In "Golden Kamuy", some characters have sparkling eyes and others have empty eyes. But for me, the fact that Wilk always had the former even as a terrorist makes it seem Noda doesn't use eyes to hint how good or bad a character is. If you have some, what are your thoughts on what Noda uses eyes to hint a character's nature?

Hello thanks for your question. I will do my best to try to address it in a way that makes some sense.

First off, in the series, characters can fall into three eye categories; 1.) sparkling, 2.) black or 3.) lightened. Some characters eyes can stay in only one category but sometimes they switch between all three.

I will warn you, I really got into this!

1.) Sparkling



Let’s start with sparkling eyes. Asirpa is a classic example of this eye type. You can see her iris and pupil as well as the reflection of light on it as well.



Sugimoto and Wilk also have sparkling eyes. Already, sparkling eyes will not be an indication of if someone is a nice person or pure.



If we look at the three Meiji revolutionaries compared to Wilk, Kiro and Sofia we see this. Wilk and Okubo are sparkly, Kido is black but Kiro sparkly. Sofia and Saigou are sparkly.



It think the personalities are being compared, not their eyes specifically as a reflection of their deeds. By this point all three have killed others for their cause.

2.) Black eyes

This is likely the most common eye type that occurs in the manga. It is the default for the entire 7th.

I went kinda nuts, but I looked deeply into it.

Tsurumi has completely black eyes.

The Nikaido twins do.

Captain Wada when he is shot by Tsukishima both have black eyes.

Interestingly, when Tanigaki is with the bear death trio (Tamai, Noma, and Okada) he has a reflection in his eyes which are not completely black while they do not. I think this is to indicate to us that Tanigaki will become important.



The bear death trio alone still have black eyes here.

Of course Ogata also has the black eyes, while Tanigaki’s eyes are not black in the same page.



Ogata is a bit interesting here. He started out with different eyes in chapter 4 and 5 where he at least had a reflection of light on his black eyes. This is gone when he reappears.



We can also see non-black eyes when the trap yanks his rifle out of his hands here.



Maybe this is perhaps to show us that Ogata is concerned in this situation. I’d guess Noda was still trying to figure out how to draw his eyes. Later, when we see a flashback to Ogata as a child, he has completely black eyes.

And in most scenes, his eyes are completely black with no reflection.

Don’t forget that Ogata’s terrible father Hanazawa also had completely black eyes.

Keep in mind that pretty much anyone in the 7th will be draw with the black eyes. Koito also has them as well.

Another duo with the black eyes are the viper and lightening bandit.

The next category is . ..



3.) Light eyes

I find it interesting that Hijikata is the first character in this group since he’s ethnically Japanese.



As well as the Russian border guards, but they are likely supposed to depict blue or blue-grey eyes.







Changes to eye status/appearance



What is more interesting is the change in the qualities of a character’s eyes.

When Ogata and Sugimoto first meet their eye qualities are totally different here. Ogata has the black eyes with the light reflection while Sugimoto has a sparkle even with a hazel iris and black pupil.



Here is an early panel when Sugimoto is about to kill Ogata. His eyes go from solid black to a light iris around a dark pupil.



Whenever Sugimoto does something scary or dark his eyes will go completely black, and when he feels very strong emotion, here, about killing Ogata we see lighter eyes.

Here is Shiraishi thinking about him post Henmei. Look at how Sugimoto’s eyes almost look like Ogata’s at times. Vertical lines for the sides and all black.



Kiro is another character who normally as a sparkle in his eyes but his will occasionally go black as well. Ths is in direct reference to his role as a partisan and saying some pretty mean things about how they used Sofia.



When Tanigaki was shot by Ogata, his eyes went from us seeing the iris and pupil and a light sparkle to solid black here.

But when he’s ready to fight back his eyes have a fire in them so to speak.

Asirpa will also have black eyes on occasion. Usually when she’s making a face at something she doesn’t like, or she’s trying to scare someone or intimidate the like here with Sugimoto.

I think what is more important is if a characters eyes change their look more so than if they sparkle or what color they are.

When Asirpa threatens Shirashi, we still see her different eye color but she loses the sparkle here. This makes her look a bit more like the members of the 7th … her eye isn’t black but she’s lost the sparkle.



What is also interesting is O-Gin’s eyes which are usually black show a sparkle when she tells her partner Kei that he can’t die without her here.

This is the one time that she had a sparkle.

When Tsurumi was the spy Hasegawa his eyes had some sparkle here.

But by time he was the 2nd Lt. in charge of Tsukishima he had no sparkle, just a black eye instead. Does the loss of the sparkle indicate that Tsurumi is a changed man and he can’t go back and thus has the straight black eye with no sparkle? When Tsurumi told Fina his real name and took off his glasses his eyes were completely black. But moments earlier when Tsurumi found them, his eyes were shown as either glazed over and when he told Wilk, Kiro and Sofia to flee, his iris was light and his pupil dark. This likely indicated shock and strong emotions for him.



Another character who’s eyes have changed is Tsukishima. When he is with his unnamed girlfriend his eyes have a very very slight sparkle.

But most of the time his eyes are all black. Occasionally when he is very upset or intense you will see a lighter iris with black pupil; when he almost bayonets Ogata in Yuubari or when he bayonets Kei in the cheek.

For Tsukishima this is him at his most lethal and intense, while for most of the time his eyes are just plain black like pretty much the entire 7th. I think this is the most intense emotion from Tsukishima.

Lastly, here he is with Svetlana losing it. He’s feeling super intense emotions.



Sofia despite being in prison has a sparkle to her eyes when she sees Asirpa.



But after she slaps Kiro, her sparkle is gone and she has the light iris dark pupil here.

Koito is similar to Tsukishima. He normally has default black eyes.

But when he’s at his highest level of intensity his iris goes lighter than his pupil here.

Ogata hasn’t gotten any sparkles but when he heard Tanigaki’s murata rifle recall here, he’s got an interesting reflection on the whites of his eyes even when they should be shaded.

I’m still unsure what this means for Ogata, it definitely indicates his concern for things. He has become aware that they might be pursued by Tanigaki, and therefore Sugimoto, and since the 7th overran Abashiri he knows others from the 27th are there too.



Ogata has only lost his cool two times, once in the swamp with Tanigaki where his eye went completely white and just now in 187 where he tells Asirpa people like her shouldn’t exist. I guess his shift from black with no sparkle to white is the equivalent for Ogata feeling intense emotions? I think Ogata with white blank eyes is intense emotion time for him.



Phew, so after all of this, I think the importance is the change in a character’s eye status and not their actual eye color or appearance.



If the sparkle disappears when there is one normally, it indicates some intense emotions. If a character with black eyes has a light iris and dark pupil that character is feeling incredibly intense emotions either in regards to trying to kill someone or to yell as someone or slap them.

Perhaps a sparkle indicates a character still has hope for the future; Asirpa, Sofia, Wilk, Kiro, Shiraishi, Sugimoto, Inkarmat, Tanigaki etc. Wilk was a stone cold killer, but he had hope to change the future. In contrast, those with no sparkle and no hope; pretty much the entire 7th, Hijikata etc have accepted their fate and have no hopes for the future. They will do what they are doing even if it does kill them and they are resigned to their fate as the sparkle-less characters. This may also apply to Ogata as a child as he had the black eyes with no sparkle as he had no hope growing up.

