Golgo 13 Omake 4.5

Golgo 13, Special Edition Volume 1, Commentary (pp. 307~316)


Volume 1, Commentary
by Masatake Sugimori


Golgo 13's level of depth and originality is unparalleled, not only among other Japanese picture narratives, but across the world. However, even this work was a simple, spy-on-spy action series at the time of its inception.

Golgo, at this stage, displays self-preservation instincts like a wild beast. He exhibits unending stamina in the bedroom, dresses like a dandy, and was probably even an epicure. With total confidence in his skills, he shows flashes of humor, sarcasm, and even makes quite a bit of conversation. Though probably meant as eye-pleasers, there are many purely superfluous action sequences, fist-fights, and gun firing, and after the job is done, Golgo even enjoys a smoke with a cold smile on his lips.

Meaning, his personality was quite different from the silent, stoic, and haughty philosopher that is the current Golgo, and the one we have grown so accustomed to.

The individuals central to the script at the time were Takao Saito, and the emperor of original picture narratives, Kazuo Koike. The chief editor was the founding editor of Big Comics, Yunosuke Konishi, who would later become executive director of Shogakukan.

During the early stages, the work features Koike's uncompromising steps into the life of his main character, a trademark of his scripts, as well as a nice, typical storyline which allows the work to develop at a brisk pace. However, one must also recognize significant influence from the 007 series films in these works. Or rather, I believe Golgo 13 began as an epigonen (rip-off) of the 007 series told from the post-war, Japanese perspective.

Though I've just disparaged the work as a rip-off of the 007 series, I am not condemning that idea in any way. Other popular series around 1968, when Golgo 13 first began, were works like Kyojin no Hoshi, and Ribbon no Kishi. Indeed, we must salute Takao Saito's grand scheme of attempting to create a work like the 007 series during an era like that. In fact, the Nikkatsu action films, which gained enormous popularity throughout Japan shortly after the work's publication, were influenced far more by Golgo 13 than the 007 series.

But to think of how this work evolved, over such a long period of time (all under the guidance of a single talent, Takao Saito), quite honestly drives me speechless. A near miracle was performed with this work. I will expand on this statement in later installments, but in any case, I wish for fans to read the early chapters of Golgo 13 over and over again. Understanding why the very existence of this work has been dubbed the biggest mystery of the 20th century, amounts to the very reason for choosing to read it.


Chapter 1: Operation Big Safe
The commemorative first chapter of Golgo 13 begins in the infamous red-light district of Hamburg. After battling one out with the courtesan, Golgo stands at the window dressed only in a pair of briefs, puffing some smoke off his cigar. His eyes are sharp and glittering, but in terms of a debut, it's a little on the lame side. The courtesan puts on a devilish little grin, and approaches Golgo from behind. The next moment, Golgo reflexively punches the woman, but his surprised "Ugh!" shows the action was out of habit. The scene is important in first exhibiting Golgo's well-known habit: "Reflexively attacking anyone who tries to approach quietly from behind." Afterwards, he drives off the two men who come into the room, and gets as far as escaping outside, but is surrounded by police and ultimately arrested. Is it his inexperience, or his klutziness...?

Being the first chapter, the work provides a great deal of background information on Golgo, like the origin of the name Golgo 13, his weapon, and his habits as a professional hitman. It also reveals how he never unquestioningly trusts his employers, preferring to making contact with them on his own accord, how he only accepts payment in full before the job, how he never accepts any line of work other than assassination, and how he always has an escape route planned out beforehand. All of this goes to show that the young Golgo has already grown accustomed to the hellish work environment of the professional hitman.

However, he still shows signs of inexperience. Not only is he captured by the police at the very beginning, he is also quite talkative throughout the chapter.

When Golgo reveals himself to his employer, the agents begin to ask him various questions, and he takes his sweet time responding to each one of them. He even sounds like he is boasting when he explains how he tracked the agents to their hideout. The Golgo here is still very, very young. He also proceeds to sit down when the employer offers him a seat, and gets into a little bit of trouble with the other agents. From this point on, Golgo is never seen sitting in front of his employer—usually preferring to remain standing with his back to the wall—and presumably, he adopted the habit from this exchange.

When he receives his payment in cash from his employer, he jokes "I gather you won't need a receipt?" but I find this also unbecoming of him. The employer, of course, responds with "..." The joke is thoughtless and humorless, ignoring the other's position and emotions. He also has a little laugh by himself when he surveys the mansion where his target is hiding, and calls the female operative "my beautiful assistant." This too, can be attributed to inexperience. The later, more mature Golgo never underestimates anybody, even a small child, but at this point, he still has a tendency to trivialize his opponents.

Even still, his inexperience is only relative to the later, complete Golgo, and for an (approximately) 20 year old youth, he should be considered a frighteningly calm and methodical individual.

*Staff*
Director: Takao Saito; Scenario: Kazuo Koike/Takao Saito; Layout: Saburo Takemoto/Takao Saito; Artwork: Fumiyasu Ishikawa/Saburo Takemoto/Mikijiro Kora/Takeshi Kanda/Hiromi Yamazaki/Yuji Otake/Yoko Mimura/Seisaku Tamura/Makiko Nakatsu/Fuji Yamashiro/Takao Saito; Editor: Kazuki Tanaka


Chapter 2: The Howls of Delos
Golgo infiltrates the island of Delos at the request of the French Intelligence Agency, and finds himself up against a member of the same trade, Bonet. The two exchange introductions, but do not shake hands. Golgo thinks it out with himself: "A pro never offers his own hand..."

Golgo's target were the wife and son of the French minister of defense. The two are under strong suspicion of being impostors, but Golgo accepts the job on the condition that he is allowed to investigate and determine the authenticity of the pair himself. The manner in which he correctly identified the two impostors through his rifle scope is, in my opinion, one of the best scenes in the entire volume.

Both Mr. Saito and Mr. Koike, the script writer, had a great deal of involvement in Japanese historical films, so they were undoubtedly familiar with the stories in the Ohoka Seidan (lit. "Ohoka's Book of Political Stories"). One of the stories is about a parentage dispute. With two women claiming to be the true mother of a child, the case is brought to the attention of Edo's (modern-day Tokyo) southern district magistrate, Ohoka Echizen no Kami, who determines the true mother to be the first who let go of their hands when they engaged in a tug of war with the child's arms. Echizen no Kami explains that he felt no motherly affection radiating from the woman who ignored the child's cries of pain, continuing to pull his arms towards her. The true mother let go immediately because she couldn't bear to hear her child's pained cries.

Golgo discovers that the pair are impostors using this "Ohoka style" method of judgement, but it is still uncharacteristic of him to fall for a simple trap like the one laid out by Bonet. He hadn't noticed the numerous security cameras, or the fact that his sniping had been captured on tape. Golgo seems to have learned his lesson from this job, and it goes without saying that, from this point on, he pays close attention to his surroundings up until the very conclusion of each chapter.

*Staff*
Director: Takao Saito; Scenario: Kazuo Koike/Takao Saito; Layout: Saburo Takemoto/Takao Saito; Artwork: Fumiyasu Ishikawa/Mikijiro Kora/Saburo Takemoto/Takeshi Kanda/Fuji Yamashiro/Hiromi Yamazaki/Yuji Otake/Yoko Mimura/Seisaku Tamura/Makiko Nakatsu/Takao Saito; Editor: Mamoru Osada


Chapter 3: Perversion of the Wolf and Rose
The most memorable part of this chapter for me is the scene where Golgo is seen giving a firm handshake. It is the first of only two instances throughout the entire series where we ever see him like this.

Of course, Golgo wasn't shaking hands for just any old reason. He needed to become acquainted in order to complete the hit. However, from this point forward, Golgo rarely ever offers to shake hands with anybody, even when doing so would prove beneficial. There are no instances where his safety is threatened for doing so, but regardless, this is an important scene showing us a Golgo handshake for the very first time.

*Staff*
Director: Takao Saito; Scenario: Kazuo Koike/Takao Saito; Layout: Saburo Takemoto/Takao Saito; Artwork: Fumiyasu Ishikawa/Saburo Takemoto/Mikijiro Kora/Takeshi Kanda/Hiromi Yamazaki/Yuji Otake/Yoko Mimura/Seisaku Tamura/Makiko Nakatsu/Fuji Yamashiro/Takao Saito; Editor: Mamoru Osada


Chapter 4: The Faded Crest
Golgo is revealed to have professional-level skiing skills. He crosses the border using those skills, and infiltrates the Hungarian secret police headquarters unfazed. He also never ceases to distrust his employer, as is usual.

In this chapter, we are introduced to the first of several austere supporting characters: CIA director Hoover, and KGB (KGV in the actual chapter) director Kinisky.

The employer, Krueger, had intended to manipulate Golgo from the very beginning. Golgo was fully aware of this, but arrived in Hungary regardless. Krueger makes his own assuption, "Even so, there was the ten-thousand dollars... The human weakness." To which Golgo responds with "..."

In interviews, Takao Saito has explained that Golgo's "..." is meant to allow the readers many different possibilites and interpretations. In this sense, Golgo had certainly not come "strolling over... for ten thousand dollars" as Krueger implied. Did he arrive knowing that it was a trap, did he arrive wanting to discover what sort of trap was awaiting him, did he want to expose himself to danger, or was he displaying his confidence in being able to handle any kind of situation...? Indeed, Golgo's "..." does open the door to many possible interpretations.

Also, there is a scene later on in the series where Kinisky recalls memories of his first meeting with Golgo (Chapter 24: Aerial See-Through), which is thought to have occured sometime during or after this chapter.

*Staff*
Director: Takao Saito; Scenario: Kazuo Koike/Takao Saito; Layout: Saburo Takemoto/Takao Saito; Artwork: Fumiyasu Ishikawa/Mikijiro Kora/Saburo Takemoto/Takeshi Kanda/Hiromi Yamazaki/Yuji Otake/Yoko Mimura/Seisaku Tamura/Makiko Nakatsu/Fuji Yamashiro/Takao Saito; Editor: Mamoru Osada


Masatake Sugimori
Golgo 13 historian and director of the Duke Togo Research Center. Chief editor of THE Golgo-gaku (Shogakukan).