Shogun Assassination Arc was the 59th arc in the Gintama. In this arc, the Shogun was almost assassinated, and a plan to bring him out of Edo was come up. However, it turned out to be a chaotic battlefield, with the participation of Takasugi Shinsuke and the Harusame.
Story
At the Bakufu's palace, the Shogun was about to drink the tea made by his sister when Ayame suddenly broke the cup with a kunai, revealing that the tea had been poisoned by someone. As a result of this failed assassination attempt, the Shinsengumi and the newly-back Oniwabanshuu were given a mission: To escort him out of Edo. However, Hattori refused to return to the Oniwabanshuu and cooperate with the others.
As planned, there would be three doubles of the Shogun: one stayed in Edo, one went by sea and one by land, whereas the real one would travel by air. The Yorozuya, Shinsengumi (except Okita) and Ayame protected the last double, who was actually Gintoki. While so, on the spacecraft carrying the Shogun, Hattori turned up and beheaded him before Maizou's eyes. Soon, many shinobi disguised as soldiers began attacking all four groups. On air, Okita slashed the traitors and protected Soyo-hime from Kamui and the other Yato people before Hattori gave them the Shogun's head and the spaceship crashed.
As of the land group, Ayame said that the shinobi attacking them were from Iga Clan, where the Oniwabanshuu originated. Three leaders of Iga were Fujibayashi Gaimon, Momochi Rappa and Hattori Zenzou. There, believing that the Shogun was dead, Fujibayashi said that he would kill everyone and reduce the Shogun's power afterwards. Nevertheless, the Shogun, still well and alive, appeared and ordered everyone to attack the insurgent. It was revealed that Momochi and Hattori had put a double in his place to fake his death and planned to kill Fujibayashi, who had surrendered Iga to the Harusame.
Not long after, the Harusame and Takasugi visited Iga, intending to destory the village and kill Hattori. Unbeknownst to them, he had planted the bombs on their ships earlier, resulting in explosions on every of them. While so, Abuto soon found out that the Shogun was still alive, and shinobi were sent to fight against the Harusame's Yato people and to make time for the Yorozuya and him to run away.
Meanwhile, on another fleet, Maizou and Soyo-hime were revealed to have survived after escaping in a pod, which was altered by Okita to trick the Harusame into thinking that they were dead. Though, Okita himself was put in a deep coma due to his injuries. There, Maizou informed Matsudaira that Hattori had beheaded a double, not the real Shogun. He knew that by checking the body for a scar, which the Shogun got while saving one of his doubles, Kagemaru, in his childhood. In return, Kagemaru became the beheaded double to save his life.
On the Harusame's fleet, Ayame rescued an injured Hattori, while other members of the Oniwabanshuu came to aid them. In Iga, after a while of fighting, the Yorozuya had to bring the Shogun out of there through a tunnel, whereas Momochi, Kondo and Hijikata stayed back and continued fighting. Ayame also brought Hattori to there, where she was stabbed and shot by Takasugi and Kamui, respectively, as the Harusame were waiting for the two inside the tunnel. The Yorozuya and the Shogun then arrived at the right time and fought fiercely against them.
Characters
Characters in order of appearance
- Tokugawa Shige Shige
- Tokugawa Soyo
- Tokugawa Sada Sada (flashback)
- Sarutobi Ayame
- Hattori Zenzou
- Sakata Gintoki
- Kondou Isao
- Hijikata Toushirou
- Matsudaira Katakuriko
- Shimura Shinpachi
- Kagura
- Hitotsubashi Nobu Nobu
- Kamui
- Takasugi Shinsuke
- Kagemaru
- Rotten Maizou
- Abuto
- Okita Sougo
- Fujibayashi Gaimon
- Momochi Rappa
- Kijima Matako
- Kawakami Bansai
- Gou
- Wakikaoru
- Shuwa
- Takechi Henpeita
- Umibouzu (flashback)
- Yoshida Shouyou (flashback)
- Katsura Kotarou (flashback)
Trivia
As for 2014, this arc has surpassed The Yoshiwara in Flames Arc with 18 chapters.