Today’s Tub Manga: Golden Kamuy (volume 3)

The short review: Golden Kamuy is simply amazing and one of the best things out right now. I think you should read it.

The long review: Intestines. Please take those skewers out of Sugitmoto’s cheeks. Asirpa has the BEST reaction faces. I found out that no matter how ancient Hijikata gets, my fangirlness knows no bounds and he will always be so fuckin’ cool. His whole “Kill them all!” scene gave me goosebumps and I got way too excited.

On a personal note, I absolutely love the portrayal of hunting in this manga. I think it’s so important to the story and I’m really intrigued as to how it’s being received by the readers. One thing in particular that stood out to me is after injuring the deer, as they’re tracking him Asirpa says, “Since the buck is injured, he’ll be trying to avoid climbing any slopes…” And my immediate thought was, “Uh, you’d think that, but you are WRONG.” (Unfortunately, I know this from experience. Not Ezo deer specifically, but still.) So then when their ambush goes awry and the deer escapes by going up the slope, I was oddly satisfied that such a silly but factual thing like that was included.

And at the risk of sounding like a total nutter (or giving away my super secret hunting technique?) Tanigaki’s conversation with Nihei about the “bloodthirsty odor” and the Matagi saying “become one with the trees” made me laugh out loud. I have actually done this. Not become a tree, of course, but tried to have “tree aura.” And for the curious reader, yes, I did end up with elk all around me, some within about four feet. And for the curious reader still reading: at four feet away, one of the elk did finally realize I was, in fact, not a tree and totally freaked out and bolted.

But I digress. READ GOLDEN KAMUY! It’s incredible.

Today’s Tub Manga: Children of the Whales (volume 1)

POSSIBLE KIND-OF SPOILERS

Chakuro is compelled to write so he chronicles the events of the Mud Whale, a giant castle-ship that floats around on a sand ocean. It’s a closed society consisting of two types of people: the Marked, who use a type of magic; and the Unmarked, who don’t use magic but live longer and because of their longer lifespan, actually govern the Mud Whale.

Things start to get crazy when they spot an island and do some recon, only to “salvage” the lone survivor.

This will sound morbid but I actually liked the end of this volume the best. I appreciated the world-building and setting the scene but it felt…I don’t want to say “stagnant” but the entire time, you know something big and mysterious is going to happen (anything involving a Committee of Elders is a dead giveaway) and it’s like, “Get on with it!” I love a slow burn and appreciate pacing, but the anticipation was almost uncomfortable.

So when everything erupted with the suddenness and violence that it did, it was sickeningly gratifying. Like, “Yes! This is what I was waiting for!” even as I felt like a bad person all the while for so eagerly devouring their misfortune and trauma.

One thing in those final scenes that I thought was conveyed exceptionally well is the feeling and realization that the Mud Whale inhabitants hadn’t seen lethal violence. They had no reference for it. The incomprehension rather than terror on their faces during the initial wave really drove home the fact that these people had lived in isolation and relative innocence their entire lives…and thus the slaughter felt even more brutal and tragic.