A Gintama chapter a day keeps the ending away...Lesson 502
MY 18 FAVORITE MOMENTS IN LESSON 502:
Shogun Assassination Arc!!! The beginning of the (thankfully) neverending end. Those of us who love Gintama have always thought of it as being epic in its own way, but this is where its epicness got kicked up yet another notch. Prior to this arc which started over 3 years ago, I had actually fallen behind in reading for over half a year because I figured I could always easily catch up since Gintama would probably be around forever anyway. I got a real kick in the butt to hurry up when my friend told me Gintama looked to be ending soon since it’s been in this continuous arc for close to 30 chapters already (since Farewell Shinsengumi does continue on directly from this arc). Thank the gods she was wrong, since Gintama is still here and doesn’t look to be ending soon, but one really can say that since Shogun Assassination Arc, Gintama has been in one long continuous story arc since each “arc” since then has flowed right into the next one and gone are all the standalone filler arcs. I’ve since thought of this arc and all the ones that followed after as Sorachi-sama’s way of rewarding us for sticking with Gintama for so long, and I cannot be more grateful for his immense generosity even though he has crushed my heart more than once in the process.
1) I honestly didn’t think much of this moment when I first read the chapter, but now, just seeing this frame alone is enough to my heart ache since I know what we’re in store for.
2) Ugh...again, after the fact, my heart is totally hurting.
3) I did like seeing Sacchan performing her duties very competently...not that I ever doubted her ninja skills, but you know, usually something would happen like she loses her glasses. I probably should have known things were different by the mere fact that she was so serious about her job.
4) That’s actually a really chilling scenario; so glad it didn’t come to fruition. But I liked that Sacchan and Zenzou met up in a grocery mart to talk shop...also, loved her kimono.
5) I think it crossed my mind that perhaps the reason why Zenzou HAS hemorrhoids is because of Sacchan.
6) Baby Sacchan and Zenzou!!!
7) I did get worried when Zenzou handed the Jump to Gintoki...I didn’t think Sorachi-sama would kill him off, but it was obvious Hattori didn’t think he would live through his next mission. It’s like all of a sudden, things got SERIOUS.
8) Of course I was besides myself when these two boys appeared. A potential Yorozuya, Shinsengumi and Oniwaban meet up?? All the YESES in the world. And I was ONLY thinking of a meet up...I wasn’t even thinking they would actually work together. I was so small-minded.
9) Matsudaira is kinda a goofball sometimes...
10)...a perverted goofball at that. Wtf.
11) In retrospect, I am grateful for this moment of levity now. We sure as heck wouldn’t be getting much of that soon in this arc.
12) Loved that Hijikata accidentally smacked Shi-chan in the head and that Soyo was game as usual with dressing up as a huge penis.
13) Those three penises at the end made me cheer out loud when I saw them.
14) I still wonder what was that liquid...I mean, what was it made up. So gross but I still wanna know.
15) I straight up screamed when this happened: not just because NobuNobu got punched in the face (cuz he was still an asshat back then), but obviously because he got punched by Kamui, whom we hadn’t seen in what seems like forever.
16) I screamed some more. Takasugi hanging out with Kamui was just so awesome...suffice it to say, I freaked the hell out.
17) Omg he’s so CUTE. How can someone so insane be so CUTE???
18) Can’t believe how much I disliked this dude back then...and he hadn’t even done much yet. He just had SUCH a punchable face. We’ve come so damn far.
Gintoki x Hijikata: did Hijikata address Kagura? Or Shinpachi? NO. He straight up only had eyes for Gintoki.
Takasugi x Kamui: thus begins my serious shipping of the evil power couple which lasted for quite some time...even though I was two-timing them with Bansai and Abuto, respectively (and sometimes three-timing them with Zura and Okita, respectively).
Zenzou x Sacchan: this actually made me wonder if Zenzou did actually have feelings for Sacchan but he never did anything about them because he didn’t think she reciprocated his feelings. Either way, I ship ‘em. I’ve always thought they belonged together...
Gintoki x Sacchan: ...even though she only his Gintoki goggles on.
ShigeShige x Sacchan: Shi-chan is just so...responsive all the time. I do hope he got laid at least once but based on his reactions with women, I doubt he did. Poor guy.
Disclaimer: Gintama is not only about shipping. Gintama is hilarious, clever, exciting, poignant, heart-breaking, loving, brilliant, and just so freaking amazing. It is only due to Sorachi-sama’s generosity that I can enjoy Gintama on yet another level, the shippy level, and I am forever grateful for that. GINTAMA IS LIFE AND LOVE.
