sentrakk:

hundredogatas:

sentrakk:

Hello, room for something optimistic here? This is my first time writing a meta about Golden Kamuy, but I’ll do my best to explain why I think this current conflict will be resolved in a good manner and won’t result in Sugimoto killing Ogata, even if that is the path that seems like the most obvious one at first glance. Instead I believe that Ogata will be redeemed in the end and even if he happened to die, it wouldn’t be because of Sugimoto. The reason I feel this way is, because this set path doesn’t particularly have any merit to it, it’s just simple and straightforward example of cause and effect. Stepping off from this predictable path on the other hand would result in some positive character growth as well as a chance to explore this story’s themes and since Noda’s writing tends to always follow this kind of pattern, I assume it’s what he’ll do again. This should happen thanks to Asirpa since the tl;dr of this meta basically is: Asirpa adopts two boys, helps them out with their issues, raises them with love and care and makes sure they don’t fight with (and murder) each other

(no fighting now) I’ll elaborate on what I mean by addressing this conflict from Sugimoto’s point of view first. I believe Golden Kamuy’s view of the future is a hopeful and optimistic one, which is why Sugimoto’s character arc too should not be tragic and will result in positive character growth. By that I specifically mean Sugimoto stopping to use his unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with his trauma and honestly face all the people he killed and everything that happened in the war. In his current state he is only hurting himself more and more and digging himself deeper into a pit where he soon can’t climb out of anymore. He is still haunted by his past and keeps repeating it by getting himself into this hunt for gold, but doesn’t have the ability to cope with it in a healthy way since his mind is still stuck in the war. Asirpa in the beginning said that she wouldn’t help Sugimoto if he kept killing people, but despite Asirpa’s attempts, he continues doing it anyway while using his old excuses

He finds reasons to justify killing so that he wouldn’t have to feel too guilty and regretful about it, he even tries to believe that all the people he kills are evil and feel no pain despite being fully aware of what a lie that is.

In the war Sugimoto could use just trying to survive as a somewhat reasonable excuse as it is was life or death back then, not killing was the same as dying and it was the only way for him to survive, but currently he is put into situations where he doesn’t always have any immediate need to kill someone and even needs Asirpa to constantly remind him of that fact.

Killing someone without them being an immediate threat to anyone is the same as being a regular murderer. Sugimoto’s way of doing things is not treated positively by any means and it’s something that hurts himself too. The more he keeps repeating these old behaviors, the worse off he ends up mentally and the farther away he goes from his old self.

That’s exactly what Sugimoto doesn’t want though since in the end he only wants to heal from his war wounds and go back to being normal. That is not entirely possible anymore, but he can still recover, try to move on with his life and fix his ways, that’s why he should face everything he has done and has been done to him and get rid of his flawed coping mechanisms and excuses

However, Sugimoto at the moment seems to have accepted his fate and think he is beyond saving. That he is stuck the way he is for the rest of his life until the time for his inevitable unpleasant end finally comes.

He doesn’t enjoy killing or being this way, but it’s what he does anyway. He understands that he’s a murderer and a killer, hates that idea and does his best to make sure Asirpa doesn’t end up the same way. That though only soils his own hands even more as he tries to protect her.

This self sacrificing attitude of his is why he is after the gold and keeps doing all these things, he is only trying to be useful to Umeko and Asirpa and he might as well do it since it’s too late to save himself anyway. He is not beyond salvation though and I believe he will come to terms with his past in the end and be able to become more like an average person again. He might seem calm and collected when talking about these things, but when he’s close to dying in the snowstorm, we get the most honest look into his head yet and he is not fine at all. In his dream we see him going berserk while killing Russians before stopping, looking at his bloodied hands and crying. He is clearly dealing with a lot of repressed guilt, emotional turmoil and pain, but there’s one shining light of optimism that breaks into this nightmare…

Asirpa! She has always been Sugimoto’s moral compass and the thing that connects him to his humanity. Sugimoto broke himself in the war to survive, but Asirpa lets him connect with his old self and act normal again. As Sugimoto said, if a war veteran was able to spend time with their family, they could little by little go back to the way they used to be and that is similar to how Asirpa affects Sugimoto. She is always there to remind him of being empathetic and helps Sugimoto to be a kinder person too. Basically if Sugimoto going murder mode is bad, Asirpa’s influence on him is good, but this unfortunately also means that Sugimoto is still far from healed.

This is where I’ll finally get to the main point of this meta since I believe that Asirpa will be the salvation to both Sugimoto and Ogata and she will resolve this conflict between them without anyone having to die and help them with their own issues. Asirpa has always been Sugimoto’s moral compass and the thing connecting him to his humanity so she is the one who’ll help him break away from his current mindset by not letting him kill Ogata, because Sugimoto killing Ogata would be him repeating his old harmful habits and if he can’t break away from them now, he probably will never be able to. Due to the recent developments with Ogata, he most likely will be redeemed and won’t be a threat to Sugimoto and Asirpa that has to be taken out for their safety (I’ll explain why a bit later) so Sugimoto killing him would really only happen, because of revenge and because he was an enemy despite that not being a valid enough reason to kill. “Ogata has to die, because he is evil” even though that is not true at all and after all this time they’ve spent together, Sugimoto should be able to see that Ogata is just a regular person with feelings and emotions like him. Sugimoto never liked Ogata, because he was a traitor and Sugimoto already almost killed him once and decided that Ogata is evil due to that so what this situation is is a prime opportunity for Sugimoto to try and empathize with his enemies and face his issues at last. Ogata is portrayed from a more and more sympathetic angle lately and this is even shown to Sugimoto directly

Sugimoto is a nice and kind man, agreeing that the joke indeed was pathetic, but Koito tries to justify this with his dislike of Ogata and with how Ogata actually ended up becoming a thieving cat in the end. Koito has his own reasons to hate Ogata, which probably has something to do with their bloodlines, Tsurumi, maybe jealousy and/or disdain so he is doing his best to get Sugimoto on his side. He tries to turn Ogata to a purely evil guy in Sugimoto’s eyes, which is not a very good influence on him considering Sugimoto has to stop seeing the world in black and white. Ogata is like vast majority of all those people he has killed, they were not evil nor did they deserve to die. If Asirpa encourages Sugimoto positively, in her absence Koito is the now influencing him negatively so these latest chapters are not a dark turn just for Ogata, they’re something bad for Sugimoto as well.

Koito’s treatment of Ogata also happens to be rather similar to how Sugimoto always treated him, by considering him an untrustworthy traitor, which despite everything that went down was a pretty prejudiced view to have about him at the time. Tsurumi’s group is a rebel group after all, Ogata is not obliged to follow them forever and he only really left the group instead of doing something horrible and unforgivable. The way you treat people affects they way they act with you and this can be seen in action with Ogata and Asirpa’s relationship. If Sugimoto’s initial hostility towards Ogata was what made them constantly start bickering with each other, Asirpa’s way of treating Ogata led to the opposite result.

If Asirpa is what connects Sugimoto to his humanity and helps him heal, she does the same for Ogata too. She was careful and respectful with the way she treated him and eventually got close to him despite him always intentionally distancing himself from others. Ogata fancies himself a cold blooded killer who feels no guilt or anything else despite that not actually being the case. Like Sugimoto who breaks himself to survive, Ogata does the same by repressing his emotions, but Asirpa helps him act in a more normal and healthy way. She makes him break out of his shell, but whatever his current goal with Kiroranke is, it’s making him move further away from Asirpa’s help.

Shooting Sugimoto was what caused Ogata to go on a bad path and that decision also dragged Sugimoto to the same path. Sugimoto doesn’t have Asirpa to act as his moral compass and as the thing connecting him to his old self so his desperate need to be useful to her is driving him to bad places. As for Ogata, the plan is very dangerous for Asirpa and she is just being used by him and Kiroranke so if something were to happen to her, Ogata is going to be faced with the same situation he went through already with Yuusaku. The parallels between Yuusaku and Asirpa are there for a reason and it is his chance to atone for his past and change the harmful way he behaves. Him being reminded of Yuusaku lately will probably make him act differently with Asirpa this time. If he fails, he probably won’t get another chance at recovering if he even survives. And regardless of what Ogata does, Sugimoto too should break away from his own harmful way he behaves while he still has the chance too, they both should.

Sugimoto won’t have to worry about Ogata though since he will most likely redeem himself and actually end up protecting Asirpa from harm in the end. While Ogata’s reasons for being on this hunt for gold are unclear, what drove his actions in the past was always his need to be acknowledged and loved and the lack of that was what caused him to become the way he is. He killed his mother and brother to get his father’s attention, killed his father while trying to please Tsurumi and then left when he realized he was just being used. Where is his path headed now though? What is he trying to do? Why hasn’t it been revealed to us yet? Well…

This something fundamental Ogata thinks he lacks is something his time with Asirpa is giving him, but he right now is pretty much deciding to go to hell since at this rate everything is going to go horribly wrong and he is going to get himself killed. Ogata’s behavior has been always determined by his desire to be loved and needed so since Asirpa has been giving him attention and bonding with him, it’s highly unlikely Ogata has something more important than that motivating him right now. His lack of love was what defined his childhood and who he is now, he has a great disdain for the ranking system in the army and at this point there can’t be some completely new thing introduced to his character without everything becoming too messy, his highest priority in life should still be his want to be acknowledged, even if he is trying to repress his emotions and act like he doesn’t care. All the time spent on him bonding with Asirpa wasn’t there just to make his betrayal more of a shocking twist when it happened, it’s there, because it’s his path to healing and growing as a person. All of Asirpa and Ogata’s numerous moments together are very genuine after all

The scene in chapter 169 can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but if the wildcat represents Ogata’s thieving cat self, I believe this scene shows Ogata slowly breaking away from that and moving to a better path. He tries to shoot the wildcat when encountering it, but is interrupted by Asirpa

Koito’s advice was to shoot was to shoot the wildcat when encountering it, but it was Asirpa that stopped that from happening. I think it could represent both Sugimoto trying to kill Ogata and Ogata making the decision to go on a bad path that will lead to himself getting killed, both of those eventually being prevented thanks to Asirpa. Since Ogata didn’t get to kill the wildcat, his path diverges away, to a direction different from it despite him having been walking on its pawprints all this time before

“Walk your own wild path, straight and true” The wildcat’s path was always separate from everyone and led even further away, but now Ogata is walking to the same direction as Asirpa. I believe this is meant to represent Ogata slowly bettering himself and eventually getting redemption, moving away from his old mistakes and issues with Asirpa’s help. Asirpa will be there to stop Ogata from going through with his plan with Kiroranke that will most likely end very badly and it wouldn’t be good for Sugimoto to continue like this either so he should break away from his bad habits with Asirpa’s help as well. She is the one who is always trying to help Sugimoto with this issue after all, make him stop killing when it’s not necessary or needed. Don’t listen to Koito, he can’t do comedy and gives bad advice. Asirpa’s positive effect on Ogata and Sugimoto is huge so she should be there to make sure nobody dies unnecessarily

Asirpa is connected to both of them and with Ogata taking over Sugimoto’s role with her after chapter 137, the parallels are very strong too. Sugimoto and Ogata are written to be foils and that shared connection is what I also think will help them both grow and realize things about themselves

Notable moments in the recent chapters are the dreams they had while they were in physically poor conditions. There’s a clear contrast between the two due to Sugimoto nearly freezing to death from the cold and Ogata suffering from high fever and Asirpa using her heat remedy on him. Thanks to that Ogata and Sugimoto honestly think about the things that haunt them the most and their repressed feelings and memories come to the surface. All those things are connected to Asirpa in the end too.

One thing Sugimoto is thinking about in his dream is Toraji’s death and how Umeko was left alone again, a thing Sugimoto feels very responsible about since it is the reason he’s after the gold in the first place

Sugimoto feels responsible to the point of thinking that everything is his fault and that he is useless, guilty of being unable to do anything for their sake

Sugimoto seems to feel similarly about Asirpa and is doing everything he can for her sake. She is connected to Toraji and Umeko here, but she is also connected to Yuusaku in Ogata’s dream. It’s important to note since a similarity Ogata shares is how he is haunted by Yuusaku. Ogata too is shown feeling guilt for his actions and Yuusaku’s death is something he is responsible about. The way Yuusaku eerily haunts Ogata with his head bleeding from the gunshot is similar to how Sugimoto always sees Toraji in his own dreams, with his guts out and talking to him despite looking like a corpse.

Yuusaku and Toraji are also in similar positions, they both have everything Ogata and Sugimoto wanted, but could not have due to life being unfair and cruel. Toraji has Umeko and Yuusaku has loving parents. Ogata and Sugimoto were also both outcasts and didn’t have a place or family to belong, but despite all of that they never outright claimed to be jealous of Yuusaku and Toraji despite that most likely being the case. They are more similar to each other than they might think.

Ogata and Sugimoto are foils as well though since Ogata ended up taking Yuusaku’s life in a futile attempt to take his place and finally get his father’s love while Sugimoto kept sacrificing everything for Toraji and Umeko’s sake until the very end and still continues doing it. It is something Sugimoto can’t ignore while Ogata tries to forget and not think about it, to repress everything. The end result is the same though, they both feel guilty and responsible, they’re selfish and selfless to a fault.

The most important thing to note though is Sugimoto going berserk while killing Russians before stopping and feeling horrible about what he has done. Sugimoto has a habit of flipping a switch inside his head when entering combat situations and mercilessly killing his enemies. Even in his dream we see him cutting through his enemies in a blind fury before stopping and realizing what he had done, this is something that has unsettled Asirpa in the past too

Ogata made this issue much worse by shooting Sugimoto through his head and giving him his brain injury since that shortened his fuse considerably and made him more aggressive than ever before. He even became like a mindless killer zombie during the stenka, because he took too many blows to his head and was stuck in his berserk state until cold water brought him back to his senses. This is not a good development for Sugimoto by any means since he still feels horrible about all the things he does when he goes on a rampage and it’s a habit he has to break away from.

Sugimoto has always been breaking himself in order to survive and to become stronger, but that has come at a great cost. He feels useless and no matter how hard he tries and fights, he can’t do anything for the sake of his loved ones and hates himself for it. Even now Asirpa has been taken away and that just makes him act even more extreme than ever before in a desperate attempt to help her. It’s what keeps taking him further away from his old self though and it’s the opposite of what Asirpa is always telling him and wants him to do. Asirpa’s effect on him has always been positive, but ironically in this current situation it is the opposite.

Ogata shares a parallel to Sugimoto’s berserk mode with his own way of killing his enemies, which is also shown in his own dream. That is shooting his enemies from a distance mechanically without even thinking about them as actual people, they’re just targets to shoot at

This lack of emotion makes him act like a puppet that just does what he is told, even when the subject of the topic is his own brother

This once again is the opposite of Sugimoto who goes into a frenzy and slaughters his enemies with his own two hands. This, like Sugimoto’s berserk state, is also addressed in chapter 137 where Ogata shoots Sugimoto through the head with a face devoid of any emotion and he is even able to tell Asirpa that the two people most important to her are dead despite being the one responsible for it

This changes in Ogata’s dream though since despite him shooting Yuusaku through the head with a blank expression and no emotion like usual, this time he is stopped as by what seems to be regret and guilt. The visual imagery seems to suggest this as Ogata looks shaken by Yuusaku condescendingly staring at him with blood pouring out from his wound

It’s the same as Sugimoto crying after he snaps out of his own killing state and realizing what horrible thing he has done. The important thing here is what these both moments of realization are connected to, that being Asirpa. In Sugimoto’s dream, as he’s crying about everyone he has killed, Asirpa is the light that gives him comfort and removes the suffocating darkness around him. As he wakes up, she is connected to the lighthouse, which shows the way to safety, symbolic of how Asirpa should be the one helping Sugimoto face everything he has done and come to terms with himself

The layout of that page is exactly same to the one where Ogata wakes up from his own dream and sees Asirpa in the same position as the light Sugimoto sees. His dream parallels Sugimoto’s by having Ogata showing feelings of remorse and guilt for having killed Yuusaku and connecting that to Asirpa.

While Asirpa’s presence in Sugimoto’s dream was a comforting thing that saved him from his nightmare, in Ogata’s case it was a cold reminder of all the bad feelings and things he’s trying to repress. In his case, if he is not stopped and continues following his path of unhealthy coping mechanisms and repressed emotions, he will probably end up repeating what happened with Yuusaku despite that being something that still haunts him. Ogata claims he feels no guilt, but it’s Yuusaku’s words that might still be true in the end:

Yuusaku in Ogata’s dream is the initial push he receives and it’s no coincidence that Asirpa is instantly paralleled to Yuusaku, she will be the one that makes Ogata understand. I won’t go into detail about it, but Ogata is usually portrayed in a very childish manner with Asirpa being an almost motherly figure to him. Since Ogata is the only primary character that has experienced severe trauma in his childhood and not just his adulthood, I believe it’s meant to represent that he has yet to really grow up. That’s why him one day understanding is almost like him becoming a proper adult, similarly to how it’s expressed in this panel:

Anyway, his dream also highlights how he along with Tsurumi were just trying to use and change Yuusaku for their own gain, similarly to how he and Kiroranke are using Asirpa right now. In the end Tsurumi didn’t think killing Yuusaku was a good idea since he had more value alive, but Ogata did it anyway. Asirpa similarly is very useful alive since she is the only one who knows the location of the gold, but there might come a situation where Ogata will be faced with the decision to kill Asirpa according to these parallels. Might be something connected to what Ogata’s true current goal is since he most likely is not here to just help Kiroranke with his own goals. This situation will probably happen, but this time Ogata will make a decision different from what he did with Yuusaku since it is a thing that he still regrets and feels guilty about. It’s a direct parallel to Sugimoto being haunted by the people he kills in his berserk state and that too will most likely happen again with Ogata unless he is stopped. The path is leading towards them both not learning a thing and continuing to hurt themselves and others in the process, but the thing that disturbs this is Asirpa. She is the one that snapped Sugimoto out his berserk state, she is the one that reminds Ogata of Yuusaku so that he can’t repress how he feels anymore and repeat the past.

I believe this is foreshadowing for how the conflict between these three will play out in the future when they finally meet again, with Asirpa being the thing that stops everything from going horribly wrong. This has actually already happened once before when they met for the first time, Sugimoto was in his killing mode and about to stab Ogata before Asirpa snapped him out of it and stopped him

It should be up to Asirpa again to stop them since she is the thing that will break the natural flow of events that only lead to more pain and stagnation. It makes sense that Sugimoto would kill Ogata, Ogata nearly killed him already and ran off with Asirpa. Taking into account Sugimoto’s way of dealing with situations like these, he would think it’s justified to just kill Ogata and rescue Asirpa regardless of what the situation ends up being like in the end since Asirpa’s safety is the highest priority and all enemies are evil and must die. Ogata shooting Sugimoto only made him turn into an actual berserker zombie so it would be karma if this what got Ogata killed in he end.

This however leaves no room for redemption or empathy, Sugimoto would only dig himself further down into his hole, denying himself the chance of getting any positive character development or recovering from his issues and Ogata would lose his chance to even try to change for the better since he is just going to die. It is an unfortunate chain of events with nothing positive to it, that’s why Asirpa will be the one to change that as the one who symbolizes the hopeful future. Asirpa’s role in the story has always been connected to the future (it’s even what her name literally means) and since she is the key to solving the location of the gold, she will have a huge part to play in deciding where the future will go

It’s quite clear that what she wants is not a bloodbath, take notes Sugimoto and Ogata. Asirpa is also connected to change since her father wanted her to bring change to the ainu and lead them to freedom. This and the gold are things that would lead to a bloodbath, but since it’s not what Asirpa wants, her change is instead breaking away from this. She herself thinks she is a new kind of ainu woman, one that is meant to be different from the past generations.

Asirpa is the character that sticks out among all the war veterans still stuck in the past and other people who can’t move on so she should be the one that helps others out with this issue

Her father wanted her to become a war leader, but instead of becoming another murderer like Sugimoto feared, she will probably become the opposite since Asirpa really is not some Ainu Joan of Arc.

Asirpa is the future and taking into account her strong sense of love, empathy, compassion and refusal to kill, that future should be an optimistic one even if some of the war veterans feel hopeless and incapable of changing for the better. Asirpa has a strong connection to both Sugimoto and Ogata so I believe she will be the one stopping them from killing each other in the end for their own sakes. Koito is a brat that can’t let go of his grudge, but Asirpa is our lord and savior, the one who forgives and helps all of her adopted war veteran children. This panel alone should be a clear indication of Asirpa forgiving Ogata for what he did in the end even if there are some struggles on the way

Don’t shoot the cat

I didn’t notice these two things in the caps, and thought it would make a useful addition if it is indeed missing. Unfortunately, my folder is a mess…

1. that scene where the team is discussing what to do with the Conman, and Asirpa is staunchly opposed to killing him, even though he was responsible for the death  of the men and enslavement of the Ainu women in this one village.

2. Asirpa offering advice to the old “bat” man who had lost his sight. 

It’s clear what kind of lesson that Asirpa is ready to give. 

I think there’s a very strong reason why Noda-sensei focused on Ainu culture and having a Ainu girl of the new age as the center… Because it offers an alternative viewpoint contrary to Japanese culture, at least in the context of the long 19th century. War, crime, the prison system, etc., all produce broken men, outcasts of society. Golden Kamuy is an optimistic piece because it looks forward, and Asirpa is a character that gives people a chance to reform no matter what they’ve done.

Thanks for the additions! I know I must’ve missed something, but I don’t unfortunately remember all the minor details in the manga yet.