#and if nothing else he at least ilustrates that surviving war is as much (if not more) about sheer dumb luck than it is skill

[hedgehogcryptid]

Been thinking about Golden Kamuy and all the people who are kinda pissed or disappointed Sugimoto didn't die and my two cents about it are:

1) It's not really about him. His purpose is to be an ignorant fuck so that the audience has a reason to learn about the ainu, and follow Asirpa along as she explains and guides us through their world and their struggles. If Sugimoto dies then it does become about him, and that defeats the purpose. We're not supposed to mourn the likeable young man left adrift by the war who tragically died in pursuit of a higher purpose. We're supposed to empatize with the fight of the native people fighting for the right to their very existence

2) Sugimoto's purpose is to be Asirpa's bodyguard, and that means he HAS to be immortal, because the world construed in GK is one where violence has very real consecuences. The teenage girl facing against war veterans and violent ex convicts, as the sole key to obtaining unimaginable riches, would NOT have a happy ending in that world unless she had a protector that broke the laws of the universe

2.1) The alternative would be that Asirpa somehow be able to protect herself and that would mean SHE became an unrealistically cool, capable, unkillable character, which also defeats the purpose. GK presents the Ainu with respect to their culture and their struggles. It does not present them as an over-romanticized version of themselves with barely any resemblance to the real people they actually are in exchange for cool points. They're not there to be an exotic and exiting new kind of shonen fighter. Sugimoto is the one shouldering the weight of unrealistic action sequences so that Asirpa can be a more accurate representation of realistic human beings with human problems and limitations

So basically, however much I like him, I think Sugimoto is less a human being than he is a plot device. Which coincidentally also builds up on his feelings of dehumanization due to what he went through on the war and his immortality itself