Handle: Dan Contact:tropospheres Over 18? Certainly. Characters Played:
THE CHARACTER
Character Name: Sakata Gintoki Series: Gintama Canon Point: Right after the Farewell Shinsengumi arc (manga chapter 551). Character Age: 30ish Background: We don't know where Gintoki initially came from (he is assumed orphaned) but these give adequate background:
Personality: Gintoki is the owner of the Yorozuya, a word that means something similar to 'House of 10,000 (or many) businesses'. Basically, anybody can make offers to the Yorozuya, and they'll take the job which can be anything from finding someone's lost cat to standing in line to buy a new game system for a client, to even helping the local police force.
Gintoki can be very lazy about traditional work, happy to do as little as possible for as much money as possible, even to the point of refusing a job because it might be too much work, or something he doesn't want to be involved in. There's really no reason to work when a person could be napping or enjoying the finer things in life, such as fantasizing about the attractive weather lady or building a careful chocolate stash. He seems to really like to watch television, too. Gintoki likes to eat, too, and the series creator has said that his cooking skills are 'iron-chef level'.
Despite the laziness Gintoki can be surprisingly industrious. He is, after all, a business-owner. Money speaks to Gintoki. He and the other members of the Yorozuya all grew up having very little, so money is a big need and focus, as we see when Gintoki is first hired by a government official. He often will accept a job (or pass the work off to his employees when he's feeling lazy) just because it pays. Anything to buy his weekly JUMP and daily sugar requirement; his favorite seems to be large ice cream and fruit parfaits. Other times, he can't be bothered to do anything other than laze around under a kotatsu with the television on or reading JUMP magazine. He's childish, he sleeps late, talks like a hooligan and sometimes has a quick temper. He's terrified of scary things like ghosts or even a scary movie. He's also not a man who is above taking an extra glance at an attractive lady or reading a dirty magazine, being just a little too comfortable with those rated-M things. Although he can be very prickly initially, he has shown himself to be a kind and even warm individual to those that deserve that kind of attention. He seems to like other people and can be very social, and even charming. He also seems to enjoy putting a smile on others' faces and has some charisma. But those moments are a little rare.
However, there is much more to Gintoki than the lazy former samurai, the typical good-for nothing man who mooches business and living space off of Otose. The earliest we see Gintoki is when he is a very young child, maybe 4-6 years old. He was found by Yoshida Shouyo, later his teacher and father-figure, scavenging food from corpses on a battlefield. Later, as the government becomes more unstable, Shouyo-sensei is arrested and taken away. Gintoki and some of Shouyo's other students join an ongoing conflict, the Joui wars, to fight against corrupt government and alien invaders (Gintama takes place in an AU where Japan is invaded by aliens, called Amanto, during the end of the Edo period). Gintoki and his comrades are still relatively young when they join the war. During the war Gintoki is known as the Shiroyasha, a feared name, and he's known for being capable of incredible amounts of destruction and slaughter on the battlefield. The war goes badly, Shouyo-sensei is killed, and the losses Gintoki experienced during the war left him directionless and struggling with guilt. Being a notorious figure, he was imprisoned, but the allowed to escape by a generous prison warden. A snowy day resting in a cemetery leads to him meeting Otose, an old woman who had come to leave offerings on her husband's grave. She allows Gintoki to eat the offerings, as he's starving, and then she takes him home with her. From then on, they become important fixtures in each others' lives, developing a familiar relationship. He looks out for her safety and property, and she provides a person he can trust.
She is the owner of the building and a bar/snack house on the first floor. There is also much more that the Yorozuya represents besides a struggling business. Although jobs don't always go as the client plans, we always see Gintoki resolving issues relying on his own personal convictions, and that nearly always means the resolution is on the side of justice, on helping those who are in need, and generally doing the right thing. While initially refusing a job from a man who has no money, the moment Gintoki learns that he's dying in the hospital, he takes the man's job anyway and does what the man asks. Countless times we see Gintoki use his business to help individual people, and often risking his life and safety to do so. He always has a soft spot for those who are taken advantage of by others in power, who are victimized by corruption, or who are just bulled and down-trodden, and he'll seek to fight the bad guys in his own way. Gintoki avoids killing people most of the time, fighting with a wooden sword instead of a real one; however, some people are too corrupt, evil, or heartless, and he's forced to end them. This is in contrast to his former war-time comrades who seek major reform of the country and the bakufu, even to the point of its complete destruction. Several of his old war comrades have no qualms about planning and carrying out a terrorist attack, for example, but not Gintoki. To Gintoki, helping others who are on hard times or who are victimized by other corrupt people is all part of his 'bushido' or his way of living. It's how he has chosen to live based on how he was taught and raised by Shouyo-sensei who took him in. He knows who he is and stays true to his ideals of looking after others and of using his sword to protect not only others but his own character. The Yorozuya and Otose's snack house, and the people who live and work there, have become a family for the man who never had family of his own.
Most recently, even though he's been able to meet his old comrades again and interact with them, since they are still very important people to him, he's had major conflict with Takasugi Shinsuke in particular. Takasugi was also a student of Shouyo's, and due to what happened in the war and the death of Shouyo-sensei, he and Gintoki had a major break. Takasugi could be considered Gintoki's rival and not-quite friend, not-quite enemy, and due to Takasugi's extreme behavior Gintoki has been ready to kill him should they meet again. He's not going to let someone like Takasugi kill innocent people because he's angry at the world and the government. Gintoki has clearly grown a lot since the war, and he's become someone who is strong enough to accept all the sorrows he's been dealt while still trying to live a happy life full of people important to him. Gintoki will be arriving just after a major battle with Takasugi; the incredible violence of their fight only shows how deep both of their pain runs, and it shows the huge difference in how they have dealt with it. In the end, he doesn't end up killing Takasugi. They don't reconcile, but they seem to come to more of an understanding, even if their differences are still vast.
To Gintoki, dying isn't much of a victory, even if he has shown himself to be self-sacrificing when he isn't sure there's another way to protect those he wants to protect. However, he has learned through his association with others to treasure people and to value and treasure his own life more and more.
To speak a little more about his strengths and weaknesses, Gintoki is, of course, physically strong. However, Gintoki is clever when he wants to be, and when it serves him to be. Sometimes he may actually even feign ignorance or stupidity in order to protect himself or accomplish what he needs to. He is surprisingly shrewd when it comes to getting information, especially when it's to help someone else or complete a high-paying job. He is also, as it's been put, "more reliable than he looks." Even when things look bad, when he's hurting physically or emotionally, he manages to know exactly what needs to be done and said. He's very good at telling people exactly what they need to hear in order to overcome their challenges. Sometimes, if he cares about the person enough, he's even good at comforting them with the exact words they need to hear
Gintoki, however, is very human. He's lazy as hell and has many vices. He's as reckless in the bars of Edo's nightlife as he can be on the battlefield, staying out late drinking and sleeping in even later. He's truly addicted to sweet things and sugar to the point where it could affect his health. He wastes money on gambling, playing pachinko. Gintoki can be truly immature. He can also lose his temper easily at stupid things, like when he's arguing with Hijikata. When he's arguing and bantering he can get really petulant, irritated, and downright prickly, just like a sulky kid.
As someone who was subjected to so much trauma at a young age and for much of his life, Gintoki represses a lot. He's experienced much more sadness than the average person, and he hasn't always been in a place where he can deal with it, instead internalizing his emotions and pain. Some of his habits, and his personality that's easily addicted to things, are most likely his way to keep his demons and pain at bay.
Unfortunately this also means he usually keeps people at a safe distance too, rarely confiding in anybody and taking on hardships alone. He'll fight alone for those he loves, he'll take all the risk alone, as long as it keeps other people from having to suffer he'll do it all, alone. Gintoki quietly carries his guilt and scars around. When things get really hard, or if he fails to protect someone important, his guilt can become too much for him to bear and he can start making decisions that push the people close to him away, which is distressing to them, in particular Shinpachi and Kagura, who are his employees who he also has a very familial relationship with. It's also implied that he will often have nightmares from the time period of the Joui wars, his guilt and terrible experiences never quite leaving him alone, even when he's trying to sleep.
Powers/Abilities: Gintoki is a samurai and has very well-developed skills from participating in years of warfare and many more years of training while growing up. Although he usually will use a bokuto (wooden sword) he has been shown to use a normal katana and polearms when he needs to truly defend himself. He has also been shown to be able to cut through things/break things with his wooden sword. In his youth during the Joui war, he was known as Shiroyasha (the White Demon) and shown to be very destructive, slaughtering countless enemies by himself. As a swordsman, along with his strength he also shows speed and creativity/ingenuity in battle, along with an incredible stamina and ability to fight through any pain or injury. But he's not invincible.
Power Nerfs (if applicable): He doesn't have any super-human or supernatural abilities, and he doesn't have any game-breaking abilities (unless it's the 4th wall, and I have an opt-in/opt-out post for that).
Inventory: He will have his clothes (kimono, belt, pants, shirt, boots) and his wooden sword which he keeps strapped at his hip.
Incentives: The guaranteed safety of those from his world, especially the kids he somewhat cares for (Shinpachi and Kagura) will be a major incentive. Other smaller incentives can include money and special items from home, such as sugary treats (strawberry milk!) and his favorite comic books (JUMP magazine) special healing from ailments — while they won't immediately gain these things, the Orbiters will consider it for the future.
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pachintoki) wrote2018-07-08 08:50 pm
