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rainsometimesI wanted to make some kind of meta post for the prompt "hero" to fit with the ongoing Ginzura Fest at twitter.com/ginzurafest, now entering the Ginzura Week built around 18 August, the day right between Katsura's and Gintoki's birthdays. I'm not used to writing meta based on prompts but figured I would give it a try!
I'm using the big Katsura moment in manga chapter 528 and its equivalent in episode 309 of the anime, both installments titled "Heroes Always Turn Up [Fashionably] Late". All of this will have spoilers for the arc in question but also for the subsequent canon arc.
I know I will repeat myself to a certain amount since I've rambled on about this moment before, but hopefully there will be some nuggets of new thoughts mixed in with the rest. Also, this is centred mainly on Katsura, but everything always comes back to Gintoki sooner or later so hopefully that won't matter too much.
It would take too long to fully recap the plot who led to the moment, so I will take the liberty to assume anyone reading this still remember the particulars of the opening of Farewell Shinsengumi arc - the former shogun is assassinated, the new shogun Nobunobu has Kondo and Matsudaira arrested and scheduled for execution, the Shinsengumi itself is disbanded but the rest of its members, sans Kondo, are put into other units and are spared persecution for now, which was exactly what Kondo wished for and it's why he agreed to come quietly. Hijikata is acutely aware that if he steps out of line to try to rescue Kondo or otherwise agree the new regime, not just his life but the lives of the other ex-Shinsengumi members will be forfeit.
Hijikata and Gintoki happen to visit Cabaret Smile just at the moment when Isabuso Sasaki takes Nobunobu there and Nobunobu swiftly proves himself to be a terrifying tyrant eager to have people slain or near-slain for little reason at all just to prove his power. As an outraged, brave Otae defies him, and is menaced by a sword to her throat, Gintoki steps forward and slugs Nobunobu so far he falls unconscious. Isaburo doesn't seem too perturbed about this but he does have Gintoki put into handcuffs and starts to lead him away (interestingly, he has Otae released, saying that Nobunobu might not remember exactly what happened so they can pin the whole thing on Gintoki).
[There's a parallel scene happening elsewhere in the city involving Sôgo, Kagura, and a faction of Jouishishi, but let's ignore that one for now. Even if there's a small but cool detail concerning Sadaharu in it]
Hijikata is struggling with himself, still unsure what to do, and Isaburo tells him that he'll just have to obey and comply, that people will soon get used to the new state of things and that this is no longer an era. And then:
Then he throws smoke bombs and tells Gintoki,
and allows himself to be arrested as Gintoki, Hijikata, Otae, hard-boiled Kozinogata and Kozinogata's assistant Haji take the opportunity to run away from there, Gintoki still in handcuffs. Clearly he has some kind of plan in mind, as Gintoki realizes.
Katsura's hero-related statement is of course a direct retort to Isaburo's cynical rhetoric. But how else should we read it? We should know by now that few things that Katsura does, especially narratively important things, and especially things which must have been carefully planned on his part, are rarely unambiguous and only meant to express and do one thing only.
First of all, the line can apparently be read as talking about one hero, "because there's a hero right there", or about several, "les héros sont déjà sur place", as the French translations has it. Secondly, is he truly referring to himself, or is he saying, "look, there are heroes right here in this bar, like Otae and Hijikata and most of all Gintoki, but I'm not letting you have any of them and so they will keep on being heroes of Edo". While the latter explanation is, well, heroic, I will go with the first interpretation for now and assume he is indeed cheekily referring to himself. Here Katsura is, stepping in like a true hero to save the day, so self-evidently there's a hero here now to defy both Nobunobu's attempt at reign of terror and Isaburo's philosophy.
I think this is the first and even the only time in Gintama where Katsura self-identifies as a hero to others, explicitly or implicitly. In previous arcs and episodes in the series, Katsura has shown to identify as a revolutionary, a samurai, a leader, a comrade, and a friend, but not as a hero. Even in his Big Fight moment later on in Battle at Rakuyo arc, where he lays down his identity as the careful "General" to really let loose, he does so at a foreign, lawless planet against a powerful space pirate commander, without any of the narrative framework of the Shinsengumi Arc with an oppressive government and the corresponding need for individuals to stand up for what's right. He's not really being a "Hero" in episode 320 and the corresponding manga chapters 562-564; he's just being "Zura", a warrior fighting for his friends, including the missing Takasugi (and okay, ultimately he's also fighting for his country and his planet, but that's less present).
Gintoki, on the other hand, does ambiguously identify as more-or-less a "hero" at various points, despite his deep self-loathing: if nothing else, he knows he's the main character of a Shonen Jump manga and so he's a hero by default, so Kintoki robbing him of this status in the Kintama arc is a blow to his identity. But even if we try discarding the meta angle for now - Farewell Shinsengumi after all being a serious arc with few allusions that break the fourth wall - Gintoki is also well aware that he had a reputation as a tremendous fighter performing acts like that of a hero during the Joui War, and his current occupation as a man of odd jobs still keeps putting him in situations where he's making an individual stand for the sake of justice and compassion. Gintoki is a deeply complicated person, but if nothing else he recognizes other people seeing him as a hero, and to some extent maybe he doesn't mind the label that much. (And maybe one could say that he doesn't really think that "hero" and "good person" are quite the same thing?)
But that's not really Katsura's thing. Katsura's thing, as is confirmed later on in that flashback in Battle at Rakuyo, is to be the responsible general, the leader who must make the plans and who must be careful so he can survive; he does know how to play support, much as his role in the war was to be the defensive planner and not the flashy warrior in the spotlight. And this continues on into the present, even as his old comrades have either given up the fight or turn down a path too destructive and nihilistic for his taste. As I've remarked before, in sports terminology Katsura seems to see himself as a team captain while Gintoki is the ace player who's now given up playing so Katsura keeps trying to get him back.
Katsura is a leader of men, and he knows it. True, sometimes he may waver on what exact style of leadership he should perform - he espoused a pompous style in the Confessions arc, where Shigeshige then outshone him with a much nobler and follower-centric approach. Then again, it's questionable how sincere Katsura was during that whole arc. In any case, regardless I maintain that he outwardly identifies himself to others as a general / revolutionary / samurai - and sometimes, to his salvation, as a comrade / friend. And this also seems to reflect his inner feelings.
But again, he is a responsible person. And he is a human being who can feel overlooked and sulk about it, wanting more screentime and less time on stand-by. And at this moment in Cabaret Smile, he has some very definite plans for the future, involving a team-up with the Shinsengumi commander that will be good for the country and will put the Shinsengumi in his debt. Moreover, he needs Gintoki to be involved in the upcoming battle in order to feel sure that he won't just be leading his old men and his hoped-for future allies to their deaths.
So for all these reasons, he explicitly takes on the mantle of a hero, of the Man on the Spot who Does the Right Thing. All of which accomplishes five things: 1. rescues his friend, 2. puts him into position of breaking out Kondo & Matsudaira from prison and building an alliance with them, 3. gets some long-awaited screentime while getting to look dramatic and gorgeous, 4. proves to Hijikata (the man who's arguable the most central person in the whole cabaret scene, whose soul is the most in turmoil) that Isaburo's philosophy is wrong, and individuals can still take a stand without everything turning worse, and 5. making sure Gintoki will be involved in the upcoming rescue project by getting himself imprisoned while saving Gin. He's being manipulative there and Gintoki totally knows it, but that doesn't mean Gintoki can just ignore the situation.
Now, in the rest of the Farewell Shinsengumi arc, Katsura is mainly shown as teaming up with Kondo, his equal as a leader of men, the two of them able to take on many strong opponents and saying, "we're the only ones able to kill one another" in typical shonen fashion. Indeed, in the final third or so of the arc, Katsura fades out more in importance, until the very end when he's seen in a flashback pushing the Shinsengumi to escape Edo. Even before that, arguably he doesn't quite take on the "hero" role again after Kondo and Matsudaira agree to join him. Or at the very least, there's a different flavour to his narrative role.
Later on in the same arc, Katsura tells Kondo that things will be fine because he "left his trump card out there", meaning Gintoki. Again, it's clear that he thinks of Gintoki as a hero. Katsura is the general, Gintoki is the ace warrior.
So with all of this in mind, maybe his line is less a response to Isaburo, and more a veiled message to Gintoki. Maybe it should really be read as plural form after all = "There are heroes right here (and Gintoki, you're one of them, so step up and be a more proper leader here and THINK before you act; also, I'm one of them too, pay attention so I don't steal the protagonist spot from you, especially because look, here I am heroically getting into trouble just so I can save your sorry ass, and also, you're not alone, and we can bring down this whole stupid government together, and) Let's meet at dawn".
Katsura is good at strategy, good at weird radio waves and the most insane gags, good at support work, good at accomplishing the main objectives of an arc while Gintoki does the hard work of taking down the main antagonist (see Harusame arc/episode and Benizakura arc). He's also very good at throwing bombs. He might sulk at being stand-by, but that doesn't mean he necessarily needs the most spotlight; he just wants to be included so he can help the people he cares about be safe and well.
But! If there is a necessity for someone to be a spectacular kind of hero, and he can see that nobody else can do the job for various reasons, he will be quite happy to step in and fill that role.
Then he'll step out of that role again and go back to being the supportive co-leader. Katsura is two things very consistently: dutiful, and pragmatic. He'll use whatever works. But whenever the thing that works is something he can do together with Gintoki, the two of them fighting on the same side for a good goal, he's always the happiest. Gintoki is always Katsura's hero in his mind, I think, try as he might to suppress it; so when he was able to become Gintoki's hero, he must have been extra thrilled just for that reason.
That got kind of rambling and probably didn't hang together all that well in the end. Thoughts very welcome - maybe I'll be able to rewrite some of this so it reads better! (Note that even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can still leave a guest comment!)
I'm using the big Katsura moment in manga chapter 528 and its equivalent in episode 309 of the anime, both installments titled "Heroes Always Turn Up [Fashionably] Late". All of this will have spoilers for the arc in question but also for the subsequent canon arc.
I know I will repeat myself to a certain amount since I've rambled on about this moment before, but hopefully there will be some nuggets of new thoughts mixed in with the rest. Also, this is centred mainly on Katsura, but everything always comes back to Gintoki sooner or later so hopefully that won't matter too much.
It would take too long to fully recap the plot who led to the moment, so I will take the liberty to assume anyone reading this still remember the particulars of the opening of Farewell Shinsengumi arc - the former shogun is assassinated, the new shogun Nobunobu has Kondo and Matsudaira arrested and scheduled for execution, the Shinsengumi itself is disbanded but the rest of its members, sans Kondo, are put into other units and are spared persecution for now, which was exactly what Kondo wished for and it's why he agreed to come quietly. Hijikata is acutely aware that if he steps out of line to try to rescue Kondo or otherwise agree the new regime, not just his life but the lives of the other ex-Shinsengumi members will be forfeit.
Hijikata and Gintoki happen to visit Cabaret Smile just at the moment when Isabuso Sasaki takes Nobunobu there and Nobunobu swiftly proves himself to be a terrifying tyrant eager to have people slain or near-slain for little reason at all just to prove his power. As an outraged, brave Otae defies him, and is menaced by a sword to her throat, Gintoki steps forward and slugs Nobunobu so far he falls unconscious. Isaburo doesn't seem too perturbed about this but he does have Gintoki put into handcuffs and starts to lead him away (interestingly, he has Otae released, saying that Nobunobu might not remember exactly what happened so they can pin the whole thing on Gintoki).
[There's a parallel scene happening elsewhere in the city involving Sôgo, Kagura, and a faction of Jouishishi, but let's ignore that one for now. Even if there's a small but cool detail concerning Sadaharu in it]
Hijikata is struggling with himself, still unsure what to do, and Isaburo tells him that he'll just have to obey and comply, that people will soon get used to the new state of things and that this is no longer an era. And then:
Then he throws smoke bombs and tells Gintoki,
and allows himself to be arrested as Gintoki, Hijikata, Otae, hard-boiled Kozinogata and Kozinogata's assistant Haji take the opportunity to run away from there, Gintoki still in handcuffs. Clearly he has some kind of plan in mind, as Gintoki realizes.
Katsura's hero-related statement is of course a direct retort to Isaburo's cynical rhetoric. But how else should we read it? We should know by now that few things that Katsura does, especially narratively important things, and especially things which must have been carefully planned on his part, are rarely unambiguous and only meant to express and do one thing only.
First of all, the line can apparently be read as talking about one hero, "because there's a hero right there", or about several, "les héros sont déjà sur place", as the French translations has it. Secondly, is he truly referring to himself, or is he saying, "look, there are heroes right here in this bar, like Otae and Hijikata and most of all Gintoki, but I'm not letting you have any of them and so they will keep on being heroes of Edo". While the latter explanation is, well, heroic, I will go with the first interpretation for now and assume he is indeed cheekily referring to himself. Here Katsura is, stepping in like a true hero to save the day, so self-evidently there's a hero here now to defy both Nobunobu's attempt at reign of terror and Isaburo's philosophy.
I think this is the first and even the only time in Gintama where Katsura self-identifies as a hero to others, explicitly or implicitly. In previous arcs and episodes in the series, Katsura has shown to identify as a revolutionary, a samurai, a leader, a comrade, and a friend, but not as a hero. Even in his Big Fight moment later on in Battle at Rakuyo arc, where he lays down his identity as the careful "General" to really let loose, he does so at a foreign, lawless planet against a powerful space pirate commander, without any of the narrative framework of the Shinsengumi Arc with an oppressive government and the corresponding need for individuals to stand up for what's right. He's not really being a "Hero" in episode 320 and the corresponding manga chapters 562-564; he's just being "Zura", a warrior fighting for his friends, including the missing Takasugi (and okay, ultimately he's also fighting for his country and his planet, but that's less present).
Gintoki, on the other hand, does ambiguously identify as more-or-less a "hero" at various points, despite his deep self-loathing: if nothing else, he knows he's the main character of a Shonen Jump manga and so he's a hero by default, so Kintoki robbing him of this status in the Kintama arc is a blow to his identity. But even if we try discarding the meta angle for now - Farewell Shinsengumi after all being a serious arc with few allusions that break the fourth wall - Gintoki is also well aware that he had a reputation as a tremendous fighter performing acts like that of a hero during the Joui War, and his current occupation as a man of odd jobs still keeps putting him in situations where he's making an individual stand for the sake of justice and compassion. Gintoki is a deeply complicated person, but if nothing else he recognizes other people seeing him as a hero, and to some extent maybe he doesn't mind the label that much. (And maybe one could say that he doesn't really think that "hero" and "good person" are quite the same thing?)
But that's not really Katsura's thing. Katsura's thing, as is confirmed later on in that flashback in Battle at Rakuyo, is to be the responsible general, the leader who must make the plans and who must be careful so he can survive; he does know how to play support, much as his role in the war was to be the defensive planner and not the flashy warrior in the spotlight. And this continues on into the present, even as his old comrades have either given up the fight or turn down a path too destructive and nihilistic for his taste. As I've remarked before, in sports terminology Katsura seems to see himself as a team captain while Gintoki is the ace player who's now given up playing so Katsura keeps trying to get him back.
Katsura is a leader of men, and he knows it. True, sometimes he may waver on what exact style of leadership he should perform - he espoused a pompous style in the Confessions arc, where Shigeshige then outshone him with a much nobler and follower-centric approach. Then again, it's questionable how sincere Katsura was during that whole arc. In any case, regardless I maintain that he outwardly identifies himself to others as a general / revolutionary / samurai - and sometimes, to his salvation, as a comrade / friend. And this also seems to reflect his inner feelings.
But again, he is a responsible person. And he is a human being who can feel overlooked and sulk about it, wanting more screentime and less time on stand-by. And at this moment in Cabaret Smile, he has some very definite plans for the future, involving a team-up with the Shinsengumi commander that will be good for the country and will put the Shinsengumi in his debt. Moreover, he needs Gintoki to be involved in the upcoming battle in order to feel sure that he won't just be leading his old men and his hoped-for future allies to their deaths.
So for all these reasons, he explicitly takes on the mantle of a hero, of the Man on the Spot who Does the Right Thing. All of which accomplishes five things: 1. rescues his friend, 2. puts him into position of breaking out Kondo & Matsudaira from prison and building an alliance with them, 3. gets some long-awaited screentime while getting to look dramatic and gorgeous, 4. proves to Hijikata (the man who's arguable the most central person in the whole cabaret scene, whose soul is the most in turmoil) that Isaburo's philosophy is wrong, and individuals can still take a stand without everything turning worse, and 5. making sure Gintoki will be involved in the upcoming rescue project by getting himself imprisoned while saving Gin. He's being manipulative there and Gintoki totally knows it, but that doesn't mean Gintoki can just ignore the situation.
Now, in the rest of the Farewell Shinsengumi arc, Katsura is mainly shown as teaming up with Kondo, his equal as a leader of men, the two of them able to take on many strong opponents and saying, "we're the only ones able to kill one another" in typical shonen fashion. Indeed, in the final third or so of the arc, Katsura fades out more in importance, until the very end when he's seen in a flashback pushing the Shinsengumi to escape Edo. Even before that, arguably he doesn't quite take on the "hero" role again after Kondo and Matsudaira agree to join him. Or at the very least, there's a different flavour to his narrative role.
Later on in the same arc, Katsura tells Kondo that things will be fine because he "left his trump card out there", meaning Gintoki. Again, it's clear that he thinks of Gintoki as a hero. Katsura is the general, Gintoki is the ace warrior.
So with all of this in mind, maybe his line is less a response to Isaburo, and more a veiled message to Gintoki. Maybe it should really be read as plural form after all = "There are heroes right here (and Gintoki, you're one of them, so step up and be a more proper leader here and THINK before you act; also, I'm one of them too, pay attention so I don't steal the protagonist spot from you, especially because look, here I am heroically getting into trouble just so I can save your sorry ass, and also, you're not alone, and we can bring down this whole stupid government together, and) Let's meet at dawn".
Katsura is good at strategy, good at weird radio waves and the most insane gags, good at support work, good at accomplishing the main objectives of an arc while Gintoki does the hard work of taking down the main antagonist (see Harusame arc/episode and Benizakura arc). He's also very good at throwing bombs. He might sulk at being stand-by, but that doesn't mean he necessarily needs the most spotlight; he just wants to be included so he can help the people he cares about be safe and well.
But! If there is a necessity for someone to be a spectacular kind of hero, and he can see that nobody else can do the job for various reasons, he will be quite happy to step in and fill that role.
Then he'll step out of that role again and go back to being the supportive co-leader. Katsura is two things very consistently: dutiful, and pragmatic. He'll use whatever works. But whenever the thing that works is something he can do together with Gintoki, the two of them fighting on the same side for a good goal, he's always the happiest. Gintoki is always Katsura's hero in his mind, I think, try as he might to suppress it; so when he was able to become Gintoki's hero, he must have been extra thrilled just for that reason.
That got kind of rambling and probably didn't hang together all that well in the end. Thoughts very welcome - maybe I'll be able to rewrite some of this so it reads better! (Note that even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can still leave a guest comment!)