Yoshida Shoyo
Search results
Below is a list of all the characters that appear in Sorachi Hideaki's Gintama.
Several of the major characters from Gintama as featured in the anime. The characters from the anime and manga series Gintama were created by Hideaki Sorachi. The story is set in Edo, the "Land of the Samurai", which has been invaded by aliens named Amanto, who subsequently coexist with humans.
Characters, voice actors, producers and directors from the anime Gintama on MyAnimeList, the internet's largest anime database. Edo is a city that was home to the vigor and ambition of samurai across the country.
- (398.3K)
There are currently 499 character-related pages. To see which episode the characters appear in, click on links in 'Subcategories' section; For the character profile, click on links in 'Pages' section.
- Overview
- Background
- Appearance
- Personality
- Strength & Abilities
- Relationships
- Story
- Trivia
Gintoki Sakata
Gintoki Sakata (坂田 銀時, Sakata Gintoki?) is the main protagonist of the Gintama series. He is the founder and president of the Yorozuya, as well as a highly-skilled samurai, having fought in the Joui War in the past. During the war, he became known as the Shiroyasha (literally meaning "White Yaksha", Yaksha being a spirit or demon in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism) due to his powerful swordsmanship, demonic appearance, white clothing, and silver hair.
It is unknown where he was born, what happened to his parents, and what he was doing before becoming a child scavenger. It is also unknown how long he was doing this. He gained the nickname "Corpse Eating Demon" from the nearby villagers due to being commonly seen wandering in deserted battlefields searching corpses for food and weapons to survive. During one search, Gintoki encounters Yoshida Shouyou who had heard the rumors about the child and came to investigate. Taking a liking to Gintoki and seeing himself in the child, Shouyou gave Gintoki his sword and asked him to follow him. Gintoki became Shouyou's first student of his newly opened school, Shoka Sonjuku, where he learned basic swordsmanship and academics. After gathering more students, all mostly poor, the school earns the attention and scrutiny of the wealthier people in the village. They also gained the attention of two military academic students who became disillusioned with the academy and the people attending it, Katsura Kotarou and Takasugi Shinsuke. The two were attracted by the school's goal for the children, striving to achieve their own ideal of a samurai while struggling against themselves. The two will later officially join after helping fend off some officials from trying to arrest Shouyou. Gintoki later earns himself a rival in Takasugi.
Years later during the Kansei Purge, despite Gintoki's best efforts to stop them, the Tenshouin Naraku arrested Shouyou and burned down the school. Before leaving, Shouyou asked Gintoki to protect his fellow students, as a promise, to which Gintoki mentally agreed. After learning what happened, the students decided to join the ongoing Joui War, allied with the Joui, to rescue their imprisoned teacher. They met Sakamoto Tatsuma during the fight and Gintoki gains the nickname Shiroyasha ("White Yaksha") due to his mostly white attire, silver hair, and of course, his ferocious fighting style. At one point, Takasugi asked Gintoki to protect Shouyou in his stead, though Gintoki never truly agreed and instead asked Takasugi for a promise: to stay alive. During a battle, after Sakamoto was taken off the front lines due to injury, everyone except Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi were killed, and the trio was captured. Gintoki was forced to choose between killing Shouyou to save Katsura and Takasugi and vice versa. He decided to keep his promise to Shouyou and protect his friends, but in turn "broke" his promise to Takasugi. Shouyou gives Gintoki a final "thank you" before he is beheaded by him. After their enemies left, the trio buried their teacher's head and their comrades' corpses, then went their separate ways, leaving the war. Sakamoto was only able to find Gintoki before he too, left.
Sometime later, a wandering Gintoki overheard a man trying to offer his daughter to be executed in his place to a group of officials. The man was a Joui informant who had given up information on certain Joui and their families to these officials that belonged to a political faction within the government. Gintoki offered himself in the daughter's place to protect her; both he and the informant were arrested. In jail, he unknowingly met the girl that he saved, who was adopted by the executioner, the 16th Ikeda Yaemon. He saw Gintoki's deeds, and after executing Asaemon's father, declared that he had no right to execute the person who was a good man, then presumed to release him. Injured and starving he wandered in the cold winter night to a graveyard to die, until he encountered Otose leaving food offerings at her husband's grave that he was leaning on. He asked her if he could have the manjuu offerings she set down and she told him to ask her husband, who was receiving the offerings instead of her. Gintoki then ate her husband's manjuu without asking him, saying that dead people don't speak. In return, he made a promise to her husband that he would protect Otose until she dies.
After this encounter, Gintoki became a tenant on the second floor of Snack Otose and founded the Old Yorozuya with Kanemaru, Ikesawa, and Furuhashi. Together, their business flourished and they became famous. Nevertheless, for many reasons, Gintoki threw his partners into a river and ended up working in the Yorozuya alone until the start of the series.
Gintoki has naturally wavy hair, which causes him no end of distress. His silvery-blue hair is in a perpetually messy state, which is sometimes exaggerated into a frizzy afro when Gintoki's hair is hit by extreme heat. He has indeterminate grey/green/red (in the manga) or bordeaux-colored (in the anime) "dead fish eyes" (comparison courtesy of Hijikata Toushirou), which are called such because they are nearly always half-lidded. He is a very handsome young man with fair skin and a fairly muscular build despite the number of sweets he eats. It has been shown that women find Gintoki very attractive considering how much attention he got when he walked on the streets of Yoshiwara alone.
His standard outfit consists of a white yukata with a blue swirl pattern on the bottom and at the end of the sleeves, worn so that his arm only goes through the left sleeve and the right half droops down over his obi. Over this he wears a black belt buckled so that there is leftover dangling from the buckle, from which his bokutō, Lake Toya, hangs. Underneath, he wears a black red-lined shirt with a popped collar and black pants. He also wears knee-high black boots, buckled at the top and above his foot, which appear to add about half an inch to his height. It is shown that he has a closet full of replicas of this outfit, so whenever it gets destroyed he can appear in the next episode or chapter with a new one. All in all, his outfit suggests an air of laziness and may be a reflection of Gintoki's own personal sense of style, though it is revealed that his usual attire is actually the school jersey for the Zunborans (episode 292).
During the winter, he will sometimes wear a haori, thicker kimonos, or more layers of various colors as well as scarves.
During the events of the Dekoboko Arc, he switched genders due to a curse and was seen in his female form. In that form, he had silvery-blue hair and was wearing Gintoki's normal clothes. Later, he wears a sleeveless white yukata with a blue swirl pattern on the bottom with a blue obi and black boots.
Gintoki is extremely lazy. He is often seen wearing a dumb expression on his face and spends his days lounging around reading Shounen Jump whilst imparting wise and sage-like advice to his younger employees, even though he doesn't actually know what he's talking about most of the time. Due to his poverty and unwillingness to do mostly anything, he is always behind on his rent and often runs away when Otose, his landlady, comes to collect the payment. He often blows all of his savings on Pachinko and other gambling games, which Shinpachi and Kagura often scold him for. However, even though he is lazy, Gintoki is quite dedicated to his job and tries to help people with the best of his abilities (usually in a very strange and twisted way). He is sarcastic and unattached but he values connections more than anything in the series. For the most part, Gintoki is content with hanging out with his friends. However, different aspects of his personality emerge depending on the situation. In the more comedic arcs he is characterized as cowardly and sarcastic, but in serious arcs he is a unwavering and will die for someone who he cares about. He very much enjoys joking, being passionate, and arguing about stupid stuff so he and his friends at the end of a day can have a good laugh.
Gintoki's past continues to influence who he is and how he acts. He admitted to Umibozu in Episode 42 that he believes that having a loving family is all someone really needs in life, due to his lack of a family during his childhood. He is very respectful of the memory of his teacher Yoshida Shouyou due to his actions (the arrest of his teacher is one of the main reasons he joined the Joui War. The other was to protect his friends who also joined the war). When Jiraia called himself Tsukuyo's teacher and yet harmed her both emotionally and physically, his ideal for what a teacher was supposed to be resulted in Gintoki becoming enraged and taking his anger out on Jiraiya.
His inability to protect many of his friends in the Joui War still haunts him, especially the crushing guilt and regret that consumed him when the Tendoshu forced him to execute his own teacher in front of Takasugi and Katsura. As a result, he is very protective of his current friends and holds very little value to his own life. This carelessness can be seen in how Gintoki can plow through armies without tiring, apathetic to the serious injuries he sustains whilst cutting down his enemies. He told Kawakami Bansai, during the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc, that the only reason he fought in the Joui War was to protect his friends and not his country or the samurai way.
The more comical stories depict Gintoki as a coward, attempting to leave behind many of his friends to save his own life. However, he is willing to risk his life for anyone and he is shown to be extremely caring towards his friends and has killed Naraku members, terrorists, and Amanto to protect them. He is extremely frightened of ghosts, but will usually deny their existence so that he doesn't look like a coward. His fear of the supernatural is shared by Hijikata and usually results in quite a few comic interactions between the two.
He has many childish personality traits despite his age, and has even called himself a "child in a man's body." One such trait is his insatiable love for sweets, which has placed him at risk of getting diabetes several times. His favorite food is chocolate parfait and he loves chugging down strawberry milk whenever he gets access to it. He also is repeatedly shown to have difficulty expressing his emotions and often disguises his true feelings under a cold outer layer; for example, when Umibouzu arrived to take Kagura home, he inadvertently made Kagura feel hurt and rejected by telling her to leave with him, despite having the best intentions for her.
He loves alcohol, but his tolerance for sake is not high. At one point, his tendency to act like a complete idiot while being completely smashed resulted in the major female characters Otose, Shimura Tae, Kyuubei, Sarutobi Ayame and Tsukuyo deciding to teach him a lesson by playing a prank on him along with Zenzou during the Scandal Arc.
Gintoki's feats are very wide, being a veteran in the Joui War. His powerful swordplay and range of abilities gave him the nickname "Shiroyasha" ("white demon"). He is capable of turning the tide of any battle, being called "The Ace" by Katsura and Takasugi. He defeated strong Amanto and killed many high ranking ones, even those who are in legendary status (like enma and ogre). He's also strong enough to defeat opponents considered the strongest in their respective class.." On the battlefield, his merciless abilities and savage swordsmanship were so notorious that the mere mention of his name is said to have once struck fear in the hearts of every Amanto. Several shinobi and samurai who have fought with him have observed that his swordplay is self-taught, but far from unrefined. Okita Sougo, the Shinsengumi's finest swordsman, has noted how unpredictable his style is. Gintoki tends to wield full-length katanas and bokutos single-handedly, even double wielding them at times. However, his biggest weakness is his rage/anger. Despite becoming faster and stronger, he is a berserker whose only goal is to kill his enemy, leading to enemies that are equal or stronger than him to defeat him or hold him off, as was the case with Oboro, Jirochou, and his later interactions with Utsuro.
During battle, he is known to have displayed unusual strength. Although Gin is more than capable of matching powerful Amanto warriors and various other samurai, he will not hesitate to use tricks and manipulation if it means a quick and easy victory. He does not like to waste time fighting when using a little brains over brawn will yield a much quicker ending. His brute strength is remarkable, being second only to the Yato Clan, Utsuro, and a select few. His strength was shown against Bansai, where he broke steel cables and managed pulled down a helicopter. Against Oboro, he bit through his opponent's katana, and against Housen, he managed to block the former's smash, despite the Yato warrior having destroyed a stone bridge with said attack moments before.
Immense Strength: Of the Yorozuya trio, Gintoki's physical strength is not as high as Kagura's, given the fact that he is human while Kagura is from the Yato Tribe. However, Gintoki's physical strength is still nothing to scoff at, and he is probably the strongest known human so far, strong enough to even be recognized by Kamui, one of the strongest Yato in the series. He can destroy enormous pieces of machinery or drive his blunt bokuto through a man's skull with ease. He was also able to break Oboro's sword by biting it with his teeth. When fighting Kawakami Bansai, Gintoki was able to break through his strings, which were stated to be as strong as steel, with nothing but brute strength alone. He was also able to pull down Bansai's helicopter just with his power.
Tremendous Endurance: One of Gintoki's defining traits is his extreme level of physical endurance. Gintoki fights without consideration for his life, most of the time, and while this gives him the ability to fight without limits, it is also a testament to how little Gintoki values his own life. Coupled with his incredibly high pain tolerance this makes him an incredibly fearsome fighter. A day after having his forearm impaled by Doromizu Jirochou, Gintoki fought evenly alongside him to defeat dozens of Shinra assassins, withstanding countless injuries in the process and losing very high amounts of blood. After having his pressure points and body mangled by Oboro, Gintoki is able to outmatch the elite Naraku swordsman in their second bout despite being completely incapacitated moments before. During his fight with Kamui, Gintoki takes blows from one of the strongest Yato warriors to exist and has his index finger broken completely, but continues to stand and fight. Umibozu notes Gintoki's tremendous endurance, particularly his eyes, which keep coming back to life despite Kamui seemingly crippling him multiple times.
Enhanced Speed and Agility: Gintoki is incredibly nimble, capable of matching the agility of the renowned shinobi Hattori Zenzou. In addition, his reflexes (while often downplayed for comedic purposes) are great and he is capable of dodging, deflecting bullets or in some instances throwback knives, arrows, and similar projectiles. When Gintoki is particularly enraged, his speed and reflexes reach absurd heights, allowing him to perform such feats as shattering a titanium sword in mid-swing with his teeth or closing meters of distance between himself and his target within a fraction of a second.
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Gintoki's swordsmanship is rough, but far from unrefined. He tends to wield even full-length katanas one-handed with fair wide but quick chops. His level of skill has been complemented by several esteemed swordmasters, such as Yagyuu Binbokusai, who noted that his style is something not taught but developed by Gintoki himself. He has regularly been able to prove himself equal to some of the best swordsman and warriors in the series, singlehandedly matching up with the likes of Hosen, Kamui, Utsuro, Oboro, and Jirochou. Most notably, Gintoki held his own against Utsuro multiple times, something a team consisting of Sougo, Nobume and Kagura could not manage to do.
Mentor
•Yoshida Shouyou: Shouyou was probably the most important person in Gintoki's life, something that is further emphasized by Katsura who mentions that out of the three of them (Katsura, Takasugi, and Gintoki), he should be the one to most hate the world considering what it did to Shouyou. He was the closest thing to a father for him. Shouyou saved Gintoki from the endless battlefield and gave him the chance to act like a normal child. Gintoki deeply respects him to the extent that he gets furious if anyone dirties the name of being a master. The fact that he was forced to kill him to protect his comrades still haunts him and causes him an immense pain. Remembering his promise to Shouyou, to protect everyone, Gintoki and him shared one last smile with each other with Shouyou even thanking Gintoki before he decapitates him. Gintoki treasures deeply the lessons Shouyou taught him, despite the fact that he no longer has the things Shouyou gave him such as Shouyou's sword and the textbook, which he claims to have thrown away when he stained it with curry. This possibly means that he does not need material items to remember Shouyou and his lessons. One of the things Gintoki honors the most with his sensei is the promise they made the last time they saw each other. Although he controls himself, Gintoki has shown a dark side in which he wants to slay those who were related to the death of his beloved teacher, which is also shown by Takasugi and Katsura at the beginning of the series. During the Joui War when he, Katsura, and Takasugi were captured by the Naraku, who were under orders of Sada Sada, Gintoki was forced to execute his beloved teacher in front of Takasugi and Katsura. During Nobu Nobu's reign when Matsudaira and Kondo were about to be executed in a similar way to Shouyou, Gintoki decided to help the Shinsengumi save them so they won't make the same mistakes he did. Once he learned that Utsuro and Shouyou are the same person, but with different personalities from Nobume. A similar truth was told by Oboro to Takasugi and the latter sent Takechi to Gintoki and Katsura to report about Shouyou and Utsuro true origin. Gintoki vows to save the earth from Utsuro.
Friends & Allies
•Kagura: Gintoki cares about Kagura, especially when she's in danger or not in a good condition (he saved her in episode 42 when Kagura was attacked by an alien, despite the fact that he abandoned her in the earlier episode so that she'd agree to go back with Umibozu, and he even tried to skip his job to take Kagura to the hospital in Episode 91). When she was feeling down because she didn't feel that her umbrella was as pretty as other girls, he ended up buying her a cute one (Episode 111). Their relationship seems to be of a "father/daughter" or an "older brother/little sister" kind since she greatly admires him and has even picked up several of Gintoki's bad habits, such as picking her nose. They are usually partners in crime and join together in many different gags. •Shimura Shinpachi: Gintoki met Shinpachi at a restaurant where he had ordered a Chocolate Parfait when a fight broke out between Gintoki and some Amantos because they were harassing Shinpachi and accidentally spilled his Parfait. Since then, Shinpachi has been with Gintoki. Gintoki and Shinpachi share a close brotherly relationship, though both are not willing to admit it (during the battle with Obi Hajime both men stated that neither of them sees each other as brothers). Gintoki's bond with Shinpachi can be seen when he went as far as to get on his knees and beg for the Shinsengumi collaboration to keep Shinpachi safe during the Beam Sword Arc. It is also shown in the Kintama Arc that Gintoki was emotionally hurt when a hypnotized Shinpachi punched him and refused to acknowledge who he was. After the battle in the Harusame Arc, Gintoki finds an exhausted Kagura and Shinpachi who claimed to be too tired to walk home. Gintoki retorts on that by saying that he should be the most tired and leaves them be proceeding to walk off. However, he returns seconds later and carries them home. For a man who often doesn't show his soft side, he cares immensely for both Shinpachi and Kagura. •Otose: Otose is Gintoki's landlady and mother figure. They both met in a graveyard where Otose was visiting her husband's grave. There she gave food to a hungry and weak Gintoki and he vowed to protect her in her husband's place to show his gratitude. Although they argue about paying the rent, they both care about each other. When Otose was cut by Doromizu Jirochou, Gintoki went into a murderous rage against Jirochou, showing how much he cares about her. •Katsura Kotarou: Katsura has been Gintoki's friend ever since they were children. Gintoki was the one who founded Katsura's nickname, "Zura"("wig"), even though Katsura prefers his real name. They bicker with each other a lot and Gintoki often treats him as an annoyance, but they have complete trust in each other and are close friends. He has extreme faith in Katsura's strength and was extremely angry when Okada Nizou insulted Katsura by questioning whether he was really a man and stating that he had killed him. Although Katsura did witness Gintoki being forced to execute their teacher by the Naraku, during their capture in the Joui War, Katsura may have forgiven him as he feels Gintoki's regret for killing Shouyou with his own hand is a part of their teacher's sacrifice to save Katsura and his allies. In the present Katsura often hangs out with the Yorozuya and still entreats Gintoki to join his terrorist group. •Sakamoto Tatsuma: Both of them fought in the Joui War and 'till this very day, Sakamoto has a close friendship with Gintoki even though he keeps calling him Kintoki. Gintoki admits that Sakamoto is extremely strong but states that his head is empty. When Sakamoto retired from the war he offered Gintoki to come along with him to explore the outer space, saying that a man like him was too good to stay on Earth, but Gintoki declined. •Kondo Isao: Gintoki has a lot of respect for Kondou after their first duel. Both of them also have the same desire to change Edo to become better and more peaceful, like Shige Shige. Although he wrote down a new Regulation that Yorozuya is to be hated, Kondo actually respects Gintoki, as Yamazaki stated in Episode 32. It is noted that it was Gintoki himself who gave the latter the nickname "Gorilla" by judging Kondo's appearance. After Shige Shige's death and during Nobu Nobu's reign, when he and Matsudaira are about to be executed Gintoki is reminded that their fate is the same as his teacher. Unwilling to make the same mistake and lose someone close to him once again, Gintoki and his Yorozuya, his old Joui allies, as well as Hijikata and his fellow former Shinsengumi, rush to rescue them. •Hijikata Toushirou: Hijikata and Gintoki share many of the same ideals: they both want to protect the people they care about and they will both throw away their own lives to protect the lives of others. They also have slightly similar personalities and are usually seen arguing or making snide comments about the other, which results in the two frequently clashing as rivals. They share many similar traits such as being afraid of ghosts and dentists, their obsession with certain types of food most people find disgusting and fiery tempers. However, they can reach an unbelievable synchronization when fighting together, as shown in the anime-only Episode 166, when the two defeated a large group of enemies before reinforcements arrived. Additionally, both share very similar thinking processes, as shown in Episode 48, where Hijikata and Gintoki attempt to avoid each other by trying to think like the other but end up together anyway because they were both trying so hard to avoid thinking like the other that they both ended up doing exactly the same. At one point, the two even switched souls in the Soul Switch Arc. However, even with all of the fights they have, they are both shown to (extremely grudgingly) respect each other. Gintoki is also reminded of his bond with Shouyou whenever he sees Hijikata's unwavering loyalty towards Kondou and when Kondou is to be executed along with Matsudaira, Gintoki resolves to help Hijikata rescue him so that he may never go though the trauma Gintoki went through losing Shouyou. •Okita Sougo: Gintoki seems unable to remember his name correctly and calls him "Soichiro", "Soda" and even "Sofa". Okita seems to get along rather well with Gintoki. After a rough beginning, the two find common grounds in their love of torturing and humiliating Hijikata. After witnessing the fight between Gintoki and Hijikata, Okita said he would love to clash swords with Gintoki one day. Although a hit from Hijikata would often result in violent retribution from Okita, he doesn't seem to have a problem with taking a lecture or a knock on the head from Gintoki. In the Yagyuu Arc, Hijikata and Shinpachi refer to them as the "Sadist Duo". When his sister came to visit, Okita bribed Gintoki (with three chocolate parfaits) to pretend to be his best friend. Later when Okita left, Gintoki acknowledges the friendship to Mitsuba. •Tama: Gintoki helped her when she was being tracked down by No. 502 and saved her head so Gengai could fix her. He also helped her "let loose" after she began working at Otose's bar. Tama used Gintoki's appearance and strength as data to create the Leukocyte King, her virus defense system. During the Kintama Arc, Tama kept her memories of Gintoki and helped him regain his place in the Yorozuya. During the Silver Soul arc, when Tama and Kintoki sacrificed themselves to power Gengai's cannon, Gintoki screamed her name in anguish, showing how much he has grown to care for her. •Hasegawa Taizou: Gintoki understands the misery of Hasegawa and has helped him many times. One time he even went to court as Hasegawa's defense attorney when Hasegawa was convicted for being a pervert. He won the trial, Hasegawa was released and all charges were dropped. He often joins Hasegawa in the pachinko parlor or for horse-betting. They seem to be good friends by doing everything they can to win money together. •Hattori Zenzou: He is the first ninja seen in the series with an apparently equal obsessive devotion to JUMP magazine as Gintoki. Although he was initially an antagonist he becomes a major ally to Gintoki, helping him many times. Later he assisted Gintoki and his friends in rescuing the Shogun Shige Shige from the Nobu Nobu Faction. •Catherine: Although Gintoki and Catherine constantly argue, Gintoki can still sympathize with her. He saved her when she was about to be killed by her former organization and when she was robbed by the man she loved. Although he did all these things mainly to protect what's dear to Otose, he still seemed to have the will to help Catherine out when she was in danger. •Takasugi Shinsuke: Although Gintoki and Takasugi studied together along with Katsura at Shoka Sonjuku under Yoshida Shouyou, the Kansei Purge tore them apart. Takasugi holds a deep hatred for Gintoki because he chose to execute Shoyo to save the lives of the students. Takasugi initially attempted to kill both Gintoki and Katsura with the help of his Kiheitai, and his rivalry with Gintoki peaks during the Shogun Assassination Arc, in which Takasugi aids in attempting to kill Shige Shige and ends up fighting Gintoki. After they brutally exhaust each other on open ground they reconcile and eventually join forces to fight against Utsuro. Gintoki is shown to always hold some (comedic) level of respect towards Takasugi even after he learned of his terrorist activities. At the end of the Silver Soul Arc, as Takasugi lays dying following Utsuro's defeat, Gintoki holds his comrade in his lap and struggles to hold back tears. When Takasugi peacefully dies, Gintoki cries over the loss of his friend and plants his sword next to him in a display of respect. •Kamui: Kagura's elder brother. Kamui has his eyes set on Gintoki, as a prey, after he and the Hyakka defeated Housen. He has combined his forces with the Kiheitai. He later gained respect for Gintoki when the Tendoshu used Kiheitai to assassinate Shige Shige. They later fought on Rakuyou following Utsuro's arrival and Gintoki proved to be the catalyst for Kamui's reevalution of his role as Kagura's "idiotic older brother". •Kawakami Bansai: Kiheitai's assassin and negotiator. He was first seen by Gintoki aboard Harusame spaceship next to Takasugi. When Bansai observed Gintoki and Katsura as they fought the Harusame troops, Bansai stated that he'd like to have a match with both of them. He would later appear as the main antagonist of the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc, where he used Itou Kamotarou as a tool to destroy Shinsengumi from within. When he realized that Gintoki was fighting for the Shinsengumi, he attacked him. They had an intense fight before Bansai was finally defeated by Gintoki. Later on, Bansai was seen talking to Takasugi about Gintoki. He stated that falling in love with Gintoki's "song" was his defeat, with which he implied that he held back during the fight. He is currently one of Gintoki's allies since finding out that the Tendoshu was using Kiheitai and Harusame to assassinate Shige Shige. •Rei: She helped Gintoki in the Ghost Ryokan Arc and joked that her reason for refusing to go to heaven was her wish to wash Gintoki's back in the future. •Kurokono Tasuke: A former comrade of Gintoki during the war against the Amanto. Later, he saved Katsura and Sakamoto from the Kiheitai. •Houichi: Gintoki meets Houichi, a human who has become a cat, when he, himself, becomes a cat. Houichi helps Gintoki learn to survive as a cat and Gintoki helps Houichi stop cat catchers from gathering all of the stray cats in Edo. •Tokugawa Shige Shige: Gintoki had a strong fear towards Shige Shige since he's the Shogun, the person who runs the country, always keep misunderstanding the Shogun to be a very dangerous man. Gin strongly believes that the Shogun doesn't tolerate failure, and one single mistake he makes would end up having him, his friends, their families, and even familiars to all get kill. However, it later changes when Gintoki realizes that the Shogun isn't who the Yorozuya thinks he is, although, Gin still fears the Shogun till this day. Gintoki's faith in the Shogun is shown in the Shogun Assassination Arc, where he and the rest of the Yorozuya put their lives on the line to protect Shige Shige and his allies. When they ultimately fail and Shige Shige is killed, Gintoki is seen limping with lifeless eyes, proving how much Shige Shige meant to him and the pain of again losing something he vowed to protect. This proves to be the catalyst for Gintoki's massive involvement in the rescue of Kondou Isao shortly afterwards.
Love Interests
•Ketsuno Ana: Gintoki has a crush on the weather girl, whom he watches every day. He even once escaped from his cleaning duties at the Otose Snack to go and buy a Ketsuno Ana figurine and started tearing out calendar pages in despair when he saw on TV that she got married. After her divorce with her husband, he started wishing for a chance to marry her and become a part of the Ketsuno Clan family. In Diviner Arc Gintoki blushed and tried to impress her when she came to the Yorozuya by trying to make everything look professional. Gintoki has said he doesn't care about her weather forecast but only wants to see her smile every day. •Shimura Tae: At the start of the series, she has often been mistaken for his girlfriend. However, Tae has been supporting Gintoki ever since she noticed how much of an influence he has on Shinpachi's character and growth. In the Benizakura Arc, despite her scolding him not to be reckless anymore, she still prepared his clothes and lent him her favorite umbrella knowing that she could not stop him from doing as he desired. Tae was seen to be somewhat attracted to him during the Memory Loss Arc. He had become significantly more serious and Tae kept confirming if he didn't forget her. When he apologized she tried to knock him on the head to make him remember but resulted in Gintoki touching her hand and apologizing, causing her to briefly blush. She complimented him about his eyes and suggested that he stayed amnesiac as she preferred this version of Gintoki, causing Shinpachi to complain that she had fallen for him. In addition to that, she was even teased by their ugly classmates during the group date episode. Tae even appeared to be jealous when Gintoki went with Tama at the Snack Smile. During the Soul Switch Arc, Gintoki was happy to learn that the other, more violent half of his soul, which now inhabited the dead body of a stray cat, had been taken in and cared for by Tae. During the Kintama arc, it was shown that she had brief flashbacks of him before any of the others. Gintoki has shown that he deeply cares for both Otae and Shinpachi on numerous occasions such as during the Farewell Shinsengumi arc and the Beam Saber arc.They can usually be seen together with Shinpachi and Kagura. Gin often teases Otae as being as 'flat as a board', referring to her chest, 'female gorilla' because of how physically abusive she is and even a thug as she has a tendency to manipulate others via sweet talk while Otae calls him a lazy samurai, but despite that, they respect and support the other where it counts. •Sarutobi Ayame: She is madly in love with Gintoki to the extent that she stalks him constantly and wants to have a SM (sadist-masochist) playtime with him. Gintoki's denial and sometimes even hostile attitudes towards her only encourages her as she believes it is part of the "sadistic" nature of Gintoki, resulting in a greater wish to be together with him. In the Scandal arc, she mentioned that she would normally never trick Gintoki but in that case, she did it in order to live with him. Though Gintoki usually treats her badly, to the point of open hostility, he did rescue her when she fell from a building during the Kintama arc and helped her regain her glasses that he accidentally broke. It is shown that it is not that Gintoki hates her but he is annoyed by her for constantly stalking him. In Episode 139, he stated he dislikes clingy women. •Yagyuu Kyuubei: Gintoki is the only guy that has made Kyuubei behave like a girl and makes her nervous or blush whenever he touches her. She even cried for Gintoki during the Kintama Arc, when she lost her memories of him. This causes Toujou to use Gintoki to bring an end to Kyuubei's boyhood and make her develop romantic feelings for men and forget the romantic feelings she has toward Tae. It's inferred that she has possibly developed a few feelings toward him at the end of the Yagyuu arc, but she developed most of them at the group date when he touched her in the hand and said that it felt nice to touch the hand of a beautiful woman. In Episode 217, Gintoki, upon seeing Kyuubei's breasts while she was in a swimsuit, commented that she had big jugs. In the Kintama arc, Gintoki touching her hand caused her to blush and throw him out of embarrassment. •Tsukuyo: During the Yoshiwara in Flames Arc, their trust and friendship seemed to develop very quickly, as Gintoki forced Tsukuyo to promise him to survive and symbolized this by taking her kiseru, telling her she needs to get out alive if she ever wants to smoke it again. The events of the arc brought them closer together and formed a strong bond between them. In Red Spider Arc, she tries her best to persuade Gintoki to escape while she'll keep them busy but Gintoki doesn't budge as he wants to protect her. In the same arc, Jiraia repeatedly insisted that Gintoki was the reason behind his 'beautiful moon tarnishing' and her weak, foolish behavior. After he found out she was abducted by Jiraia, he was extremely enraged at Jiraia's behavior as Tsukuyo's master and went to rescue her despite his grave injuries. While fighting Jiraia, he told her to wholeheartedly weep and ask for help, since he and everyone dear to her will always be there to share her pain and burdens. At the end of the Red Spider Arc, Tsukuyo asked Gintoki if she'd have lived a different life without her scar to which he replied, "You wouldn't be any different. That's the path you've chosen, your way of life. There's no need to regret it, Walk tall, your face isn't ugly. It's a pretty face carrying a clean soul." In the Love Potion Arc, Tsukuyo falls under the influence of the powder, intensifying her secret attraction to Gintoki, who himself falls under the influence, becoming a playboy. It is during this arc, though, that she understood that her love is one-sided. Throughout their time together, Gintoki and Tsukuyo share a deep level of mutual understanding and respect and are willing to go to any lengths to protect those dear to them. •Chin Pirako: She has shown that she has taken a liking to Gintoki, even going as far as saying he should marry her to join her family. While this may have just been a ruse to aggravate him considering the circumstances (Gintoki was fighting in Otose's faction during the Kabukicho Four Devas Arc), when she returns in the later arcs to help alongside her father against Utsuro and his forces, of Doromizu Jirochou, (her father) states he will cut down anyone who tries to lay a hand on his daughter and seems intent on cutting Gintoki down implying Pirako does possess some level of attraction to Gintoki. •Rei: At the end of the episode 134, she states "there's a man whose back I want to wash" which could possibly be implying Gin.
Gintoki made his first appearance at a café where Shimura Shinpachi was working, when his Chocolate Parfait was spilled by a couple of troublesome Amanto. In a moment of anger, he punched the manager and beat the Amanto with his wooden sword. However, Shinpachi was the one to take the blame and lost his job as a result.
When Shinpachi's sister, Shimura Tae, learned of his doings, Gintoki was heavily beaten, and he offered Shinpachi a place in the Yorozuya as compensation. Later, Tae was forced to work in an illegal nightclub airship to pay off the debt of her family's dojo, and to save her, Gintoki and Shinpachi rescued her from the debt collectors and destroyed the ship. After bearing witness to his strength, Shinpachi decided to work with Gintoki and learn how to be a true samurai.
•Gintoki's last name & character design are recycled from Sakata Tomiko & Gorouzaemon; characters from a rejected one-shot story Sorachi wrote before Gintama.
•Gintoki has B Rh+ blood type.
•Sorachi gave many hints and foreshadowing of Gintoki having to kill his sensei for his friends to survive. In Episode 61 Katsura states to Takasugi that Gintoki should hate this world more than anyone for taking Shoyo away further foreshadowing that he had to take him down.
•According to Sorachi, Gintoki's name was based on Sakata Kintoki, also known as Kintaro, from a famous folk tale set in the Heian Period. Kintaro became friends with the animals that lived on the mountain where he was raised and was even capable of battling with them. After certain events, he became a samurai and eventually went under the name Sakata Kintoki (坂田金時). Sorachi-sensei, in one of the question corners, explains this and doesn't intend on making Gin-san a descendant of Kintaro. His robot counterpart actually does take the name of Sakata Kintoki.
•Gintoki likes to order a custom "red beans on rice"(Uji-Gintoki-don 宇治銀時ドン) dish at his local restaurant.
•He might not look like it, but Gintoki was noted by Sorachi as a skilled chef. It was said that he was at the "steel man" level when it comes to cooking (mentioned in episode 92's behind the scenes). He is also a capable baker, being able to bake his own strawberry cake at Shinpachi's house as shown in episode 2.
Oct 20, 2015 · If you're interested in an anime that's constantly hilarious, but also has a great balance with serious plots, Gintama is an anime to check out. To start you off, read this article that features the main and minor characters you'll see in this unique anime series. Spoiler.
Meet the main, secondary and minor characters of Gintama, a comedy action anime set in an alternate Edo period Japan. Browse their profiles, tags, voice actors and more.
