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rainsometimesOver on Tumblr, razberryyum wrote a very engaging reaction/meta post on Gintama episode 309 and the corresponding chapter 527 and 528, over here. I reblogged it with some comments and now I want to repost those comments to Dreamwidth, expanded somewhat. Screenshots/panels are taken from that post, from this post by silveranimefan and from one of my own old posts. Let's hope Tumblr will allow these pics to still be visible...
Spoilers for this episode/chapter behind the cut, for the preceding arc and chapters/episodes, plus some foreshadowing of later episodes. Comments extremely welcome - new perspectives are great. (Nitpicks, too!)
We first strike an elegiac tone with Katsura paying his own private tribute to Shigeshige and confirming he intends to carry out the promise they made on changing the country for the better.
From there on there's a brief scene with a distraught Shinpachi and Otae, both thinking of Kondo, no longer a comical annoyance as he's condemned to execution. Shinpachi's solemn and listless: like the Shinsengumi, like Gintoki, he doesn't know how to act. Right now the moment is of loss and grief.
The action switches to the "Smile" hostess club, and that's what I'll mostly talk about here. Sōgo's and Kagura's scene outside in an alley surrounded by Jōishishi members runs parallel to the club scenes, but I don't have as much to say about it.
Hijikata's the character who's the most in focus in the club scene, and arguably in the whole episode. He's been taken out to drink by his new boss the hard-boiled police detective Kozenigata, who invited Gintoki along as well. As his assistant Haji remarks, it was smart to do so since their predictable usual squabbling brings Hijikata out of his despondency to some amount.
But that can only help a little bit, and briefly. It goes away already when Otae turns serious, and Hijikata admits he has no answers if she has questions, nor does he know what to do. : Hijikata, deposed from his duty but still entangled in an authoritarian society, has been powerless up until now since he knows Kondo trusts him to keep the others safe -- and to stay alive to help keep Edo safe*.
Then, Sasaki and the Mimawarigumi appears... flanked by Nobunobu himself, adding an intense sense of palpable menace to the already grim and tense atmosphere. As the scene plays out, it gets mercilessly worse, as the new shogun's actions and words are at the same time horrible to endure and yet seemingly impossible to rise up against -- especially for Hijikata.
This threat has to resonate strongly with Gintoki.
Nobunobu lords it over the hostesses and the other guests, pretending generosity while only exuding capricious, power-hungry cruelty. He cuts down two hostesses for no reason at all, really only because he can. (We never get to know if they survived the night, either.) The only one who dares to speak against him is the outraged Otae, which earns her the next position of threat, as Nobunobu seems poised to cut her throat.
At this point, Hijikata can endure it no more, and tries to act, which could have been catastrophic for the Shinsengumi, only Gintoki stops him.
Gintoki, with his more liminal position in society is the one who can step in at this point of crisis, punching Nobunobu out and saving Otae. But with his possible allies neutralised and made helpless, Gintoki stands alone and is about to be ported away to be executed, accepting his probable fate with a weary little smile. Heartbreaking.
His small smile in this moment just slays me.
Even if one assumes that he would surely be spared such an outcome -- being the protagonist and all -- him being carted off to prison would still mean delaying anything that feels like true relief and hope. Right here, everything still seems dark, foreboding, sombre.
But! Over in the other scene, a familiar voice belonging to Yamazaki suddenly turns up among the Joishishi who's been trying to talk to Sōgo, as he urgently asks the attacking Sōgo to wait. "Hallo, what's this, then?" the readers wonder, cogwheels turning, hope starting to rescind. [I edited this part since I misremembered and thought the reveal of Elizabeth on the scene happened here, but it comes slightly later./edit]
And then Katsura appears in the hostess club like a rescuing angel, confirming that same hope. I must confess I squealed the moment that elegant beauty was first glimpsed, realizing immediately who it must be**. In a situation like this, only the one who's already lawless is able to step in without further endangering others. That's also why Katsura is the only one who can act to save Gintoki, the next most lawless character present***.
When I first saw this episode, I felt nothing but relief and new hope by Zura's intervention. This wasn't changed by his subsequent capture, since he, unlike Gintoki, clearly had a plan and was letting himself get captured on purpose. Moreover, since we know he's broken out of prison several times before in the series, I didn't switch to start worrying about his safety (not yet, at least!).
After all the angst of the previous arc and the heavy, all-pervasive mood of sorrow and ever-encroaching dread which ruled episode 308 and much of this one, the new infusion of hope and plain FUCK YEAH was sorely needed. ♥♥♥
Furthermore, Zura's my favourite character and up until this point he'd been rarely used in serious arcs, save for Benizakura: with the flashbacks to the past of in the previous arc, and the epic Gintoki vs Takasugi battle, his absence had started to feel like an omission for a while now. This was a truly splendid return to the main plot that felt very narratively satisfying. Which is why this is one of my favourite Gintama moments.
*This paralysis can only be broken for Hijikata in the following episode/chapter, by the fact that his Shinsengumi brothers together decide to take the great risk of trying to break out Kondo, putting themselves in what is effectively armed rebellion against the government and allying with their erstwhile enemies of Katsura's faction to do so. Although Sogo insists on the final decision being Hijikata's to take, the Vice Commander would never have agreed with putting everyone in that kind of danger and disrespecting Kondo's wish if the others hadn't made their willingness so crystal clear.
**Tangent: I loved the way the Dramatic! Reveal! riffed on the trope where a woman in disguise dramatically reveals herself by letting loose the long hair she's hidden under a hat or what have you. Katsura does that in reverse, one could say - dressed as a beautiful courtesan with hair pinned up, by undoing it he deliberately makes himself immediately recognizable to the law enforcement present.)
***Okay, so obviously Kagura and probably a few other people could also feasibly step in, had they been present. But Kagura was needed in the other scene, less for protecting Sogo than simply for companionship and serving him some ultimately-supportive tough love. Also, we did need the next step in the Katsura/Kondo ship development.
Spoilers for this episode/chapter behind the cut, for the preceding arc and chapters/episodes, plus some foreshadowing of later episodes. Comments extremely welcome - new perspectives are great. (Nitpicks, too!)
We first strike an elegiac tone with Katsura paying his own private tribute to Shigeshige and confirming he intends to carry out the promise they made on changing the country for the better.
From there on there's a brief scene with a distraught Shinpachi and Otae, both thinking of Kondo, no longer a comical annoyance as he's condemned to execution. Shinpachi's solemn and listless: like the Shinsengumi, like Gintoki, he doesn't know how to act. Right now the moment is of loss and grief.
The action switches to the "Smile" hostess club, and that's what I'll mostly talk about here. Sōgo's and Kagura's scene outside in an alley surrounded by Jōishishi members runs parallel to the club scenes, but I don't have as much to say about it.
Hijikata's the character who's the most in focus in the club scene, and arguably in the whole episode. He's been taken out to drink by his new boss the hard-boiled police detective Kozenigata, who invited Gintoki along as well. As his assistant Haji remarks, it was smart to do so since their predictable usual squabbling brings Hijikata out of his despondency to some amount.
But that can only help a little bit, and briefly. It goes away already when Otae turns serious, and Hijikata admits he has no answers if she has questions, nor does he know what to do. : Hijikata, deposed from his duty but still entangled in an authoritarian society, has been powerless up until now since he knows Kondo trusts him to keep the others safe -- and to stay alive to help keep Edo safe*.
Then, Sasaki and the Mimawarigumi appears... flanked by Nobunobu himself, adding an intense sense of palpable menace to the already grim and tense atmosphere. As the scene plays out, it gets mercilessly worse, as the new shogun's actions and words are at the same time horrible to endure and yet seemingly impossible to rise up against -- especially for Hijikata.
This threat has to resonate strongly with Gintoki.
Nobunobu lords it over the hostesses and the other guests, pretending generosity while only exuding capricious, power-hungry cruelty. He cuts down two hostesses for no reason at all, really only because he can. (We never get to know if they survived the night, either.) The only one who dares to speak against him is the outraged Otae, which earns her the next position of threat, as Nobunobu seems poised to cut her throat.
At this point, Hijikata can endure it no more, and tries to act, which could have been catastrophic for the Shinsengumi, only Gintoki stops him.
Gintoki, with his more liminal position in society is the one who can step in at this point of crisis, punching Nobunobu out and saving Otae. But with his possible allies neutralised and made helpless, Gintoki stands alone and is about to be ported away to be executed, accepting his probable fate with a weary little smile. Heartbreaking.
His small smile in this moment just slays me.
Even if one assumes that he would surely be spared such an outcome -- being the protagonist and all -- him being carted off to prison would still mean delaying anything that feels like true relief and hope. Right here, everything still seems dark, foreboding, sombre.
But! Over in the other scene, a familiar voice belonging to Yamazaki suddenly turns up among the Joishishi who's been trying to talk to Sōgo, as he urgently asks the attacking Sōgo to wait. "Hallo, what's this, then?" the readers wonder, cogwheels turning, hope starting to rescind. [I edited this part since I misremembered and thought the reveal of Elizabeth on the scene happened here, but it comes slightly later./edit]
And then Katsura appears in the hostess club like a rescuing angel, confirming that same hope. I must confess I squealed the moment that elegant beauty was first glimpsed, realizing immediately who it must be**. In a situation like this, only the one who's already lawless is able to step in without further endangering others. That's also why Katsura is the only one who can act to save Gintoki, the next most lawless character present***.
When I first saw this episode, I felt nothing but relief and new hope by Zura's intervention. This wasn't changed by his subsequent capture, since he, unlike Gintoki, clearly had a plan and was letting himself get captured on purpose. Moreover, since we know he's broken out of prison several times before in the series, I didn't switch to start worrying about his safety (not yet, at least!).
After all the angst of the previous arc and the heavy, all-pervasive mood of sorrow and ever-encroaching dread which ruled episode 308 and much of this one, the new infusion of hope and plain FUCK YEAH was sorely needed. ♥♥♥
Furthermore, Zura's my favourite character and up until this point he'd been rarely used in serious arcs, save for Benizakura: with the flashbacks to the past of in the previous arc, and the epic Gintoki vs Takasugi battle, his absence had started to feel like an omission for a while now. This was a truly splendid return to the main plot that felt very narratively satisfying. Which is why this is one of my favourite Gintama moments.
*This paralysis can only be broken for Hijikata in the following episode/chapter, by the fact that his Shinsengumi brothers together decide to take the great risk of trying to break out Kondo, putting themselves in what is effectively armed rebellion against the government and allying with their erstwhile enemies of Katsura's faction to do so. Although Sogo insists on the final decision being Hijikata's to take, the Vice Commander would never have agreed with putting everyone in that kind of danger and disrespecting Kondo's wish if the others hadn't made their willingness so crystal clear.
**Tangent: I loved the way the Dramatic! Reveal! riffed on the trope where a woman in disguise dramatically reveals herself by letting loose the long hair she's hidden under a hat or what have you. Katsura does that in reverse, one could say - dressed as a beautiful courtesan with hair pinned up, by undoing it he deliberately makes himself immediately recognizable to the law enforcement present.)
***Okay, so obviously Kagura and probably a few other people could also feasibly step in, had they been present. But Kagura was needed in the other scene, less for protecting Sogo than simply for companionship and serving him some ultimately-supportive tough love. Also, we did need the next step in the Katsura/Kondo ship development.