Picture from here
Gintama entered the highly anticipated(really?) Shitenou(四天王) arc starting at episode 9 of Gintama', or episode 210 if you didn't count the season break. The arc is about Jirouchou's daughter Chinpirako who waged a war in the Kabukijou so she can be acknowledged by her father, or so it seems...
WARNING!!!SPOILERS INSIDE THIS ARTICLE!!SOME PICTURES SO SLOW LOADING!!
I have to say this is one of my FAVOURITE ED of Gintama series ever, this arc starts out slow as it took a few episodes just to build up the background and the story. That's beside the point of this post but I still find that I need to share this song.
Well, this ED from Yorinuki Gintama is still amazing since it's Piko, but I'm still off topic.
ALRIGHT, enough off topic failing, on the business. Gintama is a series set in a fictional Edo period in Japan, where Amantos(天人, aliens）, instead of white people(in real history, black ship) opened up the country from it's lock down state. The aliens are practically the ones in charge at this period already, and after the Joui wars, no one could carry swords other than government officials. There is a inter-galactic pirate organization called the "Harusame"(春雨, literally, Spring's Rain) that is mainly composed of Amantos on the loose. (Gintoki: Enough with the backstory, why would anyone even click this article without knowing Gintama anyways, get on with it!; Shinpachi: Just reminding people, that's all...)
The story takes place in Kabukijou in Edo, where Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi opened up a shop named Yorozuya Ginchan on top of Otose's shop. There are four main forces in the Kabukijou which is called the Shitenou(四天王, Elite Four）. The forces are led by,
Otose(お登勢）
,
Saigo Tokumori(西郷）
,
Doromizu Jirochou(次郎長）
,
and finally an Amanto, Kada(華陀）
.
Jirochou leads a traditional Yakuza(Japanese gang), Saigo is a new half(transgender?), and Otose does not have any force, Kada have her amanto troops.
,Saigo Tokumori(西郷）
,Doromizu Jirochou(次郎長）
, and finally an Amanto, Kada(華陀）
. Jirochou leads a traditional Yakuza(Japanese gang), Saigo is a new half(transgender?), and Otose does not have any force, Kada have her amanto troops.
The story starts with 椿平子（Chinpirako)
, appears on the street and attacked Gintoki, then she later on reveals that she is Jirochou's daughter, and she came to Kabukijou to make her father bloom in "crimson" flowers. On the side note, Chinpirako is voiced by Nonaka Ai, and I was so blown away by her super awesome cute voice as always, and somehow it fit this character well too. Gintoki believed that she is going to kill her father, who left her and cut the family ties so he can stay in Kabukijou. Chinpirako believes it is all Otose's fault as she was her father's romantic interest before.
, appears on the street and attacked Gintoki, then she later on reveals that she is Jirochou's daughter, and she came to Kabukijou to make her father bloom in "crimson" flowers. On the side note, Chinpirako is voiced by Nonaka Ai, and I was so blown away by her super awesome cute voice as always, and somehow it fit this character well too. Gintoki believed that she is going to kill her father, who left her and cut the family ties so he can stay in Kabukijou. Chinpirako believes it is all Otose's fault as she was her father's romantic interest before. The elite fours gathered up and decided that the street is getting "messier" and they are going to destroy any force that create any trouble, as Jirouchou's yakuza is causing quite a bit of havoc. Chinpirako joined Gintoki and assumes herself as the 4th member of the Yorozuya. We see her tricking Gintoki into attacking Jirochou's men later so the war to destroy Otose' force started. Otose herself told everyone related to her to get out of the street and never come back again, while she went to her husband's grave, who was the best friend of Jirochou's, Jirochou attacked Otose and heavily injured her, but left her alive. Gintoki saw this and fought with Jirochou and lost terribly.
Waking up at the hospital, Gintoki finds out that Otose's forces will be wiped out, which only meant the residents at Otose's shop, as long as they get out of Kabukijou they would not be injured, so he tries to make everyone leave by losing faith in him so he can go back and defend Otose's shop. Because of obvious reasons they did not leave and Otose's forces gathered, 5 person against Saigo+Chinpirako leading her father's men. Reinforcements came from everywhere to Otose's from all the people Yorozuya helped, and they defeated Saigo+Chinpirako, while Saigo is only fighting because his son was kidnapped by Kada, Catherine went to rescue his son. after the fight, Kada's troops appeared and we are revealed to Kada's real identity as Harusame's 4th Squad leader.
Kada's true plans revealed, Gintoki and Jirochou teamed up and defeated all of Kada's elite forces, but ran out of energy to capture Kada herself, and they fought each other after Kada escapes because they both made a promise to protect things important to Otose's husband, but they are doing it in different ways. Gintoki stood out at the end and protected everyone, including Jirochou in the end.
Finally, after some days, Jirochou and Chinpirako finally met as father and daughter.
I guess that is the main summary of the arc, while I'd like to point out that this is possibly one of the BLOODIEST arc yet, but it is amazingly well paced and played out. The final moment of Jirochou reuniting with Chinpirako brought tears to my eyes. It was amazingly done, building the scene up with the ending song and then stopping it at the right moment, and let it flow after. Despite Gintama continuingly degrading their own show on TV, it is in fact one of the more popular animes, and I believe the anime of Gintama is more popular than Naruto AND Bleach.
I hope the next story chapter of Gintama will come soon and with more Harusame, since Gintama's story moves very slow as most of the chapters are for fun only.
