I've randomly been thinking about Vasily, a minor character from the manga Golden Kamuy. I like this series a lot: it's one of the few series i've followed in sync with it's release and i kind of grew up alongside it or something. It's very easy to like all the chracters in the series, save for a few. Vasily isn't even my favorite character in the series, that spot belongs to Ushiyama.

I really like Ushiyama. In a series filled with people who are chasing and fighting for some kind of past ideal, or trying to undo time, I find his position really compelling. The thing is I don't really see a lot of myself in Ushiyama, and he isn't even particularly smexy (hes okay...). I guess I don't see much of myself in Vasily either, or idk my logic is kind of falling apart.

Vasily just kind of appears in the series, he's a free radical kind of swriled into the gravity well of the major plot beats. He's a sniper (cool), and his face was disfigured in a battle, meaning he covers up and cant speak. Despite that and how late he joins the cast of characters, he really left an impact on me.

Golden Kamuy is a series of caricature. everyone is assigned their punchline in advance and are capable of employing it in even the most serious circumstance. It can feel like the characters are somewhat flat, but there are moments where characters can get a moment to really breathe, and on the inhale their diaphragm expands into something not unlike a real person. It's not always interesting or provocative, but when it happens it's nice. Vasily isn't an exception, he's basically only capable of communicating his want for revenge, and his face is messed up, and he can't talk. But he also likes to draw.. and that doesn't really turn you into a whole person necessarily. But I think what really endears me to him is that when these things all kind of come together. He's motivated solely by this death drive for revenge, and he can't speak or understand anyone else which is played for laughs, but the "funny" element to him is that he's an artist and enjoys looking at nature. Which isn't really funny actually, it's more so the contrast between the brutal of his goals and body against the gentle of his interest and personality...that doesn't disappear even when his sole purpose for living is to kill another person. He just comes across as kind of gentle and beautiful in a way I really like, and hope I can emulate in a ways.....idk.