#shiraishi is such an important character TO ME!! and his relationship with sugimoto is very interesting

[circusbythesea]

shiraishi's nightmare

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapters 269-270.  The cliff notes meta edition.

This will be a less detailed meta as I’ve just been spread too thin recently and the current events of the manga have been underwhelming to me, making it harder to engage with the content.

Having an online presence has been a double-edged sword for me and as we mark 1 year of pandemic life, it is hard for me to invest as much time in it since I have to do so many more things online for work.  Sitting down to write meta isn’t as fun and relaxing as it once was when you have 7 zoom meetings over the course of several days. Add on the fact that I have not left the county were I live since February 2020 nor I have a seen any of my family or friends . . . yeah writing meta isn’t a much of a priority.  As an aside, I think more people need to be stating that being ‘productive’ and ‘leveling up’ during these times is either unrealistic and even more damaging by creating completely unrealistic expectations of how we should respond to things.

[steps off of soapbox]

Chapter 269, quickly shows us how the chaos that Tsurumi unleashed on the divided Ainu resulted in a tragedy and Wilk is the only one who managed to survive the massacre.

Tsurumi is able to sort out that there were eight Ainu, and that Wilk staged his own death by working quickly to conceal the identity of the dead partially by removing the eyes. 

Kikuta is the first one to find the man who dies soon after discovery and Tsurumi seems to be in awe of Wilk’s escape plan.

KIkuta also shows he’s a more empathetic individual worried about how they contributed to the death of Ariko’s father.  Did Tsurumi push Kikuta away after the war since he knew Kikuta would feel bad about doing the ‘things’ needed to be done for the gold?

It further highlights that Usami and Kikuta were never on the same page.  I do like how the following page shows both Kikuta and Ariko continuing to tie the narrative that Kikuta feels a connection with the younger man.  Shiraishi and Sugimoto spot Ariko, calling him Ariko Ipopte, which is an interesting choice to use a hybrid name for him.  Kikuta uses his full Japanese name, while these men use a mix.

The final panel showing a reflective looking Kikuta walking alone in the rain really emotional connects with the grief surrounding all of this unnecessary death.  Tsurumi sought to be a leader of men by giving them love and being the stand in father for them.  I think that Kikuta is the character who is the natural and honest father figure - we know he has a deep relationship with Ariko and we also know he has some sort of connection to Sugimoto.

Tsurumi continues his ‘discussion’ of events with Asirpa and Sofia.  Tsurumi has such a complicated relationship with Wilk.  He’s both in awe of the man’s determination to survive but at the same time he wanted him destroyed at such a great cost.

Tsurumi really lays on the guilt to Asirpa that Wilk did everything to protect her - under the assumption that she’d be unfairly treated if her father had killed all of those men.  Perhaps that is the case, perhaps not.  It seems contradictory to his own actions where he gave Ogin and the Lighting Bandit’s child to Huci to care for it.  He has this weird approach to the impact of the ‘sins of the parents’ on the child  . . .

Tsurumi doggedly pursues Wilk and they immediately recognize each other and he flees onto the lake with his canoe.  By shooting at Wilk, he forces him to capsize the canoe and items sink down into the lake.  Honestly, I’m not sure what Tsurumi was hoping to achieve by this - make him swim so that he could capture him more easily.  We don’t know how skilled Tsurumi is with a rifle and I’d be more concerned about killing Wilk and loosing the information.  It seems reckless in my opinion since the ultimate outcome was Wilk appealing to Inudou thus achieving protection from the 7th.

I think Tsurumi was fueled and blinded by his emotions which only made things more complicated and drew the hunt for the gold out even longer (to the present time).

The rest of the chapter explains how Kiro felt.  First, the grief at the loss of Wilk, trying to move on my having a family, but ultimately coming back to realize that Wilk was still alive after the war.  Really, Wilk underestimated Kiro’s intelligence since he figured out that Kimuspu was the seventh man, not Wilk.  As a Kiro fan, I of course favor him, but he really showed he’s a good leader and actually willing to take risks.  What is most important is that having a family only lead him to want to fight for them - even more.

Kiro sees the flaw in Wilk’s plan of Hokkaido as an independent unit as a place for various native peoples, while ignoring all of the logistical issues that Kiro already pointed out to him previously.  The Far Eastern Federation has the flaw that it is connected by land to Russia, but would me much harder to lay siege to.  But Hokkaido as an island could easily be cut off - and with not much industry within itself, you still can’t do a whole lot with all of those raw materials if you can get industrial technologies from elsewhere.  If it were blockaded they’d be screwed.  Sure, you wouldn’t starve, but you wouldn’t be able to advance quickly.  All that gold and nowhere to spend it.

Thus, Kiro believed he was acting in regard to their original goals and had no choice but to remove Wilk from the equation.  As Wilk had become the very wolf that he had observed as a child and played with its pelt.  That is some next level foreshadowing by Noda, if I do say so.

In the end, Kiro remained much more committed to their fight as partisans than Wilk did.  You have to give it to him, he stuck to his original plans and he died believing he did the right thing.  Now, looking back at how upset Sofia was when she first saw Kiro, we know why she slapped him in the first place.  I’ll take it to mean that she was upset by Kiro’s actions but at the same time understood what he did.  But then Sofia let it go, as she would soon go on to also speak fondly of Wilk and his desire to be like the wolves.  Therefore, I don’t think Sofia was completely angry with Kiro, instead she knew the decision that was made and perhaps, she too, would have understood that there were divided in their goals once they moved on with their lives.

The next chapter starts off with the bottle mobile boys and Ariko on horseback as they determine what to do next.  Sugimoto is amazingly still not rushing in like a maniac which is out of character for him.  Are you okay Sugimoto?  Or have your encounters with Kikuta and Boutarou begun to have an impact on you without being aware of it?

The settle on letting Ariko go ahead, even though he doesn’t answer their question.  I’d say he doesn’t have a clue what side he is on.  He likely cares about Kikuta.  But he wants to see Asirpa succeed since he feels ashamed by his own approach towards life in Hokkaido as an Ainu.

Off he goes alone to figure out how to rescue Asirpa.  Really, a terrible idea since sure he’s a tough guy, but we don’t know what his fighting skills are like in the first place. . . . At least he isn’t a hothead, so sending him in alone will be less of a disaster than Sugimoto.

The action returns to Tsurumi trying to turn up the heat on Asirpa.  She asks him about Kiro’s fingerprints at the crime scene - a lie that Tsurumi fed to Inkarmat to get her to help him.  He writes it off as him doing a good thing for her - she closed a chapter of her life - then again - he doesn’t know that Koito let Tanigaki and Inkarmat escape.  The next several pages are a slow psychological technique that builds up to Tsurumi reveling that the bullet that killed Fina and Olga had been from Wilk’s pistol.  Dum da duuum!

So, according to Tsurumi it is Wilk’s fault all those Ainu died.  That he should have never left Russia for Japan.  That even his time in Russia resulted in Fina and Olga’s deaths.  Everything is Wilk’s fault!

This page ends with how Tsukishima let go of the woman he had loved and his memory of her - yet Tsurumi kept the bullet and the finger bones of his family!  We can see that Tsukishima is barely holding it together, so upset by this knowledge!

As a master manipulator of people, Tsurumi thanks Sofia for what she has contributed to the story - he can help her feel better by telling her that she did not kill his wife and child. . . .  on no, he only uses it as a way to add even more pressure on Asirpa!

To Tsurumi, Asirpa is no child, she is the direct tie to all of his anger and pain and his twisted soul.  

I mean, he kept Wilk’s skinned face and he’s using it to get her to break! What is more interesting is after the initial shock, Sofia quickly regains her calm while Asirpa - well she’s clearly buying into Tsurumi’s explanation of things.

She is thinking about how her father ‘turned’ Tsurumi into the person he is before her . . . . I’d be willing to say that Wilk influenced Tsurumi - as much as Tsurumi influenced Wilk.  Yet, Tsurumi as a human being is responsible for his decisions and he alone can respond to them in a constructive or destructive way.  It is clear Tsurumi went for the latter.

Sofia’s calm in this pressure situation is clear as she asks him if it was for revenge.  She’s a smart woman and has lived long enough to see these types of things through.

Tsukishima is ready to kill Tsurumi - it would make him a hypocritical leader - having him let go of his own earthly attachments only to serve a man bent on revenge.  Koito is listening closely as well, unsure of how he’s going to respond.

Tsurumi makes it clear he could have killed Asirpa any number of times.  I think this is another case of Tsurumi playing a verbal slight of hand.  He’s asked if he’s doing this out of revenge, and his answer is - I haven’t killed her yet.  Gee, based on how messed up you are Tsurumi, we both know that there is more than one way to take revenge. Killing someone in retribution is one way to take revenge or the worse way - make their life a living hell.  It is clear that Tsurumi is going for the second one to break Asirpa.

There is a dramatic two page spread as he explains that he is doing this for Japan - and the implied increasing militaristic activities of the late Meiji government to expand their domain.

If feels - like a performance to me as a reader.  The pages are remarkably light in tone giving it an optimistic and feeling of purity.  Yet, Tsurumi is a broken and corrupt man . . . cruel in his intentions.  He only says this as a way to combat anyone who were to contradict him . . . .

It is too perfect - too convenient - too good for Koito and Tsukishima to believe in my own opinion. As both of the men seem relived to have heard these very words as a type of closing statement.

Tsukishima looks relived that Tsurumi is continuing on the behalf of all of their fallen comrades and families.  Again, this sounds too perfect like Tsurumi’s speech isn’t for Asirpa nor Sofia, it is for Koito and Tsukishima who are eavesdropping.  Since Tsurumi is a next level planner/manipulator he likely came up with this well rehearsed speech to placate all issues around his inability to move on from his family’s death.  It makes him look mature and that he’d moved on from his more basic human needs.

Koito looks like he’s trying really hard to believe Tsurumi and how Tsurumi’s words would comfort Tsukishima.  But is that how you really feel Koito?  That face looks - so - fake.  Like Koito is overdoing it again and is actually unsure how to react.  So, he he looks elated, Tsukishima will feel better - or something.

What I really want to know is why they are just there hiding and watching Tsurumi?  If they are wanting to think independently and beyond Tsurumi why do it while hiding?  It seems no matter what either man may think, they are still under Tsurumi’s thumb as far as how they react to his behavior and the current events.

And I’m gonna have to hold things here while I find a way to read the  more recent chapters with non-shady software to decompress the files since I’ve been using Mangadex the entire time I’ve been reading GK (in addition to the english versions of previous chapters).

[monstertidbits]

laios + sugimoto 😲 hii rue ❤️

hi bonnn 💕💕 ill do sugi bc it will get too long otherwise ^_^

First impression: sexy sexy sexy man who's so hot and cute i was literally "sugimoto... 😍😍😍😍" after every single chapter. he also seemed to me like a kind of superhuman, legendary guy at first, the type of man who's incredibly lucky and capable, but chapter 6 made me realize he's much more human and vulnerable than he was made out to be at first, so i started caring abt him very early on.

Impression now: he needs a break and therapy and tons of love and fuck im sooo worried abt him. hes one of my fave gk characters right after shira koito and tsukishima, and he makes me so sad all the time like i just want him to be silly with shira and asirpa again :( at this point im not even sure how things will turn out for him, he seems way too close to giving up on himself and his own salvation entirely and its scary.

Favorite moment: sugi and shira's reunion in karafuto :) i love them so much and this moment always brings a smile to my face

Idea for a story: he lives a quiet and peaceful life with shiraishi and asirpa. thats it

Unpopular opinion: idk man, maybe that his relationship with ogata is way less important and developed in the story than some fans make it out to be... ppl get really weird abt them. he never liked the guy anyways

Favorite relationship: his relationship with shira!!!! theyre hilarious and their relationship is SO important to both of their characters they make me lose it. shiraishi being the first close friend sugi has in years, the one person he can consistently rely on in this crazy and brutal journey- and we know how hard it is for sugi to trust anyone, but shiraishi is still there for him, and it took a lot to build the bond they have now but they still managed to get there and stay together. sugi is just so much more calm and easygoing around him, and shiraishi manages to balance his short temper. it's really funny to think that if it had been up to them in the beginning they wouldve never seen each other again after their first encounter, but now their friendship is one of the most precious things they found in this gold hunt.

Favorite headcanon: i cant think of anything else rn but... you ever think abt the fact the girl sugi ended up taking care of during the manga is an orphan who lost her father just a few years ago... so what if she reminded him of his best friend's child, the kid who lost his father in the war. it's the first time he gets to see the perspective of a young child living with the loss of her father, and that's exactly the kind of life toraji's son is going to live- life without a father, where there's always this emptiness within the family. and the kid is so young he probably wont remember sugimoto's best friend as well as he does. sugi could barely bring himself to stand in front of ume after the war so im sure he didnt meet with toraji's son either, so what if his time with asirpa made the loss toraji's family experienced because he couldn't protect his best friend just that more real and painful... and it kills him, it really does.

[tren-fraszka]

Hate Exchange Letter

Dear creator,

Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!

My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out.

Likes: comedy, casefics, canon compliants, AUs, time loops, bodyswaps, roleswaps, “being hoisted by your own petard” plotlines, snark, pettiness, rivals, enemies to friends to lovers, violence, friendships and character bonding,

DNW: explicit sex, A/B/O, mpreg, rape depicted as positive (so no “it’s okay, because the other person enjoyed it/it was what they truly wanted”), trans headcanons, soulmates, stories ending with surrender to fate/destiny, fourth wall breaking in canons where that doesn’t occur.

Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not allowed in those sections (if you feel really strongly about a ship, you can ask through mods just in case, if I didn’t include my opinion on it).

Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats.

                                                REQUESTS

PERSONA 5

Hate that ends

Hate that exists and continues

Hate that starts

Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira

I’m a big sucker for party traitors, so it isn’t really a surprise that I walked out of my Persona 5 playthrough with a new shiny ship. I love how messed up it is with both of them planning to outplay each other in a deadly game and yet still forming an emotional attachment. I also really love how they are mirror images of each other. They are extremely similar, and yet they are also each others opposites. There’s just something fascinating in watching them interact.

I’m okay with all takes on hate for this ship. Akechi has canonically very love-hate relationship with the protagonist, so you can spin this however you want. You are also free to make Akira as bitter about the whole thing as you want. I’m always a game for Akira having all the regrets about Akechi’s death and hating Akechi for leaving him with all the emotional turmoil.

For the story, I’m very okay with some in-between the canon flirting with the obligatory dash of scheming and mind games. I’m also all about different ways their confrontation could go down. Maybe it’s Akira who dies and Akechi lives through with his hateful feelings not coming any closer to being resolved? Or Akechi can’t keep his feelings in and slips at some point?

AUs 

I don’t mind AUs, just be aware that the messed up relationship between the two of them is a huge draw for me, so I would definitely opt to preserve that part in some form. You don’t have to do the exact same scenario, but at least make them childhood friends, who ended up on the opposite sides of some conflict. Or undercover spies who got in relationship without knowing each other true identities and they really should kill each other since they work for different clients. The exact setting is of secondary importance to me, so choose whatever you feel would work best. AU Divergences are also welcome. I’m always a game for Akechi surviving. Especially, if he gets to shoot the final boss in the face.

Akechi Goro & Self

He has so many issues you are practically spoiled for choice. Bastard by birth, believes himself to be a reason why his mother died, spent years in foster home system which just enforced his belief that he isn’t worth of love, became a supernatural assassin despite having strong sence of justice. And did I mention having to kill the only person he had formed a legitimate connection with? Yeah, just one of those things would be a great self-hatred fodder, but all those things together mix to create a true picture of self-hatred. You can’t go wrong with it. 

There are so many prompts you could potentially use for this in Akechi/Kurusu segment above (just take out the potential shippiness if the pairing is not your thing), I don’t think there’s much point in repeating myself. You are free to AU as much as you want and have fun.

Hate that ends

Sakura Futaba & Self

I loved the chilling exploration of Futaba’s problems in her palace and further revelations we get through Sojiro’s social link. I would love insight into her deteriorating self-worth post her mother’s death and then followed by slow improvements once Sojiro takes her in.

I would love insight into Futaba trying to figure out the truth about her mother’s death, her initial refusal to believe that it is her fault, followed by slow acceptance over the time, as she fails to find any evidence to the contrary.

I asked for Hate that ends, because I would prefer a take that is compliant with the canon story. I know this is pretty constraining, but at the same time it means that you don’t need to concentrate on the improvement factor. As long as the story ends heavily implaying that Phantom Thieves are about to help her with her issues I will be satisfied.

However, if you do dig the hope aspect I will love some quality Sojiro & Futaba family interactions and her slowly acknowledging that maybe she deserves more than a slow death in seclusion and decides to seek help form Phantom Thieves.

Ships

I ship Akira and Goro, and don’t want them shipped with anyone else. I’m okay with including pretty much any other ships, except for the ones between the characters who are still students and adults.

GOLDEN KAMUY

I’m reading manga chapters as they come out, so you are free to incorporate any new developments into the story. I will definitely be caught up.

Hate that exists and continues

Ogata Hyakunosuke/Sugimoto Saichi

If you know this canon I probably don’t even need to explain to you what I want. They hated each other from the very beginning of the story and the world may end, but their hatred would still live on. You don’t have to be too shippy with this, if you don’t want to, I mostly want to just get more off their passionate hatred we get in the canon.

For the prompts, I would love if they had to work together (just the two of them, or maybe with Shiraishi as a suffering third wheel), because someone kidnapped Asiripa and they had to get her back. Or chasing someone who stole the skins from them.

Alternatively, I would love petty matches over Asiripa’s attention when they act perfectly nice to each other, because she is there, but keep competing for her attention to annoy each other.

Also, this canon is ripe for tropes like huddling for warmth, or sharing one blanket, and would definitely encourage the hate-filled take on those. Also time loops with those two nd how much of a disaster it would be.

AUs and ships

I’m all for canon divergences or changed settings. You want Sugimoto and Ogata as coworkers in modern setting? Go for it. I would love any messing up with the story, because there are so many things that could have gone differently here. 

I have no strong ship preferences here as long as Asiripa is not shipped with anybody. Also I prefer Sugimoto to have no romantic experience, aside from his canonical one-sided crush, before he started to have feelings about Ogata.

THE RISING OF SHIELD HERO (ANIME & MANGA)

I watched anime and read manga, but have not checked light novels. So please, no spoilers for anything beyond manga.

Hate that starts

L’Arc Berg/Iwatani Naofumi

Naofumi spends a lion share of the plot having terrible trust issues after Myne’s betrayal and you can’t convince me that he isn’t extra salty about L’Arc.

L’Arc is literally the first person Naofumi willinglu opens up to after spending majority of the plot avoiding trusting anyone, so the fact that this person turns out to be his enemy must sting. While L’Arc isn’t a type to keep grudge, Naofumi certainly is. Which is why I just want Naofumi being all bitter about his feelings for L’Arc after the betrayal.

I would love some more adventures of those two before the Wave happens and everything goes to shit. Or maybe they meet after the Wave with Naofumi having been separated from the party and struggling with something, and L’Arc runs into him and helps him out (because he’s not the type of guy to stab someone in the back). Which just prompts Naofumi to be even more bitter, because he wants to really hate L’Arc, but unlike Myne he can’t just label him as completely evil.

Or Naofumi going through all the memories he has of L’arc wanting to find good reasons to hate him more, but just coming with more reasons why he loved him in the first place.

AUs and ships

Setting changes and canon divergences are all fine, as long as you keep the element of betrayal.

I’m okay with Naofumi also having some feelings for Raphtalia for an awkward romantic triangle, as long as his complicated feelings for L’Arc are the focus of the story. Other than that I don’t want either of them shipped with anyone else.

GINTAMA

I have watched anime up to Gintama': Enchousen, so please no spoilers beyond that season.

Hate that starts

Hate that exists and continues

Hijikata Toshirou/Okita Sougo

I loved their vitrolic relationship from the very start and the more we got of their backstory, the more I loved it. I would be okay with the story not being very shippy, as long as I get plenty of their amusing interactions.

I love how well they understand each other, including the reasons why they don’t get along, but somehow it is easier for them to maintain that animosity than to try and repair their twisted relationship. 

I always enjoy small tidbits of how terrible they are at working together when it comes to solving anything that isn’t Shinsengumi-threatening emergency. I loved that episode which was just showing Hijikata and Okita attempting to do normal police stuff and utterly failing to have any sort of law-abiding integrity while they were at it.

If you want to go to the backstory and how they already didn’t get along in the dojo I’m also all for it. Any involvement of Mitsuba to add oil to the already bright flames of mutual dislike is welcome. I love how her presence mellows both of them when she’s there, but in the long run it just made their relationship even more of a mess, because they both wanted the best for her in their own way.

For shippier request I would love a date attempt by those two homicidal idiots. There are just so many ways this could go wrong. Or Gintama staple of handcuffed together with Hijikata constantly having to stop the dismemberment attempts.

AUs and ships

I’m open to any sort of setting or canon divergence. Then again, I dare you find a cooler setting than samurai police in alien infested Edo.

I don’t want the two of them shipped for anyone else, except for maybe acknowledging  Hijikata’s canonical feelings for Mitsuba (because that just makes Hijikata and Okita’s relationship even more of a trainwreck). For other ships I enjoy Gintoki shipped with either Otae or Tsukuyo, and Kagura and Shinpachi as two characters who are not yet ready for relationship, but would make a nice match once they grow up more.

BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA

I read the manga chapters as they come out, you can assume I’m caught up on all new developments.

Hate that ends

Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako

I love how different the two of them are, but at the same time how well they compliment and understand each other. Also, while I love them as a pairing I won’t mind if you write them as friends, as long as you don’t pair them with other characters.

For this exchange I would love a more conflict driven beginning of their friendship. Bakugo says a few words too much about Midoriya? Uraraka tries to talk to Bakugo about how he treats Deku or just about how he acts in general and accidentally pokes his terrible inferiority complex? Or they run into each other before the UA entrance exam and somehow end up having a more bitter relation? All of that is good.

I would love if then they were forced to then acknowledge each others strengths as heroes, but possibly still feeling somehow bitter. Maybe they end up working together when UA is attacked? Or incorporating their duel during the sports festival (which I love, it’s what started this ship for me). Or maybe Uraraka gets kidnapped together with Bakugo during the camp and she ends up revising her opinion of him while they are in captivity together. 

For more prompts I would love having them complete some sort of exercise or exam together. I would love to see them pretend to be villains for the sake of exercise and butting heads, because they dislike each other. Or they work together on something for school festival. Like making a perferomance together. Alternatively you can go for a future fic where the two of them take part in an action to stop villains as full-fledged heroes, but they can’t let go of all the hang-ups they have about each other from when they went to school together.

AUs and ships

I would very much encourage any future fics for this pairing. I love seeing characters as fully-fledged heroes. I’m okay with other setting changes, though I would prefer for the competence aspect to still come in play somehow in them (with Bakugo being stupidly talented and hard working, while acknowledging Ochako’s potential). I’m also very okay with canon divergences.

I don’t mind past Midoriya/Ochako if you want to incorporate it into the story, but I’d rather not get any love triangles for this pairing. Either have Ochako’s feelings sizzle out or have them date and break up at some point in the past. When it comes to other pairings I like Midoriya/Todoroki and Eraserhead/Mic, but have no strong feelings on other characters pairings, so you are free to do whatever I guess.

FATE/ZERO

I’m well versed in Fate franchise so if you wish to expand beyond Fate/Zero to include either some parts of Fate/Stay Night or El-Melloi II Case Files I will be very fine with that.

Hate that exists and continues

Kotomine Kirei & Self

Kotomine Kirei and his self-loathing is unironically one of my favourite ships in Fate. I loved Kirei’s internal monologues in the novel, as he slowly inched toward the self-discovery that he is in fact the very thing that he was taught to hate the most.

Give me all the religious guilt. All the nagging thoughts that follow Kirei’s enjoyment of ruining other people’s lives. Kirei already thought of himself as lacking before the events of Fate/Zero and watching his doomed pursuit of finding something meaningful in his life was great.

Kirei was basically doomed to suffering, either by continuing his empty life or by embracing his true self and plunging himself into depth of self-hatred. And I’m all about that freefall, sponsored by the ancient king Babylon. So give me Kirei struggling within the confines of Holy Grail War, trying to find himself, yet suspecting that nothing good will ever come out of it.

AUs and ships

I’m okay with canon divergences, less about setting changes due to how deeply Kirei’s issues steam from his specific situation, but if you can make it work I will be for it. I would be very excited for canon divergences. Maybe Kirei making slightly different choices during the Holy Grail War? Maybe alternate timeline when he decides not to betray Tokiomi, but somehow still ends up on path of evil despite his efforts. Maybe he summoned a different servant, who influences Kirei differently? I’m always surprised by how interesting alternate scenarios people come with for Holy Grail Wars, just give me your take.

For alternate timeline takes, you can make my day by including wreacking Matou’s mansion and/or killing Zouken. Even if it’s just a footnote.

I very much ship Kirei both with his dead wife and Gilgamesh. You are free to incorporate both of those ships. 

Hate that exists and continues

Waver Velvet & Self

Another contender for the biggest self-loathing in the franchise. El-Melloi II anime reminded me just how much I enjoyed that aspect of Waver.

I would love an alternate take when Waver and Keyneth actually had a more proper face-off other than their first meeting on the battlefield. I would love if Waver saw Kayneth wheelchair-bound and blamed himself for that.

Or something more canon-compliant exploring Waver’s feeling of uselessness and guilt he has. Either is good. For extra self-loathing you could get the family Waver is staying at caught in the crossfire of one of the fights. Or Waver gets used by some other master to attack another and only belatedly realizes that he was nothing more than a tool used for murder. 

Just give me some quality Waver suffering and self-blame whether dislpaced or not.

AUs and ships

Similarly as above, I’m stocked for any canon divergences. Maybe Waver summoning a different servant? Waver making different choices as to how proceed with the war. Maybe making an allience that doesn’t work out for him in a longer run? 

For alternate timeline takes, you can make my day by including wreacking Matou’s mansion and/or killing Zouken. Even if it’s just a footnote.

I don’t ship Waver with anyone, so I would prefer no romantic plotlines for him. I find his relationship with Rider interesting and definitely important, but can’t see it as romantic.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hey! I just saw a post n people were comparing Ogata's "friendship" with Asirpa with Sugimoto's friendship with her, and how Ogata's progress seemed 'small'. Personally, I think Ogata is kind of a socially akward person, and it seems kind of stupid to compare both of them. What do you think?

Actually I don’t think comparing things is bad per se. I’m guilty of doingit as well so I can’t really complain if others do the same.

What’s for me relevant when comparing something is to keep in mind thecontext in which that something happens.

So... what’s the context?

Funny enough the two relationships start the same, with Asirpa saving them, but then they immediately differentiate. While Sugimoto will actively search a partnership with Asirpa, Ogata will fall off a cliff and won’t see her for quite a while.

When Ogata sees Asirpa again her relationship with Sugimoto has already moved into a next stage.

In fact, after spending a lot of time with her alone and growing to care for her Sugimoto has regretted involving her in this and has tried to persuade her to drop out. Asirpa instead ends to save his life again and makes him clear she won’t drop out. At this point their partnership grows even stronger the two keeping on spending time alone but also with others, and Asirpa also develops a crush for Sugimoto who had confessed her one of his fears (the whole deer episode) and had shown her some of his bad sides (his murdering instinct) but still hadn’t opened up on Umeko, Toraji and most of his war traumas.

Now... remember how I said Sugimoto and Asirpa’s relationship was one Sugimoto strongly wanted in the beginning and to whom Asirpa too decided to dedicate?

On the opposite side Ogata ends up in Asirpa’s group by accident and never assumed he would stay there. The first time he ends up grouped with her because Hijikata said so, the second because after tehy saved Shiraishi she joined them, then everyone groups at Abashiri and then Kiro’s plan is to carry her along until she remembers (possibly more as I think he wanted her too to become a partisan).

He didn’t plan to have to interact with Asirpa for so long, actually he didn’t plan to interact with anyone, he wanted to work solo as he did when he left Ushiyama and went to deal with Edogai on his own. Almost all his interactions with Asirpa are initiated by her but they don’t really have quality time together, just the two of them. Basically the one we’re having currently is the longest time in which they had been left alone talking as normally Asirpa is alone with Sugimoto or they’re in group together. Despite his total lack of interest in getting friend with anyone, and not having an idea he would get to spend so much time with Asirpa, his interaction with Asirpa is the only one which causes his behaviour to change slightly, to reacts for matters that aren’t just ‘business’ (Ogata can interact very well with people but only if it’s ‘work related’ otherwise he’ll just be on his own).

While Ogata is slowly starting to react to Asirpa, Sugimoto and Asirpa’s bond grows further and it’s basically the STRONGEST BOND in Golden Kamuy and the one that gets more space (Maybe only Nagakura and Hijikata are as close as they are but they get a lot less space).Sugimoto will open a bit more with Asirpa, talking with her about his copying method and revealing the persimmon thing even if he still keeps stubbornly silent about Umeko and will be deeply touched by her words, even if he wont show her his tears. Despite this he’ll continue not being able to talk about Umeko, making it sound as if she’s not the reason he’s searching the gold, although Asirpa has turned so important Sugimoto prioritizes talking ABOUT HER to Wilk than ABOUT THE GOLD.

Ogata on the other side is nowhere near close to this level. He has moved from ‘I’ll mostly ignore you’ to ‘when you’re nice to me I can be nice to you back’ which is a huge progress for him but that’s all. Abashiri happens and from the dialogue which will follow between Ogata and Kiro it seems Ogata had no idea Kiro planned to get Asirpa to remember by involving them all in a long travel to Russia.

By then Abashiri has happened and it can’t be taken back. Even more Ogata likely didn’t believe he would become friend with Asirpa, yet he makes small progresses.

It’s clear though he knows due to Abashiri they’ll never be friends (in fact he thinks it’ll motivate Asirpa to kill him) and he seems to think he doesn’t amount to very much to Asirpa.

On the other side Sugimoto is fully aware of how much important he is to her and, although he feels guilty toward her for not saving her father and has some self hatred, he has nothing that should make her want to kill him as far as we know.

Sugimoto and Ogata’s stories often parallel each other but, if we look at their relationship with Asirpa, Sugimoto and Asirpa’s is the story of a strong friendship that born almost immediately and grows steadily.

Ogata and Asirpa’s is the story of a man slowly moving from complete indifference for her to... something that’s not clear for him as well. He didn’t move on purpose, he was just affected by her company.

Asirpa is clearly Ogata’s only meaningful interaction in which Ogata put some effort to please the other party for something that wasn’t ‘work related’ and that took him effort. He made clear in the beginning he didn’t want to do the things he’ll do later (saying citatap and hinna, carrying someone to hunt with him and so on). I’m not even sure how he rationalizes to himself the things he does... but this isn’t the story of a friendship, it’s the story of something that could become a friendship in given time.

It’s also worth to remember their respective characters.

Despite the mental scars war gave him and that make Sugimoto really scary and make him look almost bipolar (one moment he’s murdering people the other he’s kindly worrying about Asirpa’s health) Sugimoto is clearly a social person, well versed in positive interactions, who in the past had friends and who makes new friends easily. For him talking with Asirpa or going to hunt with her would be a pleasure even if he wasn’t that deeply tied to her.

Ogata’s mental scars instead made him someone who’s closed on himself and refuses interaction when unneded. He doesn’t trusth people, he doesn’t believe people can be friends, he prefers to be on his own, he’s sure no one would accept him, he has issues with ‘purity’ because he believes it somehow negates who he is and remarks how he was born missing something.

Allowing himself to open up, even if a tiny bit is a giant step for him but...

Well, in the past I commented on how Asirpa was delighted when Ogata said ‘hinna’, how she seemed a mother hearing her son saying his first word and feeling the need to tell everyone.

Many of us felt the same way as Asirpa, we understood how hard it was for Ogata to make those small, mostly irrilevant concessions to Asirpa and we cheered like Asirpa did, like a mother hearing her son saying his first words would.

Those first words, they’re important, they mean the world, they’re the first step for him to start talking, good forbid he weren’t to say them.

But when all is said and done... they’re just few words.

A mother is overjoyed hearing them because she knows how important it is and would like the local news to talk about it but who doesn’t care about the baby isn’t impressed.

It’s not an official speech, it’s not a pregnant narrative, it’s not even an intriguing or funny talk, actually it’s not even a sentence. It’s few chosen words, that maybe aren’t even smoothly being said.

Of course it feels comparatively way less than a Cicero’s oration or Hamlet’s monologue. It’s little, it’s meaningless to us, no one wants to hear in the local news about how baby X said his first word.

And yet everything start from this for baby X. He can be the new Cicero,he can be the new actor who will act Hamlet. Now there’s a world of possibilities ahead of him.

So yes, Ogata’s small attempts, objectively feels like nothing compared to Sugimoto’s wonderful friendship with Asirpa. But many of us saw it like a start, a ‘first word’, and looked at the potential of the fact Ogata was finally trying, instead than at the mere initial result.

We thought his efforts, despite everything, would somehow grow and give fruits, yes, he messed up badly but he had kept improving so... so media made us forget improving is a long way to go.

Media presents stories where when a character finally says his first word, not much after said character will be able to deliver an university speech.

Noda instead goes on slowly, making his character evolve step by step.

Unless something earthshattering were to happen, Ogata would keep on changing but slowly... the problem was... there was no more time.

The last chapters had been like asking a baby to give an official universitary speech. He was bound to fail... and it’s sad because it’s a lot of wasted potential if Ogata gets killed.

Should he have improved faster? Can we blame him for that? Well, surely it would have been convenient... but everyone improves at his own pace.

People like to say in order to change you need to want to change, which is absolutely true, but in order to want to change YOU NEED TO HAVE A REASON FOR IT. You don’t wake up a day and... change without a reason.

The reason can build itself slowly and subconsciously inside you, the reason can be given or found but there’s always a reason.

Differently from Sugimoto Ogata doesn’t find it as soon as he sets his eyes on Asirpa.

It comes to him slowly, subtly. Maybe he’s not even realizing it. And now his time might be up and I’m sad because I’m among the ones who saw the potential... and now it’s just painful to think it might go to waste.

But, as usual, that’s just me.

Everyone else might feel differently, see things differently. I’m sadly not Noda so, like you all, I’ve to wait for the manga releases to know what will happen and I might be completely out of track in my speculations. If this will turn out to be the case, sorry about it.

Thank you for your ask!

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapter 210: holy shit, this is a chapter that we’ve all been dying for.

Ah yes, chapter 210, you are already a chapter that I’m completely in love with and it shows many of Noda’s strengths as an artist and a storyteller.

The chapter is called “sweet lies” and this is clearly a reference to what Tsurumi has told many people but the focus is on Koito and Tsukishima in particular.  The title page makes it very clear that Koito will be a major focus of this chapter.  I have been waiting for these events ever since Ogata called Koito a bon-bon in Russian and kicked him in the face before escaping.

Koito’s right hand holds his photo of Tsurumi and Tsukishima that he had acquired from Tsukishima back in chapter 101. 

Recall that he was upset that Shiraishi had escaped and he had also encountered Ogata on the airship who helped in the escape.  Tsukishima is in part trying to get Koito to calm down by giving him this very photo.

Looking back at this panel for the first time in awhile, it shows that Koito has a little light in his eyes and he wishes he were born earlier to serve at Tsurumi’s side in the war.  Koito immediately has a pre-cut photo of his own head that he wants to glue on over Tsukishima’s and he tells him to make him some rice glue.

Tsukishima says, no, but based on the title page for 210 he definitely found some glue somehow.

When they were heading to Abashiri, recall that Koito had more doctored photos including this one here:

At some point, he got another photo with Tsurumi in it as well as other commanding officers and he added his own head to all of the men in the photo, longing to have had a chance to serve with Tsurumi.  Koito pre-photoshop - he was pretty dedicated to making his photo collages! 

Now, also recall that this photo has been used for the cover of chapter 147 - Igogusa, where Tsukishima’s backstory and loyalty to Tsurumi was solidified.

Really, all of this is indicating that Tsukishima and Koito are tied to Tsurumi and this photo shows how closely they are tied.  I’ll come back to this in a bit.  Like some of the other dense and intense chapters, I’m going to jump to the part between Asirpa and Sugimoto, that creates a pause and adds to the tension between Koito and Tsukishima.

The quick and dirty about Sugimoto and Asirpa’s separate paths:

The chapter continues to keep us in the dark about the end of Sugimoto and Asirpa’s conversation after the movies.  It is now the night before Tsurumi will arrive in Odomari.  Asirpa reminds us that she’s never actually met Tsurumi, she only knows about him through her interactions with everyone else.  This really does two things for me as a reader - it seems to speak to unresolved issues between the two and she’s musing what type of man Tsurumi is.  Hasn’t she gotten enough information to in part figure this out from what others have said and done?  I’m a little surprised by this statement, she saw what Tsurumi did to Sugimoto’s face with those dango skewers.

Either way, just like before her encounter with Wilk at Abashiri she’s expressing her concerns about what will happen.  She wants to know what Sugimoto will do in the gold hunt?  What will Tsurumi do with the gold?  Most importantly, what will happen to the Ainu, her community in all of this.  Sadly, Sugimoto can’t see the forest through the trees.  His current vision on all of this is “Asirpa vision”.  As long as Asirpa is removed from the hunt for the gold, it will be alright - she’ll be clean and she can go back home to Huci.  As the lovely Merdopseudo has written, Sugimoto is back to his usual habit of “Sugisplaining”, that Asirpa doesn’t need to think about things.  Just be good, give up the code and walk away from the gold, the Ainu and just go back home, safe, clean and pure.  Kiro told Ogata that Asirpa’s time on Karafuto was to mature her - and it has.  I still miss Kiro’s character greatly but he really helped Asirpa see the bigger picture than just her kotan in Hokkaido.

These entire two pages almost fade to the background compared to the rest of the chapter.  Their relationship dynamic has changed.  Both are holding back now thinking about their own concerns and their goals which have shifted or the fact that Asirpa is gaining a new and different goal.  Her new focus is scary for Sugimoto.  I don’t think they are being as honest to each other as they should be.  They aren’t good at conflict - both are dancing around the major issues involved in this entire gold hunt. 

In a way, I like how fucking awkward these two pages are - it really highlights that their reunion wasn’t what either of them expected it to be and that they are currently on different paths.  I love this tension - I’m waiting for it to explode.

Now onto the meat of the chapter.

Koito has put the pieces together and his world view is shattering:

The chapter has a lovely two page spread of the harbor at Odomari as Koito asks Tsukishima a question before Tsurumi’s arrival.  We first see Koito looking at his photo of Tsurumi and Tsukishima that his face has slid off of.  Koito’s brow is very furrowed and he’s really intense looking.  I love how the picture of a steamship is followed by his face shaded and more focus in his eyes.  Tsukishima makes a comment that Koito isn’t at excited and cheerful as he would normally be about Tsurumi’s arrival.  Remember that Koito was in tears as they left for Karafuto as he longingly looked at his Tsurumi bromide!

As Koito speaks to Tsukishima not looking at him, he tells him that Ogata told him something at the hospital in Akou before he escaped.  He first mentions the Russian term for bon-bon.  Tsukishima’s eyes narrow a bit before he continues on.  He goes on to tell him that Ogata (with his face completely shaded in black) tells him that “the next time he meets Lt. Tsurumi . . .”  and then he turns to him and looks at him directly (please get some chapstick Ogata!) to “ask him about the Manchurian railway.”

Tsukshima’s reaction is both one of surprise (as indicated by the light burst) and also one of annoyance and stress.  Tsukishima has stress lines under his eyes, his cap covers part of his eyes and his face is shaded as he’s only able to reply with “. . . .”

Koito then begins to describe the Manchuria Railway as a concession from the Treaty of Portsmouth, meaning it went from Russian control to Japanese control.  This then solidified the Japanese presence in Manchuria under the guise of the expansion of the influence of Imperial Japan and its increasingly aggressive colonial role in the region.

If you have any knowledge of the history of this in the region leading up to the second world war than this doesn’t come as a surprise to you as a reader per se.  The important part is what Koito then adds in.

Koito has additional information due to his background; he knows that one member of the army was quite vocal about the whole Manchuria Railway, Hanazawa.  He is still a shitty father in my mind, but hey, it looks like as a member of the military and Satsuma elite he did think about things from a strategic perspective.  Therefore, Hanazawa was the lone critic about the whole railway situation.

Koito then goes on further to explain that b/c his father was friends with Hanazawa, he also knew about the controversy surrounding the railway and that Koito heard about it in his household.  Koito also knows that Tsurumi connects the bodies of their comrades from the Russo-Japanese war will be at rest on Japanese soil and that it should include Manchuria.  This was mentioned in the flashback that Tsurumi and Tsukishima had in chapter 150 when both were wounded at Mukden.

Tsukishima still doesn’t have a response to Koito’s inquiries as he continues to connect Tsurumi’s goals with what happened with Hanazawa’s death.  Tsukishima’s eyes are barely visible, his eyes are almost completely obscured by his cap and its shadow.  This does NOT LOOK GOOD AT ALL. This looks very concerning and that Tsukishima is thinking about likely bad things.  Koito continues forward and very emotionally asks Tsukishima is there is a direct connection between Hanazawa’s death and Tsurumi.

By the time he’s blurted it out, Koito is nervously sweating, his hair is a bit loose and his stress lines under his eyes are intense.  He’s almost pleading with Tsukishima for him to not confirm what he’s thinking.  Tsukishima looks anything but pleased, his face is deadpan and his eyes are pretty much obscured completely and his face is half shaded.

Koito still doesn’t get an answer from Tsukishima,  so he becomes even more emotional, still sweating and gesturing with his left hand for emphasis.  He throws out the theory that Ogata wasn’t happy with the fact that central put the blame on the 7th and Hanazawa which resulted in his suicide, so he joined with Tsurumi’s plan for the coup.  But since Hanazawa was in the way of the Manchurian Railway, Tsurumi had him eliminated and Ogata found out and defected against him.  The then asks why Ogata would tell him that and we still can’t see Tsukishima’s facial expression well!

When Tsukishima finally looks up and replies to Koito his looks are so robotic.  His eyes seem cold and even though he’s got stress lines his face is deadpan.  He replies that Ogata will say anything to foil their plans and then he turns the conversation around to ask him why he trusts Ogata’s words now.  Koito was ready to shoot the wildcat to kill previously - this is a 180 for Koito’s opinion on Ogata for sure.

With great emotion and intensity Koito then says “Barchonok” the Russian term for bon-bon.  He flat out states that Ogata was one of the kidnappers at Hakodate.  He knows it.  Koito is correct and on the money - he’s not backing down and he needs answers now.

The chapter then transitions to the two pages with Sugimoto and Asirpa to build the tension between them.  Technically they don’t even get a full 2 pages as Koito and Tsukishima are on the bottom here:

Koito looks shocked when Tsukishima deadpan asks what is clearly a rhetorical question. That the bodies were Russian.  Koito was there - he’d know what he saw right?  Eh? Eeeeehhhh? Koito looks so shocked at his reply - this can’t be Tsukishima’s answer to him?  He knows Tsukishima!

He then asks Tsukishima to confirm that he was one of the masked kidnappers too!  Koito is at his limit of patience.  He’s so many emotions at once; upset, hurt, confused, sad, angry . . . a man whom he has trusted hurt him in the past all for Tsurumi’s own personal gain.

Tsukishima’s reply is still dead pan though now he’s lifted his hands in defense of Koito’s aggressive questioning.  He falls back on the idea that Koito, is falling prey to Ogata’s manipulations, while Koito recognizes that Tsurumi made sure he and his father are in debt to Tsurumi.  I love the fact that Koito sees that he and father were set up to be used by Tsurumi and so were Hanazawa and Ogata.

With Tsukishima’s reply that it is delusional, Koito forges ahead in his accusations of Tsurumi’s manipulations. Koito then realizes, he’s getting no where with Tsukishima and he’ll just make sure he and his father ask Tsurumi directly.  I love this facial expression from Koito!  He looks so determined as he’s physically turned away from Tsukishima in a sense giving up on him and moving forward on his own.

Finally, Tsukishima strikes back stopping Koito dead in his tracks. With an absolutely creepy facial expression, not even looking at Koito directly he asks about the fact that the two of them were saved during the kidnapping.  This is such a loaded statement, since it implies that there was a possibility where they weren’t saved!

Yes, if Koito and his father didn’t play along to Tsurumi’s tune during the kidnapping, well it implies that the 27th didn’t need to spare them.  They could have killed Koito and his father during the process!

This stops Koito.  He turns back to Tsukishima with a very uncomfortable “what?” . . . that his brain is trying to process exactly what Tsukishima just said.

Tsukishima then goes on to state that he didn’t realize that Ogata knew of the connection between Hanazawa and the railway.  He thought Ogata’s goal has always been to expose Tsurumi and turn him over to Central Command.  This is a reference all the way back to his shoot out with Ogata in Yubari here.

This confirms that what Tsukishima told Ogata was his own personal theory behind Ogata’s motivations.  I was always curious about it, since I had always though this was something that Tsukishima thought, but I was never sure if this was something Tsurumi told Tsukishima or something that Tsukishima came up with.  With the way that Tsukishima describes it to Koito, I will read that this is a Tsukishima theory - not one from Tsurumi.  I think this makes sense, Tsukishima worked with Ogata long enough that he thought he had a decent read on him - but as we’ve come to expect - most characters never have a good read on him - they still place their own ideas on him to explain his actions.

This continues with his statement that he can’t figure out what Ogata was unhappy with - that Tsurumi gave him the opportunity to kill his father wasn’t enough to please him?

Koito looks like he’s in a state of shock as he asks for confirmation that Ogata killed Hanazawa as a part of Tsurumi’s plans.  His face is covered in sweat drops, his face is shaded he doesn’t really know what to say or do. . . . When Koito was first introduced, he wanted to know why Ogata would betray Tsurumi with his father’s death under the pressure of central command.

Tsukishima doesn’t even stop to confirm or deny this, he just keeps talking deadpan in expression.  He simply states that he was tricked as well and by a very elaborate ruse.  Tsukishima is just short of saying that Tsurumi must have manipulated Ogata into killing Hanazawa or making him believe that this is something that he would want to do . . . .  He can’t outright say that Tsurumi manipulated Ogata to do the actions he’s done - instead, he goes on to state that he was deceived as well.

This seems to indicate that there must have been something between Ogata and Tsukishima - he’s done many terrible things for Tsurumi, but he’s still almost judging Ogata actions as different than his. 

Anyways, back to Tsukishima’s poor explanation for Koito - he leaves out a lot of information that we will remember from chapter 149-150 and instead jumps into state that he met another man from Niigata, Sado in particular in the field hospital during the battle of Mukden, when he angrily then approached Tsurumi but still protected him when they both were injured.  Only much later did Tsukishima realize that there was no way for him to bump into a member of the 2nd, the division that he and Tsurumi were in during the Sino-Japanese war.

Therefore, that man was a plant by Tsurumi to test his loyalty to Tsurumi and his future plans to go after the Ainu gold.  Tsukishima freely expresses to Koito that Tsurumi molded him into the perfect right hand man for him.  He went to a great length to shape Tsukishima and that Tsukishima would do whatever he asked.

The scariest part is how Tsukishima has accepted this.  And it all makes sense how despite working hard and being a dependable individual, that he never seemed to break away from Tsurumi’s influence on Karafuto.

This entire panel haunts me. Tsukishima is stating that he sees no value in his own life.  He’s accepted the fact that he is totally fine with what Tsurumi has done to him.  He won’t even bother getting upset in the first place b/c his life has had little value to begin with.  Therefore, he will follow Tsurumi’s plans to help the 7th.

Most importantly, when a completely wrecked Koito is finally able to ask him if that is all of Tsurumi’s goals - Tsukishima can’t look him in the eyes to reply.  Just that Tsurumi’s specialty is “saving people with “sweet lies”.” and that he has no idea with his final goal is. 

This implies that Tsukishima sees himself as “saved” by Tsurumi and therefore he owes him for his life.  If the reader still takes Tsukishima’s Igogusa flashback at face value and he killed his father and it was of Tsukishima’s own free will that it happened - it returns to the idea that Tsukishima sees himself as a dead man walking and that he’s using his borrowed time to serve Tsurumi. 

I can’t help (along with many other readers) wonder if Tsurumi manipulated Tsukishima into attacking his father so that he could “rescue” him from prison and created loyalty by killing his father.  I mean it is clear that is the method he used with Ogata in 103.

Koito tries to get an answer from Tsukishima on why he’d continue along with this, but Tsukishima simply states it is better to align oneself with an individual with grandiose plans.  In the most detached way possible with a blank face, he states his true desire is to watch Tsurumi’s manipulations all the way to the end.  He seals his fate of going down with Tsurumi like the loyal right hand man that he was molded to become.  Free will isn’t a Tsukishima thing.

He then finally states that Koito must keep all of this information to himself as Koito is sweating, breathing heavily and literally on the verge of a panic attack as he warns him that Tsurumi will kill him and that Tsukishima will be the one to do it.

And keep in mind.  Despite how respectable Tsukishima may look, he’s the man who shot Captain Wada in the head at point blank range!  Wada commands Tsukishima to fire at will, to which he replies yes and shoots Wada instead of Tsurumi.

Tsurumi then mentions Manchuria to the rest of the men of the 27th present when this happens.

Okay, back to the current chapter.

It zooms out to Koito leaning forward, panting as his knees are beginning to give out.  To me it looks like he’s about to have a full blown panic attack.  Readers are used to Koito as being overly dramatic, and he drops to his knees declaring that Tsurumi is amazing.  His fingers are contorted and he looks stiff when he’s on his knees as his eyes almost roll up into his head.

He’s sweating and blushing all over his nose and face, something that we haven’t seen on him before.  He can’t help but scream out that he’s pleased that Tsurumi wanted him to join him so badly.

He does his usual overly dramatic prostration but then spins on the dirt as he declares how impressed he is as being a part of Tsurumi’s plans.

Tsukishima just watches him from afar as this happens. 

Thankfully, Sei Kobiyama on twitter was able to point out a key point during this scene.  Usually, when Koito had a meltdown, he would end up expressing himself in his local Satsuma accent - thus making his screams unclear to the reader and those around him. 

This time, when Koito becomes distraught, his understandable accent is maintained, as mentioned here:

This is a linguistic change that Koito no longer sees Tsurumi as his saviour and someone to look up to - instead, he’s a man who will go to great lengths to get men to serve him loyally. 

The chapter then ends with Tsurumi and the 27th arriving in Karafuto.  Both Usami and Warrant Officer Kikuta are with him.  Usami’s face is obscured so we can’t see his eyes and he’s likely pleased while Kikuta looks a bit sad. He’s likely torn between the recent events in Noboribetsu with Ariko and serving Tsurumi.

This was one hell of a chapter!

What are the major take home points from this:

Koito’s innocence is lost.

With Ogata’s hints, Koito has realized how much of his life has been influenced and manipulated by Tsurumi.  Encountering Tsurumi in Kagoshima when he ws visiting his brother’s grave.  Spllling out his feelings to Tsurumi a nice and pleasant man in 1900.  How the entire kidnapping was to make sure Koito and his father would fall into line with Tsurumi.  He gained access to the navy (necessary for defending Hokkaido from the main island in the event of a coup) and also gained a talented but unwavering subordinate in Koito. 

Koito was raised to be an ideal 2nd lt. for Tsurumi - much better than the very annoying and rule following Yuusaku.  With how elaborate Tsurumi’s scheme was to get Koito to worship him, it makes it even more clear that Yuusaku would have be the largest impediment to Tsurumi’s goals with the 27th.  In this chapter, Koito tells Tsukishima that he’ll call Tsurumi out in front of his father - I am not 100% certain that Yuusaku would have done the same thing - we know he was a rule follower to the end and I wonder if Yuusaku may have said something to a similar effect.  Or the idea that Yuusaku if left alive would also run to his father to expose Tsurumi’s plans.  Whatever the background with Yuusaku - it was clear that he was a non-manipulable individual.

Some people may have thought he faked things or was spazzing out at the end of the chapter - I read it that he’s in part now aware of what he should say but at the same time his own viewpoint is so shattered that it comes out as a bizarre mix of drama, comedy and horror.  The best way I can approach it is from personal experience.  Where something happens and you just don’t know how to react so in part you are almost laughing but crying at the same time but you are a total mess of emotions and it becomes overwhelming.

If we stop and think about it - Koito was manipulated since he was 14!  14!  This is horrible and he’s digesting this in his early 20s now.  Not like this woudln’t upset him at all?  Furthermore, this is all from Tsukishima, a man who he looked up to and felt like he knew and trusted.  Sure, Koito could be rude with him, but this is the man who carried him to a dog sled, who placed him on the sled gently and protected him from Kiro’s explosives.  All of Tsukishima’s actions benefited and protected Koito.  To have that same person threaten to kill you.  Well, that would be a total emotional mindfuck.

This is setting up an interesting dyanmic between Ogata and Koito.  With the flaskback to the kidnapping, it was Ogata who patted Koito on the back while Tsukishima held back.  Ogata didn’t need to be nice to him but he was.  Both men were ignored by their fathers for a “favored” brother.  Once was legitimate despite being younger while the other was older and was supposed to carry on the family honor.  At one point in time, Koito and Ogata were not seen as useful by their fathers.  Tsurumi’s actions got Koito’s father to notice him, while nothing Tsurumi did, could get Ogata’s father to notice him.

I am comfortable enough to throw out the idea that Ogata is acting like an older brother to Koito.  Not an amazingly great older brother, but at least as one who is giving him enough information to see what is happening and maybe change things. Koito’s older brother was kind and had very pale skin tone as shown here from young Koito vision.

We see a sparkle of light in his older brother and the old idea is that he was a very good older brother to Koito.

Ogata is canonically referred to as being usually pale - most obviously here by Shiraishi.

Ogata does not like involving innocent individuals in schemes - when Koito was younger he was still innocent - enough that kidnapper Ogata would be kind to him.

You could try to write this off as Ogata being an agent of chaos - but agents of chaos don’t have a soft spot for innocents.  We know that Ogata has a whole hang up on innocence and purity in the context of those who commit atrocities and who can wipe their hands clean of them.  But, since Koito is a military man who has dirtied his hands, he’s already someone that Ogata can relate to much better than Yuusaku. 

The bonus of this, is that Ogata can deal a blow to Tsurumi’s plans by releasing Koito from his control.  Ogata in addition to his obsession with finding a blessed path, is one of exercising free will.  This may explain why he was upset at Wilk’s role to set Asirpa up as an idol for the Ainu - she does not have her own free will to decide and she was too similar to Yuusaku. 

Thankfully, their showdown in the ice floe really helped to shift some of her thinking in addition to Kiro’s death.

Can the tiger’s curse be Koito having to face his own actions and choose a free will in the 27th?�� Realizing that he is tied to the lynx, Ogata and that the two men have much more in common than Koito already knows in regards to their fathers’ friendship?  I think Ogata even respects the fact that Koito is an intelligent man, just that he didn’t apply himself.  He was able to easily catch up to his peers to pass the military exams so Ogata was likely banking on his intelligence to connect the few bits of information that he left Koito with before escaping.  I personally really want Koito to break away from Tsurumi and team up with Ogata.  I think Ogata is working with the partisans and if Ogata re-appears, Sofia will be with him and Koito can talk to Sofia (still banking on both of them bonding by talking in French).

Is there any “hope” for Tsukishima?

Oh man.  This is a hard summary for me here - I love Tsukishima.  When the action moved to Karafuto, I really fell in love with his character more.  I have a meta about how upstanding and respectful he is as a character to others.  He did what was expected of him, made sure Svetlana told her parents what happened, helped up a Russian guy he knocked down in the stenka and kept having all of these “soft” nice guy moments. 

But what began to worry me was his lack of doubt at things.  Koito seemed to be more open to questioning what was happening.  He told himself to shoot a thieving cat on sight - that he had to tell himself facts about Ogata to make sure he’d capture and kill him.  Meanwhile, Tsukishima remained silent. He relayed facts to Sugimoto about the wildcat nickname but he never said anything to get Sugimoto more riled up or less upset by Ogata.  He just did what was required of him. 

He only became pushy once they reached Toyohara where they were to wait until meeting up with Tsurumi in Odomari (next chapter?).  It is almost as though Tsukishima is a example of the trope that one should be worried about the “normal” ones.   He has done his job always with benefiting Tsurumi in the end.  He’ll now follow him to the end even if it means he dies alongside with him.

Noda called him the conscience of the 7th back when he made the character guides at the beginning of the tankobans.  I am beginning to wonder if his conscience is more of the fact that Tsukishima will express a moral doubt or concern only to still follow orders?

I can’t help but look at these eyes here, here he blankly tells Koito he’s fine with his situation in 210.

Are similar to Ogata’s in chapter 103 to Hanazawa.

Both express the emotions - or lack thereof of men who are doing horrible things that are clearly harming them but following through on those actions b/c Tsurumi is leading them to that.

For volume 15 Noda expanded chapter 150 to include how Tsukishima let go of the lie that kept him tied to Tsurumi from the end of the Sino-Japanese war until the Battle of Mukden.

Special thanks to @goldenkamuyhunting for these edited images of the volume version.

While in Otaru, Tsukishima goes out alone in the evening.  He reveals that he’s held onto Igogusa’s hair all these years.  He is a dark figure against the lighter buildings in the harbor.

He pulls the hair the Tsurumi had given him that was folded between some well worn paper, that may even have some of his blood stains on it, indicating he kept it close to his chest when he was in battle.

He stands on the edge of the harbor and holds the open paper in his left hand, the hair in his right as his eyes are completely covered with his hat.  There is a slow motion opening of the right hand as it releases the hair so that it almost slides out.  Not throwing or anything active.  A passive release of the hair back into the ocean, depicted as a black abyss.

We get his own view as the hair falls out of his hand and into the water to dark to see any details of.

As the hair falls into darkness on the next page we see Tsukishima walk back to the 27th barracks and he enters the back of a room full of men.  The two page spread shows Tsurumi removing his bandages in front of his men and the introduction of his face shield.

Tsukishima watches all of this from the back of the room deadpan.  He has let go of his ties to his past and his love of Igogusa.  All that remains is his loyalty and devotion to Tsurumi. 

This is it.  This is the point when Tsukishima dedicated himself full to serving Tsurumi.  He’ll follow him straight to hell if that is how things go down.

In some ways, I’m having a hindsight is 20/20 moment in regards to Tsukishima.  The entire time on Karafuto, Tsukishima has been relatively quiet.  He’s done what he was supposed to do and other than his emotional outburst with Svetlana, he’s been very tight lipped and silent.  This is a parallel with Ogata who was keeping quiet to not reveal his skills in Russian.  Tsukishima hides his devotion to Tsurumi through his banal and normal actions.  He doesn’t give us much to go on, it is easier for him to show nothing - by showing nothing or slight annoyance, others can’t get a read on him.

I would argue that Ogata is much more emotional and it shows on Ogata’s face much more than Tsukishima’s.  His default is to have a blank face when wants to cover, Ogata’s eyes frequently betray his emotions.  They are subtle but his are more obvious that Tsukishima’s.

What all does this mean for the future?

I am still under the indication that Koito will break away from the rest of the group.

I’m still hung up on this image from the end of 180.  We now know that Tsukishima will follow Tsurumi to the end.  Tanigaki has no problem following him as long as he doesn’t have to return home.  Sugimoto sold out Asirpa for 200 yen to Tsurumi.

Cikapasi and Ryu stayed behind with Enonoka and her grandfather.  Koito stands separately.  I thought maybe he’d end up with Enonoka and her grandfather after he found out about Tsurumi.  That could still happen but what if Enonoka and her grandfather are a stand in for Asirpa and Huci and maybe Retar?

He would still be aligning himself with the Ainu, just Hokkaido Ainu versus the Karafuto Ainu.

I want to know what makes Tsukishima different from Ogata?  Both men were involved in the kidnapping of Koito.  Tsukishima continues to come back to Tsurumi despite that he’s in an abusive relationship.  Ogata snapped at something and couldn’t do it anymore?

We know he doubted Tsurumi when he had him kill Hanazawa.  What was it that pushed him over the edge?  Why has Ogata escaped while the rest remain loyal to him.  Granted some of the men are less intelligent than Tsukishima, Koito and Ogata, but the smart ones see what his happening.  Is Kikuta also in this group of the more intelligent Tsurumi inner circle.  So far he’s proven himself to ge a quick witted and smart guy.

What happens if things begin to unravel?  How does Sugimoto think he can get out of this one?  The only reason he was able to escape Tsurumi the first time was with Asirpa and Shiraishi’s help and Tsurumi letting him go.  Now, he’s handing both Asirpa and Shiraishi into Tsurumi’s control - he won’t be able to rely on them being on the “outside” to help him.

Furthermore, Ogata demonstrated that if one escapes (as with Tanigaki in Kushiro) you escape before your watchers get close to the deadline.  The earlier you escape the better since they will become more attentive.  I’m sure Ogata learned this from Tsurumi and Tsukishima will know this.

Sorry I don’t have much more for you guys.  I’m still mulling things over and I’m re-adjusting to my work schedule so that will throw me off for a bit more.

[chibivesicle]

Anon here, love your analysis! What are your thoughts on Sugimoto’s eyes lightening in 215 when Asirpa admits she knows the code? The lighter eyes have signaled “murder mode” in the past, hence I read this as Sugimoto having a violent knee-jerk reaction & then calming down. To me it feels like his control is progressively eroding & Asirpa may be forced to mercy hurt/kill him if he goes full monster in the future…Or is this simply a sign their relationship is not what it seems? Thoughts?

Hello Anon,

Thanks for the question.  Sorry for the delay in replying, work has been very busy and I’m burnt out.I think that @goldenkamuyhunting  and I may have over emphasized the look of white eyes to be a sign of murderous intent as it is a bit more nuanced. But really everything with Noda is nuanced.In the most recent chapter (215), Sugimoto’s eyes go white when Asirpa reveals that she does know the code and she had not told him. 

There is an element of white eyes representing shock as shown in the examples below.  One of the differences between harmful intent and shock is the rest of the facial expression.

In 138 when Tanigaki finds Inkarmat stabbed by Kiro, his eyes are white but he’s not about to murder Kiro (yet) he’s in complete shock at her injury.

The following chapter also has another example of shock from the other perspective. When Kiro and Inkarmat tussle, Kiro’s eyes have one like as he notices that she is in pain as he realizes his knife isn’t in his hands anymore in 139.  The shading makes his eyes look a bit more grey but his facial expression shows he was wanting to stop things not to hurt her.

Just for good measure, one more look of white eyes as shock.  In Tsukishima’s flashback in 149, his eyes are white as he’s looking for his fiance in a small boat along the shore. He is worried about a person he has lost and he loved her, showing that he’s very concerned!

Therefore, white eyes have two uses when drawn by Noda.  They can show murderous intent, but this is usually linked to the character holding a weapon such as Sugimoto about to kill Ogata in chapter 5 or Tsukishima attacking Ogata with the bayonet on the rifle in Yubari in Edogai’s house.  The rest of the characters’ faces show more, the tight lips almost twisted or pursed.  I picked Tanigaki, Kiro and Tsukshima as they have good examples of white eyes when intending harm or when they are reacting in shock to situations that scare them.In the three examples above all the characters’ have a mouth open in shock, with down turned corners and are also sweating/breathing heavily.  Their entire facial expression must be read with the eye color together - not separate. 

With Sugimoto’s eyes white in 215 in response to Asirpa not telling him the code, I think it is our first example of Sugimoto reacting this way to Asirpa. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time currently to go back through the manga to find any other example of Sugimoto with white eyes in shock, but I can’t think of any example off the top of my head.  Overall, Sugimoto isn’t thinking of murdering Asirpa because his eyes went white, he is shocked that his level of “partnership” and trust with Asirpa isn’t as simple as the assumed it was.  He figured since he came all the way to “rescue” her and she had faith that he was still alive that she’d tell him the code when she realized it. 

However, Sugimoto assumed her level of trust with him and flat out ignored what she told Kiro before he died and what Tsukishima knew as well.  This is because Sugimoto thinks that he has a level of trust and friendship with Asirpa that no one else has and this extends to the fact that he’d be the first person to know the code; he sees himself as special enough to have this information from her.

As far as your second part of the question, it may be that he’s not violently reacting to her “rejection” of trust in him, I really think he has mis-read their relationship.  We haven’t gotten to see too many Sugimoto “shock” faces.  He’s more angry or raging but less about emotional shock and hurt.  This likely is linked to Toraji and Umeko, but Noda is still keeping that information back from us in the manga.

The manga just keeps highlighting how since they were reunited they have really been on different pages.  I don’t think she’ll have to mercy injury him if he loses it, I really do think that he has been in his own little safe bubble of denial about their relationship.  He “rescued” her, so things can go back to the way they were - but Shiraishi has already pointed out to him that it is impossible.  My reader’s gut thinks that his reckless and murderous behaviour will hurt Asirpa and what happens after that will become more important.