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Name: Kuri
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E-mail: in.subtext [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/PLURK: in subtext / sub_textual
Current Characters at Luceti: Hatake Kakashi
CHARACTER
Name: Sakata Gintoki
Canon: Gintama
Gender: Male
Age: 20-something (this is canon, lol)
Wing Color: Silvery-white
Canon Point: Chapter 469
Canon Point Explanation: This is the most recent chapter of Gintama where Gintoki is not in Hijikata’s body. (He’s currently in a body switch arc…)
History: http://gintama.wikia.com/wiki/Sakata_Gintoki
Personality: Gintoki is lazy, obnoxious, and a world-class asshole who’s obsessed with sweet things, Shounen JUMP, and the weather lady. At least, on the outside, anyway.
When we first meet him in Gintama, Gintoki is eating a chocolate parfait (his favorite snack), and witnessing Amanto (the term for aliens who invaded and colonized Earth) beating up on Shimura Shinpachi (aka the glasses character). When he intervenes and soundly beats the Amanto up, he doesn’t do so out of some sense of samurai duty or to protect Shinpachi, but rather, under the guise of their actions spilling his chocolate parfait and ruining it before he could actually enjoy it. (Later on he admits that because it was his opening scene, he needed to look “cool.”) Of course, he conveniently “loses” his bokutou in Shinpachi’s belt, thereby framing him to make an easy getaway. Or so he thought. Shinpachi ends up chasing him, and thus begins the story of Gintama.
Even though it initially appears that Gintoki only really intervened out of his own self-interest (and maybe, to a degree, he did, since no one messes with Gintoki’s sweets and gets away unbruised), another plausible reading suggests that he intervened because he was watching a kid get bullied by a bunch of adults, and that’s not really something he puts up with. In fact, throughout Gintama, we constantly see him stand up against bullies in his town, Kabuki-cho. Whether the bully comes in the form of a big alien monster, or a seedy pimp who has a reign of terror over the red light district, Gintoki always ends up intervening to the point of even putting his life on the line. Often, it’s to protect people he initially doesn’t even know, which include an array of characters such as diverse as robot girls, princesses, old men, convicted felons, old ladies, and more.
For someone who supposedly only cares about his own self-interests and doesn’t seem very invested in anything else other than eating sweets and reading JUMP, it’s interesting that Gintoki always somehow ends up fighting tooth and nail to protect everyone around him (especially “the little people”), and the town he resides in. While it appears that he gets dragged into these circumstances against his own will, since he often falls into it accidentally or initially attempts to either run away from it like a coward, complain about it, and/or otherwise refuse it, it’s a little difficult to believe that someone who doesn’t legitimately care would be willing to continuously put his life at risk for things he supposedly doesn’t give much of a shit about.
If anything, Gintoki’s problem is that he ends up caring a little too much about things he probably shouldn’t care that much about, especially when it ends up financially detrimental to him. Even though all he ever seems to talk about is money, the shop he runs, Yorozuya Gin-chan, which is supposed to be a one-stop odd-jobs shop, constantly ends up taking on countless unpaid jobs. Instead of putting his impressive skills to work and getting paid for it, Gintoki ends up fighting countless battles for free, because what he cares about more than anything, is protecting everyone.
Part of this need to protect even the poorest, most insignificant characters in the show such as homeless old men or grannies without a cent to their name, might possibly be because Gintoki is attempting to keep the promise he made to his sensei, Yoshida Shouyou, who was executed by the Bakufu during the Joui War. As he was being lead away by his captors, Shouyou asked Gintoki to protect everyone for him. “Everyone,” of course, most likely was comprised of Gintoki’s fellow classmates and later on, comrades. Sadly, Gintoki fails to protect “everyone,” as countless friends and comrades fall in battle during the war, and the resistance group he fought in -- the Jouishishi -- ends up losing the war at a great cost. The initial four members of the group, comprised of Katsura Kotarou, Takasugi Shinsuke, Sakamoto Tatsuma, and Gintoki, don’t even manage to stay together, and Gintoki ends up on the streets, starving and alone.
Due to the kindness of Otose, who finds him starving in the graveyard while paying respects to her departed husband, Gintoki resolves to protect her in her late husband’s stead, for as long as he is alive, and moves into the apartment above her snack shop, where he has continued to remain. It’s possible that this particular interaction may have been pivotal in turning Gintoki from a man who fought as Shiroyasha during the Joui War, mercilessly and brutally cutting down his enemies to protect his comrades, to a man who wants to live a simple life and protect the people in it however he can.
While it appears that Gintoki abandoned the Jouishishi’s mission and turned his back to the war, leaving behind his past and happily setting down within the new world order where Amanto rule the skies and Edo is a colonized state, what is clear is that Gintoki never once actually cared about political aims in the first place. What he only cared about, and possibly the only reason why he joined the war efforts in the first place, was protecting “everyone.” In fact, when fighting the Amanto in his opening episode, he even says: “The country? The skies? You can have them! I'm busy enough protecting what's in front of me. I don't know how many times I failed to protect what I wanted. I have nothing left, so at least if something has fallen at my feet I'll pick it up." This is further supported by his statement during his fight with Kiheitai, his old comrade, Takasugi’s resistance group, when he states, "Then and now, what I protect has never changed."
If he doesn’t care whether the Amanto rules the country and skies, then that suggests his participation in the war had far less to do with the political circumstances the country was mired in, and more to do with the simple fact that he wanted to keep his promise to his sensei, and protect “what” he wanted. While the “what” during the Joui War may have been his comrades, it has since changed to include “everyone” who wants to live and chase their hopes and dreams in Kabuki-cho. Even if Gintoki doesn’t seem to have any particular hopes and dreams of his own, he will fight with every ounce of his being to protect the city and world he lives in, the hopes and dreams of common people, as well as the people in his life who have become his friends and family.
Therefore: Gintoki is lazy, obnoxious, and a world-class asshole who’s obsessed with sweet things, Shounen JUMP, and the weather lady, until he decides he needs to protect something. Then he becomes the most dedicated, relentless, crazy motherfucker who will fight heaven or hell to make sure he can carry out the task of protecting that which he considers most important. Even if his entire body is broken, and he’s bleeding out of just about every orifice and on the verge of death, somehow he’ll still get up and keep fighting, because he doesn’t know how to give up. That, after all, is his own personal bushido.
“A samurai doesn't need a reason to take action. If something needs saving, all you have to do is grab your sword.”
Unfortunately, sometimes Gintoki’s idea of protecting everyone is to push away the people he cares about most to try and keep them out of harm’s way. He often does this by saying or doing terrible, cold things, essentially becoming the “bad guy”, such as telling Kagura that she should leave Earth with her father against her own wishes (and then telling Shinpachi he could quit if he wanted to, not trying to chase after either of them), or attempting to kill Shinpachi’s surrogate older brother, Hajime, who had been compromised by an alien race intent on destroying earth, even when begged to stop. Yet, despite the front he puts up of not caring or being cold, he’ll turn around and rush to protect Kagura at a moment’s notice, or throw away his pride and get down to his knees to beg the Shinsengumi to keep Shinpachi, Otae, and Kagura safe. Sometimes he seems to think that there are battles only he can fight, and forgets to trust in the combined strength of his friends -- part of that may be because he doesn’t want them to be hurt or caught in the cross-fire.
Ultimately, Gintoki always tries his best to keep his word, and when he makes a promise, he’ll do everything he can to make sure he sees it through. Though he doesn’t always succeed in this goal, he always tries his absolute hardest.
Of course, these good parts of his personality are also what make him charismatic, which is why his friends often put up with the really shitty parts of his personality, such as the fact that he’s extremely rude and often says what’s on his mind; picks his nose and ear wax in front of people rather unapologetically; tells really gross toilet, dick, and sex jokes; can be pretty perverted; never pays his rent on time (or ever seems to pay it all); never pays his employees (aka his family) on time (or at all); mooches off of everyone; and generally acts like a complete dipshit 90% of the time.
Gintoki’s also a total otaku (well, sort of), seeing as he’s obsessed with JUMP, knows just about every anime/manga out there and constantly makes references to them, as well as video games (he seems to prefer the RPG type of video game, which he references more than any other kind), movies, and other products of Japanese pop culture. These tend to be worked into even somewhat serious situations, though are usually used as gags/comic relief moments which Gintoki is all too aware of but happy to contribute to.
He’s essentially a large man-child who is very immature and silly most of the time (which often results in a lot of hilarity), and who also often ends up the butt of the joke. (Sometimes his butt IS the joke, especially when it involves sharp objects such as swords being stuck up it, or spoonfuls of curry.)
Due to his immaturity, sometimes Gintoki is shown running away from fights when his life is in “danger” or leaving his friends behind. But this only ever occurs in extremely comical situations, such as a ghost haunting (which he is terrified of), or some other sort of really absurd gag. (As mentioned previously, when things really do get serious, Gintoki never turns away from the fight.)
Given all of the above, one would think that he wouldn’t make the best role model (and even he himself says that he’s a terrible role model), but even still, Shinpachi and Kagura look up to him and follow in his bushido. Like Gintoki, they also will do anything to protect the things that matter most.
He is also very open-minded and liberal when it comes to gender and sexuality politics -- he sees no problem crossdressing as “Paako-chan” (and even sometimes performs at an okama bar), and considers a group of transgender women and/or drag queens* his friends and allies.
When it comes to women, even though he sometimes makes a bunch of jokes that can be sexist, he also ends up equally fighting with them side by side and has repeatedly demonstrated how much he respects female characters as both friends and equals on the battlefield. He also really dislikes when he sees women mistreated and unhappy. During the Yoshiwara Arc, Gintoki flat out stated, “Seeing all the girls chained up and so unhappy really stifles the mood. I don’t see how anyone can party here earnestl…. A woman’s tears really sours the taste of even the best liquor.” Ironically, despite his own assertions of being a playboy who loves women, Gintoki is never shown actually carousing with women or going on dates. In an arc where he finds himself gender switched, it is implied that he doesn’t get laid all that much either, which means he doesn’t go out of his way to pick up women; nor does he take advantage of the women in his life who have crushes on him such as Tsukuyo or even Sarutobi Ayame, who actively throws herself at him and asks him to do dirty things to/with her.
So, in general, Gintoki’s actually a pretty decent guy, even if he’s a terrible role model 99% of the time.
*I’ve made a distinction here between transgender and drag queen because it’s not actually entirely clear whether Sorachi Hideaki intended for the group to be truly MtF transgender, or if he intends for them to be drag queens, or if it’s a combination of the two. In the manga and anime they’re simply called “okama,” which is a bit unfortunate due to the derogatory nature of the term.
Strengths
Physical: Because Gintoki is the main character of a Shounen JUMP manga/anime, he is, of course, ridiculously strong. During the Joui War, he was known as the absolute strongest human fighter, and was given the nickname “Shiroyasha,” or white demon, due to the fact that he cut down everyone in front of him in the bloodiest and most brutal of ways, and was always dressed in white.
One reason for the name might not just be because of his incredible swordsmanship or ability to cut people down, but because of his actual physical strength. Throughout Gintama we see him able to take down countless men with only a bokutou (a wooden sword), as well as huge monstrous aliens, and even gigantic metal engines the size of an entire building. His swings not only send numbers of men flying at once, but they seem to be able to crack through just about anything. (This may, of course, be in part due to his shounen-ism.) Either way, it’s canon, so as implausible as it is for a human being to wield that much power, it’s still the case.
Another reason for the nickname “Shiroyasha” may be because Gintoki doesn’t ever seem to fully ever go down and no one can seem to kill him. Even when he’s grievously injured, with multiple broken bones and stab wounds, he still ends up bouncing back in the end, somehow beating the shit out of his opponent… even if that opponent happens to be known as one of the strongest of the alien race in the manga known as “Yato” who are thought to possess the most physical strength and bloodthirsty fighting abilities in the entire Gintama universe. (Seriously, I am not kidding.)
Aside from being ambidextrous, which allows him to fight with either his left or right arm, Gintoki is also insanely fast and can keep up with the fastest opponents in his canon.
When it comes to non-fighting physical strengths, Gintoki is apparently a master chef and has been seen baking a cake from scratch just because he wanted to have a sweet treat.
He’s also very good at dodging sexual advances made by his stalker.
Mental: Gintoki is an extremely quick learner who can analyze fighting styles/techniques and replicate them perfectly after experiencing the attack once. He also has tremendous mental fortitude -- almost nothing can shake him of his convictions once he’s decided upon something, and there is little by the way of psychological shit-talking that can get to him in battle. (With a few exceptions, of course, which will be discussed in Weaknesses.)
When it comes to serious situations, somehow Gintoki is always a step ahead everyone, having already predicted how certain situations will unfold, which allows him to often take the best course of action, or a course of action that somehow generates good results.
Gintoki also knows everything there is to know about just about every single Japanese cultural production (usually anime or video games, though he often also makes references to Japanese comedians, pop stars, and other similar figures; though it’s more rare, he’s also made some references to American celebrities as well). These are frequently worked into jokes or gags that he participates in (though sometimes he does play the tsukkomi/straight man role).
He’s well aware that he’s a character in a manga/anime created by Sorachi Hideaki and published by Shueisha/produced by Sunrise on TV Tokyo, and constantly breaks the fourth wall along with the rest of his cast. Somehow, this doesn’t affect him that much at all, though he does tend to complain when he’s made to do some really dumb shit for a long period of time, when things don’t feature him enough, and when the anime goes on hiatus.
He’s also really good at deflecting any sort of criticism about himself.
Emotional: Gintoki isn’t easy to read emotionally, and he uses that to his advantage. Though he often projects the impression that he doesn’t give a shit about anything, internally, he deeply cares about the people in his life, the town he lives in, and his planet. In a sense, he exists solely for the purpose of protecting them, and has no other real meaning in his life; as long as he can protect them, their dreams, hopes, and happiness, then Gintoki is happy too (or as happy as he can be), and this gives him strength whenever he fights.
In serious situations, Gintoki somehow always knows the best things to say to people, and has the “coolest” lines, but that may have more to do with his shounen hero complex. Or maybe it is just because he really understands what people need and that is precisely what he gives them, which means that he can be very empathetic, even in situations he does not necessarily completely understand or identify with.
Though he’s constantly joked about as a sadist, Gintoki can also be surprisingly compassionate, which might just be one of the driving forces of the character. (As seen whenever he decides to save one of the “little people,” so to speak.) Though he always pretends to be annoyed about the situation, he’s really actually happy to help.
So essentially, Gintoki is a really big tsundere. After all, he’s always beating up and bullying people he really likes and cares about, complaining about doing things that he actually doesn’t mind doing at all, and overall, always ends up acting the opposite of how he actually feels. But somehow, that works out just fine for him.
Weaknesses
Physical: Gintoki has a huge weakness for all things sweet. If he doesn’t have something sweet at least once a day, he gets really cranky and doesn’t function as well. As a result of eating sweet everything (he even puts azuki on his rice), he’s borderline diabetic, hence why he has a sign above his desk that says, “Mind your sugar intake.” Not that ever pays attention to that sign, after all.
Somehow, he also always ends up in situations where his genitals are the target of some sort of terrible comical situation. One time, his penis was turned into a gigantic hex screwdriver. A few times, he’s literally lost his balls. He’s also had to deal with having his butt act as the scabbard for a sword. You see, Gintama has a lot of really gross jokes, and Gintoki definitely tends to fall victim to those things repeatedly, which means he either has really bad luck, or his genitals are just a magnet for terrible things happening to them.
Mental: In terms of fighting, Gintoki can be really impulsive when he charges, especially if he’s feeling particularly emotional, which can result in disastrous consequences, such as taking severe damage. Oftentimes, he doesn’t seem to have a real strategy either, in battle, and tends to be highly reactive and extremely aggressive. This probably doesn’t always make for the best battle tactic, but somehow it ends up producing a battle strategy that works for Gintoki. (Though, at the expense of losing a lot of blood and getting really fucked up.)
Gintoki also isn’t the smartest tool in the toolshed. While he’s pretty street smart, he’s a pretty big idiot most of the time, really sucks with money, and can’t be bothered with things like history, book smarts, or anything along those lines. As a kid, he spent most of the time in school daydreaming and picking his nose during lessons, instead of paying attention.
He’s also terrible at gambling, and doesn’t seem to get that he really sucks at it. Despite this fact, he still goes spends hours playing pachinko, losing all of his money (and sometimes his clothes) in the process. Essentially, the only risks he seems to be good at taking tend to be on the battlefield, and not anywhere else.
His pride can also often get him in trouble -- Gintoki can be extremely arrogant at times; though, he tends to act this way in more comical scenarios. In more serious scenarios, this can sometimes result in his underestimating an enemy’s strength or overestimating his own ability to either take them down or keep up his word. Sometimes, this can result in very sad consequences, such as when he struggled to save Hajime, but was ultimately unable to do so.
Probably because the mangaka is a sadistic bastard (or so Gintoki would say), he often also ends up sacrificed for the sake of humor, and does really dumb things like make an already crappy situation even worse -- such as falling into Tsukuyo when she’s already irritated at him, and then “accidentally” groping her chest or butt, which results in Gintoki having his face smashed into the nearest wall.
Emotional: Gintoki carries around a tremendous amount of guilt, from failing to protect Shouyou, as well as his comrades during the Joui War. At the beginning of Gintama, Gintoki states that he he had already lost everything, and only wanted to protect the things that were right in front of him. This changes, of course, as the canon progresses and he gains more friends who become his surrogate family. (Shinpachi is almost like a little brother, even though Gintoki states repeatedly that he’s not an older brother, nor does he want to be; Kagura is like his little sister or daughter, and he serves as her “earth dad” and guardian. Otose becomes like a mother figure for him, and his extended family ends up including Tama and Katherine as well.)
But despite being surrounded by all these people, very few people really understand the guilt that quietly feeds into much of Gintoki’s motivations, or ever see it. Strangely enough, the people who do see it tend to be Gintoki’s opponents -- who often remind him how he failed to protect things, how the things he cared about most were destroyed and all he could do was watch, etc. Certain other characters, who are more external acquaintances, such as Nobume, also have noticed things about Gintoki, such as how he has so much “sadness” in his eyes. (Interestingly enough, Oboro also states that Gintoki’s eyes haven’t changed since the Joui War, at the height of when so many of his comrades were dying and there was nothing he could do to protect them no matter how hard he fought.)
As such, when he actually ends up failing to protect someone in his current life, such as Otose, he ends up extremely fatalistic and starts believing that he “can’t protect anything” and makes terrible choices such as wanting to go off to fight a battle that would surely get him killed, alone. His penchant for trying to go off to fight alone is a major problem, and stems from his whole drive to not only protect people, but to also, in a way, atone for his guilt. He doesn’t particularly seem to value his own life all that much, and has been seen doing crazy things such as attempting to commit harakiri and take all the damage alone, in order to protect his friends.
In addition to all of the above, Gintoki has a major problem with internalizing shitty things that happen to him, and not properly dealing with them. In some circumstances, he outright runs away from those situations, turning his back on the past and trying very hard to not think about it. Katsura, in particular, has commented on this particular trait of his before, especially because Gintoki continuously refused his attempts to return to Jouishishi and fight against the Bakufu.
Though he usually manages to keep himself under control in fights, Gintoki has completely lost his shit and snapped twice during the course of Gintama -- once after he thought Otose had been murdered, and another time when Oboro and the shogun, Sadasada, were making extremely disrespectful remarks about Shouyou. During those particular circumstances, his fighting style became extremely irregular; every strike became far more brutal, and he stopped caring about trying to defend himself, which resulted in him taking quite a lot more damage than necessary.
Other emotional weaknesses include his absolute phobia of ghosts, Shouen JUMP, sweet things such as chocolate parfaits or strawberry milk, and the weather lady, Ketsuno Ana.
Anything else?: Gintoki will probably fourth wall everyone and their mom, and will require a permissions post.
SAMPLES
First Person:
[ Sooo, here is Gintoki, tapping on the camera front to the stupid journal thing. Why the hell do they have a journal anyway? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to have something like an iPh*ne or Andr*id with one of those touch screen systems that lets you play games? This thing feels so old fashioned, and it’s clunky as hell.
He clears his throat. ]
Oi, oi, why the hell am I stuck in this place, hah? You do realize that Gin-san is the main character of Gintama and has places to be and animes to star in, right? You know Sunrise and the gorilla author will probably get really upset if he doesn’t get returned to his rightful place in Edo, right?
THEN WHY AM I STILL HERE AFTER A WEEK, HAH? AND WHY DO I HAVE THESE DUMB ASS WINGS, AH?
[ Yeah, spit’s flying and Gintoki’s face is all up in the screen, but now he’s gesturing at the wings on his back so the journal’s shaking a bit too. ]
Do you have any idea how stupid these things are? They don’t even do anything useful, or let you fly!! You can’t even take a proper shit anymore ‘cuz you gotta sit up real straight! Even S*k*ra from C*rd C*pt*r S*k*ra had more useful wings than these, and she’s a middle school shoujo character! Gin-san’s in a shounen manga that’s even serialized in JUMP and he’s stuck with this shit?!
[ Gintoki makes the biggest sound of frustration then and then chucks the journal. It goes flying and plops down in the distance. For a little while, all that can be heard is a lot of cursing and things breaking, and then eventually Gintoki picks up the journal again. This time he looks a little more deadeyed. ]
Anyway, if you Malfuckso guys really wanna keep me here, I guess I’ll accept payment in the form of JUMP, strawberry milk, chocolate parfaits, and cake. I’ll also settle for a direct feed to Ketsuno Ana, if you can make that happen. You’re in charge now, so that means you gotta keep the protagonists happy, since we’re still stars, even if we’re stuck in some sort of weird crossover roleplay game now. Got it?
Third Person: Some things aren't meant to be taken for granted.
Gintoki sometimes forgets that fact.
He'd gotten too comfortable with the life he'd accidentally built with people he came to consider as family, with friends who always stuck their noses into his business even when he didn't want them or need them there at all, in a city as dysfunctional as its inhabitants who inevitably found a way to turn dysfunction into home. They made order out of chaos, taking comfort in the bric-a-brac collection of lives haphazardly thrown together, finding meaning in it and maybe some sort of purpose, too.
He never asked for any of it, never expected that one day he'd turn and find himself surrounded by all these people who fell into his life and stuck around for the sake of-- what, exactly? Gintoki never quite understood why anyone stuck around the way they did, simply accepting that they had. He wanted to believe that he was just a simple man, who wanted to live a simple life, but there was never anything simple about his life or the way he lived it, no matter how hard he tried. Maybe he couldn't find the path to simplicity only because there were too many people who forced their way into his life, whose souls shone so brightly and with so much complexity that Gintoki stopped being able to see the edges of where their lives ended and where his began.
And he was okay with that.
Or at least, he came to accept it.
Somewhere along the lines, he started to think that maybe they wouldn't go away. That maybe, they'd really stick around and let Gintoki protect them. He didn't really ever expect that some shady organization called the Malnosso would be able to just rip him out of his world like that and drop him in what appears to be some sort of crazy sandbox roleplay game with an ongoing war plot. (Or that he'd have to contend with an even shadowy figure, known as a mun, who is even worse than the gorilla author.)
He had tried to get as far away from war as he could, settling into a life of mediocrity, which he was just fine with, because at least it was a life. Yet, now he's in another place where he most likely will end up thrust into war when it's the last thing he wants. And unlike the first war, he doesn't have his comrades here to back him up. He's not even sure what he'll be fighting to protect. But, he’ll keep on fighting, keep on striving. Because Gintoki does not know how to give up, and he’s sure, even if it takes one month, or a hundred, he’ll eventually see his friends once more. And that’s enough to keep him going.
Besides, there’s plenty of free things here, and he doesn’t have to worry about rent. So even if there’s a war, and that really sucks, at least he can get away with mooching off things and eating chocolate parfaits three times a day.
That’s not so bad, right?
Name: Kuri
Journal Username:
subtextual E-mail: in.subtext [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/PLURK: in subtext / sub_textual
Current Characters at Luceti: Hatake Kakashi
CHARACTER
Name: Sakata Gintoki
Canon: Gintama
Gender: Male
Age: 20-something (this is canon, lol)
Wing Color: Silvery-white
Canon Point: Chapter 469
Canon Point Explanation: This is the most recent chapter of Gintama where Gintoki is not in Hijikata’s body. (He’s currently in a body switch arc…)
History: http://gintama.wikia.com/wiki/Sakata_Gintoki
Personality: Gintoki is lazy, obnoxious, and a world-class asshole who’s obsessed with sweet things, Shounen JUMP, and the weather lady. At least, on the outside, anyway.
When we first meet him in Gintama, Gintoki is eating a chocolate parfait (his favorite snack), and witnessing Amanto (the term for aliens who invaded and colonized Earth) beating up on Shimura Shinpachi (aka the glasses character). When he intervenes and soundly beats the Amanto up, he doesn’t do so out of some sense of samurai duty or to protect Shinpachi, but rather, under the guise of their actions spilling his chocolate parfait and ruining it before he could actually enjoy it. (Later on he admits that because it was his opening scene, he needed to look “cool.”) Of course, he conveniently “loses” his bokutou in Shinpachi’s belt, thereby framing him to make an easy getaway. Or so he thought. Shinpachi ends up chasing him, and thus begins the story of Gintama.
Even though it initially appears that Gintoki only really intervened out of his own self-interest (and maybe, to a degree, he did, since no one messes with Gintoki’s sweets and gets away unbruised), another plausible reading suggests that he intervened because he was watching a kid get bullied by a bunch of adults, and that’s not really something he puts up with. In fact, throughout Gintama, we constantly see him stand up against bullies in his town, Kabuki-cho. Whether the bully comes in the form of a big alien monster, or a seedy pimp who has a reign of terror over the red light district, Gintoki always ends up intervening to the point of even putting his life on the line. Often, it’s to protect people he initially doesn’t even know, which include an array of characters such as diverse as robot girls, princesses, old men, convicted felons, old ladies, and more.
For someone who supposedly only cares about his own self-interests and doesn’t seem very invested in anything else other than eating sweets and reading JUMP, it’s interesting that Gintoki always somehow ends up fighting tooth and nail to protect everyone around him (especially “the little people”), and the town he resides in. While it appears that he gets dragged into these circumstances against his own will, since he often falls into it accidentally or initially attempts to either run away from it like a coward, complain about it, and/or otherwise refuse it, it’s a little difficult to believe that someone who doesn’t legitimately care would be willing to continuously put his life at risk for things he supposedly doesn’t give much of a shit about.
If anything, Gintoki’s problem is that he ends up caring a little too much about things he probably shouldn’t care that much about, especially when it ends up financially detrimental to him. Even though all he ever seems to talk about is money, the shop he runs, Yorozuya Gin-chan, which is supposed to be a one-stop odd-jobs shop, constantly ends up taking on countless unpaid jobs. Instead of putting his impressive skills to work and getting paid for it, Gintoki ends up fighting countless battles for free, because what he cares about more than anything, is protecting everyone.
Part of this need to protect even the poorest, most insignificant characters in the show such as homeless old men or grannies without a cent to their name, might possibly be because Gintoki is attempting to keep the promise he made to his sensei, Yoshida Shouyou, who was executed by the Bakufu during the Joui War. As he was being lead away by his captors, Shouyou asked Gintoki to protect everyone for him. “Everyone,” of course, most likely was comprised of Gintoki’s fellow classmates and later on, comrades. Sadly, Gintoki fails to protect “everyone,” as countless friends and comrades fall in battle during the war, and the resistance group he fought in -- the Jouishishi -- ends up losing the war at a great cost. The initial four members of the group, comprised of Katsura Kotarou, Takasugi Shinsuke, Sakamoto Tatsuma, and Gintoki, don’t even manage to stay together, and Gintoki ends up on the streets, starving and alone.
Due to the kindness of Otose, who finds him starving in the graveyard while paying respects to her departed husband, Gintoki resolves to protect her in her late husband’s stead, for as long as he is alive, and moves into the apartment above her snack shop, where he has continued to remain. It’s possible that this particular interaction may have been pivotal in turning Gintoki from a man who fought as Shiroyasha during the Joui War, mercilessly and brutally cutting down his enemies to protect his comrades, to a man who wants to live a simple life and protect the people in it however he can.
While it appears that Gintoki abandoned the Jouishishi’s mission and turned his back to the war, leaving behind his past and happily setting down within the new world order where Amanto rule the skies and Edo is a colonized state, what is clear is that Gintoki never once actually cared about political aims in the first place. What he only cared about, and possibly the only reason why he joined the war efforts in the first place, was protecting “everyone.” In fact, when fighting the Amanto in his opening episode, he even says: “The country? The skies? You can have them! I'm busy enough protecting what's in front of me. I don't know how many times I failed to protect what I wanted. I have nothing left, so at least if something has fallen at my feet I'll pick it up." This is further supported by his statement during his fight with Kiheitai, his old comrade, Takasugi’s resistance group, when he states, "Then and now, what I protect has never changed."
If he doesn’t care whether the Amanto rules the country and skies, then that suggests his participation in the war had far less to do with the political circumstances the country was mired in, and more to do with the simple fact that he wanted to keep his promise to his sensei, and protect “what” he wanted. While the “what” during the Joui War may have been his comrades, it has since changed to include “everyone” who wants to live and chase their hopes and dreams in Kabuki-cho. Even if Gintoki doesn’t seem to have any particular hopes and dreams of his own, he will fight with every ounce of his being to protect the city and world he lives in, the hopes and dreams of common people, as well as the people in his life who have become his friends and family.
Therefore: Gintoki is lazy, obnoxious, and a world-class asshole who’s obsessed with sweet things, Shounen JUMP, and the weather lady, until he decides he needs to protect something. Then he becomes the most dedicated, relentless, crazy motherfucker who will fight heaven or hell to make sure he can carry out the task of protecting that which he considers most important. Even if his entire body is broken, and he’s bleeding out of just about every orifice and on the verge of death, somehow he’ll still get up and keep fighting, because he doesn’t know how to give up. That, after all, is his own personal bushido.
“A samurai doesn't need a reason to take action. If something needs saving, all you have to do is grab your sword.”
Unfortunately, sometimes Gintoki’s idea of protecting everyone is to push away the people he cares about most to try and keep them out of harm’s way. He often does this by saying or doing terrible, cold things, essentially becoming the “bad guy”, such as telling Kagura that she should leave Earth with her father against her own wishes (and then telling Shinpachi he could quit if he wanted to, not trying to chase after either of them), or attempting to kill Shinpachi’s surrogate older brother, Hajime, who had been compromised by an alien race intent on destroying earth, even when begged to stop. Yet, despite the front he puts up of not caring or being cold, he’ll turn around and rush to protect Kagura at a moment’s notice, or throw away his pride and get down to his knees to beg the Shinsengumi to keep Shinpachi, Otae, and Kagura safe. Sometimes he seems to think that there are battles only he can fight, and forgets to trust in the combined strength of his friends -- part of that may be because he doesn’t want them to be hurt or caught in the cross-fire.
Ultimately, Gintoki always tries his best to keep his word, and when he makes a promise, he’ll do everything he can to make sure he sees it through. Though he doesn’t always succeed in this goal, he always tries his absolute hardest.
Of course, these good parts of his personality are also what make him charismatic, which is why his friends often put up with the really shitty parts of his personality, such as the fact that he’s extremely rude and often says what’s on his mind; picks his nose and ear wax in front of people rather unapologetically; tells really gross toilet, dick, and sex jokes; can be pretty perverted; never pays his rent on time (or ever seems to pay it all); never pays his employees (aka his family) on time (or at all); mooches off of everyone; and generally acts like a complete dipshit 90% of the time.
Gintoki’s also a total otaku (well, sort of), seeing as he’s obsessed with JUMP, knows just about every anime/manga out there and constantly makes references to them, as well as video games (he seems to prefer the RPG type of video game, which he references more than any other kind), movies, and other products of Japanese pop culture. These tend to be worked into even somewhat serious situations, though are usually used as gags/comic relief moments which Gintoki is all too aware of but happy to contribute to.
He’s essentially a large man-child who is very immature and silly most of the time (which often results in a lot of hilarity), and who also often ends up the butt of the joke. (Sometimes his butt IS the joke, especially when it involves sharp objects such as swords being stuck up it, or spoonfuls of curry.)
Due to his immaturity, sometimes Gintoki is shown running away from fights when his life is in “danger” or leaving his friends behind. But this only ever occurs in extremely comical situations, such as a ghost haunting (which he is terrified of), or some other sort of really absurd gag. (As mentioned previously, when things really do get serious, Gintoki never turns away from the fight.)
Given all of the above, one would think that he wouldn’t make the best role model (and even he himself says that he’s a terrible role model), but even still, Shinpachi and Kagura look up to him and follow in his bushido. Like Gintoki, they also will do anything to protect the things that matter most.
He is also very open-minded and liberal when it comes to gender and sexuality politics -- he sees no problem crossdressing as “Paako-chan” (and even sometimes performs at an okama bar), and considers a group of transgender women and/or drag queens* his friends and allies.
When it comes to women, even though he sometimes makes a bunch of jokes that can be sexist, he also ends up equally fighting with them side by side and has repeatedly demonstrated how much he respects female characters as both friends and equals on the battlefield. He also really dislikes when he sees women mistreated and unhappy. During the Yoshiwara Arc, Gintoki flat out stated, “Seeing all the girls chained up and so unhappy really stifles the mood. I don’t see how anyone can party here earnestl…. A woman’s tears really sours the taste of even the best liquor.” Ironically, despite his own assertions of being a playboy who loves women, Gintoki is never shown actually carousing with women or going on dates. In an arc where he finds himself gender switched, it is implied that he doesn’t get laid all that much either, which means he doesn’t go out of his way to pick up women; nor does he take advantage of the women in his life who have crushes on him such as Tsukuyo or even Sarutobi Ayame, who actively throws herself at him and asks him to do dirty things to/with her.
So, in general, Gintoki’s actually a pretty decent guy, even if he’s a terrible role model 99% of the time.
*I’ve made a distinction here between transgender and drag queen because it’s not actually entirely clear whether Sorachi Hideaki intended for the group to be truly MtF transgender, or if he intends for them to be drag queens, or if it’s a combination of the two. In the manga and anime they’re simply called “okama,” which is a bit unfortunate due to the derogatory nature of the term.
Strengths
One reason for the name might not just be because of his incredible swordsmanship or ability to cut people down, but because of his actual physical strength. Throughout Gintama we see him able to take down countless men with only a bokutou (a wooden sword), as well as huge monstrous aliens, and even gigantic metal engines the size of an entire building. His swings not only send numbers of men flying at once, but they seem to be able to crack through just about anything. (This may, of course, be in part due to his shounen-ism.) Either way, it’s canon, so as implausible as it is for a human being to wield that much power, it’s still the case.
Another reason for the nickname “Shiroyasha” may be because Gintoki doesn’t ever seem to fully ever go down and no one can seem to kill him. Even when he’s grievously injured, with multiple broken bones and stab wounds, he still ends up bouncing back in the end, somehow beating the shit out of his opponent… even if that opponent happens to be known as one of the strongest of the alien race in the manga known as “Yato” who are thought to possess the most physical strength and bloodthirsty fighting abilities in the entire Gintama universe. (Seriously, I am not kidding.)
Aside from being ambidextrous, which allows him to fight with either his left or right arm, Gintoki is also insanely fast and can keep up with the fastest opponents in his canon.
When it comes to non-fighting physical strengths, Gintoki is apparently a master chef and has been seen baking a cake from scratch just because he wanted to have a sweet treat.
He’s also very good at dodging sexual advances made by his stalker.
Mental: Gintoki is an extremely quick learner who can analyze fighting styles/techniques and replicate them perfectly after experiencing the attack once. He also has tremendous mental fortitude -- almost nothing can shake him of his convictions once he’s decided upon something, and there is little by the way of psychological shit-talking that can get to him in battle. (With a few exceptions, of course, which will be discussed in Weaknesses.)
When it comes to serious situations, somehow Gintoki is always a step ahead everyone, having already predicted how certain situations will unfold, which allows him to often take the best course of action, or a course of action that somehow generates good results.
Gintoki also knows everything there is to know about just about every single Japanese cultural production (usually anime or video games, though he often also makes references to Japanese comedians, pop stars, and other similar figures; though it’s more rare, he’s also made some references to American celebrities as well). These are frequently worked into jokes or gags that he participates in (though sometimes he does play the tsukkomi/straight man role).
He’s well aware that he’s a character in a manga/anime created by Sorachi Hideaki and published by Shueisha/produced by Sunrise on TV Tokyo, and constantly breaks the fourth wall along with the rest of his cast. Somehow, this doesn’t affect him that much at all, though he does tend to complain when he’s made to do some really dumb shit for a long period of time, when things don’t feature him enough, and when the anime goes on hiatus.
He’s also really good at deflecting any sort of criticism about himself.
Emotional: Gintoki isn’t easy to read emotionally, and he uses that to his advantage. Though he often projects the impression that he doesn’t give a shit about anything, internally, he deeply cares about the people in his life, the town he lives in, and his planet. In a sense, he exists solely for the purpose of protecting them, and has no other real meaning in his life; as long as he can protect them, their dreams, hopes, and happiness, then Gintoki is happy too (or as happy as he can be), and this gives him strength whenever he fights.
In serious situations, Gintoki somehow always knows the best things to say to people, and has the “coolest” lines, but that may have more to do with his shounen hero complex. Or maybe it is just because he really understands what people need and that is precisely what he gives them, which means that he can be very empathetic, even in situations he does not necessarily completely understand or identify with.
Though he’s constantly joked about as a sadist, Gintoki can also be surprisingly compassionate, which might just be one of the driving forces of the character. (As seen whenever he decides to save one of the “little people,” so to speak.) Though he always pretends to be annoyed about the situation, he’s really actually happy to help.
So essentially, Gintoki is a really big tsundere. After all, he’s always beating up and bullying people he really likes and cares about, complaining about doing things that he actually doesn’t mind doing at all, and overall, always ends up acting the opposite of how he actually feels. But somehow, that works out just fine for him.
Weaknesses
Somehow, he also always ends up in situations where his genitals are the target of some sort of terrible comical situation. One time, his penis was turned into a gigantic hex screwdriver. A few times, he’s literally lost his balls. He’s also had to deal with having his butt act as the scabbard for a sword. You see, Gintama has a lot of really gross jokes, and Gintoki definitely tends to fall victim to those things repeatedly, which means he either has really bad luck, or his genitals are just a magnet for terrible things happening to them.
Mental: In terms of fighting, Gintoki can be really impulsive when he charges, especially if he’s feeling particularly emotional, which can result in disastrous consequences, such as taking severe damage. Oftentimes, he doesn’t seem to have a real strategy either, in battle, and tends to be highly reactive and extremely aggressive. This probably doesn’t always make for the best battle tactic, but somehow it ends up producing a battle strategy that works for Gintoki. (Though, at the expense of losing a lot of blood and getting really fucked up.)
Gintoki also isn’t the smartest tool in the toolshed. While he’s pretty street smart, he’s a pretty big idiot most of the time, really sucks with money, and can’t be bothered with things like history, book smarts, or anything along those lines. As a kid, he spent most of the time in school daydreaming and picking his nose during lessons, instead of paying attention.
He’s also terrible at gambling, and doesn’t seem to get that he really sucks at it. Despite this fact, he still goes spends hours playing pachinko, losing all of his money (and sometimes his clothes) in the process. Essentially, the only risks he seems to be good at taking tend to be on the battlefield, and not anywhere else.
His pride can also often get him in trouble -- Gintoki can be extremely arrogant at times; though, he tends to act this way in more comical scenarios. In more serious scenarios, this can sometimes result in his underestimating an enemy’s strength or overestimating his own ability to either take them down or keep up his word. Sometimes, this can result in very sad consequences, such as when he struggled to save Hajime, but was ultimately unable to do so.
Probably because the mangaka is a sadistic bastard (or so Gintoki would say), he often also ends up sacrificed for the sake of humor, and does really dumb things like make an already crappy situation even worse -- such as falling into Tsukuyo when she’s already irritated at him, and then “accidentally” groping her chest or butt, which results in Gintoki having his face smashed into the nearest wall.
Emotional: Gintoki carries around a tremendous amount of guilt, from failing to protect Shouyou, as well as his comrades during the Joui War. At the beginning of Gintama, Gintoki states that he he had already lost everything, and only wanted to protect the things that were right in front of him. This changes, of course, as the canon progresses and he gains more friends who become his surrogate family. (Shinpachi is almost like a little brother, even though Gintoki states repeatedly that he’s not an older brother, nor does he want to be; Kagura is like his little sister or daughter, and he serves as her “earth dad” and guardian. Otose becomes like a mother figure for him, and his extended family ends up including Tama and Katherine as well.)
But despite being surrounded by all these people, very few people really understand the guilt that quietly feeds into much of Gintoki’s motivations, or ever see it. Strangely enough, the people who do see it tend to be Gintoki’s opponents -- who often remind him how he failed to protect things, how the things he cared about most were destroyed and all he could do was watch, etc. Certain other characters, who are more external acquaintances, such as Nobume, also have noticed things about Gintoki, such as how he has so much “sadness” in his eyes. (Interestingly enough, Oboro also states that Gintoki’s eyes haven’t changed since the Joui War, at the height of when so many of his comrades were dying and there was nothing he could do to protect them no matter how hard he fought.)
As such, when he actually ends up failing to protect someone in his current life, such as Otose, he ends up extremely fatalistic and starts believing that he “can’t protect anything” and makes terrible choices such as wanting to go off to fight a battle that would surely get him killed, alone. His penchant for trying to go off to fight alone is a major problem, and stems from his whole drive to not only protect people, but to also, in a way, atone for his guilt. He doesn’t particularly seem to value his own life all that much, and has been seen doing crazy things such as attempting to commit harakiri and take all the damage alone, in order to protect his friends.
In addition to all of the above, Gintoki has a major problem with internalizing shitty things that happen to him, and not properly dealing with them. In some circumstances, he outright runs away from those situations, turning his back on the past and trying very hard to not think about it. Katsura, in particular, has commented on this particular trait of his before, especially because Gintoki continuously refused his attempts to return to Jouishishi and fight against the Bakufu.
Though he usually manages to keep himself under control in fights, Gintoki has completely lost his shit and snapped twice during the course of Gintama -- once after he thought Otose had been murdered, and another time when Oboro and the shogun, Sadasada, were making extremely disrespectful remarks about Shouyou. During those particular circumstances, his fighting style became extremely irregular; every strike became far more brutal, and he stopped caring about trying to defend himself, which resulted in him taking quite a lot more damage than necessary.
Other emotional weaknesses include his absolute phobia of ghosts, Shouen JUMP, sweet things such as chocolate parfaits or strawberry milk, and the weather lady, Ketsuno Ana.
Anything else?: Gintoki will probably fourth wall everyone and their mom, and will require a permissions post.
SAMPLES
First Person:
[ Sooo, here is Gintoki, tapping on the camera front to the stupid journal thing. Why the hell do they have a journal anyway? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to have something like an iPh*ne or Andr*id with one of those touch screen systems that lets you play games? This thing feels so old fashioned, and it’s clunky as hell.
He clears his throat. ]
Oi, oi, why the hell am I stuck in this place, hah? You do realize that Gin-san is the main character of Gintama and has places to be and animes to star in, right? You know Sunrise and the gorilla author will probably get really upset if he doesn’t get returned to his rightful place in Edo, right?
THEN WHY AM I STILL HERE AFTER A WEEK, HAH? AND WHY DO I HAVE THESE DUMB ASS WINGS, AH?
[ Yeah, spit’s flying and Gintoki’s face is all up in the screen, but now he’s gesturing at the wings on his back so the journal’s shaking a bit too. ]
Do you have any idea how stupid these things are? They don’t even do anything useful, or let you fly!! You can’t even take a proper shit anymore ‘cuz you gotta sit up real straight! Even S*k*ra from C*rd C*pt*r S*k*ra had more useful wings than these, and she’s a middle school shoujo character! Gin-san’s in a shounen manga that’s even serialized in JUMP and he’s stuck with this shit?!
[ Gintoki makes the biggest sound of frustration then and then chucks the journal. It goes flying and plops down in the distance. For a little while, all that can be heard is a lot of cursing and things breaking, and then eventually Gintoki picks up the journal again. This time he looks a little more deadeyed. ]
Anyway, if you Malfuckso guys really wanna keep me here, I guess I’ll accept payment in the form of JUMP, strawberry milk, chocolate parfaits, and cake. I’ll also settle for a direct feed to Ketsuno Ana, if you can make that happen. You’re in charge now, so that means you gotta keep the protagonists happy, since we’re still stars, even if we’re stuck in some sort of weird crossover roleplay game now. Got it?
Third Person: Some things aren't meant to be taken for granted.
Gintoki sometimes forgets that fact.
He'd gotten too comfortable with the life he'd accidentally built with people he came to consider as family, with friends who always stuck their noses into his business even when he didn't want them or need them there at all, in a city as dysfunctional as its inhabitants who inevitably found a way to turn dysfunction into home. They made order out of chaos, taking comfort in the bric-a-brac collection of lives haphazardly thrown together, finding meaning in it and maybe some sort of purpose, too.
He never asked for any of it, never expected that one day he'd turn and find himself surrounded by all these people who fell into his life and stuck around for the sake of-- what, exactly? Gintoki never quite understood why anyone stuck around the way they did, simply accepting that they had. He wanted to believe that he was just a simple man, who wanted to live a simple life, but there was never anything simple about his life or the way he lived it, no matter how hard he tried. Maybe he couldn't find the path to simplicity only because there were too many people who forced their way into his life, whose souls shone so brightly and with so much complexity that Gintoki stopped being able to see the edges of where their lives ended and where his began.
And he was okay with that.
Or at least, he came to accept it.
Somewhere along the lines, he started to think that maybe they wouldn't go away. That maybe, they'd really stick around and let Gintoki protect them. He didn't really ever expect that some shady organization called the Malnosso would be able to just rip him out of his world like that and drop him in what appears to be some sort of crazy sandbox roleplay game with an ongoing war plot. (Or that he'd have to contend with an even shadowy figure, known as a mun, who is even worse than the gorilla author.)
He had tried to get as far away from war as he could, settling into a life of mediocrity, which he was just fine with, because at least it was a life. Yet, now he's in another place where he most likely will end up thrust into war when it's the last thing he wants. And unlike the first war, he doesn't have his comrades here to back him up. He's not even sure what he'll be fighting to protect. But, he’ll keep on fighting, keep on striving. Because Gintoki does not know how to give up, and he’s sure, even if it takes one month, or a hundred, he’ll eventually see his friends once more. And that’s enough to keep him going.
Besides, there’s plenty of free things here, and he doesn’t have to worry about rent. So even if there’s a war, and that really sucks, at least he can get away with mooching off things and eating chocolate parfaits three times a day.
That’s not so bad, right?