Thank you for purchasing the 54th volume of Gintama! For work, I often go out to eat with my editor. When you order meat, you are asked for the desired cooking method. Do you always have the answer ready? I didn’t, not since I was younger, because I couldn’t remember the words “medium” and “rare”. I thought I would learn to answer this question with ease as an adult. But even though I’ve turned 34, my eyes keep blanking out and my legs keep shaking under the table. I just can’t keep a cool head, that’s all. I prefer it medium/rare, but I don’t get the words. I usually get confused with ‘put salt on’, I don’t know why. So I invent ‘Medium with salt’ cooking, and then I start to panic and fret. In the end, I cut it short by abruptly saying ‘Half raw’. In short, I try to get out of it by giving myself the airs of a rough man from the North Sea, with a straightforward character, who doesn’t care about trifles and thinks that it’s enough to season the meat for it to go well. But then I worry, thinking that if the waiter announces the presence of a man from the north in the Kanto region, he might create havoc in the kitchen. Moreover, since I don’t know what to do if I’m told that the restaurant doesn’t accept customers who wear high-collar uniforms and wooden clogs, I won’t be able to taste the meat. So, to avoid being embarrassed, I decided to take matters into my own hands and memorize the words “medium/rare”.
So far I’ve been living like a punk on the streets of Tokyo, playing the young hard-ass out of time. But I regretted it, because in fact I was the one who was average/rare as a human being. So I matured and decided to accept urban life, including the bourgeois expression ‘Medium/Blood’. So, having instilled this in my head, when the host of a grilled meat restaurant who was going to make me shabu shabu* asked me what kind of cooking I wanted, I said “Medium/rare” without letting him finish the question. To which he said, “I don’t really understand complicated things, let’s say you want it half raw, right?”.
So I had tried hard to memorize the perfect answer, and when I used it, putting on gourmet airs, he said something like this. I turned blue. I wanted to say to him: ‘You can’t behave like that, host! It’s all very well being polite, but because of you, I’ve made myself look like a snob in an unpretentious grilled-meat restaurant who’s being made fun of by the innkeeper, who’s not so subtle. On the contrary, if he understood that I wanted it half raw, it means that he knew very well what ‘medium/rare’ meant. Then he could have spared himself the dig! Why mortify a young man who has just made significant progress, just to reiterate that he is the toughest? I’d like to point out that I used to be tough too, and if I’d wanted to, I would have put him to shame. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find us drinking together, marveling that such rough men existed in Tokyo, and that our paths had never crossed before. It would have been like this.
*Japanese take on a Chinese dish of thin strips of meat.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 169
QUESTION FROM MR. “I HOPE ANIME STARTS AGAIN”, AICHI PROVINCE
Good morning! I have a question. In the 471st lesson, Gin-san (there was Hijikata’s soul inside) showed Shinpachi and Kagura a bankbook to prove that the money was his. Does this mean that the passbook was really Gin-san’s and even though he had the money, he hadn’t paid his wages? This doubt grips me so much that I can’t concentrate on studying.
ANSWER:
As for Hijikata’s bankbook, it is in the name of Gintoki Sakata. Since, after the two of them switched bodies, their wallets and bank accounts couldn’t be switched as well, those were returned to their original owners. It’s a bit complicated, but Gin-san in Hijikata’s body uses Gin-san’s wallet, while Hijikata in Gin-san’s body uses Hijikata’s wallet. It would have been difficult to use the passbooks as they were, so they changed the header. Having to explain it in writing, now the situation seems complicated even to me. I’m sorry!
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 170
QUESTION FROM MR. “2.5 DIMENSIONS”
Good morning, Sorachi sensei! I always read Gintama with pleasure. I really like Kagura, but I have a doubt. Why is Umibozu, Kagura’s father, so poor that he has to eat a bowl of uncooked rice three times a day, even though he’s the strongest alien hunter in space?
ANSWER:
It’s true that Umibozu is the best alien hunter in space, but he’s also the one who disturbs those around him more than anyone else. He always shoots down the target, but in order to do so he sows destruction everywhere, so his earnings are greatly reduced because of the compensation he has to pay. On top of that, Kagura’s mother had a rare disease even in space and the expenses for her treatment and medicine were very high, so his family was forced to live on a bare minimum.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 171
QUESTION FROM MR. “IT’S AMAZING THAT OLD GENGAI LOOKS LIKE THE FAMOUS BLUE CAT WITH A POCKET”.
I have a question for you, Sorachi sensei! When Gin-san let himself be captured, as described in Lesson 467, had he already met Ms. Otose?
ANSWER:
After losing the pursuers, despite being tortured, he arrived at Tatsugoro’s grave completely exhausted. This is the scene described in Lesson 4 of volume 1.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 172
QUESTION FROM MR. SHIMASHIMA OF KANAGAWA PROVINCE
The announcer Ketsuno is called Christel Ketsuno, right? Why does she have that name even though she’s Japanese? And her brother’s name is Seimei, written in ideograms…! Ketsuno is really cute and I like her a lot, so please answer me!
ANSWER:
Both the announcer Ketsuno and Seimei are of mixed blood. The name Seimei has been inherited by the head of the Ketsuno family for generations.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 173
QUESTION FROM MR. BENIYASHA DISAPPEARED OVER THE SUGAR ROUTE
There’s something that’s a bit close to my heart. In the 478th lesson, when Gin-san is pushed into the sea by Mutsu, he says “I don’t know how to swim…”. But in the Kabukicho 4 Devas arc, he went to save Katsuo in the water, diving in willingly despite being immobilized by concrete in a plastic tub. Also, in the crossover with the manga Sket Dance, he was competing with Bossun. Why can’t Gin-san swim anymore?! I’m a huge fan and I just can’t get that thought out of my mind.
ANSWER:
Gin-san has always been denied swimming, ever since the first volume. In most of the scenes where he dives into the water, he wears a buoy. Even in the competition with Bossun he has one, if you look closely. In Katsuo’s scene, the very fact that he jumped into the sea despite not knowing how to swim has an important meaning.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 174
QUESTION FROM MR. SAKAMOTO OF SAITAMA PROVINCE
Good morning! Sorachi sensei, I’d like to ask your advice about my father. He lives a routine of work-home-dinner-bed. My mother has told him several times to try to change, but he has always given her vague answers. I am grateful to him because he works for us… but I wish he would also think about spending time with us. What do you think about my father’s habits? If he continued to lead this life, I would feel a bit sad.
ANSWER:
This is how my father lived: he came home from the office, ate, then we played a game of Dragon Quest and went to sleep. I think fathers are the same in any family. A figure like that is like an ATM machine. You should be happy just because he brings money home. Plus, since your ATM doesn’t bother to erase your saved Dragon Quest games, you should feel lucky. If you want to add a higher option, i.e. if you want to have an ATM capable of devoting himself to his family, you should be the first to do him some favours. The ATM works for his family and devotes most of his day to his service, which is called work. If you want to ask him for additional services when he comes home, he will spend all his time on you and have none left for himself. Even an ATM wants to secretly indulge in a ride on an erotic site or a game of Dragon Quest. If you don’t at least try to understand this, your father will really be a simple ATM. All you have to do is say a sentence to him every now and then, like “ATM, thank you for always working for us”. And you’ll see that the ATM will give out something else besides money.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 175
QUESTION FROM MR. GHOST IN THE BLIZZARD (BIG GORILLA LOVER), FROM HOKKAIDO
I have a question. You like Studio Ghibli, don’t you, sensei? Your parodies or jokes about the works of that production company are funny and I like them! I personally love Princess Momonoke. Let me know your personal ranking of Studio Ghibli works!
ANSWER:
1. Kiki’s Delivery Service
2. Castle In The Sky
3. My Neighbor Totoro
That said, the “Host, I’m tougher than you” special in volume 54, ends here. Despite my resolve to step forward, if they set a trap for me like that from the start, I wouldn’t be able to say ” medium/rare” out of fear. I have no choice but to keep acting tough by saying ” medium rare” all my life. As always, human beings don’t have to try too hard. In this world, if you don’t wear a pair of jeans that suits your height, someone might trip you up who knows when and who knows where. Be sure to keep your ankles well protected by the fabric of your jeans.
New topic: “If anything, it’s my fault, because I asked for medium/rare cooking at an infamous barbecue joint.”
Yorozuya Shinigami 