Funny / Golden Kamuy

Despite the violence and sad undertone of the story, Golden Kamuy is generous with funny gags.

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• When Asirpa tells Sugimoto that having a pencil is convenient, Sugimoto proceeds to wobble the pencil to make it appear to be bent, much to her shock.
• The first time Sugimoto and Asirpa share a meal. Asirpa takes out some squirrels to eat and presents their raw brains, saying they're a delicacy and forces Sugimoto to eat them all with one stern look. Sugimoto can only reluctantly gulp them down and then say they are delicious. Thankfully for him, the rest of the meal is delicious.
  • It becomes a Running Gag, Sugimoto, and eventually Shiraishi being forced to eat disgusting body parts every time they eat.
  • Ushiyama himself is forced to eat woodcock brains alongside Sugimoto as he cannot muster the courage to refuse.
  • However, Ogata simply says no, to the last two's consternation.
• The Running Gag of Asirpa mistaking miso for poop. Then she keeps spreading the rumor that Sugimoto eats poop among her people, to Sugimoto's dismay. Made all the funnier when she eventually eats some miso and finds it delicious, still convinced that it's poop.
  • When an Ainu village's womenfolk is rescued, they have to eat his poop. Cue reluctance, then relief and relish, in a hilarious manner.
• Shiraishi being trapped every time into the new trap of the week. Asirpa presents how the animal will be trapped, and Shiraishi unwittingly demonstrates.
• When Asirpa and Retar play alone, the Savage Wolf suddenly transforms into a Big Friendly Dog. The funniest part is when he hears Sugimoto approaching and changes back into a wolf to not look dumb in front of a stranger.
• For once Asirpa gives bad advice for surviving in the mountain and chews the very bitter needles of a Sakhalin fir with Sugimoto, then monopolizes all the water sources.
• There's a Running Gag throughout the manga in which the opening page of a chapter will depict animals interacting with Asirpa, either cutely cuddling with her or acting like they're a trained pet. The next page will then show that the gang has actually captured and killed said animal, with the next pages describing exactly how they skin and eat them. The joke reaches its peak at chapter 63, where Asirpa and a seal pose like action movie heroes in a full-page spread, followed by the next page showing Asirpa violently clubbing the seal to death. She then calls out all of the badass adult male characters that it's safe to come out now, as they peek over a nearby rock. Apparently, they were afraid of it.
  • Shiraishi also gets a cover like this when he gets stuck in a trap by accident.
• The many Ho Yay moments from Nihei's introduction onward.
  • Henmi's Villainous Crush on Sugimoto has him repeatedly act like a prude young girl in love with Sugimoto not noticing anything, and Henmi is practically having orgasms when he imagines Sugimoto gruesomely killing him with the many lethal instruments of the fishery.
  • A drunk Ushiyama stumbles upon an imprisoned Shiraishi who begs him to free him, but he mistakes Shiraishi for Ienaga and begins to fondle him, much to Shiraishi's horror.
  • At one point, Nagakura Shinpachi, who mostly behaved like a respectable old man, disguises himself as a woman. While the move was justified in context, what isn't justifiable is that he put lipstick on even though his masked face rendered it useless.
  • Sugimoto, Shiraishi, Ogata, Tanigaki and Kiroranke strip down to their loincloths and "sumo wrestle" while under the influence of cooking sea otter meat, which causes uncontrollable lust according to Ainu tradition.
• First Lieutenant Tsurumi abusing Kouhei's cut off left ear, as he is annoyed that Kouhei keeps talking to it.
• When Shiraishi and Inkarmat go to the Ezo Derby gambling on horse races, Inkarmat's correct predictions make Shiraishi rich. Thus, the gullible Shiraishi begins to buy more and more of Inkarmat's lucky charms, to the point he is covered in them. When Sugimoto and Asirpa find him, he looks utterly ridiculous while lording over them with his money. The duo promptly puts him back in his place.
• "Please don't re-interpret the entire Ainu culture just because you really want to eat tatsuta age."
• Shiraishi's backstory. To clarify, the reason why he's known as the Escape King is that he fell in love with a nun named Sister Miyazawa through hearsay and a seemingly sloppy drawing of her (case in point, the eyes are drawn as simple lines and the head has the shape of a potato) from Kumagichi Chouan. Escaping multiple prisons just to meet her, Shiraishi builds his reputation as an Escape Artist and finally reaches Miyazawa... who exactly resembles the sketch Chouan made.
• When the engine of the dirigble they escaped on starts to malfunction, Sugimoto and Shiraishi start acting like apes trying to fix it to the point of even screaming "Ook! Ook!" before they are interrupted by Aspira who seemingly knows the answer...only to start screaming "Ook!" herself before Ogata tells everyone to knock it off.
• Sugimoto's face when he guesses Extreme Omnisexual Shiton Anehata is likely to try to rape a brown bear.
  Sugimoto: It's gonna devour him, tattoo and all!
• Sugimoto, Shiraishi, Tanigaki, Ogata and Kiroranke are trapped in the same fishing hut because of a locust swarm. When they cook some sea otter meat (whose odor is reputed as an aphrodisiac), they all begin to see each other as attractive Bishonen or The Bear. They eventually vent off their feelings...by sumo wrestling. At least it remotely looks like wrestling, and more like they're fondling each other. Once the effects wear off, they agree to never tell anyone, ever.
  Sugimoto: That's it... I can't take it anymore...Let's sumo wrestle.
  Everyone else (save Ogata): Oh great idea!
• Given how much the male fanservice is Played for Laughs in this series (as the above example ilustrates), it's small wonder that the mandatory onsen chapter includes a double page spread... of the whole male cast.
  • The reader is then treated to several chapters of Naked People Are Funny (with a good deal of Full-Frontal Assault), where Scenery Censor is milked for all its worth: the characters' genitals are censored with Shiraishi's head (the real one), several erect mushrooms placed in the foreground so much that they look humongous, or a rifle.
    • Indeed, the only character that doesn't get a censor is Shiraishi himself.
  • Tanigaki mistakes Kiroranke's jewels for Cikapasi's arm and grabs it to pull it to safety (yes, Kiroranke's junk can seemingly be mistaken for something as large as an arm, even that of a child), Kiroranke goes Instant Soprano.
  • Asirpa wanders in the dark and stumble into someone's buttocks. Somehow, she can recognize Sugimoto when she looks at his butthole, which is funnily also censored by an image of Shiraishi's head.
• Admittedly a matter of the translation, but after a scene where Shiraishi gets his face slapped by penises - twice and gets surrounded by enemies, he refers to them as "I can't believe these dicks" (meaning the enemies. We hope.)
• Sugimoto showing underwear photos of Tanikagi instead of photos of Asirpa while searching in Karafuto. Thrice. One wonders why Sugimoto had those photos in the first place...
• Sergeant Tsukishima is a running Funny Moment, whenever he has to deadpan his Only Sane Man face at his downright psychopathic colleagues.
  • He's also the only person who can understand Koito's Satsuma dialect and probably the only one present who can speak Russian, which doesn't help him get away from the madness of the situation as he is forced to act as the interpreter (made even worse when Sugimoto and Koito ask him to translate several nasty insults into Russian while in Karafuto).
  • The manga even pokes fun at him keeping a straight face no matter what he thinks of his companions, with his Imagine Spot of him considering to actually follow through with Sugimoto's sugestion of putting a reindeer collar on Koito's neck.
• Asirpa translating for her grandmother when Sugimoto visits their house, and omitting practically everything she says, especially the parts about wanting Sugimoto to take Aspira as his wife.
• Sugimoto performs Jotaro's stand rush on a bunch of Russians during a stenka fight, complete with screaming "I'm Sugimoto the Immora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ortal!!" ^note "Ore ore ore ore ore ore wa fujimi no sugimoto da!!" in Japanese
• The entirety of the Circus Arc. Sugimoto meets the Yamada Circus Troupe and decides to perform here in order to make an impression with a magic trick, so that Asirpa can hear about him. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Koito basically reveals that he has The Gift in terms of acrobatics. Assured to be a success, Koito becomes a Smug Super and The Rival to Sugimoto since his trick risks being overshadowed by Koito.
    • For further hilarity, Koito's companions perform horribly and end up ridiculing themselves and giving the impression of being clowns. Cue Yamada asking:
    Yamada: What circus troupe did you belong to?
    Koito: The Hokkaido 7th Division.
  • Sugimoto and co. try the cycle whirl, basically trying to ride a bicycle inside a giant wooden barrel. Sugimoto and Tanigaki can barely ride a bicycle, and Cikapasi tries to encourage the latter by telling him to remember "Boner" as if it was some Survival Mantra. Cue Tanigaki loudly shouting "Boner!" again and again, further deconcentrating Sugimoto.
  • Because of their lack of ability whatsoever, Tanigaka and Tsukishima are stuck with the dancing little girls group, led by the Drill Sergeant Nasty-like Fumie.
  Fumie: What do you think you're looking at?! Did you fall in love with me!?
  Tsukishima: No, ma'am.
  Fumie: Did you think you'd get me to play favourites just by sleeping with me!?
  Tsukishima: No, ma'am.
  Fumie: Well that won't work on me!
  Tsukishima: Yes, ma'am.
  • After a training seance that resembles more an insult seance, Tsukishima is fed up with it and sees that Tanigaki also has an exhausted face, so he tries to chit chat over their frustration. Cue Tanigaki taking dancing as Serious Business and basically becoming the protagonist of a dreadful "Grown burly man has no talent for dancing but must give his all for the big night" storyline, with encouraging from the girls, a tearful backstory for a minor character, and Fumie acknowledging Tanigaki's performance after several instance of verbal abuse. Tsukishima is truly fed up with the clowns in his life.
  • For their part, Sugimoto and Koito develop a bitter rivalry because while Sugimoto's harakiri's trick is supposedly the most successful part of Yamada's show, Koito's gift in acrobatics threaten to overshadow Sugimoto. So another subplot develops with Sugimoto trying to outdo and eventually ruin Koito's show. When Sugimoto seemingly tries to distract him by exposing his precious photograph of Tsurumi, Koito switches Sugimoto's fake katana with his own sabre.
  • The arc ends with Sugimoto being billed by the newspapers as "Sugimoto the Immoral".
• The 7th Division's search for a Jack the Ripper copycat is serious at first; then Usami starts masturbating to try and find a clue at the crime scene. And when their target shows up, also masturbating, he and Usami start blasting rope at each other and dodging like they're in The Matrix. It has to be seen to be believed.
• During Ushiyama's chase with Ueji Keiji, Keiji slams a restaurant door shut. Ushiyama charges through, taking the door and most of the surrounding wall with him, and then opens the door like normal.
• A drunk Kadokura is caught in the collapse of the Sapporo brewery, but falling scaffolding stops his fall and gently tucks him into a futon where he naps unaware.
• Asirpa gets bitten by the cinema bug and tries directing her own film, starring Sugimoto and the Seventh Division!
• In Boutarou's final moments after Taking The Bullets for Shiraishi, he makes one last request. He wants him to go on to accomplish great things in his stead, and then when he has children, to tell them about the man who saved his life to make sure his memory will live on. As he slips away, Shiraishi agrees, promising he'll never forget him. While also getting his name wrong.