What point in Golden Kamuy that you want readers to pay attention to?
“The beautiful nudity of men. I want to keep drawing the naked bodies of men, be they pot-bellied or with thick chest hair.” (https://www.google.com/amp/s/kamuycentral.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/translation-interview-with-noda-satoru-after-winning-the-manga-taisho-award-2016/amp/)
Seriously, shit is GAY.
Reading that quote made me feel kind of emotional I guess? It’s not often that, especially in an award winning comic series that is pretty popular over the pond, men are allowed to be described as “beautiful.”
Like, I’m a fat guy. In pop culture, fat guys are funny and ugly. Fat guys aren’t handsome or beautiful or role models. Fat guys even when they get the girl are still funny and ugly. So I find myself getting emotional when an author like Satoru Noda describes pot-bellies as “beautiful.”
It’s a similar feeling I got when I first watched Steven Universe. I was in high school at the time, but seeing the hero of a cartoon for kids be this weird, fat little soft boy who isn’t ridiculed for his appearance and is allowed to be weird and fat and soft and it be treated as a good thing made me so happy.
Or even reading some Superman comics! Superman is usually seen as this built, jacked guy. Henry Cavill is one of the hottest dudes in Hollywood for fuck’s sake. So when in a comic like All-Star Superman or Superman for All Seasons, Clark Kent has a nontraditional build, one where he’s more linebacker than bodybuilder, I thought it was nice.
For real, Supes in All Seasons is a LARGE BOY.
So basically this is just a short shout out for Golden Kamuy. That offbeat little series with a lot of passion and heart that makes me feel good about myself and my body in ways that no other media really does.
Side note: I know that, in the grand scheme of things, the way the female form is treated in pop culture is way more problematic. I’m not trying to downplay that, I’m just talking about my own experiences as a fat guy.