet so I like to hope they’ll get into contact with some iron.

We’ll need to wait and see though.

Thank you for the head up about the boiler!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

In the regular army privates consisted of peasants and were in fact mostly illiterate. Or less-illiterate (they could only read). But Border Guard Corps was a separate structure from the army. And although recruits to the lower ranks were recruited from the army. But due to the peculiarity and importance of the service they tried to teach privates at least a minimum of literacy in the initial education at the Corps.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THOSE GREAT INFO!

All this is really interesting!

I love how Golden Kamuy is also a beautiful chance to get into history and different cultures! really, thank you so much!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

When I first read Ch255 I got the impression that Jack might have slept with his mother. Not all inmates of monasteries sought to afraid of their honor after graduation. Some hurried to try different pleasures. I was confused that a random woman on the street came up to him and told him about the birthmark (I don't think he run around without his pants). So I think that he got a prostitute and then she told him about the mark. And then Jack went mad on topic with the immaculate conception.

Well...

honestly the impression I got is that the woman who told him to be his mother was, for Ostrog, an unknown woman who appreoached him. If he had inheirted his looks by his father it’s possible she figured out who he was.

Ostrog after all not only is sure he’s an immaculate conception but expects others to be as such as well.

But probably Ostrog’s backstory will be expanded and possibly changed in the volume version so it might be premature to discuss about it.

As for Ogata... I’ve been told Noda has/had a cat so i think he’s aware that cats can feel pain... but the idea Noda might be trying to portray an old belief is interesting.

Ogata is a tough guy... though this might be tied also in his psychological problems... I wish he would just get better...

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Why does Vasily need spoons? My friend @upn-the-sky suggested reasonable idea about spoons. Vasily stole two spoons to compete with Ogata in the sniper craft. Spoons stick into the ground at a certain distance and you need to shoot its down. This is truly a real practice of checking accuracy. Mb during the trip Vasily admitted to himself that he was honestly defeated! There is also the option that he will use spoons as a mirror for false glare to make Ogata give himself away with a useless shot.

Your friend’s idea is interesting!

And I would love for the spoons to be of some surprising relevance for the plot as I like when Noda does this, introduces an element that seems apparently meaningless and then puff, reveals its importance.

It would also fit with how Vasily seemed to be characterized before, as a cool and cold sniper instead than an overexcited teenager about to meet his crush, if he actually took the spoons and Sugimoto’s rifle for an unknown purpose and not because he wouldn’t think straight.

However so far Noda hadn’t revealed if there’s a purpose behind Vasily taking the spoons, giving the general implication Vasily is just too excited to think straight.

But well, as I said it would really be good if Vasily’s actions only seemed random and due to overexcitement and actually had a meaning instead.

We can only wait and see but thank you for sharing your and your friend’s theories! ^_^

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hello! I want to add about Vasily's literacy. At the Border Guard Corps there were regular education teams. The initial education took place over a period of 4 weeks and included, among other things, the acquisition of at least primary literacy. Many have learned literacy thanx to service.Of course some people neglected their studies and didn't mastered sufficient reading and writing. But I would like to think that even if Vasily was illiterate initially he took the opportunity to get knowledge.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFO!

I liked to think they would provide them a basic knowledge, if anything to read written orders but I couldn’t find any confirmation for this so your info is very welcomed! Really, thank you so much!

If I can ask, do you maybe know if this applied also to guardians of lighthouses like Svetlana’s parents? We’ve been wondering about them too and if they read the letter Svetlana supposedly wrote to them or if the letter was written by Tsukishima who also read it to them.

Anyway thank you so much for the info!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 274 “Obsession”

So this chapter is mostly a chapter that works to expose stuff except the most important one.

Come on, Sugimoto, let us know what you know about Yuusaku. We need to know. For science. No, okay, we’re just curious, that’s it.

So anyway, exposition time.

As the guys are at Sapporo station Asirpa tells them a story about an Ainu woman making beautiful red clothes. However, when her husband wore them, wet them under the rain and then rested his iron axe against them, they changed colour and turned brown.

Asirpa interprets this by saying the womans’ ‘obsession' for a perfect red colour made it delicate.

Meanwhile we see Shiraishi walking away from the bottle-mobile carrying Asirpa’s things. Now, okay, Asirpa has just lived a traumatic experience but I’m not really fond of how they turned Shiraishi into the boy that carries the luggage. Whatever, as he walks away he looks back at Boutarou’s corpse still in the bottle-mobile, thanking him, acknowledging him as the king ‘Thank you, king’.

In a way it’s important, as Shiraishi has never taken seriously Boutarou’s dream yet he now validates it, he can recognize its importance and the fact Boutarou lived to fulfil it… and, it’s possible, in a way he inherits it, he inherits the fact he’ll pass Boutarou’s memory on, so as not to let him die out completely.

On another note… I hope he didn’t have to skin him.

I would get the sense of it, how he might want to be the one to take care of it because Boutarou was his friend and saved his life but… I think skinning a person has also a damaging psychological effect so I don’t want this to happen to Shiraishi.

Anyway Asirpa goes on and remembers when Boutarou and Kadokura died the wet skins touched the metal stove, they changed colour.

So although @okapimstari​ was so kind to point out to me how the boiler should have been made in copper… well, evidently Noda took artistic licence and made it in iron. Or did they use iron stoves in the past?

No idea, anyway Asirpa noticed how one of the skins touching it has turned black while another hasn’t, which was what I expected for that scene to meant originally

Anyway Asirpa points out how Sugimoto uses alum to tan the skins and Nagakura confirms they do as well so Asirpa suggests Edogai instead used another method to tan the skin, basically guessing Edogai uses tannins from a spiketail plant, which would match with what Kumagishi suggested, that Edogai wanted to make fake skins that were better than the original.

At this point we see they had placed 6 skins on the rails, under the rain.

And here things can become troublesome.

Likely of whose 6 skins, 5 are the ones Ariko brought back. The last skin should be the one that Hijikata found in Edogai’s house. But Hijikata also had another fake skin, the one he got from the oil seller. When Asirpa figures out that, among those 6 skins, the skins that didn’t follow the rules were fake but that she has 2 who follow the rules...

...she, Nagakura and Co, instead than praising Tsurumi for his guts, should have realized this means there were 2 MORE FAKE SKINS UNACCOUNTED FOR and should have checked the other skins whose provenience they weren’t sure so that they would have figured out the oil seller skin is fake too.

The fact that a fake skin could still follow the rules isn’t so hard to figure out, after all, as Edogai was writing Kanji at random and could pick some which would fit.

But whatever, maybe they’ll realized they’ve to check those skins too and it will be revealed in the volume version… or they just didn’t try this method on the skin which already changed colour (but in this case why they didn’t test Ogata’s skin as well? Asirpa doubted it too)... or they’ll have troubles solving the code until they realize which can make for a more interesting plot. We’ll see.

Anyway Asirpa reveals that the key to solve the code is her father’s Ainu name ‘Horkew Oskoni’.

She gets such a sad look as she say so I feel bad for her.

Sugimoto comments it makes sense as what he realized in Karafuto was that some of the kanji on the skins shared the same sound when one would read them…

...and I facepalm here because this is irrelevant.

I mean, Wilk could very well insert in the skins kanji that read ‘pa’ 14 times and this would mean nothing because ‘pa’ isn’t the right kanji.

Either Wilk had been cautious to repeat only the kanji that could be read as his name… which gave people an additional way to figure out the code should they not know his name, or he mixed them all at random so that who didn’t know the key couldn’t say ‘okay, let’s consider all the kanji that sound the same and assume they’re the one which are relevant and discharge the others’ and then started a game of scrabble to see which word they could form with them so as to backtrack the key. But whatever, let’s let this slide.

Shiraishi, hearing how the name means “to catch up with the wolves” figures Asirpa remembered thanks to Kiro, another of Shiraishi’s friends who died in this gold hunt.

I wonder if Shiraishi is going to have a more relevant role in future developments since all this clearly affected him.

We’re shown a panel in which Sofia, Hijikata and Nagakura talk. I do wonder if Hijikata knows Russia or if Sofia is using her broken Japanese to talk with him but whatever, they’re probably coming to an agreement or some sort of allegiance.

Meanwhile Asirpa answers to Ushiyama’s question confirming she told Tsurumi about the code, the visual giving us an image of Tsurumi rolling above the fake skins under Tsukishima’s eyes. Really, Tsukishima, wake up, this is not a normal man you should follow.

Ushiyama points out they’ve to hurry so Sugimoto says they’ve to bet on the info Boutarou gave them about the place in which the Ainu gathered the gold long ago, so they should solve the code while going there, as the new hideout is likely near it.

To go there they decide to take the train.

There’s a panel showing they’re reached by Kantarou, Toni Anji, Kirawus and Kadokura before getting aboard the train. As Ogata, in the previous chapter, noticed Kirawus and Kadokura, I wonder if he is merely tailing them or he even went so far as talking with them.

We’ll see.

Anyway, once aboard the train, Hijikata points out they need a spot in which they can spread the skins so they can work on solving the code. Shiraishi points out the first class is perfect for that.

A first class passenger though, in a bit of a rude fashion, take in their poor look and warns them they’ve to hurry back to the third class.

Now… Hijikata usually has plenty of money so maybe he bought them tickets for the first class… but since they didn’t march straight to it but considered the third class I’m not so sure.

So, although the guy was rude with them, I don’t find particularly funny how Sugimoto just grabbed him and suck him out of the wagon in order to take possession of the first class wagon, and this stay true even if Hijikata is willing to pay the extra for a first class ticket for all of them.

He doesn’t own the train and that guy, albeit clearly rude, paid for the ticket, So Sugimoto is just being a bully, worse than the over mentioned rude guy.

Anyway, as Asirpa Hijikata and Nagakura start spreading the skins in attempt to work out the solution of the code...

...Sugimoto and Shiraishi just enjoy the softness of the seats in the first class, which are like VIP seats, Sugimoto falling asleep, rocked by the train.

Due to Shiraishi’s comment though, Sugimoto ends up remembering/dreaming Kikuta, telling him he has a VIP seat for hell which makes for one hell of a bad omen for their trip...

(I think you all read in the notes how this was the litteral meaning of the sentence both Sugimoto and Kikuta said back in the past which, back then was translated as ‘rolling a red carpet for them’ because in English it justs works better)...

... anyway Kikuta tells Sugimoto due to this Sugimoto should forget about him… and about Hanazawa Yuusaku too.

‘Wasurete kure. Hanazawa Yūsaku no koto mo zenbu wasurero’

忘れてくれ。花沢勇作のことも全部忘れろ

“Forget about me. Forget everything about Hanazawa Yuusaku also.”

Kikuta is wearing civilian clothes, his hair is cut short and his face is shaven as he smokes, which, in addition to the years who went by, might explain why Sugimoto didn’t immediately recognize him.

Sugimoto also has his hair cut short and no scars.

As Sugi got his scars very early at the start of the war, this is likely PRIOR to the start of the war, maybe when Sugimoto was in Tokyo about to be recruited for it.

It’s hard to tell though, as it can be also during his wandering prior to go back to his village and discover Umeko had married… but since he’s in a city I would say it’s after he made sure he wasn’t contagious any longer.

Kikuta is from the Saitama prefecture, which borders with Tokyo, so, combining it with how Kikuta is a spy for Central, and Sugimoto is from Kanagawa prefecture (which also borders with Tokyo) and got enlisted in the Tokyo Division, it makes sense he might be in the Tokyo area.

Now… the implications of the discussions are that Kikuta did something for Sugimoto that might have put the latter in troubles since the two seem to be in good relations and yet Kikuta urges him to forget about him, as if to say ‘do not care about what could happen to me, I’m a bad guy and I’ll end up in hell’.

Kikuta then suggests to Sugimoto to forget about Hanazawa Yuusaku, which, in case someone has forgotten, is the name of Ogata’s half-brother… which prior to the war should have been in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy which, again, is located in Tokyo so yeah, I’ll say they should be in Tokyo.

So what’s the connection between Yuusaku and Sugimoto?

In all of Ogata’s memories Yuusaku was presented as a model boy, a good boy, DESPITE BEING HANAZAWA’S SON AND HANAZAWA BEING A JERK.

Ogata assumes his nice disposition is due to being raised with love by loving parents.

Now, it can be that Yuusaku did something nice for Sugimoto but still Kikuta is urging him to forget Yuusaku.

It would match with the Yuusaku we knew up till now, who’s a nice boy… but I somehow don’t get this wibe from this conversation.

SO, REALLY CRAZY THEORIZING TIME UP, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED YOU’RE ABOUT TO ENTER IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!

Back in the far past, Sugimoto suggested Suzukawa should disguise as a high ranking officer from a division in Tokyo and Ogata shoot down that idea, saying that the higher you to in the army, the better everyone knows each other so they would see right through a fake high-ranking officer. He said so looking down, as if he had experienced something similar and, back then, many had wondered which could be the story behind this.

So what if the story behind this is that the Yuusaku he met actually wasn’t the real Yuusaku?

Please, follow me in this crazy theory.

Let’s assume something happened to Yuusaku, be it that he died or that he decided he’s not up for going to war with all that high mortality rate and escaped.

Depending on what happened to him, it can be that, in order not to lose face, either Hanazawa or Tsurumi covered up his death and replaced him.

It might explain why Yuusaku doesn’t seem to look at all like Hanazawa, down to his nose who looks more like Kikuta’s than Hanazawa.

But the trick would be quickly discovered should Yuusaku interact with higher ups.

So Yuusaku instead tries to spend all his time with the lower ranking soldiers. If the trick is staged by Tsurumi, it might be Tsurumi himself which instructed him to use as excuse to hand with the lower ranks, Ogata. Ogata doesn’t know ‘Yuusaku’ isn’t actually his brother, while the poor ‘Yuusaku’ just obeys to all the instructions given to him by who had placed him there. This might be why his explanation about why he shouldn’t kill people felt disconnected, not like it wouldn’t match what Hanazawa would tell him, and a bit hollow, as if he hadn’t had a lifetime to make it his own.

I mean, Hanazawa would want his son to become a great soldier like him, and kill people. He didn’t act like he cared about his troops (or anyone for the matter) so why should he care about them feeling guilt?

I think the stand in Yuusaku might have been a kind person, he might have been genuine in how he reached for Ogata, telling him it wasn’t possible he weren’t to feel guilt, maybe he even regretted tricking him.

But the stand in is set up to be killed.

He has to.

Partly because he would be eventually recognized as a stand in should he interact with the higher ups, partly because Tsurumi, by manipulating Ogata into killing him, basically breaks whatever kindness remained in Ogata that pushed him to feel sympathy for Koito’s situation in a way similar to how he broke Tsukishima as well as any loyalty he might feel for Hanazawa when the latter won’t care about searching him.

And Ogata might have discovered he killed the ‘wrong’ Yuusaku after he killed Hanazawa. Hanazawa had a Yuusaku portrait. Ogata might have discovered the face on it didn’t match with the one of the Yuusaku he killed.

And if that fake Yuusaku were tied to Kikuta somehow this would make it for an even more interesting situation, because it’s implied that Ogata and Kikuta are supposedly working together, but Ogata was nervous when he met Kikuta and felt the need to pat his head as Kikuta walked past him… and Usami was so kind to tattle out how Ogata was the one behind Yuusaku’s murder.

And Ogata probably now regrets murdering ‘Yuusaku’ also because that Yuusaku wasn’t the real deal and didn’t deserve it at all.

Also if the REAL Yuusaku looked like Hanazawa, he would have looked like Ogata too… and if he did something that upset Sugimoto this might explain Sugimoto’s initial hostility to Ogata as he subconsciously saw REAL Yuusaku in Ogata.

Okay, so this is the end for this really CRAZY THEORY TIME.

I’m probably off track big time and this is just insane theory time but it would explain some things nicely.

Anyway we’ll see if Noda will develop more the initial scene, telling us about Yuusaku from Sugimoto’s point of view, finally showing us his face.

Thank you for staying with me along my insanity and let’s wait for the next chapter!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Do you know anything about what qualifies men to expelled from the army back in the 1900s? I feel like there's a chance that Vasily's injury could've forced him to be let go from his battalion and this is possibly leading to the reason why he's chasing Ogata. Ogata as well could be prevented from serving in future wars because of the loss of his eye.

I’ll admit...

that no, I’m not that informed about it, but more than expelled for his injury he would have probably been discharged if his injury was as such they wouldn’t want him in the Army.

There’s to say Vasily is a sniper and a border guard so, since he can very well keep on guarding and shooting I don’t know if having problems with articulating words due to his injury would be considered enough to cause him to be discharged.

Also in canon Vasily is defined as a deserter from the Russian Army by Tsukishima.

Tsukishima knows Russian and not only could speak with him but could comunicate with him in written form.

@okapimstari was so kind to share with me the info that Border Guard Corps had at least a minimum litteracy so Vasily could write back to him his answers, therefore I think Tsukishima’s words are reliable enough.

Plus since Tsukishima worked in the intelligence with Tsurumi he probably knew if such an injury would be considered bad enough it would cause Vasily to be dismissed.

I tend to think the truth with Vasily is as simple as he says it: he didn’t die when he faced Ogata so he wants to resume his fight with him.

Both Sugimoto and Ogata see his behaviour as him merely wanting to chase and fight Ogata until one of them is dead and, I think, they might be close enough, if not spot on (I’m not sure about the spot on because we know so little about Vasily that everything is possible).

There’s also to say that in GK armies don’t really seem prone to discharge people no matter what. I mean, Nikaidou lost a leg and a hand and yet he’s still a valid 7th division fighter... so I think Noda wanted the army to forget soldiers could actually be discharged if seriously wounded.

Sorry, I fear I wasn’t very useful, still thank you for your ask!