#aoyama kenkichi
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While anon's ask about the GK women isn't wrong about love being a central part of their character arc/plot, I personally think it's very surface level to say love is the only big part of the female character's arcs in Golden Kamuy. Personally when I think of the most important characteristics of charas like Asirpa, Inkarmat, Sophia, etc etc I don't think of how they show/depict love right away (though no doubt it's a big part of their character and arguably what distinguishes them from the men/male charas), but more their own personality and strengths/abilities, which help support how they give and receive love. It's a lot more indepth than most female characters would give in most shounen stories so I appreciate Oda writing female characters with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Hum...
credits when it's due, anon said and I quote ""love" be a part (or central) to their character plot", not just that 'love is central to their plot'.
Note how central not only is the second option but it's also between brakets. I might be wrong but I think not even anon meant to imply love is all there is to those girls (anon is free to correct me though).
As I've linked in that same reply my rather long and detailed view on female characters, I didn't feel necessary to rewrite all their respective strenghts. As I said in the past, I think that for being a Seinen GK does well enough in regard to characterizing female characters.
It's also worth to note that shonen are aimed to a younger audience compared to seinen, so characters aren't necessarily expected to have the same depth (mind you, I'm not saying they can't be deep and well characterized, just that there's often less request for it... but in the end it depends on the author).
Now, just to put things into perspective on why people has disappointed by the way females seems not to exist independently by males, there are 30 female characters (sort of) in GK which, as I've said in the past are many, diverse and well characterized but yes they're almost all tied to 1 or more male characters and, if they weren't, they wouldn't be in the story.
Let's see how they're split.
They've no name and are just some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother
1 Nihei's female populated family
2 Kiroranke's wife
3 Hidoro's wife
4 Edogai's mother
5 Tanigaki's mother
6 Ogata's grandmother
7 Youichirou's wife
8 Tanigaki's daughter
9 Makanakkuru's wife
They've a name but they're in the story because they're some male character's mother/wife/daughter/grandmother/love interest/sister
1 Kenmochi Umeko (Sugimoto's initial love interest, Toraji's wife)
2 Chiyoko (Hidoro Tamotsu's lover and love interest of Hidoro Shinpei)
3 Inkarmat (feels one sided love for Wilk, will become Tanigaki's wife)
4 Tanigaki Fumi (Tanigaki's sister, Aoyama Kenkichi's wife)
5 O-gin (Sakamoto's lover/wife)
6 Ogata Tome (Ogata's mother, Hanazawa's ex-lover)
7 Harumi Chiyo (Tsukishima's love interest)
8 Hasegawa Fina (Tsurumi's wife)
9 Hasegawa Olga (Tsurumi's daughter)
10 Koito Yuki (Koito Otonoshin's mother, Koito Heiji's wife)
11 Noriko (Heita's brother's wife)
12 Hanazawa Hiro (Hanazawa's wife and Yuusaku's mother)
13 Kaneko Kaeko (Yuusaku's arranged fiance, she gets a crush on Sugimoto)
They are strongly connected to a male and won't be in the story without said male but they've also a goal/role that's independant from male characters
1 Asirpa (Wilk's daughter... she's dragged into the gold quest because first she wants to avenge her father and then discover his role in the Ainu slaughtering, she's also Sugimoto's partner... but through the story she manages to develop a goal that's independant from males, aka protect the Ainu culture)
2 Riratte (Wilk's wife... though yes, she's also Asirpa's mom which is more important.. though Asirpa doesn't know her if not for what her father told her)
3 Sofia (one sided love for Wilk which lead Kiro to think she's the best to give them info about Wilk that might help them solve the code, Kiroranke's love interest... but she's also a revolutionary who wants improve Russia... too bad she sacrifices her goal to fulfill the one of Wilk and Kiro)
4 Svetlana (leaves her family to follow a male but wants to see Saint Petersburg)
5 Sister Miyazawa (Shiraishi's idealized love interest, she doesn't even know of his existance and wants just to do her role as a nun)
6 Monoa and the other Ainu women of her village (they were the mothers/wives of the Ainu of their village, who were held captive by escaped Kabato convicts and would want to marry Ushiyama... actually I'm placing them here solely because in the end they carry on living on their own without men but without the Kobato convicts they wouldn't likely be in the story)
7 Osoma (she got a totally unncesssary crush on Tanigaki... that she overcomes thanks to a crush for a boy her age... but she's also Asirpa's cousin and that's more relevant)
8 Enonoka (while she was doing good at being a female character on her own, ultimately the story implies she'll marry Cikapasi once she grows up... and yeah, technically she's in the story to help her grandfather with his job and to carry Sugimoto's group through Karafuto)
They aren't in the story due to a male!
1 Susupo (she's Asirpa's grandmother and while it can be argued she became as such by marrying a male... well, said male is deceased and never seen in flashbacks and it's only worth is it's established early on Susupo is an important figure in the village because her husband was)
2 Kaneko's maid (not only she's not in the story due to a male but encourage Kaneko to not think her worth is tied to how handsome her husband will be)
It's... basically almost the totality of the female cast who's dragged into the story due to male characters who're mostly the focus of the story so that even well rounded characters like Asirpa or Inkarmat or Sofia just feel too tied to the male characters... and the fact the story feels the need to give them unnedessary crushes for male characters (did Asirpa really need to have to crush on Sugimoto? Couldn't she just see him as a brother figure? Especially since Asirpa is rather young? Did Sofia really need to have to crush on Wilk? Couldn't they just be companions? Did Inkarmat really have to crush on Wilk also? Same as Asirpa couldn't she just see him as a brother/father figure?)
So while I think that GK is doing remarkably well in regard to female representation for being a Seinen... well, this is very far for equal opportunities representation and I'm not surprised if someone is annoyed and feel like females are ALWAYS sidelined compared to male characters in manga... especially because in many countries shonen and seinen are the predominant manga which get translated, so if you aren't aware of what's a shonen, shoujo, seinen, josei but collect each story under the umbrella term of manga, the disparity gets even more marked.
That's why my stance is to aknowledge GK for how he's doing better, but also aknowledge that female representation in it is far from perfect.
Also... I think it's just a typo but Oda is "One piece" creator... "Golden Kamuy" was made by Noda... ^_-
Sorry for the long reply you probably didn't ask for.
The whole 'females in GK' would probably deserve a full meta which, at this point, I'm not going to write but, in honor of all those who complain, I wanted to write I also understand why they've problems with them, because indeed there are problems with them, even though I tend to see GK as a work that, for a seinen, deserves more praises than criticisms in that aspects.
Again sorry for the long reply.
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By Lanternlight
The Tanigaki family grave was dead silent.
On an unusually hot late-summer evening, when the cicadas were still flitting on the road behind where Tanigaki stood, it almost seemed out of place. It was as if the humidity outside the cover of wisteria trees that had long since lost their budding should have dripped between the spaces of the air, infecting the silence with heat and noise of Obon.
Tanigaki stood just on the edge of the lot, one foot into the silent shade of the trees, while the other rested just outside. In his hands was a single lantern, still burning with a soft flame.
He didn’t know why he was hesitating. It wasn’t for fear of being caught out; on the first night of Obon, it’d make sense to find people lighting their way to graveyards with lanterns. It wasn’t inclement weather either; it’d been one of the clearest nights in weeks.
Maybe it was because there was a new gravestone there.
It wasn’t that Tanigaki was afraid. There was nothing frightening on a night as clear as this, when the moon was full and visible overhead, hanging thickly above the center of the site where the trees didn’t cover. Moonlight illuminated the newest gravestone, making the glossy black surface shine. The characters on each side were illuminated in silver. Tanigaki didn’t need to be able to read them to know the pair of names on the stone.
He had changed the incense the day before, had swept and cleaned every inch of his house; had even painted his family’s old crest on the paper lantern in his hands. He’d done everything, and now, he just had to walk in. That was all he had to do.
He’d cleaned their graves before. He’d left incense. He’d said his prayers in the light of day, even managing to drag Ogata along once or twice, much to his lover’s annoyance. So what was different about tonight? What was really different enough to make Tanigaki’s throat seize up so tightly that he might as well have started crying?
“Hey, Genjirou,” There was a voice coming from behind him. “Are you going in?”
Heart skipping a beat in his chest, Tanigaki slowly turned to look behind him, eyes widening a bit in his shock. Behind him, she stood, slightly out of breath and with a few strands of hair falling from her elaborate style. “... Fumi.” Tanigaki breathed, slowly exhaling.
“Did I scare you, big brother?” Fumi gave a little smile, eyes shining with quiet amusement. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear us coming- it wasn’t exactly quiet, you know…”
“How are you here?” Tanigaki asked, turning around to face her. Fumi was already fussing with herself, trying to smooth the loose strands of hair back into place, hands mostly covered by the long sleeves of her white kimono. “I… you’ve been-”
“Well, we rode in on horseback, obviously.” Fumi huffed out a fond breath, gesturing behind her. In the dim lights along the dirt road, right in plain sight, Kenkichi waved from where he was resting against the mare’s speckled flank, looking far more out of breath than Fumi. Seeing Tanigaki finally notice him, Kenkichi grinned goodnaturedly, giving a thumbs up. Fumi continued, “We’re close enough to walk, you know, but Kenki insisted- said it’d make a bigger impression when we made it to the house.”
“Don’t forget- it was faster!” Kenkichi said lightly, finally walking over. He’d even had the time to tie that mare to a nearby signpost, in the time that Tanigaki had been preoccupied with his thoughts. “We don’t have much time, and well… we figured we’d come to you. Save the travel time and expenses.”
Fumi caught herself on a laugh, coughing politely to cover it. “Expenses… as if it would have cost more than six-”
“Why are you here?” Tanigaki finally got out, voice cracking a little on the last word.
The two in front of him paused. Fumi glanced back at Kenkichi and bit her lip briefly before turning back to Tanigaki, looking at his with sympathetic eyes. “Ah… I’m sorry. It would be a shock…”
“A shock- it’s. It’s a little… more than a shock.” Tanigaki swallowed thickly, touching the hand not preoccupied with holding his lantern in an iron grip to his mouth. “You’re not- you’re not supposed to be here. You’re…”
“Dead,” Kenkichi said, damnable pity in his voice.
Fumi moved forward and pulled Tanigaki’s right hand down from his face, squeezing it between both of hers. The spirit’s hands were ethereal- so much so that Tanigaki didn’t feel anything more than the lightest brush of wind gently pressing against his hand. Phantom weight and phantom comfort from phantom hands- it only made sense.
Kenkichi let out a gentle sigh and moved beside her, putting a hand on Tanigaki’s shoulder. “Hey. It’s alright- there’s no need to act so forlorn about it! It’s about time for the festival, isn’t it?” Kenkichi gave a wide smile, squeezing Tanigaki’s shoulder. “Don’t tell me we got the date wrong!”
Tanigaki was at a total loss for words. While he wasn’t usually a man of many words in the first place, this seemed like a time- possibly the only real time- to say the thousands of things he wanted to. Apologies, regrets, even filling them in on what was missed over the past eight months- something. Something important. He needed, more than anything, to step back, close his eyes, think-
Tanigaki couldn’t bring himself to pull away.
Lips parting, he took a shaky breath and was about to speak when another voice came from beyond the trees. “Hey, Tanigaki. Are you just going to stand there or what?”
Tanigaki’s head quickly turned towards the voice, blinking in bewilderment. He recognized the voice- and knew that it belonged to someone very much alive. “Ogata?” He asked, catching sight of the two ghosts’ heads turning towards the voice as well.
Ogata emerged from the dim road, looking wholly unimpressed and wearing leather motorcycle gloves. Tanigaki vehemently hoped that he hadn’t actually been riding his motorcycle this late at night- not only because the visibility, while clearer than most nights, wasn’t optimal, but also because if he was then that meant that Tanigaki hadn’t heard him coming in. That likely didn’t mean anything good for his hearing. Though maybe this time, it could be excused by the blood still rushing through them.
“Don’t see who else it could be,” Ogata said, slicking his hair back as if he didn’t already have a metric ton of gel in it. He smirked, lazy and antagonistic. “Unless you were expecting someone else, Tanigaki? Didn’t pin you for the type to have illicit activities planned this time of year-”
“Because I’m not,” Tanigaki said, glancing at Fumi and Kenkichi, still standing nearby. Kenkichi looked intrigued, while Fumi watched the newcomer with a look that was less than impressed.
“I didn’t realize you were expecting anyone, big brother,” Fumi said, looking over Ogata with a scrutinizing eye.
Tanigaki was about to open his mouth and politely answer her when Ogata said, “Well then. The hell are you doing here? Or are you just going to stand there looking half dead.” He couldn’t see the two standing beside Tanigaki, dressed in burial clothes and looking as nice as the day they were buried. And if he didn’t see them, that meant that Tanigaki may or may not have been having a grief fueled hallucination; and it certainly meant that he couldn’t just address them.
“I just didn’t expect you to actually show up around here,” Tanigaki said, leveling a look at Ogata and, honestly, wishing he would just go for once. Usually, Tanigaki might have welcomed the intrusion, since it wasn’t often that Ogata sought him out- but right then was… probably the worst time Ogata had ever managed to intrude.
“Well, I was in the area,” Ogata shrugged, “The store by your place is the only place around here that sells yuzu-pepper base. I figure I’d drop in and see if you were still obsessing over the cleaning.”
“No, I’m done,” Tanigaki said curtly.
“Then I saw you here,” Ogata tried to look past Tanigaki, into the entrance to the gravesite. “so I figured I’d come to say hi.”
“Funny little friend you got there,” Kenkichi said lightheartedly.
“Funny is a bit of an understatement…” Fumi said, touching her chin lightly with a hand.
“That’s kind of you.” Tanigaki got out. “I’ll be heading out soon, though. I just came in to visit for a few minutes- then I’m going home.”
“Is that so?” Ogata hummed as he stepped forward, eyes raking over Tanigaki’s face. Tanigaki shifted uncomfortably under the look, taking a step back. Fumi took his previous place, staring at Ogata as Ogata, unaware, stared straight over her. “That was all you came to do, hm… Are you sure that’s it?”
“Of course it is,” Tanigaki said, the corner of his lips twitching. “Why do you ask.”
“Oh, no reason, really,” Ogata waved his hand in a mildly dismissive manner, gaze sliding off of Tanigaki’s face and over his shoulder. He tried to crane his neck around Tanigaki for a moment more before he grinned. “I just thought I heard you talking to someone here.”
Tanigaki tensed. “Is that so? Sorry… I was talking to myself.”
“Well now that just hurts my heart,” Fumi mildly said, lightly touching her chest with her fingertips. “or it would have, I think.”
“I guess it is kinda true, though,” Kenkichi said, wrapping an arm around Ogata’s shoulders without even a second thought. Ogata, who hated random people touching him, didn’t even begin to react. He looked at Tanigaki sheepishly. “If he doesn’t realize we’re here, then you must have looked a little batty, talking to us here…”
Ogata watched Tanigaki for a long moment, unaware of the ghosts still lingering. Tanigaki was worrying that he was legitimately starting to lose it- after all, if they were just hallucinations, they should’ve gone, right? Why were they lingering and- perhaps this was the true horror of the situation- passing commentary on Ogata?
A stray leaf fell on Ogata’s shoulder and Kenkichi easily brushed it off as he took his arm back. Tanigaki started thinking… thinking that perhaps…
“So you’re not hiding anyone,” Ogata said, deadpan and, perhaps, slightly disappointed.
“No. Not at all.” Tanigaki said. “I���m not even sure where someone would hide, here.” That was true- the trees around the grave, while planted close together, didn’t provide wide enough coverage for a crouching body with their trunks. The gravestones were a tad smaller than usual- anyone would have to curl in on itself to hide completely.
“Ah! Got it.” Kenkichi snapped his fingers, “He’s your boyfriend, right?”
Tanigaki sucked down a quick breath and coughed, choking down a rebuttal.
“Him?” Fumi said, frowning as she walked around Ogata in a half-circle. “You finally have someone… but it’s him.”
“You’re acting weird as hell,” Ogata said, eyeing Tanigaki. “What are you, sick? From what, the cold?”
“No, no,” Tanigaki said, voice a tone too high before he cleared his throat. “It’s not. Illness. I’m just… tired.” He paused, glancing in the direction of the two spirits, still very much standing on either side of Ogata. “Very tired.”
“...” Tanigaki should have figured that Ogata wouldn’t have been satisfied by that answer; but he wasn’t expecting Ogata to step closer, pulling Tanigaki’s face down by his chin and resting their foreheads together. “... You’re warm.”
“... It’s a hot night.” Tanigaki shrugged helplessly, pulling away and turning his head to the side. “It’s probably just that. We’ve been out here for a while.”
“Maybe,” Ogata said with mild disdain. “Either way, you should go home.”
“No… no, I still have some work here.” Tanigaki let out a low breath, eyes flitting over towards Fumi and Kenkichi. Fumi looked at him with understanding eyes, nodding thoughtfully.
“Suit yourself. It’s your stupor.” Ogata said carelessly, turning around and taking a few steps away. Tanigaki figured this would be the end of it. Their talks tended to end fairly abruptly, after all- which, for once, was a relief. But instead, Ogata paused and looked over his shoulder. “... There was something I wanted to show you.”
“Hm? Is that right?” Tanigaki asked, blinking in bewilderment.
“Yea. You said I should get a lantern for all this festival crap,” Ogata said, peeking his head around one of the trees and reaching out, picking something up. “I saw this one for a couple of yen and thought, what the hell. May as well.” He held up the paper lantern, flickering dimly.
“Oh,” Tanigaki said, surprised. It wasn’t often that Ogata went out of his way to take other peoples’ suggestions- much less Tanigaki’s. “That’s nice.”
Ogata was quiet for a moment. “Is that all?”
“Well, yes?” Tanigaki’s eyebrow raised.
Ogata scoffed. “It has a crest in it- it’ll look good when we release these damned things out.” He paused, looking down at the dim lantern. “In a few days, I mean. At the fireworks show? Or did you completely forget.”
“I didn’t forget.” Tanigaki blinked, tilting his head. “You want to go together?”
“Obviously,” Ogata said, fishing in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a lighter. “You’re the one who made me buy this damned thing- hold on…”
Tanigaki was about to say that he didn’t actually make Ogata buy anything- and besides, hadn’t Ogata been the one who claimed he just got it on sale?- when he caught sight of something moving in the dark, just beyond the hand Ogata used to hold the lantern. Squinting to try and catch a better look, Tanigaki could swear… that there was another hand, mimicking the motion of Ogata lighting the lantern.
Ogata held the brightly illuminated lantern up, depicting several camellias curled along the bottom and metal edges of the lantern frame. The flame illuminated his face, shining bright against the black void of his eyes.
The lantern also illuminated the ghastly face of the woman standing behind him.
It wasn’t ghastly because it was the figure of a woman, nor was it ghastly because she was dead- and she so obviously must have been dead, in that tattered white kimono and hair braided into an elaborate bun- but it was ghastly for the woman’s teeth. Her lower jaw distended unnaturally from her face, the tip of her chin resting on unsuspecting Ogata’s shoulder, and filled with dozens of teeth. All were long, thin, sharp, opaque- good for cutting through flesh. The five lures growing out from her forehead, glowing soft blue, then orange in the lantern light, fell out from where they had been tied in her hair.
“Ogata,” Tanigaki asked, a mite faintly, “you don’t have anyone in your family who’s died recently… do you?”
Ogata was silent for just a beat too long. “Nah. My Granny’s old but she’s not that old, y’know- she’s still got something in her.”
“I see,” Tanigaki said, eyes fixed on the spirit that slowly, carefully, raised her hands to either side of Ogata’s head. Her nails were gone, and the webbing between her fingers looked as if they’d be slimy to the touch. Ogata wouldn’t even have known if this spirit touched him- so should Tanigaki have said something? Should he have pulled Ogata away? But Ogata was already catching onto Tanigaki acting strangely-
He glanced toward Fumi and Kenkichi for help, but they’d disappeared.
“You sure you’re not sick or something?” Ogata intoned, unaware of the fingers slowly brushing against his face. “You’re sweating bullets.”
“Hyaku… no… suke…” The spirit whispered, voice hoarse and seafoam filling the gaps between her sharpened teeth.
“Oi, Tanigaki?” Ogata waved a hand in front of his face. “... Genjirou?”
Tanigaki moved forward quickly and knocked the lantern out of Ogata’s hand, losing his footing somewhat in the process and falling into him. The lantern bounced once, then twice, then settled near one of the tree trunks and burned softly there. Ogata stumbled back a few steps and held onto Tanigaki’s arms, steadying them both. Somehow, Tanigaki managed to keep his death grip on his own lantern.
Tanigaki’s gaze flitted from Ogata’s blank face and over to the lantern, watching the spirit slowly leave him, padding along the grassy ground.
“Hyakuno… suke…” The woman softly cried out, bending over the fallen lantern. The water dripping from her neck and mouth slowly dampened the thin paper and the flame trapped inside. As is slowly dimmed to nothing, Tanigaki could see the woman’s far-too-human eyes, black and glittering with grief. Through the tears, the water and mumbling, Tanigaki thought he could hear her saying something else… saying something like...
“-rou!” Ogata snapped in his face, bringing him back to the present. “Stop spacing out on me, you damned oaf.”
“... Sorry.” Tanigaki said after a moment. “I suppose… I wasn’t feeling as well as I thought after all.”
Ogata opened his mouth to say something, paused, and just sighed. “Then you should get to bed. I don’t want to babysit you.” He gave a wry smirk. “You can buy me a new lantern tomorrow since you ruined that one.”
“No!” Tanigaki said. Ogata looked at him incredulously. The anglerfish woman was still bent over, weeping. “... I mean. You don’t really need a lantern. It’s not like you’ve had anyone die.”
“No, but… the send-off-”
“We can still make a date of it,” Tanigaki said quickly, giving the best smile that he could.
Ogata balked, suddenly taking his hands away and fiddling with the hem of one of his gloves. “You wish it were a date- I just figured I’d go with you since I doubt you have anyone else. Being antisocial.”
“Funny,” Tanigaki deadpanned, taking Ogata’s hand again and starting to walk down the road. The sooner they were away from that spirit and the snuffed out lantern, the better. “I don’t see you taking any friends anywhere either.”
“Fuck off,” Ogata said, and for some reason, he still allowed Tanigaki to hold his hand.
They lapsed into silence as they walked down the road, away from the Tanigaki gravesite. Tanigaki would have to come back later on after Ogata had gone home for the night- he still had to clean that grave.
“Sorry for disappearing on you, Genjirou.” He heard Fumi’s voice beside him. On Ogata’s other side, Kenkichi walked, looking to Ogata with a knowing look.
“...” Tanigaki squeezed Ogata’s hand, head tilting towards him.
“Oh, right- your boyfriend,” Kenkichi smiled, and Tanigaki was annoyed to find that he couldn’t say otherwise, lest he start ‘talking to himself’ again. “He can’t see us… and he couldn’t see that spirit, either.”
“That’s… for the best.” Fumi shifted uncomfortably beside him, holding onto her other arm. “Those kinds are some of the most dangerous… not born of anger or hatred- but born of regret and love…”
“Love can sure drive people to some scary stuff,” Kenkichi agreed, nodding sagely.
“She had been saying ‘sorry’... poor woman.”
Tanigaki silently squeezed Ogata’s hand. There was a story to that- to the spirit who had come to Ogata. But it wasn’t his place to ask. Maybe one day, Ogata would tell him voluntarily who it was who had died.
“Hey, big brother,” Fumi said, resting her hand over Tanigaki’s where it held his lantern. “Promise you won’t be like that… and promise you’ll be careful with this one.”
“Hm?” Tanigaki hummed despite himself, tilting his head closer to hear.
“That wasn’t the only one clinging to this one,” Fumi said. The words crawled up Tanigaki’s spine in a shiver. “There are others… they’re harmless, surely… but be careful.”
“You don’t think he’ll end up like them…?” Kenkichi suddenly asked, alarmed.
Fumi thought for a moment, glancing at Ogata. “... No. I don’t think so.”
It was dead silent. The only sound was the soft breaths of the living, puffing into the humid summer air. Then, Fumi squeezed his hand with phantom pressure and smiled. “Hey, Genjirou… We’ll meet you back at the house, alright?”
“What?” Tanigaki muttered in his shock, gaining a sidelong glance from Ogata.
“You know, there are certain rules to this kind of thing…” Fumi said apologetically, smiling sadly even still. “We’re only here for three days… and usually, we’re not seen.”
“The fact that you were able to see us, and talk to us- it’s pretty amazing!” Kenkichi said wistfully. “But… There are others we have to meet, too.”
“I think Mama misses me,” Fumi said, smiling a little wider as her eyes dampened at the corners. “And Kentarou, and Papa… They have lanterns for us too.”
Tanigaki nodded. He understood- and it would have been selfish to keep others from seeing them. If they could see them. It would have been selfish to deprive his family of Fumi… especially after she’d been gone for what felt like ages already.
Fumi and Kenkichi stopped walking. Tanigaki and Ogata moved on ahead.
“We’ll see you soon, Genjirou,” Kenkichi said affectionately.
“We’ll see you again… we promise.” Fumi said, holding onto her late husband’s hand.
Tanigaki paused, looking over his shoulder. They were already gone.
“... Goodbye, then.” Tanigaki whispered, hoping the late-night breeze would carry his words.
Ogata waited for a moment and then tugged on Tanigaki’s hand, sighing. “Hurry it up. We don’t have all night- and I still want to get to the store for that soup stuff.”
“Right,” Tanigaki said, beginning to move once again.
The farther they walked from the grave and from where the ghosts had stood, the more his chest ached. It ached heavily, the heat and cicada song of the night settling thick in his lungs as he glanced up at the sky, full of thousands of stars. Hanging up there, light years away, they looked like lanterns.
He didn’t know he’d started crying until Ogata said, “You look like hell.”
The tears streaking down his cheeks weren’t foreign- but they felt odd, now, months after everything had passed. They were cold and relieving in the night. “I feel the opposite, actually.”
“Is that so…” Ogata said, slowing down. Tanigaki nodded, gasping on a stuttering breath and taking his hand from Ogata’s to wipe at his eyes with the back of his hand. It wasn’t surprising to hear Ogata sigh heavily, muttering, “Oh, come on… it’s not the time for all that, is it.” But he was still reaching up and rubbing Tanigaki’s back with such gentleness that Tanigaki almost froze up at the touch. “Figures you’d be sentimental about this stuff.”
“How else am I supposed to be?” Tanigaki managed through a wry, watery smile.
“... Eh, I wouldn’t know.” Ogata said, slowly, hesitantly, leaning his body against Tanigaki’s side. They stopped walking, allowing Tanigaki to take the awkwardly offered comfort. “It’s fine that you’re like this, though. Probably. Still annoying as shit.”
“I’m sure.” Tanigaki sniffed, and, unexpectedly, was pulled into a hug. Blinking, he looked down at Ogata. Then, he wrapped his free hand around the man clinging close to his side. “... Thank you.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Ogata said.
It was silent for a few moments. Tanigaki’s tears slowly stopped and dried, and his breathing became calm once again. Ogata stayed, comforting weight against Tanigaki’s side. Then, slowly, Ogata stepped back, looking up at him with an unreadable expression.
“Hey… Genjirou. I have to ask you something.”
Tanigaki’s eyebrows furrowed as Ogata glanced just beyond him. Tanigaki said, “... Ask away. It’s only fair.” Tanigaki turned his head to follow the shorter man’s line of sight.
“You can see them too,” Ogata said, eyes caught on the shape of a man with a bullet through his head. “can’t you?”
#golden kamuy#tanigaki genjirou#ogata hyakunosuke#tanigaki fumi#aoyama kenkichi#most of the focus is on the#ghosts#anyway#fanfiction#my writing#otani but it can be read as purely platonic
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I wished that they cast a black or Asian actors to play munkustrap and rum Tum Tugger. Could that ever happen?
for anyone seeing this: this list is very long, so i'm apologizing in advance if i've missed any actors!! i've gone through the entire cats wiki for both characters and did my best to compile a thorough list, but ofc let me know if there's any mistakes!
Tugger:
Richard Lloyd King (1980s London)
Tee Jay (1980s London)
Yuichiro Yamaguchi (1980s Tokyo Tugger)
Mayo Kawasaki (1980s Tokyo)
Gregory McKinnon (1980s Vienna Tugger - Cover)
Takanori Shimomura (1995 Tokyo)
Eric Clausell (1993 Australia)
Masaru Yamaki (1999 Nagoya, Osaka 2001)
Tsutomu Arakawa (1995 Tokyo, 1999 Nagoya, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)
Kiyomichi Shiba (1995 Tokyo, 1999 Nagoya Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Fukuoka 2014)
Shoichi Fukui (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)
Shinya Tanabe (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016)
Kim Sungrak (Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004)
Yoichiro Akutsu (Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009, Sendai 2013, Shizuoka 2013, Fukuoka 2013)
Toshihide Kaneda (Tokyo 2004)
Kan Muto (Tokyo 2004)
Masaru Kanamori (Yokohama 2009)
Li Tao (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sapporo 2015)
Tatsuro Iida (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sendai 2013, Sapporo 2015)
Gino Emnes (Dutch Tour 2006)
Stanley Burleson (Dutch Tour 2006)
Daesung (South Korea 2008/2011)
Kim Jin-woo (South Korea 2008/2011)
Ra Jun (South Korea 2008/2011)
E Nok (South Korea 2008/2011)
Jung Min (South Korea 2008/2011)
Earl Gregory (South Africa 2009, Asia Tour 2014)
Antoine Murray-Straughan (London 2014)
Marcquelle Ward (London 2015, UK Tour 2016)
Jordan Shaw (London 2014)
Ahmad Simmons (Broadway 2016)
Retsu Kanehisa (Shizuoka 2013, Fukuoka 2014)
Takumi Omine (Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018)
Kenji Nishio (Osaka 2016)
Kazuya Kamikawa (Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)
Mizuki Omori (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021, Nagoya 2022)
Jin Sakuma (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)
Togo Kaminaga (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)
Liu Lingfei (China 2012)
DevinRe Lewis Adams (RCCL Cast 12)
Jason Derulo (2019 Movie)
Todrick Hall (US Regional - La Mirada Theatre 2014)
Munkustrap:
Shintaro Sonooka (Tokyo 1983)
Kenkichi Hamahata (Tokyo 1983)
Osami Iino (Tokyo 1995)
Shoichi Fukui (Nagoya 1999, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)
Kiyomichi Shiba (Nagoya 1999, Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004, Yokohama 2009)
Yuji Aoyama (Nagoya 1999, Tokyo 2004)
Masuo Nonaka (Osaka 2001, Tokyo 2004)
Takashi Saimon (Tokyo 2004)
Yuichi Tamura (Tokyo 2004)
Tsutomu Arakawa (Tokyo 2004)
Shouma Kanzaki (Tokyo 2004)
Kan Muto (Yokohama 2009)
Takamasa Hagiwara (Yokohama 2009, Hiroshima 2012, Sendai 2013, Shizuoka 2013, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016)
Hong Gyeong-su (South Korea 2008/2011)
Jordan Shaw (London Revival - Munkustrap Cover)
Yuki Matsushima (Hiroshima 2012, Fukuoka 2014)
Susumu Kato (Fukuoka 2014, Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018, Nagoya 2022)
Kei Tokuyama (Sapporo 2015, Osaka 2016, Tokyo 2018)
Kenji Nishio (Osaka 2016)
Masaru Kitamura (Tokyo 2018)
Taijun Kanemoto (Tokyo 2018, Fukuoka 2021)
Shinya Iwasaki (Tokyo 2021)
Junpei Wakebe (Tokyo 2021, Nagoya 2022)
Tarquinn Whitebooi (Asia Tour 2014 - Munkustrap Cover)
Xia Zhenkai (China 2012)
Mao Haifei (China 2012 - Munkustrap Cover)
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Member List: Regimental Soldiers
Written by Kizu
Wednesday, 26 July 2006
Regimental Soldiers
Aiba Kunzaburou
Aoki Ren
Aoyama Jirou
Akashi Kakushirou
Akiyama Gisaburou
Adachi Rintarou
Abe Junta
Amaji Issen
Amami Katsunoshin
Aya Ichirou
Arai Hamao
Araki Shintarou
Arakida Samanosuke
Aridooshi Kango
Aridooshi Shimenoshin
Ieki Shougen
Igarashi Iori
Igi Hachirou
Ikeda Shichisaburou
Ikeda Shouji
Ishii Inosuke
Ishii Yuujirou
Ishikawa Saburou
Ishida Nyuugou
Ichinose Kanji
Ichihashi Kamakichi
Ichimura Tatsunosuke
Ichimura Tetsunosuke
Isshiki Zennojou
Itsumi Katsusaburou
Itou Kazue
Itou Naminosuke
Itou Hayanosuke
Itou Yahachirou
Inayoshi Yuuzaburou
Inoue Genzaemon
Inoue Taisuke
Iwasaki Ichirou
Iwasaki Katsujirou
Ingu Umasaku
Uesaka Koutarou
Ueda Adachinosuke
Ueda Umanojou
Ueda Kingo
Ueda Matsuji
Uehara Eisaku
Ueyama Eihachi
Uchiyama Motojirou
Utsumi Jirou
Umedo Katsunoshin
Egawa Shichirou
Echigo Saburou
Ebata Kotarou
Oouchi Yarinosuke
Ootani Yoshisuke
Ootsuki Touzou
Oono Uchuu
Oono Kuranosuke
Oohashi Hanzaburou
Oohashi Yamasaburou
Oomachi Tsunatarou
Oomura Ataka
Okada Katsumi
Okada Gorou
Okada Yonetarou
Okado Manjirou
Okamura Kametarou
Ogawa Issaku
Ogawa Shintarou
Okita Shounoshin
Ozawa Souji
Obata Saburou
Ohara Kinzou
Kagatsume Katsunoshin
kajitani Rinnosuke
Kasuya Kojirou
Kasuya Juurou
Katou Kumagorou
Katou Sadakichi
Katou Tamiya
Katouu Higuma
Kadogaya Tadasu
Kaneko Shoubee
Kneko Jirosaku
Kamei Mikinosuke
Karashima Shouji
Kawai Tetsugorou
Kawai Yasaburou
Kwai Heizou
Kwamura Yazoemon
Kawamura Rinjirou
Kanbe Shirou
Kiuchi Mineta
Kikuchi Ou
Kishida Kenkichi
Kinoshita Katsuzou
Kihata Katsunoshin
Kihata Saburou
Kimura Katsunosuke
Kimura Chuujirou
Kimura Hirota
Kimura Yoshinosuke
Kiyohara Kiyoshi
Kusakabe Shirou
Kusakabe Toomi
Kusunoki Kojuurou
Kumazawa Motozou
Kurihara Sennosuke
Kurokawa Sakichi
Kokubo Seikichi
Koshinoumi
Kojima Mikinojou
Gotou Daisuke
Gobayashi Keinosuke
Kobayashi Koujirou
Kobayashi Minetarou
Kobari Seiichirou
Saitou Shuuzen
Saitou Seiichirou (someprint say Ichidakusai?)
Sakai Youjirou
Sakamoto Heizou
Sakuma Gintarou
Sakuma Kensuke
Sakuma Soutarou
Sakuma Norito
Sakurai Kazuma
Sakurai Yuunoshin
Sasaki Aijirou
Sasaki Kuranosuke
Sasaki Hajime
Sasazuka Minezou
Sashida Takejirou
Saji Hiroshi
Satou Fusatarou
Sano Shimenosuke
Sano Makita
Sawa Chuusuke
Shiosawa Rinjirou
Shikauchi Chikara
Shinozaki Shinbachirou
Shibaoka Mansuke
Shibata Hikosaburou
Shibayama Tokusaburou
Shiba Ryousaku
Shiba Rokunosuke
Shibusawa Kichinosuke
Shimada Kounosuke
Shimada Yaichirou
Shimizu Ukichi
Shimizu Kyuuzaemon
Shukuin Ryuuzou
Shouji Heizaburou
Shirai Takanoshin
Shirato Tomoe
Shirahara Shichirouemon
Sugano Rokurou
Sugiyama Youji
Suzuki Naoto
Suzuki Ryouhei
Suzuki Renzaburou
Suwa Ichijirou
Sekikawa Daijirou
Sekikuchi Fusatarou
Seyama Takito
Senda Hyoue
Souma Kazue
Daimatsu Keisai
Tauchi Tomo
Taoka Tarou
Takaoka Kuratarou
Takasu Kumao
Takada Bunjirou
Takano Ryouemon
Takahashi Kyousuke
Takahashi Wataru
Takayama Jirou
Takeuchi Gentarou
Takeuchi Tokuhei
Takeshiro Kurata
Takenouchi Takeo
Takenouchi Tokuo
Takebe Ginjirou
Tachikawa Chikara
Tagouro Hiroto
Tanaka Umetarou
Tanaka Torazou
Tanaka Ritsuzou
Tani Mantarou
Tanigawa Tatsukichi
Taniguchi Shirobee
Tamaoki Ryouzou
Tamgawa Masanosuke
Tamura Ichirou
Tamura Kinshichirou
Tamura Ginnosuke
Tamura Daizuburou
Tamura Rokushirou
Chiba Sakae
Tsukamoto Zennosuke
Tsuga Ushigorou
Tsuchida Shinnojou
Tusbota Chouzou
Tsuruoka Kenshirou
Terai Chikara
Terashima Hanzou
Toba Takimatsu
Tomigawa Juurou
Tominaga Masanosuke
Nakai Mitsuya
Nakagawa Kojuurou
Nakazawa Tsutomu
Nogasawa Masanojou
Nagashima Gorosaku
Nakajima Nobori
Nakajiou Tsunehachirou
Nagase Seizou
Nagata Kamasaburou
Nakamura Kichiroku
Nakamura Kyuuma
Nakamura Kingo
Nakamura Korou
Nakamura Seishichi
Nakayama Juuzou
Nariai Kiyoshi
Nishizawa Yoshikichi
Nishimura Isogorou
Nishimura Kozaemon
Nishimura Kanzaburou
Nishimura Genrokurou
Nitta Kakuzaemon
Nitta Toranosuke
Numajiri Aijirou
Nobu Tamio
Nomura Yuuki
Nomura Risaburou
Hatakeyama Yoshijirou
Hamaguchi Hiichi
Hayashi Kyuukichi
Hayashi Kogorou
Hayashi Shoukichi
Hayashi Takenosuke
Hijikata Tsushima
Fukuda Katsunoshin
Fukuyo Onari
Fujii Yasuhachi
Fujisawa Takeki
Fujimoto Kichinosuke
Fujimoto Hikonosuke
Fujiwara Wasaburou
Funazu Kamatarou
Furukawa Kojirou
Furuya Jounosuke
Hoshikawa Sanbei
Hosoi Shikarosuke
Hosokawa Sentarou
Hosokawa Takumi
Honda Iwakichi
Honda Taichirou
Maeda Iwatarou
Maeda Kurando
Maeba Kijima
Maeba Kogorou
Makino Genshichirou
Magoshi Daitarou
Masaki Orinosuke
Mazaki Takutarou
Matsui Tokutarou
Matsui Ryuuzaburou
Matsuzaki Shizumi
Matsuzawa Otozou
Matsuzawa Danji
Matsuda Rokurou
Matsunaga Kazue
Matsubara Ikutarou
Mazume Shinjuurou
Matzume Ryuutarou
Matsumoto Kijirou
Matsumoto Shuuzou
Matsumoto Sutesuke
Matsumoto Chikara
Maruo Keijirou
Maruyama Komnosuke
Manda Kouzou
Miura Keinosuke
Miura Shigetarou
Miura Tsunujirou
Miura Matsugorou
Miura Isetake
Mishina Ichirou
Mishina Jirou
Mishina Chuuji
Mizuguchi Ichimatsu
Mizutani Toushichi
Mitsuii Ushinosuke
Miyagawa Kazumi
Miyagawa Nobukichi
Miyagaki Hannojou
Miyatake Orizou
Miyamoto Touta
Miyoshi Yutaka
Mukaidate Noboru
Mutou Matasaburou
Murakami Saburou
Murakami Monjirou
Murayama Kenkichi
Muro Takunosuke
Motoi Waichirou
Mototake Gonbei
Morian Rokunosuke
Mori Gonjirou
Mori Takanosuke
Mori Tsunukichi
Morishita Heisaku
Mori Rokurou
Yagane Shigezou
Yaguchi Kenichirou
Yanagisawa Touma
Yanagida Sanjirou
Yabe Hyougo
Yama Toranosuke
Yamaura Tetsushirou
Yamagata Tokitarou
Yamagiwa Heizaburou
Yamaguji Bunjirou
Yamazaki Hachizou
Yamazaki Ringorou
Yamada Harutaka
Yamano Yasohachi
Yamamoto Jisoroku
Yuuki Umunosuke
Yokoyama Nabejirou
Yoshizawa Heizou
Yoshimura Jirou
Yoshimura Shintarou
Yoshimura Yoshitarou
Wakada Eikichi
Wada Juurou
Wada Hayato
Wada Rokurou
Wakada Kotouta
Wadaka Toranosuke
Watanabe Ichizou
Wadou Teizou
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what are your thoughts on the soldiers backstories that involve a type of food in some significant way? i understand its meant to symbolise innocence and with koito's recent separation from tsurumi having a throwback to the tsukisappu anpan i wonder if the other characters might have a moment with their foods in the future
Well...
I kind of discussed a bit about foods and their connection to characters here.
Noda did a good work tossing into the story many types of food but giving to many of them plot relevance. To mention something I didn’t discuss in the previous post, we can think at Tanigaki’s kane mochi with walnuts in it, which becomes not only a way to show his rebellion to his father (who, according to him, wouldn’t like for Tanigaki to change the mochi recipe) but also a way to be recognized by Kenkichi in his last moment and works as a connection with Sugimoto too.
I think everyone noticed how the whole anglerfish nabe ties Ogata to how he loved his mother but also to how he was connected to his father (who also loved it), making obvious how, when Ogata described ‘Sugimoto’s death’ he was actually thinking at what he wanted his father to say.
Nikaidou’s favourite food is Mikan. In chap 295 we see how he wants to beable to receive one from his brother. It might seem nothing big but Mikan are also a symbol of happiness, and this remarks how, for Nikaidou, having Youhei back would be having back his happiness.
Although he mentions it, we never see Tsukishima eat Igoneri... which can be symbolic as Igoneri is made from Igogusa seaweed and he never managed to finally obtain Igogusa’s hand.
There’s of course the whole discussion about Asirpa wanting Sugimoto to like the food she likes because she likes him.
There’s Hijikata praising Matsumaezuke, and using it as a way to also praise Nagakura, claiming they’re the only two good things the Matsumae domain produced, as he’s clearly happy Nagakura came with him in Barato to help him with the task at hands.
So yeah, almost each time a food is mentioned, it’s more than just ‘a food being mentioned’, there’s something plot relevant in it... but as there are tons of food mentioned I guess I’ll stop here.
Thank you for your ask!
#Tanigaki Genjirou#Aoyama Kenkichi#Sugimoto Saichi#Nikaidou Kouhei#Nikaidou Youhei#Tsukishima Hajime#Harumi Chiyo#Asirpa#Hijikata Toshizou#Nagakura Shinpachi#Hanazawa Koujirou#Ogata Hyakunosuke#Ask
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what are your thoughts on tanigaki’s death? i feel like it was largely unnecessary and added in just for shock value. especially because he was just… standing there. and then he wasn’t. it feels like a loose end somehow.
Don’t worry,
...the scene of his ‘resurrection’ was so underwelming it’s okay if you forgot it.
But, if it’s okay for you, I want to use this ask to catch the change to talk a little about Tanigaki.
Now... this is not a ‘let’s praise Noda’ post, so if the idea I might be displeased with how he handled Tanigaki bother you, I’ll recommend quitting reading here.
So, Tanigaki.
I’ve seen many complain about how Ogata’s arc was handled, about how Koito and Tsukishima’s arcs were handled, about how Hijikata’s arc was handled, about how Sugimoto and Asirpa’s arcs were handled... but few talk about Tanigaki.
People who use to hang around my blog know he has been one of my fave characters.
Why?
Because Noda in the beginning tied to him a lot of interesting themes and ideas.
Tanigaki is a man who decided to avenge his sister... and in the process he discovered his wish for revenge was misplaced and lost his mother as well. He was ashamed of his mistake and couldn’t find the guts to go back home, sohe let himself be persuaded by Tsurumi’s honey laced words to remain in Hokkaido and support him.
Tanigaki is persuaded to be very righteous and, as a result, looks down on others.
He looks down on Nihei (and his father) because he uses an old rifle, only to learn to admire him and his philosophy, he looks down to the rebel group for betraying Tsurumi... but he basically doesn’t want to go back to the 7th and, fundamentally deserts. He uses Asirpa as a human shield claiming she’s involved in the gold hunt and therefore can’t possibly be innocent... although, unknown to him she saved his life and will do it again. She believes to be righteous... but wanted to shoot Kenkichi in the back. He needed Cikapasi to persuade him to save Inkarmat when she was threatened by more than one man.
So Tanigaki has plenty of flaws... but exactly for this and because he doesn’t mean back, he had an enormous potential for growth.
As this wasn’t all he inherited Nihei’s phylosophy of the single shot, which might be applied in real life as well, ‘you don’t have a countless number of choices/options, so you’ll better act as if you don’t have countless chances but if you screw up things, you lose, weight carefully your options, decide and act with confidence in your choice on which you’ll bet everything you got.
It’s... a lot for a character who seemed to be a simple side character.
And Noda seemed to plan to capitalize on all this.
Tanigaki grows, he learns to look up at Nihei, he starts applying his phylosophy to his life. Although at first he’d only like to send Cikapasi back, he then starts caring about him, in order to not involve Inkarmat and Cikapasi in the Anehata mess he escapes alone and doesn’t try to attack the Ainu but tries to discuss things pacifically.
Although his quest to bring Asirpa back to Huci was also a way to stall going back home and facing his father, the fact he connected Huci to his mother seems to hint he now is more prone to face the fact it was also his actions who hurt her.
He prays for Nihei the way he wasn’t able to do for the Russian soldiers he killed.
I mean... you can smell growth, character arc, evolution, development.
The complicate relation with Inkarmat, that we know is using him and lying to him but is a complicate person herself who’s starting to grow feelings for him and for whom you can smell a character arc as well because she wants to get free of her Wilk-obsession and is starting to think her predictions aren’t fixed in stones, the fact that Kiroranke saves them both, which would put Tanigaki into the position of owning to Kiro... and then the mess that’s Abashiri, Inkarmat getting wounded and Tanigaki... leaving her in Tsurumi’s hands to chase after Asirpa because he wants to return her to Huci while Sugimoto’s first words are he’ll murder Kiro and Ogata...
There’s SO MUCH POTENTIAL!
And then... it ends.
Tanigaki attacks Kiroranke with the clear intention to avenge Inkarmat, whom Kiroranke stabbed by mistake (he threatened her with his knife yes, but she caused him to fall while holding such knife, ending up on stabbing her by mistake).
Tanigaki didn’t talk things over with him, in the same way as he didn’t want to talk things with Kenkichi, even though he owned his life to Kiroranke. And Sofia has tossed in, not many chapters before that who kills a tiger (Kiro’s real name means tiger) lives a life of misfortune.
Tanigaki has no regrets for being part of those who murdered Kiroranke.
At this point if te message of what happened to Kenkichi was that it was wrong to leave behind people to pursue revenge and people often only had one single shoot in life... well, I expected things would turn sour for Tanigaki.
Because he had done the same he did with Kenkichi, he left behind someone (Inkarmat) to pursue revenge against someone who wasn’t exactly a brutal murderer.
But... no, this wasn’t the case.
Cikapasi leaves his found family to form another of his own with Enonoka (at least this is the implication even though Cikapasi is around 9 and I didn’t really like the idea but I guess Noda was testing how people would react to SugiRipa with him) and Tanigaki leaves to him Nihei’s rifle, but it’s not really something that looks like a loss for Tanigaki.
As Cikapasi is out of the way Tsurumi can’t use him to blackmail Tanigaki who doesn’t even need Nihei’s rifle.
Noda said he even believes it’s better if Tanigaki and Cikapasi never met again without clearing up why.
Cikapasi is just left out of the story so Tanigaki can start a family with Inkarmat who, not only survived but was pregnant and her baby survived and she’s about to have Tanigaki’s baby.
We might think Tanigaki will now be called upon his behaviour toward the 7th, which he left and came back ot it at his own convenience and then plans to desert again under the ‘I’m a Matagi not a private first class’ excuse.
I mean, Tsurumi this time makes clear he can’t come and go as it pleases, threatening to hurt Inkarmat and his about to be born child if he doesn’t murder Sugimoto... but overall Tanigaki has it easy.
He doesn’t get brutally beaten up like Ariko was, nor he’s guarded by someone.He’s left free to wander ON HIS OWN.
Tanigaki claims he can’t kill someone in cold blood but, more importantly, that he doesn’t believe Sugimoto can be killed and if he were to do so (completely forgetting Sugimoto is another person who saved his life) Asirpa would be griefstriken and Hucimight not be happy at getting her back in such state... completely forgetting Huci won’t get her back, because Tsurumi has made clear, not much ago, he planned to trap Asirpa.
He considers pretend to search for Asirpa, but then decides he’ll try to go and see Inkarmat, and, since Inkarmat is smart, set up things so that he could find her. Then thanks to Ienaga’s sacrifice (forwhom Ienagawill get no thanks from Tanigaki), they escape from Tsukishima (whose attention Tanigaki attracted) and thanks to Koito who stops Tsukishima, neither him not Inkarmat or Huci or someone else gets killed.
Now, okay, Tanigaki too did something during the escape, but it was made clear without Ienaga and Koito they wouldn’t make it.
In short Tanigaki got his happy ending with Inkarmat and his baby more thanks to others than to himself. He didn’t get it for something he had learnt through his character arc, it’s a happy ending he didn’t deserve because it’s not like he learnt to avoid his past mistakes or repented for them. And all this works fine to keep him out of the main plot without affecting it in the slightest while what had happened ipreviously is never discussed.
Tanigaki has killed Kiroranke out of misplaced revenge and somehow this became a good thing. He never learn Kiro didn’t mean to harm Inkamart. All the theme about feeling guilt when you kill someone?
Never mind it, Ogata was right, if you believe you’ve a good reason for it, you won’t feel guilty at all.
But then Noda decides Tanigaki has to be part of the final chapter his role being ‘Asirpa-catcher’. In fact Noda makes sure Asirpa almost falls off a bridge so Tanigaki can catch her and then, after pushing him off the train so he won’t be involved in the action, at the end of the train ride, he has him came back as if nothing was wrong and has Sugimoto toss Asirpa to him so he can catch her again.
Oh, we might add his supposed death gave Asirpa further trauma but really, I think without it she would have had trauma enough.
And that’s all he does, a role cut for him so he can be around for the final arc.
We don’t see him retuning Asirpa to Huci, we don’t see him confronting with his father and telling him how Fumi died as Kenkichi asked him to do so long ago. We just learn he moved in Ani with Inkarmat and had15 kids but, differently from Nihei who had 1 male son and 14 girls, he had 14 boys and 1 girl.
And that’s it.
A character that started so promising because he carried forward so many interesting themes ends up not learning anything, not solving anything but just getting a happy ending because he’s lucky and Tsurumi didn’t shoot him down when he made clear he wanted to leave the 7th, he didn’t lose Inkarmat and his child when he left them behind, he was helped by Ienaga and Koito when Tsukishima tried killing him and ultimately Tsurumi even messed up in shooting him because it didn’t harm him at all.
It’s not that I wanted a sad ending for Tanigaki, he was one of my fave characters, I wanted a happy ending for him... but one he earned by learning or correcting his mistakes or by fighting for it. Not because everything went in his way despite his mistakes.
So for me it’s a bit more than Tanigaki’s supposed death than then wasn’t a death was unnecessary. His whole role (and Inkarmat’s) post Karafuto felt unnecessary, just a way to give him a happy ending, but not supported by themes or character growth.
If Tsurumi has killed Tanigaki in Karafuto and Inkarmat had died due to her wound nothing would have changed.
Tsukishima and Koito could have had their confrontation in another circumstance... or not at all, since in the end they’ll just follow Tsurumi and won’t go against him.
As for the Asirpa catching thing, Noda could have avoided having her fall the first time and, for the second, Shiraishi might have stolen Nagakura’s horse and caught Asirpa himself. No need for Tanigaki at all.
And instead I wanted us to need Tanigaki, the same way we needed him through the previous arcs. I wanted him to matter and I wanted him to go through his story be one with a happy or a sad ending, through his own power and actions.
But after Karafuto he became another of those characters that ended up feeling unnecessary to the story.
So well, sorry for the long rant, this is not what you were asking for, but it made me sad to see one of my beloved characters become useless to the plot, the themes tied to him forgotten.
But whatever, that’s the ending we got and, by now there’s nothing we can do about it.
Thank you for your ask and sorry again for the long rant.
#Tanigaki Genjirou#Tanigaki Fumi#Aoyama Kenkichi#Asirpa#Sugimoto Saichi#Kiroranke#Tsurumi Tokushirou#Ariko Rikimatsu#Tsukishima Hajime#Koito Otonoshin#Nihei Tetsuzou#Cikapasi#Susupo#Ask#otosakayu#Other people's posts
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Thanks a lot for such a thoughtful answer. I have ton of things to say but this being Q&A medium I don't think it's appropriate or even possible to address them. I wonder though. In what way do you think Sugimoto is healing? You mentioned him socializing and having fun and realizing people care about him. But I don't think he was short of having comrades. The core of his struggle is him being unable to forgive himself for being "useless". Do you think he made any progress with that?
^_^
Well, if you want to discuss things feel free to do it.
I know the Q&A medium is a bit of a turn down and my lack of time often causes me to postpone answers a lot but I do genuinely love to talk about GK... actually I probably love it a tad too much... :P
Anyway... in regard to Sugimoto’s healing... I fear things are rather complicate and he might not have made much progresses in this sense.
But let’s start with the comrades part.
Prior to his family’s illness (which took place in 1899 according to the timeline) Sugimoto was likely the sort of guy who’s very sociable and has many friends, among which a best friend, Toraji, and a friend who’s actually a love interest, Umeko.
After having to leave his village he probably spent years (at least 2 since this was his original plan, possibly more as we aren’t told when he actually came back) keeping away from people, afraid he got infected and could infect them as well. This likely, combined with the trauma of losing his family and seeing the village ostracize him, as well as finding out, once he came back home, that Toraji would have preferred him to either be dead or never came back, probably scarred Sugimoto in his social relations.
During the war, except when he’s with Toraji, we don’t really see him being among ‘friends’... and in a way this fits very well with the person Sugimoto evolves in during the war but I will arrive at it in a minute.
Let’s assume, even if the manga doesn’t show it to us, that Sugimoto still manage to make friends with his war buddies.
Most of those friends ended up killed one after the other during the assaults and being replaced by new soldiers, while Sugimoto kept on surviving, the thing possibly giving him an additional dose survivor’s guilt, which is another part of PTSD.
Ultimately even Toraji will die under his eyes and there’s probably more than met the eye in Toraji’s death but this is likely something Noda will reveal in the future. Anyway let’s assume not all his army companions died under the war.
When Sugimoto in spring goes back to his village he’s, again, alone.
In short if he had friends in the army... well they went for separate ways, very likely they too damaged by war and unable to psychologically support him.
Sugimoto, according to the timeline likely around November, goes in Hokkaido to search for gold... and he’s again alone.
Sure Gotou knows him but he’s an aquaitance, not a friend. Sugimoto is not really that much social with him, it’s Gotou who searches him, not Sugi.
So, while prior to his family falling sick Sugimoto was likely a very social guy who found easy to slip into relationships with others, after it he spends long periods alone, haivng to count only on himself, discovering betrayal at the hands of his best friend (I understand Toraji, I really do but what he did when Sugimoto came back was terrible) and that the girl he loved didn’t wait for him (on this I’m fully on Umeko’s side as Sugi EXPECTED her to wait but never asked her to do so, actually he told her the opposite) and seeing people he got friend with dying or being maimed in battle.
The Sugimoto we see at the beginning of the story is a guy who has the ability to be social, who can be friendly and likable... but he’s currently not being social or trusting others beyond a certain point. His first interactions with Asirpa, who has just SAVED HIM, are pretty terrible, he first doesn’t want to reveal her anything about the Ainu gold then does so, but only because he needs her to help him, basically putting her at risk.
So yes, I think that Sugimoto took part to the gold hunt in a moment in which he was completely bereft of comrades and not really capable as he were before to handle them, with him first subconsciously keeping Asirpa at distance, as she’s a mean to his end then, as he fails to do so and grows attached, he immediately 'dumps’ her (he leaves while everyone is sleeping, without talking with her about it and leaving behind no explanation), feeling upon himself the duty to protect her and afraid he would fail it.
So the fact that Asirpa actually went and saved him when his best friend instead told him he shouldn’t have returned and his love interest didn’t wait for him and no one dared to help him through his family’s sickness should have been ENORMOUSLY important for him, and so the fact that Asirpa insists on how being with him is her choice and not his responsibility.
And Shiraishi too provided companionship (and what’s more companionship of an adult around his age and of his same culture so with a lot more of common points than Asirpa) and interaction and another point of view which are all things humans need and of whom Sugimoto specifically was left bereft for long time.
So they were good to him.
But now... now comes the hard part.
Because the real problem is that in truth Sugimoto isn’t healing, he’s getting worse.
Why since having people around heals him?
Because he’s in the gold hunt, which is another prolonged traumatic experience, in which he’s put under pressure, risks hims life, wounds and kill people.
So the gold hunt is for him like a goose game filled with squares that push you back.
Having his friends around for him means that rolling the dice he gets a high number, let’s say 12... only to stumble over a square that tell him ‘you’ve killed someone, your psychological trauma brings you back of 24 squares’.
And the more this game goes on, the less effectively Sugimoto manages to roll his dices. I’ve already discussed in my previous answer how his bond with Asirpa ended up deviating from a healthy bond but Shiraishi’s bond too apparently got affected.
Sugimoto and Shiraishi are clearly friends, Sugimoto risked his own life to save Shiraishi’s and Shiraishi did the same, they’ve great chemistry, they can talk and share some tastes so I was very troubled when in the Q&A we got this:
Q9: “If Shiraishi were to betray Sugimoto, would Sugimoto be able to kill him without hesitation, like the other prisoners?” Noda: ‘If he tried to kill Sugimoto, or circumstances justified betrayal at the expense of being killed, Sugimoto would kill him first.’
Of course I like to think this is a hypothetical question and we’ll never get to this point but... the real key problem here is that despite being betrayed or threatened many people would still hesitate in killing who they were judging a friend. They would think there’s a reason for that betrayal, like how Sugimoto has done when he has discovered Shiraishi supposedly worked for Hijikata.
Even Tanigaki, who was sure Kenkichi has murdered his sister and came that far exactly to murder him, still hesitated when he had the chance to do so.
That’s because Kenkichi was his friend and even if he was unable to find another explanation for his sister’s death, his heart still wanted to trust Kenkichi.
You can clearly see Tanigaki is hesitating, stalling.
Yet, from the way Noda put it, there’s no hint Sugimoto would hesitate at this point in the story.
So Sugimoto’s relationship with the others is no more working on what we can call ‘the normal scale’.
That’s because due to repeated trauma his idea of ‘kill or be killed’ had started to rule him. We saw in the last chapter how Boutarou has surrendered yet he wanted to kill him anyway even though, they had bonded briefly, Boutarou is clearly in a state in which he can’t be a threat and it would actually harm Sugimoto’s goal of wanting to find Asirpa if Boutarou were to die... and yet he wanted to kill him anyway and he doesn’t only because Shiraishi raised the rifle when Sugi pushed the trigger.
The traumatic experiences are what’s hampering Sugimoto’s healing, what’s making Shiraishi and Asirpa’s friendship for him UNABLE to help him fix himself because it’s simply not enough.
Sugimoto is downspiralling and the worst part is he’s not realizing this.
So technically, if Sugi makes progresses in his healing... then something in the gold hunt happens and he goes back to square 1.
Sugimoto would be much worse without Shiraishi and Asirpa... but they just can’t compensate.
So well, the real point of this situation isn’t that Sugimoto isn’t doing progresses... is that whatever progress he does ends up being destroyed by the next trauma.
I think for Sugimoto it was really, really important to manage to find Asirpa back... in a way it was psychologically healing his sense of self worth because it was an accomplishment... but let’s look at what happens in between then.
He can’t succesfully pull Asirpa out of the gold hunt, as Asirpa rejects letting herself be handed to Tsurumi so Sugimoto is forced to escape with her.
He gets seriously hurt by Tsurumi’s men, he can’t gain the white bear’s pelt nor find the gold, his arm gets broken by Heita and he has to spend some more time being helpless, ends up on getting lost and kills the little bird he wanted to save to survive... which was useless as, as soon as he ate it, Asirpa finds him.
He fights Boutarou with whom he somehow relates and decide to spare him, then fights Hijikata whom he views as a threat to Asirpa only for Asirpa to decide they’ll ally instead.
And then he ends up in the brewery where he likely kills a man, Ostrog, which is both prychologically healing as with this he saves Asirpa and psychologically damaging as murdering people harms his psyche (never mentioning useless on a practical level as it’s Ushiyama who gets the skin) risks to die due to the smoke and, when he thinks Boutarou has come to save HIM, Boutarou betrays him and steals Asirpa.
So of course he’s back to square 1, or even worse than that, because whatever progress he made got destroyed. He didn’t manage to build over it, he didn’t manage to solidify it so that he could wistand losing Asirpa again.
Due to this... well, it’s probably inaccurate to say Sugimoto didn’t make any progresses because he did... only he also got pushed back a lot, so if we look at where he is, it might seem he has not moved or that he got in a worse position.
It’s a struggle but it will last until Sugimoto remains in such trauma inducing situation as the gold hunt.
At least... that’s how I see it.
We’ll see how things will go, if he’ll manage to advance and conqueer permanently his progresses, but for now Sugimoto has clearly just been thrown back again.
I like tot hink the fact Shiraishi has stopped him from killing Boutarou who has again turned into an ally might help him somehow.
Boutarou is sharp and good at pinning him out so interacting with him and Shiraishi might help Sugimoto realize his problems because, most of why he’s not making progresses and he’s so easy to throw back to where he started is because he can’t see the problem in the first place.
I want to be optimist and hope he’ll manage to before the end of the story but only time will tell.
Thank you for your ask!
#Golden Kamuy#Sugimoto Saichi#Asirpa#Shiraishi Yoshitake#Oosawa Fusatarou#Hijikata Toshizou#Tsurumi Tokushirou#Ask#Tanigaki Genjirou#Aoyama Kenkichi#Gotou Takechiyo
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UNIFORMS DATA HUNTING: Japanese enlisted soldiers' uniforms in the Russo-Japanese War
As the cast of Golden Kamuy count plenty of soldiers (or veterans) one of the most common type of clothes visible in the story are soldier uniforms.
Golden Kamuy though, takes place in a particular time period in which soldier uniforms were shifting in shape and colour moving from the dark blue uniform to a kaki one. As if this wasn’t enough there were different uniforms for officers and for enlisted soldiers, with the result we see quite a bit of different uniforms.
In this post I’ll focus on the most frequently seen uniform, the one for enlisted soldiers.
Military Cap (軍帽 Gunbō): Dark blue ‘pillbox’ style M1886 cap with a black leather peak and a chin strap, a yellow band for line infantry soldiers (imperial guard infantry had it red) and a crown seam piping. On the frontal part of the yellow band there’s a star badge (星章 Seishō).
Star Badge (Cap Badge) (星章(帽章)Seishō (bōshō)): A brass five-point star badge placed on the front of the headband of the military cap.
Military Coat (軍衣 Gun'i): It’s a short single-breasted coat (上衣 Uwagi) dark blue in colour, short and made either of cotton or wool with 5 brass front buttons (釦 Botan), a standing collar (立襟 Tachieri) and red shoulder boards (肩章 Kenshō).
Standing Collar (立襟 Tachieri): Red collar which is fastened with buttons.
Shoulder board (肩章 Kenshō): They’re red and on them is written the unit number (隊号tai-gō), which was the number of the regiment (連隊番号Rentai bangō) or of the battalion (大隊番号 daitai bangō) at which the soldier belonged.
Rank Insignia (階級章 Kaikyūshō): We can see that the Military rank Insignia were placed on the sleeves in form of sleeve stripes (袖線 sode-sen).
Trousers (袴 Hakama): Dark blue pants closed by buttons with 2 frontal pockets and a red stripe about an inch wide down the outseam on the sides. They were worn with the lower part either wrapped by puttees or tucked into gaiters or boots.
Puttees (腳絆 Kyahan): Bandage covering the lower part of the leg from the ankle to the knee. It consists of a long narrow piece of cloth wound tightly and spirally round the leg, and serving to provide both support and protection. It was the first issued leg protection for enlisted soldiers.
In GK the ones wearing puttees are: Sugimoto Saichi (he wears them and gaiters during the war and once he’ll leave the army he’ll wear boots), Toraji, Tamai, Noma, Okada, Tanigaki Genjirou, Nikaidou Youhei, Nikaidou Kouhei (after his brother’s death), Aoyama Kenkichi, Ariko Rikimatsu, Usami (in Noboribetsu... we don’t know what he wore prior to it but the anime draw him wearing boots... In Karafuto he wears gaiters), Ogata Hyakunosuke (after he returns from Karafuto).
Gaiters/leggings (スパッツ Spats): In alternative to puttees soldiers also use white cloth gaiters, garments worn over the shoe and lower pants leg, and used primarily as personal protective equipment. The gaiters reached below the knee and buttoned up the outside, with a buckled leather strap fastening at the top and another passing under the shoe.
In GK the ones favouring gaiters are: Sugimoto Saichi (he wears them and puttees during the war and once he’ll leave the army he’ll wear boots), Ogata Hyakunosuke (although when he returns to Hokkaido from Karafuto he wears puttees), Nikaidou Kouhei (prior to his brother’s death), Mishima, Kiroranke, Maeyama, Usami (in Karafuto... we don’t know what he wore prior to it but the anime draw him wearing boots... In Noboribetsu he wears puttees), Kikuta (when taking part to Koito’s kidnapping), Tsukishima Hajime (when taking part to Koito’s kidnapping and when meeting Tsurumi in Karafuto).
Shoes (靴 Kutsu): Exactly as the tin say leathered brown hobnailed shoes, which were worn greased rather than polished.
Boots (長靴 Nagagutsu): Exactly the tin says, stiff leather boots, also worn by some soldiers in place of shoes and puttees/gaiters. It’s worth to note that at the time boots were a more expensive footwear, which was part of the officers’ uniform and that many peasant soldiers found uncomfortable to wear them.
In GK the ones favouring boots are: Sugimoto Saichi (after he left the army, during the war he wore alternatively puttees and gaiters), Tsukishima Hajime, Usami (in the anime, in Noboribetsu he wears puttees, in Karafuto gaiters), Kikuta (in Karafuto).
Clothing worn under the uniform:
(Very likely these are exactly the same as the ones worn by people not under the army)
Undershirt (襦袢 Juban): Collarless, in wool or cotton, white, grey or light green undershirt.
Loincloth (褌 Fundoshi): Traditional Japanese undergarment (g-string codpiece) for adult males.
Military Socks (軍足 Gun ashi): Heelless and made of wool or cotton.
(the one in the pic is actually Shiraishi’s sock but as Sugimoto exchanged it for his own I guess they aren’t that different)
In addition to all this soldiers also wore their equipment which consists of:
Leather belt (帯革 Obikawa): Fastened above the coat was used to tie at it the ammunition poaches and the bayonet.
Ammunition Pouch (弾薬盒 Dan'yakugō or 弾盒 Dangō): Small pouches for carrying rifle ammunitions made of brown hard leather. They were 3, 2 front pouches (前盒zengō) and a rear pouch (後盒Kōgō) all attached to a leather belt (帯革 Obikawa). The pouch was divided in two parts by a divider to fit with the shape of the ammunition paper box. Usually one carried 6 clips in each frontal pouch and 12 in the rear pouch for a total of 120 bullets. The rear pouch also contained 2 screwdrivers (転螺器 Utate nishi-ki) and a small can of oil (油缶 aburakan or油壺 aburatsubo) which contained maintenance oil (��入れ油 Teire-yu) was also attached to it.
Scabbard of the type 30 bayonet (三十年式銃剣の鞘 Sanjūnen-shiki jūken no saya): It was attached to the left side of the leather belt at which were also attached the ammunition pouches.
Type 30 bayonet (三十年式銃剣 Sanjūnen-shiki jūken): It was a bayonet designed for the Imperial Japanese Army to be used with the Arisaka Type 30 Rifle and was later used on the Type 38 and Type 99 rifles. It remained in front-line use from the Russo-Japanese War to the end of World War II. All Japanese infantrymen were issued with the Type 30, whether they were armed with a rifle or pistol, or even if they were unarmed. For more info see my Weapons data hunting (Part 1: Rifles, carbines and shotguns) page.
Type 30 rifle (三十年式歩兵銃 Sanjū-nen-shiki hoheijū “Year 30 type infantry firearm”): A box-fed bolt-action repeating rifle that was the standard infantry rifle of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1897 (the 30th year of the Meiji period, hence “Type 30”) to 1905. Later they’ll switch to the Type 38 rifle (三八式歩兵銃 Sanjūhachi-shiki hoheijū). For more info see my Weapons data hunting (Part 1: Rifles, carbines and shotguns) page.
Back pack (背嚢 Hainō): A knapsack of unshaved hide stretched over a wooden framework and slung by brown leather straps, carried on one's back. The pack contained 3 days rations 30 rounds of spare ammunitions, two pairs of socks, a set of underwear, a cleaning kit for the rifle, bandages, grease for protecting the shoes, sewing kit, comb, scissors. The overcoat was folded and rolled up to be carried around it while a red wool blanket and a waterproof canvas tent were rolled on top of the coat and attached at the knapsack by straps. A spare pair of shoes was strapped to either side of the pack and a metal mess tin fastened to the back of it.
Water bottle (水筒 Suitō): A black or brown-laquered metal water bottle that soldiers would carry slung over the left shoulder on a brown leather strap.
Soldiers also had extra clothes to cover themselves up in the cold weather of Russia which go from the heavy military coats we see the guys used during the battle of Mukden and in Karafuto, to Tanigaki’s leather jacket or Ogata’s overcoat.
(Pictures might or might not be added later)
It’s worth to note Sugimoto keeps wearing part of his army uniform (pants, hat) even though he had left the army.
Ogata, despite being a deserter, wears his army clothes through almost all the manga.
Tanigaki, although talking of having left the army, will keep on wearing them below Ainu clothes.
Though Kiroranke usually wears his Ainu clothes he will wear his army pants to fight in the stenka.
A big help in finding out all those info was the book The Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 by Philip Jowett and Alexei Ivanov which I recommend. I also have to thank the various anon who shared with me links about where to find info. Thank you, guys!
#Golden Kamuy#Sugimoto Saichi#Ogata Hyakunosuke#Nikaidou Youhei#Golden Kamuy Clothes#Kiroranke#Tsukishima Hajime#Aoyama Kenkichi#Ariko Rikimatsu#Nikaidou Kouhei#Usami Tokishige#Tamai Houzou#Noma Naoaki#Okada Fumio#Mishima Kennosuke#Maeyama Kazuo#Kenmochi Toraji#Kikuta Mokutarou
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FULL LIST OF THE KNOWN ARMY SOLDIERS AND INFO ABOUT THEM
As here and there people has seemed to be confused by the Japanese ranking system in the Army here there’s an easy to use visual that shows how high each character is and, below the cut, some info about them.
Officer ranks
Grand Marshal (大元帥、陸軍大将 Daigensui-Rikugun-Taishō) = The Emperor
Mutsuhito (睦仁): We never see him through Golden Kamuy but he was the emperor of Japan at the time.
OF-10 Marshal (元帥、陸軍大将 Gensui-Rikugun-Taishō)
OF-9 General (陸軍大将Rikugun-Taishō)
OF-8 Lieutenant General (陸軍中将 Rikugun-Chūjō)
Hanazawa Kōjirō (花沢 幸次郎): Leader of the 7th division and father of Ogata Hyakunosuke and Hanazawa Yūsaku. After the end of the war he’s murdered under Tsurumi Tokushirō‘s order by Ogata Hyakunosuke (who might or might not have worked with other people) and his death is set up so as to look as if it was a suicide by the blade. He was close friend with navy rear-admiral Koito Heiji (鯉登 平二) as both were from Satsuma.
Arisaka Narizō (有坂 成蔵): Fictional version of Lieutenant General Arisaka Nariakira (有坂 成章) and the Army genius arm designer. He’s friend with Tsurumi Tokushirō and brings him his weapons. He has lost part of his hearing.
OF-7 Major General (陸軍少将 Rikugun-Shōshō)
OF-5 Colonel (陸軍大佐 Rikugun-Taisa)
OF-4 Lieutenant Colonel (陸軍中佐 Rikugun-Chūsa)
Yodogawa Terunaka (淀川 輝前): In charge of Asahikawa 7th division headquarters. He’s submitted to Tsurumi Tokushirō due to Tsurumi knowing his failures in the Russo-Japanese war.
OF-3 Major (陸軍少佐 Rikugun-Shōsa)
Nambu (南部): Arisaka Narizō’s underling who helps him project new weapons. He’s only mentioned by Arisaka but he’s likely the fictional version of Nambu Kijirō (南部 麒次郎).
OF-2 Captain (陸軍大尉 Rikugun-Tai-i)
Wada (和田): He grows furious when Tsurumi Tokushirō takes away some weapons from Asahikawa and would like to have his sent away from the Army. Tsurumi first bite his finger away then has Tsukishima Hajime shoot him in the head. He then orders his men to undress him and bury him secretly.
OF-1 First Lieutenant (陸軍中尉Rikugun-Chūi)
Tsurumi Tokushirō (鶴見 篤四郎): Intelligence officer who in the past used to be a spy operating in Russia under the name of Hasegawa Kōichi (長谷 川幸��). Married with Fina, with a daughter, Olga, he lost both when someone revealed his identity as a spy and he ended up being involved in a firefight against the Russian secret police and Wilk, Kiroranke and Sofia. He then takes part to the Sino-Japanese war. Friend with Tsukishima Hajime, he saves him from a death sentence for parricide and takes him with himself to work in Russia as a spy. Later he gets involved in the kidnapping of Koito Otonoshin. He then takes part to the Russo-Japanese war and now he’s currently chasing the gold, planning to use it to turn Hokkaido in a military dictatorship with himself as leader. He’s amazing at foreplanning and at being an intelligence officer.
OF-1 Second Lieutenant (陸軍少尉 Rikugun-Shōi)
Hanazawa Yūsaku (花沢 勇作): Son of Hanazawa Kōjirō and younger half brother of Ogata Hyakunosuke. He was the flagbearer of the 7th division and very honest and pure. Tsurumi Tokushirō considered using him but he turned out impossible to corrupt and so Ogata Hyakunosuke shoot him in the head.
Koito Otonoshin (鯉登 音之進): Son of navy rear-admiral Koito Heiji (鯉登 平二) and considered by many a ‘bonbon’ (pampered little rich brat). He lost his older brother, navy ensign Koito Heinojou (鯉登 平之丞), in the battle of Yalu river and the trauma caused him to develop sea sickness and a strong sense of inadequacy to replace him. At 16 he was kidnapped. He greatly admires Tsurumi Tokushirō who was in charge of the investigation during the time he was kidnapped, to the point he’ll do everything for him. He’s close to Tsukishima Hajime and amazing at running and swordfighting. He’s also an acrobatic genius.
Warrant Officer & Enlisted ranks
OR-9 Warrant Officer (准尉 Jun-i)
Kikuta (菊田): Wounded during the Russo-Japanese war he had spent most of the time after it at Noboribetsu hotsprings, recovering. Ariko Rikimatsu is a trusted underling of his. He loves the Nagant M 1895 and, during the war, ordered his men to loot them. He wants to go back cooperating with Tsurumi Tokushirō and, due to this, he decides to take part to the Gold Hunt, trying to recover a tattooed skin to offer to Tsurumi. He believes Ariko managed to retrieve the one of Toni Anji. He looks very clever and capable, although not as clever as Tsurumi but seems to care about his men.
OR-7 Sergeant Major (曹長 Sōchō)
OR-6 Sergeant (軍曹 Gunsō)
Tsukishima Hajime (月島 基): Tsurumi Tokushirō’s close friend, he took part with him to the Sino-Japanese war. When he murdered his abusive father believing he was also responsible of the suicide of his love interest, nicknamed Igogusa, Tsurumi saved him from death sentence persuading the Army he had good reasons to murder his father and making Tsukishima study Russian so he could go in mission with him in Russia. Tsukishima will remain to his side during the Russo-Japanese war and in the Gold Hunt. He’s nicknamed the coscience of the 7th but he’s responsible of murdering Wada under Tsurumi’s orders.
OR-5 Corporal (伍長 Gochō)
Tamai (玉井): He is part of a group that would like to rebel against Tsurumi Tokushirō and get the gold for themselves and not to allow Tsurumi to become Hokkaido’s dictator. When Ogata Hyakunosuke is seriously wounded he goes to search who did it along with other men and manages to track and recognize Sugimoto Saichi but then falls in Sugimoto’s trap and he’s murdered by a bear. He seemed to respect Ogata Hyakunosuke’s ability as a soldier.
OR-4 Second Corporal (伍長勤務上等兵 Gochō Kimmu jōtōhei)
OR-4 Lance-Corporal (兵長 Heichō)
OR-3 Superior Private (上等兵 Jōtōhei)
Ogata Hyakunosuke (尾形 百之助): Amazing Sharpshooter and illegittimate son of Hanazawa Kōjirō and a geisha from Asakusa. In the 7th division soldiers make fun of him for this calling him a Yamaneko due to his mother being a Yamaneko (a geisha who sleeps with customers). We see that during the Russo-Japanese war he does the dirty job for Tsurumi Tokushirō, trying to corrupt his stepbrother Hanazawa Yūsaku and, when this will turn out to be impossible, he’ll shoot him in the head. After the end of the war, under Tsurumi’s orders he’ll murder Hanazawa Kōjirō. He might have Karafuto connections and can talk Russian. We know he tried to rebel to Tsurumi, had a faceoff with Sugimoto Saichi who seriously wounded him and, once recovered, tried to murder Tanigaki Genjirō believing he murdered Tamai, Noma and Okada who were with him in the rebellion. He saved Nikaidō Kōhei’s life when he was attacked by a bear, was forced to escape as Tsurumi arrived and, later, managed to join Hijikata Toshizō’s group. When Hijikata’s group will merge with Sugimoto’s he’ll spend time with Sugimoto, who strongly distrust him, Asirpa and Shiraishi Yoshitake. When they’ll try to meet Nopperabō in Abashiri, Ogata will shoot Nopperabō and Sugimoto and escape with Kiroranke, with whom it’ll turn out he was in a secret alliance, Asirpa and Shiraishi who don’t know of Ogata and Kiroranke’s alliance. In Karafuto he’ll discover Asirpa remembered the code but they’ll argue and, by mistake, she’ll shoot him with an arrow in his eye. To insure Asirpa won’t become a murder Sugimoto will remove Ogata’s eye in order to stop the poison to spread, saving his life.
Usami Tokishige (宇佐美 時重): He greatly admired Tsurumi Tokushirō and possibly has a crush on him. He works under disguise in Abashiri prison but he’s discovered and forced to leave. When in Noribetsu, chasing Toni Anji he got wounded to his leg.
OR-2 Private 1st Class (一等兵 Ittōhei)
Noma (野間): He is part of a group that would like to rebel against Tsurumi Tokushirō and get the gold for themselves and not to allow Tsurumi to become Hokkaido’s dictator. When Ogata Hyakunosuke is seriously wounded he goes to search who did it along with other men and manages to track and recognize Sugimoto Saichi but then falls in Sugimoto’s trap and he’s murdered by a bear. He seemed to dislike Ogata Hyakunosuke.
Okada (岡田): He is part of a group that would like to rebel against Tsurumi Tokushirō and get the gold for themselves and not to allow Tsurumi to become Hokkaido’s dictator. When Ogata Hyakunosuke is seriously wounded he goes to search who did it along with other men and manages to track and recognize Sugimoto Saichi but then falls in Sugimoto’s trap and he’s murdered by mistake by Tamai.
Nikaidō Kōhei (二階堂 浩平): When he goes to check who was searching for a man with a tattoo he ends up in a fight with Sugimoto Saichi and tried to murder him but he’s stopped by Tsurumi Tokushirō. He’s present when Tsurumi questions Sugimoto and he’s further angered by him. He and his brother try to hurt Sugimoto and are beaten up so they decide to try to murder him but Sugimoto manages to kill Yōhei. Kōhei, who is also part of a group that would like to rebel against Tsurumi Tokushirō and get the gold for themselves and not to allow Tsurumi to become Hokkaido’s dictator goes with Ogata Hyakunosuke in search of Tamai and Co and chases Tanigaki Genjirō believing he murdered them. He falls in a trap and he’s attacked by a bear, who takes away his left ear. Ogata saves him but he ends in Tsurumi’s hands. Tsurumi cuts away his left ear trying to force him to reveal who are the other rebels but manages to persuade Nikaidō only when he promises he’ll let him kill Sugimoto. Nikaidō then betrays Komiya and returns working for Tsurumi. He fights with Hijikata Toshizō who manages to cut his leg when he gets distracted by Sugimoto’s voice. He gets a prospectic leg by Arisaka Narizō and during the Abashiri prison assault fights with Sugimoto but loses his hand. He’s currently in Noboribetsu.
Nikaidō Yōhei (二階堂 洋平): When he goes to check who was searching for a man with a tattoo he ends up in a fight with Sugimoto Saichi and tried to beat him but he’s stopped by Tsurumi Tokushirō. He’s present when Tsurumi questions Sugimoto and he’s further angered by him. He and his brother try to hurt Sugimoto and are beaten up so they decide to try to murder him but Sugimoto manages to kill him.
Komiya (小宮): He’s accused by Nikaidō Kōhei to be part of the rebel group. It’s implied Tsurumi Tokushirō cut off his nose and he might have forced him to commit Seppuku.
Tanigaki Genjirō (谷垣 源次郎): He’s a Matagi from Ani. He joined the army planning to murder Aoyama Kenkichi so as to avenge his sister Fumie but discovered Kenkichi was innocent. Back from the war he’s ashamed of what he did and decides to follow Tsurumi Tokushirō however when he is involved by Tamai in a search for who hurt Ogata Hyakunosuke he sees Retar and has his leg broken by him and decides to hunt him. He’s helped by Nihei Tetsuzō who tried to persuade him to go back home. While they’re hunting Retar they end up fighting with Sugimoto’s Saichi’s group and he gets hit by an Amappo. Asirpa saves him and takes him to her village after Nihei’s death. Tanigaki recovers and is hunted by Ogata Hyakunosuke and Nikaidō Kōhei who believes him to have killed Tamai but manages to escape them. Later Tanigaki leave the Ainu village to bring back Asirpa to her grandmother. He travels with Inkarmat and Cikapasi and, in a way, started to see them as a family. When Inkarmat is wounded by Kiroranke, he chases him planning to kill him in retaliation and manages to stab him with the knife with whom Kiro had stabbed Inkarmat by mistake. The wound later lead Kiroranke to death.
Mishima (三島): Soldier of the 7th who tells Tanigaki Genjirō of how Tsurumi Tokushirō is aware there’s a rebellion and is trying to capture its members. He’s murdered by Ogata Hyakunosuke.
Maeyama (前山): He was assigned to protect Edogai Yasaku but he’s shot by Ogata Hyakunosuke and dies.
Ariko Rikimatsu/Ipopte (有古 力松/イポㇷ゚テ): Underling of Kikuta who’s of Ainu desent he was in the rescue team of the Hakkoda mountain incident. Like Kikuta he was wounded during the Russo-Japanese war and therefore had spent most of the time after it at Noboribetsu hotsprings, recovering. He ends up being involved in the fight with Toni Anji and, supposedly, caused his death. He claims he recovered his skin and hands it to Kikuta but the tattoos on the skin he gives to Kikuta do not match with the ones on Toni’s skin.
Yulbars/Kiroranke (Юлбарс/キロランケ): Part Tartar, part Karafuto Ainu, he’s a partisan who fights for the minorities’s independance and Wilk’s close friend. At 15 he took part to the murder of the Russian emperor and then, with Wilk and Sofia, learnt Japanese by Hasegawa Kōichi. He left with Wilk for Japan in search of the gold. After the gold incident he gets married and has a child, takes part to the Russo-Japanese war in the 7th division as a sapper, a combat engineer, but not under Tsurumi Tokushirō and has another child. He’s in an allegiance with Ogata Hyakunosuke but joins Sugimoto Saichi’s group so he can get a chance to kill Wilk and take Asirpa way with himself. After Ogata kills Wilk and he ends up stabbing Inkarmat by mistake he takes Asirpa, Ogata and Shiraishi Yoshitake of whom he has become a close friend in Karafuto and has them take part to Sofia’s jailbreak. When they’re trying to reach Russia he ends up meeting Tanigaki Genjirō who stabs him. Kiroranke escapes, leaving a trap behind which wounds Tsukishima Hajime. Koito Otonoshin, furious, tries to kill him. The two fights, Koito removing the knife from Kiroranke’s abdomen, hurrying the other’s bloodloss. Tsukishima and Tanigaki joins them and shoot Kiroranke. Kiroranke tries to throw a bomb at them but Koito stops him. Asirpa joins them and he dies after he learns she finally has remembered the code.
Sugimoto Saichi (杉元 佐一): Member of the White Sash Brigade (白襷隊 Shiro Dasuki-tai) in the first division he’s nicknamed the immortal due to his ability to survive to severe wounds. His body is covered in scars and he’s an amazing fighter but a poor shooter. He was Toraji’s best friend and was in love with Umeko but, when his family got sick, he was forced to leave his village and Umeko married Toraji. He takes part to the Russo-Japanese war and carries home Toraji’s finger bone. He doesn’t dare to reveal himself to Umeko but goes in Hokkaido to pan for gold so he could get money enough to let her get an eye surgery and ends up involved in the Gold Hunt.
Toraji (寅次): Member of the White Sash Brigade (白襷隊 Shiro Dasuki-tai) in the first division, he is Sugimoto Saichi’s best friend, Umeko’s husband and the father of a child. He dies in the Russo-Japanese war.
Aoyama Kenkichi (青山 賢吉): He married Tanigaki Fumie. When she got sick with smallpox he mercy killed her and left his home. During the Russo-Japanese war he became a member of the White Sash Brigade (白襷隊 Shiro Dasuki-tai) in the first division, and rescued his companions by stopping a Russian soldier who had bombs strapped all over himself. He gets fatally wounded but, before dying, manages to tell Tanigaki Genjirō the truth about his sister’s death.
OR-1 Private 2nd Class (二等兵 Nitōhei)
This is were the list of the known army soldiers end. However there are more Army soldiers shown but, for them, no name or rank was given so I didn't list them. In the future, if more info will come up, this list might end up being updated.
#Golden Kamuy#Ogata Hyakunosuke#Tsurumi Tokushirou#Sugimoto Saichi#Kiroranke#Hanazawa Koujirou#Hanazawa Yuusaku#Arisaka Narizou#Golden Kamuy Pondering#Yodogawa Terunaka#Koito Otonoshin#Tsukishima Hajime#Nikaidou Kouhei#Nikaidou Youhei#Tanigaki Genjirou#Ariko Rikimatsu#Aoyama Kenkichi#Usami Tokishige#Wada Kouji#Kikuta Mokutarou#Tamai Houzou#Noma Naoaki#Okada Fumio#Komiya Ikutarou#Mishima Kennosuke#Maeyama Kazuo#Kenmochi Toraji
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Hey, I have a few questions regarding chap 165 where Ogata shoots Yuusaku. Since Yuusaku led the charge, didn't the 7th know he was killed by friendly fire? Do you think they ever suspected Ogata? Also in the scene between Yuusaku being shot and Ogata looking down his just fired rifle is a obscure scene with cracks and splatter and I can't stop thinking about it because I don't know what that is. Why does the perspective have Ogata aiming down, not up like the next page?
It’s an interesting quesiton and one that, as far as I know, is about a topic that wasn’t touched before!
Personally I don’t think the 7th division realized Yuusaku was killed by friendly fire but, even if they did, it likely wouldn’t be an occurrence that would surprise them greatly to the point to suspect someone did it on purpose.
First of all dead by friendly fire wasn’t so uncommon.
There have been many thousands of friendly fire incidents in recorded military history, accounting for an estimated 2% to 20% of all casualties in battle. The rate of friendly fire has remained remarkably stable, and unimproved, over the past 200 years. So it’s not like Yuusaku had died in a dark halley where someone clearly shoot him by purpose. He was on a battleground and being shoot by friendly fire in the heat of the battle could happen.
But there are also more things to consider.
Let’s start with how low were the chances that someone would notice the bullet direction during the battle.
Yuusaku is in the middle of a charge when he’s shoot. We don’t see much of that one but we saw a little of a previous one.
Look at the soldiers.
They aren’t really looking at Yuusaku, they’re looking ahead, to their enemies. Bullers are falling around them, a guy next to Yuusaku had one bullet going through his hat for crying out loud, there’s a general confusion and adrenaline is high.
It seems in such situation you suffer of tunnel vision, which is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision. In short you aren’t fully aware of what’s going on around you.
Assaults were hell, we can see another example of one in chap 1.
And another in chap 76.
People is busy surviving and, even if they might notice something, unless it doesn’t threaten their own survival it’s not a priority and will be dismissed.
So, although it’s true that the bullet went through Yuusaku’s skull and apparently came out from his eye causing blood to spray out ahead of Yuusaku and not behind him, this has lasted very likely only a bunch of seconds, seconds in which the soldiers were too busy in trying to survive to check on Yuusaku.
Yuusaku’s knees bend and he falls and people might not have noticed it or cared about it. Remember the pressure put on Sugimoto, his desperate wish to stay alive? (Chap 24)
This is the confusion and the emotional state in which the soldiers are fighting. People fall down but you instead get up and leave them behind and fight and try to survive.
Maybe someone noticed Yuusaku fell and cared enough to go to check on him as he was the flagbearer and Hanazawa’s son. Maybe he just fell and people continued to fight without even realizing it.
In this setting is even less likely they could see from which direction the bullet come.
If someone has noticed him falling and has picked him up, trying to bring him back to a doctor, he likely didn’t notice from where the bullet go through and from where it went out. The fact that conveniently Ogata seems to have hit Yuusaku’s eye probably helped not to notice that’s from where the bullet went out and, in addition to this, it seems it’s not so easy to figure out which is the exit hole and the entering hole of a nurmal bullet, so probably a soldier wouldn’t have realized.
Sure, a doctor might have noticed which direction the bullet took, but the doctor probably didn’t see the scene and, even if he did, dead by friendly fire happened, so he likely didn’t think anything of it, except maybe it was sad to lose someone due to friendly fire. Maybe, considering how Yuusaku was considered a luck bringer due to his virginal status, he didn't even report he was killed by friendly fire afraid this would be seen as a sign of misfortune and lower the soldiers' morale.
Now, although we don’t see people near to Ogata, it can be there were other soldiers next to him.
Ogata was in one of the trenches and we see there could be other soldiers there...
...maybe even Tanigaki...
...but I doubt they realized Ogata was aiming at Yuusaku. Yuusaku was in the middle of the battle, and they too likely were aiming at the middle of the battle, trying to hit a Russian. And, of course, they couldn’t see Ogata’s bullet track and realize it went through Yuusaku’s skull.
Long story short, I’m not sure the 7th could have realized on its own how Yuusaku died, especially considering flag bearers like Yuusaku had a high mortality rate.
They might, ‘might’ have been told by a doctor... but I think everyone believed it was preferable if Yuusaku died fighting than by being shoot by friendly fire.
That’s why Tanigaki thinks that it’s a good idea to kill Kenkichi in the back in the middle of the confusion, because no one is going to suspect Kenkichi was killed on purpose by friendly fire.
Still... Ogata is disliked so could they still suspect him?
It’s noteworthy to point out Yuusaku didn’t die in his first charge or his second. He died after quite an amount of charges. And Ogata never shoot him although at each charge he had the same chances to kill him as in the one in which he killed him.
So, unless something happened of which everyone was aware of, I think people wouldn’t think Ogata suddenly decided to shoot his brother when he hadn’t done it for so many times.
It’s also clear Ogata didn’t benefit at all from Yuusaku’s death as Hanazawa didn’t suddenly remember he had another son, actually since Yuusaku was nice with Ogata and was of higher rank, people might have viewed Yuusaku’s dead as a damage to him because he would have lost the support of a second lieutenant and, possibly of one of the few people nice to him.
So honestly no, I don’t think they would have jumped to the conclusion Ogata killed Yuusaku. Flagbearers had a high mortality rate so Yuusaku was likely expected to die soon and probably no one was surprised when it eventually happened.
Maybe they tossed it as ‘another joke at Ogata’s expense’, hoping the accusation would hurt him, or maybe commenting how Ogata wasn’t appropriately grief stricken, but I doubt they believed he did it. They likely just considered him cold and unpleasant and wanted to hurt him because they didn’t like him, not because they had concrete suspicions.
In short they might have done it more in Koito’s fashion, ‘he’s the son of a scammer so he HAS to be a scammer himself because he has an unpleasant personality’ than in a genuine ‘hey, I think there is a genuine possibility Ogata killed his brother because he has the motive, the means and the opportunity’ fashion or ‘Ogata should have killed his brother because there’s proof X’ fashion. No concrete suspicions, just usual bullying.
After all a similar suspicion, if based on something vaguely concrete, would have required a huge investigation considering Yuusaku’s status and would have reached Hanazawa’s ears as well so, since nothing as such happened, I think it’s safe to assume the soldiers in the 7th had no idea Ogata murdered his brother and, if there was among them someone who knew about it (maybe because he overheard Ogata and Tsurumi’s conversation) he just kept it for himself.
I know many thinks Tsurumi didn’t want Yuusaku to be killed but truth is Tsurumi didn’t want Yuusaku to be killed because he hoped he could turn useful to his cause and we saw he checked Ogata’s progresses on him. Yuusaku’s failure to kill a Russian prisoner of war and his stubborn obedience to his father’s instructions likely sealed his fate as someone who wouldn’t be useful whatsoever to Tsurumi’s cause as he clearly wouldn’t:
- approve stealing the Ainu gold for Tsurumi’s benefit
- approve using it to buy weapons to oppose to central command and create a dictatorship under Tsurumi’s rule
- approve murdering everyone who opposed to Tsurumi (Wada, for example)
- approve murdering his own father so that this would cause central command to shift the blame on the 7th so Tsurumi can fed on the 7th discontentment’s.
If Yuusaku had survived the war he would have clearly opposed to Tsurumi’s plan at each chance he got (and clearly couldn’t be involved in his father’s murder). Tsurumi needed to replace him with someone more complacent like Koito, who does everything he can for Tsurumi.
The charisma Yuusaku showed would have also played to Tsurumi’s disadvantage as men who would have followed Tsurumi now would have been torn between following Tsurumi and Yuusaku.
So I think in the end Tsurumi gave Ogata permission to shoot Yuusaku... though he might have voiced it in a less direct manner.
Ogata is still guilty of agreeing to shoot Yuusaku down for his own purposes but, ultimately, I think he had permission to do it... and he had no reasons to rush things and do it on his own. Yuusaku was clearly proving he wouldn’t be of use to Tsurumi (never mentioning Tsurumi had to have a hand into staging the whole war prisoner thing) so it was only a matter of time before Tsurumi would allow him.
Sorry but I’m not really sure why you find this scene obscure...
We saw in previous scenes how Ogata, to aim, has to basically raise himself above the trench and shoot in an almost orizontal manner, his rifle only slightly pointed a bit higher.
The view changes a bit according to the angle from which the scene is seen but that’s likely Ogata is more or less aiming always with the same angle.
So when Ogata shoot Yuusaku he likely wasn’t aiming down, he was aimingthe same as in the other situation. If the picture with him seems to have him aiming down it's either just the scene being seen by another angle or, alternatively, he was just lowering his gaze as he watched Yuusaku fall since he had already shoot him (Ogata normally aims at the head and therefore that’s what he looks at so it makes sense he had to slightly lower his gaze to follow Yuusaku’s fall).
Or have I misunderstood what you mean? If that’s the case I apologize.
Thank you for your ask!
#Golden Kamuy#Ogata Hyakunosuke#Hanazawa Yuusaku#Tsurumi Tokushirou#Tanigaki Genjirou#Aoyama Kenkichi#Ask
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