Golden Kamuy vol. 28

This volume hits the ground running as Asirpa is still in Major Tsurumi’s hands just after she’s given him her father’s name.  Which is a key piece of information about how to interpret the map made by the tattooed skins that have been the focus of this series for so long.  Then the bullets start flying as Sugimoto and company come to rescue her, and when the dust clears there are two groups with just enough information to make an educated guess about where the gold could be.  This means that we’re all set for a deadly race against time as both parties try to get to the gold before the other, right?

Wrong!  Mangaka Satoru Noda decided that this is the time to insert another lengthy flashback story into the main narrative.  This time we’re finding out about what it was like for Sugimoto when he first arrived in Tokyo and immediately crossed paths with Kikuta.  The office figures he can use this burly bumpkin in a complex scheme to prevent a familiar military flag-bearer’s virginity from being stolen, which would preclude him from that duty.  Cue several chapters of Sugimoto posing as the son of a high-class family, eating some good food, lecturing people about what they should be doing his life, and waving his dick around during a big-ass fight scene.

It’s not that I didn’t like this storyline, as it was too funny for me not to.  Sugimoto’s antics were always good for a laugh here, and even if the gaps being filled in here weren’t essential, they still added color to the backstories of the characters involved.  That said, with the story heading full-steam into its endgame, this flashback can’t help but feel like a distraction from the main event.  If Noda threw this in as a delaying tactic while he got the details of the main plot in order for the final act, then good for him in delivering a solid bit of filler rather than nothing at all.  I, on the other hand, will be looking forward to seeing how the real final act of this series kicks off in vol. 29.