Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 288 “A Pleasant Man”
So from a Watsonain perspective I’ve to praise Wilk as it turned out everything went...
yeah, just as he planned it... though Doylistically speaking let me be amazed by how Noda made this wonderful and intricate plot... but let’s start with order.
The story starts with a very useful timeline concerning the events that involved the gold.
There are little things I appreciate more than timelines so I’m extremely grateful to Noda for it.
We move back to the Russian consulate in 1902.
Irenka, one of the Ainu working with Wilk, correctly guesses the government which rules Hokkaido wouldn’t just give them the land, should they show up with the land deed.
Wilk suggests to ask Enomoto Takeaki for help at which the others correctly imply it would be a little hard for them to meet him.
As if this wasn’t difficult enough, Kimuspu informs them the Japanese government is AFTER THE LAND DEED and would steal it before they were to reach Enomoto, which is why they were forced to hide it there.
But then he suggests a Nispa might be able to help to get in touch with Enomoto.
We go back to 1869 and to a much younger Kimuspu, one that looks more like Cikapasi due to how the signs on his face are now more marked.
He explains they used to go to Goryokaku as they negotiated with Enomoto over buying the land, without even knowing the battle of Hakodate would escalate.
Early at the beginning of the story (chap 30) Hijikata lamented how their battle was hampered by the struggle to get funds...
...which seems to hint whatever agreement Enomoto managed to reach with the Ainu, was reached too late.
Anyway, while the others go take part to the negotiation Kimuspu is left behind to take care to give water to the horses and, as he does so he meets Hijikata… who basically behaves like a Sugimoto with a slightly different face...
Hijikata is curious of Kimuspu’s tattoo, he’ll help Kimuspu, is cheerful and modest, admitting all he’s good with are battles, horses and women. Okay, Sugimoto is popular with women but can’t understand them at all while Hijikata was supposedly better at this but whatever, Hijikata really feels like him to me… though I doubt they plan to have them be related.
Anyway Kimuspu doesn’t let him know why they’re there but clearly likes him and finds him a ‘Sawayakana otoko’ (爽やかな男 “pleasant/refreshing/invigorating/clear man”). Later he finds out he’s Hijikata, an Ezo republic commander.
Enomoto keeps the land deed as a secret. I wonder if, should he had won the war, he too would have tried getting it back.
Anyway the Ainu prepare the gold, though they don’t really trust Enomoto.
They’re being too slow though.
The government forces begin their all-out attack.
We’re at June 20 (lunar calendar May 11), 1869, and Hijikata, instead than being killed as history wants, is just nearly killed near the Ippongi Kanmon but manages to drag himself back despite the wounds...
...and is helped by Kimuspu, despite his comrades being against it. In order to give them a reason to care about Hijikata, Kimuspu reminds them he’s Enomoto’s comrades but it’s clear he’s not helping him just for that.
Kimuspu should have been a nice person, it fits he’s Cikapasi’s grandfather.
Anyway he brings Hijikata in one of the house left empty when its owners evacuated, so as not to let Hijikata be found by soldiers.
When Hijikata awakes, he’s reached by the news the Kaitenmaru was also destroyed by fire (always on June 20) and thinks they should protect the fortress Benten Daiba as Goryokaku will surely fall due to the bombing of the ships, but Kimuspu tells him the day before, (June 24th) while he was unconscious, the fortress surrendered. This means we’re at the 25th. Goryokaku will surrender the 27th.
At this Hijikata likely understands they’ve no more hope to fight and asks Kimuspu to bring him to mount Hakodate, apparently to a statue of Kannon. Hijikata, dressed up as an Ainu to disguise himself, doesn’t manage to explain why he wanted to go there as the bombing on Goryokaku resumes and then they’re found by soldiers, who recognize Hijikata.
Kimuspu, gets in between them and Hijikata. He explains his action saying he was desperate because he figured the Ainu would lose the land of the republic of Ezo. Although he manages to push the rifle away from Hijikata, the soldier fires anyway and kills one of the Ain that were with Kimuspu.
At this Hijikata tells him to stop or they all would be killed and let the guards take him away. Kimuspu who had been pushed on the ground, stares at the dead Ainu in shock but he’s evidently released later on as it’s only Hijikata who’s carried away, apologizing to them and promising he won’t forget the debt he owns to them.
Kimuspu explains how, out of guilt for letting the soldiers take Hijikata, he couldn’t tell Enomoto how the latter survived. However, when he tries to find information on Hijikata’s fate no one wants to say he was caught or executed and, several years later he begins hearing rumors about Hijikata having been looked in a prison, an ex-warden even confirming this. So Kimuspu is sure Hijikata is alive.
Ratci adds in he also hears rumors about Hijikata being alive and helping to build the convict road.
Anyway they work up in their mind that Hijikata could get their message to Enomoto. How since he’s a prisoner those survival they’re basically hiding? Well, Oskeporo suggests they could pretend to be wardens and break him out. It’s worth to mention by then Hijikata was already in Abashiri so making him escape isn’t as easy as they make it out… but, on the other side, I do wonder if this was all part of Wilk’s plan. I mean, he and the other Ainu were hiding near to where there were those ‘prison lodges’ in which Inudou kept laborers confined… and, when the other Ainu die Wilk rushes there and have himself being arrested, asking to give Inudou the message he killed 7 Ainu and knows the location to the Ainu hidden gold.
I mean, at a first glance it seemed he did it merely to escape from Tsurumi… but maybe his goal was reaching Abashiri and getting into contact with Hijikata in the first place so as to use the whole incident with the Ainut o carry on his plan.
We see him repeating Hijikata’s name with a thoughtful expression after all…
...and then Kimuspu claims he knows a good spot to hide the gold, the good spot being the well. As they place the gold inside the well, one of them guarding the group in the distance, Kimuspu explains the last time they met Enomoto he saw the well being covered with dirt, so the Meiji government might not have noticed it existed. As a result the Ainu hid the gold there and starts planning an uprising among the Ainu.
So yes, they wanted to fight with weapons the Japanese government, not just use the land deed to have the land pacifically.
Wilk also thinks if Hijikata hadn’t forgotten his debt, he should repay the Ainu of the future. Honestly I think he should repay only Kimuspu… as Kimuspu’s Ainu friends back then helped him solely because he was Enomoto’s friend and they were making business with him but whatever, we know how Wilk is, for him the Ainu’s cause is the only one that matter… though from how he speaks he seems to link ‘Ainu of the future’ to Asirpa, whose name means woman of the future. So he basically is saying Hijikata should help his daughter.
The flashback ends here and the visual is pretty good because it moves from Wilk looking down in the well to Asirpa looking up from the well, as if to give the illusion she and Wilk could see each other… but the one looking down in the well this time is Hijikata, who likely means to repay his debt anyway.
And so that’s the story of how Hijikata and Wilk connected the whole horse kanji with a well whose existence only the two of them knew.
I’ll be honest, on one side I’m not overly fond of all this background exposition as it’s just that, exposition with little personal drama (I mean, Kimuspu was clearly grief stricken when the soldiers try to arrest Hijikata and, in effort to stop them, he inadvertently cause one of his friends to get killed… but this isn’t really explored… at most it’s exploited by Wilk) but, on the other side, I’m amazed by how Noda came up with such an intricate plot.
I mean, the meeting between Nopperabou and Hijikata seemed casual, they were merely two prisoners in the same prison… and Wilk trusting Hijikata to take care of Asirpa and carrying on all that plan seemed a risky bet based on circumstances but now it turns out Hijikata was ALWAYS part of the plan and the code was made keeping not only Asirpa but he too into consideration because Wilk clearly assumed Asirpa wouldn’t accomplish anything with the land deed without Hijikata’s support and the hideout of the gold is basically a jab at Hijikata’s moral sense so as to remind him Ainu (well, ONE Ainu) helped him so he should help them as well.
So while a side of me is ‘well, I don’t really care about this little sidestory per se as it’s just exposition and not emotionally engaging…’ the other side is ‘oh my this man actually planned all those plot details so damn carefully I’m amazed! I love him! This is just great writing!’
Oh well, I hope everyone else is enjoying how the story is revealing itself as much as I’m doing because, really, I’m having lot of fun! I love to see such a well thought plot! This is such a masterful work!
Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 296 “Bushido”
So we’ve a new chapter which will lead the group to deploy a pretty old strategy.
For who’s wondering the Leviathan is a demonic sea serpent noted in theology and mythology, often an embodiment of chaos. From the early 17th century has also been used to refer to overwhelmingly powerful people or things.
There’s plenty of variations of this way to say though as some mention a snake or, more generally, just a head (“Cut off the head, and the body will die”, “Cut off the head of the snake, the body dies”, “When the head of a snake is cut off, the rest of his body is an ordinary rope”...).
It’s also worth to mention this strategy wouldn’t work equally as well if Tsurumi were to deploy it as we’ve both Hijikata and Sofia in charge of his enemies (though Noda is really not using Sofia much) plus Sugimoto who’s not the sharpest pencil in the box but is a charismatic fighter so troops would still go fighting after him.
But whatever, I’m running ahead.
We start… with a flashback… which I think Noda will want to fix in the volume version because, although some important points are made… well, they aren’t made in a smooth, relevant and clear manner.
Anyway let’s look at it.
Wilk is tattoing Hijikata. Hijikata, old fox that he is, points out how, instead than going through all the troubles of doing things in such a roundabout way, he could just tell him where the gold is.
Now… this is not quite exact because it’s due to the fact they were tattooed prisoners carrying a map on their back that Tsurumi had his men ‘steal’ them from Inudou’s prison. Shiraishi couldn’t escape from Abashiri on his own which is why he joined Hijikata’s tattoed group so it’s not so easy to leave Abashiri, probably even if Hijikata could count on Kadokura’s support. So, well, they would still need to tattoo Hijikata and the others.
Of course Hijikata might be referring to the gold hunt.
Wilk could have given them fake tattoos and while Tsurumi chased after a fake map Hijikata could have snatched the gold. In this case yes, Wilk could have just tattooed them then told them the truth as Sugimoto said Wilk should have done when he met him, this is a fair question, but there’s a problem Sugimoto didn’t consider.
Wilk is apparently unsure if that guy he’s tattooing is the real Hijikata as not even Kadokura met him before. Now, okay, the government said Hijikata died, but Kimuspu told Wilk Hijikata lived and since neither Inudou nor Tsurumi know Wilk counted on Hijikata to deliver the land deed, they would have no reason to have Wilk met a fake Hijikata.
Siromakur apparently wasn’t even with them when they discussed about Hijikata so he can’t think he would have talked about him with Tsurumi.
So the whole ‘maybe you’re not Hijikata’ feels a tad weak to me because otherwise why should that guy claim to be Hijikata? But whatever, Wilk might have grown paranoid and, after all, there’s plenty of mad criminals in that prison so maybe assuming one of them could believe he’s Hijikata could make sense.
Whatever.
Hijikata retorts asking Wilk to prove he’s an Ainu… because?
Wilk explains about his eyes being blue due to his father being a polish man exiled in Karafuto… because this proves he’s an Ainu? Besides, didn’t they say in the past there were Ainu with blue eyes due to them being mixed with Russian blood?
Whatever, I just wish they had, at least, said Wilk’s father’s name. I hate not knowing characters’ names.
Hijikata is up to date with how the Polish, who live on what for him might be the other side of the world, kept on revolting against Russia. We know he’s used to read newspapers but I don’t know how much Japanese newspapers cared about Polish situation back then. Whatever, let’s assume he knows.
Hijikata, with this new info, assumes Wilk wanted to steal the Ainu gold from Hokkaido Ainu and use it to fight against Russia. He’s not so off track as this was basically Wilk’s original plan when he moves to Hokkaido. What Hijikata is missing is that Wilk wanted to fight for Russian minorities instead than Poland and that he would have had Hokkaido Ainu to join his eastern federation. The fact they might not be interested to join never dawned on him… until he had a daughter and decided the Hokkaido Ainu were better off on their own and it was the other minorities who could move in Hokkaido if they really wanted a place to stay.
I can’t help it, I think Wilk’s plan was bad from start to the end. Toni scolds them, claiming if they talk so loudly he can’t hear the sound of the warden’s footsteps, showing us Toni was already into the plan. I’m not sure though why Hijikata didn’t recruit him back then already into his own forces, beyond they needed to fight him for the blind bandit arc to take place.
Hijikata drops the whole ‘maybe you aren’t an Ainu’ or ‘maybe you want to steal the Ainu gold for the Polish’ and goes on saying they’ve a common goal, stopping Russia’s advance to south making Hokkaido into an independent, multi-ethnic country. Well, overall, this is not wrong.
It’s just that Hijikata wants the Ezo republic to be a buffer state so as to protect Japanese while Wilk wanted it to be a place for Ainu to live keeping their own culture so what they would make of Ezo republic is completely different.
We don’t know how Wilk planned to handle it, but we heard Hijikata would sustain it by investing into coal mining… which isn’t really something that would preserve the Ainu lifestyle, not mentioning I doubt Wilk wanted Hokkaido to exist as a protection for Japanese. Whatever, since their goal is similar on the surface and Wilk can’t escape anyway, Hijikata summarizes this forces Wilk to trust him no matter who he might be. Because, really, Hijikata, we needed you to start throwing us doubts on your identity at us at this point in the story.
Not that I’m gonna believe you’re actually your secret twin brother but whatever.
Wilk goes and tells us something we already knew, that if the guy he is tattooing isn’t Hijikata it would be a real problem as there’s something only Hijikata can do.
Actually there are two things only Hijikata can do, one is to bring the land deed to Enomoto, the other is to find the gold as he’s the only one who knows about the old well. But the visual tells us Wilk cares only about the land deed.
Hijikata asks explanations he doesn’t get as Wilk states he can’t be sure Hijikata will work for the sake of the Ainu.
Hijikata’s idea to reassure Wilk is to explain him he’ll continue to fight for the sake of JAPAN as Japan is an extension of the family he loves and of the hometown who raised him, claiming this includes Hokkaido Ainu as well.
I’m not quite as sure this is a solid reasoning because his plan is to basically use them to protect the rest of Japan but whatever. Hijikata is one who’s fine with sacrifice so maybe he really doesn’t see a problem here.
He then admits he’ll also do it because, on a personal level he owes a debt to the Ainu, more specifically to Kimuspu and his friends. This seals the deal for Wilk who DOESN’T TELL HIM THE PLACE IN WHICH THE GOLD OR THE LAND DEED ARE HIDDEN, just his daughter’s Japanese name and how Hijikata should meet her.
The next we see is another mini flashback, one in which Hijikata does Citatap with Cikapasi before they break into Abashiri. Here we can see that in that moment his gaze was actually focused on Asirpa, which he planned to bring to Nopperabou so as to get the information he wanted about the gold... and probably had already devised the plan to get Sugimoto out of the picture.
So okay, no, I don’t get how Wilk’s mind work.
He still doesn’t trust Hijikata so that he doesn’t give him the location of the gold or of the land deed, nor Asirpa’s Ainu’s name but gives him a way to track her which means if Hijikata wasn’t trustworthy now he has put his daughter in troubles too… and Asirpa can’t really vouch on him being Wilk until she met him so it’s not like she can confirm his identity… I think the idea is that Wilk wanted to push Hijikata to bring Asirpa to him, so it was very convenient for him that Asirpa had already decided to go see him and that the fake tattooed skins made the whole infiltration in Abashiri a plan that seemed easier than managing to recognize fake skins from real ones.
Anyway all this told us… that Wilk more or less believed Hijikata was who he said to be and therefore he trusted him enough to entrust to him his daughter… sort of as he didn’t quite give him her true name… but not the gold… which we… kind of already knew?
I’m not against flashback, I’m all for them but this is really no new info.
If anything the only thing we discovered was how Wilk learnt that Hijikata remembered Kimuspu and felt in debt with him… which yes, might have caused him to trust him a little more but the plan was already started anyway so… I don’t know?
On another, completely different note, this flashback reminded me of something relevant.
For the plan tied to the land deed to work they need Hijikata (or possibly Nagakura as he too likely had connection with Enomoto) to survive and bring the land deed to him. Only they’re likely both going to die in this fight… because if they could survive and join Enomoto they would likely lose their chance to die in battle here at Goryokaku… unless Enomoto is going to drop a visit.
Kadokura likely can’t work as a connection as, prior to Abashiri, he didn’t personally know Hijikata which makes me think he didn’t know Enomoto either so it would be hard for him to be received (though if we’ll make it a matter of luck Enomoto could just happen to stumble in front of Kadokura).
Ogata was probably sent there to keep the land deed away from Tsurumi’s hands. His grandfather was likely on the losing side of the Boshin war, fighting for the Shogun and might have fought for Enomoto as well. In a past ask I wondered if it was possible he’ll be the one who actually has the connections with Enomoto which are needed to use the land deed… but truth is we know really little of what’s behind Ogata so it’s hard to say anything about him… through this would explain why he had to remain a player up till now, he’s ultimately needed for the land deed to be put to use.
On the other side, using the land deed would change history so Noda might not wish for that.
So, either the land deed is going to turn completely useless or we need someone to manage to have the connections that’ll allow him to make it work.
We’ll see.
If I were to take a wild guess I would say so far Ogata’s interests lied in the land deed not being found by anyone, more than in putting it to use, but this is just me.
Ogata has been absent for so long Noda might be up at everything with him.
Back to the story we go… only what remains is just Hijikata defeating soldier after soldier in a rather awesome way.
However he also gets shoot, hit...
...stabbed and recognized...
...then Sugimoto comes to his aid and then they beat up more soldiers because together they’re an awesome duo (and in the past Noda had fun at making them pretty similar)...
...but then Sugimoto soon realizes they’re in a pinch.
Credits when it’s due, in truth Sugimoto, in the Japanese text, isn’t saying the whole 7th division soldiers are stronger compared to the Russian partisans, just that the soldiers OVER THERE are stronger.
‘Mukō no heitai no hō ga tsuyoi. Jōkyō wa kanari kibishī zo.’
向こうの兵隊のほうが強い. 状況はかなり厳しいぞ
“The soldiers over there are stronger. The situation is pretty tough!”
If they’re stronger compared to the Russians or compared to the ones they had previously fought (either because they’re fresher troops and therefore less tired or just because they’re just better, or just because it’s Sugimoto’s group who’s worn out and therefore perceives the soldiers as stronger) is up to speculation, but it’s clear that they’re presenting more troubles for everyone, from the Russian rebels to Hijikata and Sugimoto (who also gets shoot though, knowing him and his immortality, it’s probably just a flesh wound).
Hijikata, being the planner he is, tells Sugimoto he, being the best fighter they have but also one Hijikata wouldn’t mind doing without once the battle has ended (was the pre Abashiri flashback in this chapter placed here to remind us about how Hijikata isn’t actually a Sugimoto fan and wouldn’t mind to use him to hold back his enemies and, at the same time, get rid of him?), has to find Tsurumi and get rid of him because, if they get rid of him, his troops will lose their strenght.
Sugimoto points out Hijikata didn’t give him the easiest of the tasks but goes anyway.
Meanwhile Shiraishi makes the point of the situation. With the south and east entrance taken by the 7th all that still stands is the north entrance. Should it fall all the soldiers would come after them so they should run away now, in order to protect the land deed, meaning they’re also leaving behind the gold, unless Shiraishi managed to get some gold dust for himself, likely not much though as he doesn’t seem to have any bag, at best enough to fill his pockets… though honestly, Sugimoto pulled him up short after they found the gold because the bombing started so I’m not sure Shiraishi managed to collect any of the dust which had fallen on them.
On another side... I wonder if Asirpa will be willing to leave without Sugimoto again. In a way this attack parallel the Abashiri arc, which ended with Asirpa escaping with Shiraishi (and Kiro and Ogata) leaving Sugimoto, Tsurumi and Hijikata behind. Of course in that arc she believed Sugimoto to be dead, that’s why she let herself be carried away (that and also Kiro first and Shiraishi after picked her up and physically dragged her away).
It’ll be interesting to see if she will prioritize the land deed and her people or Sugimoto.
There’s also something else to take into consideration, which is Vasily. Previous chapters made clear Vasily was using Asirpa and Shiraishi as baits to draw Ogata out. Will he try again what he did in Shizuka and shoot either at Shiraishi or at Asirpa in hope this will force Ogata to act? Or is he aiming to use Sugimoto as bait this time so he’ll be the one who’ll shoot Sugimoto in the head this time? Or is he up to something completely different?
Really, Noda had kept him around, albeith not used him for all this time, I just want for him to finally do something plot relevant to start this goddamn sniper duel he so longs to have.
Anyway we’ll see.
And with this, the chapter ends.
So we had a flashback of 5 pages, 12 pages of fight and 1 page for Shiraishi to tell Asirpa the situation and that they’ll do better to escape.
As the flashback wasn’t very meaningful this, more than a chapter on the art of war, felt like a filler. Sure, I’ve to say showing Hijikata and Sugimoto fighting for 11 pages (opposed to the single page in which we see soldiers and Russian fight) made this 12 pages fight more interesting than the previous as we have emotional involvement for Hijikata and Sugimoto while the poor Russians and the poor soldiers feel just like mob characters to us, and this chapter also managed to deliver how their situation is getting more dire but still it feels like it used a lot of pages to say something that could be said in a lot less of them.
Is it due to the pacing? Does Noda need to get to a specific chapter number before having something happen? Or the next thing that’s going to happen needs a good amount of pages so the little that was needed from this chapter couldn’t be inserted in the following one?
Good morning ... In the end Asirpa's priority is a document and not Sugimoto's life? How sad.
Sorry, I placed both your asks together, I hope it’s okay.
Hum... no, I don’t think Asirpa is prioritizing the land deed to Sugimoto’s life.
When she tried to grab it, she didn’t think Sugimoto was in danger as the latter had a weapon to defend himself and, for all she knew, might have just fatally wounded Tsurumi so he would remain perfectly safe. I also don’t think she realized she was at risk of falling under the train.
The land deed is however very important to her and to all the Ainu as it would legally insure the ruling government in Japan would have to recognize them the ownership of part of the Hokkaido land.
This would allow them to continue have a land in which to live in their own traditional way as Japan has previously basically taken possession of Hokkaido and didn’t recognize them as the legittimate owners.
Without the land deed they risk for the Japanese government to just do as they please with Hokkaido, keeping on cutting down forests and building cities and whatever they want without them to have a say in the process.
Now, I’m not sure the land deed would be the solution to all their problems but it would still be a great help.
This scene from chap 284 might help to better illustrate why the land deed is important.
It’s also worth to mention Asirpa has a huge crush on Sugimoto so, given the chance, it’s unlikely she’ll want to risk him. In chap 211 she told him (and Shiraishi) to remain where it was safe and that she would take care of things exactly because she didn’t want to risk losing him.
As for Tsurumi... yes, the scene is a bit jumpy likely due to the fact each chap needs to be 18 pages and will probably be expanded in the volume version.
Anyway after Sugimoto tossed Asirpa away, he grabbed Tsurumi’s hand (which was holding a gun). At this point he tried to turn Tsurumi’s hand toward Tsurumi.
It’s unclear if he pulled Tsurumi toward himself or if the latter tossed himself as Sugimoto in an effort to subdue him and force him to let go because the next we know is that Tsurumi is above Sugimoto and Sugimoto has managed to turn Tsurumi’s hand toward Tsurumi’s chest and have the trigger being pulled so that the gun shoots at Tsurumi’s chest. Due to this Tsurumi remains above him and clenches his teeth in a way that’s meant to remind Sugimoto of their first meeting.
Tsurumi’s nickname is ‘shinigami’ (god of death). Shinigami kills people by snuffling the candles representing their lives. Sugimoto however is nicknamed ‘immortal’. So Tsurumi said if Sugimoto’s flame can’t be snuffled down as it’s immortal, he would just destroy the candle by biting it down and made the same biting gesture.
Since the train is about to fall into Hakodate bay, Tsurumi is just reminding him of that, basically telling him, he’ll cause his death by holding him there.
Hi friend, nice work here! So, I have one simple question that I was talking with my friend some days ago. Did you think that Ogata is the true villain from Golden Kamuy? It's seems to me that everyone would kill him if had the chance. And please, share your theory about your answer.
Thank you for enjoying my work!
And no, honestly I don’t think Ogata is the true villain of “Golden Kamuy”.
Him being “the true villain” would imply he’s the a character who’s just an evil guy who’s here for the evulz while all the others are moved by noble motives or are, at least good people in a typical black and white division where we’ve heroes fighting villains.
Noda was clearly not interested in having main characters being black and white characters, he wanted them to be grey, realistic, moreally complex characters, neither of them good or a hero but neither of them evil or a villain.
Contrary to what Sugimoto might think, Ogata is in the gold hunt for a reason. He was involved in the whole mess with the Ainu gold way sooner than any of us expected, in 1901.
He was 19 and a second class private (he has only one strip on his sleeve), which means he has just joined the Army and yet Central has already decided to use him to spy Tsurumi. Likely, Ogata’s goal is tied to the land deed mentioned in chap 284. Central probably wanted the gold... but also wanted the land deed to either be destroyed or never found if it couldn’t be returned to them.
The contract is inconvenient to Central and they clearly don’t want to pay a refunding to declare it null and void.
Why Central decided to trust someone so young and who might not have had chances to prove himself or his loyalty to accomplish something like that is up to speculation.
Maybe they blackmailed him or made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Or maybe he had a chance to prove himself we don’t know about.
Ogata isn’t just Hanazawa’s son, people speculated his grandfather might have fought for the Shogun, maybe at Goryokaku itself, which might have given him knowledge on the existence of the land deed.
Anyway this means that, differently from what Sugimoto speculated, he’s not there to ruin everyone’s day.
It would also explain why he killed Wilk and shoot Sugimoto.
Wilk’s death insured he couldn’t talk about the land deed.
Ogata said to Kiro he killed Sugimoto because Wilk talked with him and this could be true...
...but not because Wilk might have mentioned Kiro but because Wilk talking with Sugimoto might have meant he told him about the land deed so Sugimoto too had to die.
As for everyone wanting to kill him if they had the chance, this is no proof of him being a true villain, he’s merely everyone’s antagonist as his goal conflict with everyone else’s.
The land deed is not the gold but still others could use it because how the land should be used is left to the discretion of the OWNER. Who owns it gets to decide what to do with the land.
It would give Tsurumi or Hijikata LEGAL right on part of Hokkaido in addition to the ones they aim to get by taking possession of it... or at least a chance to demand money from the government on top of the gold they would get.
Never mention Ogata was likely required to keep the existance of the land deed a secret so he couldn’t go around saying his true goal.
This makes all his alliances merely a mean to an end, they can’t be any more than transitories because no one would help him reach his goal should they know it. And so, of course, he becomes everyone’s antagonist as he’s trying to keep them away from the land deed which was meant to be buried with the gold, and therefore from the gold as well.
But Noda will probably develop this more in the future chapters so we can only wait and see.
Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 267 “Severed”
So we have a new chapter that deals with a painful topic...
...which is nothing else but Wilk’s betrayal of Kiro and of their cause.
We resume the story with… well a flashback showing Kiro writing a letter to Sofia while they were in Karafuto.
We see a glimpse of Ogata behind him, teasing us readers who’re wondering WHERE IN THE WORLD HE IS CURRENTLY AND WHAT THE HELL HE’S DOING as it’s from chap 261 we’ve no info on him and this silence is worrisome.
I love how Noda divided the page in three panels, the top one showing Kiro, while the lower one showing Sofia (Svetlana behind her mirroring how Ogata was behind Kiro) with Akou prison parting them, mirroring how it was the prison who was keeping them parted back then.
Above the images we’ve the content of the letter Kiro is writing.
He’s basically telling her that it might be too early to talk about what happened between him and Wilk in those years with Asirpa, which is why he’s writing it to her.
So, once in Hokkaido he and Wilk parted ways, searching for info about the gold. Their plan was to mix witht he local Ainu and integrate among them so as to get info more easily.
Poor Inkarmat likely got involved with Wilk during this period.
In the end, to better do this, Wilk married and had a daughter.
The following page shows the cover of the chapter, that carefully mirror the cover of chap 256. In chap 256 we had Tsurumi/Hasegawa with his family, while in this chapter we’ve Wilk with his family, each of them in the same exact position as they were in the Hasegawa picture.
In a way it’s kind of painful to place one image next to the other.
Two men, two fathers with their beloved daughters and wives.
Tsurumi lost his family and blamed Wilk for it, Wilk, who made his own family, who had a daughter like Tsurumi, who was among the Hokkaido Ainu trying to discover where they hid their gold, like a spy in short, like Tsurumi.
There’s a huge parallel between these two men and, in a way, I think for Tsurumi the real enemy has never been Hijikata or Sugimoto or Ogata.
He’s still fighting Wilk’s ghost, Wilk who still lives in his own daughter where Tsurumi’s daughter is long dead.
It’s a tragedy, in a way.
But there’s another parallel between them.
They both married to better integrate with the local... but the marriage that was meant to be merely a toll, ultimately caused them to love the daughter who was born out of it and their wife.
They thought to use it to further their goals and, instead, were changed by it. They, who prized themselves so much for their control over the situation and their emotions, lost control.
Anyway let’s go on.
Wilk’s expression as he holds Asirpa impresses Kiro, it was an expression of gentleness he never saw before on Wilk’s face.
This page too is cleverly constructed.
On the top panel we’ve Kiro, with a not pleased expression. As he blamed Wilk’s change to Asirpa’s birth, it’s easy to speculate that seeing such expression on Wilk’s face worried him, it made him think Wilk might not remain loyal to their cause.
On the lower panel there’s Tsurumi.
He also doesn’t look pleased, but likely for different reasons from Kiro. He knows what Wilk might have felt holding his daughter, he know he might have felt the same he had felt when he had held Olga... but the thing probably burned him. The man whom he viewed as the cause of his loss had the chance to hold his own daughter, a daughter Tsurumi can’t hold anymore.
In the middle, parting Kiro from Tsurumi there are three panels, one is the one of the church, that divides the flashback from the present time, and the two below it shows, one the inside of the church with Tsurumi, Sofia and Asirpa, Tsurumi though completely a dark shadow and the other Asirpa’s face as she heard her father, holding her, made an expression Kiro had never seen on his face.
Asirpa seems happy of hearing this, of hearing his father looked at her with a gentle expression he never had before, her eyes shining and her checks slightly redded.
In a way she’s in the middle of those two men, for Kiro she’s the cause of Wilk’s change, for Tsurumi she represents Wilk’s gain at the expenses of his own loss, as well as the embodiment on Wilk’s will.
The story continues.
The flashback moves forward of some more years.
We’re told that a strange rumor starts being spread, the rumour of the discovery of an old Ainu man who was supposed to have died of smallpox (remember? There was a smallpox epidemic in which Cikapasi’s whole family died), and who was instead living alone in the mountains.
Tsurumi suggests the guy could have been Kimuspu, one of the Ainu who were involved in the attempt to buy weapons from Russia with the gold 50 years before and who, therefore, knows where the gold is.
Tsurumi explains that they too got the same info (though he doesn’t tell them HOW they got it), the image showing him, Kikuta, Usami, Tsukishima and Ogata (hinting how they were all involved in Tsurumi’s Ainu plan) and that they were in the 1902.
Now… a little break here.
The summer of 1902 is the summer in which Tsurumi staged Koito’s kidnapping.
If Asirpa’s dream is reliable Wilk told her his name when it was snowing. Asirpa said that after telling her his name her father went away, implying this was the last time she saw him.
We’ll see Wilk later on in the flashback and his beard is shorter than in Asirpa’s memory.
This might mean that between the discovery of Kimuspu’s body and Wilk’s death time went by. The Ainu aren’t dressed so heavily it suggests we are in winter, but neither so lightly it suggests we’re in summer (Kiro has his undershirt, which he didn’t wear in summer). This means this either happened in spring or in autumn.
We’ll see if the next chapter will tell us more and why when this happened might be relevant… for now let’s just say this seems to hint that Wilk’s death happened in the last months of that year and not in the first.
This, of course, if Asirpa’s dream/memory is reliable.
Anyway, let’s go on.
Kiro continues his narration, telling how this discovery changed the situation radically.
We move then to Noboribetsu where Wilk is having a reunion with 6 more Ainu
Yeah, Noboribetsu is the place where there was the hot spring in which Toni Anji was investigating and Kikuta and Ariko recovering. It’s also the place near which there was Ariko’s village, and it might even be they’re having their reunion in Ariko’s house.
This might also explain what Toni Anji was doing there, that place could have been the place in which Hijikata suspected the gold was hidden, hence he sent Toni to check it. The gold could very well be hidden in the same old mine in which Toni escaped or in a similar one as Ariko said there were others and he went to explore them when he was younger.
It’s entirely possible Hijikata had Boutarou’s same idea but Hijikata found sooner about Noboribetsu and went there to investigate. Maybe he talked to Ariko’s mom and, from her, discovered about Ariko being the son of one of the men involved.
If that’s the case, I’m pleased.
I’ve always wondered WHY Toni Anji was in Noboribetsu as it seemed weird he was there just to investigate on Tsurumi’s men.
But let’s go back to the story and to the conversation Wilk has with the others.
Wilk asks to Siromakur, who’s clearly Ariko’s father if his skin tone, eyes and eyebrows are meant to be taken as a reference, if he couldn’t ask Kimuspu the location of the gold.
So Ariko’s dad is the one who met met Kimuspu.
Now, remember how I said Tsurumi didn’t say how he got info about Kimuspu?
In hindsight this makes me wonder if Tsurumi has a man among the Ainu because if a rumour about this Ainu man being found spread, it should have spread among Ainu, not Wajin. They should have known him, known he was involved with the gold and known he was assumed to have died of smallpox.
Those aren’t info they would have shared with the Wajins.
Whatever, let’s go on.
Siromakur says the man didn’t want to talk with him so another Ainu, Mesira, suggests they should track him down and 'convince’ him to talk.
This worries me because it implies they might end up being forceful with him.
Sure, partisans in all the countries, despite claiming to stand with the local population, hardly had qualms in forcing the population to cooperate should they decide they didn’t want to align with the partisans’ wishes... and partisans are fighting a war, a war with different means but always a war and wars are dirty things but... but it always rubbed me the wrong way because while soldiers go at war merely because they obey orders, partisans claim they chose to go at war for ideals that include protecting people...
...and then sacrifice the people they wanted to protect.
It kind of reminds me of a dark joke popular in my country about this kind of people.
“Against violence, bullying, suffering we must all be united... and if someone doesn’t agree, we'll kill him.”
...because yeah, when they said they’re against violence they were talking of violence perpetrated by OTHER PEOPLE, they’re completely in favour of violence perpetrated by them...
Sukuta wonders if someone else, apart the 7 of them, knows about Kimuspu. As Irenka, another Ainu who so far hadn’t spoken, looks at Siromakur, the latter admits he talked about it with several people but didn't tell them where Kimuspu was.
Great move, Ariko’s dad, now we know who might have spread the rumour until it reached Tsurumi’s (and Kiro’s) ears. -_-
Do you want the news to be reported on newspapers too?
Just to make sure everyone knows....
Ratci, who seems to be the older among them and therefore the only one who has a chance to be the older brother of the old Ainu Boutarou met since the guy was supposedly one of those who died in the incident, comments Kimuspu was living deep in the mountains without anyone knowing, so he couldn't be found easily.
Oskeporo, who somehow reminds me of Kirawus, although his eyebrows looks more like Cikapasi’s, comments they too could have problems tracking Kimuspu.
Siromakur tells them he knows where he sets his arrow traps so they can wait him there. At this they decide to go find Kimuspu before others will track him down.
It’s clear they’re searching the old guy because they’re interested in the gold.
However, as they’re about to leave, Kiro shows up and demands explanations from Wilk. He’s clearly angry if his expression, his tone of voice and his clenched fists can be taken as a hint, and wants to know why Wilk hadn’t called him.
Did Ariko’s dad tattled out the discovery of Kimuspu to Kiro as well?
Great move, Ariko’s dad, really. -_-
What about informing Russia about it as well now?
They might want to know too...
Wilk tell the other Ainu to go ahead. As he does so, in his same panel we can see Ariko’s father and Mesira, who was the guy who wanted them to ‘convince’ Kimuspu to talk. They seem to accept it.
In another panel we see Sukuta and Osikepor. Sukuta seems just worried, Osikepor is clearly not pleased, a frown on his face but all he says is a line of dots.
Once they’re alone Kiro again, loudly demands some explanation and Wilk informs him he has decided they need to change plans, that his Far East Federation would be too wide to protect from Russia if they were to count on minorities alone, but if they were to make only Hokkaido, which is encircled by the sea, independent, they could manage it.
Now, please, let me facepalm.
Yeah, an island is a bit easier to protect than the huge land Wilk originally planned to involve, part of which was attached to Russia, but not that much it makes it an inexpugnable fortress.
The Far East Federation was a pure utopia but this is really no that much better.
They would then need to find another Russian captain willing to sell them weapons and warships, get some Ainu who know how to handle them all, chase away the 7th division who, by then is residing in Hokkaido along with all those military settlers who has stopped serving the army, beat the Ominato fleet and then whatever fleet Japan would send against them.
In case Japan were to give up on re-conquering Hokkaido they would have then hope that Russia wouldn’t try to do it or wouldn’t join forces with Japan in exchange for some compensations. Or that China wouldn’t lend a hand in place of Russia in exchange for compensations.
In short, yeah, you’ve less land to defend and it’s a little harder to get there but not by much considering how Kiro’s group could even cross the La Pérouse Strait on a small boat and Asirpa did it by walking on drift ice.
We’ve no info on how the Tsugaru strait was crossed back then but it’s half than the La Pérouse Strait, so Hokkaido can be attacked easily by two points and with a little more work as it would require a longer boat trip, from other points as Hokkaido’s coast is approximately 4,183 kilometres which is quite a bit to guard.
Islands had been conqueered through all the centuries, it’s not like the thing is unprecendented so really, Hokkaido might be slightly more difficult to attack but it’s not such a stronghold Wilk can hope to defend it with his meagre forces.
Of course things would be slightly different if Wilk were to plan to join hands with Tsurumi who, in that same year, managed to have Koito Heiji indebted to him and who has professional soldiers under him.
If Wilk’s state and Tsurumi’s state were to overlap this would provide them more tactical advantages. This, assuming Tsurumi wouldn’t, once he got control of the gold, kick the Ainu out of the deal.
But we don’t know if Wilk and Tsurumi know each other is in Hokkaido and, at this point, I’m not sure these two chessmasters would shake hands in an allegiance.
Anyway Kiro’s furious at the new plan.
We jump back into the present where Tsurumi explains to Asirpa the benefits of Wilk’s plan… or better how his plan diverged from the one of Sofia and Kiro’s which is something that would end up promoting discord between Wilk and his own allies.
(It’s also worth to remember that Sofia in truth wasn’t a partisan, she was a revolutionary who cared about the Russian population. Hokkaido Ainu are considered Japanese so it’s unlikely she would be interested in them. Wilk’s plan basically meant he will let her to her own devices... great way to handle your allies Wilk.)
Tsurumi claims he understands Wilk’s plan, and of course he does as he plans to do the same but Tsurumi is much better organized, with better men, connections, inside knowledge, trusted allies and back up plans to support his country so Tsurumi’s chances of success are WAY HIGHER than Wilk, despite his plan remaining very hard to pursue successfully.
Meanwhile we go back to the flashback.
Predictably Kiro sees Wilk’s idea as a betrayal. Wilk came up with such plan without discussing it with him or Sofia and it’s a plan that is not beneficial to the other minorities, the minorities to whom Kiro belongs or has grown to care about who live in Karafuto or in Russia, just to the Hokkaido Ainu.
Wilk says according to him they should migrate in Hokkaido and he would be willing to welcome them there, which again, is naïve.
For start he’s not the ruler of Hokkaido. The migrants might end up being seen by the Hokkaido population as no better than the Wajin, never mentioning he’s just asking to all those people to leave their lands and move there.
It’s similar to Hijikata’s plan but Hijikata at least didn’t have to really care for the migrants he wanted to welcome, nor for their living style. For him they were just an usable commodity. Wilk should care about them instead and yet he’s not.
Still, I love how cleverly this page is constructed.
We’ve three panels.
The two above show Kiro and Wilk and their contrasting positions.
The visual pins them as contrasting in every possible way, Kiro is angry, Wilk is calm, Kiro is seen frontally, Wilk from behind. With their images Noda is setting up the premise for the fight between them that will follow.
The line that divides the two panels might as well be the fracture between them.
On the bottom we see Kiro’s reaction to Wilk’s world. Wilk’s words only upset Kiro further.
It’s meaningful how we see only the top of his head, his hands holding it, everything shaded by a swirling shade, hinting at the many thoughts that should infest Kiro’s mind in that moment.
It gives me the feeling Kiro feels his world too is wirling and he’s desperately trying to keep it together, to make sense of it and can’t.
Wilk is the person he loved, trusted and admired the most and now Wilk comes out with... this? How is that even possible?
Kiro reminds Wilk of how his birth village disappeared and his people died due to them being forced to leave the land.
Wilk is unaffected by this, he’s sure since they know why the first time things went wrong, they wouldn’t make mistakes this time.
Sure, failed immigration attempts plague us in moder times as well but Wilk would have managed to magically solve them all, Wilk could do everything better, Wilk knows.
WILK CAN YOU PLEASE COME BACK DOWN ON PLANET EARTH FOR A CHANGE? YOU AREN’T THE GOD OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD, YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO SOLVE IT! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO MANAGE YOUR LITTLE REBELLION OR HOLD CLOSE YOUR ALLIES OR PERSUADE THEM YOU’RE RIGHT! EITHER YOU’VE A SECRET BACK UP PLAN OR HOW YOU’LL SAY TO KIRO YOU’LL ACCOMPLISH IS BEYOND DUMB AND NAIVE! PLEASE, STOP!
Ahem... okay, back with the story.
Kiro then points out how the Uilta wouldn’t be able to continue their lifestyle as Hokkaido is too warm to keep reindeers so they can’t protect their culture in Hokkaido.
Wilk waves the problem off, saying they would accept only who wants to move there.
In short if the Uilta don’t want to move because this would mean to change their lifestyle… well, their problem.
So yes, it’s a betrayal of their cause, their cause that was about protecting all those minorities and their lifestiles.
Wilk belonged to a group, a group who wanted to take care of all those minorities. He can’t just arbitrarily decide that some of them don’t matter and it’s their problem.
It would be different if he had said ‘let’s fix the Hokkaido Ainu, let’s start from here and then spread, we can’t help the Uilta RIGHT NOW, but once we’ve consolidate our forces we will, we’re postponing, not giving up.’
Instead he’s giving up.
He should have talked with the others, he should have proposed Hokkaido as a starting point, not as the solution. Let’s free Hokkaido, strengthen our defences there and then move to free the rest... as Tsurumi is planning to do.
For Tsurumi is first Hokkaido then Vladivostok.
For Wilk it could have been first Hokkaido then Karafuto, then the rest. A step at time.
It was still an utopia but it wouldn’t be betrayal of his teammates and they could have accepted it. It would have made sense.
Instead Wilk didn’t discuss things, he just decided them behind his companions’ back without talking with them because he’s Wilk and knows what’s better to do.
Really, I see a lot of parallels with Sugimoto because I’m sure Wilk too is persuaded he meant well... but he’s actually deciding things arbitrarily for others, looking more at his own advantage than at theirs.
Kiro accuses him of not caring about the Russian minorities because Wilk’s goal is now merely to protect his daughter’s future as she’s an Hokkaido Ainu.
Wilk insists his method is just the most realistic.
This part is again well constructed as it again represent the split between them.
Below the image of Wilk saying that only who wants to immigrate should do it we’ve on one side a panel with Kiro, accusing Wilk of selfishly caring only about Asirpa.
On the other we’ve two panels, one of Asirpa and one of Wilk, Asirpa’s panel taking most of the space.
Although Wilk insists he’s taking the most realistic path, it’s clear Asirpa weightens a lot on his decision... and in the future Asirpa is there to listen how she ultimately caused the division between those two friends just by... existing.
At this point though, the discussion takes a really ugly turn.
Kiro, who back then likely wasn’t married yet, remarks that it’s Hokkaido who actually has nothing to do with them, and that Wilk is caring about it merely because he now has a lovely family there.
The page is split in two. On one panel there’s Kiro and Wilk, this time together, on the other there’s Asirpa who’s ‘listening’ to the discussion they’re having, who’s called to hear of their actions and judge them.
And we make a break because we’ve a problem here and I wonder if Asirpa has caught up with it as well.
I stand by Kiro when he says Wilk’s plan is a betrayal of the other minorities and of his companions and therefore a pretty dirty move.
But they were planning to buy their freedom by using the Hokkaido Ainu gold. Now, unless they planned to steal from them, the Hokkaido Ainu should have mattered as well, they have something to do with them, they’re a minority too who deserves to be protected and of whom they wanted to use the resources and the support.
Hokkaido has everything to do with them if they want to involve it in their war and not just profit from it... which probably was exactly what they, deep down, meant to do since both Kiro and Wilk didn’t come to Hokkaido with the most honest intentions but disguised themselves among its people to try and find info about the gold.
So the discussion reveals that below those men’s oh so pure ideals, there’s something else, something else that’s not pure and selfless at all.
Self interest.
And Trurumi translates this in words for Asirpa.
Right from the start both Kiro and Wilk had two goals.
One was the noble one they presented to the world, protect the minorities.
The other was the more human one, protect whose they loved.
More often than not, expecially when interacting with a story, people tend to think other people/characters are moved solely by ONE SINGLE GOAL.
That’s not really true, people is usually moved by multiple goals.
both goals existed in both Kiro and Wilk but they presented to the world only one, the noble one, and kept the other hidden in their heart.
That’s because the world could understand and support the noble goal but would scoff at the other goal... yet the other goal is probably much more important to them than the other one.
In fact things are breaking among them EXACTLY due to that other goal being denied.
Their priority is that other goal, the noble goal exists... but comes second best and will never come first.
Tsurumi’s words reflect his own situation as well.
He too has a noble goal, to conqueer Hokkaido for the men of the 7th... a goal that to him is real and that he wants to reach... but he also has a much more private goal, which is tied to the loss of his family.
The existance of this goal doesn’t deny the existance of the previous goal. They both exists, it’s just he presents only one because only one would be considered acceptable and give him support... and also because the other is personal, private.
Something that holds in his heart but doesn’t dare to voice.
Tsukishima, outside of the room, hear all this and is impressed (we can see that on his face there aren’t anymore signs of anger) as he likely understood this can be applied to Tsurumi as well.
Tsukishima has naively believed Tsurumi has to have only one single goal, either he was fighting for the men of the 7th or he was fighting due to his own family but that’s not the case.
Tsurumi can as well fight both for creating a military state in Hokkaido for the men of the 7th but also for the people he loved and while the people he loved would be his main motive this wouldn’t make his second reason untrue.
Kiro, in an agry and distraught face reminds Wilk of how Sofia is still waiting for them in Russia, before attacking Wilk, who fight him back.
While back then it was all about what moved Wilk, now this page is all about what moves Kiro. He loved Sofia, not just the minorities.
He can’t bear the idea to sacrifice her, he’ll fight for her.
For her he’ll fight Wilk whom he admired and loved so much.
Asirpa understands all this.
While his father wanted to protect the minorities but, ultimately, prioritized her, Kiro too loved and wanted to protect the minorities, he was angry on their behalf but, more than everything, he loved and wanted to protect Sofia, Sofia, who was the last word he said before dying.
She explains Kiro’s feelings to Sofia and it’s so terribly sad to think back at how Kiro killed Wilk for her, because Wilk would just dump her and yet Sofia was still so in love with him when she met Kiro again she slapped him because he killed Wilk.
The pain Kiro should have felt in that moment... he just took the slap and didn’t counter, didn’t say anything. He killed Wilk FOR HER, it hurts him to kill Wilk and yet he couldn’t tell any of this...
... and, at the same time, he didn’t regret any of this. For her he would kill Wilk all over again.
Meanwhile, in the flashback we can see that the winner of the fight is Wilk... which was predictable enough, not because we knew Wilk was the better fighter (we didn’t) but because Kiro attacked him in blind rage, while Wilk managed to stay calm and, apparently, catch him in a strangle hold, suffucating him and causing him to lose consciousness.
That’s why Wilk walks away all bruised while Kiro, despite ending up on the ground, seems in better conditions.
Asirpa suggests her father might not have said the truth to Kiro because he knew Kiro loved Sofia.
It makes sense but it’s not a great justification because it’s the admission Wilk knew he was betraing them.
Kiro was allied with Wilk for a reason, Wilk knew that reason and so he tried to do things behind Kiro’s back because he wasn’t going to respect the deal he had with Kiro and Sofia, knowing Kiro wouldn’t agree to it.
Now... okay, as I said before it’s possible that Wilk is actually in an alliance with Tsurumi as well, or that he suspects Tsurumi has spies in his group so he’s serving Kiro a fake story but let’s assume he’s being sincere.
Wilk might claim and claim this is more rational, and maybe he even believes he’s doing all this because it’s more rational and not for his daughter, maybe he’s in denial about his own true reason so really, he thinks he’s choosing the best option... but the fact he knew Kiro wouldn’t accept it, hints at how deep down Wilk should have known it was betrayal.
Yet, it’s still possible Wilk wasn’t consciously aware of it, that he was lying even to himself.
We’ve seen this kind of betrayals through the story, with the character doing the deed not realizing he was betraying the other party but thinking he was picking up the best option for everyone.
Sugimoto sold Asirpa to Tsurumi, demanding money solely for himself and not caring about Shiraishi’s fate. By doing so HE BELIEVED he was protecting Asirpa (he wasn’t) and that Shiraishi should have just spontaneously given up to his own share of gold. Sugimoto could have realized this, but he preferred to think he was doing the right thing for everyone.
Asirpa decided to join forces with Hijikata because she believed it would be a better option for them. By doing so SHE BELIEVED she was chosing the better option for everyone as an alliance would give them more chances of success and Hijikata has a better future in mind, but in truth she basically demanded from Boutarou to give up on his goal as Hijikata’s goal and Boutarou’s are mutually exclusive. Asirpa could have realized this (though I tend to give her a pass because she’s young but really, Boutarou pointed out he wanted to fulfill his goal too many times to miss it, and even if she still were due to her young age, Sugimoto and Shiraishi should have realized and give her a head up), but he preferred to think he was doing the right thing for everyone.
Tsukishima, for most of the story, is not fighting Tsurumi’s orders but just agreeing with Tsurumi’s methods of deception of the other characters, because HE BELIEVED they will lead everyone to be saved. Practically he’s lying to Koito and denying Tanigaki the chance to opt out, attempting to force everyone in the 7th to betray Central. Tsukishima could have realized this, but he preferred to think he was doing the right thing for everyone.
Long story short those people didn’t see their behaviour as betrayal but as pursuing the better option for themselves and the others, expecting the others to just agree with them.
Wilk’s behaviour, the fact he insists he’s picking up the better option as if he’s trying to persuade himself more than Kiro, reminds me of them, of people who were stubbornly thinking they were doing the right thing, they were picking the best option, when they actually were walking all over their friends, neglecting them and their goals in favour of a goal they prioritized.
But, back to the story, as soon as Asirpa tells Sofia that Kiro’s problem was that he loved Sofia so he couldn’t just leave her behind, Sofia lowers her head, her eyes wet.
She loved Wilk... but, in her own way she loved Kiro also, whom she saw as a little brother. It should pain her greatly to know in the end she was the reason that pushed Kiro to kill Wilk, that caused the split between them... even if this isn’t all true. As said, the goal to protect the minorities still existed in Kiro... but Sofia was the drop that broke the camel's back.
Also I get Asirpa meant well, she wants to deliver Kiro’s feelings and, at the same time, defend her father’s actions but that wasn’t probably the best moment to deliver Kiro’s feelings since Sofia was already shaken by how she was facing Tsurumi/Hasegawa... as for defending Wilk’s actions... honestly she only end up as painting him as calculative.
Because Wilk knew Kiro wouldn’t have agreed with his plan, he worked behind his back. I’m not sure Asirpa realizes though, she likely is buying the narrative in which Wilk’s choice was mainly for the greater good as well as her, while the order of the things was completely reverse and the plan was so dumb I can’t believe Wilk came up with it.
Anyway as a battered Wilk walks away we can see a Kiro tied to a tree coming to his sense with a murderous expression on his face.
Kiro sees even the fact Wilk has left him alive as a betrayal, not as of regret that he has actually betrayed his friend and can’t just bear to kill him.
Kiro tells himself the Wilk of the past would have killed Kiro, since Kiro was an obstacle to his purpose. Yet Wilk has left him alive which, to Kiro, proves Wilk has changed and isn’t anymore the Wilk he loved.
This makes me wonder if Kiro actually would have preferred to be killed, if this could have made him swallow the bitter pill Wilk betrayed them, if, in his furious mind, this would have been a proof that Wilk really believed they couldn’t do any better than conquer Hokkaido and then relocate everyone there.
Kiro has said he blindly trusted the old Wilk.
In a way the fact that Wilk, whom he loved and admired so blindly, betrayed their cause and tried to work behind his back should have hurt him terribly. That betrayal is the fall of a hero and, in a sense, Kiro tries to compensate by ‘denying that new Wilk’.
The ‘new’ Wilk is no more the Wilk he loved, therefore he’s no more Wilk, his friend. It makes sense he decided to kill that Wilk, who has turned into a stranger to him, no, worse, into an enemy, an enemy of their cause and an enemy who would sacrifice the people Kiro loved for his own goals.
So, clearly Wilk had to die because he betrayed their cause... but, since we’re talking of people doing things for more than one motive, I wonder if it’s also possible Kiro wanted him destroyed because Wilk wasn’t Wilk anymore, as if the new Wilk killed the old Wilk he loved.
This kind of remind me “The Return of the Jedy”
Luke Skywalker: Ben! Why didn't you tell me? You told me that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father.
Obi-Wan: Your father... was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and "became" the Sith Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So, what I told you was true... from a certain point of view.
Luke Skywalker: A certain point of view?
Obi-Wan: Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend. When I first met him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.
Luke Skywalker: There is still good in him.
Obi-Wan: He's more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.
Luke Skywalker: I can't do it, Ben.
Obi-Wan: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again.
Luke Skywalker: I can't kill my own father.
Obi-Wan: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.
Kiro is Obi-Wan, who believes Wilk ceased to be ‘the Wilk he loved’ and became ‘that Wilk’ and when that happened, the good man who was Wilk was destroyed so, like Obi-Wan, he thinks ‘that Wilk’ has to be killed (by Luke/Ogata).
Contrary to him, Sofia is more like Luke Skywalker. She didn’t agree with Kiro’s idea they had to kill Wilk and slapped Kiro for what he did.
In all this though, it’s interesting Wilk left Kiro alive.
I’ve mentioned that other situations, similar to this one, happened in the story but this is the first in which the two parties confront each other BEFORE the deed his done. It would be interesting to know if his conversation with Kiro affected him, it made him realize his best option wasn’t so good and so right after all.
Wilk was still in time to change his mind, to go back on being the Wilk Kiro loved... or at least fix his plan so that it would include Kiro’s goals as well hence he might not have wanted to ruin everything by killing Kiro.
Wilk was still in time to try and patch things between them so maybe, albeith he had to leave right then, he left Kiro alive because he wanted to make up, to fix things between them, because he realized he wronged Kiro and didn’t want that.
But well, this is something we’ll discover in the next chapter.
On a sidenote is interesting how Kiro ties the fact that Wilk has changed to Wilk being irrational. The old Wilk was rational, the old Wilk would sacrifice companions because it was rationally the best choice and Kiro believed him.
This new Wilk leave him alive, which is not the best choice, therefore he’s being irrational, he’s being motivated by emotions, therefore even his choice to care only about Hokkaido is motivated merely by emotions, is not rational and shouldn’t be trusted.
It’s surely a convolute mental gimmik but it’s interesting because it’s totally a reasoning a person can do, especially when burning with blind rage... but well, Kiro is being emotional himself and, probably, not even realizing it.
Noda made great characters with them... but their situation is so sad it hurts and even mroe so because we know is hopeless.
Kiro will kill Wilk and will never get to understand his side and neither of them will ever manage to make peace with the other. Such a long friendship ended up in ashes and all for something that should be supposedly positive, the fact they loved someone.
It’s sad.
It’s sad that their friendship ended, it’s sad they didn’t manage to respect each otehr feelings and come up with a solution that would make them both satisfied.
Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 268 “A single poison arrow”
So we finally shed some light on what happened during the Nopperabou incident and on Tsurumi’s involvement in the whole thing and how...
...how suspicion can lead everything downhill.
Well, actually the meme opening this chapter is based on the aria, “La calunnia è un venticello” (“Calumny is a little breeze”) from the Opera Buffa “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (“The Barber of Seville”) by Gioacchino Rossini... but I’ve to say calumny and suspect work in very similar way so the whole thing felt fitting.
Before we start this chapter I feel I’ve to place a warning here.
In this part of the story GK talks of how Ainu were feelings in regard to Japanese and in regard to each others. I’m not even going to try to dig into if this respected things in real life or not, I’ll just discuss it as it’s presented in the story because it’s of the story I’m discussing.
That’s not because real life historical discussions are uninteresting, they’re probably way more interesting and relevant to present life than my little ramblings on a manga chapter here.
However, real life discussions on how real life Ainu historically were and which kind of relationship they had among them or with the Wajin back then, should take place in a more appropriate place, that’s not my ramblings for a manga chapter, and be done by people who have a way more accurate knowledge of this part of history than I can ever hope to reach.
Said so I invite everyone to make them in a more fitting place, a place in which what’s discussed isn’t a FICTIONAL STORY who might or might not respect reality, but real HISTORY and real people, who deserve respect and didn’t exist purely for our intellectual entertainment.
Let’s not confuse Noda’s tale with an historical book or my ramblings as something more than comments on a fictional story. It would show a lack of respect to all of the above.
And now, lets start.
We resume with a continuation of Kiro’s letter.
Kiro wrote to Sofia Wilk’s last words to him where that Wilk was praying for Asirpa’s happiness, that, instead than having her be someone who has others fight for her and live in a safe place without feeling any responsibility, he wanted her to become someone who chooses the difficult path of her own will and tries to grasp her own happiness by herself like Sofia.
So, although he probably never fell in love with Sofia, she did an impression on him as well.
Something else that’s noteworthy is that Wilk’s thoughts resemble both Koito Heiji’s, who, aware his son would one day become a commander, wanted him to become a man capable to face hardship on his own and that he had no right to shield his son when he himself lead other men to war (chap 139)
and Boutarou’s, when he told Shiraishi happiness doesn’t fall from heaven but one has to grasp it (chap 258).
At the same time they contrast with Hanazawa’s ideas, as he turned his son into a flagbearer, someone who yes, lead men to war but doesn’t fight himself (although he undoubtedly risks his life even more than them) and not even think for himself (as Yuusaku explained he was doing what he was doing merely because his father told him so),
...and Sugimoto’s, as he believes he should be the one fighting for the people he cares for and they should just sit back and let themselves be protected.
I hope you’ll forgive me if I’ll focus a bit on Wilk’s and Sugimoto’s mindsettings in this regard as I know there’s a great divide in the fandom about who’s right... and the key point is probably that both are right and wrong at the same time.
Let’s start with Wilk.
His intentions toward Asirpa are good on the outward.
He wants her to be happy and her to be in charge of her destiny, responsible and aware of her condition.
This should be every father’s wish for his own children.
But, at the same time Wilk fails her in the sense he projects his own thoughts and ambitions on her, thinking she would automatically embrace them once he were to prepare her to do it. Like he had done with Kiro, telling him his own idea was the best plan and not bothering to discuss things with anyone else, he just expects Asirpa to see the Ainu question the same way as he does, became a partisan and fight a guerrilla warfare against the Japanese as the leader of the Ainu.
Asirpa at the time was a child around 6/7, she might have been wiser than her age, more mature, but still a child who hadn’t a fully formed personality, ideals and wishes for her future.
And Wilk, sure his own ideas are the best, projects them on her, thinking she too will choose them and will pursue them in the exact same way he would.
Giving Asirpa the instruments to be able to pursue them should she decide to do so is a great thing, assuming she would SURELY decide to do so and would do so in the manner Wilk would pursue them, is a completely different matter, unfair to her as she doesn’t exist as an extension of Wilk and might have completely different wishes, ideas or ways to fulfil them... and this is twice as wrong as she pushes that burden on her when she’s still way too young to decide and risks ending up being manipulated or worse by men who’re way older than her and much more expert at this game.
Long story short, Wilk talks of Asirpa choosing... but he actually forces Asirpa into the situation and, while she could have still turned it down, well, this wasn’t really an option Wilk expected her to take as he believed Asirpa’s happiness would only come by fighting for the Ainu independence as a guerrilla as he and Sofia did.
Sure, part of the problem is that Wilk is the sort of person who, yes is highly intelligent but this gave him the belief he knows better than everyone else, so of course his choice to fight as a guerrilla is the best choice and the only one who can lead to happiness, but we also have to consider how, assuming a son was merely an extension of yourself, meant to carry on your job, ideals, wills and so on was a deeply rooted belief at the time, as well as the idea children were nothing else but ‘short adults’.
This means even if Wilk hadn’t been so overconfident in his own ideas and beliefs he would have still assumed Asirpa would have chosen his path merely because she’s his daughter, so part of Wilk’s mistakes are undoubtedly due to him living in a time period in which people believed in a completely wrong sets of ideas so yes, for him is difficult to realize he’s actually wronging Asirpa, but we, as readers, should know better.
Giving Asirpa the instrument to pursue whatever choice she were to make is cool, pushing her in a situation to force her taking a certain choice assuming she wants to take it when she’s in a age in which she’s not ready for such things, is not right.
On the other side there’s Sugimoto, a generation younger than Wilk’s, who just wants to protect her (and also Umeko and all the people he happens to love). This seems so very nice and it’s fitting for the modern way in which we expect one should deal with children, protecting them, sheltering them and creating a better world for them, not just passing on them all the responsibility, but the key point here is that, at the same time, same as Wilk, Sugimoto believes to know better than the ones he protects, when the story proves over and over than he doesn’t. This lead Sugimoto, same as Wilk, to push over and over his decisions on the people he wants to protect... so ironically, although on the surface he seems to be doing the opposite as Wilk, he’s actually doing the same, deciding a course for the people he loves instead of letting them choose for themselves, the real difference is that the course he decides is opposite to the one Wilk decided for Asirpa.
Sugimoto wants Asirpa to live someplace safe without a care in the world as others fight for her.
The mistakes here are:
- Ainu’s lifestyle is at risk and he doesn’t know nearly the next thing to Ainu situation to be able to decide for Asirpa’s well being, nor is he willing to fight for the Ainu’s sake in her place... and he clearly doesn’t wish a fight between Ainu and Wajin because the latter wouldn’t be beneficial for him either. Long story short he’s deciding things from a very uninformed point... a point that’s also very biased as he’s a Wajin who don’t really see much value in Ainu culture and didn’t know or experienced many of their hardship.
- he wish to take decisions for Asirpa without even considering Asirpa’s will. While Wilk automatically assumed Asirpa’s happiness would be to turn into a partisan and fight for her culture because this was what it was for him, Sugimoto assumes Asirpa’s happiness can’t be fighting for her own people because he loathed it. Asirpa is no more an extension of Sugimoto than she is of her father. She’s her own being, deciding if she wants to spend her life fighting for her people or not is up to her. Sure, she’s undoubtedly too young to do it NOW so Sugimoto, as her friend, should do his best to help her to realize she shouldn’t make this choice now, that she’s not ready for it, not that ‘this choice is not to be performed’ (yeah, the resemblance with a quote from “The Betrothed” by Alessandro Manzoni is deliberate).
So this leaves Asirpa with two figures who think they know best and try to push her in opposite directions... without realizing they’re basically imposing on her their views. I’m curious to see where this will lead Asirpa.
The story depicts both Wilk and Sugimoto as opposite in this and too extreme in their opposition (either lead the Ainu in battle or sit there and do nothing pretending nothing is going on), so I wonder if the idea Noda is trying to pass is that Asirpa will chose something that’s in the middle. We’ll see.
Back to the story another important bit in all this is that Kiro said those were the last words Wilk told him. This tells us Kiro didn’t get the chance to confront with Wilk again, which seems to imply he either wasn’t involved at all in the Ainu massacre or didn’t manage to talk with Wilk during it.
We move to Asirpa who seems a bit saddened...
...but then proceed to defend her father’s mindsetting, saying this was the sort of person he was, that if he was making others fight he would feel the need to put his daughter at the forefront of the battle.
Asirpa might not realize it, but she’s basically saying she too was a pawn in her father’s game. In her words Wilk was making everyone fight, and he placed her in a certain position in order to make her too fight like the others.
It would be different if she had said Wilk knew her and knew she would want to fight so he shared his dream with her... it would imply not manipulation but regard for her own wishes... but put in the way she put it, it’s still Wilk deciding for her.
I’m not sure she realizes or, if she were to realize, she would care.
The idea children are an extension of parents works both ways, with children BELIEVING they had to fulfill their parents expectations so, for her, it might be natural to expect she had to obey to her father’s will.
Tsurumi, who’s another father, agrees that if Wilk has simply wanted to protect his family, he could have simply had them live quietly, hidden away somewhere far from battle...
...which in a way is what he tried to do with Fina and Olga and that spectacularly backfired when Fina decided she had a mind of her own and came back despite Tsurumi telling her not to.
I wonder if the idea is Tsurumi’s mindsetting about handling his family was meant to be similar to Sugimoto, not only he wanted to decide for them because he knew what was best, but wanted to just keep them out of it. It’s noteworthy the thing backfired also because Fina came back for the wrong reason, she assumed the problem were Wilk and Co once she was the wanted posters, she had no idea Tsurumi was a spy targeted by the secret police. It’s possible if she had known the situation she would have made different choices. Tsurumi kept her in the dark and decided for her... she refused to play by his rules but, as she lacked all the information, she took the wrong decision and she and her baby died.
As Tsurumi suggests Wilk would have had the option to let his family live quietly Asirpa counters that in this way they would forget... basically the whole Ainu way, including the language and the Kamuy and this would eventually lead the Ainu to disappear, which not necessarily imply they would die but, as Kiro told her in the past, that their culture would be simply erased and they would be assimilated.
Asirpa clearly doesn’t want this, at this point she clearly wants to stand up for her father’s cause, for the Ainu cause.
And it’s at this point Tsurumi attacks.
Gone is the conciliating man mourning for his wife and child as with an open mouthed grin which well show his teeth he yells he’ll tell them about the miserable end that awaited Wilk and the other Ainu who were fighting so bravely to protect the Kamuy, scaring Asirpa and Sofia both.
Tsurumi says after Wilk split with Kiroranke he and the others went to search for the gold. At the same time they tracked down the source of the information about the old Ainu man, Kimuspu, the guy who survived smallpox and was among the others who tried to buy weapons from the Russians.
And guess who was the one who had the bright idea to inform everyone and their moms of Kimuspu being alive and kicking?
Yeah, Siromakur, Ariko’s dad. -_-
I’m start to think he was the personification of the blabbermouth for the Ainu. Is there a reason why he felt the need to tell everyone about Kimuspu being alive? Because really, I don’t think it was a smart choice.
Tsurumi confirms the guy was the one who first spotted Kimuspu and who had originally joined Wilk and the others in their search for the gold.
Tsurumi went to visit him with Usami and Kikuta. The uniform he’s wearing is the one who had during Koito’s kidnapping, but it’s missing its sleeves. I would say this means this meeting is taking place AFTER Koito’s kidnapping and Tsurumi didn’t have the time or the money to replace the uniform (if my memory doesn’t serve me wrong officers were meant to pay for their own equipment).
There’s no sight of Tsukishima or Ogata.
It can be they’re busy with something else, or that Tsurumi doesn’t want to involve the more morally sensible parties in this part of his plan.
Why I call them more ‘morally sensible’?
Because we know Tsurumi felt the need to test and strengthen Tsukishima’s loyalty during the Russo-Japanese war, and because Ogata showed weakness toward Koito, feeding him with Anpan which nearly gave away the fact they weren’t Russian and even patted his back in sympathy. So it’s entirely possible the both of them back then weren’t jaded enough yet to be considered reliable by Tsurumi, should things turn ugly.
Siromakur is carving a knife for his own son. Tsurumi acts appreciative of the carving, with his usual technique of playing polite and respectful to get other people to trust him and talk to him.
Siromakur explains how the knife’s design is passed down in his family and how he’s going to send it to his son in the army so that he doesn’t forget about being an Ainu.
Siromakur will reveal himself as a man who’s balanced between wanting to keep the Ainu alive yet also wanting his people to coexist with the Wajin peacefully. While this is not a bad position per se, I fear his problem is most he’s not really working to find a way for them both to coexist but well, we’ll discuss this more later on.
Anyway Siromakur knows why Tsurumi and co are there, he tells them they’re too late if they planned to go after Kimuspu as Wilk and Co should have found the gold already... since they caught up with Kimuspu OVER A MONTH AGO.
Tsurumi then asks him why he’s not with the other Ainu and Siromakur explains he couldn’t go along with Wilk’s group’s way to do things.
He explains Kimuspu didn’t want to talk about the gold, saying it should remain buried right where it is because it’s cursed...
...which was what Makanakkuru said as well. Coincidence?
Maybe.
Still this causes Asirpa to ponder. I wonder if she remembers his uncle also thinking so. It’s worth to remember Huci said in their village there was a man knowing about the buried gold. Sugimoto and Shiraishi assumed that man was among the ones who died in the Nopperabou incident but this might not be the case.
That is, unless Noda retconned some details.
I mean, previously Makanakkuru talked about ‘their ancestors’ (先祖 ‘Senzo’) collecting the gold but Tsurumi, in chap 266, said the gold was gathered only 50 years ago.
Either someone is lying, or the gold was collected long before, then 50 years ago the Ainu tried to use it again or Noda retconned the story. We’ll see.
Anyway Siromakur goes on saying the more short-tempered men refused to accept this answer and started making threats, promising they would harm the man’s brother (the guy who talked with Boutarou) and the man’s grandson who’s no one else but Cikapasi...
and I’m not surprised. This is the ugly side of many partisans, they fight to protect their people but, if their people don’t cooperate with them, they turn against them as well.
Kiro, who felt bad for harming Inkarmat to the point he didn’t finish off Tanigaki when he came to avenge her, was a pretty uncommon one and the same goes for Siromakur, who claims he just couldn’t forgive that and so he left.
Tsurumi asks him if he heard the gold’s location but Siromakur, without looking at him, denies it, claiming he left before they find out and... I’m a bit impressed by how they let him leave. I wonder which excuse he used or if he was really that important they couldn’t force him to cooperate.
Anyway Tsurumi proceeds to try to paint himself as a friend who believes his words and only means the best for Siromakur.
He praises Siromakur saying he knows him and his son showed utmost dedication in helping Wajin recovering the bodies lost in the Hakkoda mountains and that he’s sure Siromakur is proud of how Ariko joined the 7th division and how Siromakur was wise in leaving whose who plotted to divide Ainu and Wajin.
Tsurumi’s words are clearly nice and amicable but they can be viewed also as a subtle reminder of how Ariko, being in the 7th, is under Tsurumi’s control and how Siromakur could easily be accused to have plotted against the Wajin.
Siromakur still tries to mediate.
He says he understands how whose Ainu feel.
According to him, in his region, Ainu relations with the Wajin were MOSTLY positive (meaning not perfect but good enough they, according to him, don’t have to complain) but in other regions Ainu have a deep hatred on the Wajin.
It’s interesting how he tries to be subtle and do not openly push the blame on the Wajin, not explaining why this deep hatred exist.
Siromakur says he cooperated hoping there was a way to use the gold without spilling blood... but then goes and say those 6 are stubborn and difficult men with a not deep relationship, united only by their shared extreme ideology toward the Japanese.
It’s overall... a pretty negative portrait and I don’t know how faithful that one is as the other 6 have no way to make their voice be heard but, assuming it’s faithful, it remarks the biggest failing of Wilk’s plan (by the way, interesting enough Wilk’s face among them is the only one shaded).
But I’ll discuss it in a while.
Siromakur however says there was one man, among them, who was capable to unite them with an incredible deft touch. He then proceeds to show how the group come to argue over one of the tradition which belonged to the Ainu from the Saru area. The argument is... ugly, because it seems to be chosen to point out how among Ainu from the same area there still were heavy discriminations as the Ainu from Saru are looked down because they eat a particular type of earth. It’s the sort of talk many readers would expect from a Wajin who would look down on Ainu, not from an Ainu to another.
In truth, although in a more peaceful way, Golden Kamuy has already depicted Ainu from various regions of Hokkaido as very different. We readers call them all Ainu and expect they’re all the same and feel the same, but the story actually portrayed them as if each region was its own country, with its own tradition and culture, similar to the other yet not the same.
Those men are now fighting for a common cause... but each of them carries with himself the baggage of their own region, a mix of beliefs and traditions and cultures that differ from the ones of the others, not as drastically as they do with the Wajin, but enough that, among them, they can spot differences that, to them, are jarring.
Anyway, as they start to toss insult and fight against each other, Wilk speaks up, explaining WHY the Ainu from the Saru area eat earth, and why the Ainu from Asahikawa and Nemuro don’t.
The biggest part of the Ainu seems to be impressed by Wilk’s words (except whose who started the argument) and Wilk, face completely shaded to the point it’s just a black spot and only his scar is visible, claims discrimination is born from ignorance (confirming that yes, the argument was spawned by discrimination) and that he thinks Ainu should understand each other and come together as one.
On a sidenote I’m not sure why Wilk’s face here is depicted as completely black, as if he was some sort of scary person. Overall I get the feeling from Siromakur’s words he somehow came to dislike Wilk, as if he were afraid of him.
I mean, Siromakur joined those extremists but he aimed actually at using the gold in a peaceful way that wouldn’t harm the Japanese. Maybe he was counting on them arguing, because, as long as they argue, nothing could be done by them against the Japanese.
“Divide et impera” is always true.
As long as the Ainu are divided, is easy to control them. Wilk instead unites them, which could make possible for them carry on a plan in which they would rebel against the Wajin. So for Siromakur, whose region is in good relation with the Wajin, a war wouldn’t be beneficial in the immediate times, so he fears it, he wants to keep the status quo.
According to him he joined them to do damage control, to stop them to use the gold against the Japanese... and then Wilk spoiled everything by making them more than willing to join forces against them.
Back to Wilk’s word about discrimination and how you should fight it with knowledge, this makes me think is this what Wilk was talking about with Sugimoto when he said in the magazine version that Asirpa has been training him (chap 136)...
‘Sisam yo… Ano ko ni zuibun to shikoma reta yōda na…’
シサㇺよ… あの子に随分と仕込まれたようだな…
“Sisam… it seems as if that girl has been training you, hasn’t she?’
Which however in the volume version was changed into
‘Sisam yo… ano ko ni zuibun to zuibun to kiniira re teru yōda na…’
シサㇺよ… あの子に随分と随分と気に入られてるようだな…
“Sisam… I can tell you care about her...”
So maybe originally Noda wanted Wilk to have Asirpa educate people, Wajin included, so as to overcome discrimination toward the Ainu, but then he just switched to Wilk wanting to unite the Japanese Ainu against the Japanese and the fact a Wajin could care about his daughter impressed him.
We’ll probably never know.
Anyway Siromakur goes on saying each of them ultimately acknowledged and trusted Wilk, as there had never been anyone who could bring together and lead the Ainu from all the different regions... again remarking how strongly divided the Ainu from the various regions were.
So let’s have another break here.
Wilk’s group, the one made by him, Kiro and Sofia, was, on the surface, a close one. They knew each other by years and trusted each other blindly.
We don’t really know about the other partisans, but we saw how Sofia’s men were fiercely loyal to her... and it’s possible the Partisans were the same at least toward Wilk and Kiro who basically spent their youth among them and murdered the emperor for them.
However now Wilk has moved to work with the Hokkaido Ainu.
Among them he’s an illustrious nobody who came from Karafuto, therefore not one of them. He managed to impress them enough to gain their trust but I genuinely doubt it’s a blind one.
As for the Hokkaido Ainu they aren’t really united, actually they are all basically strangers to each other and to him. He has to bridge among those men to create unity among them.
Overcoming discrimination isn’t something that can be done overnight.
Knowledge about the other can help only as long as you’re willing to open up and accept the other as an equal. If you remain trapped in your cocoon of ideas about the other being different because inferior, you won’t progress much even if you study the other.
Wilk’s idea he could easily unite those men, who, despite being against a common treat they loathe, can hardly stand each other and then have them accept also to host on their land minorities from Russia, who would have been likely subjected to even more discrimination, both for being different and for being migrant, was extremely unrealistic.
His idea Asirpa, a young girl in a culture that greatly discriminate women, could do it just because she was partly Hokkaido Ainu and partly Karafuto Ainu, is equally unrealistic.
We saw Ainu villages always ruled by an elder male, I’m not sure Ainu would be willing to take orders by a young girl.
So Wilk’s idea that his charisma or Asirpa’s could just solve everything is tenuous at best and, in fact Tsurumi will immediately shows us how it was easy to crash everything.
In fact we’ll see first how Tsurumi is impressed by the impressive feat this mysterious Ainu accomplished, uniting Ainu of different regions... or better just 6 Ainu from different regions, and asks from where Wilk was but Siromakur claims, against without looking him, he doesn’t know, tossing in the names of Bihoro and Sapporo as possible places from which Wilk could come. He says though he’s an Ainu from Karafuto, called by everyone Wilk and who has blue eyes and a scar on his face.
This produces quite a strong reaction in Tsurumi, his irises whitening, a sign used to point out Usami’s madness and the other characters’ murdering impulses.
Tsurumi, grinning, has realized this Ainu is the one he met in Vladivostok, who has become involved in his life again.
At this point, with eyes completely white, with no sign of pupils or irises as if he were looking not at what is in front of himself but in the far past, he announces Asirpa how ‘he shot a single poison arrow, aimed at Wilk’.
Tsurumi is using figurative speech as he shoot no arrow, he just planted the seed of mistrust and then ‘sat and watched everything as it crumbled down on Wilk’.
Okay, he didn’t sat, but you get the drill.
All Tsurumi had to do before leaving Siromakur is to reveal what Wilk has hidden to his companions, that Wilk was a guerrilla fighting against Russia, searching for funds for the revolutionary activities in Russia... and that’s why he came in Hokkaido in search of the Ainu gold.
Tsurumi asks Siromakur if Wilk came clear with them about this, knowing OF COURSE Wilk didn’t.
Wilk wouldn’t trust the others that much and coming clear would put him in an unfavourable position as gaining the others’ trust would be even more difficult.
However the fact he didn’t come clear becomes even more suspicious. Siromakur at this point doesn’t know anymore which is Wilk’s goal, if to hand the gold to the Russian partisans or to use it for the Hokkaido Ainu and likely fears he and the others had been manipulated by Wilk... and in a way they had. Only now they’re also being manipulated by Tsurumi.
It’s the same trick Tsurumi used with Kiro, telling Inkarmat Kiro was a partisan involved in the Nopperabou incident and let her report that information to the group to create distrust.
In Kiro’s case things worked a little better then they’ll do with Wilk, but that’s because Kiro has many things playing in his favour.
In Wilk’s case...
But let’s go on and see for ourselves.
Tsurumi waited with the others outside Siromakur’s house and, as expected, saw him rush out in panic. Tsurumi is sure Siromakur lied when he told him he didn’t hear the location of the gold and that now he’s headed there, to reveal to the other Ainu Wilk’s identity.
Tsurumi’s plan was to tail him but it’s late and Siromakur is impressive at moving in that area so he easily leaves them behind without even trying to do so.
Tsurumi’s men then hear gunfire...
...and then, at dawn, they find one of the Ainu men at death’s door. He’s Ratci, the Ainu from Asahikawa (or Nemuru but I tend to think he’s the one from Asahikawa) with an Ainu knife deep in belly. This sort of wounds cause a slow, painful dead, which is why he’s about to die but managed to last for so long.
Still the guy, differently from the other, is still whole and alive.
Tsurumi asks him if it was Wilk who killed him but the other claims Wilk didn’t do anything and it was just everyone who started killing each other. The knife in his belly is Siromakur’s by the way, we can recognize it by the design showed in this chapter and in chap 207.
There’s to wonder on those words because it seems pretty weird that the other said ‘Wilk didn’t do anything’. We would expect Wilk to be accused, to try to defend himself and the argument to degenerate, while here it seems as if the other started to try to kill each other for a reason unrelated to him.
To a shocked Asirpa Tsurumi says that those who wanted to defend Wilk and those who didn’t started fighting each other and killed each other.
As said before they were cooperating thanks to their trust in Wilk but that one was extremely frail. Tsurumi brags on how his ‘poison arrow’ caused it to crumble.
Still, in this reconstruction there’s no mention of Wilk’s role, it’s as if he just stood there and watched the other fighting. And then there were those three shoots. Did the Ainu go there with rifles? Did they shoot each other?
Was it as Ratci said or they realized they’ve been tricked by a smarter enemy and, before dying, Ratci spread misinformation so as to trick Tsurumi as well? Hard to say.
Anyway Tsurumi sums up that whoever revealed his identity to Siromakur would come after him following his lead. His plan to lose tracks was smart, impressive and terrible at the same time. Wilk... cut off his own face, put it on someone else’s severed head and faked his own death.
I... don’t want to think to how painful it was to do all that and if a man could really pull it out on his own or would have needed help to do it.
I mean, most of what happened in this chapter fits with my expectations of what happened in the incident.
I assumed one person couldn’t kill 6 Ainu and cause Wilk to escape, so the idea the Ainu killed each other fits with my belief.
I assumed Tsurumi couldn’t have killed them all because it wouldn’t fit his purposes and, in fact, the whole plan escaped from Tsurumi’s control as he only revealed those things to Siromakur in hope he would lead him to the others, not aiming to get the others killed.
Wilk claiming he didn’t kill the Ainu might fit in the sense he didn’t start the killing nor betrayed them. It feels weird he wasn’t involved at all in the fight, but maybe Wilk wasn’t present (if Asirpa’s dream/memory is to be trusted, his father was with her prior to the incident, so it might be he was coming back to Otaru when things took a turn for wrong and he reached the place when the fight had already started) when it started and only come there to see the result so he technically didn’t kill anyone.
It’s possible though he disembowelled them to disguise himself among the corpses.
I mean, one cut head with his face looks odd among many perfectly preserved corpses but if all the corpses are torn apart a cut head feels ‘perfectly normal’.
All the Ainu things presented cuts as per Ainu tradition. Unless someone else got there after the fight, it seems after the fight Wilk had to work a lot to both tear people apart, cut his face away and also mark the Ainu objects before he could leave the place.
This was... well, pretty risky for him as his chasers could be on him sooner than they did.
On a side note, unless Siromakur warned Kiro as well, this might mean Kiro had no idea what happened that way and also came to believe Wilk killed all those Ainu.
Going on with the speculations, Tanigaki wasn’t present but Ogata implied Tanigaki knew all the objects on the crime scene were retrieved by Tsurumi and Asirpa told Sugimoto the incident took place in Tomakomai... but Ariko’s father’s house in Noboribetsu, which is around 50 km from Tomakomai (it can be slightly more or less depending on which way you take) and, according to google, this means a 10 hours walk following the coast line.
I should praise Tsurumi, Kikuta and Usami for managing to do all that in the middle of the night, taking the way that goes through the mountains without even getting lost.
At this point we know Wilk escaped and reached the Shikotsu lake before being captured.
I always wondered if Ogata knew something about all that but, so far, what we had been told doesn’t help us to guess.
He wasn’t with Tsurumi for sure, was he the one who shoot? But if that’s the case why he was around?
The fact Kiro wanted him to kill Wilk dated to that time? Hard to say and it’s entirely possible the shoots were just due to the Ainu shooting each other.
Hi! This questions just pops up while I read your rambling for chapter 267.
- Where's Asirpa's mother?
- Is it possible that Ariko's father killed the Ainu?
- Did Ariko's father lie about Kimuspu? Like he didn't say about the gold and such.
- Is Ariko's father alive?
- Wonder why Ogata choose to team up with Kiro? How he convince the cat? Why choose Kiro over Hijikata?
- When Kiro and Wilk part ways?
- What division Karo part in? Does Tsurumi know and spy on him?
- Is it possible that Kiro is a spy for Tsurumi, like for a moment? And then like Tsurumi offers Kiro to kill Wilk in seductive mapulative way. Lol.
- If Kiro was a spy for Tsurumi, do you like this was the reason why Ogata team up with Kiro? Ogata lie that he and Tsurumi are still allies.
- Do you think Tsurumi want to kill Wilk in his own hands?
Lol, while reading the chapter I saw Kiro and it's black background. Oh flashback. I guess the cat was not is this chapter. And then I was about to read the next panel, oh boy. . . Ogata was like SNEAK 100. I loled. And Noda sneakingly teasing us.
The joke is scary and comedic at the same time.
I chucked and laughed when you said Ogata is Luke. And stop and rest for a minute and said WHAT? Dude it's Sofia dude. Are you lonely (me too) that Noda is keeping hiding the cat from us? And continue reading and you quickly redeem yourself, lol. You had me there lol.
I'm kinda more convinced that maybe 40 to 50 percent that the sniper battle will occur. Like is it really relevant or how? Lol maybe Sugimoto will saw Vasily, Sugi will like, you will save Asirpa, right? right? or like lie that Ogata's there, and he will be, lol. Idk.
What if Ogata is doing like he do in Abashiri Prison. Like in almost most end (no show) he shot someone and slick his hair. Although it will bad for writing but I'm still asking.
And another question, is Tsurumi and his men knows that Ogata is here or like beware of the cat? (Idk I feel like I'm so bias, and I am, like Ogata is the BIG villain lol, like he's always somewhere, idk)
What if it's not Vasily but Nikaido v. Ogata? Lol. Sorry, I always looking for the cat and now my expectations are how will Noda will keep hiding the cat and the sniper battle (if there is one).
Thank you always for your ramblings!
Hi! Thank you for enjoying my ramblings!
Now, for your questions...
- Where's Asirpa's mother?
She died of an illness soon after giving birth to Asirpa. [Chap 12]
- Is it possible that Ariko's father killed the Ainu?
Honestly I’ve a hard time thinking 1 Ainu could manage to kill 5 and force Wilk to escape but it’s not impossible if he poisoned them or attacked them while they were sleeping or were unarmed.
But Ariko said his father was a gentle person so I’m not sure he would do it.
- Did Ariko's father lie about Kimuspu? Like he didn't say about the gold and such.
We don’t know yet. For now all we know is what Ariko’s father said, that he met him but the other refused to give him info.
- Is Ariko's father alive?
In present time? No, he died too that night as far as we know. He was one of the Ainu killed in Tomakomai in the Nopperabou incident. [Chap 207]
- Wonder why Ogata choose to team up with Kiro? How he convince the cat? Why choose Kiro over Hijikata?
We all wonder about it. The general speculation is that Ogata was already allied with Kiro PRIOR to him joining forces with Hijikata and Ogata merely joined forces with Hijikata to spy on him. This assumption is based on the fact that Ogata might have wanted to invite Sugimoto’s group to Edogai’s house as a way to inform Kiro of those development and set the road for an alliance between the Hijikata group and the group Kiro was in.
People also wondered if this scene in chap 81 is meant to imply they exchanged a nod.
If Ogata was in a long term alliance with Kiro it might come out from what Sofia might reveal about what she knows on the incident.
- When Kiro and Wilk part ways?
I’ll say in this chapter 267. Wilk left Kiro tied to a tree and Kiro clearly didn’t take well Wilk’s betrayal.
- What division Karo part in? Does Tsurumi know and spy on him?
Kiro, being in Hokkaido, was part of the 7th division which is the Hokkaido division. He however served under a different Lieutenant and not under Tsurumi [chap 48], whcih is confirmed by how Tanigaki didn’t know him [Chap 50]. He was ia combat engineer. [Chap 49]
Honestly I don’t think Tsurumi knew about him being in Hokkaido at the time of the Nopperabou incident or of the Russian war, though I might be wrong. He likely found out when Inkarmat reported him about the men with Asirpa... though it’s also possible he speculated on Kiro being there since he knew he was Wilk’s friend. However, since he left him be for years and didn’t try to threaten him using his wife and children I like to think Tsurumi had no idea of Kiro’s Ainu identity and of where he was hiding.
- Is it possible that Kiro is a spy for Tsurumi, like for a moment? And then like Tsurumi offers Kiro to kill Wilk in seductive mapulative way. Lol.
I honestly don’t think so. First of all because I don’t think at the time Tsurumi knew of Kiro and because, even later on, Kiro doesn’t seem to know Tsurumi or how he’s Hasegawa.
Also, Wilk’s murderer at Abashiri went against Tsurumi’s interests as he wanted him alive.
- If Kiro was a spy for Tsurumi, do you like this was the reason why Ogata team up with Kiro? Ogata lie that he and Tsurumi are still allies.
Honestly no. If Kiro were to be a spy for Tsurumi he would have to submit regular reports and this would cause him to tell that Ogata was with him. Plus Kiro genuinely wants the independence of the Ainu of the far east, therefore his goal is in direct contrast with Tsurumi, who wants to use the gold for a military nation in Hokkaido that cares little about minorities’ needs.
- Do you think Tsurumi want to kill Wilk in his own hands?
I think he first wanted to squeeze out of him the info about the gold. Then he might have enjoyed killing him... or, to return the favour, kill his daughter in front of him and let him understand how painful that is. But maybe that’s just me. Tsurumi is hard to predict.
Sure I wish Ogata were to be back but I understand the story takes precedence and I want to hope Noda is holding back Ogata for a good plot reason.
I’ve no idea about the sniper battle. So far Noda hadn’t really used Vasily, which was disappointing to say the least because Vasily had a lot of potential as a character. I keep on hoping he’ll put him to good use but so far no luck. Maybe this will be the right chance.
What if Ogata is doing like he do in Abashiri Prison. Like in almost most end (no show) he shot someone and slick his hair. Although it will bad for writing but I'm still asking.
Well, I’ve no idea what will happen but this gold hunt is a war so I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to try to shoot his enemies, same as I wouldn’t be surprised if Tsurumi, Sugimoto or Hijikata were to do the same. Killing the opponent is sadly the whole point of the fight.
And another question, is Tsurumi and his men knows that Ogata is here or like beware of the cat? (Idk I feel like I'm so bias, and I am, like Ogata is the BIG villain lol, like he's always somewhere, idk)
Tsurumi might know that Ogata is back as Ariko might have reported about him being in Hokkaido to Kikuta... it’s up to speculation if Kikuta reported it to Tsurumi. They know from when they left Karafuto though that Sugimoto had a sniper in his group, Vasily, so they’re careful about being sniped. Also Tsurumi saw Usami being sniped but we weren’t show if Usami managed to tell him the sniper was Ogata so Tsurumi might believe it was Vasily.
Usami though was sure Ogata would show up so I think Tsurumi too might be sure Ogata is around.
What if it's not Vasily but Nikaido v. Ogata?
I like to think Ogata and Nikaido won’t come to fight because they were part of the same rebellion group and Ogata saved Nikaidou’s life when the latter was attacked by a bear, risking his own.
Hello, thank you so much for the summary, it was really useful. Tho I still have a doubt. For the entire manga we have been told the seven dead ainu were the ones that hid the gold, but just recently we are told that they only knew about an ainu who knows where the gold is hidden. This raised a lot of questions to me: Weren't the seven ainu the ones that hid the gold? Why does this one old ainu know where it's hidden? How did Wilk know where the gold was if he didn't hide it? Thanks again.
You’re welcome.
At this point though, I would recommend waiting for when you’ll manage to read the story, because of course the story explains in details what I only skimmed briefly so yes, in my summary there’s plenty of holes that I didn’t fill to make it as brief as possible.
Anyway, for a super short explanation...
We knew from almost the start though, that Nopperabou had spread misinformation over the gold, so what he said wasn’t trustworthy.
From the story Huci said the gold was hidden only god know when.
Chap 267 tells us that Tsurumi found out some of the Ainu, 50 years before the series started, tried to use the gold collected to buy weapons. The idea was dropped for technical problems and the gold remained or was hidden again.
The men involved in hiding either die or disappeared, Kimuspu, the old Ainu man in question, was also assumed to be dead.
Wilk and the other 6 Ainu with him find Kimuspu and learn from him where the gold is, take it and hid it in another place so as to become the only ones who know where the gold is (in fact it turns out Kimuspu’s brother also knew of the old hideout but when he send his sons there after the Nopperabou incident he finds it empty).
That’s why they become the only ones who know where the gold is hidden now, because they placed it in another hideout prior to the Nopperabou incident.
Then, due to Tsurumi spreading discord among them (as he managed to figure out who one of them was and got in contact with him), they and Kimuspu killed each other and only Wilk remained so he became the only one who knows where the gold is now hidden.
I hope it can help for now, if you’re still curious here are the detailed ramblings for chap 267, 268, 269. I recommend reading them as you might find the answers to your questions in them.
