Gintama 13
Episode title: If you’re gonna cosplay, do it with all your heart!
Source of subs: Shinsen-Subs
Episode summary:
The episode starts with an amusing scene of Katsura ringing at Gintoki’s door. The door is opened by Sadaharu, and Katsura gets bitten on the head.
After the opening we see the Yorozuya at a rich man’s house. He is asking them to investigate his daughter’s disappearance. Gintoki has a hangover and is not taking it seriously.
Still, they take the request and look for the girl in a night club full of amanto. Apparently the girl was a frequent visitor of the club. The search is not successful, however, Shinpachi bumps into a very creepy amanto dude.
After that, one of the customers collapses, and the bartender warns Kagura and Shinpachi that there is a new dangerous drug, and they should be careful.
Meanwhile, Gintoki is in the bathroom, suffering from hangover after-effects. While sitting in his bathroom stall, he overhears a conversation and understands that the girl they were looking for is involved with drug abuse. He jumps out of the bathroom stall and sees several amanto dragging the girl he was looking for.
In the meantime, a group of armed amanto accosts Shinpachi and Kagura. They identify themselves as Harusame Space Pirates and are displeased that Kagura and Shinpachi have been investigating about them.
Back to the bathroom, the creepy guy Shinpachi met turns out to be Daraku, the leader of the armed amanto gang. He engages in a fight with Gintoki because apparently Gintoki is the type of person Daraku hates.
At first Gintoki is successful, but then he realises that he also has to save the girl, so he carries her. Then he notices that the amanto have captures Kagura and Shinpachi. While he is distracted, Daraku stabs him with a sword and throws him and the girl out of the window of a high building.
After the break Gintoki wakes up from a nightmare about the past in an unfamiliar room. Unexpectedly, Katsura is there too.
Katsura: ‘It seems you were disturbed by a nightmare.’
Gintoki remembers that Shinpachi and Kagura have been kidnapped, but collapses in pain when he tries to get up.
Katsura: ‘Try not to strain yourself.’
The girl is also in a bad condition because of the after-effects of the drug.
Katsura asks why Gintoki was at the nightclub in the first place.
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, why were you there?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, why was I even saved by you?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, apologise for before!’
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, do you know what this is?’
Katsura explains about the new drug. It has an extraterrestrial origin and is highly deadly.
One of the Joi members saw Gintoki fall and picked him up, apparently.
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, why were you there?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, who the hell were those guys?’
Katsura: ‘Possibly the largest crime syndicate in the galaxy. Their primary source of profit is the illegal drug trade. It seems the tips of their tentacles, so to speak, have finally reached Earth.’
They have a very touching and meaningful conversation.
Gintoki: ‘A person’s life is like carrying a heavy burden while walking a long road. A long time ago, a guy named Tokugawa Nobuhide said that.’
Gintoki: ‘When I first heard it, I thought it just sounded so lame. But I guess you can’t dismiss what old people say.’
Gintoki: ‘But you did not realise it was there when you held it. I only realised its true weight after it slipped from my hands. I don’t know how often I thought, “I’ll never carry this again.”
Gintoki: ‘If I really threw it all away, it would be easier. But, regardless, I don’t feel like it.
Katsura: ‘Well, it can’t be helped... And I owe you for what happened at the Ikedaya. Let’s go.’
Scene shifts to the Harusame ship, where Shinpachi slowly regains consciousness. Daraku has a conversation with an important amanto official, he reveals that he thinks Shinpachi and Kagura work for the Joi under Katsura, and he intends to interrogate them to find out the location of the Joi base.
Meanwhile, Gintoki and Katsura in disguise attempt to infiltrate the Harusame ship.
Gintoki: ‘We’re mischievous guys who’ve dreamt of becoming pirates ever since we were little. We’re looking for the secret treasure called “One Park”. Right, Zura?’
Katsura: ‘It’s not Zura, it’s Captain Katsura.’
On the ship, the interrogation starts. Daraku threatens to kill Kagura if Shinpachi does not tell the location of the Joi base. Kagura kicks Daraku not to be used as a bargaining chip and is about to fall to her death when Gintoki interferes and acts cool.
Katsura appears, and he has blown up the drug warehouse, and throws more bombs to create confusion among the Harusame.
Katsura: ‘My job is done. Now it’s your turn, Gintoki!’
Daraku: ‘You’re Katsura!’
Gintoki fights Daraku, acts cool and wins.
Gintoki: ‘Listen, I don’t care what you guys do around the universe. But this is my sword, and anywhere it can reach is my country! Bastards who come and try to mess with my things...
I’ll destroy them!!’
He ends up piggyback- carrying Kagura and Shinpachi, while Katsura looks on.
The girl they were looking for is returned to her father and happy end ensues.
After the ED song, Katsura does some fanservice.
Episode discussion:
This episode is probably the last episode where Katsura seriously does some Joi activities, later on he pretty much just turned into a comic relief character, at least for most of the time. I have to say I kind of regret it, and I wish we could see his serious side more often, not that there is anything wrong with his funny side. After all, he is sort of meant to be the opposite of Takasugi - Takasugi wants to destroy the world, while Katsura wants to look for a peaceful solution for the amanto situation.
But after this episode, there are not really that many situations where you can see Katsura doing any Joi activities, if you don’t consider spamming or otherwise advertising his ideas. So I guess I would like to get some confirmation that Katsura is still serious about his goals and is not just having fun.
Although on the other hand, he deserves to have some fun - look at his life, look at his choices! He spent all his youth fighting the amanto and being a genius strategist and a charismatic leader, so now that he does not really have to fight for his life every day, he can let his hair down a bit, so to say XD
Well, it all doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual episode. This episode, by the way, is another one that confirms what a deep friendship and a strong bond exists between Katsura and Gintoki. Katsura agrees to follow Gintoki into a ship full of enemies without any hesitance and without a shred of doubt, and he said such touching words about their friendship!
I was really impressed by Katsura offering to help Gintoki - it is obvious that this time he does not have any hidden agenda and will not ask Gintoki to join the Joi afterwards; he just wants to help his friend.
And it was an honourable thing to do, as well - Katsura actually mentioned the Ikedaya incident we discussed in the previous post, and said he still owes Gintoki for that. I really liked that moment, it shows that however episodic Gintama is, there is still some connection between separate moments in the grand narrative and it does not ignore things that happened in the previous episodes.
This episode mainly revealed Gintoki’s attitude towards the past, but one could clearly see that one of the important elements in his memories is Katsura’s presence, and I suppose it feels good for Gintoki to still have Katsura by his side when he has lost so much and so many dear friends.
I think Gin-san’s past also reveals Katsura’s feelings about the past here. When Gin-san wakes up from a nightmare, Katsura asks whether Gintoki was dreaming of the past. The fact that Katsura jumps to such a conclusion probably means that he is no stranger to nightmares himself, although we never get to know more about that.
It is obvious from their actions on the amanto ship that Gintoki and Katsura can perfectly play in a team. Their amusing space captain disguises and the manner in which they dealt with the guard, as well as the way they attacked the amanto with Gintoki serving as a distraction while Katsura destroyed their drug warehouses and then led all the amanto forces away from Gintoki leaving him to deal with the pirate leader - it all shows what a great combination they are and how they understand each other’s intentions.
From this episode, it’s obvious that Katsura not only understands Gintoki when it comes to fighting, he understands Gintoki’s feelings in general. I found the ending where Katsura looks on Gin-san with a smile and says: ‘This time you’re holding onto them as tightly as you can.’ particularly touching. And somehow it felt strange that Katsura was sitting there all alone, normally in such situations Elizabeth would be standing behind him… He looked somewhat lonely at that moment, so when you think about it, it is a good thing he got Elizabeth, even though she diminishes his impact of a serious character.
I think this episode also shows what an elegant and refined man Katsura is. That bedroom scene when Gintoki had just woken up from his injury - did you notice the difference in their poses, Katsura sits with a straight back in the typical Japanese position, while Gintoki just slouches. And Katsura recognises the author of the quote Gintoki used, which definitely shows he has had a good education. Or rather, unlike Gintoki, he was not sleeping during classes.
I found the fact that Katsura brought his resume to the pirate ship rather amusing. Of course, it was mainly a humorous moment, but it also says something about Katsura’s planning abilities - he was prepared for any eventuality, even for something that would not normally occur to people.
I have to say I really like that space captain disguise, it really suits Katsura, and he should wear western clothes more often. Although that is probably not something we can expect from him, since he is so very invested in preserving the traditional way of life.
I was rather surprised to see Katsura fight with bombs only. Did he even have a katana at all? Well, I suppose if the episode was more focused on him, they would show us Katsura engaging some amanto in close combat, and he would definitely have a katana for that purpose, but since Gin-san’s fight was more important here, we only saw Katsura throwing bombs. Well, those were really efficient, too, so I am not complaining.
And the fanservice after the ED was amusing, Katsura showing that he has some knowledge about popular anime series XD It was probably the first episode in which Katsura revealed his nerdy interests. And here it was mainstream Naruto, but later on his interests got more elitist and hipsterish (or lame and unfashionable, one can interpret it differently XD) - like playing outdated games and watching old doramas.
It’s interesting that Katsura doesn’t really try to glomp Sadaharu, I wonder if at this early stage in the story Sorachi had not come up with the idea that Katsura likes fluffy cute animals? XD
Well, all in all, it was a good episode, full of GinZura teamwork goodness and it gave important insights into the past of the characters.
Source of subs: Shinsen-Subs
Episode summary:
The episode starts with an amusing scene of Katsura ringing at Gintoki’s door. The door is opened by Sadaharu, and Katsura gets bitten on the head.
After the opening we see the Yorozuya at a rich man’s house. He is asking them to investigate his daughter’s disappearance. Gintoki has a hangover and is not taking it seriously.
Still, they take the request and look for the girl in a night club full of amanto. Apparently the girl was a frequent visitor of the club. The search is not successful, however, Shinpachi bumps into a very creepy amanto dude.
After that, one of the customers collapses, and the bartender warns Kagura and Shinpachi that there is a new dangerous drug, and they should be careful.
Meanwhile, Gintoki is in the bathroom, suffering from hangover after-effects. While sitting in his bathroom stall, he overhears a conversation and understands that the girl they were looking for is involved with drug abuse. He jumps out of the bathroom stall and sees several amanto dragging the girl he was looking for.
In the meantime, a group of armed amanto accosts Shinpachi and Kagura. They identify themselves as Harusame Space Pirates and are displeased that Kagura and Shinpachi have been investigating about them.
Back to the bathroom, the creepy guy Shinpachi met turns out to be Daraku, the leader of the armed amanto gang. He engages in a fight with Gintoki because apparently Gintoki is the type of person Daraku hates.
At first Gintoki is successful, but then he realises that he also has to save the girl, so he carries her. Then he notices that the amanto have captures Kagura and Shinpachi. While he is distracted, Daraku stabs him with a sword and throws him and the girl out of the window of a high building.
After the break Gintoki wakes up from a nightmare about the past in an unfamiliar room. Unexpectedly, Katsura is there too.
Katsura: ‘It seems you were disturbed by a nightmare.’
Gintoki remembers that Shinpachi and Kagura have been kidnapped, but collapses in pain when he tries to get up.
Katsura: ‘Try not to strain yourself.’
The girl is also in a bad condition because of the after-effects of the drug.
Katsura asks why Gintoki was at the nightclub in the first place.
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, why were you there?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, why was I even saved by you?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, apologise for before!’
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, do you know what this is?’
Katsura explains about the new drug. It has an extraterrestrial origin and is highly deadly.
One of the Joi members saw Gintoki fall and picked him up, apparently.
Katsura: ‘Speaking of which, why were you there?’
Gintoki: ‘Speaking of which, who the hell were those guys?’
Katsura: ‘Possibly the largest crime syndicate in the galaxy. Their primary source of profit is the illegal drug trade. It seems the tips of their tentacles, so to speak, have finally reached Earth.’
They have a very touching and meaningful conversation.
Gintoki: ‘A person’s life is like carrying a heavy burden while walking a long road. A long time ago, a guy named Tokugawa Nobuhide said that.’
Gintoki: ‘When I first heard it, I thought it just sounded so lame. But I guess you can’t dismiss what old people say.’
Gintoki: ‘But you did not realise it was there when you held it. I only realised its true weight after it slipped from my hands. I don’t know how often I thought, “I’ll never carry this again.”
Gintoki: ‘If I really threw it all away, it would be easier. But, regardless, I don’t feel like it.
Katsura: ‘Well, it can’t be helped... And I owe you for what happened at the Ikedaya. Let’s go.’
Scene shifts to the Harusame ship, where Shinpachi slowly regains consciousness. Daraku has a conversation with an important amanto official, he reveals that he thinks Shinpachi and Kagura work for the Joi under Katsura, and he intends to interrogate them to find out the location of the Joi base.
Meanwhile, Gintoki and Katsura in disguise attempt to infiltrate the Harusame ship.
Gintoki: ‘We’re mischievous guys who’ve dreamt of becoming pirates ever since we were little. We’re looking for the secret treasure called “One Park”. Right, Zura?’
Katsura: ‘It’s not Zura, it’s Captain Katsura.’
On the ship, the interrogation starts. Daraku threatens to kill Kagura if Shinpachi does not tell the location of the Joi base. Kagura kicks Daraku not to be used as a bargaining chip and is about to fall to her death when Gintoki interferes and acts cool.
Katsura appears, and he has blown up the drug warehouse, and throws more bombs to create confusion among the Harusame.
Katsura: ‘My job is done. Now it’s your turn, Gintoki!’
Daraku: ‘You’re Katsura!’
Gintoki fights Daraku, acts cool and wins.
Gintoki: ‘Listen, I don’t care what you guys do around the universe. But this is my sword, and anywhere it can reach is my country! Bastards who come and try to mess with my things...
I’ll destroy them!!’
He ends up piggyback- carrying Kagura and Shinpachi, while Katsura looks on.
The girl they were looking for is returned to her father and happy end ensues.
After the ED song, Katsura does some fanservice.
Episode discussion:
This episode is probably the last episode where Katsura seriously does some Joi activities, later on he pretty much just turned into a comic relief character, at least for most of the time. I have to say I kind of regret it, and I wish we could see his serious side more often, not that there is anything wrong with his funny side. After all, he is sort of meant to be the opposite of Takasugi - Takasugi wants to destroy the world, while Katsura wants to look for a peaceful solution for the amanto situation.
But after this episode, there are not really that many situations where you can see Katsura doing any Joi activities, if you don’t consider spamming or otherwise advertising his ideas. So I guess I would like to get some confirmation that Katsura is still serious about his goals and is not just having fun.
Although on the other hand, he deserves to have some fun - look at his life, look at his choices! He spent all his youth fighting the amanto and being a genius strategist and a charismatic leader, so now that he does not really have to fight for his life every day, he can let his hair down a bit, so to say XD
Well, it all doesn’t really have anything to do with the actual episode. This episode, by the way, is another one that confirms what a deep friendship and a strong bond exists between Katsura and Gintoki. Katsura agrees to follow Gintoki into a ship full of enemies without any hesitance and without a shred of doubt, and he said such touching words about their friendship!
I was really impressed by Katsura offering to help Gintoki - it is obvious that this time he does not have any hidden agenda and will not ask Gintoki to join the Joi afterwards; he just wants to help his friend.
And it was an honourable thing to do, as well - Katsura actually mentioned the Ikedaya incident we discussed in the previous post, and said he still owes Gintoki for that. I really liked that moment, it shows that however episodic Gintama is, there is still some connection between separate moments in the grand narrative and it does not ignore things that happened in the previous episodes.
This episode mainly revealed Gintoki’s attitude towards the past, but one could clearly see that one of the important elements in his memories is Katsura’s presence, and I suppose it feels good for Gintoki to still have Katsura by his side when he has lost so much and so many dear friends.
I think Gin-san’s past also reveals Katsura’s feelings about the past here. When Gin-san wakes up from a nightmare, Katsura asks whether Gintoki was dreaming of the past. The fact that Katsura jumps to such a conclusion probably means that he is no stranger to nightmares himself, although we never get to know more about that.
It is obvious from their actions on the amanto ship that Gintoki and Katsura can perfectly play in a team. Their amusing space captain disguises and the manner in which they dealt with the guard, as well as the way they attacked the amanto with Gintoki serving as a distraction while Katsura destroyed their drug warehouses and then led all the amanto forces away from Gintoki leaving him to deal with the pirate leader - it all shows what a great combination they are and how they understand each other’s intentions.
From this episode, it’s obvious that Katsura not only understands Gintoki when it comes to fighting, he understands Gintoki’s feelings in general. I found the ending where Katsura looks on Gin-san with a smile and says: ‘This time you’re holding onto them as tightly as you can.’ particularly touching. And somehow it felt strange that Katsura was sitting there all alone, normally in such situations Elizabeth would be standing behind him… He looked somewhat lonely at that moment, so when you think about it, it is a good thing he got Elizabeth, even though she diminishes his impact of a serious character.
I think this episode also shows what an elegant and refined man Katsura is. That bedroom scene when Gintoki had just woken up from his injury - did you notice the difference in their poses, Katsura sits with a straight back in the typical Japanese position, while Gintoki just slouches. And Katsura recognises the author of the quote Gintoki used, which definitely shows he has had a good education. Or rather, unlike Gintoki, he was not sleeping during classes.
I found the fact that Katsura brought his resume to the pirate ship rather amusing. Of course, it was mainly a humorous moment, but it also says something about Katsura’s planning abilities - he was prepared for any eventuality, even for something that would not normally occur to people.
I have to say I really like that space captain disguise, it really suits Katsura, and he should wear western clothes more often. Although that is probably not something we can expect from him, since he is so very invested in preserving the traditional way of life.
I was rather surprised to see Katsura fight with bombs only. Did he even have a katana at all? Well, I suppose if the episode was more focused on him, they would show us Katsura engaging some amanto in close combat, and he would definitely have a katana for that purpose, but since Gin-san’s fight was more important here, we only saw Katsura throwing bombs. Well, those were really efficient, too, so I am not complaining.
And the fanservice after the ED was amusing, Katsura showing that he has some knowledge about popular anime series XD It was probably the first episode in which Katsura revealed his nerdy interests. And here it was mainstream Naruto, but later on his interests got more elitist and hipsterish (or lame and unfashionable, one can interpret it differently XD) - like playing outdated games and watching old doramas.
It’s interesting that Katsura doesn’t really try to glomp Sadaharu, I wonder if at this early stage in the story Sorachi had not come up with the idea that Katsura likes fluffy cute animals? XD
Well, all in all, it was a good episode, full of GinZura teamwork goodness and it gave important insights into the past of the characters.