Golden Kamuy S4 – 05

「シネマトグラフ」 (Shinematogurafu)
“Cinematograph”

I’ve been looking forward to this episode ever the preview teased the title-I knew with a title like “Cinematograph”, crazy things were bound to happen-GK did not disappoint. When a pair of cinematographers come to town (who existed IRL), Asirpa and Sugimoto coerce them into filming re-enactments of the Panampe and Penampe folktales. In these trickster folktales, Panampe and Penampe (aptly played by Sugimoto and Shiraishi) use their tool to rake in on get rich schemes-one is successful and the other gets tricked. The amount of dickery in these tales fit the characters perfectly. It was highly entertaining watching the crew adapt Asirpa’s beloved tales home video style, complete with a cameo from Vasily. Everything from the shoddy props to Tanigaki becoming a free bird was insane fun, with a lot of heart to it, seeing how everyone put their all into doing this for Asirpa.

Asirpa, worried that technology (like matches) will erode Ainu traditions into obscurity, wants to preserve them through any means she can. This was especially poignant, considering the setting is at a time when the Japanese government began strongly enacting policies to force the Ainu to abandon their traditions in an effort to Japanize them. Asirpa comes alive in a way I have never seen her do before, directing these stories for posterity.

As someone living in an age of easy technology, it was moving to see Asirpa witness a past long-gone for the first time through a cinematograph. I was expecting it to make a bigger impact on her, so it was surprising and poignant that the opposite happened. Asirpa’s statement that she knew her mother far better through her father’s stories than through the cinematographs highlights that what makes the biggest impact is not so much what you learn, but how and from whom you learn it. When someone repeats a ritual, they remember their loved one each time they do it, much like Asirpa remembers her father through hunting rituals. That’s a beauty of GK-in creating so many larger than life, lovable characters, the mangaka introduces Ainu culture, crafting an emotional connection to audiences who otherwise may never have heard of or cared about it.

The growing divide between what Sugimoto wants for Asirpa and what Asirpa wants for herself finally came to a head at the riverside. Sugimoto wants to protect her, upfront about why he wants to shield her. “Hell is created by people like me”- a deep statement that hell is a loss of innocence, the trauma of extinguishing a human life- something he wants to shield Asirpa from at all costs. It’s not just because he wants to repent of his sins through being Asirpa’s savior (although he does admit that as being part of it). Sugimoto is angry-his raised shackles perceptible at the thought that Asirpa was given no choice in her life. In a blow to Asirpa, he revealed that her father and Kiroranke raised her to be a valiant leader of the Ainu-to kill and be killed for the sake of her people. Sugimoto’s repeated warnings are omnious, like the sounding of a death knell.

I get where Asirpa is coming from-her culture is important and should be protected at all costs, especially when the government seeks to erase it. It is her identity, her family, her lifeblood-no-one should be allowed to take that away. I also get where Sugimoto is coming from-having been through hell himself, he doesn’t want someone else to go through that. After seeing her carefree- hunting, rhapsodizing over delicacies, smiling with her family, how could he (or anyone else) sit back and do nothing, watching her very soul be ripped to pieces as she stains her hands.

I hope his revelation forces Asirpa to consider what she wants to do-not Sugimoto, not her father, not Kiroranke. If Asirpa continues down this trajectory, will Sugimoto respect that and stay by her side while allowing her to fulfill her role? Or will he fall into a funk as he witnesses her follow the same path to hell that he did, unable to do anything, or try to interfere, driving a wedge between them.

End Card