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lotus-tower · 2 years ago

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the orochi revisited: the takagin edit

the digital version of yaoizine vol.2 has been out for a while, so i thought i'd finally post my essay on here! some of the jokes don't work as well without the context of the zine's cover but lol. hope you enjoy anyway. a very brief overview of the takagin relationship in relation to my first essay's framework

The following paper is a commentary on and tribute to My Orochi Stood Up: A Draconic Response to "eat shit and die” (1948), in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Though much has changed in the anal-ytic landscape since Orochi was first published, much is still the same. As the pioneer of ouroboros theory, a now interdisciplinary framework that has made many valuable contributions to the study of literature both anally inclined and not, My Orochi Stood Up is a foundational work that has remained relevant and resonant across years and disciplines. However, in this text I will be focusing on Orochi’s roots first and foremost as a piece of Gintamaology.

To begin, we must acknowledge that it is impossible to discuss My Orochi Stood Up without also accounting for the work it was written in response to, T. S. Hirt’s eat shit and die (1938), or the original unnamed poem where most of its ideas first took shape (1944). Unfortunately, providing a commentary of the former would be beyond the scope of this paper. Readers interested in anality are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with this watershed text in Gintama escatology, as it lays the groundwork for everything that follows. As for the poem, it is referenced at length in My Orochi Stood Up, but I have decided to omit mention of it–among many other things–owing to this journal’s physical constraints. While I regret the necessity of this, there is simply too much to say on the subject of “the pole and the hole” in Gintama–particularly the pole, which Gintama explores with endless fascination. The sword, the pillar, the Terminal, the gravestone, the tree–with its fondness for substitution as well as its love of dirty things, Gintama’s collection of treasured motifs has no shortage of things that stand erect.

Both pole and hole are equally important to the cycle of self-fertilization first described by My Orochi Stood Up almost a century ago. Yet Orochi was, understandably, primarily preoccupied with explaining its ouroboros thesis, leaving it with limited room to discuss in-story logistics beyond the conceptual framework and Gintama’s broad thematics. As you may have guessed, this paper will attempt to do so–and for this purpose it would be more efficient to start from the bottom up, so to speak. So this essay is dedicated instead to the hole, that gaping void named as Gintama’s ultimate antagonist. Let us now revisit the holeistic framework of the serpent swallowing its tail while examining one of Gintama’s most fraught relationships: Gintoki and Takasugi.

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First, it cannot be overstated how much Gintama relies on duality and parallel structures. The Gintama cast and narrative is constructed like a hall of mirrors, parallels upon parallels upon parallels organized on each side of a central divide. This intersecting line, as shown in Figure 1.1, is what creates the reflection in the first place, allowing characters to be mirrors (or, in the prized language of fandom, foils). One could consider it the glass of the mirror, or the organizing force of the narrative itself. The creation of this dividing line provides structure to the characters, the world, and its temporality–but it is also an act of violence. See Fig 1.1.

Fig. 1.1: ⭩🢥⮀🢛❑⮅⮡🢜

On a diegetic level, bad things happen to the characters because life is difficult, and mostly similar bad things happen to everyone because the series rests upon the Joui war and its related conflicts the way a world rests on the back of a turtle. But perhaps more relevantly, Gintama’s central conceit is that one’s ultimate enemy is always oneself, so naturally all enemies can eventually be conflated. It is an efficient tautological loop.

What separates the characters on each side of the dividing line, then, is not the degree of suffering they undergo but their response to that violence. My Orochi Stood Up terms these unfortunate souls who end up on the wrong side of the divide “hole-sided.” Their lack is caused not by their injury, but by their own response to it, by their failure, for a time, to live up to their own humanity. This is the position occupied by the antagonists (and, intermittently and continuously, yet somehow always away from the reader’s eyes, our protagonist Gintoki), those who have failed to fill the lack in their souls like responsible adults.

That which Gintama prescribes to fill these naturally and unnaturally occurring holes in humans is dirt: the debris accrued from a lifetime of living, brushing shoulders with other people, becoming stained by them, becoming dirty and worn as you mature, subjecting yourself to the deeply humiliating and humbling experience of being alive. Of course, as both eat shit and die and My Orochi Stood Up illuminate, in Gintama “dirt” is also a synonym and euphemism for “shit.” We are thus not talking about just any dirt-filled hole, but specifically about the anus. The vulgarity of Gintama’s framing of bonds–as shitting onto and into each other–and its use of shit as a humanizing trait is highly characteristic of both the series’s general sense of humour and the ways in which it mixes gags and serious delivery of narrative to create a densely layered non-linear experience in which absurdity and tragedy are forcibly, jarringly concomitant.

As T. S. Hirt wrote in 1948, “the anus—the dirty human things—is the home for the phallus—the ideals we hold, the source of our power.” Indeed, were Gintama not so irreverent about its most valued symbol, the sword, due to its fondness for wordplay and for low-hanging fruit, perhaps the nationalistic bent of the series would be more questionable. But as My Orochi Stood Up argued, Gintama’s emphasis on wordplay and its fearless decision to call itself the equivalent of “Ligma” are integral to a thematic understanding of the series, and are key to the ouroboros thesis in particular.

But perhaps the singularly most important example is the -tama in Gintama, with its plethora of potential meanings, each of them just silly and dirty enough that you have to take it seriously. Beyond the obvious joke on kintama (balls) and the “silver soul” direct meaning, we’ve seen that tama is also easily conflated with atama (head), and even with tamago (egg). This is clearly demonstrated with the series’ fixation on beheading leading to the salvation of the soul and the bodyswap arc hinging on the pun between soul and egg. [...] The fact that the characters end up turning into giant turds, likening the soul-egg-balls to an asshole, only drives the point in further. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

To return to the unfortunate hole-sided, these are the characters who lack dirt, who could not withstand the mortifying ordeal of being alive. The natural assumption to make here would be that Gintama then juxtaposes opposing forces, setting “desiring-pairs” of head and hole, sword and scabbard in conflict with each other. Indeed, Gintoki is stabbed again and again, with all kinds of blades–but the villains do not want to stab him as much as they want him to stab them, with his much more meaningful sword. Yet those who are hole-sided do not seek to be filled.

[...] But this is a different process than emptying yourself, which is what the antagonists are doing. All Gintama villains are hole-sided, desperately trying to destroy themselves while pretending, as hard as they can, that they don’t know that you can’t destroy a hole–only make it bigger. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

Takasugi desires Gintoki, not because he believes Gintoki can make him whole again, but rather because he knows he cannot ever be whole again, and that is because of his love for Gintoki. Moreover, the series’ consistent use of language such as “broken” versus “unbroken” swords implies that those who cannot be filled are also those who cannot fill others. Just as the serpent cannot swallow its tail without filling its own mouth, its mouth cannot be filled without having a tail to swallow. As My Orochi Stands Up makes clear, the process of self-creation and other-creation are effectively one and the same in Gintama.

All Gintama antagonists are in parallel with each other and in mirror with their counterparts, who in turn contain echoes of our protagonist, Gintoki. In this way, the entire story can be folded in on itself, side over side, into the shape of Gintoki, the microcosm, like a piece of carefully designed origami. One of the most popular endings of the anime, ending 25, “Glorious Days,” demonstrates one half of this as Gintoki stands unmoving and unchanged as the anime’s large roster of antagonists replace each other before him in quick succession, different times and places flashing past without emphasis. “Nothing has changed,” Gintama constantly claims, while simultaneously showing us how the world has entered a different era, a different century, a different genre, in the span of ten years.

In the ending, Takasugi and Gintoki haunt each other’s footsteps. Takasugi’s feet in Gintoki’s reflection in the water lag one step behind, unable to keep up with him but unable to stop chasing after him, while Gintoki’s ghost is not even visible in Takasugi’s reflection; instead, Gintoki’s presence is indicated by Takasugi’s own reflection stopping and looking back.

Gintoki and Takasugi are the most important pair of mirror selves in Gintama, and inarguably the most yaoistic. Rather than homoeroticism, however, what they have could perhaps be termed a sort of homothematicism. Whereas Gintoki has filled himself with dirt and debris from the series’ overflowing, enormous cast, learning and re-learning how to be human, Takasugi is caught in an incandescent storm of rage and grief, a serpent futilely trying to swallowing itself in the literal sense. But he can never succeed, because he has nothing to fill his belly with other than himself; there is nothing he values in the self he is trying to destroy; thus, he can never satisfy his desire to hurt himself.

Takasugi’s immortality is of the same kind as Utsuro’s, which is to say, hole-sided. It is not that they cannot be killed, only that they cannot die. Takasugi therefore turns to the same drastic final resort as Utsuro: destroying the world in order to destroy themselves. Again we can observe Gintoki’s role as the microcosm in comparison to Shouyou and Utsuro’s exaggerated, macrocosmic style. My Orochi Stood Up details how Utsuro as well as the eponymous Orochi’s identities blur into that of their respective planets, likening them to world snakes. Tied to the Earth itself, Utsuro’s existence cannot end independently of it; his only recourse is to destroy Earth, and perhaps take the entire universe with it.

To Takasugi, however, the world is synonymous with Gintoki.

Takasugi’s doomed love for Gintoki affords him an interesting position in the narrative, where his conflation between Gintoki’s sword and the pillar of the world aligns with the story’s folded structure centered around Gintoki. Takasugi is Gintoki’s shadow, Gintoki’s “other self”, as Gintama terms it, but weak, diminished, unable to carry the burden of living or live up to Shouyou’s teachings. Gintama’s villains–and its weaklings–are those who will recklessly hurt others in order to harm themselves; its heroes are those who will fight themselves in order to become better versions of themselves. Conveniently, in this cast the villains are the heroes are the villains–and so in defeating the villains, the heroes overcome their own shadows, while the villains knowingly throw themselves into this process out of desperate hope that this will finally end their miserable roles in this story.

Takasugi, then, tries to destroy Gintoki because it is the only way he can destroy himself. On one level, part of him possesses the same general meta-awareness that all Gintama characters have about their allotted roles, and knows that if they were to clash, Gintoki would be the one to successfully devour him. But for the most part, Takasugi’s motivations are painfully earnest and straightforward: harming Gintoki simply hurts more than harming himself can ever hope to accomplish, and if Gintoki were to die, so too would Takasugi’s world crumble to nothing.

What is interesting is Gintoki’s response to these violent advances. Gintoki, of course, understands full well what kind of story he is in at all times. “Too bad,” he tells Takasugi, scraping himself back up from the ground. “I won’t fall. Until you stop, I’ll keep standing back up.” Here Gintoki himself is positioned as one of those things that stand erect. The Gintoki in Takasugi’s memory that is invoked is “a figure that stands before Takasugi”–or, put another way, Gintoki understands his duty in their relationship as that to keep standing, for as long as Takasugi needs something erect to throw himself against.

Thus, when Takasugi says that the world will not end as long as Gintoki’s sword remains unbroken, while Gintoki says that the only way to stop Takasugi is to stop his breathing, Gintoki becomes the immovable object and Takasugi the (un)stoppable force. However, in a fascinating inversion of the usual connotations, here the object is presented as something the force has chased after all its life, something unattainable and unreachable and yet no less immovable. Meanwhile, the force traps itself in a circular, looping motion, its unstoppable momentum doing nothing to help it escape its labyrinth. But in their battle, Takasugi and Gintoki do manage to reach each other; not because of Takasugi’s desperate violence, but because Gintoki’s interiority is as vast as the story they are in, and he is able to take Takasugi into himself.

My Orochi Stood Up’s ouroboros thesis is famously anchored in western alchemical and philosophical concepts. It frames Gintama’s mission of human-becoming as the enacting of the Great Work, viewing Gintama’s parallelism through the lens of the individuation process. On the ouroboros as a symbol of two becoming one, it quotes Carl Jung:

In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This 'feedback' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself, and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he, therefore, constitutes the secret of the prima materia which ... unquestionably stems from man's unconscious. (The Collected Works of Carl Jung, Volume 14: Mysterium Coniunctionis, 1977)

Gintoki’s assimilation of his shadow, of his other self, is best represented by the moment where he finally visibly attains “a human’s sword” at the end of the series. Takasugi’s reflection in Gintoki’s blade bequeaths upon him the honour of being the face of Gintoki’s “human’s sword.” This is a similar use of the reflection as in Ending 25. What is made clear by comparing these two moments is the same obvious truth that Gintama has impressed upon its readers all along: Gintoki is capable of containing Takasugi within him, but Takasugi is not capable of the reverse.

Or, more accurately, Takasugi is chiefly defined by the fact that he carries Gintoki’s ghost within him–and was driven insane by it. Gintoki was able to quietly shoulder the knowledge that his actions caused Takasugi’s descent into madness, but Takasugi was never able to inure himself to the sight of Gintoki’s tears. Takasugi is hole-sided primarily because he hollowed himself out in a vain attempt to scrape the image out. But dirt, as My Orochi Stood Up states, is what remains.

Takasugi’s crushed left eye has ever been his most obvious hole. Indeed, confronting Gintoki again made him aware that the image of Gintoki’s face that he had been carrying around in his eye like a grain of sand was in fact a speck of “dirt.” And of course, Takasugi was never empty: though the Kiheitai are sparse characters, they serve quite clearly to illustrate that Takasugi had never stopped being surrounded by people who trusted and depended on him, people who could participate in Gintama’s dirty gags and absurd comedy in the ways he could not, and people who, on multiple occasions, physically emulated Takasugi in order to inject his likeness into the series’ gags even when he was not present. People who, in short, supplied him with dirt.

The linkages between the gross and vulgar nature of Gintama’s preferred jokes and the double entendre in the meaning of “dirt” are an intrinsic part of both Gintama’s vision of life and the ouroboros framework. As T. S. Hirt explained, “the persistence of those dirty things marks the permanence of one’s relationships. something clean would never stick so.” Gintama posits that living is mortifying, humiliating, and while not shameful, certainly full of shame and debasement. To be a character that clings to dignity–or to whom dignity clings to–in Gintama is to accept an unfavourable life expectancy. Takasugi, while participating in a few gags, was never thoroughly embarrassed by them. His friends’ actions thus helped to tether him to the world of the living, even at his most ghostly.

Holes do not need to be completely empty to be deemed holes. Such a proposition would be absurd. Holes are identifiable even when filled partway with soil–even, perhaps, when brilled to the brim. No one is truly empty. My Orochi Stood Up makes clear early on that “head vs hole” is not a false dichotomy, but a misleading one:

You can reduce everything in Gintama to essentially two things. Shouyou and Utsuro. Gintoki and Takasugi. Humans and monsters. [...] Those who take in and those who are taken in. Those who keep struggling and those who don’t. And then you can also always reduce these two things to one thing: Shouyou/Utsuro are, after all, the same being [...]. You can’t pick yourself back up if you never lost in the first place. We know that Gintoki has managed to become “a splendid human” by the end of the series–so what was he before that? Was he really a monster? At what exact point in the series did he become human? Was it while he was on-screen, while we were looking, but without us noticing? Was it off-screen, while we were flipping the page, or in the space between the panels? The answer, of course, is that he was learning to be human every day of his life [...]. And so “which one is the head and which one is the hole?” is the wrong question. Even if you assigned one to each half and managed not to be wrong, since they’re collapsible into one anyway, they’ll always be both. (My Orochi Stood Up, 1948)

To be hole-sided is not to be the hole. It is to be stagnant, to be trapped in a state of needing to be filled without being able to carry out the process of self-constitution with the dirt that is received. In the end, Gintoki, the “reluctant hole” as T. S. Hirt iconically termed, is the one who takes Takasugi into himself. My Orochi Stood Up quotes philosopher Bernard Stiegler: “The I is essentially a process, not a state, and this process is an in-dividuation [...]. It is the tendency to become one, that is, to become indivisible.” This is, I argue, the climax of their homothematic relationship. Not coincidentally, it is also the climax of Gintoki’s personal quest to become human, the individuation that Jung and Stiegler speak of.

My Orochi Stood Up capitalizes on the ouroboros’ nature as a symbol of fertility to liken dirt not only to shit but to seed, and the hole to the womb where the tama (egg/soul) is fertilized. It is an intentionally paradoxical and anachronistic framework, where one must have an unbroken sword to be able to be fertilized by the dirt of others, yet it is only through that fertilization that one’s sword can be forged. This is simply another iteration of the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma, as befits the motif of the ouroboros. But for the characters of Gintama, this paradox reflects their continuous responsibility: the task of becoming human is a Sisyphean one that will span their lifetimes and beyond.

In other words, as Takasugi was folded into Gintoki, he found that he was already there; that his lack was filled by Gintoki because he was filling Gintoki; and that being a ghost did not preclude anyone from being human.

I have spoken at length about holes and serpents up until this point without mentioning the eponymous dragon, Utsuro. This is partially because this essay was focused on Takasugi and Gintoki’s relationship, and partially because practically all insights regarding Utsuro are contained within the framework of the ouroboros thesis itself. As the world snake, his body and bones were used to construct the theory we have been discussing, his lack identical in essence to the other hole-sided. It is worth noting, however, that for Gintoki, Utsuro represented the unreachable object. Gintoki’s deepest anxiety was over his blade not reaching Utsuro, because he had been told that he could only reach him with a human’s sword. In the end, as we have seen, he does indeed manage to reach him, with Takasugi’s soul in his hands.

Takasugi, too, manages to reach Gintoki in the end. Cradled in Gintoki’s arms, he is brave enough–and selfish enough–to ask for a fleeting smile. My Orochi Stood Up argues that the moment Gintoki’s tragedy was revealed to us through Takasugi’s eye was the one that broke Gintama’s own narrative cyclicity. This was, of course, the original bit of dirt flung into Takasugi’s hole that he could not cope with, that halted his process of individuation. As previously mentioned, the ten years that separate the end of the Joui war from the present day span an entire age. At the very end, this eternity spent wandering, too, ruptures, and Takasugi finally finds his way out of the labyrinth, only to look back and see a clear and straight path through the trees.

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This essay has been a brief exploration of Takasugi and Gintoki’s relationship in the context of My Orochi Stood Up’s innovative ouroboros framework. In the seventy-five years since it was first published, it has been transformed in diverse and exciting ways. However, I thought it only fitting that for this major anniversary, the focus be brought back to the Gintama characters that first inspired it. Rather than the iconic dragon, Shouyou/Utsuro, this piece has chosen to focus instead on his two most intertwined disciples. While not necessarily treading any new ground, I hope to have presented an interesting snapshot of this relationship known for being simultaneously transparent and opaque.

As we have seen, this relationship is one made possible by the intense parallel structure it embodies. Just as Takasugi serves as Gintoki’s shadow, their journey and the cannibalistic nature of their duality echo the conflict represented by their teacher, and in many respects parallel the shape of the narrative itself. In this way, the position they occupy in relation to these other draconic structures–micro- or macrocosm–is perhaps a reversible one.

In short, though Gintama “cannot resist the phallus,” as T. S. Hirt said, it is also singularly concerned with holes: how they are filled, what results from them, what constitutes them. The only question it does not ask is what creates them. It is instead implicit that human beings naturally possess holes, that they are a natural part of the anatomy of both our bodies and souls. And thus, it is natural both to fill them and to fail to fill them; the fertile infinity of the ouroboros guarantees that should one fail, there will always be tomorrow.

#gintama #takagin #well. just take it #a lot of unavoidable overlap so not as much value as my first essay but. you know #i was NOT going to assume hapless yaoizine 2 readers would know what the fuck i was talking about.

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adetolasblog · 13 days ago

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My Gintama OC

Chiyo Kondo, The niece of Shinsengumi Commander, Isao Kondo.

Her father is Kondos older brother (also an oc). She gets her looks from her mother, hence why she doesn't look like a gorilla. Her mother's beautiful genes overpowered the gorilla genes.

She's new to Edo and is a simple country girl who is obsessed with looking and acting like a "city girl".

She is secretly an otaku. She loves otome games, boy bands and romantic shoujo manga/anime. She hates Otsuu with a burning passion for no reason though.....

She lives on her own in a small apartment and works in a flower shop in Kabukicho.

She's sweet and kind with a temper

She is a very good fighter as she grew up in a dojo. However, she wasn't allowed to learn directly so she taught herself in secret.

Her weapon of choice is whatever she can get her hands on at any given moment including, but not limited to: metal pipes, knives, sticks, sandals, etc.

She's a hopeless romantic and wants to be in a relationship like in her games and manga. She has a thing for guys in glasses.

She is close to the shinsengumi trio as they essentially raised her. Sougo and Hijikata are her 'pseudo uncles'. They are very protective of her, much to her annoyance and regularly stalk her or send officers to follow he when she goes out , which she hates.

She is an escape artist because of that and has mastered the art of blending into the crowd and staying clear of all police officers in the vicinity.

She has a crush on Shinpachi even though she despises Otsuu. They met at a concert, where Otsuu was the opening act for her favourite boy band the 'three sacred treasures'.

Speaking of the Three Sacred Treasures, she actually knew the lead singer, Osamu, when they were children. He shared his dream of becoming an idol and she fully supported him, leading her to be their number one supporter .

This image was created with Picrew’s “Alli’s OC Creator!“!! https://picrew.me/share?cd=1nIB5nxKXe #Picrew #Allis_OC_Creator

#gintama oc #gintama #fanfiction #shinpachi deserves more love so i made him a girlfriend #anime #Chiyo Kondo oc #anime oc #picrew oc #picrew #self ship #oc x canon #shinpachi x oc #gintama x oc #gintama roleplay #gintama rp

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azukisoul · 2 years ago

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Translation of HijiGin manga: Diary Exchange by saki1010_gt (Twitter)

I think about this manga literally once a week because I think it's akin to something Sorachi would write, so I'm sharing a translation here!

MANGA LINK | Out of courtesy to the artist I'm not reposting her art here, please visit the tweet, refer to the translation as you read along, and show the artist some love!

And the link to the Twitter thread of this translation if anyone is interested!

Translation

[page 1]

G: Oh, so you like me, huh, Vice Chief-san?

G: That's not a good joke to go along with this alcohol.

H: Even so, this is a once-in-a-lifetime confession. Don't make light of it.

G: Hmm.

G: Well, if you say it like that,

G: I can probably answer you through a diary exchange.

H: ...

H: Okay, sure!!

[page 2]

H: Who would have thought that a man one would assume to have dysfunctional relationships like him would suggest a diary exchange?

H: 70% of the world's HijiGin starts with physical contact (based on experience), how hard to get are we being, really? Even rural middle school students are more chill in their relationships than us.

H: Still, handwriting and way with words are also treasure troves of information on one's personality.

H: Maybe it's unexpectedly also a good way to know more about this guy who is the hardest to understand in all of Gintama.

H: I gave him some questions in my first diary I passed to him so he wouldn't have too much trouble writing his, let's see what his reply is...

G: The fleeting spring is slipping away and the heat is encroaching upon us, but I hope you are doing well as you are... Or whatever, doing that each time is a pain so I'm just gonna talk normally from now on like you told me.

H: Hmph, he's unexpectedly a decent writer.

G: Um, first off, my favorite food, right? It'd have to be sweets for sure. Anko and dango are my favorites, but recently I'm into fresh cream too... Yaaawn. I woke up early today so I'm getting kind of sleepy...

H: Hm?

K: My favorite food is sukonbu.

[page 3]

K: I can eat boxes and boxes of sukonbu. I also like foods that go well with rice. Stuff like seaweed tsukudani is the best.

H: Why is the China girl the one answering!? Anyway, the diary exchange thing got completely found out by the kids! Whatever happened to his personal life!?

S: A place I'd like to go have fun at would be a Terakado Tsuu concert.

H: Glasseees!! You too!?

S: Ah, but you don't have to trouble yourself with going with me. I'll just go with the Yorozuya. You can just get us the amount of tickets we need.

H: Plus, he's rude and no fun at all!

G: Wait, what? I was dozing off and suddenly the page got filled up somehow.

H: Yorozuya, realize that you've been infiltrated by an entity called your family! And either way, why don't you read the page back a little!

G: But this kind of thing isn't bad, too. I can say stuff that are hard to say out loud here. To be honest, about you, I... I actually quite...

H: *ba-dump* Huh? Yorozuya?

[SADAHARU PAW PRINT]

G: Man, that's so out of character to say! I'll never write that again! Well, then, until next time. —Gintoki

H: THAT DOOOOOOG!!! I CAN'T READ THE MOST IMPORTANT PAAAAART!!!

#ginhiji #hijigin #gintoki x hijikata #gintama #gintama translations #sakata gintoki #hijikata toushirou #ghg translations

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shysheeperz · 1 year ago

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love ur blog!! I check it out before starting an anime/manga 💞

just wondering do u have any recommendations for complete anime/mangas?

thank u either way!!!

Completed??????

Manga:

Fullmetal Alchemist- the gold standard

Silver Spoon- by the same person who did FMA. Agricultural school stuff. Cute.

Agravity Boys- space sci-fi gag comedy, a wild ride to say the least, I miss my stupid boys

Magu-chan: God of Destruction- cute digimon/pokemon-shaped gods get woken up and mingle with a bunch of middle schoolers. Cute fluff mostly, will occasionally pull at your heartstrings (including the ending)

High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku- comedy/ slice of life, about an entire family attending high school. Has a volleyball arc that rivals the likes in haikyuu!!

Haikyuu!!-sports manga, if you want to cry over boys and their love for the game then this is for you, Boys x Volleyball is the tru otp of the show

Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku- dark historical fantasy, so very, very good. Don't get attached.

Dr. STONE- sci fi, technically the main story is complete. We still have been getting the occasional side chapter or three that continue where the main story left off tho. A very solid shonen jump series. includes one of the best shonen jump dads in the history of ever. Will make u emotional over lightbulbs and stuff. hard not to root for the main cast.

Dr. STONE Reboot: Byakuya- a non-canon little one volume spin-off about byakuya and mainly about a funky lil robot that will make you sob uncontrollably I'd personally say to read up to the end of the Treasure Island arc in the main story first before tackling this one (about ch 140ish)

Dr. STONE 4D Science- a continuation of the main story, only a couple chapters, the ending is a really cruel tease imo and if Inagaki/Boichi don't give us more may they be cursed to lose all their left shoes forever

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sanji- spin-off of sanji side stories by the duo who did food Wars. ONE PIECE related ofc. Tasty looking food. Sanji too cool for school. One volume.

Astra Lost in Space- space sci fi survival, solid story that deserves more appreciation, the ending is just a tad lackluster in actually showing what a lot of readers would have liked to physically see. By no means ruins the story tho.

Blue Flag (Ao no Flag)- high school, romance, slice of life, boys and gals just trying to figure out life and relationships. Solid.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles- gag comedy that leans a little too much into the shonen battle-esque stuff towards the end imo, but a decently enjoyable time. A mash up of Harry Potter and other various manga like mob, opm, etc.

Mitama Security: Spirit Busters- comedy, axed but I enjoyed it. Goofy fun. nothing spectacular but reading it won't hurt anyone.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes- spin-off of mha obviously, average joe Koichi >>> deku FIGHT ME, the goodest of boys, world building u don't get in the main series, Aizawa's backstory, Knuckleduster is the man the myth the legend.

Chihayafuru- screaming crying throwing up, it's niche it's technically a sports manga, romance, female MC, growth™, love triangle but at the end of the day that's not what's important

My Love Mix-Up!- comedy romance, big big mix-up on who loves who and lots of shenanigans ensue.

Noragami- TECHNICALLY not complete until like 2 days from now when the final chapter releases. my emotions! MY EMOTIONS!!!! 😭

Gintama- comedy/gag with dashes of really good drama

I have no idea what your tastes are, anon, so here's a mix that I've personally enjoyed. Some of them were axed, but technically that makes them complete so I included them :P yes I cheated.

Anime:

There's a lot less of them bc I haven't actually watched a lot of completed series.

Run with the Wind- more boys x sports but this time it's about running. Also the boys are in college. Will trick u into wanting to run.

91 days- ol timey story about VENGEANCE. Set during the prohibition.

Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann- makes you emotional and feel all fuzzy inside, sci fi, mecha

Cowboy Bebop- a classic

Samurai Champloo- also a classic and I actually prefer this one over cowboy bebop tbh, god tier baseball episode

Astra Lost in Space-the anime version, if you'd prefer watching over reading, but I always prefer manga > anime just cause.

FMA 03/FMA BROTHERHOOD- the gold standard. I appreciate both versions. 03 goes the anime original ending root bc obviously the manga wasn't completed yet no biggie.

Mob Psycho 100- MOB!MOB!MOB! and tumblr sexy man reigen arataka

Gintama- animated version alternative lol. The voice actors bring the characters to life.

Obv there are the old school classics like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam and all that jazz if you haven't already checked out some of those. Oldies but goodies.

#ask #manga rec #anime rec #pretty positive i've read more axed manga than those who've reached thier natural conclusion #doesn't mean they shouldn't get some appreciation #manga #anime

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disabled-characters-showdown · 2 years ago

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Disabled Characters in the Showdown Currently

Notes:

1.) This list is subject to change, so if you see it off a reblog, please check the link to this post here. At some point this will probably stop updating, as we tend to forget to. Before we kick off the showdown there will be another post. Characters are under the cut, the list is currently unorganized, but might get organized later.

2.) If you see a character on here and you want to submit propaganda for them please feel free to, there is no submission limit or character per fandom limit. Here is the link to the submission form. Characters from the prior round of this showdown are fair game except Toph, Toothless and Hiccup. Additionally, most characters from @gay-disabled-characters-showdown are also fair game.

3.) The amount of submissions will not affect how likely a character is to get into the showdown. If you submitted a character and they are not here, we probably just haven’t gotten to verifying your character yet. If it’s been more than 3-4 days since you submitted the character you can shoot us an ask as to why they are not on the list, it might be an error on our part.

4.) When will submissions close? We have no fucking clue. At the earliest sometime October, as we are still working on setting up over @gay-disabled-characters-showdown which is still accepting submissions here. Additionally, as we need to write image descriptions it takes us a ridiculous amount of time to get set up.

5.) If you think a character doesn’t qualify you can send us an ask or leave a comment, and we can show you the explanation we have for the character as to how they count.

7.) If there is a character or media on here you think is problematic you can send us an ask and we will evaluate. That being said it’s not about being the best most perfect representation.

Tougou Mimori- Yuuki Yunna is a Hero

Olivia- Fear and Hunger 2: Termina

Edward Elric- Fullmetal Alchemist

Takashi ‘Shiro’ Shirogane- Voltron: Legendary Defender

Narti- Voltron: Legendary Defender

Shirou Emiya- Fate Stay Night

Red Haired Shanks- One Piece

Neil Watts- To the Moon/ Finding Paradise/ Imposter Factory

Harrowhawk Nonagesimus- The Locked Tomb

Wei Shi London Arelius- Cradle

Clint Barton- Marvel Comics

Barbara Gordon- DC Comics

Anna Tromedlov- Hench

Chirrut Îmwe- Star Wars: Rogue One

Imperator Furiosa- Mad Max: Fury Road

Long John Silver- Muppet Treasure Island

David- Four Weddings and a Funeral

Kaz Brekker- Six of Crows

Wu Zetian- Iron Widow

Cassandra Cain- DC Comics

Entrapta- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Bran Stark- A Song of Ice and Fire

Heart- Moonlight Chicken

Wen Kexing- Faraway Wanderers

Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper- DC Comics

Wen Kexing- Word of Honor

Zhou Zishu- Word of Honor

Baiken- Guilty Gear

Draal the Deadly- Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

Petra- 1992 Summer Paralympics/ Cobi Troupe cartoon series

Twyla Boogeyman- Monster High

Kaladin Stormblessed- The Stormlight Archive

Nath- 100% Orange Juice/Sora

John D. Cort- Baywatch

Ming-Hua- Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Takane Enomoto (Ene)- Kagerou Project

Sylvette Suede- Tegami Bachi

Sunny- Omori

Basil- Omori

Stone- ONE by Cheesyhfj on YouTube

Parker- Leverage

Eustass Kid- One Piece

Fujitora- One Piece

Nog- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Ashton Greymoore- Critical Role

Geordi La Forge- Star Trek: The Next Generation

Nicholas Benedict- The Mysterious Benedict Society

Hermann Gottlieb- Pacific Rim

Johnny Joestar- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Linh Cinder- The Lunar Chronicles

Percy Jackson- Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Genya Safin- Grishaverse

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Fire Emblem Three Houses

Wylan Van Eck- Six of Crows

Jesper Fahey- Six of Crows

Havelock Vetinari- Discworld

Stiles Stilinski- Teen Wolf

Charles Xavier- X-Men

Hitori Gotoh- Bocchi the Rock

Vash the Stampede- Trigun

Gintoki Sakata- Gintama

Big Boss- Metal Gear

Black Raisin Cookie- Cookie Run Kingdom

Daan- Fear and Hunger 2: Termina

General Amaya- The Dragon Prince

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader- Star Wars

Sir Alastair Hammerlock- Borderlands

Alinta- DC Comics

Norma Khan- Dead End: Paranormal Park

George Mullner- Stardew Valley

Rani- Disney Faries

Joey Wilson/Jericho- DC Comics

Pit- Kid Icarus

Chai- Hi-Fi Rush

Sarah Sharpe- The Sea Beast

Gregg Lee- Night in the Woods

Arthur Lester- Malevolent

Kim Kitsuragi- Disco Elysium

Zee- Total Drama Island Reboot

Ignis Scientia- Final Fantasy XV

Komugi- Hunter x Hunter

Cheza- Wolf’s Rain

Maedhros- The Silmarillion

Ballister Boldheart- Nimona

Doom- Mashle: Magic and Muscles

Ianthe Tridentarius- The Locked Tomb

Talbot- Curse Words: Spellcasting for Fun and Prophet

Aka Ashi no Zeff- One Piece

Charlotte Webber/Sun-Spider- Marvel Comics

Zolf Smith- Rusty Quill Gaming podcast

#polls #disability #poll #fandom polls #disabled characters #disabled characters showdown

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username-janai-katsura-da · 2 years ago

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Gintama OC Introduction: Tora

Art by the wonderful @ratscantwrite-alt !

French version: here

Name: Tora

Age: 23

Date of Birth: 13 of July

Race: Half Human / Half Yato

Height: 159cm (5’2)

MBTI type: ESFP

First Appearance: Harusame Arc (Episode 13 / Chapter 12)

Personality: Tora is a friendly and outgoing person who enjoys being around others. She is well liked in her neighborhood for her cheerful personality and generosity. She is always willing to help others, whether it be by giving advice or offering assistance, so much so that she often finds it difficult to say no or go against others.

Tora is a hardworking and diligent person who puts her heart into everything she does. She takes great pride in her little convenience store and works hard to keep it running smoothly. She is also very attentive to her customers, always offering them a warm smile and a kind word.

However, Tora can sometimes be a little too stubborn, refusing to ask for help when she needs it to the point of overworking herself. She is also known for her raw honesty and lack of filter. She often speaks without thinking about the consequences of her words, which can put her in awkward situations. While she never means to intentionally hurt others, her innocent remarks can sometimes be misinterpreted.

Backstory: Tora is a half Human, half Yato young woman. Her father, Zenjiro, is a retired Harusame division captain and close friend of Housen. During a mission on Earth when he was younger, he met a beautiful woman from Yoshiwara with whom he fell madly in love and ended up having a daughter with. Shortly after Tora's birth, he decided to take her to Rakuyou to raise her according to the traditions and customs of the Yato tribe, claiming to her mother that he could offer her a better life than in the underground city where she lived and where the children of courtesans were killed. She reluctantly accepted.

Tora grew up among the Yatos and soon realized that she was different. Although she was much stronger physically than a regular human, she was still weak compared to her peers. Add to that her mother's tan skin, which was quite different from the pale skin of other Yatos, her warm and bubbly personality, and her aversion to violence, Tora stood out from the others and was often mocked and bullied for it. It was not uncommon for her to come home with scratches and bruises all over her body from fighting other kids her age who were bothering her. She'd never let anyone walk all over her, although she rarely came home victorious from these fights.

Growing up, Tora only sought one thing: her father's approval. Even though he never said anything to her about it, she knew full well that her weak body weighed heavily on him and that she crushed his dream of seing his child follow his footsteps: How could a such a strong and feared captain as he was ended up with such a successor ? Tora tried her best to get his attention, but it was pointless: no matter how hard she tried to become stronger, the look of almost pity in her father's eyes never changed.

Zenjiro ended up in an arranged wedding with a high-ranked Yato woman a few years later, with whom he had twins. Tora was very attached to her siblings and loved to take care of them, even though their mother tried her best not to let them get too close. Her relationship with her stepmother was hardly cordial: they just ignored each other and pretended to get along when Zenjiro was around. To her mother-in-law, Tora was just an intruder in her family and all she wanted was for her to grow up and leave.

Tora had always felt like something was missing in her life. Even though she had no idea who she was, what she was doing on Earth, or why she had never heard from her, she still felt a strong attachment to her mother. She needed answers and to meet her at least one time: her treasured old photo found in one her father's closet wasn't enough anymore.

That's when she decided to leave Rakuyou, the only place that she always knew yet where she always felt like a stranger. The plan was simple but risky: make her father believe that she wanted to join the Harsuame, blend up with the crew and escape at the first halt on Earth.

Tora ended up easily joining the seventh division thanks to Zenjiro's old connections. Everything was going like she intended to, but Tora felt absolutely horrible for lying and betraying her father after seing how proud he was of her for the first time in her life. Life with the Harusame was much harder than expected too: between pillaging other planets, killing innocents, dealing drugs and weapons, and other immoral activities, the more time passed, the less Tora was able to look at herself in the mirror. Every day was a day of violence and she hated herself for being a part of it. Fortunately for her, the day she had been waiting for finally arrived: a stop on Earth.

To this day, she still has no idea what happened. The Harusame were in charge of delivering a shipment of a new drug in vogue on Edo: the Tenseikyou. She didn't know exactly what had gone wrong, but while she had been waiting all day for the right moment to get away without attracting attention, a series of explosions began to detonate in the cargo holds of the ships where the merchandise was stored. It was the perfect opportunity: someone was attacking them and she had to take advantage of the chaos to get away. The last thing she saw was a strange silver-haired man dressed in a pirate costume running away from one of the ships, carrying two teenagers still tied up under his arms.

The early days on Earth were complicated for Tora. She had to get acquainted with earthlings way of living and learn to manage on her own, without the help of her father or other people. The money she stole from the Harusame's coffers before she left was of course a great help but it only made her more and more paranoid: what if they found her ? What would they to do her for betraying and robbing them ? What would her father think ?

Tora eventually got used to Edo and its peoples. She ended up investing part of her fortune in a small convenience store in a popular part of the town, not far from the Shinsengumi. Her peaceful daily life was something that she'd trade for nothing in the world and she couldn't have been happier with the friends she met. As the months went by, Tora slowly let her guard down: for some strange reasons she didn't felt like her former comrades were looking for her. Why ? She had no idea. Maybe they didn't even notice that she was missing since she was barely useful to them anyway ? It was most unlikely but she decided to take this as a sign to start over and forget everything about her old life, hoping that her peace will never be disrupted...

#gintama oc #my oc #tora #gintama

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ciaossu-imagines · 1 year ago

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Personalization Prompt #2 – Ketchup

BLACK: what face claim from an anime, comic book, or cartoon do I associate with you?

Oh, this was a hard one! Of course, there’s that sort of lean towards your icon or plain out just seeing you as Apple, but just taking a step back, I think I have to go with a cartoon character here instead of an anime character, but Audrey Ramirez from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is probably the closest I could come to how I picture you!

WHITE: what flame type and box weapon do I think you’d have in the khr!verse?

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a couple different ideas I do have for you as far as Flame types go. Of course, because of your impressive creativity and interesting ways of thinking, there is the desire to put you as a Mist Flame, since you are someone who could easily create things with that brilliant mind of yours. However, overall, I do think you give off the Aura of someone with a Rain Flame slightly more, so I do have you as a Rain Flame type. As far as box weapons go, I definitely think a Rain raven box weapon would be what you use, because of the obvious spiritual, emotional, and intellectual beliefs around the bird. In my head, it normally perches on your shoulder but it can fly around, spreading the Flames over a fairly wide area or it has the added ability of being able to calm and almost tranquilize whoever it lands on that is not you.

RED: what aesthetics do I associate with you?

The smell of home-cooked meals and the act of making food alongside friends or family, with shared laughs and memories to treasure forever. Backpacking abroad, new adventures with every step of a hiking boot clad foot. Calm and peacefulness. Kindness, always choosing to reach out a hand to those in need. Intelligence and compassion mingling beautifully. Thesis papers. Always having multiple things on the go, always moving and doing and thinking. Soft music in the background, soothing the soul. Bright smiles and sun-bathed skin. Soft faux-fur.

BLUE: what are three songs I’d put on a playlist for you?

LOST BOY, ruth b.

A CLOSE FRIEND, james newton howard

I SWALLOWED HARD, LIKE I UNDERSTOOD, 65daysofstatic

YELLOW: what fictional world out of all my fandoms would I picture you in?

Obviously, hands down, it’s Katekyo Hitman Reborn. However, I could easily see you fitting into both the Nanbaka, Servamp, and Saiyuki universes!

GREEN: who would I pair you with out of all my fandoms?

Obviously, for KHR it’s Reborn. For K Project, it’s Munakata. For Nanbaka, it’s Jyugo. For Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun! it’s Goemon. For Bungou Stray Dogs, it’s Akutagawa. For Servamp, it’s Tsurugi. For Saiyuki, it’s Hakkai. For Eyeshield 21, it’s Kid. For Ronin Warriors, it’s Rowen. For Kekkaishi, it’s Makio. For GetBackers, it’s Emishi. For Black Cat, it’s Train. For Karneval, it’s Gareki. For Gangsta., it’s Nic. For Bleach, it’s Byakuya. For Naruto, it’s Kakashi. For Deadman Wonderland, it’s Nagi. For Ouran, it’s the twins, both of them. For Durarara!!, it’s Kadota. For Yu Yu Hakusho, it’s Kuwabara. For Gintama, it’s Kondo. For Mystic Messenger, it’s Yoosung. For Ikemen Revolution, it’s Kyle. For Blush Blush, it’s Cashew. For Date Warp, it’s Nathaniel. For Hatoful Boyfriend, it’s Sakuya. For The Outsiders, it’s Sodapop. For Class of the Titans, it’s Neil. For Ultimate Spider-Man, it’s Harry. For Gravity Falls, it’s Stan. For The Mighty Ducks, it’s Adam. For The Covenant, it’s Tyler. For Jungle Fury, it’s Dom. For Ninja Storm, it’s Cam. For Mystic Force, it’s Nick.

PURPLE: what gif reminds me of you?

PINK: if you were an AU, what type of AU would you be?

Maybe I’m being influenced by recent conversations we’ve had, but I do think it would be an isekai AU, based around platonic bonds and building a found family 😊

RAINBOW: if i were to write a khr sequel, following Tsuna’s demise, and could only use my reader’s as characters, who would you be?

Okay, I have two ideas…bear with me as they’re both kind of implausible, but I like to believe fun nonetheless. We’re going to set aside the fact that going canon means there will be no future generations of Arcobaleno, but if there were, I’d see you as the next Rain Arcobaleno. Otherwise, I see you as part of the Vongola, as one of the medical team…as in, someone finally realized how important mental health is in the Mafia and you work alongside the doctors and nurses helping the Family members maintain their mental health and you have friends and family and loved ones and your life, despite being a part of the Mafia goes nice and peacefully and you’re treasured and valued and it’s all nice and soft and peaceful and I like that for you.

#unrequested prompts #ketchup

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johnmalevolent · 2 years ago

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heyyyyy, gintama for the fandom asks?

iris did you know that i love you

The first character I first fell in love with: Gintoki. i've loved him even before i watched gintama (that blorbo in law situation) it was of course partly sharing a friend's enthusiasm but also his design. now that i know his whole character it just makes me fall even more... and these are why:

his dead fish eye. his lack of energy. his sweet tooth. the one arm sticking out of his yukata bcs he thinks it's cool (he insists its just so he could grab his wooden sword faster). the way he rarely refuses to help people even if he acts annoyed about it.

he's kind of like reigen in many ways (28 year old freelancer - albeit questionable job - and bad older brother figures for some middle schoolers)

he's a gag character but sometimes he also acts as a straight man. i think he believes himself to be the sanest person when compared to his childhood friends (which. honestly doesn't say much). also im weak for characters voiced by mr Sugita

oh yeah have i mentioned his design. of course his main outfit is really cool but i love the ones we sometimes see him in. like his winter clothes, the ryokan uniform, shiroyasha, white blood king, that one time he switched job to a truck driver, his host suit, enmi... so many. he also crossdressed several times and slayed the look. despite wanting to have him in my bed someday im actually not that crazy over shirtless gintoki (except for his pink strawberry boxer shorts). the rule is the more layers of fabric he puts on, the more in love i am

and of course his *checks notes* wonderful personality

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: tbh Takasugi.. he's Gintoki's childhood friend but after what happened 10 years ago their relationship seems mostly hateful on the outside, but they actually treasure the other very much as a friend. when he first appeared he was introduced as an antagonist, probably the main one for the whole series, and it was kinda meh because at that point i was watching gintama for the comedy. but after watching the flashback of their time together it hurts just thinking about them. I've rewatched this one scene of them from the Gintama final movie and i cried every single time. if you're okay w major spoilers the clip should be in my "#jiwa perak" tag under a read more

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: see this is hard cos im not really deep in the fandom buuuut if i have to choose its shinpachi... its not that i dont like him, I just care for him the least...... he's good when paired with other characters (with gintoki & kagura or with his sister) but when he's by himself he's not that interesting. and i get it he's supposed to not be interesting. it's a whole joke that shinpachi is the most boring character. idk sorry shinpachi i hope they give you some new trait in the ginpachi spin-off

The character I love that everyone else hates: sorry idk who is the hated character in the fandom 😭

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Kintoki, maybe? he was a robot created per Shinpachi & Kagura's request because their current boss (Gintoki), who was nowhere to be found (probably drinking), is very irresponsible. so Kintoki is the polar opposite of Gintoki, created to be perfect in the ways gintoki couldn't. i used to really love him because of his charisma (took a bunch of screenshots & collected fanart of him) but after his arc ended i kinda forgot about him lmao. im chill about him now

The character I would totally smooch: gintoki. in case that wasn't clear

The character I’d want to be like: i want that katsura non-binary look and then my life would be complete. i dont want his brain tho

The character I’d slap: sakamoto. i love him but he's so annoying <3 i wld kill him irl

A pairing that I love: hijikata/gintoki!! i think they have a nice dynamic. unlike gintoki, hijikata is a very strict person. everytime they meet they always fight, but they understand each other and do well when fighting together. both of them insists they're not friends but when gintoki left town hijikata said "I'm gonna look for him." how do you expect me to not go insane.

ginsachi is also up there, and tbh if gintoki said he'd marry me after our first meeting I'd react like sacchan did. sacchan is a creep but i support girls wrong etc. it's a shame they dont really have many episodes together after that except when it's another harem episode :/

A pairing that I despise: GINTOKI/KYUUBEI. im glad there isnt actually many fancontent of them but my god do i despise it. i hate that kyuubei has sooo much potential as a non-binary character but became a part of gintoki's harem. like. i cannot see in kyuubei the same character that appeared in their debut arc. i know them starting to embrace their feminine side is an important trait but at this point it feels like they're turned into a girl just because. i know it sounds like im just talking about kyuubei im just really pissed lmao. it also doesnt make any sense to me how they would even have feelings for gintoki :(

#i. might have said too many things #literally tysm bestie i dont recommend you to watch this show but its good. never even consider watching it #krispeaks #asks #loverboybrightsideghost #ask game #jiwa perak

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shinpachirights · 1 year ago

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I've been thinking about this post again and after reading some ppls tags also want to share my unsolicited opinion on who actually haunts the narrative.

First I want to lay a few more ground rules to the qualifying criteria. Like op says the character's presence has to be sparse, I would go further to say the character must be dead or otherwise gone before the canon timeline of the story starts. (This does not include flashbacks, I mean when the author begins telling the story, for example this would be Shinpachi meeting Gintoki for the first time, or when Luffy meets Coby.) I can think of maybe 1 or 2 exceptions to this but generally it's a good rule.

Second is that the character/their actions must impact everyone in the story, not just the main character(s). The absence of a character can deeply impact one person without reverberating through the entire story. An example I would give of this is Tanjiro's family in demon slayer. He would not be pushed into demon slaying if his family were alive and his sister were human obviously, his love for them and his dedication to his sister affect all his actions and his personality, but no one else in the series has met/cares about them.

With these rules in place I will go through some examples of people who do and don't haunt the narrative, some I found in the tags and some I thought of myself

OK, One Piece. Gol D. Roger haunts the narrative. The intro to every episode for a long time literally included an explanation about how his actions in life (getting to Raftel) and his death (encouraging everyone to find the One Piece) changed the world. The power dynamic between the world government and pirates was changed forever as everyone who dared set off to become a pirate and find Roger's treasure. Literally everyone in the show has had their life altered by this guy. I saw one person argue for Shanks, but 1) while Shanks is his own character with his own goals, he himself is deeply affected by Roger. I would argue that him passing his hat down to Luffy is an extension of Roger's influence on the narrative. ( Shanks inspires him to take ROGER'S mantle of Pirate King) Also 2) Shanks does not impact nearly as many people as Roger. Yes, LUFFY is forever changed by their meeting, and his actions are often guided by his desire to keep his promise to Shanks, but he's just one person. Idk I guess he forever changed Buggy's life to the same extent (and now Kidd lmao rip my dawg). Shanks has the ability to change the power dynamics in the world as we saw in the marineford arc, but he hasn't used that power to the same extent as Roger. Now to get to the meaty bit: Ace doesn't haunt the narrative. He gets way to much screen time for him to be rare enough imo. Ace's death had a deep impact on everyone who knew him and no one else. We only see how widespread that impact was bc we're following around the guy's brother as our MC, obviously he's going to run into a lot of people who also knew Ace. Marineford served as a wake-up call to the strawhats about how unprepared they are for the New World, and it helped world build how terrible the World Gov. is. Yes, there is another shift in the pirate/government power dynamics after Ace's death, but that is because WHITEBEARD ALSO DIES. The victory of the marines over the WB pirates and them later disbanding causes the shift, not Ace alone dying. Plus the entire reason he's on the scaffold is because he's Roger's son. Can you haunt the narrative and be haunted at the same time? I say no.

Unless, of course, your name is Utsuro. Moving on to Gintama, Yoshida Shouyou's initial capture and subsequent execution are what shaped the world the character's of Gintama live in. He's the founder of Shoka Sonjuku, the school that brought Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi together in the first place. We see in flashbacks that Shouyou's kidnapping inspires the Joui 3 to join the war effort against the amanto, while his death both pushes them apart and takes them away from the war effort (where the Joui forces are then defeated). Oboro, Takasugi, Katsura, and Gintoki all feel guilt about Shouyou's death; how they balance that guilt with the lessons they learned from their teacher governs their actions later on in the story. Canon begins with Gintoki working an odd jobs business, somewhat aimless in life. We see him meet more people and his social circle grows. He can't bear to fail another loved one but he can't stop himself from loving. This manifests in a self destructive streak where he tries to take on any dangers the MC crew faces alone, though he learns to accept help as the show goes on. Takasugi on the other hand is crushed by the guilt, both of failing to save Shouyou and being part of forcing Gintoki to kill him. His anger at himself is redirected towards the world and towards Gintoki as he swears to let it all burn. Most of the characters in the series rally unknowingly under one of Shouyou's students, so they are all affected by his legacy. The only character who comes close to this affect in the series is Kagura's mom, but even her impact is more localized on Kagura's bio family.

On to more Shounen, my Naruto hot take is that the fourth hokage haunts the narrative. To be clear I'm talking only about pre time skip! The dead ppl coming back to life in shippuden gets out of hand at the end there lmao. Yes, there are a lot of dead loved ones in this show, but similar to Roger's introduction the first thing we learn about the Ninja world is that the yondiame dies a martyr. Naruto views the guy as his hero, though his opinions get more complicated as more info comes to light. Most people in naruto's life either know him as Minato's son or the reason Minato is dead, and treat him accordingly. His sudden death defeating the nine tails caused the sandime to take back the power, and distrust in the uchiha clan to reach new highs. The dude's face is carved into a fucking mountain looking down on all the characters for christ's sake. (Yes I know all the hokages are up there but there's usually some emphasis on Minato). Someone in the tags voted for itachi, and in a lot of ways the guy fits the bill, I personally think his impact is too localized on Sasuke for him to be haunting the narrative but I could see the reasoning for his case.

"haunting the narrative" is one of those phrases i wanna put up on a shelf. not all characters that are dead haunt the narrative. not all characters that are dead haunt the narrative. not all characters that haunt the narrative are dead.

#naruto #one piece #gintama #one piece spoilers #shinpachiwrites

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