Evil People Don’t Fool Around

how much of it was “You actually remembered that crap?” and how much of it was “I didnt actually think something so important to me would become so important to someone else and I’m genuinely shocked and not sure what to think”

Bleach TYBW

Season 1 (Episode 5)

Iconic.

"No matter how goofy and foolish he is, he is just as much a trickster and mastermind. These sides of his character are not at extremes. It all comes around. His ambitions, his promise with Shigeshige, his bond and shared past with Gintoki. These are some of the driving forces behind every action he takes. " YES ALL OF THIS. So well said. I've been thinking of this, and of something similar (his love of the spotlight in the present day vs his war-era leadership style - both sides are true).

Right! Although maybe it isn’t necessarily that he wishes to hoard the spotlight, but judges that that’s what’s necessary in the fight he’s fighting at the moment? 🤔 

I’m not exactly sure what I’m trying to say here but I think you hit on something hmm. A key idea on the factions in Gintama is how they revolve around certain leaders. Nizo’s take on this was that they exude a certain light and charisma. He was infatuated with Takasugi’s so he wanted to take down other perceived lights like Katsura’s and Gintoki’s. Moths gather to flames. Later on we have arcs revolving around different characters who despite being flawed, portray significant leadership roles. Hijikata, Sakamoto, Shigeshige, NobuNobu, etc. In the end, Katsura’s way of reforming the government lends to the idea of the importance of everyone being their own king or leader.

Although it’s no question that when Katsura’s quirky personality starts leaking into serious business, he turns into the regular show-off drama queen we love. 😂 However that’s partially the result of reuniting with Gintoki and redeveloping a newfound love and attachment to people and the community. Unlocking his true personality comes after he was stuck in a negative mindset closer to Takasugi’s at the beginning of the series.

In the Joui war, his true personality was largely repressed by the pressure and strain of leadership. The battle they were fighting then (survival) was heavier than the one present-day Katsura is fighting (for the future). Nowadays, Katsura has more room to breath and live and goof around like everyone else.  

On a more casual level though, when he’s going around complaining about being on stand-by or having little screen time or his character overlapping with Kyuubei’s… it’s more than just a comedic 4th wall break because it speaks about his character. Actually, he does seem to get a lot of down time when he’s out of a job or not doing Joui things. 😂 So we see him hanging out with Hasegawa and Gintoki often, but his unique position at the edge of the law puts him at conflict with half the cast that regularly participates in shenanigans. As a result he seems to get a little lonely at times, haha. Even on stand-by, he seems to just be hoping for a good moment to come out. It would lead to disappointment, but he has an absurd amount of patience haha. Poor Zura. It does make sense for him to be attention-seeking. 

kageyama, ushijima, and hoshiumi are teammates, hinata is in the same team as atsumu and bokuto, kenma is a ceo and pro gamer, daichi is a police officer, asahi an apparel designer, sugawara a kindergarten teacher, osamu runs an onigiri store, yachi will work at an advertising firm, yamaguchi for a home electronics store, tsukishima for a museum while playing in 2nd division, oikawa plays in the argentinian league, kunimi and kindaichi are in college, and akaashi, kuroo and iwaizumi are nowhere to be seen :)

madara and obito in that cave

I saw your tag "the episode that finally cemented Zura as my tag" on my post re episode 309. If you want to expand on that, I'm all ears!

oH hello! :D

Essentially, this paragraph you wrote summed up my general reaction to Katsura’s entrance in Farewell Shinsengumi. 

After all the angst of the previous arc and the heavy, all-pervasive mood of sorrow and ever-encroaching dread which ruled episode 308 and much of this one, the new infusion of hope and plain FUCK YEAH was sorely needed

https://printfogey.dreamwidth.org/186174.html

The arc intentionally builds up such a heavy mood. Depressing event after depressing event just keeps hitting our heroes harder and harder. Shigeshige’s funeral, Kondou’s arrest and scheduled execution, Shinsengumi members scattered, Hijikata’s obvious depression. Suddenly Nobunobu threatens Otae - the crux of what makes their home and a vital part of everything that binds Shinsengumi and Odd Jobs together. Hijikata can’t stay his hand and Gintoki painfully understands due to the parallel of his past, so he sacrifices himself to uphold their collective honor and protect his friends. He protects the chance HIjikata still has to recover the master he’s lost because that’s the chance Gintoki wishes he himself had had.

As he is arrested, you really get the feel ‘how are they going to get out of this this time?’ This is truly the threshold. They can never go back to the way things were. 

As he is helpless to do anything but watch Gintoki get hauled away, Sakaki delivers the final blow to Hijikata’s despair. “You can no longer be heroes.”

And suddenly, the stubborn answer of defiance waiting on stand-by for the perfect moment appears. The title of episode 309 finally makes sense. Heroes always arrive fashionably late.   

Old gags reappear as serious plot devices, showing us that there has always been more to them than just comedy. A cameo reminder of Sho-chan in briefs, Zurako herself, the exploding Nmaibo smokescreen. BOOM. INTENSE MOODBREAKER.

You can’t help but cheer as the whole atmosphere is single-handedly lifted by Katsura. The arc enters a new and rebellious mood as he temporarily hijacks the spotlight and kickstarts his own plan of action - forcing everyone to follow suit if they want to survive. Katsura essentially comes in saying, Welcome to my world. We are doing things my way now. Beggars can’t be choosers! 

Not only that. At the heart of this scene, you can also see the extent of Katsura’s loyalty for his friends. He stubbornly snatches away the martyr’s burden Gintoki has placed upon himself and steals it. But no worries, he’s Runaway Kotarou. He’s got more of a plan than Gintoki, who only acted only on instinct. Katsura’s odd preparedness is more than meets the eye. And he makes his entrance in the most overly dramatic and perfect combination of goofy and serious possible - as Zurako. It’s all of what Katsura’s character encapsulates. (Was it really really really necessary to dress up to get arrested? Sure he did it to sneak in and blend in with the ladies, but his dress is much more extravagant than what the hostesses wear in general. Something tells me he just wanted to dress up like always, period. Even in front of enemies he displays a flagrant lack of shame for his antics. It’s absolutely adorable, haha.) 

He rescues Hijikata from his own negativity and proves he is willing to risk everything to save Kondou, his former enemy. That also speaks to the lengths he will go to. Katsura has steadily gained a strange camaraderie with the Shinsengumi, something Kondou is hesitant to admit until Katsura takes an outright bullet for him later. (All while worrying about Gintoki’s face-off with Naraku on the side!)

As a development built from over 300 episodes’ worth of misadventures and in-fighting come together, the Katsura Faction and the Shinsengumi finally join forces and attempt to let bygones be bygones. In prison, Katsura reinvigorates Kondou’s will to live just as Gintoki knows he must do to Hijikata’s fighting resolve. Shigeshige’s death provided the avenue for unification, something that Katsura is not going to let go to waste.

Katsura’s entrance in 309 is is one of my favorite scenes because throughout it all we are reminded of Katsura’s true depth. No matter how goofy and foolish he is, he is just as much a trickster and mastermind. These sides of his character are not at extremes. It all comes around. His ambitions, his promise with Shigeshige, his bond and shared past with Gintoki. These are some of the driving forces behind every action he takes. 

Something endearing is Katsura’s own smugness about the whole thing. “Let us meet at dawn,” Katsura tells Gintoki with a knowing smile. It’s referencing the dramatic phrase Katsura seems to sling around everyone every once in a while. ‘Fighting for the dawn of this country.’ 

Katsura knows Gintoki and the Yorozuya will not be sitting out the whole affair, even for their own good. He has the utmost faith that Gintoki’s own participation will even be crucial to their overall success. And most of all, Katsura knows that he will finally have the thing he has wanted since he reunited with Gintoki at the start of the series - to fight for the same cause together again. And he’s turning the Shinsengumi into rebels along with him. 

As the group is running away from Snack Smile with Katsura’s diversion, Gintoki almost looks peeved. That’s because he knows he’s been manipulated by his friend. After all, he’s spent the whole series dodging Zura only for everything to end up falling right where he wants it. At the end of the arc when conversing with HIjikata, he calls him a con-man. Roles flipped, now its the Shinsengumi listening to Katsura haha.

But for all Gintoki’s wariness, they seem to be completely in tune during the mission on Kokujo. The trust and familiarity is clear. Even if they’re on opposite ends of the island, they know their roles. And they do meet at dawn on board Matsudaira’s ship.

Ah… So that’s that.

Actually I’m always talking some friends’ ears off about this so much that all my points are all over the place by now;;; I would love to get back to you on this again maybe in a more in-depth post! Katsura’s character is so fun to look at. Thank you for all of your reblogs/likes by the way, hehe. We seem to have the same common interests. <3 I’m glad for your ask!

makki why

naruto is good