yoshiwara blaze arc
20 Oct 2009 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiI wonder why it's called "The Blaze of Yoshiwara Part 1"? O_o Where's part 2? Is the current Spider arc the 2nd part? Or is part 2 going to be whenever Kamui turns up to fight Gintoki?
And yes, I wonder why it's called "The Blaze of Yoshiwara" and where the actual "blaze" was as well...even if the question got chucked into the wastebasket by Gintoki XDDD
The Yoshiwara chapter improved my opinion of Kagura a lot, even though I liked her before. The author frequently banks on her innocence to deliver moving stories based on very simple joys...such as the one where she spent a month doing morning exercises in the rain to wait for a sick boy to turn up, or that one where Gintoki bought her a pretty umbrella because she felt inferior watching all the other girls being dressed up.
Kagura's subplot in the Yoshiwara arc was a long time coming. You could probably see it screaming 250+ chapters back when she was first introduced as a child of the Yato clan, and her early proclamation that she would fight against her bloodthirsty instincts. I like the way in which the stories deal with her angst by being very understated about it, by not giving her copious amounts of angsty monologue and therefore leaving most of her naivety intact.
Considering Kamui was ranked 7th on the recent character poll (more than 500 more votes than Shinpachi, who came 8th), I actually didn't like him much. Then again, considering Takasugi is ranked 4th, I guess there's something about Gintama fans and psychotic killers. Either that, or the more likely scenario is it's biased voting by fans of the real historical people, which would explain why everyone in the top 5 apart from Gintoki had a historical base, and why Yamazaki was 5th last time even though he never did anything much. Poor Yamazaki...he used to be cool until he got into this anime XDDDDD
I think, actually, the thing that bothered me most was Kamui reminded me too much of Okita ==;;;; I guess that would explain Kagura's perpetual camaraderie/rival relationship with Okita, but I'm sure that wasn't the intention? He has the same uncaring attitude, the same way of setting himself on the sidelines to watch with amusement, the same manipulative interfering streak to make things more interesting for himself, and even the same battle lust, although Okita's usually kept in check. Even the way he drawls "Danna~" is the same ==;;;;;;; I know there's no way Okita would match up to Kamui in a fair fight...it would probably take Okita and Hijikata and the rest of the Shinsengumi, as well as all of the Yorozuya and the Hyakka and probably a good helping hand from Katsura and the Jouigishi to keep Kamui down, and even then >_>;
Tsukuyo is cool, and she kicks major ass without being a moody manipulative self-centered bitch like Otae ==;;; (For the record, I don't hate Otae, I just think...this is an accurate description of her) I started to found Seita annoying once he started whining how he wasn't going to abandon Gintoki and he was going to help by staying. You're eight, bloody hell, staying anywhere near the battle scene is just going to distract those fighting on your behalf. If it were me, I'd kick him out the door the first chance I get.
It was a good arc but it was a dark arc, probably even more so than the Shinsengumi Douran arc. It was really not something you'd sit down with a 10-year-old to watch, even though they've half-censored what happens normally in Yoshiwara, but it doesn't change the fact it was an opulent cage in which women were imprisoned and forced to prostitute themselves. On the other hand, I doubt Gintama is suitable for 10-year-old even normally >_>;
It also had a lot of really good fighting scenes, although I remember thinking as I watched "guys...please don't use up your budget for the rest of the year on this"...and when the 4 minute time-waster clip came up I totally LOL'ed XDDDDD
I think I have developed a fondness for Nakai Kazuya hollering at the top of his lungs and it is entirely not unrelated to my fondness for Hijikata of course LOL I find Kondo's holler really annoying though ==; But Hijikata's screeching is either hilarious or cool XDD "Ore wa...shinsengumi no fukuchou, Hijikata Toshirou da, konoyarou!" ♥ ♥ ♥
I think I'm learning way too many rude words from Gintama ~_~;; (It is said that the Japanese language doesn't actually have rude words, hence it's always rather disturbing when they pick up English and drop b**** and f*** and s*** more often than the Irish ==;;;;;) Nevertheless, it's disturbing when I listen to drama CDs and the few words I pick up are stuff like ch*nch*n and osh*ri ==;;;;
And yes, I wonder why it's called "The Blaze of Yoshiwara" and where the actual "blaze" was as well...even if the question got chucked into the wastebasket by Gintoki XDDD
The Yoshiwara chapter improved my opinion of Kagura a lot, even though I liked her before. The author frequently banks on her innocence to deliver moving stories based on very simple joys...such as the one where she spent a month doing morning exercises in the rain to wait for a sick boy to turn up, or that one where Gintoki bought her a pretty umbrella because she felt inferior watching all the other girls being dressed up.
Kagura's subplot in the Yoshiwara arc was a long time coming. You could probably see it screaming 250+ chapters back when she was first introduced as a child of the Yato clan, and her early proclamation that she would fight against her bloodthirsty instincts. I like the way in which the stories deal with her angst by being very understated about it, by not giving her copious amounts of angsty monologue and therefore leaving most of her naivety intact.
Considering Kamui was ranked 7th on the recent character poll (more than 500 more votes than Shinpachi, who came 8th), I actually didn't like him much. Then again, considering Takasugi is ranked 4th, I guess there's something about Gintama fans and psychotic killers. Either that, or the more likely scenario is it's biased voting by fans of the real historical people, which would explain why everyone in the top 5 apart from Gintoki had a historical base, and why Yamazaki was 5th last time even though he never did anything much. Poor Yamazaki...he used to be cool until he got into this anime XDDDDD
I think, actually, the thing that bothered me most was Kamui reminded me too much of Okita ==;;;; I guess that would explain Kagura's perpetual camaraderie/rival relationship with Okita, but I'm sure that wasn't the intention? He has the same uncaring attitude, the same way of setting himself on the sidelines to watch with amusement, the same manipulative interfering streak to make things more interesting for himself, and even the same battle lust, although Okita's usually kept in check. Even the way he drawls "Danna~" is the same ==;;;;;;; I know there's no way Okita would match up to Kamui in a fair fight...it would probably take Okita and Hijikata and the rest of the Shinsengumi, as well as all of the Yorozuya and the Hyakka and probably a good helping hand from Katsura and the Jouigishi to keep Kamui down, and even then >_>;
Tsukuyo is cool, and she kicks major ass without being a moody manipulative self-centered bitch like Otae ==;;; (For the record, I don't hate Otae, I just think...this is an accurate description of her) I started to found Seita annoying once he started whining how he wasn't going to abandon Gintoki and he was going to help by staying. You're eight, bloody hell, staying anywhere near the battle scene is just going to distract those fighting on your behalf. If it were me, I'd kick him out the door the first chance I get.
It was a good arc but it was a dark arc, probably even more so than the Shinsengumi Douran arc. It was really not something you'd sit down with a 10-year-old to watch, even though they've half-censored what happens normally in Yoshiwara, but it doesn't change the fact it was an opulent cage in which women were imprisoned and forced to prostitute themselves. On the other hand, I doubt Gintama is suitable for 10-year-old even normally >_>;
It also had a lot of really good fighting scenes, although I remember thinking as I watched "guys...please don't use up your budget for the rest of the year on this"...and when the 4 minute time-waster clip came up I totally LOL'ed XDDDDD
I think I have developed a fondness for Nakai Kazuya hollering at the top of his lungs and it is entirely not unrelated to my fondness for Hijikata of course LOL I find Kondo's holler really annoying though ==; But Hijikata's screeching is either hilarious or cool XDD "Ore wa...shinsengumi no fukuchou, Hijikata Toshirou da, konoyarou!" ♥ ♥ ♥
I think I'm learning way too many rude words from Gintama ~_~;; (It is said that the Japanese language doesn't actually have rude words, hence it's always rather disturbing when they pick up English and drop b**** and f*** and s*** more often than the Irish ==;;;;;) Nevertheless, it's disturbing when I listen to drama CDs and the few words I pick up are stuff like ch*nch*n and osh*ri ==;;;;
