I saw your tag "the episode that finally cemented Zura as my tag" on my post re episode 309. If you want to expand on that, I'm all ears!
oH hello! :D
Essentially, this paragraph you wrote summed up my general reaction to Katsura’s entrance in Farewell Shinsengumi.
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
https://printfogey.dreamwidth.org/186174.html
The arc intentionally builds up such a heavy mood. Depressing event after depressing event just keeps hitting our heroes harder and harder. Shigeshige’s funeral, Kondou’s arrest and scheduled execution, Shinsengumi members scattered, Hijikata’s obvious depression. Suddenly Nobunobu threatens Otae - the crux of what makes their home and a vital part of everything that binds Shinsengumi and Odd Jobs together. Hijikata can’t stay his hand and Gintoki painfully understands due to the parallel of his past, so he sacrifices himself to uphold their collective honor and protect his friends. He protects the chance HIjikata still has to recover the master he’s lost because that’s the chance Gintoki wishes he himself had had.
As he is arrested, you really get the feel ‘how are they going to get out of this this time?’ This is truly the threshold. They can never go back to the way things were.
As he is helpless to do anything but watch Gintoki get hauled away, Sakaki delivers the final blow to Hijikata’s despair. “You can no longer be heroes.”
And suddenly, the stubborn answer of defiance waiting on stand-by for the perfect moment appears. The title of episode 309 finally makes sense. Heroes always arrive fashionably late.
Old gags reappear as serious plot devices, showing us that there has always been more to them than just comedy. A cameo reminder of Sho-chan in briefs, Zurako herself, the exploding Nmaibo smokescreen. BOOM. INTENSE MOODBREAKER.
You can’t help but cheer as the whole atmosphere is single-handedly lifted by Katsura. The arc enters a new and rebellious mood as he temporarily hijacks the spotlight and kickstarts his own plan of action - forcing everyone to follow suit if they want to survive. Katsura essentially comes in saying, Welcome to my world. We are doing things my way now. Beggars can’t be choosers!
Not only that. At the heart of this scene, you can also see the extent of Katsura’s loyalty for his friends. He stubbornly snatches away the martyr’s burden Gintoki has placed upon himself and steals it. But no worries, he’s Runaway Kotarou. He’s got more of a plan than Gintoki, who only acted only on instinct. Katsura’s odd preparedness is more than meets the eye. And he makes his entrance in the most overly dramatic and perfect combination of goofy and serious possible - as Zurako. It’s all of what Katsura’s character encapsulates. (Was it really really really necessary to dress up to get arrested? Sure he did it to sneak in and blend in with the ladies, but his dress is much more extravagant than what the hostesses wear in general. Something tells me he just wanted to dress up like always, period. Even in front of enemies he displays a flagrant lack of shame for his antics. It’s absolutely adorable, haha.)
He rescues Hijikata from his own negativity and proves he is willing to risk everything to save Kondou, his former enemy. That also speaks to the lengths he will go to. Katsura has steadily gained a strange camaraderie with the Shinsengumi, something Kondou is hesitant to admit until Katsura takes an outright bullet for him later. (All while worrying about Gintoki’s face-off with Naraku on the side!)
As a development built from over 300 episodes’ worth of misadventures and in-fighting come together, the Katsura Faction and the Shinsengumi finally join forces and attempt to let bygones be bygones. In prison, Katsura reinvigorates Kondou’s will to live just as Gintoki knows he must do to Hijikata’s fighting resolve. Shigeshige’s death provided the avenue for unification, something that Katsura is not going to let go to waste.
Katsura’s entrance in 309 is is one of my favorite scenes because throughout it all we are reminded of Katsura’s true depth. No matter how goofy and foolish he is, he is just as much a trickster and mastermind. These sides of his character are not at extremes. It all comes around. His ambitions, his promise with Shigeshige, his bond and shared past with Gintoki. These are some of the driving forces behind every action he takes.
Something endearing is Katsura’s own smugness about the whole thing. “Let us meet at dawn,” Katsura tells Gintoki with a knowing smile. It’s referencing the dramatic phrase Katsura seems to sling around everyone every once in a while. ‘Fighting for the dawn of this country.’
Katsura knows Gintoki and the Yorozuya will not be sitting out the whole affair, even for their own good. He has the utmost faith that Gintoki’s own participation will even be crucial to their overall success. And most of all, Katsura knows that he will finally have the thing he has wanted since he reunited with Gintoki at the start of the series - to fight for the same cause together again. And he’s turning the Shinsengumi into rebels along with him.
As the group is running away from Snack Smile with Katsura’s diversion, Gintoki almost looks peeved. That’s because he knows he’s been manipulated by his friend. After all, he’s spent the whole series dodging Zura only for everything to end up falling right where he wants it. At the end of the arc when conversing with HIjikata, he calls him a con-man. Roles flipped, now its the Shinsengumi listening to Katsura haha.
But for all Gintoki’s wariness, they seem to be completely in tune during the mission on Kokujo. The trust and familiarity is clear. Even if they’re on opposite ends of the island, they know their roles. And they do meet at dawn on board Matsudaira’s ship.
Ah… So that’s that.
Actually I’m always talking some friends’ ears off about this so much that all my points are all over the place by now;;; I would love to get back to you on this again maybe in a more in-depth post! Katsura’s character is so fun to look at. Thank you for all of your reblogs/likes by the way, hehe. We seem to have the same common interests. <3 I’m glad for your ask!
