Retar

****First Lieutenant Tsurumi will scold me!****

*This article is outdated, poorly written or lacks important information. It should be reworked!*

**Overview**
Gallery

## Retar

* Manga
* Anime

## Relationships

### Affiliations

* Sugimoto's Group **(Former)**
* Ainu People

## Media Info

### Anime Debut

Episode 1

**Retar** (レタㇻ, *Retar*) is a white Ezo wolf and friend of Asirpa. After Asirpa's father died, Asirpa would often go to the woods accompanied by Retar.

## Appearance

Retar is very large Ezo wolf with solid white fur and yellow eyes.

## Background

Retar was born in Hokkaido, near Sapporo. He was found as a small wolf cub next to a body of his dead parent that was mauled by a bear when Asirpa and her father were out hunting. They ended up saving him from a brown bear and named him Retar, which means "white", since he looked like a tiny snowman.

Asirpa and Retar often spent time together, especially after Wilk passed away. However, they belonged to different worlds: one night, when Asirpa and Retar were in the forest, they were awoken by a howling. Retar wanted to follow the sound, but Asirpa tried to stop him, asking not to listen and come back to her. After looking at Asirpa for one last time and letting out a howl, Retar ran away, leaving Asirpa alone and sobbing, crying out for Retar and her *aca*.

## Plot

### Introduction Arc

When Asirpa is attacked by a bear, Retar jumps before the bear and strikes it, ripping a small piece of flesh off the bear's snout. The bear tries to counter-attack it, but Retar swiftly dodges the bear's paw. As Asirpa watches Retar protect her, she reaches out her hand and calls Retar by his name. She then instructs Sugimoto to aim for the bear’s heart, which is right under its armpit.

After the bear is dead, Sugimoto asks where the *huge white dog* went. Asirpa corrects him, saying Retar is actually a wolf. She points at a hill, where Retar is seen howling on the moon.

### Escape King Arc

Retar senses that Asirpa is in danger and charges at Genjirou Tanigaki, who's held Asirpa at the gunpoint. Retar breaks Tanigaki's leg and is about to bite into his throat when Asirpa stops him. Asirpa tells Retar that he is the last *Horkew Kamuy* (Wolf God, or Howling God) and she cannot let him become *Wen Kamuy* for her sake. Still, she is thankful that he's saved her. Asirpa scratches Retar's belly and calls him a good wolf. They keep playing around until Sugimoto appears, calling out to Asirpa. Alerted by his voice, Retar flees, and Sugimoto wonders if the wolf took down Tanigaki, who is lying unconscious. He asks Asirpa if the soldier is alive, and Asirpa chooses to lie and tell Sugimoto that Tanigaki is dead, thinking that a tough guy like him would survive here even with a broken leg.

Later, Tanigaki comes to his senses and thinks of the gorgeous wolf with silver-white fur he saw. Tanigaki decides that it must be his Matagi blood calling, and he won't stop until he has hunted the wolf down.

Some other night, Sugimoto is sitting together with Huci and Makanakkuru. They hear a wolf's howl, and Sugimoto says that he's seen a large white wolf protect Asirpa twice; he wonders why would an animal behave like that. Makanakkuru explains that it must be Retar's howl they're hearing now.

When Sugimoto leaves and Asirpa starts searching for him, she calls Retar. Asirpa blows into a deer whistle (*ipapkeni*) to imitate a deer's cry so that Retar would come to the sound. Being able to tell that Asirpa needs his help just from her scent, Retar comes to her aid. Asirpa gives Sugimoto's sock to Retar he would follow his scent. She decides they should start searching at night so Retar wouldn't stand out too much. At night, Asirpa and Retar go to Otaru searching for Sugimoto After picking up the scent, Retar points to a building where Sugimoto is supposed to be. Asirpa and Retar get inside, and Retar finds a sleeping man there. Asirpa takes out the *sutu* and hits the man, assuming it's Sugimoto, but after lighting the *cinoyetat* she sees Yoshitake Shiraishi before her, who she calls "excrement king". Asirpa wonders why Retar would take her to Shiraishi since he wouldn't follow the wrong scent. Shiraishi says he is there on his own, and Asirpa explains that she gave Sugimoto's sock to Retar to follow its scent. Shiraishi realizes that he and Sugimoto must have mixed up their socks after they dried their clothes. Asirpa makes a disgusted face and calls it gross. Shiraishi wonders if Sugimoto double-crossed Asirpa and left with taking all the tattooed skins they gathered. He then reveals that he heard a rumor of a some guy in a military cap starting a fight in the red-light district and then being taken to the 7th Division home base. Asirpa points her arrow at Shiraishi, demanding he take her to the 7th Division's base.

Shiraishi reluctantly agrees but says he needs to wash his face first. Asirpa thinks of how she knew something bad would happen to Sugimoto. She is then alerted by Retar and notices that Shiraishi is running away. The Escape King climbs the roofs and digs a tunnel under a fence, but he is caught by Retar. Asirpa claims that Shiraishi can try running all he wants, but he will never escape the tracking ability of a *Horkew Kamuy*.

Later, Asirpa shoots Lt. Tsurumi's horse with an arrow. Retar wants to eat the piece of horse flesh that Asirpa carved from the horse's body, but Asirpa says he can't do that.

After getting away from the 7th Division, Asirpa, Sugimoto, and Shiraishi have to decide what to do with the horse. Sugimoto wants to keep it, but Shiraishi disagrees, claiming the horse will stand out and that disposing of it will be the best option. Asirpa says that she wants to give Retar a reward for helping them, so Shiraishi concludes its decided and shoots the horse while Sugimoto watches it with sadness in his eyes.

### Legendary Hunter Arc

When Sugimoto and Asirpa run into a trouble while hunting a deer, Retar appears and kills the struggling deer. Asirpa and Sugimoto cut the deer up and give some of its meat to Retar. After eating the deer liver, Retar sniffs something in the air and starts acting strange. He pushes Asirpa to go faster, clearly agitated by someone's presence. In fact, Retar detected the powerful scent of death that was coming from Tanigaki and Nihei and realized something unpleasant was approaching. Asirpa explains that wolves are very cautious animals and normally, Retar would have been gone by now but he is staying to tell them to hurry up. Asirpa thinks to herself that it must be the soldier from the other day and that he must be still following them.

Tanigaki and Nihei, who are now hunting for Retar, spend the night waiting for the wolf to return to the deer's carcass. However, in the morning the find the carcass covered with wolf feces. Nihei concludes that the wolf must have done it when they were away washing themselves. Tanigaki says that he heard of a special kind of wolf behavior, where they track a strange human and observe them from afar; it's called "being watched by a wolf". He tells Nihei the white wolf must have watched them from the moment they showed.

Nihei, Tanigaki, and Ryu prepare to ambush Retar and set a trap for him by leaving a mess kit to grab the wolf's attention. Nihei takes a position up on the hill, waiting for Retar to appear. The hunter tries to quell his urge to kill and become one with the trees in order no stay hidden. Meanwhile, Sugimoto and Shiraishi spot Nihei, but Shiraishi can't confirm his identity unless he sees his face. Sugimoto tells Asirpa to stay put and use her bow as a back-up while he and Shiraishi get closer to Nihei. Asirpa notices that Nihei is aiming at something and realizes he set a trap for Retar. Suddenly, she notices the wolf hiding behind a tree. Asirpa internally begs Retar to stay away, while Nihei, who has also noticed Retar, grows more excited and impatient. Retar emerges from his hiding spot but, before Nihei manages to pull the trigger, Asirpa shoots an arrow in the mess kit, alerting the wolf. Nihei takes a shot and the bullet grazes Retar's fur, scaring him away.

When Nihei kidnaps Asirpa to grab Retar's attention, she pleads with the hunter, saying that Retar is the last of his kind. She asks if Nihei is going to wipe out the proud *Horkew Kamuy* just for some coins. Nihei claims the wolves are already wiped out and he doesn't care about the money — he just wants to be the last hunter to see a Hokkaido wolf.

Nihei brings Asirpa to an open spot and ties her to a tree. He tells Asirpa that their fight with Retar is a fight to the death between two beasts, and Nihei plans to survive. He promises to end it in one shot so Retar won't suffer. Retar appears and charges towards Nihei. Nihei aims his gun and fires a few shots but Retar manages to dodge every one of them. Nihei is amazed and thinks that Retar might understand how a gun works. Retar jumps at Nihei and bites into his left arm. Nihei puts the barrel of his gun to Retar's head and announces his victory. Suddenly, another wolf jumps at Nihei from the back and bites into his neck. Ryu rushes to Nihei's defense, barking loudly at the wolves and shielding Nihei from them. The wolf joins Retar, and Nihei realizes that they're a heat pack. Even while gravely injured, Nihei remarks how Retar's mate didn't respect the rules of a battle between men, attesting how terrifying women are. Still, Nihei is satisfied in his dying moments.

Sugimoto and Shiraishi arrive at the scene and free Asirpa. Asirpa hears howling and sees four wolf cubs. Asirpa is deeply touched by seeing Retar's family. She is reminded of the night when Retar left and realizes that this is the reason of his departure.

## Abilities

* **Sense of smell**: As a wolf, Retar has a very sharp sense of smell and can sense his prey and possible intruders to his territory.

## Trivia

* Retar likes deer but has no dislikes.
* Retar is an Ezo wolf; however, the Ezo wolf was recorded to have gone extinct during the Meiji Restoration, as mentioned by Sugimoto.
* In 2018 Golden Kamuy All-Stars popularity poll, Retar ranked 12th, gaining 3,376 votes.

## References

1. ↑ ゴールデンカムイ(公式), @kamuy\_official, Twitter
2. ↑ Character profiles from the Golden Kamuy fanbook
3. ↑ Character profiles from the Golden Kamuy fanbook
4. ↑ 「ゴールデンカムイ北海道オールスターズ総選挙」