Thank you for buying Gintama 41!
The other day I had the chance to draw a manga for the first time in collaboration with another work published in Jump, that is Sket Dance, and I included it in this volume.
To tell you the truth, Shinohara sensei, the author, was my assistant before I started it, one of the best, an ace in the Sorachi clan. As soon as he left the Gintama studio, he got a serial publication in no time, and also won the Shogakukan prize. On top of that, his work was made into anime and he even found a young and beautiful wife! In short, he’s become a respectable and dirty guy, so much so that he made me the scandalous proposal to join him, without being satisfied with his wife… So I thought it was time to pay him back, since when he was my assistant I made him work hard (for example, he often drew Gin-san’s wooden sword that I forgot about). So, thinking that now it was my turn to draw a big sword on Bossun’s back to help him out, I started Super Dirty Dance loaded to the max!
But Shinohara sensei is such a precise man – even to pick his nose he goes to the bathroom – that he keeps his boogers under strict control. I, on the other hand, always have boogers stuck on my shoulder during meetings… And I thought it was rude of my editor to stare at me right there, as if he were talking to my shoulder! Also with regard to deadlines, my timeline is as long as the viscous green mucus of that time, so even if we wanted to collaborate, our work schedules didn’t coincide at all… as if our mucus were water and oil! So we decided to have the Yorozuya members and the Sket-Dan club members appear in each other’s stories, and pick each other’ nose in our own way.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 110
QUESTION BY MR. YAMADA V, OSAKA PROVINCE
For the original anime episodes, do you provide the ideas? Does it sometimes happen that after watching them, you find that the image of a character is different from what you have in mind? Or is there a special staff?
ANSWER:
I leave everything to the staff, and I let my editor check the basics, trying not to interfere in the production. If I stick my nose in too much, they might not enjoy it. My job is to make funny stories, so I honestly don’t care if the anime is funny or not, but I know that if you have fun with it, you’re more likely to come up with something hilarious. So, I try not to get involved in the other stuff, gadgets included. In return I do what I like too, ignoring the anime! Here’s my position.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 111
QUESTION FROM MR. NAMELESS
I have some questions about the characters in Gintama. Gin-san is based on Kintoki Sakata, while Shinpachi is based on Shinpachi Nagakura, right? Then who is the character modeled after Kagura?
ANSWER:
As you say, for Shinpachi, I used Shinpachi Nakagura, who appeared in a manga about the Shinsengumi that I worked on before making Gintama. Only, changes were made, and he became the heir to a dojo. For this reason, I thought about the name of his father, who would become the key character, and I chose Ken Shimura, a real samurai name. And so Shinpachi Shimura was chosen.
As for Kagura, since the protagonist of the story is based on Kintaro*, I thought the heroine could be based on Princess Kaguya. By the way, her name, and her brother Kamui’s name, I took both from two locations in Hokkaido**.
*Name by which Kintoki Sakata is known.
**Kagura-cho (神楽町) and Mt. Kamui (神威岳)
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 112
QUESTION FROM MR. SAD ELDER BROTHER (TEARS) FROM KAGAWA PROVINCE
Good morning, Sorachi sensei! I have to take my exams soon, but I don’t understand English at all. So before asking the teacher anything, I asked my younger brother who is incredibly intelligent (he’s a seventh-grade student in the prime of his youth and rebellious period) a question.
Older brother: “How do I do with English?”.
Younger brother: “It is useless of time“.
Sensei, you help me!
ANSWER:
Alright! Let’s shut your insolent little brother up! But before I help you study, tell me one thing… What does your younger brother say?
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 113
QUESTION FROM MR. DAIJI SATO OF HOKKAIDO
The other day I came across the word nigrigintama in a dictionary. It means “to stand with arms folded and do nothing”. In ideograms it is spelled “tight testicles”.
ANSWER:
Rather than nigrigintama, judging by the ideograms, you cross your balls. It says “Without doing anything”, but it’s obvious that one is thinking of obscene things.
All in all, it means that reading Gintama is equivalent to doing nothing by titillating yourself. If you keep doing such a thing without even studying…
It is useless of time.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 114
QUESTION FROM MISS KASUMI, NAGASAKI PROVINCE
How do you create famous jokes? This has always been a concern of mine.
ANSWER:
The effectiveness of jokes, or rather decisive phrases, is already clear before they are said. In other words, in the unfolding of the story, before you get to the scene in question, you already find the solution for most cases. In other words, the most important thing is how to direct the speech. For example, I give importance to the recovery of the lines said casually before arriving at the climax scene, in order to make the characters speak with a language that suits them. For the rest, I rely on inspiration… And I just thought of one now:
It is useless of time.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 115
QUESTION FROM MR SARASARA, TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA
Hello, Sorachi sensei! In volume 14 where the Yagyu saga takes place, while observing Gin-san’s fighting style, Binbokusai says, “Did you invent those sword techniques you use?” Did Katsura and Takasugi, who learned from the same master, Shoyo, also invent the techniques they use?
ANSWER:
They are part of the school “It is useless of time“.
And so the manga crossover made in collaboration with him was completed and will start from the next page.
Since both Shinohara sensei and I didn’t want to influence each other, we drew each other’s parts without checking the other’s. I do remember regretting not reading his half, though, because I found that our ideas overlapped more than I had imagined.
As for the readers’ reaction, there was a storm of praise: “Gin-san drawn by Shinohara sensei looks just like the original, but Gorilla Bossun looks like another one!”, “It’s not clear who’s whose sensei!”, etc. In short, it seems that I have to apologise to Shinohara sensei. In fact, it’s true that the character I drew doesn’t look like the original one, but take a closer look at him: his goggles are identical, aren’t they? At least the goggles look alike, right? They’re indispensable to Bossun, and if he’s wearing the same pair as the original… he’s none other than Bossun? You idiots!
But because it was a nuisance, I never designed the goggles, which were made by my assistants instead. Well, that’s my idea of Sket Dance, done in my own way as a Gorilla! So I apologize to the fans.
By the way, this crossover was included in volume 20 of Sket Dance, but you don’t need to buy it… so you won’t be comparing the two manga. And if you should find it in any bookstore, hide it!
Having said that, the special “Excuse me if when I left the studio I thought I was going to die like a dog” ends here.
In the past, while chatting with my assistants, I told them: “Since I get excited talking to other authors during the New Year’s party, you have to make your debut while the serial publication of this work is still going on”. And so Shinohara sensei, who fulfilled this stupid dream of mine, remains a reliable assistant to me. But positions have changed, and if possible, I would like to learn how to draw not only Bossun, but also Anpanman (by sketching him, Shinohara sensei made one of his nephews cry during the wedding banquet). I’d be delighted if together with him I could be one of the two respectable mangaka who keep on Jump! Shinohara sensei, I had a great time. Thank you very much, and I’ll see you at the New Year’s Eve party!
New topic: “After all, I haven’t gone there even once since then”.
Yorozuya Shinigami 