#tendoshu

[lacerta123]

Gintama Villains 7 deadly sins-

Envy (coveting another’s happiness) - Oboro

Wrath (hatred, vengeance)- Takasugi

Pride (superiority)- Kamui

Greed (possessiveness)- Hosen

Lust (intense longing)- Jiraia

Sloth (without care)- Utsuro

Gluttony (overindulgence)- Nobu Nobu

[averagelonelypotato]

haha just imagined the tendoshu not knowing Utsuro and Oboro previously know each other and telling oboro to spy and keep tabs on utsuro. Like besties.....I have some news for you

[inkonssstantgeissst]

Or it was a gift from Utsuro, because Utsuro was definitely the one who made him chief of the Naraku, and he used to wear similar necklaces in some of his old Naraku chief outfits

but even though there were other Naraku chief outfits, Oboro is otherwise wearing the same one that Utsuro was wearing when he found him...

Oboro wearing the same outfit that Utsuro did except without the crow mask but with an added prayer bead necklace

like Oboro seriously picked out that necklace of giant beads for himself huh

[raccoonclty]

i think often about. oboro (+ utsuro) within the naraku. bc at the time of shouyou's execution, oboro was clearly not the head of the naraku, going by his uniform. so what got him there? was it a condition of utsuro's that oboro take over? did the tendoshu allow him to take over as reward for breaking the joui 4 apart and getting utsuro back?

[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.

[agroupofcrows]

im putting gintama characters in charts and some are immune to the severed head/beheader duality and fall in the consumed/consumer category instead:

blueprint: oboro. peak performance: takasugi

also here: kagura + her biological family, hijikata + toshi + mitsuba, the tendoshu. sadaharu.

katsura is too liminal to permanently exist in a single category but sometimes (homeless arc and probably whatever the hell was going on with oba-z) he is also here. the same (?) with sakamoto: as much as he exists in the story at all, he should probably fall in this category.

Nobume is here. gintoki is here as well as in every other bracket because he is the wild card

[onereallygoodlambonastick]

in the movie when takasugi used his dying immortal body to make sure the tendoshu generals got caught in the blast with him and him closing his eye fully resolving himself to death and then having to open it to see gintoki running across the debris and a flaking bridge at him despite both men knowing dying like a tool & raw wound was what takasugi was ready to do because hes been ready to die not even since getting cut down on that ship with oboro’s ashes in his breastpocket but years ago when gintoki chose him and katsura over shouyo when they were “not meant to survive” and here he is again sakata gintoki choosing him on purpose because takasugi shinsuke was going to survive

[the-anime-haven]

Gintama Stills for Every (Canon) Episode → [365/316] “Salvation”

↳ “So you and I were both working toward the same goal in different places, huh? We worried, hesitated, and in the end, we couldn't change a thing. But isn't that enough? Sensei and you have suffered more than enough. If you wanna save him, go ahead. You can do that now. Let's just go save what we couldn't back then. Let's save Sensei from them and his cursed fate. This time for sure!”

[aru-aru-aru]

I just think that maybe if Gin and Takasugi would’ve communicated with each other early on like half the problems in the show could’ve been avoided. Like “hey I chose to execute Shoyo bc I promised to protect you guys and it’s what he wanted” and “well hey he might not be dead, I have some suspicions about the Tendoshu” would’ve gone a long way

[regnigt]

some more Gintama musings - other Earth countries [spoilers]

Some thoughts on the Gintama worldbuilding, absolutely overthinking it for the fun of it.

We don't see or even hear much of other countries on Earth than Japan in the world of Gintama. They mostly seem to exist as places pop culture can come from (which means chiefly the US). The way the arrival of the Amanto affected them and how they tried to fight back and were defeated is never mentioned. It seems that Japan was the place that gave the Amanto the most trouble, due to the sturdy discipline of its samurai. (At least that's what the Japanese think themselves.) This seems rather doubtful if you look at RL technological levels in the 1850s - but to be fair we don't know that the arrival of the Amanto (plus, you know, the existence of the Altana) was the only difference to the real world. Maybe the industrial revolution started later in the world of Gintama, for instance. Maybe great plagues had swept across many of the world's countries (but not isolated Japan) and decimated populations. We don't know because we're never told.

The real answer is likely just that Sorachi wasn't interested in talking about the rest of the world, but he did imply the Tendôshû were particularly interested in Japan, and that the reason was the unusually powerful Altana vein right where they constructed the terminal. Perhaps the smaller openings of Altana across the country were unusually many (like natural hot springs??), or unusually accessible. Maybe, while the whole planet has untouched Altana resources, in most other countries you need to drill deep for it, while in Japan it's closer to the surface, hence much easier and cheaper to extradite? Plus there's that one extra-powerful vein right in Edo. So that's where they have the space terminal constructed - and that's the city and the country the Tendôshû pay the most attention to.

If that's so, what does it mean for the rest of Earth? Maybe both good and bad. The Tendôshû might not be as interested in meddling with the internal affairs of other countries as much as they are with Japan -- but they would still want them to be kept subjugated enough to make that costlier Altana mining possible, and to disallow those other countries to threaten their hold on Japan. And it does make me wonder if the Tendôshû might actually have been less brutal in Japan than they could have been - not that I think they care about human lives, but they might want to minimize chaos in that strategically important place.

If so, other countries in the world might have seen some great devastation during the invasion era, in the name of deterrence - easier to drop a few powerful bombs or let loose a few bioweapons than to having to go into finicky politics and keep an eye on various local factions. A sobering thought.

(Though presumably the US would be largely spared given that it produces a lot of the same cultural exports than in the real world.)

The use of the Enmi in the war in the second animated movie goes against the above reasoning: they imply that the Tendôshû would be happy to see every human dead, leaving the area vacant. Assuming we take the background of the second movie to be part of the wider canon, maybe after that plan had apparently failed, the Tendôshû decided to keep working with what they had instead. Especially since the Shogunate soon won the war anyway. Possibly it's very expensive to call in the Enmi...

[di-n-taka-blog]

My favorite character from Gintama💜💖

[averagelonelypotato]

Utsuro: Oboro, why does the tendoshu call you babygirl

oboro:

[inkonssstantgeissst]

utsuro experiencing the most heart wrenching pain in existence (oboro left on a mission and no one told him)

Oh, man, can you even imagine? He's been dealing with all these idiots and all these Amanto, the Tendoshu, the Harusame, all these idiots, he's been playing nice but oh, you know he hates them, he's so looking forward to seeing them crash and burn, and he's so looking forward to seeing Oboro, who is the only person he likes, he's looking forward to it, to seeing those dark intense eyes that ask for no condolences and give no mercy, the scar from that night that still slashes across his face, the wavy gray hair like curls of mist, the way Oboro stands so straight and tall in Utsuro's clothes that hang long and a few touches loose on him, he's looking forward to hearing that low rough voice and the way he says "Utsuro-sama", is looking forward to teasing him because Oboro lets him, is looking forward to the way Oboro will update him on relevant new information in the most concise way but with this ruthless theorizing thrown in, Utsuro is looking forward to the way the air feels when Oboro is with him, to the weight of his presence, to the sense of lightness like something has been lifted from his shoulders, he's looking forward to watching the way Oboro moves, to his mannerisms, the way he uses his eyes, the way he uses his words and pitches his voice and all the endearing idiosyncrasies of his mind that he has had since a child and Utsuro has only have grown increasingly fond of -

And then he can't find Oboro anywhere. He can't find Oboro anywhere, and this feeling of cold darkness starts to curl inside him, swirl, and he goes to the person who's left in charge and would know and he asks, with a smile but with all this darkness behind his eyes, "Where's Oboro?" and they tell him he's been sent off on a mission.

He's off on a mission. Utsuro was looking forward to seeing him, and he's off on a mission, they sent Oboro off on a mission and without telling him, and Utsuro is just smiling but oh inside him that darkness is swelling, is roiling, because oh, there is so very, very little that he likes in this world.

But one of them - maybe the only one, aside from the vindictive satisfaction of killing those delusional mortals who had it coming - is Oboro.

So Utsuro turns and sweeps out, and he is smiling, but he is pulling an aura of cold darkness with him down the halls, and he is always an intimidating presence but it is even more intense, now, and everyone who sees it will move out of his way, will be besought by shivers and goosebumps and cold sweat, will be breathing with shallow, fearful breath, because this being as an aura of walking, impending death.

There is a feeling in his hands that he will kill the first person who dares irritate him, and they know it. He's done it before, when his patience has been tested, but oh, it's never quite been as bad as this -

How dare they send Oboro off on a mission without telling him. How dare they. As if Oboro is theirs, when Oboro is his.

He will make sure that he sees Oboro when Oboro gets back, and no one will be able to prevent him from this.

(And when he does see Oboro, it will be with all this roiling darkness still swirling, because how dare Oboro let them send him off, but Oboro unlike everyone else does not shiver or balk, does not falter, holds his gaze unremittingly and then closes his eyes and bows his head slightly, explains in the most reasonable way why he went and what the importance of the mission was and how it benefits Utsuro's plan, and Oboro is utterly, completely remorseless, and he stands in Utsuro's old clothes amid all of Utsuro's darkness, undaunted and unafraid and utterly, completely loyal, and the darkness will slowly slip away from Utsuro, the tenseness will fall from his shoulders, he will breath easier and the air will be lighter because Oboro is just. Oboro. And before him, Utsuro is not a monster. His emotions are not monstrous; his emptiness is not monstrous. And that terrible darkness? He doesn't have to hold onto it, because it doesn't have any effect on Oboro, anyway, and with Oboro is the only time, the only place, where he can feel this sense of lightness.)

[stop185-blog1]

My list of Gintama strongest characters

Any debate is welcome!

#1 Utsuro

#2 Umibozu

#3 Kamui

#4 Hozen

#5 Sakata Gintoki

#6 Katsura Kotaro

#7 Takasugi Shinsuke

#8 Jirocho

#9 Jiraia

#10 Oboro

#11 Kagura

#12 Abuto

#13 Mutsu

#14 Sakamoto Tatsuma

#15 Saito Shimaru

#16 Sougo Okita

#17 Neptune Shokaku

#18 Imai Nobume

#19 Tsukuyo

#20 Grandpa Kyubei

#21 Yagyu Kyubei

#22 Shimura Tae

#23 Kondo Isao

#24 Hijikata Toshiro

#25 Sasaki Isaburo

#26 Tojo Ayumu

#27 Sarutobi Ayame

#28 Hattori Zenzou

#29 Kawakami Bansai

#30 Okida Nizou

#31 Kijima Matako

#32 Saigou Tokumori

#33 Shimura Shinpachi

#34 Matsudaira Katakuriko

#35 Obi-one

#36 Harada Unosuke

#37 Yamazaki Sagaru

#38 Nobu Nobu

#39 Ikeda Yaemon

#40 Ikeda Asaemon

#41 Piko-chan (Jirocho's daughter)

#42 Elizabeth

Honorables mentions: Kintoki, Hedoro, Kouka

[regnigt]

Ooh right. That's true!!! I hadn't considered that angle.

jus realized that part of the reason that nobume was so pissed at the beginning of the fs arc probably had something to do with the fact she was working with the tendoshuu again, even for however short/however many ulterior motives sasaki had

[becoming-a-satellite]