CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 202
QUESTION FROM MR. “THE NOSE OF UTSURO’S MASK IS LONG, ISN’T IT?” OF IWATE PROVINCE
Good morning, brilliant Sorachi sensei! I found out that you can draw Elizabeth by following the lyrics of a song made especially for that purpose! Try it yourself!
ANSWER:
*Reference to Oba-Q, protagonist of the manga Obake No Q-Tato by Fujiko F. Fujio.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 203
QUESTION FROM MISS MAMEKO, FROM GIFU PROVINCE
Hello, Sorachi sensei! I often dabble in drawing Gintama characters, but older men don’t do well. Do you have a technique you can suggest?
ANSWER:
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 204
QUESTION FROM MR. MAMY POKO PANTS OF KAGAWA PROVINCE.
Sorachi sensei, since I’m a bit hard of understanding, I don’t really understand the relationship between the Tendoshu Clan, the Harusame Council of Elders and Naraku. Can you explain them to me so that even a fool like me can understand?
ANSWER:
Thank you for purchasing volume 62! So, I’ve been getting a lot of questions like this lately, so I’m going to tidy up the various groups a bit. First, a brief overview of each one:
The pattern of initial correlations between the various groups is more or less like this. The Tokugawa Shogunate (Bakufu), which has become a puppet government, is loathed both by those within and outside it. The patriots campaigning against foreigners aim to overthrow it because they cannot accept the country being in the hands of such a government. Within the Bakufu, the anti-Shigeshige faction plotted in the shadows to wrest power from the Shogun Shigeshige Tokugawa, while the Hitotsubashi faction increased its authority. Taking advantage of this situation, Shinsuke Takasugi approaches Isaburo Sasaki, the director of the Mimawarigumi who is part of the Hitotsubashi core, and allies himself with him to destroy the government; at the same time he makes contact with the Harusame space pirates, the largest criminal syndicate in space, to increase his strength and exploit their power.
Under Takasugi’s leadership, the Kiheitai seeks to destroy the Shogunate and the Tendoshu clan, exploiting the strength of the Harusame. The Harusame, however, are also under the wing of the Tendoshu clan, feared by the council of elders, who therefore do not authorise any operation that might invade their territory. For this reason, Takasugi has removed the twelve divisions, the operational units of the Harusame, from the upper echelons, i.e. the elders and the admiral, taking advantage of the conflict between the various factions within the organisation. In this way, Takasugi ensured that the power of command passed into the hands of the seventh division and its leader, Kamui, considered the strongest of the space pirates, and eventually formed an alliance with him. So the two of them began to manoeuvre the Harusame as they pleased, ignoring the directives of the elders.
On the other hand, the Hitotsubashi faction and Isaburo Sasaki, who are trying to bring down the government from within, act as mediators between the Tendoshu clan and the Shogunate, and then try to get Sadasada, a veritable puppet of the Tendoshu clan, removed from office, using his past misdeeds as leverage. But the Tenshoin Naraku, a group of assassins reduced to pawns of the Tendoshu clan, gets in the way to prevent this from happening. Ironically, thanks to the “collaboration” offered by the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi, with whom they were at odds, and thanks to the fact that Shigeshige Tokugawa did not accept the protection of Sadasada and the Tendoshu clan, the plan of Sasaki and the Hitotsubashi faction comes to fruition. Thus the rift between the latter and the Tendoshu clan becomes irreparable and leads to the outbreak of war.
Takasugi tries to take the head of Shigeshige, who has been isolated because he has rejected the protection offered to him by Sadasada and the Tendoshu clan, mobilising the forces of the Kiheitai, the Hitotsubashi faction and the Harusame, but his assassination plan is stopped by the Yorozuya, the Shinsengumi and the Oniwabanshu. He is then attacked from behind by Nobunobu Hitotsubashi, who betrays him, and by the Tendoshu clan, who have decided to support the latter after facing the impossibility of reducing Shigeshige to a puppet. So the Tendoshu clan lured Nobunobu to its side, securing for him the throne of shogun in exchange for distancing himself from Takasugi, who was only ostensibly under his command. In addition, putting pressure on the Harusame council of elders, he unites the twelve divisions, which were about to split up due to Kamui’s arbitrary conduct, and convinces them to launch a surprise attack on the seventh division. Takasugi and Kamui suffer a heavy blow and the Kiheitai and the seventh division risk extinction.
Shigeshige Tokugawa tries to form a new force in Kyo in order to conquer the clan of Tendoshu and Nobunobu, who in the meantime have formed a new government, but his initiative is immediately crushed by them.
When Nobunobu takes the throne, betraying Takasugi and the others, Isaburo Sasaki infiltrates the new government, pretending to be on his side. Alongside Nobunobu, who purges the members of the former shogun’s faction one by one, Sasaki continues to incite the rebels, eventually provoking a major uprising at the hands of the police force, thus demolishing the new government and ultimately destroying himself. Following this, a strong desire to reform the country spreads among the population and the Shinsengumi leave the city of Edo to organise a resistance movement. Out of a burning desire for revenge, Nobunobu decides to personally carry out the extermination of the last surviving rebels, using the strength of the twelve divisions and keeping out both the Tendoshu clan and the Harusame elders, effectively reducing the space pirates to mere pawns in the elimination of the rebels. However, the Tendoshu clan decides to make a move to take out Gintoki and his comrades… What will happen to our heroes and the city of Edo? This is approximately what has happened so far.
That said, the volume 62 “let’s get everything that has happened so far in order” special ends here.
The plot is so intricate that even I end up getting confused. I apologize to everyone who has struggled to get to the bottom of it. Normally, an author should be able to explain everything through the comic, so my poor skills are to blame. Anyway, the story won’t get any more complicated, but will be heading towards its conclusion. So since you’ve come this far, please follow Gin-san and his friends to the end.
See you in the next volume!
New topic: “Even my editor said he doesn’t understand much.”
Yorozuya Shinigami 