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chibivesicle · 5 years

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Re-examining Ogata in his absence. Hindsight is 20/20. Part 1.

It has been almost a year and an undisclosed number of rereads of the manga on my part since I first put an analysis on Ogata out into the world. With all of the recent events of the Karafuto arc, it has given me a lot of new points to consider and through more recent events I’m adjusting what I think will happen. My original idea was that Ogata’s is a protective character who was misunderstood to be a much more aggressive character than he actually is. It really showed in scenes like this one here:

Like all things, the further the plot progresses the easier it is to see where past events fit into the current plot line.

Last summer when I was pondering Ogata, I thought that his role as a sniper, was what others saw him as but that his role in the manga was to be a support/protective/cover the rear type of character. With lots of the recent events though, I have changed my read on Ogata.

My updated thesis is that Ogata’s role in the manga is the strategist. Ogata does have good leadership skills but he lacks the charisma of someone like Tsurumi, Sofia or Wilk. Ogata’s great leadership skills appear when needed and the core group of Asirpa - Sugimoto - Shiraishi need someone like that on their side. I have to admit that I wish I thought of this earlier but it took the reveal of his role as a subordinate for Tsurumi in 1902 which means he was working in military intelligence likely since the start of his career. To approach this idea, I’m just going to go back to the beginning and add in commentary where it shows what’s going on with him.

Ogata was the third character introduced. He was watching Sugimoto and Asirpa question the small fry tattooed convict here. His decision to shoot that man was key and foreshadowed him also shooting Wilk.

By shooting the man, he can’t tell them anymore information. This gives him an advantage over them since he clearly knows more about the gold hunt than Sugimoto does at this point.

Ogata approaches cautiously. He immediately recognizes the sound of a type 26. This tells us he is sizing up the firepower of Sugimoto and Asirpa. He’s impressed by the smokescreen and moves rationally. When he’s tackled by Sugimoto, he’s able to steal his bayonet and rifle bolt. All of this introduces him as a character who approaches everything with a rational mindset.

What is most important is when he and Sugimoto stop, he drives the conversation. He gets Sugimoto to admit important information about himself and he even gets him to blurt out his motivations for Umeko.

These are all mistakes on Sugimoto’s part - all he knows is what he can see about Ogata, he’s in the 27th, and it is assumed they were at 203m hill. He warns him but that’s it. When he’s pinned down and almost killed by Sugimoto, Asirpa saves him by yelling out his name. This allows Ogata to determine exactly who he is and then makes an immediate plan to escape. By glancing at Sugimoto and asking if he’s the immortal Sugimoto, it gives him the ability to poke him in the eyes and flee.

All of these behaviors are the first indication that Ogata is not an ordinary superior private. He approached the situation with caution, prevented the convict from giving away info, tried his best to get an advantage against Sugimoto and then he fled. Intelligence requires one to usually flee and not sacrifice oneself.

The first indication that he isn’t working alone is shown when the reader learns that he survived his encounter with Sugimoto. The other soldiers mention that he was found at the riverbank at dusk, he was injured when it was still light out and they can’t figure out how he was able to make it up on the bank.

Kiro was likely working with him and tracking him or staying hidden. When Kiro finally finds Asirpa he tells her that he’s been looking for her, and that implies he’s been trying to bump into her.

Ogata passes information along to Tsurumi that he was attacked by an immortal and when Sugimoto is questioned by him, he tries to lie but it is too late. Ogata has already tipped off what his identity is.

When Ogata appears again, it sets up his role as a military sniper. This is the regular image of him and will become the read of Ogata that most of the cast will have of him.

What is interesting is that when Ogata comes to Asirpa’s kotan and to Huci’s home, he immediately questions Tanigaki. Just like with Sugimoto, he asks the questions and drives the actions of him. He asks him what happened to Tamai and Co. He doesn’t inform Tanigaki that he’s actively rebelling just that Tamai and Co are missing and that he knows that they approached Tanigaki about *ahem* rebelling.

With Tanigaki his ability to read people is on point. He knows that Tanigaki is lying - what he’s lying about is different but he is weary enough to steal his rifle bolt giving him the advantage. Ogata is incredibly blunt here. He flat out asks Tanigaki if he killed them, likely b/c he knows that Tanigaki is a bad liar and does like to follow the rules and the chain of command.

What is most interesting is that he doesn’t make eye contact with Tanigaki when he says it and instead makes him sweat it out before looking at him. Ogata knows how to put pressure on others when he needs to. Yes, the entire thing is a mix up but Ogata can’t risk Tanigaki going back to Tsurumi and giving any intel on his movements to Tsurumi.

When he leaves his whole plan is to deal with things efficiently and to avoid any unnecessary actions. Killing Tanigaki in the kotan would make the death further from Tsurumi’s information network and eyes. It would have allowed him to get further away before Tsurumi would know that it was Ogata who killed him.

His conversation with Nikaido reveals that he’s playing a much longer game plan that Nikaido is by joining their rebellion group. Not only is Ogata fond of grandmas and doesn’t like to kill people just b/c but it would have attracted even more attention.

Spies and those in intelligence would take this line of action to not attract attention to their actions. Ogata has got to go somewhere and he thinks it is critical to keep Tanigaki away from him. His read on the situation is incorrect - but his rationale will prove to be 100% spot on. His introduction as a skilled sniper is impressive. He mentions the role of sniping in the American Revolution, the lack of leadership to listen to his idea to form divisions of snipers to combat the Russian pillboxes.

He shows that he observed all of his surroundings and entered Huci’s house so that he knew the layout for easier sniping. He is cautious and even though he has the advantage he does not assume anything is a given. When Tanigaki makes the smoke screen, he knows that he beat them with another escape and he immediately changes position b/c he knows that they’ve been had and also doesn’t give Tanigaki and idea of where they could be.

Again he shows no problem to adapt to a rapidly changing situation and he knows his enemy well. Nikaido seems to question the abilities of Tanigaki, as I’m guessing the were both in the 27th for the same time period.

This is the first instance were Ogata does not underestimate another member of the 27th and reasons things out based on his background and strengths. He knows Tanigaki will use his Matagi skills and it puts them at a disadvantage.

When Tanigaki sets the trap for them, he knows full well that it is a trap. He does everything he knows from his war experience - he eats snow to conceal his location, he’s ready for Tanigaki. The fact that Tanigaki can’t find him at the beginning shows that his concealment is successful.

The only reason Ogata loses the sniper battle is the fact that he actually stands up over confidently giving away his position since he didn’t see Nihei’s rifle at Huci’s. However, despite that he successfully escapes.

What is most significant though is that as he escapes from the 27th, he states that he can understand why Tsurumi’s superior officers were incredibly suspicious of him. Why does Ogata know this? This would not be common knowledge for a Superior Private - Ogata had another way to get information on Tsurumi. Did he know this as Tsurumi had his men keeping tabs on what the upper level military brass thought of Tsurumi? Or did Ogata have his own source from working in intelligence that Tsurumi didn’t know about or he kept the information to himself. Ogata indicates a better than average knowledge about the military culture/organization . . .

After this Ogata then disappears again and likely in coordination, goes in search of Hijikata, while Kiro tries to connect with Asirpa.

What does he do? He goes in search of intel. He does this in a casual fashion going to a barber shop - a common place for gossip and information, to determine that Hijikata is indeed in town and looking for the rumored skin. Since it was likely Ogata and Kiro’s plan from the beginning for Ogata to intercept Hijikata this is the best way for him to achieve this goal.

At first Ogata’s behavior in Barato seems out of character. He’s incredibly aggressive and violent with the corrupt police chief. This is not how he acts, he usually hangs back and determines the situation but here he has to be showy. He needs to get Hijikata’s attention. And he does that with bravado. After cutting the chief, he dominates him and publically humiliates him in front of the gangs so that he makes sure that Hijikata has seen him. Ogata has to nail this - the only way he can get into Hijikata’s inner circle is to show off his skills.

He succeeds in this so well. He figures out that Hijikata shot his own allies, and when Hijikata leads them into battle fearlessly. Ogata leads the yakuza from a top the tower and it finally gives a little bit of information about his background and a possible motivation. It also sets up the image that Ogata has the potential to be a great military leader. Tsurumi also tells Nikaido that Ogata is not a man you want to have fighting against you. I keep coming back to this panel. This is doesn’t show a weak man, this shows a man who can lead others and lead them effectively.

Ogata also uses his position to observe everything with a distance and advantageous perspective. It really shows when he’s watching the true leader of the gang, the mother. His observations indicate he did a fair bit of recon on her and knew she’d be greedy but she doesn’t act that way during the conflict. It tips him off to the fact that the skin isn’t there and he needs to get her to reveal the true location. Hence, he lights the herring mansion on fire to get her to pull out the real skin.

When Ogata saves Shinpei from his father, he reveals that he’s killed both of his parents and that he can’t tolerate people who can fight for themselves. Yet, he doesn’t hurt Shinpei and then attracts Hijikata to find him with the skin.

I think the reason why Ogata appeared so reckless during the entire Barato arc was that he had to catch Hijikata’s eye and appear to his Shinsengumi idea of forward men! You couldn’t turn back around and flee, it was a victory or death situation and Hijikata would not respect a younger person who didn’t follow through. So Ogata had to meet the expectations that Hijikata wanted in a subordinate - one willing to risk his life for a cause.

What is interesting is how he introduces himself to Hijikata. He was only in Barato for the skin, but then he immediately knew Hiijkata was there.

He flat out tells him that he was able to recognize him b/c he’s the former subordinate of an excellent intelligence officer. Here in chapter 59 Ogata has flat out admitted that he worked in military intelligence. When I’ve previously read it, I took it that he knew things b/c Tsurumi told him about them as a part of the hunt for the gold. But that isn’t quite true - it has the additional concept that he actually did intelligence work - something that is not 100% clear a this point in the manga. And again like with Sugimoto and Tanigaki, he drives the introduction and conversation.

By getting the skin he’s now working with Hijikata. Working with Hijikata serves multiple purposes for him - 1.) he can confirm that Hijikata knows about Noppera-bou (Wilk) 2.) he can determine if Hijikata knows about Kiro’s identity and his role with the gold. He does this so well. With Hijikata as his senior in age (and Hijikata being a very traditional Japanese man) and also his current boss he can’t directly ask him questions like Sugimoto and Tanigaki.

Instead, he has to temper his forwardness. He’s pleased with the praise about his role in getting the skin and he does his head pat to prepare himself before he asks Hijikata what his purpose is. He needs to know what Hijikata’s plans are and he floats out the idea of making the Republic of Ezo as a futile one.

Interestingly, Hijikata is not looking at him when he asks if he is concerned for the men working with him. This gets no reaction from Hijikata, he just smiles to himself which he can’t even see that Ogata had to goad him into talking. Since Hijikata worked with Noppera-bou in prison he has to play dumb. He asks him if he’s an Ainu.

Ogata then delivers more information about the murder of the Ainu over the gold. Even though the men were murdered, all of their goods were properly treated for proper Ainu burial and he reveals that Tsurumi was the officer involved in the investigation of the murder. With chapter 200, it revealed that Ogata was working with Tsurumi in 1902, there is a strong possibility that men involved in the crime scene investigation were likely Tsurumi, Tsukishima, Kikuta and Ogata. He likely has first hand knowledge of what happened, but he’s not revealing that to anyone outside of those who were there with him.

By telling Hijikata that Tsurumi thinks Noppera-bou is an Ainu, he has baited him to tell him that he actually a partisan. Ogata’s facial expression during this is interesting, his face is hidden from Hijikata’s line of sight (an advantage to him) and he visibly has gone for a relaxed position leaning back to defensively hunched over.

Ogata also doesn’t seem pleased hearing this. It means that Hijikata knows more about the situation.

And of course Ogata isn’t going to be pleased with this information since his partner in the quest for the gold is a partisan. Hijikata then goes on to state that Noppera-bou is likely working with other partisans who are hiding as Ainu and to make it clear it shows Kiro.

Ogata plays this situation so well. He summarizes what Hijikata says - and look at Hijikata’s body language, he’s relaxed and in power while Ogata is hunched over and letting him “figure out” what the situation is by using this “new” information that partisans are involved and that the gold was destined for outside of Hokkaido. Again, Ogata doesn’t even make eye contact with Hijikata and now he’s even turned away from the rest in the room. He lets HIjikata even state that the allies of Noppera-bou are likely partisans that appear to be Ainu e.g. his partner in the cat alliance Kiro.

Ogata only wants Hijikata to know a little of what he already knows. He’s working with Kiro and he knows a lot of what Tsurumi knows in the quest for the gold. He needs to work with Hijikata until they can meet up with Asirpa’s group that had Kiro.

The next time Ogata appears is in Yubari to figure out why Tsurumi went there - this means someone floated him information to Tsurumi’s movements or somehow Hijikata had someone tell him and he sent both Ogata and Ushiyama there.

He set up a good position outside of Edogai’s house and waited until Tsukishima left. This shows that he knows Tsukishima well - he saw him leave with his bathing supplies and knew it would be the best time to take out Maeyama and then question Edogai. This is the second example of Ogata using what he knows about another member of the 27th and takes it into account with his plans.

He needs to know why members of the 27th are there and it is clear that he does not want to encounter Tsukishima. Is this b/c he knows he’s a skilled solider? I sometimes get the feeling that Ogata and Tsukishima respected each other - he doesn’t underestimate him and tries to work things to his advantage without him around.

Ogata shows that he figures out quickly what Tsurumi’s plan is - he finds the samples of dyed skin and then realizes that Edogai has been swayed by Tsurumi’s magic and that interrogating him will be harder. Ogata also shows the viewer that he noticed that the other polar bear was missing and that Edogai escaped. This implies that he was noticing everything around him in the house as he searched for him. This is not a standard thing to do, he was clearly trained to always understand the layout of his surroundings indicating his active role in intelligence.

Either way, his plan doesn’t quite work out as planned due to Tsukishima forgetting his wallet and rushing back, to find Ogata investigating the house. Ogata stole the rifle bolts but Tsukishima immediately noticed and attached this bayonet and uses that to attack Ogata and steal his handgun.

Their shootout is interesting. It is essentially a stalemate between the two men. Ogata is hunkered down but has likely more rounds while Tsukishima is in a more flexible position but doesn’t have much firepower. Tsukishima tries to appeal to Ogata’s emotions and how he should have a sense of camaraderie. Ogata points out that Tsurumi is a rebel group and implies that he’s in the right.

Tsukishima calls him the pet cat of the Imperial Military HQ and he thinks Ogata is doing this to get a promotion. They have been working together since at least 1902 but I really think no one has a clue or good read on what Ogata wants. Even though this is floated as a plausible motivation for Ogata, I still don’t think he’s working for central command. He’s given no indication of wanting a role in the military establishment despite being a capable man. I don’t think he’d be accepted by the military establishment no matter what he did due to his background. He’s not from the winning side of the Meiji revolution, he’s from the losing side and they were excluded from the highest levels of government.

Either way, this exchange reveals to us that Ogata is onto how Tsurumi manipulates men to following him and he isn’t having any of it. Unlike many other characters, Tsukishima also makes a strategically sound decision - he retreats to find Edogai knowing he’s not in the best situation against Ogata. This is the first indication that Tsukishima isn’t just a yes, man for Tsurumi, he has more skills and training and it shows. Neither of them underestimate each other and this really highlights they have a good understanding of each other as a solider.

Even with the escape of Edogai and Tsukishima, Ogata takes full advantage of the situation. He uses Shiraishi and Sugimoto to do his dirty work for him and he thinks that he’ll just be able to get the fake skins for himself as well the one real skin. Look at this smug cat, just following the others to get things.

His plan was working well until they hit the gas pocket and then he almost got trapped in the mine, but after confirming the death of Edogai, but not Tsukishima, he followed miners out safely.

What is most important is that he then takes charge of the situation. He’s clearly Ushiyama’s junior but he decides to tell them what is happening with the fake skins. No one even questions this, out of all of the characters present; Sugimoto, Shiraishi, Asirpa, Ushiyama and Kiro (his partner) agree to go with him. I’ve been wondering if Kiro told Ogata that there was a skin in Barato and he then passed it on to Ogata who quickly noticed that Tsurumi’s men were there. He’s even the one who ordered Ushiyama to contact Hijikata.

Once Hijikata arrives and he and Sugimoto begin their standoff Ogata and Kiro look at each and nod. It is clear that if shit goes down between these two, they must have some sort of plan and they are also just checking in with each other visually.

As the tension escalates Asirpa tries to get involved in the Sugimoto - Hijikata battle of wills and goals for the gold. Ogata at first is watching and then stops to think about what just happened. Hijikata cutting her off prevented Asirpa from saying that her father may be Noppera-bou, but Ogata immediately fills in the rest. Going only on “my father”, he looks shocked to figure that she could be his daughter.

This means that Ogata knows that she is likely a known element in the hunt for the gold and he’s shocked that she’s there with the rest of the men involved in the hunt for the gold. Most of those involved in the hunt for the gold are first under the idea that she was “promised” the gold but once Wilk dies, she becomes the key to the gold. He likely knows Wilk is Kiro’s partner on the outside and Kiro likely told him that his daughter is the key and he’s just putting it all together at that point.

When the 27th attacks to destroy all of the evidence, he is able to snipe effectively and interestingly, Hijikata gets him as far away from himself as possible and instead tries to get information from Kiro. It is clear the entire time that Hijikata doesn’t trust Ogata, but not for the reasons that Sugimoto tried to warn him for at supper. Sugimoto’s reasons for not trusting Ogata are in a way “Sugimoto specific” he didn’t like the fact that Ogata betrayed the 27th, but as many people have stated before, he has no issue with Tanigaki who betrayed the 27th and tried to use Asirpa as a human shield. Hijikata’s reasons for not trusting him likely have to do with his own suspicions about what Ogata did for Tsurumi and how much he actually knows. Hijikata must know that Ogata is working with someone else, but he just can’t figure out who it is.

While Ogata is with the group he is quiet for the most part. He acts like a model team member but reveals little.

He is simply watching and observing everyone. He does his best to not arouse suspicion even though Sugimoto has a bone to pick with him constantly. The entire time they eat woodcock brains and then make citatap he’s just watching everyone. Always in the background silently observing.

For the most part he puts others at ease, they don’t may much attention to him and he can keep watching. The only person who is always watching him is Sugimoto. I’d say that Sugimoto is watching Ogata the wrong way, he’s watching him b/c he’s expecting him to betray him all the time, and he doesn’t pay attention to read in between the lines to really figure out Ogata’s background. Yes, he’s a former subordinate of Tsurumi but it is clear that Sugimoto isn’t making the full connection between Tsurumi’s role as an intelligence officer.

The next indication to Ogata’s role as likely working directly in intelligence is during the silent kotan arc. He immediately notices that something is off since Asirpa realizes that something is off. During the entire time in the house, Ogata is watching, watching, watching. Here is just one example, when Asirpa needs an excuse to leave they are confused and Sugimoto is embarrassed by her behavior.

With Asirpa out of the room, Ogata then begins to put pressure on the fake Ainu. And this is just like how he interacted with Tanigaki - he senses that he has an advantage and he begins to push hard on them. Ogata is able to start questioning them and when he gets no reply he pushes them even further.

One woman yells through the window for them to please save them. Then the woman in the room with them makes the same request. The yakuza is clearly concerned and Ogata looks down upon him based on the angle of the shot. And since he has confirmed that they did not know what Asirpa said, he knows they don’t know what the women are saying.

I’ve begun to wonder - does Ogata know what they are saying? He’s working with Kiro and he’s worked directly for Tsurumi. At this point in GK it is not crazy to assume that Ogata may know some Ainu as well. By not saying citatap or hinna hinna unless he really wants to he keeps people in the dark about if he could know some Ainu.

Ogata tries so hard to get the others to realize that something is off. He notices yakuza tattoos, the odd behavior and he even makes the man who is supposed to be the village head scream out in Japanese and Sugimoto is still completely dense. And this shows that Ogata’s pressure on them has paid off.

He lays everything out for Sugimoto and only b/c of Sugimoto’s stubbornness and dislike of Ogata does he keep ignoring them. During this arc it is interesting, he acts as the leader of their group, gets them to figure out something is off and then provides some support but really lets Sugimoto deal with most of it.

I also wonder about this scene. Ogata asks the yakuza if he knows how to beg for his life in Ainu. Is this Ogata just gloating or does Ogata actually know how to?

The entire silent kotan arc is one where Ogata steals the spotlight and the leadership of the group and it works well. He even notices that the women make dango with the pestle they used to hit and kill a man. . . .

Ogata then is key to their plan to rescue Shiraishi from the 27th. First off, he eliminates any plan that may not work from the start. Nagakura points out that they will be on guard since their attempt to rescue Shiraishi failed. Sugimoto thinks a high ranking officer and this shows how unaware he is of the composition and politics of the military elite are. Ogata stops the idea before it can even get off the ground. When he says this he looks very introspective and almost sad or disappointed about something. He knows based on his background that someone like him is not able to enter that realm b/c he’s not from an elite family. Working in intelligence he would be privy to the information about the higher ups in the military. This also alludes back to his earlier statement about knowing how the military brass were suspicious of Tsurumi.

Interestingly, Kiro is the one who mentioned that the men were from the 27th and Kiro is the one who conveniently has a map of the 7th division base/fort shown on the previous page. How did Kiro have this map so easily?

Kiro is also great at playing along to be ignorant about Ogata’s background. He damn well knows he was in the 27th and working for Tsurumi.

Ogata than flat out says that the 27th will likely have Shiraishi hidden away and not easy to get access to. He knows their standard operating procedures and what would likely happen.

When they then go to rescue Shiraishi, he takes up position to watch things and provide support from afar. Here he is able to determine when things will become problematic with the arrival of Koito. As soon as he notices him, he knows that they are in for a rough go since Koito is Tsurumi’s pet Satsuma hayato.

As Sugimoto and Shiraishi escape he gives them covering fire - just enough to prevent them from chasing out the window. This was smart - Ogata fires once and he flees and he knows that Koito will run out to pursue from the other direction. At this point, Ogata takes full command of the situation.

He directs Sugimoto and Shiraishi to follow him and then he orders him to run like hell. What is really neat is when Ogata takes charge, he takes charge.

As the reach the edge of the base, both Sugimoto and Shiraishi are in awe and shock at the sight of the blimp. Ogata meanwhile is not only unfazed, but he correctly tells them that it is a prototype from the dirigible division. Of course Ogata knows what it is - he knows more about the military than anyone else in the groups outside of the 27th. Not just b/c he was in the 27th, as Tanigaki was only added to Tsurumi’s men after the war, but b/c he was a major part of Tsurumi’s inner circle of intelligence.

Shiraishi quickly realizes that they should steal it and at that point Ogata conceals his face with the hood of his cloak. What is very interesting is that Sugimoto manages to steal a rifle but Ogata is the one who single handedly is able to allow them to steal the blimp.

Once on the blimp, they have to deal with Koito. Sugimoto orders Ogata to give him his bayonet while Koito now for the third time uses his information on a member of the 27th agains them. He flat out tells Sugimoto about his Jigen-Ryu style and that he’s at a disadvantage. With that reveal, he doesn’t bother to conceal his identity from Koito and it he uses it to try to throw him off to an extent.

With Asirpa’s distraction of almost hitting Koito with an arrow and Shiraishi knocking him off they are able to escape. While the rest fuss over Sugimoto, Ogata borrows the type 38 and softly smiles at it.

After the blimp crashes, he again takes command of the situation. He knows where they are, their distance from the 7th and that he was watching the 27th following them on horseback. He flat out tells them that need absolutely need to outrun them and it is their only option.

As they continue up into the mountain, Ogata is totally in charge of the group, Shiraishi wants to head down. He stops him and tells him they can’t b/c they are being pursued. Either Sugimoto or Shiraishi suggest trying to hide in the snow and he also says there is not enough snow to hide them. It really becomes a conversation between him and Asirpa.

He knows they are going to suffer from hypothermia if they don’t act quick and Asirpa tells Sugimoto to shoot some of the deer and Ogata immediately obliges getting two at once. As they begin to descend the mountain, there are two major events. Asirpa prompts the first Ogata flashback.

This is key for several reasons. We get a look at the fact that Ogata grew up in poverty. His mother was a geisha who had him in the hopes that it would allow her to be with his father and likely she would be loved and supported by him. Where Ogata fit in this is unclear - she gave him a noble samurai name but it is implied that she came from a samurai family on the losing side of the Meiji revolution while Hanazawa was a Satsuma man from the winning side.

Whatever the cause of his mother’s mental illness, it was not good and it hurt him and his grandparents. He tried his best to get her to change. He brought her fowl for dinner and she was so far gone that she never even noticed him. His mother was obsessed with Hanazawa and he suffered because of it.

Ogata got a rifle from his grandfather. @goldenkamuyhunting has a nice summary of this in a meta which you can find here:

https://goldenkamuyhunting.tumblr.com/post/184630357773/do-you-know-exactly-what-rifle-ogata-grandfather

What is key is that Ogata has a carbine, not a full size rifle. The Ogata family was on the losing side of the Meiji revolution meaning they fought and/or supported the side of the Shogunate. From research, there were Western military style calvary units that fought for the Shogunate and they used carbines. This information tells us that Ogata’s grandfather likely fought in the war and was in a cavalry unit. Therefore, his grandfather could ride horse and may have told Ogata about his times. This also would imply that his grandfather was up fighting in Hokkaido potentially as a part of the Republic of Ezo.

He is telling this to Hanazawa as he as stabbed him to stage his suicide. What is more interesting is how his grandparents react to his mother eating the poisoned nabe. They are trying to get her to throw up whatever it is while Ogata is blankly in the background. Based on her mental state they may have thought that she did this to herself and they are trying to prevent her death by suicide.

Here is the interesting thing, if this is approached from a classic samurai household mindset, her suicide would not be something they would celebrate (that sounds terrible) but they wouldn’t potentially try to save her. But here both of his grandparents are trying to hold her up and get her to vomit. This would imply that some aspect of their lifestyle of background would not want her to do this e.g. that they are Christian in background. Ogata’s mother messed up big time, she got pregnant, had Ogata and then was unable to work as a geisha anymore. Yet, Ogata’s grandmother brings her back and takes care of her and her illegitimate child.

His entire confession to Hanazawa is interesting. He tells him how he was abandoned by him and what it did to his mother and this leads him to tell him that he didn’t have the option to chose his parents. Hanazawa reveals that he knew his mother hand mental health issues and this implies this in part lead to him abandoning her. He likely didn’t want to risk having a son who could also have the same issues and he says that Ogata felt like he did.

I don’t think Ogata was disgusted by his mother - he just didn’t get the attention he deserved and required from her. He goes on to tell him that children are unable to chose their parents.

Therefore, he does not believe that love is a certain thing personally. But he still leads Hanazawa through a thought exercise that a child raised without love from their parents will be missing something fundamentally human. He throws it that it also has nothing to do with one’s position or social class since, his father’s eliteness is meaningless.

All of this leads to Ogata’s thoughts that knowing that Yuusaku was a respected and upstanding man and being of high moral character showed him evidence that when his father cared for his son, he was able to become the type of person that Yuusaku was from the outside. This then leads into Ogata’s question if all of a sudden Yuusaku were missing would this lead to a blessed path for him. The lighting on tihs panel shows Ogata over Hanazawa and lit from behind by light.

This lighting is then matched with the sun rising over the mountains has he looks off into the distance as a child with a recently shot duck looking for a blessed path.

Now the language that Ogata uses here is very unusual. Through my very limited understanding of the Japanese readers of GK, many of them picked up on how his language is very Christian in nature with the use of one being blessed. There was a nice meta post by @1010mush about this and how this is something that many people were confused by.

What chapter 103 tells us is that Ogata’s grandparents were on the losing side of the Meiji revolution, they went to great lengths to try to save his mother and took care of him and he’s looking for blessings and love. A major aspect of Christianity is the idea that “God is Love” and Ogata does not believe in love and likely does not believe in God either. All of this likely indicates that the Ogata family may very well have been Christian.

The next time Ogata’s skills of information gathering and keeping things in perspective happens in the swamp. Shiraishi finally asks Sugimoto why he wants the gold and he says he’s doing it for the widow of his friend for her eye surgery and Ogata immediately determines she is the woman he loved from thei first encounter. Since Ogata already interrogated Sugimoto when he first met him, he now has this additional information about him.

He watches at Asirpa tries to distract everyone off of the topic of the woman who Sugimoto loves and he knows that she has a kid crush on him. This will come into play much later when he’s trying to convince her to work with him.

The time in the swap brings up his encounter with Tanigaki. He still thinks that Tanigaki killed Tamai and Co and now he’s upset that he’s met up with the group and he thinks he’s directly following him on Tsurumi’s orders.

Instead of asking Ogata to help him, Tanigaki lashes out at him. Yes, Ogata plays this the wrong way and thinks that he can still use his rank on Tanigaki but it backfires. Tanigaki only becomes more upset and thinks that Ogata will murder the other Ainu to save him. This is very interesting since Ogata has demonstrated numerous times that he does not kill people without reason, and especially civillians. The thing that seems to push him to the edge is when the one Ainu man tells him to throw down his rifle in Ainu - Ogata gets white eyes and he tells the man to not aim at him and that he will kill him.

There is so much tension that has built up here. What is interesting is that even though the man is holding the rifle aimed at Ogata, he’s still holding his rifle down and in a ready but not aimed position. The next page shows that Ogata is still not aiming his rifle at the other men even though the Ainu man has the rifle pointed at him. The Ainu elder then orders the man to lower his rifle.

Despite being very threatening, Ogata never followed through on even aiming at them. He looked livid and he had the white eyes but didn’t actually do anything. And with that the situation resolves itself.

He despite not trusting Tanigaki, manages to rescue him easily. This shows that he had a good understanding of the situation and also of human behavior, escaping earlier rather than later when they would be watched much more closely. He sacrifices his precious sniper cloak and his cloth that protects his rifle as well. Note, out of all of the characters who have rifles, Ogata is the only one who frequently has it covered when not in use. Clearly this it to in part protect the rifle but it may also serve a purpose to be more polite around others with it and indicates a time when he is not threatening.

Asirpa later thanks Ogata for helping to rescue Tanigaki without hurting anyone else. At this point she clearly has picked up on the other adults attitude towards Ogata and tells him that she has changed her opinion of him. In between him sniffing her hand, Ogata tells everyone what they would expect to hear from him. He stops and thinks before he replies. He’s smirking and his face is completely shades from the eyes up and the rest of him is also shaded as he tell them that he’s an old war buddy.

The reader knows this is utter bullshit - he tried to kill Tanigaki, he shot Mishima and Maeyama who were both war buddies. Tsukishima was shocked that he did so and Ogata is just reusing Tsukishima’s line here. Ogata does not feel connections with others being war buddies but this is the easiest line to say to keep others from pressing him for more information. A smart move on his part to just play to basic military ideas (that he clearly does not believe in).

The next two important instances of Ogata knowing more military information than a regular Superior Private during the swamp and at the beach. Only after Sugimoto fires the wet rifle does he notice that Ogata stole the type 38 from him. Yes, Ogata knows his firearms and he is a nerd about it.

But he explains all of the full details about the improvements in the type 38 rifle both with range and the cartridges as well. His knowledge is well beyond all of the other characters when it comes to firearms. Part of this is probably his own personal interest but also from his time in intelligence.

The second time he is again a major information dump for the rest of the group. He describes in great detail what happens during locust swarms. Ogata explains this for an entire page. He knows the type of damage that they can cause, how frequent they have been in Hokkaido during the Meiji era and the extremes that the 7th had to go to deal with them.

He uses interesting language here, that “they would tell stories about it in the 7th.” maybe they did or maybe he knew more details about this due to his time in intelligence. Tanigaki was also a member of the 7th and was working as a frontier solider - he could add information in here but instead he’s silent the entire time. Either Tanigaki wasn’t in the 7th long enough to hear these stories, he wasn’t paying attention or this information was not something most cared to remember.

The locust swarm gives Inkarmat a chance to talk to Asirpa alone. Meanwhile, Kiro catches up with the rest of the group on the beach. While the rest of the group jumps in celebration upon reaching the ocean, Ogata is looking off into the distance with his binoculars. Since Kiro was able to find them, I think that Ogata found a way to leave him a message or signal to him letting him know where to find them.

Inkarmat, essentially goads Asirpa into confronting Kiro, but in doing so, she gives enough evidence that, she must be working with Tsurumi. Ogata immediately pulls his rifle up to aim at her and explains to everyone that her evidence for Kiro killing Wilk was collected by Tsurumi.

Therefore, he has proven that his suspicions around Tanigaki were correct, but that it was through Tanigaki’s presence that she was passing information along to Tsurumi. Inkarmat was privy to information that Ogata knew that she shouldn’t know.

Ulitimately, Kiro gets Ogata to back off a bit and he calmly asks Shiraishi about Noppera-bou and if he looked the same as Wilk. Inkarmat has racheted the tensions up in their group and the are all tense as the get closer to Abarashi.

The next time that Ogata takes on a leadership role is during the blind bandit arc. Based on their attacks during the new moon, he realizes they could just go in search of them instead of waiting for an ambush.

Instead, everyone follows the advice of the Ainu man and they go to the onsen to try to find out information. This gives Toni time to watch them and they are able to attack them during the new moon. Ogata is the only one who brought his rifle to the onsen and he is the smartest person when they are attacked. He uses his shots sparingly and does not waste them. He even then trails Toni and two other men and identifies their hideout.

When they enter the abandoned inn, Ogata takes charge the entire time directing Sugimoto what to do. The two of them are very successful and he’s able to shot another man thanks to Asirpa’s help of dropping the small seed pods on the floor. Out of the entire group, Ogata and Kiro were much better at fighting the blind bandits than Sugimoto and Tanigaki.

When the group swings by the photo studio, Kiro is nervous about gettig his photograph taken. Hijikata has been trying to figure out if he’s a partisan and what his connection to Noppera-bou is since he never knew his real name. Kiro lets them take his photo despite the risk. Who does not get photographed to our knowledge is Ogata. He’s at the studio, as shown here.

But Ogata is not in any of the photos taken during the chatper and nor is he at the end when the images are developing, hung up with the clothes pins. Right now, there are no photos of Ogata from this stop that are known. Kiro has an obvious reason not to get his photo taken as it will later be revealed he’s a wanted man in Russia. Other than Tsurumi wanting Ogata dead, it is unclear why he’d be avoiding a photo unless he’d be recognized by someone who would know him from his intelligence days.

If Ogata did not get his photo taken on purpose, this is likely what made Hijikata a little bit more suspicious of him. Keep in mind that the tankoban version has Hijikata saying that both Tanigaki and Kiro told him about his background and that he was Hanazawa’s illegitmate child and a lot of people know this. It is his background that has Hijikata troubled and keep in mind the entire time, he’s being keeping Ogata out of his group when possible. He clearly never trusted Ogata to begin with but he thinks that Ogata’s motivations have to do with his background.

This leads to what I think is one of the most blunt yet honest statements from Ogata, he summarizes what Hijikata thinks his personal goal is - since Ogata never reveals much, he likely just avoids discussing it b/c his father clearly makes him upset and that he flat out calls everyone else’s trust of each other. He calls it like it is - everyone is working for their own motives and they have different ways to achieve their own goals. Hijikata, will betry Sugimoto and Shiraishi at Abarashi with the help of Kadokura. Inkarmat will sell them all out to Tsurumi. Kiro and Ogata, knew that they would have to kill Wilk to prevent him from passing along info - just like with the convict that Ogata shot all the way back in chapter 4.

Ogata likely knew that if the 7th would attack Abarashi and they were to move during the new moon that they would use the long burning star flares from the war to provide ample light. This likely explains his overall absence from the pre-Abashiri prep. He spends most of his time looking at the area with his binoculars and likely is trying to determine where he will snipe Wilk from when the time arises.

This really is highlighted at how Kiro double and triple checks with Asirpa when Inkarmat spots Wilk. When he’s on the roof Kiro looks back towards Ogata. He hangs back at this position and instead yells to Asirpa to confirm that Wilk is actually Wilk.

That allowed him to make the signal to Ogata to go ahead and shoot. Ogata and Kiro had an additional level of trust with each other than others in the group. Kiro prepped a canoe, one that was only big enough to take Asirpa, themselves and Shiraishi - they were planning on ditching the rest of the group from the get go.

Ogata gives the command to leave, meaning that Kiro was only waiting for him and that he wasn’t brining anyone else with them. Kiro already told Shiraishi that Inkarmat was Tsurumi’s informant so she had to be left behind. Ogata reports that Tanigaki was taken by Tsurumi and then he tells Asirpa that Wilk and Sugimoto are dead to get her to leave with them.

He’s both lying and telling the truth here. He did not go in for a closer look but he’s established this lie which will become important later on. It is 100% true that Wilk is dead, what he’s unsure of is if he was able to really kill Sugimoto or not. It boils down to the idea that Sugimoto is the type of person who may still survive. By mixing in the truth with lies, it makes it harder for anyone to tell if he’s outright lying or not and this entire statement is very clever.

When Kiro asks Ogata why he had to shoot Sugimoto in addition to Wilk, it was the idea that Wilk may have revealed more information about the gold to Sugimoto. It was a strategic decision on Ogata’s part to shoot Sugimoto and it was a smart one to make. Even though Ogata and Kiro have been working in their cat alliance, Ogata wants to make it clear that he doesn’t 100% trust Kiro or anyone really.

I still read this conversation as Ogata making it clear to Kiro that he will not completely follow him blindly and that he still has power in their partnership. The fact that he knows Sugimoto will come racing after them puts pressure not only on Ogata himself, but on Kiro as well by proxy. Ogata read Sugimoto like a book from observing him and the story reveals that Sugimoto will behave exactly how he predicted.

As they continue north to the Russian border, Ogata is reminded that Sugimoto may be still alive and following him when he was unable to kill a sea lion.

He seems more concerned about this that normal, his facial expression is one of concern and worry, not just a basic observation of fact. Of course, Asirpa tells him how to guarentee a kill on animals such as bears and sea lions. That he should shoot them in the eyes! I wonder if Asirpa has given away the key for Ogata to kill Sugimoto in the end. . . . or maybe Tsurumi since his forehead protector may make it harder to kill him.

One of the parts of the current Karafuto arc that continues to stand out for me is the entire visit to the fox farm. Kiro not only has them sell the sea meat so that they can make enough money to quickly travel to Shisuka by dogsled but also to help educate Asirpa on her father and parts of his past that she never knew.

He gravely mentions on imperialism lead to the loss of Wilk’s hometown. Due to his mixed nationalities, his father who was a Polish political prisioner couldn’t leave Karafuto even though he was married to an Ainu woman. They stayed behind and many of the Ainu moved to Hokkaido.

But most of those Karafuto Ainu died of disease in Hokkaido and no one returned to what was once a healthy kotan on Karafuto. Kiro highlights that the Karafuto Ainu were simply small human pawns at the mercy of these great colonial powers. While Kiro is explaining this, the panel shows Ogata, looking at the foxes in the background and he’s almost completely shaded.

@goldenkamuyhunting and I have been completely stuck on this panel for almost a year or so. Why is Ogata shown here? Is it b/c he’s a former Japanese solider and a representation of imperialism? But, Noda could have also put Shiraishi here as the other Japanese member of their party. Furthermore, Ogata clearly is not one who has bought into the midset of the Japanes imperial government and what it wants its citizens and soilders to think. He does not believe in the power of the elites, he thinks the military higher ups made poor decisions and he does not like men leading their subordinates to die pointlessly.

We have already hand a long discussion if this implies that Ogata has Karafuto ties. Is Ogata mixed race? Ogata is cannonically lighter in skin tone and he is a bit hairier than the rest of the Japanese cast (sans Tanigaki who is Matagi). His mother had to have been seen to be a beautiful woman since she was a geisha. On twitter Sei Kobiyama has mentioned that Japanese men were very attracted to Ainu women due to their unique beaty (and of course the implied sexual violence that went along with it). I can’t help but shake the feeling that if Ogata’s grandfather fought on the losing side of the Meiji revolution he may have ended up in Hokkaido and further north and met his grandmother who was either Karafuto Ainu or maybe even mixed race from there.

There must have been some event that allowed Kiro and Ogata to meet and from the cat alliance, why would Kiro want to work with Ogata as a partisan? It would be an additional “bonus” if part of his family were from the north and it just happened that he grew up in Ibaraki which was where his grandfather was from making him appear to be a regular country boy. Keep in mind that through genetics, if Ogata were mixed race, he’d be 1/4 Karafuto Ainu (or something of that background) and 3/4 Japanese with 1/2 of that being Satsuma from Hanazawa. It makes one wonder if Hanazawa knew that Ogata’s mother was mixed race and was a contributing factor to him not wanting to have that child suceed him in addition to her mental health issues. Ogata was born around 1880-1882; mixed race individuals were definitely not seen as a positive thing by the elites of many places around the world.

Anyways, Ogata serves as the force that allows Kiro to explain their rationale and plan for heading noth. He knows that Wilk told Asirpa the key to finding the gold before he “died”. Kiro knows it has to be something culturally linked and that the trick would be getting her to figure out what it is. The code would be something almost banal - nothing remarkable to Asirpa but unable to be known by anyone else.

Again, Ogata’s past in military intelligence comes through in this conversation - he works though all of the possibilities including the fact that she could be lying to them - even though, he likely doesn’t think Asirpa is lying to them he doesn’t rule out the possibility.

This entire conversation says a lot about both of these men’s personalities, Kiro plays to the strengths that he’d a friendly and personable guy and Ogata runs through the possible outcomes through logical reasoning. Really, these two make an excellent team that is balanced and despite their low level distrust is one of the most effective groups in the manga to date.

As they travel along Ogata shoots a musk deer and Kiro explains how he and Wilk were muskies. Asirpa looks so happy that she learned something about her father, The screentones on Kiro are dark as he is manipulating her for his own needs (and partisan needs) while in contrast Ogata is half dark/light. Both men can see that Kiro’s plan is working yet, Ogata’s committement to the plan is shown as not quite as negative as Kiro.

This part of the arc is also a very silent phase for Ogata. As he lets Kiro take the lead, his silence becomes more obvious and is at first confusing for the reader. It makes the power dynamic between Kiro and Ogata seem off balance and myself among others started scratching my head about this. Ogata would not be the type of character to enter such an unequal arrangement with Kiro pulling all the strings and him along for the ride.

When it is key to helping Asirpa figure out the code Ogata does speak, which gives his words more power to Asirpa. They go on the reindeer hunt to apologize for him shooting one and Asirpa is so happy to join him. She’s blushing and she excited to learn something about her father. She also physically tags along with him behind him under his cloak on the skies as they get closer to the reindeer showing that she trusts him enough to be physically close with him.

As Kiro explains the dyanmics of reindeer herds, Ogata concludes that they are just like people. This statement implies that he has a deep understanding of human interactions and how humans behave in groups. None of this is out of character for him and if anything, he is adding this fact to his already vast knowledge of many things to keep in mind for the future. This implies that in the past he’s seen people fall into choas when their look out was removed. This may be in reference to his role as a sniper during the war or maybe an military intelligence mission under Tsurumi. Or maybe he’ll use this in the future?

The reindeer hunt demomstrates that when given the freedom to act on his knowledge and skills, he is incredibly capable. Again, even though Kiro and Ogata never 100% trust each other, both of these men allow the other to shine when needed. Kiro is also the same age as Tsurumi, so it could be that Ogata respects him and does see him as a much more “normal” leader and a more compassionate leader as well. Again, post reindeer hunt, he’s oddly silent, nomming away on food in the background listening to everything.

He’s letting Kiro handle the logistics of crossing the border and he’s okay with this arrangement. When they are attacked by the border guards, several things happen. Ogata immediately moves to protect Asirpa. He tells her now to hide and he begins to assess the situation to determine that they are up against a skilled sniper.

What is most interesting about this is how their battle against the border guards plays to both of their strengths. Kiro is ballsy enough to rescue the injured man, almost goading Vasily to shoot him while Ogata takes advantage of his hesitation to shoot Ilya. Kiro and Ogata are both confident and proud men, hey says he was able to resue the Uilta man due to the gods (and his confidence) while Ogata states it was simply due to his smart actions to shoot the spotter.

I don’t want to dwell on the sniper battle too much, I’ve looked at it at length previously. The take home from the sniper battle is that Ogata wants Asirpa to realize that the border guards were tipped off to them and it is likely linked ot Kiro. He likely knows that Tsurumi would be the one to float that information to try to stop them or verify that they indeed crossed the border.

This event serves a few purposes it allows the backstory of Wilk and Kiro to be introduced as partisans and it leads one to begin to guess at Ogata’s background in the military. It also allows Ogata to learn from his loss in the sniper battle with Tanigaki to beat Vasily.

This panel here though is yet another example of Ogata all but admitting part of his skill set and again alluding to his role in the military not being a “normal” one. He states that he will have to get the answers directly from them. Unless the border guards are fluent in Japanese, Ogata is all but admitting that he can speak Russian. The sniper battle with Vasily shows that the partnership between Ogata and Kiro is much more balanced - yes, he still can’t speak the native people’s languages but he can speak Russian and it makes his decision to form the cat alliance with Kiro all the more reasonable. He’s not being blindly lead to Russia, he’s capable of working things out on his own if need be.

Okay, this is the end of part one, please see part 2.

#golden kamuy meta #gk meta #ogata hyakunosuke #asirpa #sugimoto saichi #tsurumi tokushirou #kiroranke #wilk #hanazawakoujiro #vasily #tanigaki genjirou #koito otonoshin #military intelligence

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