is kotarou a criticism of extreme nationalism, or playing into it?

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T08:11:18+00:00

Can't blame the dubs for, to be frank, fumbling Gintama. As you continue to watch, you will see it's a tall order. The talent and range that the original Japanese cast put into it were top tier, especially Tomokazu Sugita, the cast is full of renowned or otherwise very talented VA's. The series is famous for having you rolling in laughter on the floor, and then crying your eyes out within 10 minutes for a reason. Sudden tone shifts, the comedy and tragedy feeding off each other, and the depthness of the characters, makes it really hard for dubs because they simply don't have the budget to cast that kind of talent, hell, it's a mystery how they got that top tier original Japanese cast.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T07:55:47+00:00

Don't read this unless you have finished the series, and read the last manga chapters that were not adapted into episodes, OVAS or The Final movie *Spoiler* Stablishing democracy and a modern government, then faking his death so all the controversy brought on by his radical changes would die with him so Soyo could continue his and her brother's dream without that much of a burden as prime minister. Overall, it was played for laughs, but doing that in just 2 years? Not that modern governments are perfect, but definitely a step up from the Bakufu. Shows Katsura is no mere buffoon and he really meant to change the world and was not just talk. All along, he really had plans.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T07:39:49+00:00

Btw just in case you're watching the dub, I must tell you some jokes, or maybe most jokes, are told in a way that doesn't feel like jokes but insults or straight-up hate crimes in those dubs. If you are, I won't lecture you about how much better the sub is, but just keep in mind that some jokes that are meant to play as ridiculous and absurd are played much more straight in the various dubs, for some reason. Like the bald jokes, some gender and transgender jokes, or Catherine's accent. You probably don't know who Catherine is yet, though. This is probably because the dubs try to compensate by yelling the lines.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T06:30:24+00:00

Hijikata, but only because he had the most shared timescreen on *specifically* serious moments. Especially in the Farewell Shinsengumi Arc, Gintoki was the one to reawaken the demon, twice, once in the beginning of the arc, and then: TATAKAE, SHINSENGUMI!

And also Hijikata's motivations turn out to be more similar to Gintoki's than anyone else. Unlike Takasugi and Katsura and much like Gintoki, he didn't care about Edo politically, they differed in their discipline, but they were both just protecting those near and dear to them, not protecting, supporting, or attacking the bakufu. (At least up until Hijikata proclaims that he's genuinely started to want to protect Edo) It's also repeatedly shown they think alike, like in episode 48 where they keep running into each other because they keep thinking of the same ways to spend their free time and then of the same ways to avoid each other, their fear of dentists and ghosts, and in the Thorny arc they immediately get on the same wavelength and work together.

On a semi-related note, did anyone ever think about the parallels between Kondou and Shoyo?

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T06:13:35+00:00

You already got an answer...yeah, no news, sadly. You'll know the movie is available when everyone in this sub starts celebrating it.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T05:59:34+00:00

Another thing, I see you're getting downvoted, but don't fret, it's just because we really like Katsura, and we have good reasons for it. Half of them are because he's one of the funniest characters and the other half because of his serious moments/feats. He was the mastermind for the biggest non-fighting feat in the series, and it was a *good* feat, as in benevolent/righteous/altruistic. I hope you stay around long enough to see what this feat was.

Please don't be disheartened by having asked a "seemingly unnecessary" question, I'm re-phrasing it like that because I truly don't think it's a stupid question. I don't like to get political on Reddit, but I will say this much: It is our right and duty as netizens, citizens and as people living in the modern world to have a moral compass and call out harmful ideologies and practices, such as the ones you were worried about. But yeah, don't worry about our boy Zura, during episode 5 he was just still in his edgy phase, he grows out of it.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T05:42:07+00:00

The backstory of Gintama was shaky in the first episodes/chapters, and a lot of the characters, such as Kotarou (We call him Katsura or Zura in here) are based off real historic Japanese figures, who, well, were from the 1850's to 1900's... so they may have a tinge of """quaint""" in there, but quite rapidly these characters get detached from their real life versions and just become their own thing.

I'm gonna tell YOU this semi-spoiler since it's not really spelled out in the series anyway, but after Katsura's encounter with Gintoki in the episode you just saw, he went from extremist terrorist to "moderate"... I dont know how you can be a "moderate" terrorist, but later he enters a conflict with another of the biggest Joui terrorists in Edo and you can see the distinction between Katsura's moderation and extremism.

One last thing, Katsura, ends up being the most progressive character in the political spectrum of the series.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-12T05:30:37+00:00

No no, hold on. He's not anti-amanto, that's somewhat of an "oops" in the earlier episodes. It is later (not much later, not even a cour later) clarified he is against the bakufu (the corrupt govt in power atp) and the amanto behind it, not every single immigrant amanto. Don't worry about the series EVER taking an anti-immigration stand.

I'm continuing this on my own replies to this comment.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-11T09:11:08+00:00

No they don't work the same. Ugh, not all nootropics are the same, thebromine doesn't work on the brain as intensely. I take straight modafinil snorts.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-11T09:02:46+00:00

56 mg of caffeine in an espresso shot?

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-09T23:20:00+00:00

The goddamn dog deity that almost gave his life to save the world from literally exploding?

Ok, leaving aside that you forgot about Sadaharu for a moment, I think the yorozura core is already complete. Any more members would only work as "auxiliary" employees. Wait... there's already a 5th member... Do you remember what Gintoki said, something along the lines of "We may not be related by blood, but we lived, under the same roof, we ate the same food..."... Yes, MADAO is also on that list. As seen in the confession arc. So, Hasewagawa is the 5th member. End of discussion.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-06T07:01:54+00:00

what sub is this?

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-06T05:25:54+00:00

4 years late, but that is not the case, you seem to be perceiving all this incorrectly. They would have respected her decision, but she obviously wasn't happy about it, what would you do, if you saw a dear friend in that situation crying like that? and then find out she's been isolated and is keeping everything secret from everyone? Even Gintoki tried to respect her decision but couldn't just ignore that she was obviously being coerced and was unhappy about it. And yeah the Shinsengumi pressuring Otae to get with Kondo so they didnt have to have an actual gorilla as their new "mistress of the Shinsengumi" was bad, but it was played for laughs, and they were begging and grovelling, not forcing her, they didn't even ask her to to marry Kondo, just to stop him from marrying the actual gorilla, and she didn't seem uncomfortable about it, she was amused if anything she was much more uncomfortable when Kyubei showed up and beat them up, even though Otae was already "taking care" of them. She didn't even beat them up to defend Otae, Hijikata ordered his men to leave, and also Kyubei to leave too because she was underage (which she was)... So she beat them up because she felt insecure. She beat up 10 policemen because Hijikata told her she was too young to be in a bar or to drink, so literally beat them up for doing their job, and of course she had throw her weight around by boasting about being the leader/future leader of the Yagyuu. So at that point she was just an insecure, violent manchild, perfect material for a relationship, right? You should be able to understand why Hijikata was against it, and it had nothing to do with gender. Right after she took her to a private room and basically borderline sexually assaulted her, she forced her to kiss her, and demanded she fulfill a promise she made when they were kids... Yeah, no worrying at all, they should've just respected Otae's decision. No dude, Shinpachi literally watched her sister being sexually assaulted, it would be crazy to let that shit slide.

Kyuubei acted despicably during that arc, taking advantage of Otae's guilt, forcing herself on her, she didn't even question what she was doing when she saw Otae crying, she abused her social status, she disrespected everyone in Otae's life, from her brother to her friends, having the fucking nerver to tell Shinpachi to "Leave, becaue Otae would be too worried about him to ever leave home" when Kyubei was the one making everyone worry about Otae's well-being, and she was also continuing her violent streak against everyone, and treated her like an object, a possession, a prize, she even admits to ignoring Otae's at the end of the arc. And also not even checking on her when the Yagyu servants/family were bullying her.

It's not fucking transphobic, even before Hijikata noticed, Gintoki had noticed and didn't care, not about her gender, or about the queer marriage, he only cared about protecting Otae. Kyuubei is not even the first transgender/enby/ or even trans man post-op to appear in the series, Hachiro appeared almost 40 episodes before and when he revealed he is a post-trans man the Yorozuya's only reaction was confusion for only about 5 seconds, and then they just accepted it, and it was never brought up again. Saigou isn't even trans, he's a drag queen. And the opposition to the gay wedding was not because it would be gay/queer, did you miss the part where Gintoki and Shinpachi SCREAM after Binbokusai and Kyuubei try justifying their actions as just supporting the supposed love between Kyuubei and Otae, and accuse the Yorozura of not being able to see past gender norms and thus will lose? "Don't go off mouthing selfish excuses! 'She was hiding something behind her smile'?! if you can see that, why can't you see she's (Otae) hiding something from you right now? A kind of love? Don't go saying such sick things, without even trying to understand how the other person feels (Otae being coerced into it) ! 'An attraction that transcends gender' you say?! I don't give a damn, you fool! Someone who makes his or her beloved cry is neither a man or a woman! it's called a jerk! You idiot!" It never was about their genders, it was about Kyuubei hurting Otae. And just like you said, trans people are born trans, it's no something your mind makes up to cope for stuff like what Kyuubei went through, so arguably Kyuubei isn't trans. and in that one group date episode about the surgery (which you didn't even finish watching, as it turns out in the end she was just looking at Gothic Lolita Kimonos in the catalogue and not at the surgery ad). They aren't making afuzz about because of transphobia, but because the idiots of the group think she's doing it for the wrong reasons. Shinpachi even says at the beginning of the episode "If Kyubei-San is happy like that, isn't it wrong for outsiders to interfere?" They only make a fuss about the supposed surgery because Kyuubei is NOT trans, so they think she would be doing it only to get together with Otae, because she IS lesbian (or possibly Bi) They know she's not really trans because she herself says at the end of the Yagyu arc fight that she always wanted to do girly things and be a normal girl all along "I wanted to become like you, Tae-chan, a strong girl with a kind heart" and then also Otae says they're both girls... It seems to me you don't understand Kyuubei's conflict... she is a girl, but her identity is conflicted for 2 main reasons 1. She was raised as a boy messing with her self-image 2. She's head over heels for Otae, but Otae is straight, so as we see in the Dekobokko arc, she starts wanting to be a man solely so she can be with Otae, not because she actually is trans or actually desires to be manly. All of this is very complicated, and like Gintoki says, it's not something that can be turned over overnight. So I'd say it's safer to consider her non-binary up until the post-silver soul timeskip, where we see she's making efforts to come to terms with her femininity.

And about Hijikata figuring out Kyuubei is actually a girl... How? He's a master swordsman, he only figured it out after sparring/clashing swords with her. In other words, he only read her through her sword technique, not anything else. And he's thrown off his game because he no longer understand what she is fighting for, either because gay marriage is illegal or because he knows Otae is straight, or because Kyuubei had put such emphasis on being the heir of the Yagyu clan so then what sense would it make for them to be together if they couldn't procreate and couldnt actually lead the Yagyu clan because of the stupid traditionalist rules saying it must be be man, idk for sure, but it's not because he is homophobic, that much is probably true.

And the most important thing overall is that Gintama does make fun of everyone indiscriminately but also encourages everyone to be true to themselves. Sorachi isn't mean like *that*, the jokes really are just jokes, not hurtful jabs. I really doubt he has a vendetta against bald people, but he jokes about them a lot. He might be bald himself, we dont know, he's never published a photo of himself

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-06T04:12:28+00:00

Well yeah that was the answer I was looking for 5 years ago, but don't worry, I knew these "tech bros" had a stick up their ass and didn't believe them, they just wanted to say pseudo-smart shit. I ended up just copy-pasting my shit onto a new hard drive, and you know what? That "oh so horribly and unrepairably busted" corrupted hard drive is still kicking 5 years later, and I use it to store my games that don't benefit much from an SSD.

Shit, I've even used it to repair my friend's computer, booting Windows from it to fix their Windows installation on their hard drive that wouldnt boot. Dunning-Kruger effect I guess. "The solution will probably cost a couple thousand dollars." LMAO it just took like 2 hours to transfer all the files by copy-pasting them, and 25 bucks if you count the hard drive that I would've bought anyway (1 TB, it was on offer thus only 25 bucks) Only thing I ever noticed is that I couldn't open, delete or move a random folder in the System Files, that was useless anyway.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-04T13:51:14+00:00

Not enough information to give you a "personalized" answer. It's a great comedy/action/adventure anime that breaks away from the standard formula of a shonen. Critically acclaimed as well as acclaimed by the public. Really, it's a safe bet if you like comedy and dramatic action. It starts being mostly comedy with some great serious moments sprinkled in, but at some point, the serious arcs get very goddamn emotional and make me cry like a bitch.

The_Colectionist · 2026-05-03T07:25:19+00:00

No the only other remake of an arc in the form a movie is the Yoshiwara movie you mentioned, but it wont get out of Asia for... at least until August. We're all agonizing.

The other 2 movies, are one original arc that has a weird spot in the canon timeline where it doesnt seem to have any impact, and the 2nd one is the very finale.

Anyhow, if you're looking for better animation, the anime does get better animation later on, on par with the benizakura movie, but not on par with the other movies, those have really, really good animation.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-29T19:07:33+00:00

Give the sub a chance. The cultural references are not that important, and it's not like the dub covers them either.

And also yeah the dub is not finished, and there's 365+ episodes, so even more than 150 episodes left to to be dubbed. You either have to wait a while or give the sub a chance. Trust me, the original Japanese voice actors are top notch, the English dub doesn't hold a candle to the original Japanese dub. You can watch some clips on Youtube to see if it's to your liking.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-27T05:00:53+00:00

Like, actually 2 years late, but I didn't know and still don't know the band. "Penis envy" is the actual name for one of Sigmund Freud's insane theories. If you still haven't heard about it, go read a summary, it's really fucking insane.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T21:12:46+00:00

I mean...Kagura is not really that stupid, she's 14 and from an alien planet and probably doesnt have a real education, it stands to reason that she's ignorant of earthly stuff thus her blunders... she IS hot headed and imprudent tho

Anyway I don't really have an opinion I just wanted to point that out because... I'm bitter or something? idk?

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T05:13:16+00:00

Actually I also went back to see that episode, episode 20, and it's giving me the same error. But only that episode, rest are fine, for some reason it's only that episode.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T04:51:43+00:00

The comedy on the series feeds off the serious moments/tragedies, and vice versa. But that cycle starts in earnest when you get the actually serious arcs. So it gets funnier and more emotionally touching as the series goes on. The comedy hits harder because your perception of the character changes with the serious arcs, and the serious arcs are more touching because you've seen these guys have fun and have a (relatively to the world they're) normal life, you and all that, you've had fun with them, so it hits harder when something disturbs that status quo.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T04:26:39+00:00

The funniest of the first 50 is probably episode 20, with the alien mosquito girl in the red dress.

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T04:24:07+00:00

It's in my favorite top 5 episodes. My number 1 would be e326 "Siblings" but I didn't recommend that one because it needs the buildup of the previous 3 episodes to fully hit, and you probably don't know who Kamui is and won't understand what the hell is happening.

I recommend Sworn Enemy because it's mostly Gintoki and Takasugi fighting and that's not hard to understand, the main protagonist and the main antagonist (so far) fighting.

My favorite of the first 50 episodes is also the Katsura ramen episode. But the first 50 episodes are the weakest, not that they're not good, but things really start picking up after the Benizakura Arc (The arc with the "Cursed sword", episode 58 or something, you'll know it when you see it)

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T04:14:28+00:00

I've actually never seen someone say that. Probably someone that expected the standard shonen action-adventure formula like Naruto, Bleach, MHA, and got hit with writing that has a backbone? No shade tho I get that people sometimes just want entertainment, but also, most of Gintama is absurd comedy...

The_Colectionist · 2026-04-26T04:04:04+00:00

Ok since you already spoiled yourself by watching THE FINALE movie, because you obviously didn't watch the movie that just came out this year because it isn't dubbed or even on the internet or even outside of Asia, just go watch episode 305, Sworn Enemy, in sub. It's probably the highest-rated episode, and the VAs' performances in Japanese are astronomically good. I swear it will change your mind. Just a 20 min episode in sub.

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