#Shinpachi Shinshichi

[razberryyum]

Gintama manga chaps 656 & 657

Dear Gintama gods and Sorachi-sama,

I am going to just say right off the bat that this last chapter was unbelievably difficult for me to get through: I felt every stab that pierced through Sadaharu as if I was the one being attacked. By the time he found his way back to the Yorozuya and his old box, I was pretty much near a sobbing wreck. You see, I blame myself for Sadaharu's condition. I had been asking you in each of my recent letters to please not hurt the puppy too much, but then I lapsed in my writing and ended up grouping these last four chapters into only two letters and thereby reducing my prayers by two. I know I should be counting my blessings that you didn't straight out just kill him for my failure to sufficiently uphold my part of the bargain, but trust me when I say watching him being turned into a puppy pin cushion by Utsuro and his Tendoshuu zombies was punishment enough. I absolutely hate Utsuro for hurting Sadaharu that way, and I hope he gets stabbed a dozen times more by Gintoki and the other Joui boys as retaliation.  

I'm glad that Sadaharu was at least able to make it back home and I hope they are able to give him strawberry milk to his heart's content so that he could heal from his injuries. Sorachi-sama, you cannot kill him. If the next chapter consists of Sadaharu's farewell death scene, you will literally destroy me. I am positive I cannot bear it. Please don't crush my heart like that. I know there has to be more fatalities as a result of this war and the eventual battle against Utsuro, and they have to be fatalities that we care about, but killing Sadaharu would simply too much of a gut punch. To be honest, I might have to take a break for a while in order to recover from such a shock. I don't think you are that cruel...or rather, I HOPE you are not that cruel, but then again, if the "last" character poll is any indication, we might very well be nearing the endgame (I am still trying to dissuade you from that by the sheer power of denial at this point), so any deaths from here on forth will have to count and have meaning. What better way to turbo boost everyone's resolve than by sacrificing one of the most lovable and adorable character of the bunch.  I would hate that we have to go down such a gut-wrenching path, but I would begrudgingly understand it. My only true hope at this point is that we might still need Sadaharu to close the dragon gate. Even though I had previously ruminated over the possibility of Umibouzu's non-terrestrial crystals playing a role in that task instead, now that Sadaharu's life is seriously on the line, I hope he and Komako-chan will still end up being the heroes that put the dragon to rest.  

And though I joked about Hasegawa receiving no credit whatsoever even if he does succeed in saving everyone on the Amenotori and ergo Earth, I hope at the very least Hatsu ends up believing what he had accomplished and finally, permanently, gets back together with him. He deserves that much, and maybe his old job back officially, even though I doubt immigration will be high on the government's priority list considering the amount of rebuilding that would have to happen first. I'm glad he came up with an actually sound plan that wouldn't requiring sacrificing everyone on the ship. Luckily the remaining Liberation army finally woke up and decided to defect to the side of Earth; I doubt Hata's fleet would have done much to slow down the Amenotori since they lack the numbers to have much of an effect. There was something rather familiar about the formation of the Liberation Army's ships and shields however, which made me wonder if you were inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and most of those guys will end up perishing in their efforts, much like the Nova Corps fleet did when they tried to prevent the Dark Aster from crashing onto their planet. It will be an honorable death at least, probably more honorable than most of those Liberation Army idiots deserve considering they had a hand in perpetrating this entire mess. I am grateful though that I don't have to worry about the safety of Zura, Sakamoto, Takasugi, and the others for now: at least there's a good chance they can escape from the ship before it's blown into smithereens to prevent it from plummetin destructively into the planet.

Even though in a few days I will find out exactly how bad Sadaharu's condition is, I will still like to take this one last opportunity to ask you to please, spare him. Let him be revitalized in time by the elixir that is strawberry milk.  The same goes for Komako-chan. I would like for them both to remain well and alive so that eventually one day, when the conflict is over and the dust has settled, they can get together and produce more adorable inugami puppies to help guard the dragon gate so that the Altana stream will never get out of control again.

Yours truly,

A silly fangirl with yaoi dreams

(^3^)

PS: while the two of them weren't anywhere close together, the fact that Gintoki and Hijikata have remained side-by-side at the top of the character popularity poll is enough for me to rejoice (and Gin-chan is even looking at Toshirou!! Double yayyy!). I would love if their poll positions were to translate into the finality of the series, but that will most likely remain only wishful thinking on my part. At this point, I really will settle for simply more scenes of the two of them interacting before we never get to see them anymore. Ugh, that thought is already enough to make my stomach turn over in sickening anxiety. Anyway, I should thank my fellow Gintama lovers for making such wise polling choices. I also want to agree that I am completely not used to Shinpachi Shinshichi being a #7. There IS something very wrong with that and as much as I love our dear Pachi-kun, he should have remained in his 8th place forever. Unfortunately, I guess we loved him just a little bit too much.  

[mayomegane]

okay my reasons why i ship them

before you say its problematic due to the age gap, ive been shipping them for years already. i didnt think about all the problematic stuff back then because i ship for the interactions and chemistry.

the basis I guess

theyre both known for their role as the straight man

stuff they have in common (second in command from the leader, being younger brothers, strict when it comes to leading)

shinpachi was originally supposed to be in the shinsengumi (based on nagakura, but i see the gintama equivalent is nagakura shinshichi lmaaao)

hiji getting a split personality that overlaps with shinpachis otaku trait is 👌

no actually the reason i started shipped them was from the kyuubei arc. loved shinpachi constantly asking hijikata if he was okay in the head because he was smoking a firecracker. but also hijikata acting cool and saying hes here to fight only but he literally didnt have to be here. 

i think hijikata hates shinpachi the least out of the yorozuya lol (obviously he doesnt actually hate them but pattsuan is the least annoying)

shinpachi looks up to hijikata and respects him. he knows hijikata is someone reliable (im glad “follow-kata-san” made a reappearance from the correspondence arc to the bathhouse arc lol) 

pachi is kind and worries about tosshi and the well being of the shinsengumi. even at the expense of losing the official otsuu fanclub title. 

they acknowledge each other enough that they’re almost casual with each other and are on the same wavelengths (In the way that it’s like “oh it’s you” and there’s no animosity) ala the host arc and bathhouse arc they can rely on each other. thats what i mostly like seeing, sharing the affinity of being the only sane person in the room.

ALSO i really like cool guy x nerd/otaku/loser so, theres that

[fizzingwizard]

Shinpachi finally moved above 8 in the latest Gintama popularity poll! Biggest accomplishment of his life, very impressive for a pair of glasses

i’M SO PROUD OF MY BOY GLASSES!!!!! The Gorilla better make a joke soon about changing his name from Shinpachi (New-8th) to Shinshichi (New-7th). It’s too good a pun to resist.

and kagura and katsura switched places… again. lol. That’s my second favorite part of the polls after Shinpachi.

[alteryi]

Dawn of a New Life: Nagakura Shinshichi

 aka ‘the guy who had to fall for the worst woman on Earth’

Captain of the Second Division of the Shinsengumi

Around his 20s, either one year older, the same age, or one year younger than Gintoki and Sekishin

Nicknamed Nana by some

Part of the group that originally came with Kondou to Edo

Can usually be seen telling someone not to do something, watching that person do the exact opposite of what he said, and then telling them ‘I told you so’

Hates it when he’s right, loves it when he’s wrong

People are convinced he can see the future because of how many times he’s right

Used to like Seki before he landed in the hospital because of her

He actually landed on concrete and broke some of his bones, but he’d rather not remember that

Also would like to forget that horrible time period where he wrote love poems and sent gifts and also bought an engagement ring and confessed to her while hanging on for dear life

He wants to get amnesia. Someone give him amnesia please

Good friends with Ayumu/Ayuto and visits him occasionally

Sends glares at Takezawa when he sees him because why not

Sucks at cooking

Sucks at romance

Hobbies include writing away in his poem book notebook, playing card games, watching fish swim

Likes a goldfish that he named Koi

Koi’s swimming in a fish tank near the window of a pet store and Nagakura’s hoping that no one will buy Koi

Also likes, still, Seki to an extent, and he will do everything he can to deny it

Hates Seki, being right, being the deliverer of bad news, having no one to talk to, the manager of the pet shop that Koi’s in because he’s not lowering the price at all

Usually spends his money on notebooks and pens because he writes so much that he fills up his notebooks fairly quickly

There are fifteen notebooks worth of love poems that Nagakura wrote and he managed to burn three of them before Kondou put out the fire and Okita arrested him for contributing to air pollution

All writers are envious of him because there’s barely a moment when he doesn’t get writer’s block

This writer is very envious

Fun fact: Nagakura Shinpachi (the real life version of Shinshichi) wrote journals about his time in the Shinsengumi

[impracticaldemon]

The Shinsengumi in Anime

The Hakuouki version of the Shinsengumi:

Okita Souji, Hijikata Toshizou, Saitou Hajime (above). 

Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, [Chizuru], Heisuke Toudou:

Game/Anime also includes Kondou Isami, Sannan Keisuke, Inoue Genzabouro and Yamazaki Susumu.

The Rurouni Kenshin version of the Shinsengumi (below):

RK: Shinsengumi first mentioned chapter 48 of the manga (episode 28 of the anime series). Saitou Hajime has the most enduring presence in RK.

The Peacekeeper Kurogane version of the Shinsengumi:

Of the best known historical characters, the main characters include Okita Souji and Hijikata Toshizo.  The show also features Yamazaki Susumu, Saitou Hajime, Nagakura Shinpachi, Yamanami (Sannan) Keisuke, Harada Sanosuke and Toudou Heisuke.

The Gintama version of the Shinsengumi (below):

Characters include:  Kondou Isao (middle),  Hijikata Toushirou (front right), Yamazaki Sagaru (right), Okita Sougo (front left, light hair), Saitou Shimaru, Todo Bokosuke, Harada Unosuke (left, bald), and Nagakura Shinshichi.

Saitou Shimaru has an orange afro and never speaks:

(As a Hakuouki Saitou fan, I felt compelled to add this; it amuses me.)

AND THAT’S IT FOR THIS COMPILATION!