If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that Gintama is actually my all-time favorite series, despite this blog posting content from other titles much more often. It’s an absolute doozy of a series to follow as a newcomer – 665 manga chapters and 341 episodes so far – but as I tell everyone who shows the slightest interest: it is worth every second that I’ve spent on it.
What starts out as a silly comedy with raunchy jokes and endless meta/cultural references reveals its true colors about 11 volumes/90 episodes in. From the very beginning, it’s evident that Sorachi Hideaki is a master at writing jokes – he is only a Gorilla after all – but as soon as the series takes its first serious turn, you realize that the Gorilla is…actually a legitimate literary genius. Or, at the very least, a genius at wrangling all the emotions you didn’t realize you had within yourself and putting them on display over and over again – all for the sake of his characters (Case in point: the panels above –> me an emotional wreck). Through the seemingly foolish plotlines that comprise much of the series, he silently secures harnesses that firmly tether you to these bizarre people/creatures/whatnot on infinite levels. And as the huge cast progresses through the many stories that connect the members all together, you somehow end up living through their experiences firsthand as well.
At the end of each arc come those variations on the same lesson: though life is full of unexpected challenges and tragedies, the best of your relationships fortify who you already are and will become – even though they must strengthen your spirit just a little bit at a time. Therefore, stay true to those who stay true to you. It is worth the effort and patience, just like 660+ manga chapters or 340+ anime episodes.
This may sound like typical shonen manga tropey fare, but with Gintama, nothing, NOTHING is ever typical (Trust).
As we enter into 2018, I’ll continue to remember these lessons from the Yorozuya, especially as the series reaches its conclusion. Thanks Gintama – you will always be the greatest!!!
Random Musing (The ‘why aren’t I in bed’ edition): The three major groups/cults have a common theme. The group that bought and tortured the twins was about sacrifice or death. The Aurora Society was about resurrection. The Blue Sect seems to be about prolonging life and even a continued life after death. Put those together. Death, resurrection, and life after death. It’s almost like a recipe for immortality.
@shinigami-mistress you know this is something I’ve been thinking about for a few months actually. I hadn’t noticed the continuity between the three sects’ goals, so it’s a good point and actually I find that it’s peculiar that…
UT basically made sure to annihilate on purpose the Aurora society through creating that massacre on the Campania…
when he’s involved with another sect in the current arc. I mean, this is one more argument for me that he might not be the mastermind behind the current arc. xD
To explain: UT’s whole plan on the Campania, besides showing off his BDs to a third party, definitely seemed to have been about directly making the Aurora society responsible for the massacre on the Campania, probably so that the society would never morally survive the incident. He said he went as far as to think of ways to sink the ship, so that the incident would be so big that the Aurora society would not be able to recover from it.
So it seems like it could be the same for the current arc, since there are a few hints that it might not be him this time. Or I mean, if somehow it’s him who brought back the star lords, then he’s playing at double-crossing someone else (probably the ones who were interested by the blue sect’s initial research about blood transfusion), just like during the Campania and Weston arc.
After all, we never saw UT being disappointed that his BDs weren’t 100% functional yet. We know he had a personal reason to start this project but still, each time, he definitely knew the reason his dolls would cause trouble. So the fact he knowingly used them to create chaos was probably to bait/taunt/mock someone else. Each move was calculated in both the Campania and Weston arcs, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same this time again
All that to say that I totally think there is probably a tangible link between the Aurora society and the blue sect. Both were/are about medicine and science, both were/are UT’s target (to be confirmed for the current arc), so it’s very possible that UT is after confronting someone who would be very interested by what these sects had/have to offer. :))
It’s just that by getting to these sects first, UT is currently winning the game and proving to be a hassle for his opponent. And it’s likely that Weston was an arc to be taken similarly. We discussed it with @thedarkestcrow recently and we realized it was “funny” that UT made sure to involve himself and witness till the end a case which focused on one of the Queen’s relatives (Derrick Arden, turned into a BD), when the Queen seems to be more annoying to him than even Sebastian.
Hahah, well, what I personally love the most is Suwabe Junichi’s voice! xD It fits UT sooo well and it’s so deep and sensual that it’s making me shiver. :3
We all gotta fall hard for UT, I mean…
lookathim… So adding Suwabe-san’s voice is just… dayummmm!
Thanks for passing by Anon, have a wonderful start of the year!! 😀
Urie and Mutsuki have danced this dance before – only then, their roles were reversed. Mutsuki now endangers Urie out of a self-centred desire for love just as he once endangered her out of a self-centred desire for credit.
Both struggle with their feelings of jealousy towards the people who stand between them and the reward they feel entitled to; for Urie, that’s Takeomi; for Mutsuki, Touka.
Both are obsessed with becoming stronger in the mistaken belief that it will allow them to bridge that gap. They’ll even risk their sanity for it; Urie with higher frames and Mutsuki with cannibalism.
Both even wish death upon the other, thinking of them as just another obstacle in their way, just another factor contributing to their pain and sense of inadequacy.
Both injure the other in their state of mental instability…
And both accept the other regardless.
By showing love and forgiveness to Urie before, Mutsuki has planted the seeds for her own salvation by making him a kinder and more understanding person. The above panel also parallels Urie’s conflict with Saiko as well as this scene in Chapter 97 which is a clear reference to Shirazu.
It goes to show what a profound impact each of the Quinx have had on Urie’s character development to lead him to this final heroic point. It’s so easy to fall into the abyss; if we don’t help those who misstep, who will help us when we do?
I mean we already saw her give her in character reasoning why she did it.
In general Kaneki for the most part never really gets communicated to him how the other people who watch him continually suffer and sacrifice himself for their sake feel. In general that’s the caveat of Kaneki’s “I’ll be the one who hurts instead of hurting others’ mentality, because there are people who care about him who don’t want to see him hurt. Therefore they end up hurting by having to watch him hurt regardless.
Touka is also bad at communicating her emotions for the most part. I’m not sure if she’s ever directly said or expressed how the three years of waiting, or the fact that when she met Kaneki again he was about to kill himself all over again felt to her.
We’ve only ever seen her hold herself to a selfless standard or try to be positive about it.
So it was likely just an attempt at communicating her more negative emotions for Kaneki. “Ahh, I feel much better now.” It was of course a bad attempt, but an attempt nonetheless.
I don’t know where it came from, I mean, maybe someone at home once was traumatized because they were out of toilet paper and there was no one who could come to the rescue? No matter, now we have a lot of toilet rolls in the bathroom AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY. xDDD
Anyway, thanks Anon, I definitely had a wonderful start in 2018 for now! I celebrated until 6 am, then I hardly slept to spend time with my family, I played with my girl who had a rough Christmas… All but great things :))
I hope you had a great start as well! Wishing you all the best Anon-chan ^3^ Happy new year once again 😀
Don’t be jealous in 2018 Anon, my toilet paper is beautiful and needed, so I’d rather have many rolls having fun together in my bathroom, as thanks for its constant help! 👌🏾👌🏾
Thank you though 😘😘💖 if I were to show you my face now, I’m not sure you’d say the same thing buuuuuttt… still thanks! :333
Happy new year to you too dear Anon, wishing you all the best!! ^3^
Anon-chan, for 2018 you might want to decide not to refer to yourself as stupid anymore, really. :33 😘
To be fair, I’m not particularly dressed like that usually, it was for the party’s theme xD hence the hat and glasses. :))
Anyway, Paris might be the capital of fashion (or so they say) but we’re not all 200% stylish all the time, I can assure you, haha. :3
You’re not rude though and thank you very much, because I really liked my little outfit too! ^_^ 💖💖
Wishing you all the best, hon’ and no more “I’m stupid” comments for 2018!! Have a very happy new year!!!
midnight-in-town 