Hey Anon! Hm, depending on whether or not you read the manga, my answer could be a spoiler. So make sure you want to read this.
First of all, Shoyo and Utsuro aren’t exactly the same personbut I guess that, narratively speaking,
introducing Utsuro’s character in the arc following the one where we finally learn why Takasugi is so hateful towards the world and Gintoki (+ why there was history between Gintoki and Oboro), because of what happened with Shoyo, is why you’d think they are.
Anyway, I tend to be of the opinion that Shoyo/Utsuro isn’t exactly the final antagonist/big bad of the series (/! spoilers):
Rather…
…The vicious cycle he experienced during all of his existence is. And that (for now never-ending) cycle is to blame on humans too.
There used to be a time humans feared Utsuro because of the Altana in his blood giving him immortality/high regenerative abilities. As such he was killed times and times again. That’s what ended up creating his multiple personalities (Shoyo being one of them) and his death wish, which ultimately led years later to the Silver Soul arc.
But even after the war ended, that vicious cycle still isn’t over:
because now Utsuro’s immortality isn’t feared anymore but revered. Oh sure, this is a consequence of the deadly intergalactic war that Utsuro launched in order to destroy Earth’s Altana, so obviously he’s to be blamed too, but he’s not the only guilty party since he’s not the one who ended up creating “Tengenism”.
Just like humans are ultimately what created Utsuro, because no one ever saved him from them, Utsuro created a war in order to be able to die, which created a religion revering his immortality and wanting him back. And I find that this explanation is even simplyifing the issue. xD
Anyway, I hope this makes sense, but I just can’t see Shoyo as the final antagonist because okay, he’s the same being as Utsuro, and yet…
He’s fighting Utsuro too.
Sorry this sounds super complicated (and I haven’t even tried to mention how Gintoki, Takasugi and Zura feel about this) xD but have a nice weekend Anon!
Utsuro. Yoshida Shoyo. I’m both of those and neither at the same time. One that has lived within this body for so long, I’ve forgotten my very name. No, maybe I never had a name to begin with. I was only showered with endless insults and hostility. And the only name I remember is… Devil.
Last night I have scavenged up all the Joui Past flashbacks and attempt to sort them into chronological order. It sort of worked out, if you ignore some of the parts that switches back into the present.
I can’t put everything up here. I have about 140+ pages in my file and I spend over an hour reading through the whole scene. So I’m only going to insert certain pages.
Well, here goes…
In the beginning, there was the leader of the Naraku who went missing. His name was Utsuro, but we’ve come to know him as Yoshida Shouyo.
Shouyo encounters Gintoki on a battlefield, where Gin steals from corpses to survive, getting the nickname “Corpse-eating demon.”
We don’t know Gintoki’s past any earlier than this, but he is most likely an orphan.
Gintoki and Shouyo went traveling to places, finally settling to teach at a school somewhere, and we reach the point where Takasugi and Katsura meets GIntoki.
Takasugi originally came to challenge the dojo as dojo-yaburi (I think it’s something to do with defeating a dojo and taking its sign or something??) nevermind it’s a temple school. So though he lost again and again to Gintoki, he kept coming back until he finally beats him.
By that point is when I inserted the flashback from the Benizakura arc. I think at this stage Takasugi came so much he’s practically a student anyway. Also something to note about was that Takasugi was disowned because he kept going to Shouyo’s school and beat up the bunch of assholes guys who were spreading false rumors about Shouyo teaching kids to overthrow the government.
Now because of these rumors, people are coming to tear the school down. Obviously these three aren’t going to let that happen. Then Shouyou came to the rescue, so the matter was resolved.
…Or was it? Eventually the Tendoshuu came and took Shouyou away. Gintoki makes a promise to protect his friends. We never saw any other Shouyou’s students in the manga, so there’s a high chance that they had all been killed aside from Katsura and Takasugi.
There’s another timeskip… the Joui trio are teenagers/young adults, and are ready to join the war effort to get their sensei back.
I figured that it’s during this time that Shouyou began to teach Mukuro (Nobume) in prison. For one, Nobume is a a teenager, around Sougo’s age during the official storyline. She’s way younger than Gintoki and the others, so this probably happened after the Joui trio grew up.
Also, Shouyou said something interesting. He said that “I had been thinking how with these hands that only took things away, I might be able to give something.” That hinted that Shouyou either knew or remembered his time as Utsuro (even though the present Utsuro doesn’t remember being Shouyo).
Alright, so then the Joui trio meet Sakamoto. Although Sakamoto also fought in the war, he mainly supplied them with weapon and money to fund the war.
And a fifth guy, who despite having his name as a joke, was actually real. He had a weird habit of helping people with Pocari, and had a very forgettable presence (lol).
And then this totally came in, because they elaborated in the Reunion arc (see below).
… And happy that Pokari was being sold here.”
“WHERE THE HELL DID THE POKARI COME FROOOOOOOM?!”
Kurokono faked his death by being inside an exploding temple during a game of kick the can.
This is where the second movie comes in, because Kurokono is not in the movie, and Sakamoto is still here. So it’s kind of the only place it can be inserted into.
Sakamoto’s samurai life ended when in one of the battles, Batou of a mercenary group injured his swords arm so badly he can’t use a sword anymore.
Sometimes after that, Sakamoto also left the war because of his crippled state. He was adrift at sea and got picket up by the Chidori pirates, where he met Mutsu.
This is the only time Gin met Oboro, other than during the Ikkoku Keisei arc. And Gintoki’s alone too, so that could mean Katsura and Takasugi are already captured. And Gin’s effort to save them only made things worse…
…Gin was too badly outnumbered, and with his friends and sensei as hostages, he had to make a decision.
This is where Takasugi lost his eyes, contrary to what we thought to the “Shiroyasha Koutan” we saw in the anime
After the Tendoshuu left with the body of Shouyo, the Joui 3 disbanded with nothing to protect, their reason to stay in the war is now gone. Takasugi kept his Kiheitai, Katsura regrouped with the rest of the joui to become terrorists, and Gin disappeared off to wander Edo.
The war is over.
But on the Tendoshuu/Naraku end, Their supposed traitor’s corpse was not a corpse. Because of the Altana, Utsuro did not die. Instead, he was reborn with no memory as Shouyo, only his past as the leader of Naraku. We knew this because he still remembered his first meeting with Oboro, which occurred before his time as Shouyo.
So meanwhile Gin was wondering Edo, and saved a girl he barely knew from being sold out by her own father
And instead of beheading him, the previous head of the Ikeda believed he was a good man, and set him free. Take note of Gin’s clothes…
…Because it looks the same as the one he wore in the graveyard when he met Otose. He’s all bloodied up because they beat him up in jail.
And then Gin-chan formed the Yorozuya made up of black people, proceed to dump them in a river out of jealousy, and then the official storyline starts.