The models for Ogata Hyakunosuke

We don’t really have data to back this up, and we’re just saying this out of observation on the fandom, but Ogata Hyakunosuke the sniper is one of the most popular characters among Golden Kamuy fans. (Edited: We do now. He is very popular.) Noda-sensei also seems to be taking an interest in developing him further, introducing big revisions to chapter 103, which focuses on Ogata’s past, when it was published as part of volume 11.

We’ll talk about this on a separate post. Here, let’s take a look at the models that inspired Noda-sensei in designing Ogata, with the biggest hint being Ogata’s pose here:

The models for Sugimoto Saichi

Sugimoto Saichi was actually the name of Noda-sensei’s great-grandfather, but while Golden Kamuy’s protagonist’s surname is written as 杉元 , Noda-sensei’s great-grandfather’s is written as 杉本 (both are read the same, ‘Sugimoto’). Noda-sensei had wanted to write a manga about his great-grandfather, and chance arose when, after finishing Supinamarada!, he was asked whether he’d like to make a manga abut hunters in Hokkaido. He decided to make one with a young man who’s just come home from the Russo-Japanese war as the protagonist.

The following picture was taken from Noda Satoru’s blog post where he wrote about his great-grandfather. His name is on the second line from the right.