I voiced the lead role in an award-winning animated short film!!
So happy to announce that I star as Zenzou in "Stray", a short film made by my insanely talented college friend Keyl Sparks! Absolutely check it out here and be sure to thank the many other amazing people who helped make it!!
Because they’re both independent people cultivated by the harsh reality of their job and upbringing, it’s hard for them to be honest with each other. Add in the fact that they’re two very different people, and you have this clash of conflict that causes them to fundamentally misunderstand each other.
Sacchan is a textbook extrovert who derives great joy from interacting and being with people. She’s loud, very shameless, extremely confident, and pursues what she wants even if she knows she won’t really get it.
Zenzou is the opposite. Innately, he doesn’t like to work with others, pretends he doesn’t care, and wants to be like a cat. Cats socialize when they want to, and they won’t please others unless they feel like it. You can see his monologues in episode 63 and Red Spider arc that he believes the difference between shinobi and samurai is that they won’t be loyal to a single master.
It’s a very hot and cold relationship. You can’t really say that they are friends, because every time you see them together, they’re incredibly vicious to each other. But I think they aren’t friends because they, deep down, know they aren’t really supposed to be friends.
They do share things in common - such as undying loyalty to the people they care about, their occupation, and... well...
A history.
I think it’s fair to say they know each other incredibly well.
Even if they say things to each other, like “Who are you, again?” “I don’t really care what happens to you...” “I don’t care about Zenzou...”
They’re lying to each other, and the audience. As to why that is, we don’t find out, but their relationship has a lot of unexplained tension, lol. Also, Sacchan seems weirdly comfortable shoving a lot of things into his bottom, and the funnier thing is that he lets her, an absolute simp
The barbs and viciousness that they both inflict on each other still doesn’t change the fact that they knew each other as children. And while we didn’t see this until the Shogun Assassination, Sorachi has established that they still know each other from Zenzou’s first introduction in the series.
Sacchan warns Gintoki that Zenzou is a very dangerous man in the Ninja Go arc (Zenzou says to her, “Hey, we used to be colleagues, but not anymore”. I entertain my own delusion that this a euphemism for being exes lmao)
Zenzou compliments Sacchan’s hard work and determination in the Glasses Arc, saying that even though her eyesight is bad, she still had natural talent and determination to succeed in the shinobi world. He also tells her that she shouldn’t ruin the reputation of the Oniwabanshu, which to me tells me she used to be part of that organization and he used to be her boss (even though they are the same age, lol).
In the episode where Sacchan is attending Zenzou’s father’s funeral, the audience finds out that she studied under his father’s tutelage as a ninja.
So they know each other, even though we don’t know the true extent of their relationship until the SA arc. I personally thought it was well built up, but again, they are minor characters so its hard to build up that sort of pre-existing relationship.
The Shogun Assassination arc is where the audience figures out, holy cow, their relationship is waaaaaay deeper than we initially thought.
Uh... so basically he just said that he doesn’t want to make her cry anymore even though his type is an ugly girl. Sacchan is pretty and far from being a fugly, so he is basically saying... he is in love with her. HOLY COW!!!
Lesson 513, y’all. Still one of my favorite chapters from Gintama.
Anddddd on top of that confession while the both of them are on death’s door, he also murdered a bunch of people because Takasugi stabbed her. And saved her life. And asked Gintoki to protect her before he did the stupid thing of trying to take down the most dangerous terrorist’s spaceship BY HIMSELF.
It’s clear to me that Zenzou’s feelings for Sacchan are more obvious than her own feelings for him, although it’s really not that onesided. She’s just a bit misguided :p
Example, this is the panel when she realizes that he is alone and totally outnumbered on Takasugi’s ship.
She is panicking.
She’s the first one to figure out that he’s striking out on his own to do something he believes in, but also is able to figure he is doing something that would kill him, just like the time when they were kids - the time where he’s deciding to rescue Kagemaru even when it’s possibly a stupid and life-threatening thing to do.
She was sitting next to Gintoki (in Momochi’s cave) before she put the clues together, but that went out of the window when she figured out Zenzou was in danger. She literally ignored her crush - her object of obsession - and put that aside for her childhood friend and boss.
She saves him... a pretty cool moment for her imo.
I also feel like this panel is when you can see how lethal and beautiful she is. That part where she’s warning them not to touch Zenzou.
And this panel... Listen, for someone who’s said something like, “I don’t care about Zenzou”, this panel really says the opposite, lol
Like I said, their relationship is pretty complicated. It’s either freezing cold, or burning hot. It’s either hate or love, but that also makes it delicious.
She doesn’t love him the same way as Gintoki, but... there’s something in the water. lol
SA arc ends with tragedy, and we see Sacchan eavesdropping on Zenzou’s conversation with Momochi. A rare portrayal of a nuanced and thoughtful Sacchan...
I’ve always noticed that the audience is allowed to see different aspects to her personality when she’s next to Zenzou. He’s one of the very few people in the series who compliments her abilities, like how she is...
A hard worker.
Talented.
Thoughtful.
Nagging.
... Determined.
In front of him, she’s not A Stalker. She’s his colleague, someone he respects and... loves. Even though by technicality he is her boss, he never really treats her as a subordinate.
For me, what makes the relationship decidedly not platonic, especially from Sacchan’s end, are these series of panels from Lesson 685.
In this chapter, we see a flashback from Sacchan’s POV of the day Zenzou left Edo two years ago. Keep in mind, Gintoki (Fakesugi) is literally in front of her during this chapter.
Imagine thinking about another guy when your crush is in front of you. Sorachi wasn’t subtle about that tbh lol. Notice how she doesn’t seem happy about the fact that he left, either? C’mon lady, this is a clue that something is missing in your life other than a permhead samurai... I mean I’m pretty sure it’s requited love, but anyways...
This is a chapter that, when you first read it, means nothing.
Then the second time, when you analyze it...
Oh.
Generally speaking, a lot of shonen mangas have the husband going off on some big and ambiguous journey and the wife is left behind.
Sacchan is complaining about this... to Zenzou. (Even though they’re not married, dating, or even good friends to start with LOL, truly a trainwreck of a couple)
This is really not something you say to someone who you view as strictly a friend.
The other part that I find super hilarious is that...
He never said “wait for me” to her.
Because he’s aware that she’s in love with another guy. And also because he knows her really well.
That’s his justification to not say it, and I don’t blame him.
I loathe that they can’t be straightforward to each other, but hey, again, this makes the drama between them very delicious.
It’s stupid, because it’s so clear to me that she wants him to tell her to wait for him, and it’s clear that he wants to hear from her that she’ll miss him when he leaves, but because they’re stupid people, they’re stuck in this perpetual limbo of not ever making the first move.
I know some people are going to be like, “Why do you ship this? She’s clearly in love with Gintoki!”
The way I interpret it is, she’s also in love with Zenzou, but there’s something that stops her from taking the next step of having lots of spicy ninja puff puff action with her hot and rich childhood friend.
Zenzou’s obstacle is, obviously, Gintoki.
And in some way, another obstacle is his stupid need to pretend he doesn’t care even when he has a history of caring a LOT (saving Gintoki’s life in RS arc, his devotion towards Shigeshige, and taking Sacchan to the hospital during the Glasses arc).
Sacchan’s obstacle is strangely, not in my opinion, Gintoki. But herself.
She’s in a lot of denial.
I mean, objectively speaking...
Gintoki has rejected her countless of times. So even if she’s in love with Gintoki, she still hasn’t been able to accept that she’s never going to be Gintoki’s love interest.
And then there’s also the fact that, uh...
Zenzou shares a lot of similar traits to Gintoki. I mean, reading JUMP is the obvious one. But then add in the fact that Zenzou also is a big tsundere, and secretly cares a lot about people but won’t admit it, and shares a similar master-student relationship like Gintoki. They’re also super strong dudes, but anyways, I digress...
I’m not really sure why Sacchan is so fixated on Gintoki, but I don’t think he’s really the guy for her. I mean, yeah, she would be attentive to him, but it doesn’t seem to me that Gintoki would really appreciate her as a partner to be honest, even if he eventually accepted her feelings... I don’t think there’s a mutual level of respect there.
I think Sorachi wrote these two ninjas to be together instead.
Don’t believe me?
This is both of their last panels in the Gintama manga, Lesson 704.
