Gintoki Sakata

Template:Gintama-char 1

you dont have to be the demon vice commander of the shinsengumi in front of me, you can just be plain Hijikata Toushiro

Gintoki Sakata

Sakata Gintoki (坂田銀時) is the founder of the Yorozuya, a highly skilled samurai and the main protagonist of Gintama. He enjoys eating sweet things and picking his nose. Other than the name 'Gintoki', he is also commonly referred to as Gin-chan e.f by Kagura or Gin-san e.f by Otae, and sometimes even Yorozuya Danna (or Yorozuya Boss) e.f by Okita Sougo. When he cross-dresses, he is known as Paako (パー子), complete with twin pony tails and big breasts. Sakamoto Tatsuma persists on calling him Kintoki (金時), which happens to be his name in Kintama, a parody of Gintama set in the alternative world of Male Host Clubs. Otose usually uses Tennen Paama (天然パーマ, a.k.a. Natural Perm) when scolding Gintoki. Likewise, Catherine alternates between Sakata-san and Aho no Sakata(アホの坂田, or literally Idiot Sakata). Sakata-shi (坂田氏) is used only by Hijikata Toshiro when under possession by Tosshi. Gin is used by Oiwa and Rei. Tsukuyo simply calls him 'Gintoki' though she referred to his hair as a 'burnt wild field' in Episode 177. When he was turned into a cat in Episode 190, Houichi shortened his name to "Gin".

Background

Gin was first found as a child by his teacher Yoshida Shouyou in a battlefield surrounded by corpses and holding a katana. Under the care of Shouyo, he learned the way of the samurai along with Takasugi Shinsuke and Katsura Kotarou. His past with Shouyo is still not clear with lots of mysteries surrounding it. In the later parts of the Joui war, he, Shinsuke, and Katsura took up their swords and joined the fight. Gin gained the nickname Shiroyasha 白夜叉 "white demon" and was feared by both the Amanto and his companions because of his amazing powers in swordplay and demonic white appearance. After the war, Gin disappeared for a while. He later met Otose in the graveyard where her husband was buried. He then promised to always protect her in return for the food he took from her husband's grave. He later created Yorozuya, with three other people who were the predecessors of Shinpachi, Kagura and Sadaharu until they went their separate ways (he tried to drown them, when they started to date each other).

Appearance

Gintoki has natural wavy and silver hair and half-lidded red "dead fish eyes" as Hijikata calls it. He wears a black shirt and pants with red linings, and a white yukata (a summer kimono) with light blue patterns worn sloppily, draped over his left shoulder. His weapon of choice is usually a bokutou (木刀), a wooden katana, engraved with the word Touyako (洞爺湖, or literally Lake Toya) on the handle, carried by his waist. He has also been seen using normal katanas such as one made by Murata Tetsuko in Episode 60.

Throughout the series he is seen wearing various disguises and has been shown in different styles for gags.

Sakata Gintoki's Gallery

Personality

Gintoki's past continues to influences who he is and how he acts. He admitted to Umibozu in episode 42 that he believes having a loving family is all someone really need in life, due to his lack of a family. He is very respectful of his teacher Yoshida Shouyou and out of memory of his teacher's kind actions (the death of his teacher is probably one of main reasons he joined the Joi war), he was outraged that someone who would harm their student(Jiraiya) would call himself a teacher.

His inability to protect many of his friends in the Joui war still haunts him, and as a result, he is very protective of his current friends. He had told Kawakami Bansai in the Shinsengumi Discord Arc the only reason he fought in the Joui war was to protect his friends, not for his country or the samurai way.

He has many childish personality traits despite his age, calling himself a child in a man's body. One such trait is his love of sweets to the point of nearly developing diabetes. He is mostly seen eating or drinking something sweet, with strawberry milk being his favorite. He loves to read Shonen Jump and will go to great lengths to acquire the latest Jump issues, rivaling that of Hattori Zenzou who is similarly spirited. He also (just like Toshiro) has a hatred of the dentist, something he is ashamed of due to his age.

Gintoki is very lazy and unmotivated, and is often shown reading Jump and lying around the Yorozuya. Due to his poverty, he is always behind on his rent and often runs away when Otose, his landlady, comes to collect the rent. He attempts to save money whenever he can, but he also loves to play Pachinko and other gambling games, resulting in him spending all his money. Even though he's lazy most of the time, Gintoki is quite a dedicated worker and always puts his mind on his jobs.

He acts like a coward most of the time, will attempt to leave behind his friends if his life is in danger, but this only occurs in the more comical stories, as he is willing to risk his life for anyone, and is shown to be extremely caring towards his friends. He is extremely scared of ghosts, but is very sensitive to their presence and many times will try to deny their existence.

Though several female characters have shown an interest in Gintoki, such as Shimura Tae, Sarutobi Ayame and Tsukuyo, he usually does not show any response back and even assaults Ayame who tends to stalk him, but he has a huge crush of the weather girl, Ketsuno Ana and once stated he wished to marry her.

Despite his appearance and initial behavior, Gintoki has a great amount of pride for the old bushido code. He takes it upon himself to rescue or avenge not only his comrades and friends but also people he barely knows.

Relationships

Kagura: Gintoki seems to care about Kagura more than anyone when she's in danger or not in a good condition. (He saved her in episode 42, when Kagura was attacked by an alien, despite the fact that he abandoned her awhile ago; he even tried to skip his job to take Kagura to the hospital in episode 91). Their relationship seems to be more like that of a "father-daughter kind" even though she greatly admires him and has picked up several of Gintoki's habits such as picking her nose.

Shinpachi: Gintoki met Shinpachi at a restaurant where he had ordered a Chocolate Parfait when a fight broke out between Gintoki and some Amantos because they were harassing Shinpachi and accidentally spilled his Parfait. Since then, Shinpachi has been with Gintoki. They could be considered brothers, though neither of them show it.

Katsura: Katsura has been Gintoki's friend ever since they were very little. They usually fight along side with each other, so they can be considered very close friends. Gintoki always calls Katsura by the nickname "Zura", which literally means "wig", even though Katsura prefers his real name. They bicker with each other a lot and Gintoki often shows his annoyance and wants to get away when Katura is acting stupid (which is very often).

Hijikata Toshiro: They both have similar personality, as Mitsuba once remarked, resulting in the two frequently clashing as rivals.

Okita Sougo: Gintoki never can spell his name correctly from Soichiro, Soda, even Sofa. Okita seems to get along rather well with Gintoki. After a rough beginning, the two find common grounds in their love of torturing and humiliating Hijikata. After witnessing the fight between Gintoki and Hijikata, Okita said he would love to clash swords with Gintoki one day. Although a hit from Hijikata would often result in a violent retribution from Okita, he doesn't seem to have a problem with taking a lecture or a knock on the head from Gintoki. When his sister came to visit, Okita bribed Gintoki (with a chocolate parfait) to pretend to be his best friend. Later when Okita left, Gintoki acknowledges the friendship to Mitsuba.

Ketsuno Ana: Gintoki has a crush on the weather-girl . He even once escaped from his cleaning duties at the Otose Snack to go and buy a Ketsuno Ana figurine, but started tearing out pages of calendar in despair when he saw on TV that she had suddenly gotten married. He once stated he wished to marry her and become apart of the Ketsuno Clan family.

Sarutobi Ayame: The target of 'M' aka masochistic stalker.

To expand:
Likes; Sake that is not too strong, playing pachinko and gambling related activities, dirty talk or saying things that always contain some scatological innuendo,
His strengths/weaknesses;

Stubbornly refuses to admit the existence of spirits/ghosts (calls them 'Stands') yet has a remarkable ability to sense them and can still maintain his self-consciousness to manipulate them even as they possess him in the Onsen Chapter Episode 134.
During Joui wars, he was the legendary Shiroyasha (白夜叉 a.k.a. White Demon).
Current combat & sword skills are high enough that the blood-thirsty Yato Kamui has staked his claim on him as his future prey in Episode 146.
Umibouzu stated himself that he "carries himself with a certain grace" and that he is "like a master of the sword" in Episode 200.
Yagyuu Binbokusai conceded that Gintoki's sword style may well be his own, and not affiliated to any school.
Does not like killing, willing to adapt his bushido to other people or the current times in order to avoid needless loss of lives, as explained to Katsura in Episode 5. This is the most probable reason for his carrying a wooden sword and not a real version.
Gintoki seems to dislike his curly perm hair. To elaborate further, in Episode 5 he says his lack of girlfriends is due to his 'natural perm' hair.
In his childhood, he was under the tutelage of Yoshida Shouyou together with Katsura Kotarou and Takasugi Shinsuke.

Trivia

According to Sorachi, Gintoki's name was based on Sakata Kintoki, also known as Kintaro, from a famous folk tale set in the Heian Period.^[1]
In Episode 45. Gintoki accidentally revealed his genitals on the national news after forgetting to zip up his pants.
A running gag is that whenever Gintoki begs to someone to do something, he would always offer 300 yen. When was the last time he did this?
His bokutou was made from a ten thousand year old tree from another planet, claiming to have the ability to break even the meteorite, whether it is true is still unkonown.
His bokutou has broken in 5 occasions:
- He cheated by letting Kondou use it, who did not know that he had sabotaged him by breaking it.
- When Kagura was angry after trying to defend it from an Amanto, only to discover that he bought it by phone.
- In his second battle against Okada Nizo after he obtained the Benizakura.
- in his first battle against Doromizu Jirochou.
- Trying to encounter the shock wave when he was trying to destroy Kintoki.
He might not look like it, but Gintoki was noted by Sorachi as a skilled chef ^[2] (behind the scenes). He is also a capable baker, being able to bake his own strawberry cake at Shinpachi's house as shown in episode 2.
In fellow Shonen Jump anime Bleach, Gintoki was reading the manga in an omake wishing that he could use Getsuga Tensho, Bleach's main character's signature attack in DVD version of Episode 3.

References

↑ Sorachi Hideaki, Gintama, VIZ media, Vol. 7, "Sorachi's Q&A Corner #10", page(s) 50.
↑ Sorachi Hideaki, Gintama, VIZ media, Vol. 13, "Sorachi's Q&A; Hanging with the Readers #38", page(s) 106.

[1] Sorachi Hideaki, Gintama, VIZ media, Vol. 7, "Sorachi's Q&A Corner #10", page(s) 50.

[2] Sorachi Hideaki, Gintama, VIZ media, Vol. 13, "Sorachi's Q&A; Hanging with the Readers #38", page(s) 106.

[1]

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