Profile
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Kamotaro Itou
Age: 32 (taking it from the historical figure he was based off, Ito Kashitaro, who died at the same age)
Gender: Male
Fandom: Gintama
Timeline: After his death in the Rebellion Arc, episodes 101 - 105.
History: Wikia article
Please note that this character was based off a historical figure named Ito Kashitaro, also of the Shinsengumi. There are some facts that I gleaned from Kashitaro’s history that I’ve used for Kamotaro - mostly numbers, like age, and some characteristics that also fit Kamotaro.
Itou is a pawn who thought he was a king; worst of all, he was a pawn working for the wrong side of the board. His involvement in his canon is limited to five episodes, starting from his flashy appearance, to his betrayal of the Shinsengumi, to the revelation that he had been used, to his redemption at the moment of his death.
Ironically enough, out of the characters in the series, Itou is probably the one who comes from the best background: a rich family, a mostly normal childhood, and the means to pursue a life as a productive member of society. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as well and what we get instead is a five-episode villain who tragically dies after finding a small sense of absolution.
Kamotaro Itou was born as the younger of twin brothers to a fairly wealthy family in what is likely provincial Japan. His older brother and heir to the family, Takahisa, had grown up very sickly and bedridden, causing their parents great distress and indirectly becoming the root of all of Itou’s misfortune. His parents blamed Itou for his brother’s poor health as Itou was a fairly healthy boy. In a bid to win their affection, young Itou then worked very hard to be a good boy, getting top marks in class and doing everything properly. This did not only fail to work, but it also made things spectacularly worse by earning Itou the resentment and jealousy of his particularly violent peers. His dojo master eventually gave him a recommendation to go to Edo to learn the Hokuto Ittou style, sealing his fate as an outcast among his peers. Rejected by his parents and bullied by his classmates, Itou then vowed to become stronger to show them what he was capable of.
At some point in his young adult life and before the series began, Takahisa died and Itou decided to join the Joui during the war with the Amanto. When the samurai lost and were banned, Itou then joined the Shinsengumi (presumably other agencies before that). Itou by the time of his death had only been in the Shinsengumi for a year. He would have walked into the Shinsengumi to Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita in power, which would have appalled him. From there, he decided to be power hungry and, well, take over.
It wasn’t shown how exactly he made his first contact with Takasugi, although it’s probably because Itou had been in the Joui before he joined the Shinsengumi. Whatever is the case, it was clear in the series that Takasugi had made a pawn out of Itou, and Itou had been too sure of himself or had too much self-denial to have any notion of this at all. They had an ‘alliance’, where Takasugi was to help Itou take over the Shinsengumi. Itou by then had gained a lot of trust from the Shinsengumi and had made his way up the ranks to be the commander’s advisor. In the arc where he appears, Itou had amassed enough power and a swarm of followers to complete his plans for takeover - he removed Hijikata from the picture by discrediting him (working with Sougo temporarily), and attempted to assassinate Kondo Isao in a train in Bushu with his own peons. His real ideal was to make the Shisengumi co-exist with the terrorists to achieve a balance that would ensure the government’s future need for the Shinsengumi, which, under Itou’s rule, would become a great organization and a way for him to show the world what he was made of.
Unfortunately for Itou, Takasugi had no intention of letting him succeed all along, and had only been using him to divide the Shinsengumi into two (and distract them from this huge smuggling effort at the side), to easier destroy the whole organization. Takasugi sent Bansai, his right hand man, and other members of the Kiheitai to destroy the train that Itou and the rest of the Shinsengumi was in. Due also to the interference of the main characters, Hijikata and Okita, Itou’s plan was completely and utterly foiled.
Surprisingly, however, in the middle of all that chaos and wreckage, Kondo and Hijikata still managed to show Itou some kindness, making him realize that his entire life, all he had wanted was to belong in a group and that he had already achieved the bonds that he’d always wanted after all. With this sudden change of heart, Itou then sacrificed himself to protect his new found friends, thus redeeming some of his honor.
The heroes were able to drive Bansai and his people away, though not before Itou is severely injured. It is before his death that he and Hijikata face off for the last time, and in his dying moments, Itou finally found the belonging that he had been craving for.
Character Personality:
Itou before death, Itou right before he dies, and Itou as the survivor of his own death are very different individuals, but all parts of a whole. I will be playing him from after his death, but to understand Itou’s character, I will be explaining everything from the start to the point from whence I am taking him.
What we need to understand of Itou is that he is a complex person of many very simple layers of motivations and goals, all hidden under the other. Itou isn’t like the other members of the cast that had model figures to set them on the right path - he never had a Shouyo-sensei or a Kondo Isao until later in life when it was too late. All Itou had was himself, and he made the most out of it, bringing about this me against the world attitude that colored nearly all of what he did during his brief appearance in the series.
At the beginning of the arc, what we see is an Itou who is confident, outwardly calm, amiable, and maybe even charming. He appears idealistic and almost frighteningly motivated, saying things that no man of his intellect would surely abide yet defending these ideals passionately. He is Hijikata Toshirou’s rival, Kondou Isao’s advisor, and the man that everyone in the Shinsengumi should strive to be: proper, hardworking, and strong.
What we see later is that all of this is an act. Underneath that personable advisor is a ruthless and ambitious man who will do everything to get what he wants; in this case, his desire for people to recognize him as a great and impressive person, feeding his ego. This underlying personality is hinted heavily in his mannerisms even through this facade: that irritating toss of his head, his knowing smirk, and his patronizing air - even some of the lower ranking members of the Shinsengumi felt this air of untrustworthiness from him. He’s good at politicking, arguing with enemies, and can be stern to the point of being harsh. He can be sharp and biting, blunt and straightforward, and very practical. He also hated Hijikata with a passion and was vicious at showing this to the man himself (and working underground to get Hijikata out of the group in what he terms as a ‘ridiculous power struggle’).
Under all of that is arrogance. Itou is always judging people and finding them lacking, especially when comparing them to his self-perceived intellect and competence. He thinks that most everyone is unworthy of his attention, even Kondo (especially Kondo), and that people are just pawns to be used. He didn’t want to be a general serving under an ‘asinine lord’ and ‘fading with age’. This is eventually shown in how he can be smug toward people he doesn’t find very useful to himself, how he can’t help but put on airs and emphasize his victories despite his attempts at self-restraint, and how he prates at anyone who will listen because he likes to hear himself talk.
But his arrogance is bred by something else, which transitions into rage and obsession before it becomes arrogance. Itou has a lot of pent up bitterness in him that he uses to keep himself incredibly focused on his goal, incapable of stopping. He is ruthless, vindictive, and destructive, and he doesn’t think he owes the world enough to treat it more tenderly. Itou is jaded, he doesn’t believe that people deserve the happiness that they have, and spitefully believes them to be fools deluding themselves. He considered himself to be a tragedy - a genius whom no one could understand; the one person he found who understood him, Hijikata, had turned out to be an enemy that he had to crush under his foot. And if no one could understand him, then he would make them acknowledge him.
The very center of it, though, is that Itou is insecure and lonely. He was a child that had grown up in an unsupportive and almost hostile environment where he had been rejected by his parents and other children of his age. Itou had been a good kid, had tried his best to satisfy in order to be recognized, and had failed in every way through no fault of his own. His parents blamed him for the sickliness of his older twin brother, Takahisa, and his peers had violently resented him for attempting to work hard to please his elders - Itou had been exposed to the uglier faces of humanity early in his childhood, and this had made its mark on the man that he would become. Because his attempts to reach out had failed, he became cynical towards people and resolved to become stronger, lashing out instead. “Fearing rejection from others, I rejected them instead.” Even his takeover of the Shinsengumi was designed to allow him to show off.
We see this core of his personality the moment when the tables turn on him through Takasugi’s betrayal, particularly his helplessness at the situation, his fear and cowardice, and the drastic change of his personality upon realizing that the Shinsengumi had been the family that he had wanted all his life: accepting, appreciative, and there when he needs them the most. We see then that he can be protective, that he has a sense of justice, and that ultimately, he is not irredeemably evil. Itou’s real personality, the core of him, is irreconcilable with the surface personality that we see as Itou the villain - and it is this façade that becomes secondary at the moment of his death. This is the point where I am taking him from.
There’s more to Itou than all of these layers; there are attributes to him that remain consistent in his character, even after death. He is actually more unapologetically abrasive than he usually lets on, is pragmatic, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, a little impatient, and does not suffer fools easily. Itou likes order and planning things, is something of a control freak, and becomes lost and upset easily when his plans are upended. He has a temper and bad self-restraint - that is why he’s so terrible at acting - and can be somewhat entitled. After all, he is used to a more privileged life than most of the major characters in his canon.
Itou has willpower in spades. Itou’s was not a painless death - he had been riddled with bullets from a machine gun and had his left arm ripped off by a train crash. That he managed to stay on his feet despite these injuries - not only to protect the people he had realized were his allies, but also to regain some of his lost dignity by participating in a fricking duel with Hijikata - shows that willpower, that strength of mind borne from determination and self-reliance.
Surprisingly, despite his reputation for cunning, he is very bad at socializing and being a normal guy. Itou doesn’t deal well with people unless they are peons, of which he is also one himself. He doesn’t trust easily, but can be possessive when the occasion calls for it. He’s very much a loner, more out of necessity and generally growing into it than because it comes naturally to him. Most of all, Itou isn’t the kind of person who lets go and truly relaxes, because he always has his guard up.
Itou is also realistic and has no delusions of being a good person; he refers to himself as a black cloth, staining everything with his color and leaving darkness in his wake. This would be more apparent after his death, especially - he wouldn’t call himself a tragic character and would instead call himself a fool. The best thing his death experience gives him is self-awareness, something that he had resisted before because Itou had always lied to himself, pretended his faults never existed, and ultimately denied his own important weaknesses.
Pride is a big thing with Itou, as being both a weakness and strength. Too much pride to admit he has too much pride, and too much pride to realize that he could never be king and he was playing for the wrong side of the board. However, like a true samurai, what he values more is honor and dignity, to be able to regain his pride in himself. He had ideals, he had principles, and he had good intentions at some point, but he had allowed his ambitions and pettiness to rule him. This is particularly important in Soul Campaign, where he gets to survive his mistake.
This is a bit of a headcanon and a side note, but despite Itou’s vindictive personality, I think that he, in fact, loved his older twin brother very much and treated him tenderly (if a little stoically) up until Takahisa’s death before the Gintama canon. His mother mentioned him ‘staying innocently by Takahisa’s side’, which means that he didn’t resent his brother half as much as the rest of the world. I’m treating his brother’s death as the trigger for Itou to pull away from his family for good and start on this path that we see him take in canon, with nothing to hold him back.
Lastly, this is once again a headcanon thing, but I think it's reasonable to say that, given his background, Itou is sensitive to favoritism and hates it with a passion, which might also have invoked his loathing for Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita, the latter two as being deemed unfit for their positions. Itou would have had enough sense of propriety (coming from a traditional family, a traditional home, and a traditional sword style) and a tendency to eagerly believe the worst of others to think that these two reckless (but admittedly skilled!) idiots and their talentless commander might have gotten their post through unjust means. Unfortunately, he didn’t decide to right this perceived mistake out of goodness, but out of arrogance.
Character Abilities:
Itou is a gifted swordsman and a master of the Hokuto Ittou style (historically, his style is the Hokushin Itto Ryu, a pretty brutal kenjutsu style as far as I’ve been able to research), meaning that he has achieved the highest rank possible for this style. Swordsmanship is likely his only real gift among those he attempted to impress upon other people, and it shows in his solid, efficient style of fighting - in his first appearance, he cuts down some two dozen samurai on his own without effort. Before his death, Itou was also physically fit and in very good shape like most others in the Shinsengumi, and would likely know the basic use of other martial arts, weaponry, and technology.
He’s been said to be an excellent politician, and before his betrayal, he had managed to claw his way up the ranks to match the likes of Hijikata and Okita (special talents, by themselves) by being such an impressive figure in the Shinsengumi - he was good enough that Kondo made a special staff position just for him (and calls him ‘sensei’, but since it’s Kondo…). He is very intelligent, especially when it comes to politics, which is why he garnered the military advisor role despite his young-ish age - his role in the Shinsengumi was governing and liaising with the government. Itou is good at working with other people as long as it falls within his set of plans, and had acquired a widespread network of people and spies because of it.
Among his personality traits, being hardworking and generally level-headed would count the most as his strength. Itou does not believe in limits, especially in himself, and he’s proven time and again that hard work does pay off given his achievements.
Historically, Ito Kashitaro was considered a graceful, highly cultured and educated man, which is reflected in his Gintama counterpart (unfortunately, the super pretty looks didn't carry over) - Bansai says he goes from “cultured classic” to “vicious rock”. Itou is a learned man and had a good education, which we can see in the flashbacks of his youthful schooldays (scenes of him surrounded by books, doing calligraphy, acing class, etc). Obsessive studying has given him a lot of information about people, places, history, aliens, and other things that would be useful in his chosen profession and in his world, though those probably wouldn’t be useful in Soul Campaign.
Character Weaknesses:
Itou is not actually the genius that he purports to be - all of what he is, all that he has achieved had been gained through hard work and a convulsive obsession that can both be a weapon for and against him. He has achieved many things, but many of these things don’t actually come easily to him. He’s not like Hijikata or Sougo who have talent in buckets - Itou has clearly defined limits, and once he hits that ceiling, no amount of trying will get him over that.
There’s a thin line between weaknesses and strengths, and unfortunately, Itou had crossed them to end up worse off than when he started. He’s very observant, hardworking, and intelligent, but Itou used these traits and became an untrustworthy, ambitious, and disdainful person. Itou is marred as a person who had done terrible things deliberately for his own selfish gain and damaged his own humanity because of it. He has a fairly unwholesome air, which makes him hard to trust.
He’s also not as awesome as he thinks he is, for the lack of a better word. His self-centeredness and clear lack of self-awareness had made him ripe for Takasugi to manipulate, and that had certainly not ended well. His inability to adapt quickly enough to his plans being turned over (or his self-denial, really, of which he has loads) on its ass is also a weakness that Itou has suffered cruelly for. Itou cannot trust other people; his own past had made sure of that, and he suffers from loneliness and abandonment issues a-plenty. His instinct is to push people away or try to find a way to use them. He is incredibly quick to think the worst of others, and can be pretty damn judgmental.
Physically, Itou normally has the usual strength and speed natural to the men of the Shinsengumi, which is nothing above the average athlete. However, this is negated heavily by the fact that he has just been mauled about before being brought to Death City. Itou is a dead man walking, and this will have effects. More on this in the SC Section, which I think is where the information is more relevant.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign?
He’ll retain his knowledge of his swordsmanship, and maybe eventually regain his skill in it once he has adapted to losing an arm. When his body recovers, he will also retain his athletic skill and physique, though it’s nothing to really brag about. Itou will still be hardworking, strong-willed, and proud, and will retain his other literary knowledge, though they won’t be very useful in Death City.
What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign?
Fortunately, at the moment of his death, Itou had let go of his ambitions and more of his skeevier personality traits in favor of self-actualization and redeeming his character. This is a weakness lost, but it is also one gained: he had not wanted to die, but he doesn’t know how to live. He won’t be functioning in Soul Campaign as a villain, but he also won’t be very functional at all in the first place. His entire life had been dedicated to achieving his self-righteous goals, and now that he won’t have that in Soul Campaign, he won’t have anything at all. Itou will literally be starting from the ground up in terms of regaining himself as a human being, capable of living properly and finding himself.
Unfortunately, application is always different from theory, and death is actually the easier way out of change. Now that he’s surviving all of that, Itou will have to deal with a healthy amount of guilt, confusion, regret, and the heavy task of re-learning how to be a person. Knowing that you can, in fact, trust people is different from actually bringing yourself to do it, and Itou had spent all of his adult life detaching himself from others in trying to rule them. Knowing how to be a cunning and manipulative bastard to get ahead of his peers is not conducive to actually being able to relate to people on a decent level. People and social situations will be a constant struggle for him, especially if his castmates are going to be around.
Itou will also be coming from a timeline in which he is extremely hurt physically. He would have just taken at least a dozen bullets head-on with his body (tearing muscle, puncturing his lung for sure, etc), lost his left arm as well as a shockingly large amount of blood, and gotten slashed by Hijikata to boot. If the loss of his arm is not debilitating enough for a swordsman, Itou will also have to deal with the physical repercussions of surviving that amount of injury for as long as it takes to heal and for him to adjust. There will be pain. A lot of it. He was meant to die - he did die where he is being taken from - so the extent of the damage is truly great. Itou will not only have to learn how to live with a missing limb, but he’ll have to learn how to fight again, too.
Keeping the game’s premise in mind, please give us a brief explanation of your plans for your character in Soul Campaign.
Itou might be a disabled, maimed meister with a history of villainy, but I think once he realizes that he can live in Death City and make it his new home, he will be determined to help the war effort. He has skills and abilities that can be useful for other characters in the game, as well as a personality that can lend to other people’s character development, especially for cast mates. Above all, I want to play him in a scenario where he lives through his death and has to struggle and grow as a character to start a new life. Character development is a go!
[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Meister: Itou as a weapon would be a disaster, not because he does not want to be used, but because he does not want to trust himself to the hands of another person entirely. The meister would not just be saddled with a weapon that will refuse to resonate properly, but Itou would never get a meister at all! As a meister, however, Itou will be forced to rely on a weapon if he wants to survive, which will encourage him to venture into this whole trusting another person thing more effectively.
Also, I already have three weapons.
Meister Ability:
Soul Descent - Itou has always been a forceful person, even if he tries to hide the fact. Apart from that, I feel that this ability would be a good way to augment the fact that he will be a meister with a missing arm, so he won’t be at a complete disadvantage because of his disability. Soul Menace would have been a good ability for villainous Itou, but this less damaging version of it is more appropriate for his more enlightened character. The power name also fills me with ironic glee.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: lonely, insecure, irritable, proud, obsessive, ambitious
Soul Appearance: Itou’s soul is sadly about as plain as his features, much to his own dismay. It’s an unhappy, average-sized, yellow-orange ball, with lines that might be there to represent his glasses or eyebags.
[ SAMPLES ]
First Person:
[Text]
To the people who
[Voice]
[There’s a discontented sound as the person switches to voice. Itou has a freshly ripped-off left arm, so texting is a little difficult on a qwerty keyboard. Also, his VA is the same as Adachi.]
To the people who took me to this… clinic. Thank you for your concern. I’ve had someone explain the basics of this to me. [He thought he was in hell.]
Would it be possible to ask for clothes, since mine aren’t fit for wearing? I’d appreciate something in medium size. [Because Itou is totally M.] Nothing colorful. And a jacket for the weather. I’ll remain in the clinic for the next weeks or so.
Third Person:
He doesn’t quite wake up in Death City so much as collapses in a bloody heap on the floor, straight from a provincial sunrise next to a train crash site. Itou thinks he is in hell, a surprisingly dark, cold, and noisy place full of feet around him and some man talking over them all. Itou doesn’t really like feet, doesn’t like being below everyone else, but he can’t feel anything but a burning pain on his arm and a chilling cold everywhere below his neck. He’s dying, not dead, he realizes, and he closes his eyes willing himself to cross that final line.
Itou wakes up three days later in a white, white place, something like a barn, with a blanket that’s not really enough to ward off the cold outside and that burning still persistently uncomfortable to his left. Itou falls to the floor when he tries to get up, and every muscle in his body screams with the pain of a dozen bullet holes and a sword slash on top of what he remembers now as a missing left arm (ripped out, his brain provides for him through the shock making magical sparks out of his neurons). His body doesn’t quite know whether to scream, cry, or pass out in pain, so he does the first two and wishes for the third to come. It does after a few painful seconds.
They tell him when he wakes up again that he’s not in hell (come again?, he asks), but he’s not at home, either (which home, he wonders). He’s involved in a war with witches now, but he doesn’t have to fight, can just stay here and rest. Found him passed out in the chamber (ah, he thinks with realization) and brought him here to the clinic (it’s a barn, he wants to tell them) to make sure he didn’t die (I didn’t ask for it, he shouts in his head). He nods at them with vague comprehension and an expressionless face (witches, how funny), and goes back to sleep. He’ll ask for clothes later.
[ NOTES ]
Itou is a lot more serious and sensible when compared to the rest of his cast, which means that he’ll be doing far less fourth walling than all the Gintama characters. I’ll try to keep the crack coming to a reasonable degree, but he is sadly not a funny or punny person.
Name: Kamotaro Itou
Age: 32 (taking it from the historical figure he was based off, Ito Kashitaro, who died at the same age)
Gender: Male
Fandom: Gintama
Timeline: After his death in the Rebellion Arc, episodes 101 - 105.
History: Wikia article
Please note that this character was based off a historical figure named Ito Kashitaro, also of the Shinsengumi. There are some facts that I gleaned from Kashitaro’s history that I’ve used for Kamotaro - mostly numbers, like age, and some characteristics that also fit Kamotaro.
Itou is a pawn who thought he was a king; worst of all, he was a pawn working for the wrong side of the board. His involvement in his canon is limited to five episodes, starting from his flashy appearance, to his betrayal of the Shinsengumi, to the revelation that he had been used, to his redemption at the moment of his death.
Ironically enough, out of the characters in the series, Itou is probably the one who comes from the best background: a rich family, a mostly normal childhood, and the means to pursue a life as a productive member of society. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as well and what we get instead is a five-episode villain who tragically dies after finding a small sense of absolution.
Kamotaro Itou was born as the younger of twin brothers to a fairly wealthy family in what is likely provincial Japan. His older brother and heir to the family, Takahisa, had grown up very sickly and bedridden, causing their parents great distress and indirectly becoming the root of all of Itou’s misfortune. His parents blamed Itou for his brother’s poor health as Itou was a fairly healthy boy. In a bid to win their affection, young Itou then worked very hard to be a good boy, getting top marks in class and doing everything properly. This did not only fail to work, but it also made things spectacularly worse by earning Itou the resentment and jealousy of his particularly violent peers. His dojo master eventually gave him a recommendation to go to Edo to learn the Hokuto Ittou style, sealing his fate as an outcast among his peers. Rejected by his parents and bullied by his classmates, Itou then vowed to become stronger to show them what he was capable of.
At some point in his young adult life and before the series began, Takahisa died and Itou decided to join the Joui during the war with the Amanto. When the samurai lost and were banned, Itou then joined the Shinsengumi (presumably other agencies before that). Itou by the time of his death had only been in the Shinsengumi for a year. He would have walked into the Shinsengumi to Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita in power, which would have appalled him. From there, he decided to be power hungry and, well, take over.
It wasn’t shown how exactly he made his first contact with Takasugi, although it’s probably because Itou had been in the Joui before he joined the Shinsengumi. Whatever is the case, it was clear in the series that Takasugi had made a pawn out of Itou, and Itou had been too sure of himself or had too much self-denial to have any notion of this at all. They had an ‘alliance’, where Takasugi was to help Itou take over the Shinsengumi. Itou by then had gained a lot of trust from the Shinsengumi and had made his way up the ranks to be the commander’s advisor. In the arc where he appears, Itou had amassed enough power and a swarm of followers to complete his plans for takeover - he removed Hijikata from the picture by discrediting him (working with Sougo temporarily), and attempted to assassinate Kondo Isao in a train in Bushu with his own peons. His real ideal was to make the Shisengumi co-exist with the terrorists to achieve a balance that would ensure the government’s future need for the Shinsengumi, which, under Itou’s rule, would become a great organization and a way for him to show the world what he was made of.
Unfortunately for Itou, Takasugi had no intention of letting him succeed all along, and had only been using him to divide the Shinsengumi into two (and distract them from this huge smuggling effort at the side), to easier destroy the whole organization. Takasugi sent Bansai, his right hand man, and other members of the Kiheitai to destroy the train that Itou and the rest of the Shinsengumi was in. Due also to the interference of the main characters, Hijikata and Okita, Itou’s plan was completely and utterly foiled.
Surprisingly, however, in the middle of all that chaos and wreckage, Kondo and Hijikata still managed to show Itou some kindness, making him realize that his entire life, all he had wanted was to belong in a group and that he had already achieved the bonds that he’d always wanted after all. With this sudden change of heart, Itou then sacrificed himself to protect his new found friends, thus redeeming some of his honor.
The heroes were able to drive Bansai and his people away, though not before Itou is severely injured. It is before his death that he and Hijikata face off for the last time, and in his dying moments, Itou finally found the belonging that he had been craving for.
Character Personality:
Itou before death, Itou right before he dies, and Itou as the survivor of his own death are very different individuals, but all parts of a whole. I will be playing him from after his death, but to understand Itou’s character, I will be explaining everything from the start to the point from whence I am taking him.
What we need to understand of Itou is that he is a complex person of many very simple layers of motivations and goals, all hidden under the other. Itou isn’t like the other members of the cast that had model figures to set them on the right path - he never had a Shouyo-sensei or a Kondo Isao until later in life when it was too late. All Itou had was himself, and he made the most out of it, bringing about this me against the world attitude that colored nearly all of what he did during his brief appearance in the series.
At the beginning of the arc, what we see is an Itou who is confident, outwardly calm, amiable, and maybe even charming. He appears idealistic and almost frighteningly motivated, saying things that no man of his intellect would surely abide yet defending these ideals passionately. He is Hijikata Toshirou’s rival, Kondou Isao’s advisor, and the man that everyone in the Shinsengumi should strive to be: proper, hardworking, and strong.
What we see later is that all of this is an act. Underneath that personable advisor is a ruthless and ambitious man who will do everything to get what he wants; in this case, his desire for people to recognize him as a great and impressive person, feeding his ego. This underlying personality is hinted heavily in his mannerisms even through this facade: that irritating toss of his head, his knowing smirk, and his patronizing air - even some of the lower ranking members of the Shinsengumi felt this air of untrustworthiness from him. He’s good at politicking, arguing with enemies, and can be stern to the point of being harsh. He can be sharp and biting, blunt and straightforward, and very practical. He also hated Hijikata with a passion and was vicious at showing this to the man himself (and working underground to get Hijikata out of the group in what he terms as a ‘ridiculous power struggle’).
Under all of that is arrogance. Itou is always judging people and finding them lacking, especially when comparing them to his self-perceived intellect and competence. He thinks that most everyone is unworthy of his attention, even Kondo (especially Kondo), and that people are just pawns to be used. He didn’t want to be a general serving under an ‘asinine lord’ and ‘fading with age’. This is eventually shown in how he can be smug toward people he doesn’t find very useful to himself, how he can’t help but put on airs and emphasize his victories despite his attempts at self-restraint, and how he prates at anyone who will listen because he likes to hear himself talk.
But his arrogance is bred by something else, which transitions into rage and obsession before it becomes arrogance. Itou has a lot of pent up bitterness in him that he uses to keep himself incredibly focused on his goal, incapable of stopping. He is ruthless, vindictive, and destructive, and he doesn’t think he owes the world enough to treat it more tenderly. Itou is jaded, he doesn’t believe that people deserve the happiness that they have, and spitefully believes them to be fools deluding themselves. He considered himself to be a tragedy - a genius whom no one could understand; the one person he found who understood him, Hijikata, had turned out to be an enemy that he had to crush under his foot. And if no one could understand him, then he would make them acknowledge him.
The very center of it, though, is that Itou is insecure and lonely. He was a child that had grown up in an unsupportive and almost hostile environment where he had been rejected by his parents and other children of his age. Itou had been a good kid, had tried his best to satisfy in order to be recognized, and had failed in every way through no fault of his own. His parents blamed him for the sickliness of his older twin brother, Takahisa, and his peers had violently resented him for attempting to work hard to please his elders - Itou had been exposed to the uglier faces of humanity early in his childhood, and this had made its mark on the man that he would become. Because his attempts to reach out had failed, he became cynical towards people and resolved to become stronger, lashing out instead. “Fearing rejection from others, I rejected them instead.” Even his takeover of the Shinsengumi was designed to allow him to show off.
We see this core of his personality the moment when the tables turn on him through Takasugi’s betrayal, particularly his helplessness at the situation, his fear and cowardice, and the drastic change of his personality upon realizing that the Shinsengumi had been the family that he had wanted all his life: accepting, appreciative, and there when he needs them the most. We see then that he can be protective, that he has a sense of justice, and that ultimately, he is not irredeemably evil. Itou’s real personality, the core of him, is irreconcilable with the surface personality that we see as Itou the villain - and it is this façade that becomes secondary at the moment of his death. This is the point where I am taking him from.
There’s more to Itou than all of these layers; there are attributes to him that remain consistent in his character, even after death. He is actually more unapologetically abrasive than he usually lets on, is pragmatic, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, a little impatient, and does not suffer fools easily. Itou likes order and planning things, is something of a control freak, and becomes lost and upset easily when his plans are upended. He has a temper and bad self-restraint - that is why he’s so terrible at acting - and can be somewhat entitled. After all, he is used to a more privileged life than most of the major characters in his canon.
Itou has willpower in spades. Itou’s was not a painless death - he had been riddled with bullets from a machine gun and had his left arm ripped off by a train crash. That he managed to stay on his feet despite these injuries - not only to protect the people he had realized were his allies, but also to regain some of his lost dignity by participating in a fricking duel with Hijikata - shows that willpower, that strength of mind borne from determination and self-reliance.
Surprisingly, despite his reputation for cunning, he is very bad at socializing and being a normal guy. Itou doesn’t deal well with people unless they are peons, of which he is also one himself. He doesn’t trust easily, but can be possessive when the occasion calls for it. He’s very much a loner, more out of necessity and generally growing into it than because it comes naturally to him. Most of all, Itou isn’t the kind of person who lets go and truly relaxes, because he always has his guard up.
Itou is also realistic and has no delusions of being a good person; he refers to himself as a black cloth, staining everything with his color and leaving darkness in his wake. This would be more apparent after his death, especially - he wouldn’t call himself a tragic character and would instead call himself a fool. The best thing his death experience gives him is self-awareness, something that he had resisted before because Itou had always lied to himself, pretended his faults never existed, and ultimately denied his own important weaknesses.
Pride is a big thing with Itou, as being both a weakness and strength. Too much pride to admit he has too much pride, and too much pride to realize that he could never be king and he was playing for the wrong side of the board. However, like a true samurai, what he values more is honor and dignity, to be able to regain his pride in himself. He had ideals, he had principles, and he had good intentions at some point, but he had allowed his ambitions and pettiness to rule him. This is particularly important in Soul Campaign, where he gets to survive his mistake.
This is a bit of a headcanon and a side note, but despite Itou’s vindictive personality, I think that he, in fact, loved his older twin brother very much and treated him tenderly (if a little stoically) up until Takahisa’s death before the Gintama canon. His mother mentioned him ‘staying innocently by Takahisa’s side’, which means that he didn’t resent his brother half as much as the rest of the world. I’m treating his brother’s death as the trigger for Itou to pull away from his family for good and start on this path that we see him take in canon, with nothing to hold him back.
Lastly, this is once again a headcanon thing, but I think it's reasonable to say that, given his background, Itou is sensitive to favoritism and hates it with a passion, which might also have invoked his loathing for Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita, the latter two as being deemed unfit for their positions. Itou would have had enough sense of propriety (coming from a traditional family, a traditional home, and a traditional sword style) and a tendency to eagerly believe the worst of others to think that these two reckless (but admittedly skilled!) idiots and their talentless commander might have gotten their post through unjust means. Unfortunately, he didn’t decide to right this perceived mistake out of goodness, but out of arrogance.
Character Abilities:
Itou is a gifted swordsman and a master of the Hokuto Ittou style (historically, his style is the Hokushin Itto Ryu, a pretty brutal kenjutsu style as far as I’ve been able to research), meaning that he has achieved the highest rank possible for this style. Swordsmanship is likely his only real gift among those he attempted to impress upon other people, and it shows in his solid, efficient style of fighting - in his first appearance, he cuts down some two dozen samurai on his own without effort. Before his death, Itou was also physically fit and in very good shape like most others in the Shinsengumi, and would likely know the basic use of other martial arts, weaponry, and technology.
He’s been said to be an excellent politician, and before his betrayal, he had managed to claw his way up the ranks to match the likes of Hijikata and Okita (special talents, by themselves) by being such an impressive figure in the Shinsengumi - he was good enough that Kondo made a special staff position just for him (and calls him ‘sensei’, but since it’s Kondo…). He is very intelligent, especially when it comes to politics, which is why he garnered the military advisor role despite his young-ish age - his role in the Shinsengumi was governing and liaising with the government. Itou is good at working with other people as long as it falls within his set of plans, and had acquired a widespread network of people and spies because of it.
Among his personality traits, being hardworking and generally level-headed would count the most as his strength. Itou does not believe in limits, especially in himself, and he’s proven time and again that hard work does pay off given his achievements.
Historically, Ito Kashitaro was considered a graceful, highly cultured and educated man, which is reflected in his Gintama counterpart (unfortunately, the super pretty looks didn't carry over) - Bansai says he goes from “cultured classic” to “vicious rock”. Itou is a learned man and had a good education, which we can see in the flashbacks of his youthful schooldays (scenes of him surrounded by books, doing calligraphy, acing class, etc). Obsessive studying has given him a lot of information about people, places, history, aliens, and other things that would be useful in his chosen profession and in his world, though those probably wouldn’t be useful in Soul Campaign.
Character Weaknesses:
Itou is not actually the genius that he purports to be - all of what he is, all that he has achieved had been gained through hard work and a convulsive obsession that can both be a weapon for and against him. He has achieved many things, but many of these things don’t actually come easily to him. He’s not like Hijikata or Sougo who have talent in buckets - Itou has clearly defined limits, and once he hits that ceiling, no amount of trying will get him over that.
There’s a thin line between weaknesses and strengths, and unfortunately, Itou had crossed them to end up worse off than when he started. He’s very observant, hardworking, and intelligent, but Itou used these traits and became an untrustworthy, ambitious, and disdainful person. Itou is marred as a person who had done terrible things deliberately for his own selfish gain and damaged his own humanity because of it. He has a fairly unwholesome air, which makes him hard to trust.
He’s also not as awesome as he thinks he is, for the lack of a better word. His self-centeredness and clear lack of self-awareness had made him ripe for Takasugi to manipulate, and that had certainly not ended well. His inability to adapt quickly enough to his plans being turned over (or his self-denial, really, of which he has loads) on its ass is also a weakness that Itou has suffered cruelly for. Itou cannot trust other people; his own past had made sure of that, and he suffers from loneliness and abandonment issues a-plenty. His instinct is to push people away or try to find a way to use them. He is incredibly quick to think the worst of others, and can be pretty damn judgmental.
Physically, Itou normally has the usual strength and speed natural to the men of the Shinsengumi, which is nothing above the average athlete. However, this is negated heavily by the fact that he has just been mauled about before being brought to Death City. Itou is a dead man walking, and this will have effects. More on this in the SC Section, which I think is where the information is more relevant.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign?
He’ll retain his knowledge of his swordsmanship, and maybe eventually regain his skill in it once he has adapted to losing an arm. When his body recovers, he will also retain his athletic skill and physique, though it’s nothing to really brag about. Itou will still be hardworking, strong-willed, and proud, and will retain his other literary knowledge, though they won’t be very useful in Death City.
What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign?
Fortunately, at the moment of his death, Itou had let go of his ambitions and more of his skeevier personality traits in favor of self-actualization and redeeming his character. This is a weakness lost, but it is also one gained: he had not wanted to die, but he doesn’t know how to live. He won’t be functioning in Soul Campaign as a villain, but he also won’t be very functional at all in the first place. His entire life had been dedicated to achieving his self-righteous goals, and now that he won’t have that in Soul Campaign, he won’t have anything at all. Itou will literally be starting from the ground up in terms of regaining himself as a human being, capable of living properly and finding himself.
Unfortunately, application is always different from theory, and death is actually the easier way out of change. Now that he’s surviving all of that, Itou will have to deal with a healthy amount of guilt, confusion, regret, and the heavy task of re-learning how to be a person. Knowing that you can, in fact, trust people is different from actually bringing yourself to do it, and Itou had spent all of his adult life detaching himself from others in trying to rule them. Knowing how to be a cunning and manipulative bastard to get ahead of his peers is not conducive to actually being able to relate to people on a decent level. People and social situations will be a constant struggle for him, especially if his castmates are going to be around.
Itou will also be coming from a timeline in which he is extremely hurt physically. He would have just taken at least a dozen bullets head-on with his body (tearing muscle, puncturing his lung for sure, etc), lost his left arm as well as a shockingly large amount of blood, and gotten slashed by Hijikata to boot. If the loss of his arm is not debilitating enough for a swordsman, Itou will also have to deal with the physical repercussions of surviving that amount of injury for as long as it takes to heal and for him to adjust. There will be pain. A lot of it. He was meant to die - he did die where he is being taken from - so the extent of the damage is truly great. Itou will not only have to learn how to live with a missing limb, but he’ll have to learn how to fight again, too.
Keeping the game’s premise in mind, please give us a brief explanation of your plans for your character in Soul Campaign.
Itou might be a disabled, maimed meister with a history of villainy, but I think once he realizes that he can live in Death City and make it his new home, he will be determined to help the war effort. He has skills and abilities that can be useful for other characters in the game, as well as a personality that can lend to other people’s character development, especially for cast mates. Above all, I want to play him in a scenario where he lives through his death and has to struggle and grow as a character to start a new life. Character development is a go!
[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Meister: Itou as a weapon would be a disaster, not because he does not want to be used, but because he does not want to trust himself to the hands of another person entirely. The meister would not just be saddled with a weapon that will refuse to resonate properly, but Itou would never get a meister at all! As a meister, however, Itou will be forced to rely on a weapon if he wants to survive, which will encourage him to venture into this whole trusting another person thing more effectively.
Also, I already have three weapons.
Meister Ability:
Soul Descent - Itou has always been a forceful person, even if he tries to hide the fact. Apart from that, I feel that this ability would be a good way to augment the fact that he will be a meister with a missing arm, so he won’t be at a complete disadvantage because of his disability. Soul Menace would have been a good ability for villainous Itou, but this less damaging version of it is more appropriate for his more enlightened character. The power name also fills me with ironic glee.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: lonely, insecure, irritable, proud, obsessive, ambitious
Soul Appearance: Itou’s soul is sadly about as plain as his features, much to his own dismay. It’s an unhappy, average-sized, yellow-orange ball, with lines that might be there to represent his glasses or eyebags.
[ SAMPLES ]
First Person:
[Text]
To the people who
[Voice]
[There’s a discontented sound as the person switches to voice. Itou has a freshly ripped-off left arm, so texting is a little difficult on a qwerty keyboard. Also, his VA is the same as Adachi.]
To the people who took me to this… clinic. Thank you for your concern. I’ve had someone explain the basics of this to me. [He thought he was in hell.]
Would it be possible to ask for clothes, since mine aren’t fit for wearing? I’d appreciate something in medium size. [Because Itou is totally M.] Nothing colorful. And a jacket for the weather. I’ll remain in the clinic for the next weeks or so.
Third Person:
He doesn’t quite wake up in Death City so much as collapses in a bloody heap on the floor, straight from a provincial sunrise next to a train crash site. Itou thinks he is in hell, a surprisingly dark, cold, and noisy place full of feet around him and some man talking over them all. Itou doesn’t really like feet, doesn’t like being below everyone else, but he can’t feel anything but a burning pain on his arm and a chilling cold everywhere below his neck. He’s dying, not dead, he realizes, and he closes his eyes willing himself to cross that final line.
Itou wakes up three days later in a white, white place, something like a barn, with a blanket that’s not really enough to ward off the cold outside and that burning still persistently uncomfortable to his left. Itou falls to the floor when he tries to get up, and every muscle in his body screams with the pain of a dozen bullet holes and a sword slash on top of what he remembers now as a missing left arm (ripped out, his brain provides for him through the shock making magical sparks out of his neurons). His body doesn’t quite know whether to scream, cry, or pass out in pain, so he does the first two and wishes for the third to come. It does after a few painful seconds.
They tell him when he wakes up again that he’s not in hell (come again?, he asks), but he’s not at home, either (which home, he wonders). He’s involved in a war with witches now, but he doesn’t have to fight, can just stay here and rest. Found him passed out in the chamber (ah, he thinks with realization) and brought him here to the clinic (it’s a barn, he wants to tell them) to make sure he didn’t die (I didn’t ask for it, he shouts in his head). He nods at them with vague comprehension and an expressionless face (witches, how funny), and goes back to sleep. He’ll ask for clothes later.
[ NOTES ]
Itou is a lot more serious and sensible when compared to the rest of his cast, which means that he’ll be doing far less fourth walling than all the Gintama characters. I’ll try to keep the crack coming to a reasonable degree, but he is sadly not a funny or punny person.