#gintama meta

[yu-sigao]

I just finished Gintama and I'm still in awe. It's been a day and I still don't know how to collect my words of how deeply this anime struck me.

Utsuro was a beautiful villain. The way I interpret him is that he is almost pure yin - cold, dark, destructive, and all consuming, like, well, an 虚 ("utsuro", void.) But in East Asian cosmology, while yin is death, it is also fertility. It is the feminine component of the universe and required for land and animals to reproduce. So within a field of yin, there will always be a seed of yang.

This seed of yang is of course, Yoshida Shouyou. Just as yin inevitably grows yang, Utsuro talks of Shouyou's emergence as inevitable in episode 328.

"The one that hated humans, the one that feared humans, and the one that longed to be human... They were all me. It was inevitable that he would appear to stop them. The only Utsuro that stood up to Utsuro."

He even usually wears white compared to the black of Utsuro's cloak. Shouyou is warm, kind, nurturing, and active; it's said he never stopped fighting against Utsuro, even if at first he lost. And arguably that fighting is what got him killed. Utsuro slays him internally as Gintoki slays him externally, and when his body is burned in fire - a classic symbol of yang - Utsuro reemerges. The seed has sprouted, grown, withered, and returned back to fertilise the earth. Yang flows back into yin.

What I find interesting is the decidedly feminine metaphors that Oboro and Utsuro himself use to describe the formation of his different personas. He is said to have "given birth" to countless versions of himself (again also from episode 328), which further strengthens the association between Utsuro and yin.

This is not the first time a birthing/maternal metaphor has been used in Gintama. Consider Shouyou's speech to a child Gintoki:

"There's no difference between a monster and the child of a monster. They are both inhuman beings that are only born within a bloody pool of sin. And a monster's sword cannot cut another monster. So, Gintoki, stop trying to grow stronger by imitating me... You have to grow stronger than me by using your own sword, the sword of a human." - (episode 317.)

If in this metaphor, Utsuro is the parent and Shouyou is the offspring, then what does that make Shouyou? Shouyou subtly implies he considers himself a monster. Is this true? If you view Shouyou as a parental figure to Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi, then what does that make them?

Gintoki was called a corpse eating demon as a child, and by the time he was fighting in the Joui wars and forced to execute Shouyou, he had not shed that reputation. He instead became known as the Shiroyasha - white demon. Clothed in the colours of yang like his master who longed to be human, but a monster nonetheless. And a monster's sword cannot cut another monster. That is why when Gintoki kills Shouyou, Utsuro is born, and the cycle starts anew. It is only after 300+ episodes of character development that he becomes human, and can put an end to Utsuro.

"The people here must be what you were to me. Just as the eternal monster from that day became human by meeting you... Meeting you kids, the little monster with sad eyes from that day has also become human, hasn't he?" - (Shouyou to Gintoki in Gintama: The Final.)

But the cycle is never over. A baby implied to be Takasugi's reincarnation is born in the Altana gates at the end. At first I thought this was a cheap trick, and that Sorachi only did this to keep fans happy, but it does fit the theme of eternity and neverending cycles.

Gintama, to me, is about cycles, and the difference between productive and unproductive cycles. The Naraku's name refers to a sort of Buddhist hell, and they dress like Buddhist monks. The relevance of the Buddhist theme of reincarnation in regards to Utsuro's story should be obvious. But instead of a march towards enlightenment, Utsuro's numerous lifetimes are more like an ouroboros eating it's own tail. He did unto others what was done unto him, escalating into a plot to destroy Earth, which got him nowhere but perpetuating pointless samsara. He destroys himself as he begets himself, experiencing moral degradation and isolation as he shies away from even his other selves.

Or a cycle can be like making a philosopher's stone, which is what Gintoki experienced: a process of continuous refinement that produces objects of further and further purity. To use Buddhist terms, enlightenment is an ongoing process. The work of becoming human takes as long as your life will. And Gintoki is made human by his relationships with Shinpachi, Kagura, and every single person he met over the course of the story, while Utsuro remained so focused on himself, he destroyed his other selves.

Utsuro recognises his mistake upon his death:

"Humans are hollow beings. But because they know that, they take root in the heart of others, never fading, even after death, and continue to live forever, is it?" - (Gintama: The Final)

His hollowness and eternity did not have to mean all this pain. He denied the version of himself, Shouyou, that went against his omnicidal death wish, and was life giving instead. In giving life, Shouyou became mortal, and was given death. In death, Shouyou became more influential and powerful than Utsuro, having touched the heart of people who would come back to defeat him. The immortal becomes mortal becomes immortal. Yin flowing back into yang flowing back into yin.

In the end, everything goes back to where it started, yet everything is new again. The Yorozuya are back, and Edo is still Edo, even as Tokyo looms on the horizon. I can only hope for the baby we see at the end, that if they are immortal, they will have a kinder life than Utsuro/Shouyou did. That they will be more human than monster. The monster's child became human, after all.

[dont-touch-the-flower-child]

Nobume & Matako as foils

This was going to be part of a longer analysis, but in the end I decided to make a short separate post for it that I could refer to later.

I'm going to list a few similarities Nobume and Matako have, and within these similarities we could compare the differences and their implications.

Both girls are orphaned at a young age and forced to become a killer.

Nobume was orphaned by Naraku (which serves the Bakufu) and then trained to become an assassin. Her own will was not accounted for in the process; she did not have a say.

Matako lost her parents because of the Bakufu (her father executed for fighting in the joui war, her mother persecuted to death by association) and she wanted to avenge them with the pistols her father left behind. Though she was similarly a victim, Matako actively chose the path of rebellion for herself.

Both met their father figure, who end up becoming their commander, in a moment of rebellion. (self-explanatory)

Isaburo and Takasugi also happen to be working towards the same objective (toppling the Bakufu, exposing the Tendoshu)

They are both adored by their respective father figures, and the attachment is strong.

Though both Isaburo and Takasugi appear to have trouble navigating their relationship with their daughter. (Isaburo's pretty obvious; I plan on elaborating on Takasugi's case later)

They are both similar in temperament with their respective father figures.

Isaburo and Nobume are stoic and detached; Takasugi and Matako are hot-tempered and reckless.

(Also, within the revived Kiheitai, Matako is the only member whose initial motive is the same as Takasugi's: revenge. This could imply great similarities in their characters.)

Now, onto the greatest difference between Nobume and Matako: their personalities.

Nobume spent her entire life following orders. First under Naraku, and then under Isaburo. Isaburo was the one who wanted to support Takasugi's cause, and Nobume felt she "had to go along". Isaburo is plotting rebellion under the guise of following orders; as the Mimawarigumi followed his orders, they all became his pawn.

Matako meanwhile, belongs in the Kiheitai, which is pretty much rebellion and resistence incarnated. (I'd like to remind people that, despite their great loyalty to Takasugi, every major member of the Kiheitai has acted independently of Takasugi's will at some point—even against it sometimes.) I also feel like pointing out how Matako's an independent thinker as she is the only one to question the use of the Benizakura sword as it's too dangerous, and the only one to question if the Kiheitai's alliance with Harusame is a good idea. She even correctly deduced that Takasugi was in danger in that moment, something not even Bansai caught on.

(See, this is why I dislike portrayals of Matako as a simple-minded fangirl who blindly follows Takasugi around. I also think she deserves more serious moments where she acts and gets recognized as the competent person she is.)

Nobume, due to her parallel with Oboro (which deserves its own post), very likely got the same detached, emotionless personality from being brought up in Naraku. An authoritarian organization with little warmth and affection to speak of.

Matako, meanwhile, expresses a much wider range of emotions. She cries freely, plays the exasperated tsukkomi/straight man, and is a vibrant, lively girl. I can only imagine that if she's able to turn out like this, then the Kiheitai must be very different from Naraku in all asepcts.

For some reason, this post turns out to be longer than I intended. I'd like to share some speculations of how Matako was brought up by the Kiheitai, and how I think Takasugi feels about her. So, more posts incoming.

[sweettsubaki]

Sakata Gintoki, king of static characters who doesn't really change throughout the series (yes I know it's the definition) but impacts his environment so much you could almost believe he does.

[zeravmeta]

loses 10 years of my life and has 20 added in an endless loop thinking about how gintoki is always primarily described by his inhumanity first and foremost because for all that he is an idiot goofball he is also a survivor of one of the bloodiest massacres in his series ever since he was a child and even surrounded by family and friends he has no qualms whatsoever with all the blood on his hands and equally has no problem further spilling blood to protect what he loves <- primary indication of humanity in gintama is using a sword to protect vs using a sword to kill and the measure of ones soul (and even gain one) is in how they weild a sword

[s2pdoktopus]

There's a whole ass AU behind the stupid drawing based on a stupid conversation with @tamanone. Something about Tatsuma and Takasugi forming a boy band and a meta humor about their voice actors having been in a band together. And them guesting in an Otsuu concert. There are a lot of stupid thoughts involved. And then tamanone described a stupid cute scene (Tatsuma serenading Takasugi in the backstage with Otsuu's Omae to p-chan nondakure) that I can't do any justice. I tried tho.

[nullians]

Rewatched Fuyo arc and gintama mutuals you are encouraged to remind me to make the [Silver Soul + The Final movie] recreation AMV out of only the shots available from it. I’m so convinced it’s doable in like 70% at its essence and ugh. Anybody wanna be put down like a dog after realising the parallels

[teatitty]

Gintoki is functionally the same at the end of Gintama as he was at the start but the character or progression he has is that he goes from being a lonely stray with very few personal connections to regaining a sense of community and family, having a shitton of connected personal relationships, all of which matter and impact his daily life

[banapricot]

It's quiet in the wake of the fire, of Shoyo's arrest, of their home being destroyed. The muffled sobs peter out, and they're left to sit in their misery, not knowing what to do when the little they had has been cruelly ripped away from them. 

Then Kentaro starts crying. Wailing, really, like babies do, and it snaps Gintoki back to reality.

His legs nearly give out when he stands, and his arms ache from being pulled too harshly, but he makes his way to Takashi, who's overwhelmed by the screeching infant they must have carried out of the temple. They shove Kentaro onto him with obvious relief, and on a normal day - a better day - Gintoki would complain about always getting stuck on babysitting duty. Instead, he rocks the brat back to sleep and realizes they’re going to have to dump him in some orphanage. 

Already one person he can’t look after for Shoyo.

[forgloryforhonor]

throwing toyako - takasugi x gintoki x shimura

lesson 574 gintoki -> takasugi -> save shinpachi

lesson 701 takasugi -> otae -> gintoki

they even did that one-eyed thing

it came full circle

[bossladytae]

~

[shinobi98]

This is unironically Yamazaki's villain origin story in the Popularity Poll Arc in Gintama

[nig0i]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: 銀魂 | Gintama (Anime & Manga) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags: Meta, Analysis, not fanfiction, Symbolism, Posts one part a day Summary:

An analysis on Gintama's symbolism. Featuring: the sky, the Sun, the Moon, the dragon, and many more.

this has been months in the works!!

[kraniumet]

survived (is dead)

[sweettsubaki]

Me every time someone goes through my tags especially those that go back to over 10 years when I know I don't hold the same opinions I did before on a few things:

"please don't like those please don't like those please don't like those but also please don't judge me for them"

[pencilcult]

how come does this "high-end literature" book im reading for english class seem to do its meta thing worse than how gintama does meta

[loquatenjoyer69]

1.) #gah since u tagged me i opened this post up literally 2 seconds after posting i saw the timestamp lol. cuz i live on tumblr.#and was like thats way too soon to respond let me wait a minute. and then i had a complicated brain day and had to read in a couple#sittings and not hold onto any thoughts kjsdf AS LOQUATS ALWAYS DOES TO ME.

I...forgot if tagging someone on tumblr gives them a notification so I didn't mean to like. throw this at you like HEY READ THIS I just wanted to credit you for funny bench name lol but thank you for reading it anyway :bow:

2.) #but i did pull out some of ur phrasings here in color coded notes bc im determined to conquer this arc and make it Holdable In Mind.#and i feel like im in good company to do so lol. SUCH GOOD WRITING ABOUT ITTTTTTTT

This is such an honor T_T I would love to see your notes at some point, I feel like I'll never get tired of talking about this arc

3.) #matoba drives me insane. cuz the thing right. is that he is signaled as unhappy with his lot. even tho he willingly does it all and agrees#w the cause and the methods. and what he would actually Want with a freer life is completely opaque to us.#vis a vis usual matoba writing/paneling closing us readers and other chars off from him. and possibly bc he himself doesnt know.#and so the only thing we have sort of gestured at as something that matoba wants is natori's companionship.#and the only person who sort of kind of gets a look at a vulnerable matoba (nonanswer to the question natsume gets a direct answer to#and the more open sketch expression in response to his offer before the i hate my life bench*). IS NATORI.

For a while I've been undecided on what I think Matoba thinks about his own life...it's really hard to tell because he doesn't appear that often in the grand scheme of NatsuYuu, and we've never gotten a chapter from his POV (but what if. Midorikawa. did that. 0_0). But I think I agree with you, it seems like he probably is unhappy or unsatisfied to some extent. And I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't know exactly what he would want if he could have it. He seems like the kind of person to have a lot of messy layers of personality and thought going on, like, the course of his life has always been dictated for him, so there was never a possibility of him getting to do What He Wants. He must have personal desires to some extent, but I wonder how much he lets himself dwell on them.... Okay this is kind of goofy and a stretch but now I'm thinking about his love of sweets and the little remarks other Matoba members have made about him sneaking out for snacks or whatever (I don't remember the chapter but please tell me I'm not imagining this), and how this is something he wants that he can have that isn't related really to the clan business. Matoba's pursual of delicious sweets as a manifestation of having what he wants, something just for him. Wait now we're getting back to the loquats. "It was sweet and delicious; my desire had been fulfilled. But Natori must have gotten a bad one. He was making a weird face [...] Oh, I thought, there's no winning, even in such a small thing as this." Hm.

Ummmm also wrt Natori being the only one who gets to see a more vulnerable Matoba, it's a little funny (painful) because it seems like, especially from his adolescent point of view, that he feels like Matoba is very aloof and couldn't possibly care about him or like, things that don't have to do with success. Not that Matoba makes it easy. But Natori really was...an insecure kid. For good reason though LOL. But augh that's the tragedy of these two to me, they were both like, the wrong people at the wrong time. But maybe now...? :thonk:

Matoba and Burden and Desire

I originally watched/read Natsuyuu back in fall of 2022, and then a few months ago, literally out of nowhere, my brain was like “Hey, remember that loquat story Matoba told in that one arc? It felt like there was something there, let’s go reread that,” which I did, and have been in hexorcists hell about ever since.

(pictured: a sane person’s reaction to reading natsuyuu)

And really, that’s it. The loquat story feels like there’s something there, but I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. But after my close rereading of that arc, I think I’ve at least come to one coherent conclusion about it, even if it’s perhaps the most basic one: I think the loquats are an allegory for the greater themes of burden/desire in this arc. The following is my attempt to lay out my thoughts, but unfortunately I have never been known for my conciseness or my ability to organize my thoughts, so be forewarned. This will be rambly and include a few tangents/too much detail.

The story of the Miharu family is a story of a family that was once respected, had a relationship/contract with powerful ayakashi, and eventually fell into ruin, leaving behind their contracts. The ayakashi, the mihashira, still come to uphold their part of the agreement without fail, but the family is gone. So who comes in their place to maintain the contract? The Matobas, and in the present day, the current head of the Matoba clan is Matoba Seiji. In order to maintain this deal with a group of powerful youkai, which neither he nor his family actually made, Matoba has to come and perform the welcoming ritual to avoid incurring the wrath of the mihashira.

Matoba is a character marked by burden, I think. Though he is the head of the most powerful exorcist clan, and therefore one might expect that he can pretty much do what he wants, I don’t actually think he has much personal freedom. The only son of the main family, he was probably marked as the heir from birth (if not, he would have had to be once his sister left but I still need to read 120+ so I don’t know exactly what the deal with her is). The clan’s interests are his interests. He can’t do anything that might hurt the reputation of or endanger the clan, and he is obligated to do things that benefit the clan. Matoba is Matoba. 

In chapter 25, in his debut arc, he tells Natsume 「使えるものは使わないと。人を守る為に、強い妖が欲しいと思っているだけですよ。その為には恨まれたり代償を払うことを気にしていたら、この家業はやっていけませんしね」

"One should make use of useful things. I just want ayakashi in order to protect people. If I was worried about being hated or suffering consequences, I could not carry on the family business,"

(this is actually one of those annoying instances of a Japanese sentence that’s more dense than would sound good in English. Matoba seems to be explaining his personal worldview/thoughts here with 思っている even though in English you’d never say “I just feel like/think I want strong ayakashi…” He’s explaining that this is the way he thinks, I think lol).

Matoba doesn’t get the privilege of having a good reputation among humans or ayakashi, since we learn in special chapter 17 that no good ayakashi will make deals with the Matobas because of their famous broken promise. Matoba Seiji not only inherits the burden of monthly eye-stealing visits, he also can’t make contracts with ayakashi and  takes on all the distrust that’s built up over generations from both humans and ayakashi. 

And now Matoba is taking on the debts of a dead branch family to avoid possibly endangering his own.

In the locked room, when Matoba is goading Natori into breaking them out, he says 「どうです？あなたには解くことができますか名取。無理ならばすべて私が片付けてさしあげましょうか？」

"Well, can you do it, Natori? If you can’t, shall I take care of everything for you?"

I’m unsure how much of this is Matoba teasing Natori (as he seems to like doing in the Homura arc) about how he’s not as powerful/skilled as Matoba, and how much is him simply making an offer because he’s Matoba and he’s The One Who Takes Care Of Everything. I think either way, there is at least a good amount of the latter going on here. 

In special chapter 17, Matoba shows up at Natori’s house and helps him exorcise the ayakashi that’s been haunting him. After Natori wakes up, he tries to offer to help Matoba in some way. I think he felt uncomfortable being the only one being helped, and wanted to find something he could offer Matoba, even though Matoba seems to have everything he needs. Natori offers to listen to his problems, and Matoba smiles (of course) and says he’s fine. Even teenage Matoba is like “You’re not the one who helps me, I’m the one who helps you.” Though this chapter is from Natori’s perspective, so Natori believes Matoba was just using him to get an ayakashi, I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t know for sure what Matoba’s motives were, but I don’t believe teenage Natori is an unbiased observer of him lol. 

Now that we’ve laid all that out, let’s talk briefly about the Miharus, a once respected family who made a deal with ayakashi they didn’t understand, and fell into ruin. According to the ayakashi who wants to sabotage the ritual, there was a member of the Miharu family called Masakiyo. Masakiyo was stern for the most part, but there was someone he loved. However, he couldn’t be with that person because he couldn’t make them shoulder the burdens of his family business, but neither could he simply abandon his family. He had to stay with his family and let this person go. This was the only time this ayakashi saw Masakiyo cry. Then we get this panel:

(pictured: bench of I Hate My Life, credit to @joelletwo for that lol)

In his despair, Masakiyo wished there was no Miharu family. The ayakashi, feeling indebted to Masakiyo for letting it go during an exorcism, overhears him and decides that destroying the Miharu family will bring Masakiyo happiness. This is an unintended contract between the two of them. Masakiyo unwittingly causes an ayakashi to spend years (decades?) trying in vain to destroy his family in order to repay a perceived debt. This isn’t Masakiyo’s fault, really, it was just an unfortunate misunderstanding. The ayakashi didn’t understand that Masakiyo wanted it to be free and live the life he couldn’t. “You were almost exorcised because of human circumstances. You were saved on the whim of a human. What debt? You are free. Go wherever you want. Live however you want.”

After all the mihashira business is wrapped up, Matoba thanks Natori for his help, Natori says he probably couldn’t have gotten out of the room without Matoba, and Matoba laughs and says “Then we’re even this time.” Neither one is indebted to the other this time…they’re even. Then Natori says The Line:

「何かを継ぎ背負っていく…その真の重みは私などにははかり知れません。でも今はこう思うようにもなりました。重いものもひとりでなければと…」

"I don’t know the true weight of shouldering a burden you’ve inherited, but now I’ve come to think that even heavy things can be carried if you’re not alone,"

(this is another one of the aforementioned Dense Japanese Sentences, and I really prefer the fan TL version of this line but I’m translating it this way to try to convey all the stuff he’s saying). Natori once again reaches out to Matoba, trying to offer him maybe the only thing he can: support, listening to his problems, shouldering his burdens. This time, though, we don’t get a Matoba Smile and “I’m fine,” we get this:

(pictured: Matoba on the bench of I Hate My Life, or “Matoba Cow Beach” as I refer to this image in my head)

What is Matoba thinking here? I really don’t know. If I draw the obvious parallel with Masakiyo, I guess he’s contemplating his two…selves, as it were. His duty to his family vs his personal desire for companionship. And I do think Matoba wants companionship. I read his behavior in special chapter 15 as genuinely wanting to be friends with Natori. I think he was excited that there was someone else his age who was relatively powerful, and who wasn’t concerned with all the Matoba stuff. Hence his insistence on Natori calling him Seiji. He wanted to be close to Natori.

And finally, we can come back to the loquats. Natsume hears Matoba mocking the mihashira for continuing to protect the Miharu house even after the family has all died out, and thinks perhaps Matoba is envious of ayakashi who go to such great lengths to keep promises.

"Matoba-san, who keeps breaking promises, and doesn’t have anyone to make new ones with."

Matoba wonders how the welcoming ritual will go next time, but decides he won’t worry since he probably won’t even be the head of the clan at that time. Natsume offers him a loquat, saying cheer up, and Matoba does his Thing, saying  “How odd, do I look upset?” and then tells The Story.

When Matoba was a teenager, he really wanted to try the loquats from Yorishima’s yard. One day, he was there with Natori, and Yorishima gave them both one. The loquat was delicious and sweet; Matoba felt that his “desire had been fulfilled,” but Natori got a sour one, and Matoba felt like Yorishima-san had wanted to give a loquat to Natori, and only given one to Matoba because he was there, so he thought “Ah there’s no winning even in such a small thing as this.” Matoba gets what he wants, but it wasn’t meant for him, and the one it was meant for is worse off, so did he really win? He was the only one who got to enjoy the delicious loquat. These are the unintended consequences, the burdens if you will, of desire. 

Natsume speculates that the agreement with the mihashira began when someone had the wish to protect the Miharu family, and there was an ayakashi who happened to be there, much like the situation with Masakiyo and the sabotaging ayakashi. A simple and innocent wish accidentally creates a generations-long burden that Matoba eventually has to shoulder. 

I think Matoba must be painfully aware of his power and influence, and that even his smallest actions could cause unintended consequences. I wonder if he sees the Miharu family as a warning of what could happen to his own family if he slips up… And it wasn’t just a mistake on the part of the Miharus, but a failure of the Matoba clan head of that time, whose responsibility it was to look out for the branch families. Matoba Seiji is not just responsible for the success of his own family, but protecting the branch families, and of course non-exorcists as well. I imagine he feels like he doesn’t have the time or room to act on any of his own personal desires, and his little loquat anecdote is evidence of that, to me. It’s bittersweet (lol). And Natori’s takeaway, meanwhile, is more casual as you might expect. When Natsume asks him if he likes loquats, he says he’s not sure because his first one wasn’t very good. To Natori, a loquat is something he might try again and like. To Matoba, it’s a reminder of what he can and can’t have.