Golden Kamuy vol. 7

The Good:  We’re introduced to a new character, Inkarmat, whose specialty is fortune telling.  This leads to hijinks both fun, involving Shiraishi and the local racetrack, and interesting, turns out she has a connection to Asirpa.  Kirorake also gets his moment to shine as he winds up racing at the track on behalf of some low-level yakuza who want him to throw the race.  Naturally, Kirorake has other plans. Those low-level yakuza also wind up connecting the volume’s two halves as they have head-y roles in the fight against multiple wild bears.  The “bear standoff” in this volume delivers some of the best action yet in this series as Sugimoto, Asirpa, Shiraishi, Kirorake, and two veteran yakuza have to rely not just on their weapons, but on their resourcefulness as well.  If you believe that any LGBTQ representation in manga is a positive thing then the relationship between the two veteran yakuza, Ichiro and Tatsuya, counts as a plus too.

The Bad:  If you’re looking for positive LGBTQ representation in manga, Ichiro and Tatsuya’s relationship isn’t it.  When their relationship is revealed to the characters and the reader, Tatsuya immediately comes off as a screeching drama queen and his characterization doesn’t get much better through the rest of the volume.  Not helping matters is how their relationship is played for laughs more often than not. One example is when Ichiro comes to everyone’s rescue, he immediately calls out “Princess!” to Tatsuya, while the rest of the cast gives you the impression that we’re meant to take this as a joke.  On a completely different note is that there’s a two-page scene where Asirpa clubs a baby seal to death, skins it, and prepares it for cooking. I imagine there’s more than a few people who are going to have major issues with something like that.

The Verdict:  There are going to be some readers who are going to have BIG reservations with this volume.  I really don’t think mangaka Satoru Noda was trying to trigger anyone as the seal stuff is part of the historical context of the series.  As for trying to add some sexual diversity to the series, the credit he gets for trying is wiped away by his execution. It’s too bad that vol. 7 has these things weighing it down, because everything else around them is exciting and a lot of fun.