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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

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Ogata’s iconic gesture

We’re all familiar with the way Ogata’s caresses his hair...

...to the point it had become his iconic gesture so that even the first time he shows up on a cover he’s shown doing it...

...and he’s also shown doing it in a colour illustration which was used as cover for chap 79

...and in one of the summaries for the skin count.

It’s clear he doesn’t do it just to comb his hair as he had been shown doing it even when he wears a hat so, more than fixing his hair, it’s clear he’s sort of caressing himself, making that gesture a self comfort gesure he might perform in an unconscious manner.

The movement is likely based on how cats groom their fur...

...a not so indirect reference to Ogata’s nickname, ‘Yamaneko’ (“Wildcat”).

While cats groom themselves for practical reasons, they also groom if they feel embarrassed, anxious, or to calm themselve, which would tie well with this being Ogata’s self comfort gesture.

But let’s look at when he does it through the manga.

Note that there are instances in which it’s actually unclear if he’s doing it so I will leave them for last.

The first time is in chap 43.

Ogata thinks Tanigaki might have killed Tamai, Noma and Okada and he’s obviously not pleased. Later, he will hunt Tanigaki in retaliation even though it’s completely useless as, as we’ll discover in chap 243, he’s aware Tsurumi already knows of their rebellion and is hunting them, meaning remaining there to hunt Tanigaki is a mere waste of time, a hint Ogata in that moment felt a deep grudge toward Tanigaki if he decided to spend his time so uselessly. As he pats his hair Ogata’s face is shadowed. It’s clear he’s not in a happy mood.

So the grooming can be a soothing gesture for him. He has to keep calm and not shoot Tanigaki right then or he’ll involve Huci too, whom, he’ll reveal, he wanted to spare.

We continue with chap 46.

In it Ogata does it before praparing himself to face the soldiers Tsurumi is sending against him. As the situation is clearly risky, it makes sense he’s soothing himself with a quick ‘hair grooming’ before facing his enemies.

We move to chap 70.

For who doesn’t remember it the scene happens prior to Ushiyama listing all the skins they got, pointing out the last one was recovered by Ogata...

...but prior to Ogata casually questioning Hijikata.

It’s hard to say why exactly he’s grooming himself, it can be he’s calming himself a bit before having to question someone like Hijikata, who basically doesn’t trust anyone. Of course it can also be tied to the memories Ogata had of how he got the skin in Barato, where another ‘father’ tried to kill his own son, something which clearly reminded Ogata of his own father.

We continue with chap 78.

Ogata, who’s cornered behind a table and some stuffed corpses, pats his head when Tsukishima attacks him, saying he’s betraying them to surpass his father. Again his face is shadowed and his expression somewhat pained. If the purpose is to calm himself down it works as he then smiles, dismisses Tsukishima’s words as Tsurumi using stupid cliches and shoots in Tsukishima’s direction although this is one of the rare times in which Ogata completely misses his target.

So to chap 80 we go.

The situation is clearly unpleasant. Although Ogata survives he claims to have no other choice but to bring Sugimoto’s group along and that’s not even the worst part. He knows Edogai died and Tsukishima might be bringing some fake skins to Tsurumi as they speak. One might need some self confort in such a situation... and if it helps fixing his hair which is likely a mess after his experience in the mine, well, that’s a plus.

And now chap 83.

The image in its own doesn’t tell us much.

For the context Ogata was about to shoot at the woodcooks when Asirpa stopped him saying even if he were to manage to hit 1 the others would fly away and anyway it’s hard to hit them with the rounds Ogata uses, hence they should use an Ainu method to get them.

While Sugimoto is amused by Asirpa’s lack of faith in Ogata’s ability, it makes sense Ogata wouldn’t be pleased. Even the sound he makes seems to point at it.

There’s another scene in chap 83 though where he pets himself.

This time is after he got praised for getting three of them. It’s hard to think at discomfort, unless Ogata is so not used to praises they too make him nervous, so he needed it to later manage to assume a confident pose. Honestly I would say it’s more a self praising move but it’s hard to read Ogata.

Fast forward to chap 88.

Same as the above this is hard to read. Is he praising himself for guessing right or having the confirmation they’re in the hideout of some Yakuza pretending to be Ainu makes their situation worrysome?

At the list I’ll include a cut scene in chap 101.

In the volume version this scene isn’t present, but in the magazine version Ogata grooms his hair when he realizes they’re encircled by bears, a definitively worrying situation.

Then we move to chap 108.

It’s another scene that’s not clear. Is he proud of himself because he figured out why Sugimoto is searching the gold or the thing makes him uncomfortable because he has realized Asirpa has a crush on him and the whole situation reminded him of his own mother?

And then we’ve chap 109.

Is he proud because he was the first to find him? Or it’s just the situation is troublesome because Ogata would still be of the idea of killing Tanigaki for what happened to Tamai and Co (which he will mention later on to Asirpa and Sugimoto), but killing him would be troublesome because Tanigaki is friend with Asirpa and Sugimoto, whcih are part of the group Ogata is in currently.

And then we get the infamous chap 113.

Ogata is teaching Asirpa why Anehata just wouldn’t think to consequences before violating animals. While the scene seems funny, his father was also one of the men who didn’t think to consequences before having sex with Ogata’s mother.

On another side I’ve been told Ogata’s words are losely translated as the sentence was pretty unclear in Japanese so...

‘Otoko tte no wa dasu mon dasu to sōnan no yo’

男ってのは出すもん出すとそうなんのよ

“That’s how a man is when he put it out."

And then we’ve chap 128.

Again Ogata’s parentage is used against him, as Hijikata says due to it is hard to think Ogata might be in this for some gold. And again it makes sense the situation makes him uncomfortable.

So we move to the infamous chap 137.

Is he praising himself because he got Wilk and Sugimoto? Or is he troubled because, although he got Sugimoto, he knows the bullet might not be fatal which is why he has to remain there and try to shoot Sugimoto some more?

To Karafuto we go and to chap 159.

And here it’s pretty clear Ogata is uncomfortable at the idea of having to go and apologize.

Chap 170 then.

We’ve Ogata grooming his hat... because he got praised by Asirpa. Again if he’s uncomfortable (he’s not even meeting her gaze) or if he’s praising himself for his own shoot is up to speculation.

And then chap 180.

More hat grooming. It was interpreted as a stab at Kiro, who also had to move from Russia because chased... but he’s not even looking at him and Ogata was the one sure Tsurumi would chase him so it might be just a jab at himself.

Hard to say.

We continue with chap 187.

And this time Ogata don’t content himself with hat grooming, he moved his hat away that’s much that’s needed to confort himself after Asirpa (legittimately I might add) told him to stay away and that he is untrustworthy.

A big fast forward to chap 222.

And again Ogata is in a clearly discomforting situation as he has to explain Abashiri keeping hidden the role he had in it considering he’s a horrible liar.

And finally chap 257.

Ogata crossed paths with Kikuta but Kikuta let him go, pretending he never saw him. Either something happened between the two, something we weren’t shown, or still this meeting managed to make him uncomfortable, a clear hint they aren’t on the same side, even if they aren’t at war with each other.

And that’s all, or better, those are all the scenes in which we can be confident Ogata is grooming himself.

There are then some unclear scenes.

Chap 5 for example.

It might be a ‘proto grooming’ scene. Ogata is clearly not petting himself, he’s scratching the back of his head, which usually is done to imply the character is puzzled but the scene might have inspired Noda into giving him the habit to groom himself.

Then chap 115.

Some think this is a grooming scene but as Ogata says his head is spinning it makes sense he would touch it (it’s a pretty standard movement), especially since his hand isn’t in the usual grooming position. On the other side having your head spin is clearly uncomfortable so a grooming scene would make sense too but really, I think he’s only touching his spinning head.

And lastly chap 159.

It could be a grooming scene... but it could also be Ogata pulling down his hood as first he had it raised and then he had it lowered.

Hard to say anyway, if it’s a grooming scene it would again fit in the list of scenes of Ogata doing it after hitting something.

And that’s the end.

As you can notice there isn’t a single grooming scene placed prior to Ogata’s hair growing.

Some assumed he groomed himself when he met his father.

Truth is it’s hard to say as it can be he was merely covering his eyes, as when Ogata grooms himself, Noda usually draw his hand in a higher position and with the fingers touching each other.

It’s hard to say but it’s still interesting.

Of course his possible Ogata merely started doing so because his fur... ehm... I mean hair, got longer... I mean... the short hair he had previously might not have been the most pleasant thing to pet... but maybe there was a starting factor. I don’t know, we’ll see.

Well, and that’s all for GK resident kitty. We’ll see if the future will gift us with more grooming moments.

#Golden Kamuy #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Golden Kamuy Pondering

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