#o gin

I’ll discuss your points one by one if it’s okay with you.

1) I love GK, but like most mangas, good female characters scarce.

“Golden Kamuy” has, comparatively, a much smaller female cast than a male one. However this is not because it’s a manga, it’s because “Golden Kamuy” is a seinen, a manga aimed at adult Japanese men between the ages of 18 and 40 and, sadly, it seems this kind of target audience has made clear they aren’t that interested in female characters, beyond the ones who are written to exist to support the male cast.

If you’re interested in manga with a bigger or a better female cast you might consider trying shōjo or josei manga, which are aimed at female readers.

Sadly in almost all the countries of us western readers, the manga that get more imported are shonen (aimed at young boys) so the general impression is that manga as a whole have a scarce female cast.

I’m not saying so to excuse shonen or seinen, this is just a characteristic of their genre and, since their target audience is often not interested in a better female cast, I fear things aren’t going to change.

2) Inkarmat and Sofia are the only two developed female characters; Asirpa's character is currently indistinguishable from the standard stock heroine.

Now... for a Seinen, “Golden Kamuy” has a decent female cast, with females that are different among them for age, race, interests and characteristics and who often try to be in control of their own lives.

Yes, they’re all females who, one way or the other, are tied to the male cast because the male cast is the real main character, as, as said before, this is a work that aims at male readers and male readers want to identify with male characters but, at least, female characters are different among them and, although way too many of them are minor characters, many of them are developed. Development isn’t necessarily measured in how much pages you’re given but in how much of you (your story, your character, your goals) is developed. Many female characters have this.

Let’s go through them starting from Asirpa:

ASIRPA: Main character along with Sugimoto. I wouldn’t say she’s the standard stock heroine more than Sugimoto is the standard stock hero. She has, of course, some character traits who’re mandatory for the action heroine, she’s intelligent, mature and capable well beyond what would be expected for someone her age. Her character arc is one of growing up, because she’s a child and this is the sort of character arc you usually give to a child, but she isn’t just ‘growing up’ as in ‘becoming more mature’ she’s growing up in the sense she becomes aware of the Ainu and the other minorities problems and how hard it is to solve them, she’s also growing by learning tragically what a war means, what it means to watch people you care about die all around you, what it means to have your life threatened, to have the lives of the people you care about threatened, if it’s easy or not to pull a trigger. Her non violent beliefs are challenged as she is asked more and more to decide if she wants to fight or to keep on not killing people. Men around her, starting from her own father, are also killed as a plot device for her grown.

KENMOCHI UMEKO: Sugimoto’s love interest and childhood friend. She challenged her family by still getting near Sugimoto despite his family situation and was willing to go with him when he considered escaping. We don’t know why ultimately she married Toraji, might be to forget Sugimoto, might be because he loved her more than Sugi, but when she did she was firm in her purpose and didn’t walk out of it or mourned her fate once Sugimoto came back. She made clear she would stay with Toraji. And she also doesn’t remarry despite social pressure and the fact she’s losing her sight.

SUSUPO: Asirpa’s grandmother. She’s caring and nurturing with everyone, Tanigaki included but she’s also strongly tied to old female roles. However, when Asirpa beats Sugimoto up, she doesn’t scold her and even though she believes Asirpa would be better married she doesn’t try to force her but let her free to live her life.

OSOMA: Asirpa’s very young cousin who knows how to speak Japanese. She’s friendly, gets a crush on Tanigaki and then grows out of it.

NIHEI’S FEMALE POPULATED FAMILY: Although we don’t really see them beyond Nihei’s first born daughter, we learn Nihei’s wife is tough and scary and that Nihei had to babysit his own daughter.

They survive, differently from Nihei only male son who dies... same as Nihei himself.

KIRORANKE’S WIFE: Although Kiro didn’t love her as much as Sofia it’s implied he loved her. She’s tough enough to manage even when Kiro is out and can count on the support of her siblings in case things are too hard.

HIDORO’S WIFE: Cruel, tough and clever, she’s the real boss in the family. She got ambitions, when she can’t get pregnant from her husband she’s not afraid to question HIS fertility instead than blaming herself, and even concedes herself a lover. She’s not a positive character but she’s basically the opposite of Huci.

CHIYOKO: She’s the damsel in distress of “Golden Kamuy” and the opposite to Hidoro’s wife. She looks kind and gentle. Lover to Hidoro Tamotsu, she however falls for Shinpei and gets pregnant from him. She’s willing to leave with him to make herself a new life.

INKARMAT: Strong willed, clever and manipulative, she’s not afraid to travell alone through Hokkaido or cooperate with Tsurumi, betraying the rest of the group. Yes, she can’t grow out of her childhood crush for Wilk, but, at least, she’s the one who’s in charge when she decides to spend the night with Tanigaki and, differently from Tanigaki, can plan things. She’s also generous and motherly with Cikapasi but she’s not afraid to attack Kiro when she believes he’s involved in Wilk’s death or to place herself in front of Tanigaki when Tsukishima threatens to kill him. She can read the mood and doesn’t reveal how Koito stole Nikaidou’s hand but use it to affirm her authority and get money from Koito.

EDOGAI’S MOTHER: Abusive and manipulative to the point she castrated her own son so that he wouldn’t become like his father, managed to traumatize Edogai so much that, when she dies of heart attack, he keeps her alive by turning her into a stuffed corpse.

TANIGAKI FUMI: She marries the one she loves and is beloved by her family. When she falls sick with smalllpox her actions are similar to the ones of Sugimoto’s father, she doesn’t want the village to be infected and wants her husband to leave her and find happiness.

TANIGAKI’S MOTHER: She falls into depression due to her daughter’s death and Tanigaki leaving the family and, ultimately, dies.

SISTER MIYAZAWA: Although she wasn’t a beauty to Kumagishi she was so lovely he kept her printed in his own memory. She’s tough enough to travel from male prison to male prison to offer her services as counselor.

MONOA AND THE OTHER AINU WOMEN: Although they ended up prisoners of the fake Ainu and forced to cooperate with them they tried challenging them by trying to ask for help to Sugimoto’s group and when they could they even fought the fake Ainu personally, killing some of them.

O-GIN: Deranged criminal, madly in love with Sakamoto, she’s not even afraid of Tsurumi.

OGATA TOME: Ogata’s mom, madly in love with Hanazawa. However, as her love isn’t returned she gets insane and lives in a delusion until her son poisons her. She’s kind of the opposite of O-gin.

OGATA’S GRANDMOTHER: As far as we know it’s her and not her husband the one who took back home Ogata and his mom and raised him. Ogata was so fond of her he couldn’t kill Huci because she reminded him of her.

ENONOKA: Karafuto Ainu kid. She’s the one who deal with Koito when he rents her grandfather’s sleds and dogs. She knows Japanese and she can count and handle business. She goes with Cikapasi when they’ve to retrieve the dog and cooperates with him to come up with a plan to retrieve it.

HARUMI CHIYO: She was willing to marry Tsukishima but disappeared short before he came back from war. Tsukishima believes she killed herself out of grief for his death, instead she merely accepted to marrying another man since she believed Tsukishima to be dead.

YOUICHIROU’S WIFE: Beloved by him, according to him helped him to become human again, giving him peace. She loved him back and gave him a bird beak so he would always remember Nemuro, even when far. They were living peacefully when a man took her hostage because he had a grudge on him. He killed the man and was arrested. When he escaped he came back to her because she had fallen ill and was about to die, remaining with her till she died and only then he left their kotan and clearly lost his will to live.

SOFIA: Although she’s a noble she’s also a revolutionarian who can fight on par with Gansoku, shoot and plan the murder of the emperor. Beloved by her men, for whoms he care and who doesn’t get behind, she has a motherly side. Kiro falls for her and will always love her but she falls for Wilk and will always love him... though she wanted to avenge Kiro when he was killed.

HASEGAWA FINA AND OLGA: Tsurumi’s beloved wife and daughter. While Olga is too young to do anything else but being loved, Fina loved Tsurumi and was loved back. Tsurumi spoke with her and, differently from him, she could pin why Sofia couldn’t learn Japanese. He believes she was smart enough to figure out he was a spy yet remained with him anyway, actually, when she believed he was in trouble she came back for him despite the danger and ended up killed with her daughter.

SVETLANA: Leaves her family because she wants to see Saint Petersburg, gets arrested, escapes, gets found by Tsukishima but decides she won’t go back home so she travels with Gansoku proving she know how to use a rifle.

KOITO YUKI: Not much is know except she’s a proper woman who worries a lot for her own son.

RIRATTE: Asirpa’s mom who died short after Asirpa’s birth. She gave Wilk his name and she was cheerful and bright, capable to make funny faces and be strong spirited. Wilk loved her a lot.

NORIKO: Assuming she was as Heita portraied her she likes to seduce/play with men and she’s easily bored.

HANAZAWA HIRO: Although she’s also a proper Japanese lady she’s not shy to try to plot behind her husband’s back to try to spare Yuusaku from becoming a flagbearer. In a way she’s the opposite of Koito Yuki who instead passively accepts for her sons to become soldiers.

KANEKO KAEKO: Upperclass girl in a rush to get married due to social pressure. She’s willing to sleep with ‘Yuusaku’ to force him to marry her. She likes good looking men but she’s so impressed by Sugimoto’s bravery that, despite understanding he’s a nobody, she would be willing to marry him instead than Yuusaku. She’s an excellent student, marries a big name in the world of finance and dedicates her energies nursing men who were back from war and helping their widows.

KANEKO’S MAID: She’s very supportive of Kaeko but also makes that beautiful speech you can read above so she gets a mention.

There’s more females, I know I’ve skipped a bunch because they were minor but the ones I mentioned, despite often being minor, still are all different one from the other, and, often, in charge of their own fate. Although they’re almost all tied to men, many of them are not subservient to them, but this doesn’t mean they all fall into the action girl trope.

It’s much, much more than what other male authors do with their female cast.

Is it a dream cast, the representation females wants? Hell no, but, at least, there’s an attempt at making them people. Yes, they’re often tied to the male cast or in service of it, but that’s also typical of this genre.

None of them is sexualized despite some of them being sexy or having sex. For each of them Noda though to a different character design. Noda tried to make them characters with their own wishes, histories and personalities.

Again, it’s far from perfect, but this’s not the story I would pick up for poor female representation.

3) When Inkarmat and Asirpa had that conversation on the lake, I was hoping they'd talk about anything other than... oh well they talked about Wilk, sigh.

It’s true that to pass the Bechdel test a story should have at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something other than a man but the main topic of this story are men.

Everyone and their mom has talked with Asirpa about Wilk, we had Hijikata, Sugimoto, Ogata, Shiraishi, Tsurumi and so on doing it, because Wilk was a huge topic of interest. If the characters aren’t talking about Wilk, Sugimoto’s group is talking about Tsurumi, because he’s chasing them and he’s a rival in the gold hunt, and, if they’re not talking about Tsurumi, they’re talking about Hijikata or of another adversary/member of the group who, incidentally, is male.

It’s worth to mention though, that in their first discussion Asirpa and Inkarmat talked about Inkarmat’s predictions and how Asirpa didn’t believe in them.

Also, Inkarmat talked with Huci about Asirpa being in danger, Asirpa talked with the Ainu women in the fake Ainu village about the Osoma, Svetlana talked with Sofia about Saint Petersburg, Asirpa talked with Enonoka about the differences between minorities while Yuusaku’s mom told Kaeko her experience as a nurse.

It’s all minor because it’s often not really that relevant in the plot because this is a story about men, so they’re what’s relevant but still they can have conversations about something else.

4) Also that recurrent trope of killing off female characters as plot drivers for male characters is starting to grate. What do you think?

The first character killed as a plot driver is Toraji. Then we’ve Wilk (who’s first assumed dead and then dies for good) and who’s a plot driver for 3 female characters (Asirpa, Inkarmat, and Sofia) as well as male characters since his death affected them too... only not so emotionally, more on a practical side. We’re told Sugimoto’s father is the last to die in his family and this triggers him to leave his village (which ties in with the discussion Sugimoto and his father had in whcih his father encouraged Sugimoto to do so). Then we’ve Youhei. Then there’s the bear trio (sort of, they more tip Tsurumi on how he has a rebellion in his ranks and trigger some other events so more than plot drivers for male characters they’re just plot drivers). Then Nihei. Henmi’s maddness is caused by his brother’s death. And then many other men until, finally, Fumi gets killed.

Characters can be killed off in order to be plot drivers for other characters. This is what makes a story. The real problem comes not when a female met this end (females can die and it would be tragic if men were to remain unaffected by their death) but when ONLY females met this end or when the scale is tipped so that plenty of females die for this, while only 1 or 2 males do.

5) What do you think?

I think “Golden Kamuy” is a seinen and that if I want to read it I must be aware of the characteristics of this kind of manga which, among other things, are that it’s a story that panders to a male readership so the female cast will be scarce and aimed at supporting the male one.

I think that “Golden Kamuy” if viewed as a story targeted to general audience instead than just to males, is definitely not perfect, that due to this there’s no balance between female representation and male one, that often females are in the story merely because their story is connected to the male cast (they’re love interests, wives, daughters) and that the fact that we’ve plenty of male protagonists force them to focus on the males.

I think that sometimes Noda ends up including ties to males that aren’t really necessary, like Asirpa’s crush for Sugimoto or Osoma’s crush for Tanigaki, or how Sofia felt obliged to carry on Wilk and Kiro’s goal (instead than doing it to help Asirpa or to help her people) and ultimately felt guilty toward Tsurumi to the point she let him shoot her and needed him to absolve her.

I think sometimes he just ends up letting himself influence by popular tropes (like how everyone fall for the main character) and this caused him to make choices who weren’t really that needed by the plot but, since they’re part of the genre... he just included them.

So yeah, I’m not always happy with what happens in “Golden Kamuy”, as who read my meta knows, sometimes I protest loudly about things I don’t like (see, for example, Sofia’s death scene).

However I try to give it credits when it’s due.

This is just me though, everyone is entitled to see things the way they prefer.

First of all, WARNING to all the readers.

As you can guess by the ask this reply isn’t one that’s going to shower Noda in praises for how he handled things. If you can’t handle seeing his work criticized, I recommend you to hit the back button and forget this post.

Now back to the ask.

It’s really hard to tell because what really decides the quality of a story isn’t really the elements you decide to include in it but how you narrate it.

For example you can decide to write a self insert commedy filled with metaphors in which whose with whom you disagree with you are punished and whose who agree rewarded and you leaves for a quest given SOLELY to you because you’re just that special and get to be with your favourite celebrity and your teenager crush and it comes out worse than “My immortal”... or it comes out as the greatest work ever of your country and everyone studies it or at least have heard of it and, thanks to it, you even gain the nick of Sommo Poeta and people built statues of you and names streets after you because your “Divina Commedia” was just that great.

Long story short, Sugimoto and Tsukishima dying or living probably wouldn’t have made the difference if the narrative were to keep the same quality level (rushed, ruled by easy mode, with plot contrivances, retcons and with actions that have no real weight/consequences and what else) while them surviving would have felt really good if the narrative had been better.

Despite all this however I’ve hear a good part of the fandom being lead to wish for their death despite Sugimoto and Tsukishima being beloved characters (they were respectively 1st and 3rd in the character pool).

I can’t speak for them, I don’t know why they feel this way but I can tell you something else. If you’re used to read my meta you probably know I was in teh camp of people expecting them to survive... however I found their survival extremely unsatisfying because poorly constructed.

Overall the final part of the endgame of the story felt to me as if the author has a precise idea for where the characters has to go... but just couldn’t make them go there by their own power in a way that was meaningful and needed to forcefully push them in that direction.

To go back to Umeko and Sugimoto’s confrontation, Noda wants Sugimoto to go back to Hokkaido with Asirpa... but the way he lead this to happen is by removing all the obstacles that would stop Sugimoto from doing so.

Sugimoto seems to find absolutely easy to show up again in front of her, Umeko feels no smell of death from him and is already healed, so it’s not like he has to care for her, and married, so it’s not like he can marry her and somehow Sugimoto doesn’t care about all this because he has somehow stopped wishing to marry Umeko and started longing for going back to Hokkaido with Asirpa.

Basically there’s 0 emotional effort in the scene from Sugimoto, Noda has already removed all the obstacles and retconned him so that he’ll do as Noda wants even though before he couldn’t do it and he claimed to love Umeko and never said he wanted to permanently live in Hokkaido but, at most, only until Asirpa would be satisfied with how the incident ended.

And this applies to his survival as well.

Noda gave him a series of wounds that should have been fatal (from Ogata stabbing him in what looked likes his intestine to Tsurumi pinning him through the chest to the train) and then he ends up in what seemed an heroic sacrifice in the sea with the train. But Noda wanted him to survive so... Noda saves him. How we don’t know beyond the implication Shiraishi might have fished him up (but this wouldn’t have magically fixed his wounds).

The result is that what could have been his ‘heroic dead scene’ feels more satisfying than the fact he was saved because... there’s no a ‘salvation scene’. His, apparently effortless, survival, as far as I’m involved, cheapens the previous ‘almost death scene’, which, credits when it’s due, was instead emotional and Noda put some efforts in constructing it.

Sugimoto ended up pinned to the train because HE saved Asirpa, leaving himself exposed and and because TSURUMI took advantage of this and pinned him to the train. And he fell into the water and couldn’t attempt to free himself because HE and TSURUMI were busy fighiting up until a moment before falling in the water.

If we really want to see Noda’s hand in this, we could blame it in how Asirpa conveniently almost fall off the train in a pretty unclear scene... but it’s a small plot contrivance that you might blame to the train shaking so as to cause her to lose balance in her concern to retrieve the land deed.

Overall the characters are the ones moving the plot and they’re facing consequences for their actions, Tsurumi getting shoot and Sugimoto getting pinned and ending in the water and... and then all this is destroyed when the next chapter solved the cliffhanger in which chap 313 ended by... handwaving it.

It’s not that Sugimoto deserved to die... it was that his salvation needed to matter as much as his almost death scene. If we had seen the characters’ efforts in saving him, if we had felt their hardship in saving him, we could have emotionally partecipated and rejoiced for his survival. Like this though, the story counts on us to be happy Sugimoto didn’t die solely because we should want him to survive, but offers for his survival none of the emotional investment we had when we saw him almost die.

The same applies to Tsukishima.

Noda clearly wanted him to 'be saved’ by Koito and become his right hand man and remain ‘the good heart of the 7th’... but the way this happens required 0 effort from Tsukishima.

Tsukishima needs to be saved by Koito so doesn’t decide to leave Tsurumi on his own and so, up until the end he’ll do all he can to support Tsurumi, even considering to sacrifice himself to kill Ushiyama.

What’s more, his fight with Ushiyama, is tied to various things Noda wants to happen but at which the characters are unwilling to contribute.

Tsukishima has to remain on that train so Ushiyama somehow refuses to toss Tsukishima off the train, which can work only for so long after we saw him doing so with way too many soldiers. It’s not that Tsukishima avoids being tossed out in some way, it’s just Ushiyama doesn’t do it because Noda doesn’t let him do it.

Tsukishima has to hand the land deed to Tsurumi... so no matter how hard Ushiyama beats him, Tsukishima doesn’t loose consciousness and remains able to walk around. He’s actually not even that badly injured.

Ushiyama has to have a heroic death protecting Asirpa so as to traumatize her further... but Tsukishima can’t toss the hand grenade at her, counting on Ushiyama to try to protect her and die in the process because Tsukishima has to stay the good heart of the 7th in fact, even when he shoot Ariko, Ariko has to survive with 0 effort (Tsukishima actually didn’t hit him because he conveniently shoot Ariko’s knife, which stopped the impact of the bullet so that Ariko was unhurt), so Tsukishima wouldn’t dirty his hand with it

So what will happen?

That Noda will have the hand grenade fall, by accident, near Asirpa so Ushiyama will have to die to protect her.

Since Tsukishima has to remain loyal/obsessed to Tsurumi, he’ll refuse to not follow Tsurumi even when Koito grabs him and tell him he’ll die if he does it... But Tsukishima has to survive so how can Koito keep him alive? Noda has Tsukishima faint (along with Koito who also had to survive) because somehow the hand granade from which he was far and should have been shielded from when Ushiyama tossed himself above it, wounded him more than all the beating Ushiyama gave him so that neither Sugimoto nor Hijikata nor Nagakura will attack him (or Koito).

And the epilogue continues in this vein, Tsukishima is still searching for Tsurumi because he didn’t change at all and someone has to mourn Tsurumi, but then Koito tells him he needs him and so Noda has Tsukishima drops everything and follow Koito.

The both of them were actually willing rebels who committed lots of crimes but all is handwaved because Koito has to become the leader of the 7th and Tsukishima his right hand man so, although Central is likely not pleased, Noda makes sure there’s basically no repercussion on their careers and Koito can become the leader to the 7th with Tsukishima as his right hand man.

Yeah, maybe they put an effort to deal with Central but since this is, for time reasons (we’re at the epilogue), never shown, it felt as if there was none and they effortlessly went away scot free.

I was invested in their arc because I assumed it would be THEIR arc, instead Noda saved the day for them because they didn’t struggle at all.

Things go in Noda’s way not because the characters actively fought to get that result but because Noda orchestrated things around them so they couldn’t ‘escape’ to that result.

Let’s compare it with previous arcs.

For example let’s pick up the Sakamoto and O-gin arc.

The goal of that arc is, basically, to give Tsurumi a tattooed skin and to deliver a fake tattooed skin to Hijikata. It has, as bonus, that it drives parallels between kids loved by parents and kids who aren’t.

The whole arc is totally moved by the characters’ actions and goals which overlap with Noda’s.

In order to get a tattooed skin TSURUMI sets up a trap using a fake skin. In this case if the one that falls into the trap manages to escape nothing is lost and this spread the confusion TSURUMI wanted.

KANTAROU and KAMEZOU as well as SAKAMOTO and O-GIN want the tattoed skin so take the bait. KANTAROU and KAMEZOU understand joining forces with Sakamoto and O-Gin would be advantagious for them so they lied in order to impress them. SAKAMOTO and O-GIN accept because... to quote, they’re both fucked up in the head.

THE 7TH traps them SAKAMOTO sacrifices Kamezou to escape upstain meanwhile O-GIN has KANTAROU pour oil on the stairs so no one can reach them.

TSURUMI sets the building on fire so as to force them to come out in the open KANTAROU uses his knowledge to find a way out the building, SAKAMOTO escapes from another way to distract the soldiers.

TSUKISHIMA and NIKAIDOU wound him but he still manages to escape because he’s strong and faster than them. KOITO tails him because Koito is the sort that acts without thinking. Meanwhile TSURUMI prepares another trap for him and when KOITO can’t keep up with Sakamoto he still signals his position to TSURUMI who shoots him. An already wounded O-GIN who was searching for Sakamoto, sees the scene and decides to die with him because that’s the sort of person O-Gin is so O-GIN attacks Tsurumi but KOITO, whom we know was close by, cuts her head off.

This is not a super important arc or a super emotional arc but, you see? All that happen is because the characters decided to do it. There is no ‘coincidentally’, there is no ‘something outside every character’s control happened so they were forced to do it’, there is not ‘something convenient and/or unlikely like a bear getting on a train happened’, there’s not ‘they gave up but someone rescued them who knows how’, there is no one that goes out of character so as to allow something to happen.

And the same works for plenty of arcs... except the train ride in which most of the situations are solved not due to the characters’ decisions but due to luck or retcons or handwaves so that things that seems problems do not matter anymore.

And all this reminds me of how, when I was in the “Umineko” fandom this was one of the complains tied to certain specific scene in episode 8, and how Ryukishi heard his readers’ complains and rewrote the scene for the manga transposition so that, although the result was always the same, it became emotional and beautiful and meaningful as it ended up carrying part of the themes of the story (and 2 chapters long instead than just a quick handwave of the whole problem combined with character retcon).

So, well, I’m in the camp that the problem wasn’t the survival of those two... but how said survival was written... in the same way as how I don’t think the problem is that Sugimoto doesn’t remain with Umeko... but how their last meeting was written.

In fact I actually expected Sugimoto and Tsukishima to survive to the end of the manga but when I read how they survived I can’t say I was pleased because I guessed right. It felt like their survival didn’t matter at all.

And previously I wouldn’t have worried because I would have believed Noda would fix the scenes in the volume version... but now the volumes are meant to be so packed with chapters that would require so many changes to be improved that I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to fix things. We’ll see.

I might add to it pictures later on. I’m sad to say though it’s not yet a complete timeline as some facts are missing but whatever, it’s a lot more informative than the previous and this will give me the chance to release a more complete one as soon as I’ll have time to add all the datas that are missing.

In the meantime, please enjoy it!

(Also, if you catch mistakes please warn me...)

GOLDEN KAMUY BACKGROUND 

Augmented revised edition.

This is a chronological table reconstructed by adding to "Golden Kamuy BACKGROUND" released on the official website the events and historical facts found so far.

1835 May (31): Hijikata Toshizō is born in the Musashi Province.

1839 May (23): Nagakura Shinpachi is born in the Musashi Province.

1853 July: Perry Expedition.

1854 March: The Convention of Kanagawa is concluded.

1858 July: The Treaty of Amity and Commerce is signed.

1858 September: Ansei purge.

1859 March (circa): Hijikata Toshizō is officially enrolled at the Tennen Rishin-ryū’s Shieikan dōjō.

1860 March: Sakuradamon Incident.

1862 September: Namamugi incident.

1863 (circa): Nagakura Shinpachi becomes a guest at the Shieikan dōjō.

1863 March: The Rōshigumi is organized. Hijikata Toshizō and Nagakura Shinpachi are assigned to the third corp.

1863 April: The Rōshigumi splits. Serizawa Kamo, Kondō Isami and others organize the Mibu Rōshigumi. Hijikata Toshizō and Nagakura Shinpachi join the Kondō faction.

1863 May: The bombardment by the Chōshū Domain of a foreign ship affair.

1863 August: Anglo-Satsuma War.

1863 August (circa): Political change on August 18. The Rōshigumi is honored for its achievements in this period and renamed “Shinsengumi”.

1863 September (circa): Hijikata Toshizō becomes the Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi. As the right arm of Kondō Isami, who became the director, he maintains security in Kyoto.

- Yōichirō the manslayer and Hijikata Toshizō met in Kyōto.

1864 July: The Ikedaya incident occurs. Kondō Isami, Nagakura Shinpachi and others attacks the men of Chōshū and Tosa Domains of the Sonno Jōi faction. Hijikata Toshizō secured the entrance and exit around Ikedaya and protected the credit of the Shinsengumi.

1864 August: Kinmon incident (Crimson gate incident).

1864 August: The bombardment by a fleet of 4 nations at Shimonoseki affair.

1864 December: First Chōshū expedition.

1866 March: Satchō Alliance.

1866 July: Second Chōshū expedition.

1866: Western-style horse racing is held in Negishi.

1866: Kiroranke is born in the Amur river basin.

1867 November: Restoration of imperial rule.

1868 January: Great Order of the Restoration of the Royal Government.

1868 January: The Boshin War begins starting with the battle between Toba and Fushimi.

1868 March: Nagakura Shinpachi meets Kondō Isami, who had been defeated in the Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma, and splits with the Shinsengumi.

1868 April: The Charter Oath.

1868 May: Bloodless opening of Edo Castle. Kondō Isami, who was captured by the new government army, is executed

- Clog skating, commonly known as "gerori", spreads explosively in Ezo in the latter half of the Edo period.

1868 June: Battle of Aizu.

1868 October: Edo is called Tōkyō, the Meiji era starts.

1868 December: The Battle of Hakodate (Boshin War - Battle of Goryokaku). Hijikata Toshizō fights with Murahashi Hisanari, the commander of the new government army. In this war, Inudō Shirosuke's older brother served in the new government army. He died in battle.

1869 May: Battle of Miyako Bay. Hijikata Toshizō, on the warship Kaiten, launches a naval boarding attack (French: Abordage) on the new government warship, Kotetsu.

1869 May: Hijikata Toshizō is captured by the new government army and is treated as a prisoner of war.

1869 May: Takeaki Enomoto, President of the Republic of Ezo, surrenders. As a result, the Battle of Hakodate ends with the victory of the new government army, and the Boshin War ends.

1869 July: Returning the land to the emperor implementation.

1869 August: “Ezo” is renamed “Hokkaidō”. Around this time, "Hakodate" began to change to "Hakodate" notation.

1871 August: Implementation of the abolition of the han system.

1872: The “Solar Calendar”, or Gregorian Calendar is adopted the day following December 2, Meiji 5, which becomes January 1, Meiji 6 (regulated as January 1, 1873 in the Gregorian calendar).

1873 January: Military conscription issued by the Ministry of Army.

1873 February: The ban on Christian faith was lifted.

1873: Birth of Heinojō, Koito Otonoshin’s older brother.

1874: Military settler colonists system is established. It is implemented from the following year.

1875 August: The Treaty of Saint Petersburg with the Russian empire is concluded. It’s established that South Sakhalin is the new borderline with the Japanese territory.

1876 March: Promulgation of the Sword Abolishment Edict.

Murawashi Hisanari, a pioneer government official, is involved in the establishment of a brewery (later Sapporo Breweries).

1877 February: Satsuma Rebellion.

1877 (circa): Roller skates are introduced to Japan.

1879 From February to March 1879: Abnormal weather occurred in winter leading to mass death of Ezo deer due to heavy snow, storms and cold.

- Hokkaido wolves are in danger of extinction due to low deer prey.

1881 March: Emperor Alexander II is assassinated by Kiroranke and Wilk.

1881 September: Kabato prisoner’s accommodation facility (later Kabato Prison) opened. Hijikata is also imprisoned in this prison.

1882: Nagakura Shinpachi becomes a swordsman instructor at Kabato prison and starts instructing guards.

1882: Military settler colonists uses cannons to converge locust plague.

1886 January: The Hokkaidō Government Office is established.

1886: Nagakura Shinpachi retires from his role of kenjutsu teacher in Kabato prison.

1886: Koito Otonoshi’s birth.

1888: Sakamoto Keiichirō, the lightning bandit, is imprisoned by Kabato prison.

1888 May: Forming of the First Division of the Imperial Japanese Army.

1889: Is this the last confirmed sighting of an Ezo wolf?

1889 February: The Imperial Japanese Constitution is proclaimed.

1890 March: Abashiri public prison office (later Abashiri Prison) opened.

1890 November: The Imperial Japanese Constitution is in force.

1890 (circa): Most of the Hokkaido wolves are said to have been exterminated and allegedly extinct.

1891: An albino bear cub is captured in the Soya region and raised by the Ueno Zoo.

1891 (and after): Wilk, Kiroranke and Sofia go to Hasegawa Photo Studio to learn Japanese.

- Wilk and Kiroranke walk on the ice field to Sakhalin, Sophia remains in Russia. After this, Wilk travels to Hokkaido and meets Inkamat.

1892: Opening of mining in the Yubari Coal Mine.

1892: Hijikata’s favorite gun, the “Winchester model M1892”, is designed and manufactured.

1893: Tsurumi’s favorite gun, the “Borchardt pistol”, is designed and manufactured.

1893 (circa): Shiraishi Yoshitake makes a plan to escape from the child prison.

1894 (circa): Tsukishima Hajime joins the 2nd Division in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture.

1894 July: Sino-Japanese war.

1894 September: The flagship Matsushima was wrecked in the Battle of the Yalu River on the 17th. At this time, Koito Heinojō, who was on board the ship, was killed in action.

- The only son of Nihei Tetsuzō died in the Sino-Japanese War.

1895 March: End of the Sino-Japanese war.

- Around the end of the Sino-Japanese War, “Igogusa”-chan’s letters to Tsukishima interrupt.

1895 April: Signing of the treaty of Shimonoseki (Sino-Japanese Treaty).

1895 (and after): Sakamoto Keiichirō escapes from Kabato prison during outside labor. After this, he has a fateful encounter with O-gin.

- Nihei Tetsuzō go hunting with Kirawus. It’s in this circumstance, he is told why Nihei favors the Murata rifle.

1896 May: Forming of the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army with military settler colonists.

1896: The last Ezo Wolf fur export trade was done by the Hakodate fur trader, Matsushita Kumatsuki.

1896: The Sulfur mining by Abashiri Prison prisoners is stopped.

1896: The mine on Mt. Io between Lake Mashu and Lake Kussharo is closes.

1896: Tsurumi meets Tsukishima Hajime in prison.

1897: Record for that annual herring catch which is of 975,000 tons.

1897 (and after): Shiraishi Yoshitake, after being imprisoned at Kabato Prison goes around prisons all over the country and gained the nickname of "Jailbreak King".

1898: Gold is discovered in the Esashi basin. The dawn of the Hokkaido version of the gold rush.

1899: Sugimoto Saichi’s father died of tuberculosis and he leaves his home.

1900: Koito Otonoshin and Tsurumi Tokushirō meet.

- Hijikata Toshizō, who has been imprisoned by Kabato Prison for about 20 years, reunites with Nagakura Shinpachi. After that, Hijikata is transferred to Abashiri Prison.

1902 January: Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

1902: Seven Ainu who were transferring gold are killed by someone in Tomakomai. Among the victims there was Ariko Rikimatsu’s father.

- A fleeing Wilk is arrested at Lake Shikotsu. When imprisoned in Abashiri Prison, he carved the gold code into the prisoners on the death penalty row.

1902: Koito Otonoshin is kidnapped by suspected Russian criminals. The case reaches a positive resolution thanks to Tsurumi's cooperation. After this, Koito Otonoshin entered the Army Military Academy. (Late developments of the manga seem to imply this happened prior to the seven Ainu being killed.)

1903 January: Hakkōda Mountains incident. Ariko Rikimatsu joins the search team for distress cases. (In real life the incident actually took place on 1902 January. Late developments of the manga seem to imply this is true also in the manga.)

1903: Sugimoto Saichi joins the 1st Division of the Imperial Japanese Army.

1903 (circa): Some military settler colonists transfer the tattooed prisoners. At this time, Hijikata Toshizō and others killed the military settler colonists and escaped. Twenty-four tattooed prisoners are unleashed. (Late developments of the manga claim that the convicts escaped were only 23.)

1904 February 8: Russo-Japanese war.

1904 August: Siege of Port Arthur. The 1st Division to which Sugimoto belongs and the 7th Division to which Tsurumi, Ogata, Tanigaki, Kiroranke and others belong are thrown into battle. Hokkaido 7th Division, Shikoku 11th Division, Kanazawa 9th Division, and Tōkyō 1st Division were the ones that fought at 203 hill.

- Lieutenant Tsurumi sees for the first time in the battle Immortal Sugimoto and is fascinated by him.

- Tanigaki Genjirō meets Sugimoto Saichi, a survivor of the White Sash Brigade.

- Genjiro Tanigaki learns the truth about what happened to his sister and best friend.

- Ogata Hyakunosuke shoots and kills his half brother second lieutenant Hanazawa Yūsaku.

- Lieutenant Tsurumi, gaining total control of it, raised the national flag on the summit of the 203 hill.

- Lieutenant Tsurumi and Sergeant Tsukishima were injured by a shell. Part of Tsurumi’s head is blown away.

- While being transported the injured Lieutenant Tsurumi and Sergeant Tsukishima Passing by Saichi Sugimoto, who carries his childhood friend Toraji

- Saichi Sugimoto takes care of Toraji.

1905 September: The end of the Russo-Japanese War. The Treaty of Portsmouth (Japan-Russia Peace Treaty) with the Russian Empire is concluded.

1905: Noboribetsu is designated as a recreation area for the Russo-Japanese War victims of the 7th division.

- Hijikata Toshizō asks Kiroranke about “Kochōbe Asuko”.

1906: Sugimoto Saichi delivers the remains of Toraji to Umeko.

- Ogata Hyakunosuke kills his father, Lieutenant General Hanazawa. This is passed for a suicide.

1906 September: The first issue of "Shojo Sekai", a magazine that Sugimoto was also reading, will be published.

1906 November: South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd., a special company of the Empire of Japan, is established.

- Saichi Sugimoto goes to Otaru, Hokkaido in search of gold dust.