kjaznbrkeak so listen I just… T_T so much about this scene from ch171, because it’s not the first time Sugimoto hallucinates about someone who isn’t there (what I mean is that it’s not his head injury).
It happened in vol2 as well:
…and I can’t count how many times he dreamt of Toraji, even if he never directly hallucinated about him being present.
Anyway, I find this little parallel rather interesting when Sugimoto has “two girls in his life”: one is Asirpa, his partner, and the second is the woman he’s in love with, Umeko.
The story started as he decided to find money in order to take Umeko to America so that she’d see again, because…
of what Toraji said before dying (very haunting, thanks).
Along the way though, slowly the gold became less of the big priority it was at the beginning, because of the strong partnership between Sugimoto and Asirpa. Like, I remember how shocked I was when I first read this part…
…because yes, Saichi, the gold for Umeko, remember?
And sure, he does remember, of course Umeko is still extremely important to him, but…
…it’s interesting how his way to express this goal changed over time…
because Umeko is no longer the only priority.
I don’t mean by this that Sugimoto loves her any less or that he’s fancying Asirpa, not at all, but it’s just that…
for now he’s convinced that he can’t go back to Umeko because of all the blood on his hands and how war changed him too much.
That’s why finding that gold to make her see again was super important to him because, besides the fact that he’s worried by what Toraji said and he wants Ume to be able to see her kid growing up, it was also his only way to go back to a place he could call home (”would you recognize me?”).
It’s literally the dried persimmon talk with Asirpa:
…after which he started crying: Sugimoto wants to go home, he wants to go back to Ume, but for now he can’t because war changed him too much and he hates what he became.
That’s where Asirpa is different from Umeko and why caring about her + protecting her became an equal priority to finding that gold for Ume, because Asirpa…
…is currently the one light in Sugimoto’s path through deep self-loathing.
Maybe it’s because she didn’t know him before the war, or because “the Immortal Sugimoto” for her is unrelated to his past in the army. For Asirpa, he’s just her partner, who eats & hunts with her and who said he’d remain by her side until she could figure out the insane situation surrounding her father.
He’s a nice guy who wouldn’t leave her behind and use her like almost everyone else is trying to do, but he believes he fucked up during the Abashiri arc when he let Kiroranke and Ogata take her away from him. That’s why he can’t forgive himself, to the point he hallucinated that she was the one in danger in the newest chapter (except that this time he could save her).
War fucked up Sugimoto so much, just like it fucked up many others in the story, to the point that he hates himself for being so strong and yet not being able to protect the people he cares about the most.
This is why he dreams of Toraji and why he hallucinated about Asirpa and Umeko.
He feels guilty about Toraji because he couldn’t save his friend.
He’s worried about Ume being considered useless and thrown away as a blind widow with a kid.
He hates that he couldn’t protect Asirpa in Abashiri.
And I’m…. SO DAMN EMOTIONAL ABOUT THIS. He lived through so much already because of war, why did he have to also get PTSD from Abashiri? ;_;
So I need someone to tell this man that it’s okay, that he did what he could and that no one is holding any of that shit against him (also mostly because he was totally shot in the head at Abashiri and he did a great job surviving through that).
I know we’re getting there, that’s the whole narrative, and that he’s going to need both Asirpa and Umeko to feel better about himself, but damn, I have so many feelings right now. ://
[Side note about Asirpa below]
I also want to point out that Sugimoto is not the only guy who made Asirpa an utmost priority in his life:
Tanigaki: Left Inkarmat, the woman he loved, behind as well to bring Asirpa back to Huci.
Kiroranke: Same, he left his wife and sons behind, but his intentions towards Asirpa aren’t as noble as Tanigaki or Sugimoto.
Ogata: is most likely going to reach that point as well, hopefully shedding once and for all that traitor coat because Asirpa will become more important than whatever his goal about the gold is
Shiraishi: gave up on an occasion to save his skin because watching over Asirpa being with Kiro and Ogata was more important
Tsurumi & Hijikata want Asirpa too, but only because of the gold.
So, since it’s a pattern, it’s also logical that Asirpa became as much of a priority as Ume over time for Sugimoto (when he’s been with her the longest), and him hallucinating about the two girls is because he cares so much and also hates himself so much, thinking he failed them.
As for everyone else who actually cares about Asirpa, it’s not that she’s a literal Jesus (like Sensei depicted it that one time) who’s supposed to bring them salvation; rather it’s that she’s a freaking kid with absolutely horrible circumstances…
…and anyone who only wants to use her is a real dick. There I said it, Kiro.
Either before he became a Shinigami, or between deserting the Shinigamis and becoming “the Undertaker” (so sometimes during the last 50 years).
Because who else besides nobles go hunting?
And how would he have known how to fit in perfectly with high society if he never was one of them?
Also who else wears rings similar to his?
An anon even mentioned to me once that the fact he wears his ring on his index finger was most likely because his ring was a status symbol of some specificity (which would be why another noble like Vincent also wore his on the same finger).
Wouldn’t be impossible that I forgot more hints, so feel free to add them. :))
Sorry if someone already made a post on the subject, but I was thinking about the last chapters’ title and, considering that Rin is currently having a journey throughout the past and that Mephy is the one guiding him through it, it’d make sense to consider thatthe numbers in the titles are referring to Time.
The question now is whether this possible time unit refers to the past itself or to the present/current timeline from ch99.
First idea is that it could be referring to the past, because as seen in ch101
and ch102
the number of years seem to match the first number of the titles.
In that case, then I guess the other two numbers of the title can only be referring to weeks (because a year = 365 days or 12 months or 52 weeks), meaning that, for example, the title of ch102 would be “5 years and 35 weeks” from when the flashback started for Rin.
Besides, the titles referring to the time quickly passing by for Rin’s journey would also make sense since Mephy is only showing him the pieces of the past he needs to understand what Mephy wants him to understand.
If not the past though, then the second possibility is that the titles are rather referring to the time passing by in the present/current timeline (the one we left in ch99) while Rin is away.
For example, by the time Rin got to the past in ch100, either 40 minutes or 40 seconds had passed in the present for Shiemi, Izumo, Shura, Yukio, Suguro and co. Similarly, while Rin was witnessing the events of ch101, either 4 hours and 36 minutes or 4 minutes and 36 seconds had passed in the present Rin is from (and same idea for ch102).
This possibility would also make sense because Rin left the present in a real moment of crisis. To quote Neuhaus, even Mephy who is king of time shouldn’t be lazing around despite having just been shot in the head.
So having Rin leaving for some time (and going to the past), no one besides Mephy knowing where he is, before he’s to reappear later in the present timeline (probably at even more crucial moment) could be a part of Mephy’s complex plan too, we never know.
Just some musings. We’ll see if either possibility will still work with future chapters, but keep in mind it could be something else entirely. Time is bound to be a complicated matter with Mephisto. x)
So I came to the conclusion that the titles are definitely about the timeline of the Rin’s journey through the past:
Because we started the flashback “40 years ago” and…
40 years ago – 29 years ago = 11 years ever since the beginning of the flashback.
And it’s actually interesting to notice that the two sets of number for all the titles so far are relating to “40 years ago”!
ch100= 40-0=40 => 0:40
ch101: 40-4=36 => 4:36
ch102: 40-5=35 => 5:35
ch103: 40-11=29 => 11:29
Working well so far, Sensei.
I suppose the flashback will end when the counter reaches 40:0or something. In that case, it could mean that Rin’s journey through the past will go further than just the blue night and Yuri’s death.
EDIT: For ch104: 40-20=20 => 20:20
Nine years between ch103-104 => 29-9=20
accurate depiction of Golden Kamuy’s Abashiri arc y’all
this is old as fuck. but i was talking to @earlgreyandco about it and remembered this random ass 2CT hint:
sieg asks what ociel’s name is, and sebastian (who had been talking to her in german previously) is unable to answer. so he asks ociel to speak the lie
then when sieg asks ociel’s age, sebastian answers for him because that isn’t a lie. he’s therefore allowed to answer
midnight-in-town 