Golden Kamuy vol. 15

Yes, there is a trend here…

Given that a not-insignificant portion of this volume is given over to wolverine fighting, I was a little disappointed that nobody tried to sneak in a “The best it is at what it does” joke in the script.  Anyhow, an actually significant portion of this volume involves the manly Russian art of Stenka.  Its full name means “Wall Versus Wall” and it involves two groups of men beating the crap out of each other until one side is demolished.  This is what Sugimoto, Tanigaki, Koito, and Tsukishima find themselves involved in after their sled dogs are stolen.  Getting the dogs back becomes a secondary concern when it’s revealed that one of the fighters in the next Stenka match is one of the tattooed convicts.  Meanwhile, Asirpa, Shiraishi, Kiroranke, and Ogata Shiraishi are still on the move, while the latter two are trying to find the easy way to get Asirpa to give up what she knows about the Ainu gold everyone’s after.  Then, we get to find out more about the newest member of Sugimoto’s group, Tsukishima, and why he became so devoted to Lieutenant Tsurumi.

After the figurative and literal fireworks of the previous volume, it’s not surprising that vol. 15 dials things back a bit.  While the Stenka business falls within the series’ remit for addressing all aspects of the period’s culture, mangaka Satoru Noda pushes its tolerance for ridiculousness a bit too far by having it lead to an emergency steam bath session in the woods to escape from a wolverine.  The business with Asirpa’s group that follows is certainly fine, but the volume’s high point is finding out about Tsukishima’s backstory in the last quarter.  His is a convoluted tale of love and tragedy that plays out secondary to its real point:  Showing us how Tsurumi was able to turn him, and others by extension, into a devoted subordinate.  It’s good stuff, to the point where the revelation of a key bit of the Lieutenant’s backstory manages to not be the most interesting thing about it.