History Characters / GoldenKamuySugimotosGroup

* TheBerserker: Sugimoto would make vikings proud over how ferocious he was during the battle of Hill 203 and the rest of the Russo-Japanese war. Whenever he battles multiple foes, Sugimoto goes for the most violent way to finish off his opponent, disregarding any wound he suffers while brutalizing his foes.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: His method to cope with all the carnage he causes during and after the war is to convince himself those he kills are evil and thus feel no pain or regret over losing their lives. When he explains this to Asirpa, she considers it a senseless and childish way to justify his own actions.

* CoveredInScars: Sugimoto's body is riddled with loads of thick scars to the point one might start to believe that he's really immortal, and he never ceases to gain more scars on his battered body more as the story goes on.
* DentedIron: Sugimoto's able to shake off most of the injuries he gets during his fights, but [[spoiler:getting shot in the head by Ogata]] severely damages him for a while. [[spoiler: By the end, he's gained many new scars to add to the absurd amount he already had and loses most of his left ear.]]

* FeelNoPain: Being stabbed through the cheeks with a skewer doesn't faze him. He's so used to getting riddled with bullets that they don't slow him down while fighting and most of the time Sugimoto doesn't even bother to remove them from his body.

* HealthcareMotivation: He needs to get the gold quickly, because Umeko is going blind, and desperately needs to get surgery in America before diplomatic relationships between Japan and America go sour and make the trip impossible. [[spoiler: Ends up counting for nothing, as the last chapter reveals Umeko had gained wealth after remarrying during his abscence and had the surgery done, restoring her eyesight way before Sugimoto got the gold.]]

* HyperactiveMetabolism: According to the fanbook, Sugimoto's metabolism is described as abnormally high, and is the reason why he is able to recover quickly from his injuries. It also causes him to sweat profusely and gives him a perpetually damp look.

* ImGoingToHellForThis: After Asirpa tells him the Ainu belief that committing murder condemns people to hell, Sugimoto states that he "has VIP tickets to hell" due to all the lives he's taken. [[spoiler:This is an ethos he borrowed from Kikuta.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: He goes through a lot for Umeko's sake. [[spoiler: Umeko turns out to have thrived on her own without his help, and this allows Sugimoto to finally move on from her after he delivers Umeko his share of the gold.]]

* LastNameBasis: Everyone but Umeko (who affectionately called him [[FirstNameBasis "Saichi-chan"]]) calls him by his surname.
* LossOfIdentity: When he came back from the war, the nearly blind Umeko couldn't recognize him, perceiving him as a completely different man than the one she knows and used to love. [[spoiler:Sugimoto adresses this in the last chapter, after Umeko recognizes him even in his battered state, due to him having made peace with himself after the end of the gold hunt, and her eyesight improving.]]

* MrFanservice: Sugimoto has been naked and has exposed his gorgeously sculpted (albeit heavily scarred) body more times than women have been even implied to. Shiraishi and Kironake lampshade it, with Shiraishi saying that Sugimoto has "a face that ladies love" and must be popular with women and Kiroranke suggesting that Asirpa's insistence in healing his facial wounds is because she likes his looks. Both turn out to be correct.

* RealMenWearPink: He knows of UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc through Shōjo Sekai, the best-selling magazine for girls of his time, [[https://twitter.com/satorunoda/status/921279029218443264 as revealed by Satoru Noda himself]] on Website/{{Twitter}}. The exhibition that opened after the manga ended revealed that Sugimoto had been carrying a copy of the same magazine during his travels the entire time! He's also a an avid romance novel reader.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Sugimoto has recurring nightmares about the death of his best friend Toraji, whom he grew up with. Toraji died in the Russo-Japanese war, [[HeroicSacrifice taking a mortar blast that was meant for Sugimoto.]] His death deeply wounded Sugimoto's psyche, being the worst wound he received on top of all the atrocities he witnessed and commited during his time in the military. When he and Asirpa have to hide inside a deer carcass during a blizzard, she asks him if there food he likes, and Sugimoto mentions dried persimmons, his favourite food growing up, touching on this subject when he says that, no mater how much he and many other war veterans have tried to, they've never managed to turn back into the people they used to be before the war. Asirpa, attempting to help him, asks him to bring her to his hometown so they can taste the dried persimmons he loves, in the hope that it will bring him back to who he was before the war. Sugimoto, overcome by his trauma, the weight of the loss of his best friend, and the memories of his peaceful life before the war that he can no longer return to, [[BrokenTears is overcome by tears, unable to offer any response.]]
* SillyReasonForWar: During the Yamada Circus arc, Koito's gift in acrobatics overshadows Sugimoto's harakiri's trick, the ''whole reason'' of them being there in the first place, as Sugimoto is trying put on a show so amazing that it will make the news, [[spoiler:in order to inform Asirpa, whose location is unknown, that he survived the events of the failed assult on Abashiri prison]] A subplot develops with Koito [[SmugSuper refusing to tone down his performance]] and Sugimoto trying to outdo and eventually ruin each other's show.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[ButForMeItWasTuesday He doesn't seem to recall and vice versa]], but not has Sugimoto met a significant number of the 7th Division soldiers involved in the gold hunt before it began, but Sugimoto's actions had a vital role in their backstories, and in some cases, may have even have led to their participation in the gold hunt.

** [[spoiler:After Tsurumi and Tsukishima were injured in a mortar blast, they both needed sleds to cross an ice-cap to reach a the nearest military hospital, the problem being that there was only one sled left to carry any wounded. Just as the soldiers were about to prioritize Tsurumi's life, leaving Tsukishima to die, Sugimoto, who was placing the mortally wounded Toraji onto one of them, told them they can use the sled instead, saying he was told to "give priority to the ones that can still be saved." This leads to both Tsurumi and Tsukishima surviving the war. Ironically, this immensely kind gesture would prove costly to Sugimoto years later, as Tsukishima would go on to be Tsurumi's right hand man and main enforcer, [[CreateYourOwnVillain and Tsurumi would prove Sugimoto's nemesis during the gold hunt and by far the most dangerous enemy he ever faced.]]]]

* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: His refusal to run away with Umeko in his youth, and her subsequent marriage to Toraji and eventual widowhood haunts Sugimoto for years, over how things could've been had he chosen differently. [[spoiler:He finally moves on in the last chapter, deciding that the past is the past and that he's moving forward with his life.]]

* UsedToBeMoreSocial: Went from a popular, cheerful man in his youth, to a solitary vagrant after he ran away from his hometown. His return from war as a traumatized veteran only isolated him further and further, at least until his chance metting with Asirpa.

The co-protagonist of the series, a young Ainu huntress who meets Sugimoto at the start of the story. She quickly befriends him and agrees to help the war veteran look for the treasure, in exchange for getting revenge on the man who killed her father. Asirpa is unique among Ainu women in that she is a skilled survivalist and hunter; although she refuses to kill anyone, she's the one that ensures that her group can survive while trekking through the harsh wilderness of Hokkaido.

* HeartbrokenBadass: Sugimoto's love for Umeko [[DidNotGetTheGirl did not prosper]] and in all the occasions he had a chance to change that, it never worked. Especially tragic since Umeko '''did''' love him back when they were tennagers and tearfully begged him to take her with him so they could run away together from their hometown, which Sugimoto refused to do out of fear of being infected with tuberculosis and passing it to her. In the second chance he had, Sugimoto returned to their town on the day of Umeko and Toraji's wedding, and in spite of Toraji's terror that Sugimoto was about to steal her away, Umeko firmly stood by her husband to be, refusing to meet Sugimoto. The third and last time, Umeko, now almost blind, couldn't fully recognize Sugimoto due to [[KillingIntent the stench of violence he was carrying]] after he returned to Japan [[ShellShockedVeteran a broken man after the war]], causing him to once more flee from their home town. [[spoiler:Sugimoto would finally manage to put the past behind him during their brief meeting in the last chapter, as seeing Umeko healthy and thriving allowed him to move on from his first love once and for all.]]

* AlreadyDoneForYou: [[spoiler: In the lead-up to finding the buried gold, the improbability of Asirpa being able to ''use'' the gold for her people is highlighted quite a few times, as she is a young child in the company of trained killers who vastly outstrip her in combat experience, and they would have the final word in what happens to the gold once they dig it up, not to mention how difficult it would be to transport the gold around without it being stolen. Once the party actually finds where the gold is buried, the group digs up what turns out to be a buried and preserved land deed, that certifies that half the gold was used to buy vast swaths of land for the Ainu, leaving Asirpa relieved and thankful that her father found a way to turn the hateful 'Golden Kamuy' into a benevolent one for the Ainu, even as everybody else [[FaceFault collapses in disappointment from the revelation]]. Slightly subverted as the remaining half of the gold is still buried in Goryōkaku, and that Asirpa decides to stay and see the hunt through to the end alongside her companions, even though she already has what she needs from it]].

* CerebusRetcon: She is surprisingly adept at hunting and survival in the mountains for a young Ainu girl, especially in a culture where women are expected to [[StayInTheKitchen to be homemakers and hunting is left to the men.]] It is mostly presented in a lighthearted way to expose the most interesting parts of Ainu culture, and seemingly give Sugimoto a competent [[KidSidekick partner]] in his trek through the Hokkaido wilderness. [[spoiler:When Sugimoto meets the real Noppera-Bou/Wilk in Abashiri Prison, the disfigured prisoner confesses that he had been secretly raising his daughter as a freedom fighter that would wage war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext to develop her combat skills. This becomes far more shocking since Asirpa doesn't want to kill anyone, and yet he planned for her to eventually become a martyr that would kickstart revolution, something that would require her to both kill people and eventually suffer a violent death that would inspire the Ainu to revolt.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Sugimoto is her '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way and no other for the entire story. However, her relationship chart in the fanbook has Sugimoto listed as her "Partner?", questioning if she [[PrecociousCrush "secretly harbors some feelings deeper than that]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she's in love with him.]]

* JeanneDArchetype: [[spoiler:Invoked. Wilk had been secretly raising to bea freedom fighter who would wage war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext. Once [[ShellShockedVeteran Sugimoto]] finds out, he calls him out for trying to [[LampshadedTrope make her some kind of Ainu Joan of Arc]] because it would mean she'd have to be a murderer and eventually die a martyr.]]

** In spite of the impressively broad Ainu cuisine shown in the series, she continously serves Sugimoto brains, eyes and other seemlingly unappetizing parts, much to his reticence.

* CripplingOverspecialization: If you need to escape, he's your guy. Anything else, better look for someone else.

* EscapeArtist: Shiraishi's specialty. He's not only nimble or knows his way around locks, but exploits the organization of the prisons themselves to his advantage. It goes beyond that, as he has such an understanding of prison life that he pais a prisoner to snitch on him on purpouse to '''aid''' his escape.

* TheMillstone: Shiraishi screws up a lot. One notable instance is tripping and dropping a bag of bombs into a fire in a building, not only putting the whole group in danger but forcing them to stop their hunt for the gold to replenish their supplies. The other is Hijikata providing him with countless chances to escape for the 7th Division, through various ruses and disguises, only for Shiraishi to miss every single one of them. Hijikata ultimately ends up cutting off the ropes holding up the bridge Shiraishi and the soldiers were in, which finally allows Shiraishi to escape.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: When he first meets Sugimoto and Asirpa, he asks the war veteran if she is his pet Ainu "dog" and if she knows any tricks. Sugimoto, [[BigBrotherInstinct outraged]], threatens to make him unable to speak and is about to break his jaw before Asirpa stops him, saying she's used to being hearing things like that and worse because of her Ainu heritage. Sugimoto internally laments in anger that no one should need to get used to hear such things. Shiraishi wisely decides to never have such an attitude with Asirpa from that point on, and to his credit, he never does again.

** Subverted later in Karafuto. Kiroranke and Ogata say he doesn't need to accompany them anymore as their next travels will be very dangerous, and Shiraishi has convinced Asirpa to try to leave with him and leave them behind, but Asirpa decides to stay with the two. The group parts ways, but immediately after, Shiraishi recalls the many times Sugimoto entrusted Asirpa's safety to him, and can't bring himself to leave her alone with the two, especially knowing how dangerous they are.
* ShaggyDogStory: Shiraishi's flashback involves endlessly chasing after a nun because of a lousy portrait, breaking out of various prisons before inevitably getting captured by the police. In the end, said sister [[spoiler:ends up looking exactly like how the "lousy" portrait depicted her.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Sugimoto is her '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way and no other for the entire story. However, her relationship chart in the fanbook has Sugimoto listed as her "Partner?", questioning if she [[PrecociousCrush "secretly harbors some feelings deeper than that?"]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she's in love with him.]]

* LittleMissBadass: Asirpa is only 12 or 13 years old, and though she doesn't fight people directly most of the time, she's still a very competent combatant and the most adept survivalist and hunter of the group. In fact, she was hunting bears with her father since she was around 7. [[spoiler:It turns out Wilk had been raising her into becoming a freedom fighter who'd wage war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext to train and develop her fighting skills]].

* MaybeEverAfter [[spoiler:With Sugimoto after the timeskip in the epilogue, which shows they've been cohabiting for years.]]

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Definitely the most stable and morally upstanding 7th division member.

* BadassDriver: Boutarou is able to chase down the 7th division in the Sapporo beer car, of all things.

* VisionaryVillain: His goal is to use the gold to begin a kingdom in southeast Asia and have lots of kids so his exploits will live for eternity. [[spoiler:His motivation for this is surprisingly sympathetic: it's revealed that his entire family died of smallpox when he was young, so he wants to build a new one that's so big he won't ever have to be lonely again. His death fighting the 7th division cuts this short, but the last page of the manga reveals that Shiraishi used the remaining half of the gold to fulfill his dream in his place.]]

* HealingFactor: Has a superhuman ability to heal very quickly from any serious injury, even a [[spoiler:headshot]] didn't put him down for long. [[spoiler: The katana he took to the chest in the final battle didn't cause him any lasting damage either, as the epilogue shows him to be as healthy as ever.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Asirpa is his '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way and no other for the entire story. The relationship chart in the fanbook further drives this point home by expressing that Sugimoto sees her as "his one and only partner".

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Delivers a Shining Wizard to Ushiyama.

* ArcherArchetype: She uses her bow with great accuracy to hunt bears and other animals, and is just as proficient with her arrows when it comes to fighting. She's a usually calm and serious person, her stoic attitude being born out of the tragedies she experienced early in her life with her father's murder, and Retar's departure.

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Justified, as she's probably never drunk alcohol and has a very small and light frame. Every time she is shown drinking, she quickly gets completely wasted.

* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler:After watching a cinematograph (early film), that has footage of both of her parents living happily and peacefully in her village decades before the gold hunt, she finally understands the significance that finding the gold and putting it to good use would have for her people and the survival of their culture.]]

* [[TheChiefsDaughter The Chiefs Granddaughter]]: Her late grandfather on her mother's side was the most important man in her village, and her maternal grandmother (Huci) is still revered as a vital authority figure. [[spoiler: Her father Wilk was also seen as the would be leader of the united Ainu peoples in their push for independence, at least until it all fell apart due to Tsurumi's machinations.]]

* GenderIsNoObject: Surprisingly, most of the cast doesn't call attention to her gender, even though the series takes place during the early 20th century and Ainu culture expects women to [[StayInTheKitchen be traditional homemakers]]. The only exception is Asirpa's grandmother, who worries that her granddaughter's lack of traditionally feminine skills will prevent her from getting married.

* GoodIsOldFashioned: Downplayed. Asirpa follows and cherishes her Ainu culture, but ignores some of it's customs such as getting her mouth tattooed, as she's around the age to do so and steadily refuses to get one, and divination, which goes against her belief that fate is not predetermined and can be changed. Her initial dislike for Inkarmat stems from this.

* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Asirpa is by far the most morally upstanding member of the cast, [[ThouShallNotKill refusing to break her vow to never kill anyone]] despite all atrocities she goes through, maintaining her moral code at all costs. Sugimoto even goes above and beyond trying to help her keep her vow, since he doesn't want her to become a murderer like him, being well aware of the devastating effects that the ensuing trauma can cause.

* JackOfAllTrades: If it's hunting or mountaineering related, she can do it and do it well, be it hunting, trapping, horse riding, archery, etc.

* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: Surprisingly, she speaks standard Japanese fluently and without any noticeable accent or stumbles, unlike most of the Ainu-Japanese speakers in the series. [[spoiler: This is because she was taught the language by her father Wilk, who in turn had learnt Japanese while in Russia from man called Hasegawa, in reality Lieutenuant Tsurumi, who, working as a spy, had diguised his native Niigata accent the entire time and spoke without any traces of it.]]

* ThouShaltNotKill: Humans she won't kill no matter what, hunting any animal is fair game. She strictly adheres to this code no matter what happens. [[spoiler:When she learns that her father is a mass murderer, she weeps out of disappointment.]] Even after Kiroranke continuously exposes her to the multiple injustices that the Japanese and Russian governments have subjected the Ainu and other Far Eastern indigenous peoples and the reprehensible exploitation of their natural resources, Asirpa still wonders if the gold is worth finding at all, since it will fund more bloodshed and further tragedy. [[spoiler:All her experiences ultimately lead her to conclude that the gold is cursed and should remain buried forever.]]
* TrainingFromHell: She went through harsh training since early childhood by her late father, [[spoiler: Wilk, with the secret goal of her becoming a freedom fighter waging war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence]]. Judging from what is shown in the series, it involved making her hunt a bear alone when she was 7 or younger. As a result, she's the most adept survivalist and hunter in Sugimoto's group if not the whole series, as she has a vast array of skills that keep the group alive in their trek.
* TrapMaster: As a hunter, Asirpa is skilled at setting traps, not only for animals, but humans as well.

* AntiHeroTeam: Barring Asirpa and Tanigaki, they are searching for the gold either out of selfishness, personal gain or their own dreams that require the gold to be achieved and all of them use more than questionable methods during their gold hunt, threatening, injuring and killing many people in the process. None of them qualify as heroes.

** Shiraishi is older than both war veterans but far younger than Kiroranke, putting him in his mid twenties.
** Kiroranke [[spoiler: was 15 when he assassinated Czar Alexander the II alongside Wilk in 1881]], meaning that when the story begins, he's in his early 40's, making him the oldest in the group.

* AllForNothing: Played with. [[spoiler: By the time Sugimoto reunites with Umeko to give her his share of the Ainu gold in the last chapter, it’s revealed that Umeko had already got the eye surgery needed to restore her sight, had remarried and ran her own business. Sugimoto gives her and her son the gold regardless, fulfilling his promise to Toraji and ensuring Umeko and her family will be financially secure for life.]]

* BadassInDistress: The 7th Division momentarily captures Sugimoto, but Shiraishi and Asirpa manage to free him. [[spoiler: The last battle ends with Sugimoto shot several times, heavily wounded and bloody, stabbed in the chest by a katana and a runaway train plunges him into the freezing ocean, with Shiraishi, Asirpa and Tanigaki looking in despair as he sinks.]]

* BerserkButton: Under '''no''' circumstances threaten Asirpa in his presence, let alone harm her. ''You won't live to tell the tale.'' [[spoiler:Michael Ostrog, the Jack the Ripper suspect, found this the hardest way out of all of Sugimoto's opponents.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: As stated above and below, Sugimoto is ''very'' protective of Asirpa even though she's more than capable of protecting herself, and vastly more experienced in the wilderness than he is. One insult to her is enough to provoke him into murderous rage, as Shiraishi quickly found out in their first meeting. As put by Sugimoto himself in the extras:

* BrokenAce: He used to be a cheerful, confident man in his youth, who according to Toraji, excelled in everything he did. The Sugimoto that returned to Japan after the war is [[ShellShockedVeteran a broken and traumatized shell of the man he used to be]], with all his former good qualities engulfed by his combat prowess and nigh-supernatural ability to survive the impossible. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, he has learnt to accept himself as he is now, admitting he has changed, and that doesn't need to return to his past self to be happy.]]

* CoolGuns: An Arisaka type 30 rifle that he kept from his days in the army. He's not very accurate with it whether he's fighting or hunting.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Umeko, his childhood friend and first love, married his best friend Toraji after Sugimoto ran away from their village. [[spoiler:By the time they meet again in the last chapter, Umeko had been remarried to another man for a long time, and Sugimoto parts ways amicably with her for good after a brief conversation.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the battles and perils of the gold hunt in spite of suffering horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the gold to Umeko in order to fulfill his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and is now finally free of guilt and any regrets over his past. Sugimoto then tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, choosing to return to Hokkaido with her. He goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]

* IJustWanttoBeLoved: His plan to use the gold to build a kingdom in southeast Asia and have lots of kids is revealed to be motived by [[spoiler:his entire family dying of smallpox when he was a child; he simply wants to build a new family that's so large he won't ever be lonely again.]]

* VisionaryVillain: His goal is to use the gold to begin a kingdom in southeast Asia and have lots of kids so his exploits will live for eternity. [[spoiler:His motivation for this is surprisingly sympathetic: it's revealed that his entire family died of smallpox when he was young, so he wants to build a new one that's so big he won't even have to be lonely again. His death fighting the 7th division cuts this short, but the last page of the manga reveals that Shiraishi used the remaining half of the gold to fulfill his dream in his place.]]

* VisionaryVillain: His goal is to use the gold to begin a kingdom in southeast Asia and have lots of kids so his exploits will live for eternity. [[spoiler:His death fighting the 7th division cuts this short, but the last page of the manga reveals that Shiraishi dug up the remaining half of the gold and fulfilled his dream in his place.]]

* VisionaryVillain: His goal is to use the gold to begin a kingdom in southeast Asia and have lots of kids so his exploits will live for eternity.

* LittleMissBadass: Asirpa is only 12 or 13 years old, and though she doesn't fight people directly most of the time, she's still a very competent combatant and the most adept survivalist and hunter of the group. In fact, she was hunting bears with her father since she was around 7. [[spoiler:It turns out Wilk had been secretly grooming her into becoming a freedom fighter waging war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext to train and develop her fighting skills]].

* PrecociousCrush: She has an increasing one on her [[InsistentTerminology partner]] Sugimoto, who's roughly twice her age. [[spoiler: It ends up causing trouble for her in many ocassions, since her feelings cause her to delay telling Sugimoto the key to find the gold so he stays by her side longer, and both Ogata and Boutarou exploit this in order to gain an advantage in the gold hunt in different ways. Ogata does it by heavily suggesting that Sugimoto died while still in love with Umeko, something Asirpa had been dreading since she the very moment she heard of Sugimoto's past, and Boutarou by constantly encouraging her to pursue and be bolder with her feelings, so that she gives up the gold hunt in order to be with Sugimoto.]]

* YouKilledMyFather: Her motivation to join the gold hunt and partnering with Sugimoto to get revenge on her father's murderer. [[spoiler: Although Wilk turned out to be alive, he eventually was murdered by Ogata, and Asirpa played a key role in his eventual suicide, indirectly fulfilling her revenge against the man that killed her father.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Asirpa is his '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way for the entire story. The relationship chart in the fanbook further drives this point home by expressing that Sugimoto sees her as "his one and only partner".

* IKnowYourTrueName: [[Hijikata knows the Japanese name she has in the family registry. It's "Asuko Kochoube", the one clue Noppera-Bou gave Hijikata about Asirpa's real identity.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Sugimoto is her '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way for the entire story. However, her relationship chart in the fanbook has Sugimoto listed as her "Partner?", stating that she[[PrecociousCrush "secretly harbors some feelings deeper than that?"]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she's in love with him.]]

* MeaningfulName: Asirpa means "new year" but can also mean "future" in Ainu, reflecting that she calls herself an Ainu woman for a new era because while she respects the Ainu tradition, she doesn't follow all of them blindly. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, her Japanese name, Asuko Kochoube, comes from the Japanese word for tomorrow (''asu'') and a locational surname derived from Kochōbetsu in Tōbuchi, Sakhalin. The first name roughly corresponds to her Ainu name, while the surname {{foreshadow|ing}}s that her father is a half-Polish half-Sakhalin Ainu settler. As her father wanted her to become a figurehead for an eventual Ainu uprising, her names take on a much darker meaning, since she was meant to kickstart the Ainu future through revolution and martyrdom.]]

* ObsessedWithFood: She is always eager to hunt any animal they encounter and to cook and eat it.

* PhenotypeStereotype: Hijikata speculates early on that Asirpa has Russian ancestry upon seeing hints of green in her blue pupils. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that her father, Wilk, is indeed a Russian born half-Polish man.]]

* PrecociousCrush: She has an increasing one on her [[InsistentTerminology partner]] Sugimoto, who's roughly twice her age. [[spoiler: It ends up causing various troubles for her, since her feelings cause her to delay telling Sugimoto the key to find the gold so he stays by her side longer, and both Ogata and Boutarou exploit her feelings for him in order to gain an advantage in the gold hunt in different ways. Ogata does it by heavily suggesting that Sugimoto died while still having feelings for Umeko, something Asirpa had been dreading since she first heard of it, and Boutarou by constantly encouraging her to pursue her feelings so that she gives up the gold hunt to be with Sugimoto.]]

* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:A non-private situation; once she remembers the key to solve the gold hunt, she decides not to pass the code to her partner Sugimoto, due to her fear that he'd abandon her for her own protection, putting himself in increasing and possibly mortal danger with no one around to help him, and because she's developed feelings for him.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Asirpa could be alternatively spelled as "Ashiripa" when spelled in katakana, which is the spelling used in the official French translations.
* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: Surprisingly, she speaks standard Japanese fluently and without any noticeable accent or stumbles, unlike most of the Ainu-Japanese speakers in the series. [[spoiler: This is because she was taught the language by her father Wilk, who was a polyglot who learnt Japanese from Tsurumi, who diguised his own native accent the entire time and thus spoke without any traces of it.]]

* ThouShaltNotKill: Humans she won't kill no matter what, hunting animals is fair game. She strictly adheres to this code no matter what happens.[[spoiler:When she learns that her father is a mass murderer, she weeps out of disappointment.]] Even after Kiroranke continuously exposes her to the multiple injustices that the Japanese and Russian governments have subjected the Ainu and other Far Eastern indigenous peoples and their reprehensible exploitation of their natural resources, Asirpa still wonders if the gold is worth finding at all, since it will fund more bloodshed and further tragedy. [[spoiler:All her experiences ultimately lead her to conclude that the gold is cursed and should remain buried forever.]]
* TrainingFromHell: She went through harsh training since early childhood by her late father, [[spoiler: Wilk, with the secret goal of grooming her into becoming a freedom fighter waging war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence]]. Judging from what is shown in the series, it involved making her hunt a bear alone when she was 7 or younger. As a result, she's the most adept survivalist and hunter in Sugimoto's group if not the whole series, as she has a vast array of skills that keep the group alive in their trek.
* TrapMaster: As a hunter, Asirpa is, of course, skilled at setting traps, not only for animals but humans as well.
* {{Tykebomb}}: [[spoiler:Wilk trained her for hunting and survival since her early childhood as a pretext to [turn her into a freedom fighter for the Ainu against the Japanese government. Sugimoto, [[ShellShockedVeteran knowing the horrors of war]], calls him out on going to such extreme lengths for the cause of independence and putting Asirpa in such danger, aware that Asirpa would need to become a martyr for the cause.]]
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Several characters comment on it, particularly Sugimoto. [[spoiler:Ienaga attempts to attack Asirpa to obtain them.]]

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: For an 12 to 13 years old girl, she is quite mature. Her relatives are quick to point out that, for all her maturity, she's still a [[NotSoAboveItAll fragile, lonely little girl at heart who's still grieving her father's death.]]
* YouKilledMyFather: Her motivation to join the gold hunt and partnering with Sugimoto to get revenge on her father's murderer. [[spoiler: Although Noppera-bou was alive, he ultimately was murdered by Ogata, and Asirpa played a key role in his eventual suicide, indirectly fulfilling her revenge against the man that killed her father.]]

* AlreadyDoneForYou: [[spoiler: In the lead-up to finding the buried gold, the improbability of Asirpa being able to ''use'' the gold for her people is highlighted quite a few times, as she is a young child in the company of trained killers who vastly outstrip her in combat experience, and they would have the final word in what happens to the gold once they dig it up, not to mention how difficult it would be to transport the gold around without it being stolen. Once the party actually finds where the gold is buried, the group digs up what turns out to be a buried and preserved land deed, that certifies that half the gold was used to buy vast swaths of land for the Ainu, leaving Asirpa relieved and thankful that her father found a way to turn the hateful 'Golden Kamuy' into a benevolent one for the Ainu, even as everybody else [[FaceFault collapses in disappointment from the revelation]]. Slightly subverted as the remaining half of the gold is still buried in Goryōkaku, and Asirpa decides to stay and see the hunt through to the end alongside her companions, even though she already has what she needs from it]].
* ArcherArchetype: She uses her bow with great accuracy to hunt bears, and is just as proficient with her arrows when it comes to fighting. She's a usually calm and serious person, her stoici attitude being born out of the tragedies she experienced early in her life with her father's murder, and Retar's departure.

* BrokenBird: She is noted to have rarely smiled ever since her father died, and only Sugimoto manages to break that stoicism. [[spoiler: Sugimoto's apparent death at Abashiri depresses her to the point that she's unable to even speak for days, and only her hope in his improbable survival brings her back to normalcy over time.]]

* CerebusRetcon: She is surprisingly adept at hunting and survival in the mountains for a little Ainu girl, especially in a culture where women are expected to [[StayInTheKitchen to be homemakers and hunting is left to the men.]] It is mostly presented in a lighthearted way to expose the most interesting parts of Ainu culture, and seemingly give Sugimoto a competent [[KidSidekick partner]] in his trek through the Hokkaido wilderness. [[spoiler:When Sugimoto meets the real Noppera-Bou/Wilk in Abashiri Prison, the disfigured prisoner confesses that he had been secretly raising his daughter as freedom fighter that would wage war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext to develop her combat skills. This becomes far more shocking since Asirpa doesn't want to kill anyone, and yet he planned for her to eventually become a martyr that would kickstart revolution, something that would require her to both kill people and eventually suffer a violent death that would inspire the Ainu to revolt.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: After watching a cinematograph (early film), she starts to understand the significance of her people and their culture and is more driven to finding the gold to use it for their welfare.
* ChekhovsGunman: She is the only person left who knows how to decipher the code that leads to the gold's location. The other one was her late father. [[spoiler:This was deliberate, as Wilk designed the code in such a way that the only one able to solve it would be Asirpa, with the added advantange that it made Asirpa too valuable to kill for anyone hunting for the gold. The different factions only solve the code and find the gold after acquiring the necessary clues from her.]]

** When Inkarmat expressed fondness towards men with scars the first they met, making Sugimoto feel shy, Asirpa interrupted them by telling Inkarmat that Sugimoto puts poop in his food and eats it, causing Inkarmat to lose interest. Sugimoto, after months of travelling and listening to the Ainu language, figured out what she had said and confronted Asirpa about it, which she denied with a calm expression and evidently [[LuminescentBlush red ears,]] much to Kiroranke's amusement.

** When a drunken Ainu village chief expressed his liking for Sugimoto and offered him to marry his daughter, Asirpa was quick to distract Sugimoto by telling him to smell her hand as she had touched a snake earlier, making both men lose track and ending the conversation.
** When Ogata figured out that Sugimoto was in the gold hunt to help the window he was in love with, Asirpa suddenly interrupted the conversation by breaking into a hoparata (crane dance), chanting loudly and gesturing wildly. When Sugimoto asked why she did that, she lost her cool and claimed it was because they had been eating crane meat, all while blushing and refusing to look at him, much to Ogata's amusement. [[spoiler:Ogata would exploit the information he learnt from both Asirpa and Sugimoto from this moment later in the story, in his attempt to gain the key to the gold in Russia.]]

* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Has dark blue hair and dark blue eyes. [[spoiler:It proves her connection to Wilk.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After going through an indescribable amount of pain, loss and tragedy, Asirpa ends up getting everything she wanted out of the gold hunt. She manages to find out the kind of person her father truly was and what happened to him, finally making peace with the fact that he's gone. She's able to keep her culture alive and improve the future of her people for generations to come thanks to the land deed, securing deals with the Japanese government for the rest of her life, and the gold doesn't cause further any carnage. Asirpa ends her story going back home to live with Sugimoto, the man she loves, who's now fully moved on from his old flame and has finally found a place where he can be happy, by her side.]]
* EveryonesBabySister: Asirpa is well beloved by almost the entire recurring cast, even those that are working against her. This is due to a mix of her nice, magnetic personality, her reliability in and out of battle, being central to solving the code within the tattoos, and her status as everyone's beacon of morality. Even the sociopathic Ogata is a somewhat nice to her, even if it's just out of pragmatism. [[spoiler: It ends up playing a crucial role in his death, as he associates her virtue and refusal to compromise it with the one his late brother Yuusaku had, whom he had murdered after failing to corrupt him. It causes Ogata to start feeling guilt over his actions for the first time in his life, and unable to shoot her, he shoots himself instead.]]

* HunterTrapper: Asirpa is skilled at hunting and setting traps, which is how the party obtains it's sustenance and funds.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Asirpa has a rule against eating man-killing animals but finds excuses to eat them anyway because she's hungry. While she refuses to kill anyone, she aides several murders by her actions during combat,[[spoiler: and delays teling Sugimoto the key to finding the gold, fully aware of how urgently he needs to find it, just so she could remain by his side longer and out of fear he'd abandon her to return to Umeko.]]

* IKnowYourTrueName: Hijikata knows the Japanese name she has in the family registry. It's [[spoiler:"Asuko Kochoube"]], the one clue Noppera-Bou gave Hijikata about Asirpa's real identity.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Asirpa is by far the most morally upstanding member of the cast, [[ThouShallNotKill refusing to breka her vow to never kill anyone]] despite all atrocities she goes through, maintaining her moral code. Sugimoto even goes above and beyond trying to keep her as this, since he doesn't want her to become a murderer like him, [[spoiler: being well aware of the devastating effects that the ensuing trauma has on anyone.]]
* InnocentBlueEyes: Asirpa has dark blue eyes. [[spoiler:It becomes plot-relevant when it's revealed her father came from Russia and her eyes confirm her link to Noppera-Bou, who was a Russian-born partisan.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Sugimoto is her '''partner,''' and they refer to each other that way for the entire story. Her relationship chart in the fanbook has Sugimoto listed as "Partner?", suggesting that she [[PrecociousCrush "secretly harbors some feelings deeper than that?"]].
* JabbaTableManners: One omake has Asirpa managing to get a whole boiled otter's head on her cheek while eating.
* JackOfAllTrades: If it's hunting or mountaineering related, she can do it and do it well. Be it hunting, trapping, horse riding, archery, etc.
* JeanneDArchetype: [[spoiler:Invoked. Wilk had been secretly grooming her into becoming a freedom fighter waging war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext. Once [[ShellShockedVeteran Sugimoto]] finds about the truth, he calls him out for trying to [[LampshadedTrope make her some kind of Ainu Joan of Arc]] because it would mean she'd have to be a murderer and eventually die a martyr.]]

The co-protagonist of the series. A former soldier in the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Imperial Japanese Army]], who fled his hometown after tuberculosis killed his entire family and ostracized him from his village, separating him from his first love, his childhood friend Umeko. Sugimoto would return a year later, coincidentally arriving in time to see Umeko getting married to his best friend, Toraji. Both men would take part in the Russo-Japanese war, during which Toraji died while saving Sugimoto from a mortar blast. After the war, Sugimoto wished to reunite with Umeko, but her eyesight had deteriorated to the point that she was unable to recognize him. In order to pay for the surgery that would cure Umeko's condition, having promised the late Toraji that he'd take care of her, Sugimoto began unsuccessfully panning for gold in Hokkaido, until one day he met a man who drunkenly blabbered about a legendary hidden gold treasure that could solve all his problems. Sugimoto then set himself to find the legendary gold, and the story begins when while following the man's tale, Sugimoto is attacked by a bear and is saved by a young Ainu girl.

* AntiHero: His goal is to get the gold, and he has no qualm about hurting or killing whoever he has to in order to obtain it.

* BrokenAce: He used to be a cheerful, confident man in his youth, who according to Toraji, excelled in everything he did. The Sugimoto that returned to Japan after the war is [[ShellShockedVeteran a broken and traumatized shell]] of the man he used to be, with all his former qualities engulfed by his combat prowess and nigh-supernatural ability to survive the impossible. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, he's learnt to accept himself as he is now, accepting that he's changed, and that doesn't need to return to his past self to be happy.]]

* CluelessChickMagnet: Before and during the gold hunt, many women express attraction or affection towards him, with Sugimoto being none the wiser about it. Before the story started, Umeko was in love with him, [[spoiler: Kaneko was completely enamoured with him even after he revealed both his true identity and absolute lack of social standing, and in the present, Asirpa fell in love with him during the gold hunt.]]
* CoolGuns: An Arisaka type 30 rifle that he kept from his days in the army. He's not very accurate with it.

* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Downplayed. Sugimoto's parents died of tuberculosis when he was just a teenager, causing him to run away and [[spoiler:live as a vagrant in Tokyo, setting in motion the events that led him to join the army.]]

* DentedIron: Sugimoto's able to shake off most of the injuries he gets during his fights, but [[spoiler:getting shot in the head by Ogata]] severely damages him for a while. [[spoiler: By the end, he's gained newer scars to add to the rest and loses most of his left ear.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the battles and perils of the gold hunt in spite of suffering horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the gold to Umeko in order to fulfill his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and is now finally free of his guilt and regrets over his past. Sugimoto then tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, choosing to return to Hokkaido with her. He goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]

* FriendToAllChildren: With the Ainu children, Sugimoto loses all seriousness and readily plays with them.

* ImGoingToHellForThis: He states that he "has first class tickets to hell" due to all the sins he's commited after taking so many lives. [[spoiler:This is an ethos he borrowed from Kikuta.]]

* ItsNotYouItsMe: After Sugimoto burned down his family home and revealed his intention of fleeing the village to Umeko, she begged him to take her along, but he refused, suspecting that he too contracted tuberculosis and didn't want her to die. He didn't have tuberculosis after all, and Umeko married Toraji in his abscence.

* NotHyperbole: In Karafuto, a Russian man tricked his group into entering a ''stenka'' fighting comtetition in exchange for giving them their dog back, which he had stolen. Sugimoto warns him that, should they win it, if he doesn't give them the dog back immediately, he would [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon rip out every hair on the man's head with his bare hands]]. They win. [[TemptingFate The man tries to weasel them into another stenka fight]] to get the dog back. Sugimoto ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin then rips out every hair on the man's head with his bare hands]],'' just as he promised.
* ObliviousToLove: The fact that Umeko did love him back flew right over his head, even after she tearfully begged him to take her with him so they could run away together. [[spoiler:He's no better when it comes to Asirpa's feelings for him, and neither Boutarou's incessant pressing of the issue, nor her roundabout ways of expressing her fondness ever clues Sugimoto in. Not even Asirpa telling Sugimoto [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he's the most imporant person in the world to her]] before the final battle makes him realise it.]]

* ShellShockedVeteran: Sugimoto has recurring nightmares about his late best friend Toraji, whom he grew up together with. Toraji died in the Russo-Japanese war,, [[HeroicSacrifice taking a mortar blast that was meant for Sugimoto.]] His death deeply wounded Sugimoto's psyche, being the worst wound he received on oftop all the atrocities he witnessed and commited during his time in the military. When he and Asirpa have to hide in a deer carcass during a blizzard, Sugimoto mentions dried persimmons, his favourite food growing up, and touches on this subject while saying that, no mater how he and many other veterans have tried to, they've never managed to turn back into the people they used to be before the war. Asirpa, attempting to help him, asks him to bring her to his hometown so they can taste the dried persimmons he loves, in the hope that it will bring him back to who he was before the war. Sugimoto, overcome by his trauma, the weight of the loss of his best friend, and the memories of his peaceful life before the war, [[BrokenTears can only silently weep, offering her no response.]]
* SillyReasonForWar: During the Yamada Circus arc, Koito's gift in acrobatics overshadows Sugimoto's harakiri's trick, wthe ''whole reason'' of them being there in the first place, as Sugimoto is trying put on a show so amazing that it will reach the news, [[spoiler:in order to inform Asirpa that he survived the events of the failed assult on Abashiri prison]] A subplot develops with Koito [[SmugSuper refusing to tone down his performance]] and Sugimoto trying to outdo and eventually ruin each other's show.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[ButForMeItWasTuesday He doesn't seem to recall them and vice versa]], but not has only met a number of the 7th Division soldiers involved in the gold hunt before it began, but Sugimoto's actions have had a vital role in their backstories, and may have even have led to their participation in the hunt to begin with.
** [[spoiler:During his hunt for his sister's killer, Tanigaki joined the military and took part in the Russo-Japanese War in hopes of finding Kenkichi, who had enlisted, and was the man responsible for the crime, in order to kill him in revenge. During the war, he met a certain 1st Division soldier who was part of the White Sash, the infamous suicide charge brigade. Feeling respect for him, Tanigaki offered him a kane mochi he had with him and let his accent slip, prompting Sugimoto to mention hearing someone with an Ani accent in his platoon, giving Tanigaki the clue he needed to track Kenkichi down.]]
** [[spoiler:After Tsurumi and Tsukishima were injured in a mortar blast, they both needed sleds to cross an ice-cap to reach a the nearest military hospital, the problem being that there was only one sled left to carry any wounded. Just as the soldiers were about to prioritize Tsurumi's life, leaving Tsukishima to die, Sugimoto, who was placing the heavily injured Toraji onto one of them, told them they can use the sled instead, saying he was told to "give priority to the ones that can still be saved." This leads to both Tsurumi and Tsukishima surviving the war. Ironically, this immensely kind gesture would prove costly to Sugimoto years later, as Tsukishima would go on to be Tsurumi's right hand man and main enforcer, [[CreateYourOwnVillain and Tsurumi would prove Sugimoto's nemesis during the gold hunt and by far the most dangerous enemy he ever faced.]]]]

* UsedToBeMoreSocial: From a popular, cheerful man in his youth, to a solitary vagrant after he ran away from his hometown. His return from war as a traumatized veteran only isolated him further and further, until he met Asirpa.

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Sugimoto burned down his family home to sever his ties to his home village after his family's death and the shunning they had suffered by the townspeople due to the disease.

* HeartbrokenBadass: Sugimoto's love for Umeko [[DidNotGetTheGirl did not prosper]] and in all the occasions he had a chance to change that, it never worked. Especially tragic since Umeko '''did''' love him back when they were tennagers and tearfully begged him to take her with him so they could run away together from their hometown, which Sugimoto refused to do out of fear of being infected with tuberculosis and passing it to her. In the second chance he had, Sugimoto returned to their town on the day of Umeko and Toraji's wedding, and in spite of Toraji's terror that Sugimoto was about to steal her away, Umeko firmely stood by her husband to be, refusing to meet Sugimoto. The third and last time, Umeko, now almost blind, couldn't fully recognize Sugimoto due to [[KillingIntent the stench of violence he was carrying]] after he returned to Japan [[ShellShockedVeteran a broken man after the war]], causing him to once more flee from their home town. [[spoiler:Sugimoto would finally manage to put the past behind him during their brief meeting in the last chapter, as seeing Umeko healthy and thriving allowed him to move on from his first love once and for all.]]

* LossOfIdentity: When he came back from the war, the nearly blind Umeko couldn't recognize him, perceiving him as a completely different man than the one she knows and used to love due to his battle trauma. [[spoiler:Sugimoto adresses this in the last chapter, after Umeko recognizes him even in his battered state, due to him having made peace with himself after the end of the gold hunt, and her eyesight improving.]]
* LoveTriangle: He was on the winning and then losing end of the same triangle at different times. He and his best friend Toraji both loved their mutual childhood friend Umeko, and while Umeko loved Sugimoto back, making him the winner, but he ran away from the village out of fear of infecting her with tuberculosis. Sugimoto would return to their hometown a year later in the day of Toraji and Umeko's wedding, but she firmly stood by her husband to be and refused to meet Sugimoto, making him the loser.
* MadeOfIron: He has survived, among other many things, tuberculosis, the bloodiest battles of the Russo-Japanese War, multiple bear attacks, falling into a river during a blizzard, numerous injuries from his skirmishes with the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun elite 7th Division]], and [[spoiler:even losing part of his brain after getting shot in the head]]. He is known as "The Immortal," both for surviving seemingly mortal injuries and for recovering from them almost immediately. [[spoiler:Not even multiple gunshots, a katana to the chest, and a runaway train sinking him into the freezing ocean in the final battle manages to put him down, as the epilogue shows him alive and well.]]

* MrFanservice: Sugimoto has been naked and has exposed his gorgeously sculpted (albeit heavily scarred) body more times than women have been even implied to. Shiraishi and Kironake lampshade it, with Shiraishi saying that Sugimoto has "a face that ladies love" and must be popular with women and Kiroranke suggesting that Asirpa's insistence in healing his facial wounds is because she likes his looks. Both turn out to be right.
* NiceHat: Sugimoto always sports the same military cap. no matter the circumstance. [[spoiler:Chapter 279 reveals that he had that cap long before he actually joined the military, since it originally belonged to Kikuta's late younger brother Toujirou, who had died of disease during the Sino-Japanese War.]]
* NotHyperbole: A man tricked his group into entering a ''stenka'' comptetiton to get a stolen dog back. Sugimoto warns him that, should they win and he doesn't give them back the dog immediately, he would [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon rip every hair out of his head with his bare hands]]. They win. [[TemptingFate The man tries to weasel them into another fight]] to get the dog back. Sugimoto ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rips every hair out of his head]]'' right there and then, with his bare hands just as he promised.

* PragmaticHero: He needs the gold and won't hesitate to kill anyone he has to gain advantage in the hunt. Threats, lies, and wanton violence are always an an option for him in about every situation.

* {{Protectorate}}: Develops a mutual one with Asirpa, as protecting each other's lives ends up being just as important as finding the gold to them, and they will to go any lenghts no matter how extreme to make sure the other survives. [[spoiler:Their efforts ultimately succeed as both survive the gold hunt.]]
* RealityIsUnrealistic: His aftermath for [[spoiler:brain damage]] qualifies: instead of commonly depicted highly visible results (like losing mobility or speech), he's shown to recover without any apparent effects of it. However, one of the many possible results of [[spoiler:brain damage]] in the area he was [[spoiler:shot]] is ''[[spoiler:mild dyslexia, and an exaggerated emotional answer]]''. And in the next chapter, he's shown [[spoiler:consistently taking out [[NakedPeopleAreFunny the wrong photo]], being all teary-eyed at having found Asirpa's tracks, and acting ''much'' easier to anger, even for his usual standards.]]
* RealMenWearPink: He knows of UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc through Shōjo Sekai, the best-selling magazine for girls of his time, [[https://twitter.com/satorunoda/status/921279029218443264 as revealed by Satoru Noda himself]] on Website/{{Twitter}}. The exhibition that opened after the manga ended revealed that Sugimoto had been carrying a copy of the same magazine during his travels the entire time!

* ShellShockedVeteran: Sugimoto has nightmares about his late best friend since childhood, Toraji, who sacrificed his life to save Sugimoto in the Russo-Japanese war. His death deeply wounded Sugimoto mentally, algonside all the atrocities he witnessed and commited during his time in the military. When he and Asirpa have to hide in a deer carcass during a blizzard, they talk about this very subject, and Sugimoto, after mentioning dried persimmons, his favourite food growing up, talks about how in spite of how much he tried to, he never managed to turn back into the person used to be before the war. Asirpa then asks him to take her to his hometown so they can taste the dried persimmons he loves, in the hope that it will bring him back to who he was before the war. Sugimoto, overcome with trauma, the weight of his own memories and emotion, can only silently weep, offering her no answer.

* {{Protectorate}}: Develops a mutual one with Sugimoto, as protecting each other's lives ends up being just as important as finding the gold to them, and they will to go any lenghts no matter how extreme to make sure the other survives. [[spoiler:Their efforts ultimately succeed as both survive the gold hunt.]]

* AntiHero: His goal is to get the gold, and he has no qualm about hurting or killing whoever her has to in order to obtain it.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He is shot in the head by Ogata at Abashiri. Not only does he ''survive, he makes a full recovery.'']]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the battles and perils of the gold hunt in spite of suffering horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the gold to Umeko in order to fulfill his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and is now finally free of regrets and guilt for the first time since the war ended. Sugimoto then tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, choosing to return to Hokkaido with her. He goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sugimoto really likes animals, even though he hunts them out of necessity to eat. If he had the choice, he'd rather not do it. One chapter has him stranded in a foggy forest for a week with only an injured sparrow chick as his sole companion, whom he quickly grows fond of. [[BlackComedyPetDeath It doesn't end well for either of them.]]

* GoodScarsEvilScars: His body is covered in them, as full body shots reveal that there's no place in his body that is not covered by at least one battle scar. Notably, he has three scars on his face, two of them perpendicular and across his whole visage, while the third one deviates from the horizontal one like a tree branch. [[spoiler: He gains a new one on the side of his left cheek in the final battle, after Tsurumi ripped it off by biting it.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the battles and perils of the gold hunt in spite of suffering horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the gold to Umeko in order to fulfill his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and now finally free of regrets and guilt for the first time since the end of the war, Sugimoto tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, choosing to return to Hokkaido with her. He then goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]

* UsedToBeMoreSocial: From a popular, cheerful man in his youth, to a solitary vagrant after he ran away from his hometown. His retun from war as a traumatized veteran only isolated him further and further, until he met Asirpa.

The co-protagonist of the series, a young Ainu huntress who meets Sugimoto at the start of the story. She quickly befriends him and agrees to help the war veteran look for the treasure, in exchange for getting revenge on the man who killed her father. Asirpa is unique among Ainu women in that she is a skilled survivalist and hunter; although she refuses to kill anyone, she's the one that ensures that her group can survive while trekking through the wilderness of Hokkaido.

* AncestralWeapon: Her ''menokomakiri'', a dagger made for women that was crafted by her father. She refuses to use guns either for fighting or hunting, citing that they are too heavy for her small build, and favours her bow instead.

* AlreadyDoneForYou: [[spoiler: In the lead-up to finding the buried gold, the improbability of Asirpa being able to ''use'' the gold for her people is highlighted quite a few times, as she is a young child in the company of trained killers who vastly outstrip her in combat experience, and would have the final word on what happens to the gold once they dig it up, not to mention how difficult it would be to transport the gold around without it being stolen. Once the party actually find where it's buried, the group digs up what turns out to be a buried and preserved land deed, that certifies that half the gold was used to buy vast swaths of land for the Ainu, leaving Asirpa relieved and thankful that her father found a way to turn the hateful 'Golden Kamuy' into a benevolent one for the Ainu culture, even as everybody else [[FaceFault collapses in disappointment from the revelataion]]. it's also slightly subverted as well, as the remaining half of the Gold is still buried, and Asirpa decides to stay and see the hunt through to the end alongside her companions, even though she already has what she needs from it]].
* ArcherArchetype: She uses her bow with great accuracy to hunt bears, and is just as proficient with her arrows when it comes to fighting. She's usually calm and serious and her stoicism was born out of the tragedies she experienced early in her life with her father's dissapearance, his presumed murder, and Retar's departure.
* BadassAdorable: Very badass and extremely adorable, at least when she isn't making hilariously ugly expressions during the funnier and lighthearted moments of the tale.

* BrokenBird: She is noted to have rarely smiled ever since her father died, and only Sugimoto could break that stoicism. [[spoiler: Sugimoto's apparent death at Abashiri depresses her to the point that she's unable to speak for days, and only her hope in his improbable survival brings her back to normalcy over time.]]

* CerebusRetcon: She is surprisingly adept at hunting and survival in the mountains for a little Ainu girl, especially in a culture where women are expected to [[StayInTheKitchen to be homemakers and hunting is left to the men.]] It is mostly presented in a lighthearted way to expose the most interesting parts of Ainu culture, and seemingly give Sugimoto a competent [[KidSidekick partner]] in his trek through the Hokkaido wilderness. [[spoiler:When Sugimoto meets the real Noppera-Bou in Abashiri Prison, the disfigured prisoner confesses that he had been secretly grooming her into becoming a freedom fighter so she would wage war against the Japanese government for Ainu independence, using hunting and survival training as a pretext to develop her combat skills. This becomes far more shocking since Asirpa doesn't want to kill anyone, yet he planned for her to eventually become a martyr that would kickstart revolution, something that would require her to suffer a violent death]].

* ChekhovsGunman: She is the only person left who knows how to decipher the code. The other one was her father, who got murdered. [[spoiler:This is deliberate, as Wilk designed the code in such a way that the only one able to solve it would be Asirpa. The different factions only solve the code after acquiring the necessary clues from her.]]

** When Inkarmat expressed fondness towards men with scars the first they met, making Sugimoto feel shy, Asirpa interrupted them by telling Inkarmat that Sugimoto puts poop in his food and eats it, causing Inkarmat to lose interest. Sugimoto, after months of travelling and listening to the Ainu language, figured what she had said and confronted her about it, which she denied with a calm expression and evidently [[LuminescentBlush red ears,]] much to Kiroranke's amusement.
** When a group of Ainu women showed interest in Sugimoto, Asirpa once again told all of them that Sugimoto will put poop in their food and eat it, turning them off him instantly.
** When a drunken Ainu village chief expressed his liking for Sugimoto and asked him to marry his daughter, Asirpa was quick to distract Sugimoto by telling him to smell her hand as she had touched a snake earlier, ending the conversation.
** When Ogata figured out that Sugimoto was in the gold hunt to help the window he was in love with, Asirpa suddenly interrupted the conversation by breaking into a hoparata (crane dance), chanting loudly and gesturing wildly. When Sugimoto asked why she did that, she lost her cool and claimed it was because they had been eating crane meat, all while blushing and refusing to look at him, much to Ogata's amusement. [[spoiler:Ogata would exploit this moment and the information he learnt from both of them later in the story in his attempt to gain the key to the gold in Russia.]]
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Her mother died of illness when she was an infant, and her father was [[spoiler:apparently]] murdered when she was around 7. She spent her time in solitude in the mountains honing her hunting and survival skills while grieving his passing.
* CradleOfLoneliness: Asirpa is shown cradling to Retar, the wolf whom she and her dead father raised together since he was a pup.

* DaddysGirl: Asirpa has nothing but fond memories of her late father and praise for his ability as a hunter. He's the one who taught her how to hunt and survive in the harsh Hokkaido wilderness, contrary to how a Ainu girl is traditionally raised. Justified in that her mother died of illness while she was an infant, [[spoiler:and that Wilk was raising Asirpa as a revolutionary and partisan who'd fight and die for the cause of Ainu independence.]]
* DisappearedDad: Her father was murdered 6 or 7 years before the story began, and finding out who killed him is her reason to join the gold hunt. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Wilk wasn't murdered, but had spent all those years as an inmate in Abashiri prison after falsely admitting to the murder of the Ainu chiefs who had gathered the gold. Wilk never informs Asirpa of this, making her believe he had died, in order to both spare her the shame of living as the daughter of a murderer, and to keep Asirpa's existence a secret from Tsurumi, [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou protecting her from the lieutenant's revenge.]]]]

* CluelessChickMagnet: Before and during the gold hunt, many women express attraction or affection towards him, with Sugimoto being none the wiser about it. Before the story started, Umeko was in love with him, [[spoiler: Kaneko was completely enamoured with him even after he revealed both his true identity and absolute lack of social standing, and in the present, Asirpa fell in love with him during the gold hunt]]

* DaddysGirl: Asirpa has nothing but fond memories of her late father and praises his ability as a hunter. He's also the one who taught her how to hunt, although Ainu women typically stay at their village. Justified in that her mother died of illness while she was an infant, [[spoiler:and that Wilk secretly planned to raise her to be a revolutionary and partisan who'd fight for the Ainu cause.]]
* DisappearedDad: Her father was murdered 6 or years before the story began.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After going through an indescribable amount of pain, loss and tragedy, Asirpa ends up achieving everything she wanted. She finds out the kind of person her father really was and what happened to him, she manages to keep her culture alive and improve the future of her people for generations to come thanks to the land deed, the gold remains buried and won't cause further carnage, and she ends up going back to her home to live with the man she loves, who's now fully moved on from his old flame.]]

* CluelessChickMagnet: Before and during his travels, various women he meets express attraction or affection towards him, with Sugimoto none the wiser about it. In particular, Umeko was in love with him before the story started, [[spoiler: Kaneko, in the past, was completely enamoured with him even after he revealed his absolute lack of pedigree, and ultimately, Asirpa fell for him as well, as she quickly gained a crush on Sugimoto that only increased as the story progressed.]]

* ObliviousToLove: The fact that Umeko did love him back flew right over his head, even after she tearfully begged him to take her with him so they could run away together. [[spoiler:He's no better when it comes to Asirpa's feelings, and neither Boutarou's incessant pressing of the issue, nor her roundabout ways of expressing her fondness for him ever clues him in. Not even Asirpa telling Sugimoto [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he's the most imporant person in the world to her]] before the final battle makes him realise it.]]

* UsedToBeMoreSocial: From a popular, cheerful man in his youth to a solitary vagrant after her ran away from his hometown. His retun from war as a traumatized veteran only isolated him further from people, until he met Asirpa.
* WeaponOfChoice: An Arisaka Type 30 rifle plus it's bayonet.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Sugimoto burned down his family home to have "a clean slate" and sever his ties to his home village after his family's death and the shunning they had suffered by the townspeople, with notable exception of Toraji and Umeko, who always stood by his side.

* LastNameBasis: Everyone but Umeko (who affectionately called him [[FirstNameBasis "Saichi-chan"]] calls him by his surname.

* WorthyOpponent: To both Hijikata and Ushiyama. Both saw Sugimoto kicking ass and praised him directly, looking forward to the moment Sugimoto would clash with them.

* ObliviousToLove: The fact that Umeko did love him back flew right over his head, even after she tearfully begged him to take her with him so they could run away together. [[spoiler:He's no better when it comes to Asirpa's feelings, and neither Boutarou's incessant pressing of the issue, nor her roundabout ways of expressing her fondness for him, including Asirpa telling Sugimoto [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he's the most imporant person in the world to her]] before the final battle ever clues him in.]]

* SillyReasonForWar: During the Yamada's show arc, Koito's gift in acrobatics threatens to overshadow Sugimoto's harakiri's trick (the ''whole reason'' of them being in the show, to begin with). A subplot develops with Koito [[SmugSuper refusing to tone down his performance]] and Sugimoto trying to outdo and eventually ruin Koito's show.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[ButForMeItWasTuesday He doesn't seem to recall them and vice versa]], but he's not only met a number of the Russo-Japan War soldiers involved in the gold hunt, but his actions have had a vital role in their backstories and may have even have led to their participation in the hunt to begin with.
** [[spoiler:During his hunt for his sister's killer, Tanigaki joined the military and took part in the Russo-Japanese War in hopes of finding the man responsible and killing him. During the war, he met a certain First Division soldier who was part of the White Sash, the infamous suicide charge brigade. Feeling respect for him, Tanigaki offered him a kane mochi he had with him and let his accent slip, prompting Sugimoto to mention hearing someone with an Ani accent in his platoon, giving Tanigaki the clue he needed to track him down.]]
** [[spoiler:After Tsurumi and Tsukishima are injured in a blast, they needed sleds to cross an ice-cap to reach a nearby military hospital, the problem being that there was only one sled left to carry the wounded. Just when the soldiers were about to prioritize Tsurumi's life, Sugimoto, who was placing someone {{Implied}} to be his heavily injured BestFriend Toraji onto one of them, tells them they can use it instead, saying he was told to "give priority to the ones that can still be saved." This leads to both Tsurumi and Tsukshima surviving the war and Tsukishima becoming Tsurumi's right hand man.]]

* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: [[spoiler:He gets shot in the head by [[ColdSniper Ogata]], and for all his HealingFactor, does show [[ShownTheirWork the realistic effects]] of brain damage afterward, though they are pretty mild in his case: slight dyslexia and enhanced emotional response — he becomes significantly more sentimental and easier to anger afterward.]]

** According to the volume extras, his time with Asirpa made him develop a fondness for salted brains, listing it as his joint favourite food.
** He also really likes dried persimmons and it was a childhood treat to him. Asirpa wants him to take her to his hometown so they can taste it together in the hopes it will help him return to who he used to be before the war. [[spoiler:They do in the last chapter, and Sugimoto states that it didn't change anything, but he didn't need it, as he had already left his regrets behind.]]

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Sugimoto burned down his family home to have "a clean slate" and sever his ties to his home village after his family's death and the shunning they had suffered by the townspeople, with the exception of Toraji and Umeko.

The two main protagonists and the companions they gain during their journey. All of them are looking for the gold for different reasons, but each one is special in that they are all decent (not good by any means) people for the violent era they live in. Although they are composed of only a handful of people, Sugimoto and co. are specialists in their fields, be it at combat, survival in the wilderness or jailbreaking. Moreover, thanks to Asirpa, they count on the hospitality of the various Ainu groups in Hokkaido to assist them during their travel.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sugimoto really likes animals, even though he hunts them out of necessity to eat, even if he had the choice, he'd rather not. One chapter has him stranded in a foggy forest for a week with only an injured sparrow chick as his sole companion, whom he quickly grows fond of. [[BlackComedyPetDeath It doesn't end well.]]
* GoingNative: Downplayed. He adopts several Ainu habits such as saying "Hinna hinna" when something is delicious, and his constant exposure to the Ainu language allows him to understand some words without needing prior translation. [[spoiler: Further downplayed after living in Asirpa's village for years, as he keeps his old military uniform on and doesn't adopt their customs, even if he's very respectful of them.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: He goes through a lot for Umeko's sake. [[spoiler: Umeko turns out to have thrived on her own without his help, and it allows Sugimoto to finally move on from her after he delivers Umeko his share of the gold.]]

* MadeOfIron: He has survived, among other many things, tuberculosis, the bloodiest battles of the Russo-Japanese War, multiple bear attacks, falling into a river during a blizzard, numerous injuries from his skirmishes with the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun elite 7th Division]], and [[spoiler:even losing part of his brain after getting shot in the head]]. He is also known as "the Immortal," both for surviving mortal injuries and for recovering from them almost immediately. [[spoiler:Not even multiple gunshots, a katana to the chest, and a runaway train sinking him into the freezing ocean in the final battle manages to put him down, as the epilogue shows him alive and well.]]
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Various flashbacks from either his or other's pasts show that, although he never met them directly, or was able to properly introduce himself at the time due to the circumstances they were in, Sugimoto has been present in the backstories of several members of the 7th Division before they got involved in the hunt for the gold. [[DramaticIrony It's rare that he or those he's talking to realise their shared connection]].
* MrFanservice: Sugimoto has been naked and has exposed his gorgeously sculpted (albeit heavily scarred) body more times than women have been even implied to. Shiraishi and Kironake lampshade it, with Shiraishi saying that Sugimoto has "a face that ladies love" andmust have been poular back home and Kiroranke suggesting that Asirpa's insistence in healing his facial wounds is because she likes his looks. Both turn out to be right.

* ObliviousToLove: The fact that Umeko did have feelings for him for flew right over his head, even after she begged him to take her with him so they could run away together. [[spoiler:He's no better when it comes to Asirpa's feelings, and neither Boutarou's pressing of the issue nor her own roundabout way of confessing ever clues him in.]]
* PragmaticHero: He needs the gold and doesn't hesitate to kill any of enemies and skin them to gain an advantage in the hunt. Threats, lies, and wanton violence are always an an option for him.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: His aftermath for [[spoiler:brain damage]] qualifies: instead of commonly depicted highly visible results (like losing mobility or speech), he's shown without any apparent effect. However, one of the many possible results of [[spoiler:brain damage]] in the area he was [[spoiler:shot]] is ''[[spoiler:mild dyslexia, and an exaggerated emotional answer]]''. And next chapter, he's actually shown [[spoiler:consistently taking out [[NakedPeopleAreFunny the wrong photo]], being all teary-eyed at having found Asirpa's track, and acting ''much'' easier to anger, even for his usual standards]].
* RealMenWearPink: He knows UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc through Shōjo Sekai, the best-selling magazine for girls of his time, [[https://twitter.com/satorunoda/status/921279029218443264 as revealed by Satoru Noda himself]] on Website/{{Twitter}}. The exhibition that opened after the manga ended revealed that Sugimoto had been carrying a copy of the same magazine during his travels the entire time!
* RedBaron: Nicknamed "The Immortal" due to his uncanny survivability.

** If he meets a cute looking animal, expect Asirpa to kill it and cook it shortly after Sugimoto comments how cute it is.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Sugimoto has nightmares about his late best friend, Toraji, who saved his life in the Russo-Japanese war, and lost his own life in the process, which deeply wounded Sugimoto mentally, algonside all the atrocities he witnessed and commited during his time in the military. When he and Asirpa have to hide in a deer carcass to avoid a blizzard, they talk about this very subject, and Sugimoto, after stating his favourite food growing up, mentions how he never managed to turn back into the person he was before the war once he returned to Japan. Asirpa then asks him to take her to his hometown so they can taste the dried persimmons he loves, in the hope that it will bring him back to who he was before the war ruined his life. Sugimoto, overcome with trauma and emotion, can only silently weep, offering her no answer.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sugimoto really likes animals, even though he hunts them out of necessity to eat, when if he had the choice, he'd rather not. One chapter has him stranded in a foggy forest for a week with only an injured sparrow chick as his sole companion, whom he quickly grows fond of. [[BlackComedyPetDeath It doesn't end well.]]

* HealingFactor: Has a superhuman ability to heal very quickly from any serious injury, even a [[spoiler:headshot]] didn't put him down for long. [[spoiler: The katana he took to the chest in the final battle didn't cause him any lasting damage either, as the epilogue shows him to be healthy as ever.]]
* HealthcareMotivation: He needs to get the gold and quickly, because Umeko, who's going blind, desperately needs to get surgery in America before diplomatic relationships between Japan and America go sour and make the trip impossible. [[spoiler: Ends up counting for nothing, as the last chapter reveals Umeko had gained wealth after remarrying during his abscence and had the surgery done, restoring her eyesight way before Sugimoto got the gold.]]

* HyperactiveMetabolism: According to the fanbook, Sugimoto's metabolism is described as abnormally high, and is the reason why he is able to recover from most injuries.. It also causes him to sweat profusely and gives him a perpetually damp look.

* MadeOfIron: He has survived, among other many things, tuberculosis, the bloodiest battles of the Russo-Japanese War, multiple bear attacks, falling into a river during a blizzard, numerous injuries from his skirmishes with the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun elite 7th Division]], and [[spoiler:even losing part of his brain after getting shot in the head]]. He is also known as "the Immortal," both for surviving mortal injuries and for recovering from them almost immediately. [[spoiler:Not even multiple gunshots, a katana to the chest, and a runaway train sinking him into the freezing ocean in the final battle manages to put him down.]]
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Various flashbacks from either his or other's past history show that, though he never met them directly, or was able to properly introduce himself at the time due to circumstances, Sugimoto has been present in the backstories of several members of the 7th Division before they both got involved in the hunt for the Gold. [[DramaticIrony It's rare that he or those he's talking to realise their shared connection]].
* MrFanservice: Sugimoto has been naked and has exposed his gorgeously sculpted (albeit heavily scarred) body more times than women have been even implied to. Shiraishi and Kironake lampshade it, with Shiraishi saying that Sugimoto has "a face that ladies love" and Kiroranke suggesting that Asirpa's insistence in healing his facial wounds is because she likes his looks.
* NiceHat: Sugimoto sports a military cap. [[spoiler:Chapter 279 reveals that he had that cap long before he actually joined the military, since it originally belonged to Kikuta's younger brother, who had died of disease in the Sino-Japanese War.]]
* NotHyperbole: A man tricked his group into entering a ''stenka'' to get a stolen dog back. Sugimoto warns him that, should they win, if he doesn't give them back the dog immediately, he would [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon rip every hair out of his head]]. They win. [[TemptingFate The man tries to weasel them into another fight]] to get the dog back. Sugimoto ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rips every hair out of his head]]'' right there and then, with his bare hands.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He is shot in the head by Ogata at Abashiri. No only does he ''survive, he makes a full recovery.'']].

* DentedIron: Sugimoto's able to shake off most of the injuries he gets, but [[spoiler:getting shot in the head by Ogata]] severely damages him for a while. [[spoiler: By the end, he's gained newer scars to add to the rest and loses most of his left ear.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the battles and perils of the gold hunt in spite of suffering horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the gold to Umeko in order to fulfill his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and now finally free of regrets and guilt for the first time since the end of war, Sugimoto tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, choosing to return to Hokkaido with her. He then goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sugimoto really likes animals, even though he hunts them regularly to eat.

* HealingFactor: Has a superhuman ability to heal very quickly from any serious injury, even a [[spoiler:headshot]] didn't put him down for long. [[spoiler: The katana he took to the chest in the final battle didn't cause him any lasting damage either.]]
* HealthcareMotivation: He needs to get the gold and quickly, because Umeko, who's going blind, desperately needs to get her eyes treated in America before diplomatic relationships between Japan and America sour and make the trip impossible. [[spoiler: Ends up counting for nothing, as the last chapter reveals Umeko had gained wealth after remarrying during his abscence and had the surgery done, restoring her eyesight way before Sugimoto got the gold.]]

* HyperactiveMetabolism: According to the ''Golden Kamuy'' fanbook, Sugimoto's metabolism is described as abnormally high, and the reason why he is able to recover from most injuries and even burns quickly. It also causes him to sweat profusely and gives him a perpetually damp look.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: He goes through a lot for Umeko's sake. [[spoiler: Umeko turns out to have thrived on her own without his help, and it allows Sugimoto to finally move on from her after he delivers Umeko some of the gold.]]

* LastNameBasis: Everyone but Umeko (who affectionately called him "Saichi-chan") calls him by his surname.
* LossOfIdentity: When he came back from the war, the nearly blind Umeko couldn't recognize him, perceiving him as a completely different man than the one who ran away from their village. [[spoiler:Sugimoto adresses this in the last chapter, having made peace with himself after the end of the gold hunt.]]
* LoveTriangle: He was on the winning and then losing end of the same triangle at different times. He and his best friend Toraji both loved their mutual childhood friend Umeko, and while Umeko loved Sugimoto back, he ran away from the village out of fear of infecting her with tuberculosis. Sugimoto would return to their hometown a year later in the day of Toraji and Umeko's wedding, but she stood by her husband to be and refused to meet him.

* BigBrotherInstinct: As stated above and below, Sugimoto is ''very'' protective of Asirpa even though she's more than capable of protecting herself, and vastly more experienced in the wilderness than he is. One insult to her is enough to put him into murderous rage, as Shiraishi quickly found out in their first meeting.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He is shot in the head by Ogata in Abashiri Prison. He ''survives and makes a full recovery.'']].

* CluelessChickMagnet: Before and during his travels, various women express attraction or affection towards him, much to his surprise. Umeko was in love with him before the story started, [[spoiler: Kaneko, in the past, was completely enamoured with him even after he revealed his absolute lack of pedigree, and ultimately Asirpa, who early on developed a crush on Sugimoto that only increased as the story went on.]]

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: His method to cope with all the carnage he causes during and after the war is to convince himself that the people he kills were evil and thus felt no pain or regret over losing their lives and weren't worth mourning over. When he explains this to Asirpa, she doesn't buy it and considers it senseless.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Downplayed. Sugimoto's parents died of tuberculosis when he was just a teenager, causing him to run away and [[spoiler:live as a vagrant in Tokyo, setting in motion the events that led him joining the army]].

* DentedIron: Sugimoto's able to shake off most of the injuries he gets, but [[spoiler:getting shot in the head by Ogata]] severely damages him for a while. [[spoiler: By the end, he's gained even more scars and loses most of his left ear.]]

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Umeko, his childhood friend and first love, married his best friend Toraji after Sugimoto ran away from their village. [[spoiler:By the time they meet again in the last chapter, Umeko had been remarried to another man for a long time, and Sugimoto parts ways amicably with her after a brief conversation.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: He survives all the events of the gold hunt in spite of horrendous injuries, delivers a respectful amount of the treasure to Umeko, fulfilling his honour debt towards her and Toraji, and now free of regrets and guilt, tells Asirpa that he's finally found a place where he can be happy, returning to Hokkaido with her. He then goes on to spend his days living with Asirpa in peace and tranquility at her home.]]
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: He attracts plenty of male attention during the story, and many comment on his good looks. In particular, Henmi Kazuo is smitten with him.
* EyesAreUnbreakable: A bear digs its claws into Sugimoto's face, and miraculously avoids his eyes. In spite of getting shot an absurd amount of times, his eyes are never hurt beyond what can be easily and quickly treated.
* FeedByExample: Sugimoto repeatedly tries to demonstrate to his companion Asirpa that [[RunningGag the miso he carries is in fact, not ''osoma'' (poop)]] by eating it. Asirpa responds with either [[ForeignQueasine disgust]] or simply mocking him for eating poop.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sugimoto likes animals, even though he hunts them regularly to eat.
* GoingNative: Downplayed. He adopts several Ainu habits such as saying "Hinna hinna" when something is delicious, and his constant exposure to the language allows him to understand a few words without needing translation. [[spoiler: Further downplayed after living in Asirpa's village for years, as he keeps his old military uniform on and doesn't adopt their customs, even if he's very respectful of them.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: He has three scars on his face, two of them are perpendicular and across his whole visage, while the third deviates from the horizontal one like a tree branch. [[spoiler: He gains a new one on the side of his left cheek in the final battle, after Tsurumi ripped it off by biting it.]]

* HealthcareMotivation: He needs money quick because he wants Umeko to have her eyes treated in America before diplomatic relationships between Japan and America sour. [[spoiler: Ends up counting for nothing as Umeko had gained wealth after remarrying during his abscence and had the surgery done, restoring her eyesight partially way before his return.]]
* HeartbrokenBadass: Sugimoto's love for Umeko [[DidNotGetTheGirl did not prosper]] and in all the occasions he had to change that, it never worked. Especially tragic since Umeko did love him back when they were young and even begged him to take her and run away together from their town, which Sugimoto refused to do out of fear of being infected with tuberculosis and passing it to her. The second time, Sugimoto returned to their town on the day of Umeko and Toraji's wedding, and she stood by her husband to be, refusing to meet him. The third time, Umeko, now almost blind, couldn't recognize Sugimoto due to [[KillingIntent the stench of violence he was carrying]] after he returned to Japan [[ShellShockedVeteran a broken man after the war]], causing him to once more flee from their home town. [[spoiler:They both manage to put the past behind them during their brief meeting in the last chapter.]]

* ChickMagnet: During his travels, more than once women express attraction or affection towards him, in particular Umeko before the story, [[spoiler: Kaneko in his past who's completely enamoured with him after their meetings, and ultimately Asirpa, who early on develops a crush on him that increases as the story goes on]].

The two main protagonists and the companions they gain during their journey. Each of them is looking for the gold for different reasons, but each are special in that they are all decent (not good by any means) people for the violent era they live in. Although they are composed of only a handful of people, Sugimoto and co. are specialists in their fields, be it at combat, survival in the wilderness or jailbreaking. Moreover, thanks to Asirpa, they count on the hospitality of the various Ainu groups in Hokkaido to assist them during their travels.

* BadassAndChildDuo: Sugimoto Saichi is a [[ShellShockedVeteran infamously brutal combatant]] veteran of the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar known for his [[MadeOfIron uncanny survivability]], earning him the nickname [[RedBaron "The Immortal"]]. Asirpa is a young Ainu huntress and expert survivalist who helps him look for the legendary gold in Hokkaido as long as her helps her avenge her father. Even though she more than capable in her own right, he is [[BigBrotherInstinct very protective of her]]. Meanwhile, she trusts him completely and has so much faith in him that [[spoiler:when told that he [[BoomHeadshot dies from a shot in the head]], she manages to believe that he's still alive in spite of no evidence to it, even having witnessed him being shot and left for dead]].

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Sugimoto is several heads taller than Asirpa, [[spoiler:until the timeskip after the epilogue, where she's grown to be tall enough to be at the height of his shoulder.]]
* EveryoneIsArmed: With the exception of Shiraishi , all of them carry weapons and will not hesitate to put them to use when needed.

* VagueAge: A deliberate choice by the author, who gave rough estimates to how old everyone was, all taken in account that Golden Kamuy first chapter takes place around 1907-1908:
** Asirpa is stated to be "almost old enough to get her tattoo", which generally would indicate she's close to turning 13, but the age required for this custom varies from village to village (ranging from 6 to 15). The official chart lists her as the third youngest character in the entire cast, and ultimately Noda would state in the report card that she's between 12 or 13 when the story begins.

** Shiraishi is older than both war veterans but younger than Kiroranke, putting him in his mid twenties.
** Kiroranke [[spoiler: was 15 when he assassinated Czar Alexander the II alongside Wilk in 1881]], meaning that when the story begins, he's in his early 40's, the oldest in the group.

The co-protagonist of the series. A former soldier in the [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Imperial Japanese Army]], who fled his home when tuberculosis killed his family and ostracized him from his village, causing him to run away, separating him from his love interest, his childhood friend Umeko. Sugimoto left his village for a year, and on the day he returned, he saw Umeko getting married to his best friend, Toraji. Both men took part in the Russo-Japanese war, during which Toraji died saving while Sugimoto from a mortar blast. After the war, Sugimoto wished to reunite with Umeko, but her eyesight had deteriorated and was unable to recognize him. In order to pay for surgery that would cure Umeko's condition, having promised the late Toraji that he'd take care of her, Sugimoto began unsuccesfully panning for gold in Hokkaido, until he met a man who began drunkenly blabbering about a hidden gold treasure that would solve all his problems. Sugimoto then sets himself to find the legendary gold, and it all begins when while following the clues he learnt in the man's tale, Sugimoto is attacked by a bear and is saved by a young Ainu girl.

* AllForNothing: Played with. [[spoiler: By the time Sugimoto reunites with Umeko to give his share of the Ainu treasure in the finale, it’s revealed that Umeko had already gotten the eye surgery in the interim. Sugimoto still gives her and her son the gold regardless, fulfilling his pledge to Toraji and ensuring his family will be financially secured for life.]]

* AnimeHair: Unkempt spiky hair, as usual. Averted when he was in the Army and had a standard buzz cut.
* AntiHero: His goal is to get the gold treasure, and he has no qualm about killing or about who he has to hurt in order to obtain it.

* BadassBoast: When he utters his iconic CatchPhrase, ass-kicking is not far behind.

* BadassInDistress: The 7th Division momentarily captures Sugimoto, but Shiraishi and Asirpa manage to free him. [[spoiler: The last battle ends with Sugimoto shot several times, heavily wounded and bloody, stabbed in the chest by a katana and a runaway train plunges him into the freezing ocean.]]

* TheBerserker: Sugimoto would make Vikings proud over how ferocious he was during the battle of Hill 203 and the rest of the Russo-Japanese war. Whenever he battles multiple foes, Sugimoto goes for the most violent way to finish off his opponent, disregarding the wounds he suffers at the same time.
* BerserkButton: Under no circumstances threaten Asirpa in his presence, let alone harm her. ''You won't live to tell the tale.'' [[spoiler:Jack the Ripper found this the hardest way out of all of Sugimoto's opponents.]]
* BigBrotherInstinct: As stated above, Sugimoto is very protective of Asirpa even though she's more than capable of protecting herself, and vastly more experienced in the wilderness than he is. One insult to her is enough to put him into murderous rage.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He is shot in the head by Ogata in Abashiri Prison. He ''survives'']].

* ChickMagnet: During his travels, more than once women express attraction or affection towards him, in particular Umeko in the past [[spoiler:and early on Asirpa develops a crush on him that increases as the story goes on]].

** During his hunt for his sister's killer, Tanigaki joined the military and took part in the Russo-Japanese War in hopes of finding the man responsible and killing him. During the war, he met a certain First Division soldier who was part of the White Sash Brigade. Feeling respect for him, Tanigaki offered him a kane mochi he had with him and let his accent slip, prompting Sugimoto to mention hearing someone with an Ani accent in his platoon, giving Tanigaki the clue he needed to track him down.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After being thrown around by all parties involved and put in mortal danger multiple times because of a treasure hunt he doesn't really care about, Tanigaki is able to leave Hokkaido alive, returning to Ani with Inkarmat and their daughter.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: He quickly deserts from the 7th Division, refusing to kill innocent people.[[Justified as he never intended to become a soldier in the first place.]] He's unique in being the only member of Sugimoto's party who has no real interest in the gold.

* SignatureItemClue: Tanigaki meets Kenichi in the middle of a battlefield. Kenichi is blind and deaf because of a grenade blast, and Tanigaki eases his pain by offering him some of his ''kane mochis'' only the two know the recipe of. The taste of walnut allows Kenichi to recognize Tanigaki despite having no eyes or ears.
* ShipTease: Has several moments with Inkarmat. The two of them have a RelationshipUpgrade when they both have sex.

* WouldHurtAChild: He doesn't raise his rifle toward Asirpa, but later doesn't hesitate to take her hostage.
* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Sister]]: [[spoiler:Tanigaki lived a traditional life as Matagi hunter in Ani, Akita, until news arrived that Fumi, his beloved sister, was murdered by her husband, Kenkichi, who ran away. Consumed by rage, Tanigaki searched through the region for the killer, and even severed ties with his hometown and his people in order to continue his search despite being repatedly begged to stop. He wound up joining the army after hearing that the killer had enlisted, and thanks to a casual conversation with Sugimoto, finally managed to locate his sister's murderer. As it turns out, Kenkichi, who was on the verge of death, only killed Fumi [[MercyKill out of her own request due to her not wishing to suffer the ravages of smallpox any longer.]] The revelation brings Tanigaki to bitter tears over how much they all lost in the process.]]

* AntiHeroTeam: Barring Asirpa, they are searching for the gold either out of selfishness, personal gain or their own dreams that require the gold to be achieved and all of them use more than questionable methods during their gold hunt, threatening, injuring and killing many people in the process. None of them qualify as heroes.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: They're composed of rather colorful people: three Japanese war veterans, two Ainu, and a escaped Abashiri convict. [[spoiler:They are later joined by a Russian deserter and another escaped Abashiri convict.]]

* BadassesWearBandanas: Tanigaki switches to an Ainu bandana.

* EgomaniacHunter: Wants to kill Retar for his ego alone.

* EvilPoacher: Tanigaki wants to hunt down the last Hokkaido Wolf, solely out of his huntng passion and no real gain.
* {{Foil}}: To all other soldiers or former soldier characters. A major theme in the series is how war changes people and [[ShellShockedVeteran not everyone can change back]]. By contrast, by spending time in Asirpa's loving village, Tanigaki managed to put his past as a soldier behind him, in contrast to people like Tsurumi, Ogata and Sugimoto, who remaine anchored to their pasts and what they've done and what they've lost due to war.

* HandicappedBadass: Even if he needs crutches to walk, he is perfectly capable of killing you.
* HeelFaceTurn: He quickly deserts from the 7th Division, refusing to kill innocent people. He's unique in being the only member of Sugimoto's party who has no real interest in the gold.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: An poisoned arrow designed to take out deers pierces his leg. He barely survives thanks to the quick actions of Asirpa and later by Huci's care.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: A big chunk of his leg had to be removed to extract the deadly poison Ainu use.

** [[spoiler: Tanigaki shed some during the war as he listened to his brother-in-law Kenichi, who finally told him the truth about Fumi, Tanigaki's beloved late sister, and how her demise really occured.]]

* YouKilledMyFather: Tanigaki became a soldier because he sought revenge on a friend who killed his younger sister, Fumi. It turns out it was a ''requested'' MercyKill.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Despite the beard and rugged appearance, he is no older than Sugimoto who is in his early twenties.

* BadassDecay: Zig-zagged. His combat roles decreases as the story advances. He goes from being able to defeat Ogata in a sniping duel to an almost [[ButtMonkey comedic role]] and barely sees any combat. [[spoiler: His subsequent fight with Kiroranke, which ends up with Kiroranke dying plus his escape from and deathly struggle with Tsukishima brings him back up to speed.]]

%%* BlueOniRedOni: The blue to Nihei's red.
* ButtMonkey: He injures his foot by playing with a pair of ''sey-pirakka'', gets mistaken for [[BestialityIsDepraved Anehata]] by the local Ainu, and is kicked down from the sled of Enonoka's grandfather for being too heavy.
%%* CarpetOfVirility
* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:Returns during the final battle to help, just in time to rescue Asirpa from falling and losing the land grant.]]
* ClearMyName: Because Anehata stole his rifle and used it to kill a doe the scholar had raped, local Ainus think Tanigaki's the culprit and want to punish him, forcing the soldier to flee.
* ColdSniper: He is handy with a rifle, and can out snipe a dedicated sniper team. Moreover, Tanigaki is very analytical whenever he hunts (or is hunted).
* ConflictingLoyalties: Between his unit, his legacy as a Matagi, and basic human decency. Although he stops cooperating with the 7th Division, Tanigaki still doesn't want to fight them and mostly stays neutral because of the loyalties.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: After being thrown around and put in mortal danger multiple times because of a treasure hunt he doesn't care about, Tanigaki is able to leave Hokkaido with Inkarmat and their daughter for good.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Tanigaki is an EvilPoacher but involving innocent people in a killing spree is beneath him.
* EvilPoacher: Tanigaki wants to hunt down the last Hokkaido Wolf.
* {{Foil}}: To all other soldier or former soldier characters. A major theme in the series is how war changes people and [[ShellShockedVeteran not everyone can change back]]. By contrast, by spending time in Asirpa's loving village, Tanigaki has managed to put his past as a soldier behind him. This is especially the case with Ogata, who has lived an almost lifeless life. Meanwhile, Tanigaki not only has recovered from war, but also got himself a surrogate family with Cikapasi, Inkarmat, and Asirpa's family.
* GoingNative: Downplayed. He starts wearing a customary Hokkaido Ainu clothing after Asirpa's grandmother shelters him.
* HandicappedBadass: Even if he needs crutches to walk, he will kill you.
* HeelFaceTurn: He seems to have abandoned his evil ways and cooperates with Sugimoto.
%%* HotBloodedSideburns
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: An arrow designed to take out deers pierces his leg.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: A big chunk of his leg had to be removed to extract the deadly poison Ainus use.

* ManlyTears: In his flashback, Tanigaki shed some of them as he listens to his brother-in-law, Kenichi's, true story.

%%* PermaStubble