Photo/Illutration Hiroshi Tamaki (Photo by Shinobu Ikazaki)

A highlight scene from “Golden Kamuy” sees Hiroshi Tamaki baring his teeth and making a clattering sound in his role as Lieutenant Tsurumi, the cunning and cold-blooded villain of the piece.

“Do you want me to gnaw on you?” he asks Sugimoto, the protagonist of the live-action feature film adaptation of the manga series by Satoru Noda that now has more than 27 million copies in circulation.

Set in the northernmost main island of Hokkaido in the late Meiji Era (1868-1912), the story revolves around army veteran Sugimoto (played by Kento Yamazaki) and his Ainu partner Asirpa (Anna Yamada).

The duo set out on an adventure to find a huge fortune left by the indigenous Ainu people as they fight for survival against Tsurumi and master swordsman Hijikata Toshizo.

Noda originally had Tamaki in mind for the role of Tsurumi.

“The honor is all mine because I had been a fan of the manga since before I got the offer,” the actor said.

The character wears an enamel plate in his forehead due to an injury sustained during the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. When he gets excited, “brain fluid” leaks from underneath it.

“He is charismatic and apparently insane, but also appealing and humorous. The character is given depth when these factors are blended,” Tamaki said.

The movie is packed with action sequences. The scenes include a fight with a brown bear, a gunfight and someone being tortured.

Still, the film adaptation only covers the first three of the 31 volumes of the original manga series.

The story has a long way to go before it gets to the final, deadly showdown between Tsurumi and Sugimoto.

“Now that we have started, we want to get to the end,” the actor said. “I will keep ‘Tsurumi’ inside me until the time comes.”

Directed by Shigeaki Kubo, “Golden Kamuy” is showing nationwide.

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