Edo's hooligan cops

A detailed record of Shinsengumi appearances in Gintama anime and manga. I am a huge Shinsengumi and Hijikata fangirl, talk to me!!

[dogsofthebakufu]

Episode 9 - Lesson 9

A guilty favourite. Hijikata Vs. Gintoki. It won’t happen again like this so enjoy the ride.

Notes

The exterior of the Shinsengumi headquarters looks a little different in this panel.

In the meeting some of the named captains are present, both in the anime and manga

Bandana and scar - Todo Bokosuke (8th squad captain)

Glasses - Takeda Kannesai (5th squad captain)

Yamazaki and Harada are there as well as some other captains, which I don’t think get named within the series though Sorachi-sensei did name all the captains outside of the manga.

The meeting room in the manga (also Hijikata’s cigarettes aren’t present in the anime)

Honestly, I don’t think you could sum up Hijikata’s feelings towards Sougo and Kondo more accurately than these two panels

Never trust Sougo, Toshi. Seriously. 

*Heavy sigh* - one of many in response to Kondo’s actions!!

In an anime-only scene, Shinsengumi members meet Hijikata in his room (there’s even a shot of the nice sign; 副長 室 - Vice chief’s room) and explain they will go out looking for revenge. Hijikata ponders as they leave that it isn’t so easy, if this silver-haired samurai could beat Kondo then what of them…

Hijikata’s room

Hijikata decides he will kill this silver-haired samurai himself. Okita points out Hijikata really likes to talk of killing and suggests an alternative: find any old white-haired guy and all will be forgotten. He turns up a now-familiar face in my favourite visual gag of this story.

Back in the anime Yamazaki also finds another soundalike much like the ones the other men found earlier. It the wrong thing obviously, and seppuku is prescribed. Yamazaki has been told to die in this episode more times than Okita has tried to kill Hijikata so far. FYI.

Okita mentions “Ladies 4″ will be on soon so they should head home. Later Kagura is seen watching it.

We also get a completely non-canon flashback to Kondo bringing them all together, current hairstyles and everything.

Sougo gives a dog he befriends in the street a pet name - Sadomaru #3

Back to following the manga, Gintoki nearly crushes Hijikata dropping something off a roof he is working on. Hijikata realises who he is (”You from Ikedaya!”) but Gin can’t remember him at all, and ends up calling him 多串君 (Ogushi), apparently an old classmate who had a goldfish, but in my opinion that’s likely just made up (or Sorachi-sensei hadn’t formulated Gin’s past properly by this point). Anyway Okita enjoys also calling Hijikata by this name.

Hijikata is pissed and breaks the 4th wall: “He forgot me after two or three chapters!”, “He forgot me after just three or four episodes!”

For the fight, Hijikata borrows Okita’s sword to give to Gintoki. Here are a couple of shots in both anime and manga showing the guard. 

Hijikata lands a blow to Gintoki’s shoulder but Gintoki snaps Hijikata’s swird in half. Okita and Kondo were watching on from a nearby rooftop - Okita expresses the desire to fight Gintoki himself one day (he’ll get it!) but Kondo warns him off.

[dogsofthebakufu]

Episode 8 - Lesson 8

This episode is a mix of anime-only scenes (the 24 hours with the Shinsengumi!” documentary is all anime-only) and the storyline that runs in parallel with the manga, the introduction of Kondo, who it turns out that whilst having the full admiration of his men (well, at this moment), is actually just a perverted stalker with a hairy ass.

In the manga it isn’t revealed who Kondo is until right at the end of Lesson 8 when Hijikata sees Kondo exposed and lying on the ground after his ‘duel’ with Gintoki. The tankubon even shows a black square where his picture and description will be in future.

Notes (italics below denotes consistency in both anime-manga)

A filmed operation leads the Shinsengumi into a Joui Karaoke contest and we get the first use of the music “ 御用改めである” (Goyou aratame de aru - this is official business) one of the Shinsengumi themes. This is the first line Hijikata utters on camera. 

Harada is present at the raid, he is 10th squad captain.

One of the Joui rebels shouts “Government dogs!” which is one of the names the Shinsengumi get called.

A cardboard cutout of Kondo is used to make it seem like he is overseeing the operation for the cameras. Actually Kondo is rarely shown to be out and about, the day-to-day fieldwork of the Shinsengumi is largely overseen by Hijikata.

The anime-only segments of this episode show both the men and Hijikata to hold Kondo in the utmost regard. Despite all he has to put up with, Hijikata maintains complete devotion to Kondo throughout the series (though lets say his patience is definitely tested!!!)

Ironically this story is the beginning of what becomes Kondo’s main character trait - he’s a perverted stalker!!

Apparently Kondo’s mother told him woman get more enjoyment out of being loved than they do from loving. This might be the only mention of his mother that I can remember.

Hijikata makes his first demand of seppuku, for skipping out on morning training. 

At morning training (which actually is performed around 10AM according to Yamazaki), Yamazaki is shown in the background practising his swings with his badminton racket. Okita unlike the other men who are all topless appears fully dressed with his sleepmask on, swinging out of time and snoring. 

Yamazaki makes a rare show of disagreeing with Hijikata and receives a kicking. First of many shown!  

Hijikata uses ‘Sougo’ to address Okita .

Okita blows up some cars in the road and blames it on Hijikata, who gets pretty annoyed and tries to strike him with his sword but Okita dodges every blow.

Kondo’s stalker levels increase...Hiding in food is a recurring theme.

Chances are, if Kondo is not in his uniform he’s just naked or near enough.

True to the sword ban that was mentioned in the beginning of the series, Gintoki points out to Otae that if her stalker has a sword in his belt he must be important. Being government workers the Shinsengumi are allowed to carry swords.

My favourite joke of this story is where Gintoki yells ‘come out come out wherever you are’ to Kondo in the restaurant and Kondo pops straight up not even slightly ashamed of his stalking...

During filming the Shinsengumi go to deal with a drunkard. Okita asks if they can kill the him and Hijikata denies him because of the cameras, he then has to be held back from killing him himself after the drunk vomits on his trousers. Sougo appeared to take great pleasure in restraining him.

In the anime Gintoki calls Kondo a gorilla for the first time.

Kondo is shown in three separate out-of-uniform outfits, the one he wears in the anime at Snack Smile is different to the manga but is the one most commonly seen throughout the series.

[dogsofthebakufu]

Episode 5 - Lesson 5 to 6

This episode features the first appearance by the Shinsengumi (I know, there’s episodes 1-2 but I’ll talk about them another day on account of their anime-only status and the particularly jarring moment where Kondo calls Hijikata by his family name!!)

Sougo and Hijikata’s first appearances

Notes:

In the manga, Yamazaki, Hijikata and Sougo first appear, whilst Kondo is also featured briefly in the anime as Hijikata meets him to report on the situation.

Another additional scene has Yamazaki, out in full badminton kit, being mistaken for being a peeping tom. 

Harada appears in the anime but is not named (captain’s uniform). 

The manga shows the guard of Hijikata’s sword (this one was too pretty for him, the guard of the cursed sword he eventually comes to own is a bit more badass!)

The building where Katsura holes the Yorozuya up in after they accidentally bomb the embassy is the ‘Hotel Ikedaya’, a reference to the Ikedaya incident. 

Hijikata calls Sougo “Okita” in both versions.

This story features Hijikata and Gintoki’s first run-in which, to Hijikata’s chagrin a few episodes later, Gintoki has no memory of despite being almost run through by Hijikata’s sword. The anime fight lasts longer than the manga, which after the initial trading of insults has occurred is cut off by Sougo’s bazooka.

This is also Sougo’s first shown attempt on Hijikata’s life.

The end of the anime features Hijikata and Sougo arriving just in time for their drama to air only for it to be interrupted by a breaking news report of the incident they were just involved in. Which they are decidedly unimpressed by.

[dogsofthebakufu]

February 2018

The end is near, Gintama is close to finishing and I decided I wanted to build something to remember it by. 

So I have created this blog to chronicle the appearances of my favourite characters in Gintama. I want to say it will be chronological but it probably won’t be, sorry. I want to catalogue all my favourite moments and any details I think are worth knowing or just interesting to me.

The original idea for this blog came from the desire to have a definitive tally of the number of times Sougo has tried to kill Hijikata, so I aim to have an ongoing count for this!