History UsefulNotes / TheShinsengumi

* Despite ''Manga/GoldenKamuy'' taking place in the early 20th-century, one of the main factions looking for the gold are Shogunate remnants and former convicts led by [[spoiler:an elderly Hijikata Toshizō, who in real life died when he was only 34, but here was secretly taken prisoner instead]]. [[spoiler:Nagakura Shinpachi]] is another member of this group.

* The Shinsengumi also exist in the world of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' -- though, the show being a GagSeries, the group has more than a few dysfunctions: Kondō is a hapless, idiotic StalkerWithACrush, Hijikata has a short fuse, chain smokes and puts mayonnaise on all his food, and Okita is a sadist who tries to blow Hijikata up with a bazooka every chance he gets. And Yamazaki is obsessed with badminton, so much so that he is more likely to be carrying a badminton racket than a sword. [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed Their personal names are slightly changed - for example, Hijikata Tōshirō and Okita Sōgo. They also wear black military uniforms instead of the distinctive blue and white haori.

* The Shinsengumi also exist in the world of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' -- though, the show being a GagSeries, the group has more than a few dysfunctions: Kondō is a hapless, idiotic StalkerWithACrush, Hijikata has a short fuse, chain smokes and puts mayonnaise on all his food, and Okita is a sadist who tries to blow Hijikata up with a bazooka every chance he gets. And Yamazaki is obsessed with badminton, so much so that he is more likely to be carrying a badminton racket than a sword. (Their personal names are also slightly changed - for example, Hijikata Tōshirō and Okita Sōgo.)

* It is not known if it was coincidental or a deliberate deconstruction, but early in ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' there is a gang of punks who call themselves Shinsengumi. These punks (led by a certain [[SexPistols Hishiyasu Shido]]) kidnap and kill Machi, leading Manji to actively start his attempt to get rid of the Kessenchu inside his body (though not without completely butchering them before).

** In ''Shall We Date?: Ninja Assassin'' and ''[[VisualNovel/ShallWeDateNinjaShadow Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow]]'', set in the Edo and the Nagasaki from right before the end of the Isolation days respectively, the Edo and Nagasaki Vigilantes are strongly based on the most romanticized views of the Shinsengumi. Like in ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'', the female PlayerCharacter hangs out with the groups and can romance members of the Vigilantes.
** ''Ninja Shadow'' actually '''has''' two Shinsengumi members, Hijikata and Okita, as prospect love interests. As of September 2017, Hijikata's route has been released whereas Okita's is in development.

* In [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} TYPE-MOON]]'s Koha Ace manga, the identity of a "joke character", [[http://i.imgur.com/qbNYVbw.jpg Sakura Saber]], is revealed to be a GenderFlip of [[http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/otaku_blog/imgs/f/1/f15ace7e.jpg Okita Sōji]]. She, along with Hijikata Toshizo, have been made into playable characters in the mobile game ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''.

Easily recognizable by their distinctive sky-blue-and-white haori jackets. (Historically, these may have been yellow and white, but always seem to be portrayed as the blue and white style on television. The design were apparently based from their claimed SpiritualPredecessor, The47Ronin.) As something of a far right-wing praetorian guard, the Shinsengumi embodies the KnightTemplar trope far better than, well, [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar the actual Knights Templar]]. Ostensibly defenders of the shogun and Japan, they soon transformed into a ruthless SecretPolice force with an unbelievably strict code of conduct, and what even [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has to give up on sugar-coating and describe as [[BloodKnight "an unflinching readiness to kill."]] Despite their job technically being to keep the peace, they were generally (and deservedly) viewed as a threat. Like other nationalist paramilitary movements, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether inter-faction violence and assassinations]] were frequent.

** And so's a lot of characters, from [[http://japanhk.blogspot.com.es/2009/08/and-now-for-other-side-shinsengumi.html Hello Kitty]] (Kyoto limited version) to Domo-kun (for the promotion of the NHK dorama). There are official Volks ball-jointed dolls of [[http://www.angelden.net/volks/sdgr/okita.php Okita]] ([[http://www.angelden.net/volks/sd13/okita.php several]] [[http://www.volks.co.jp/htd_kyoto10/volks_sd02/ times]] over), [[http://www.angelden.net/volks/sd17/hijikata.php Hijikata]], [[http://www.volks.co.jp/htd_kyoto10/volks_sd03/ Saitō]] and [[http://www.volks.co.jp/htd_kyoto10/volks_sd01/ Kondō]].

* The organization of the Gotei 13 in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' seems quite similar to the shinsengumi. In addition to being divided into "Captains" and "Divisions", later chapters reveal that the initial group were "defenders of the peace" in name only were bloodthirsty Knights Templar like the shinsengumi. It is unclear, however, whether the organization was actually based on them.

* The Ryu ga Gotoku series, or VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} as it's known in the west, has two historical fiction spinoffs never released in English. The second one, Ishin, takes place in the final days of the Edo era, where several familiar faces from the base series make cameos as historical figures. Most of the major characters from the series, including protagonist Kiryu Kazuma, portray Shinsengumi captains and their real-life opponents.

** ''Shall We Date?: Ninja Assassin'' and ''[[VisualNovel/ShallWeDateNinjaShadow Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow]]'', set in the Edo and the Nagasaki from right before the end of the Isolation days, the Edo and Nagasaki Vigilantes are strongly based on the most romanticized views of the Shinsengumi. Like in ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'', the female PlayerCharacter hangs out with the groups and can romance members of the Vigilantes.

* The Shinsengumi are the focus of ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'', a RomanceGame franchise which adds a [[TheChick young woman]] and some supernatural elements into the mix but also devotes a surprising amount of attention to the history of and politics surrounding the group. The original game and its immediate prequel were adapted into [[TheAnimeOfTheGame an anime of the same name]].

* In [[Franchise/Nasuverse TYPE-MOON]]'s KohaAce manga, the identity of a "joke character", [[http://i.imgur.com/qbNYVbw.jpg Sakura Saber]], is revealed to be a GenderFlip of [[http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/otaku_blog/imgs/f/1/f15ace7e.jpg Okita Sōji]]. She, along with Hijikata Toshizo, have been made into playable characters in the mobile game ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''.

* In Creator/TypeMoon's ''Manga/KohaAce EX'' comics, the identity of a "joke character", [[http://i.imgur.com/qbNYVbw.jpg Sakura Saber]], reveals to be the [[GenderFlip genderflipped version]] of [[http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/otaku_blog/imgs/f/1/f15ace7e.jpg Okita Soji]]. This same Sakura Saber/Okita is now a playable character in the mobile game ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''

* The organization of the Gotei 13 in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' seems quite similar to the shinsengumi. In addition to being divided into "Captains" and "Divisions", later chapters reveal that the initial group were "defenders of the peace" in name only were bloodthirsty Knights Templar like the shinsengumi. It is unclear, however, whether the organization was actually were based on them.

** To be exact, this is usually played straight with Hijikata (not that he needs it; the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toshizo_Hijikata.jpg real-life Hijikata]] was said to be incredibly handsome) and Okita, averted with Kondō (who is either depicted [[Manga/PeaceMakerKurogane realist]][[VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}} ically]] or [[Manga/{{Gintama}} worse]]) and played UpToEleven with others like Saitō Hajime (compare his portrayal in ''[[http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/20100000/Saito-Hajime-hakuouki-20176822-1280-720.jpg Hakuouki]]'' and his [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Realsaitou-2.jpg picture.]][[labelnote:*]]There exist some dispute, however, and many believe that there was only one photo of Saitō made during his lifetime, and [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/5/54/20100708112535%21Realsaitou-2.jpg he looks completely different in it]][[/labelnote]]

* In ''VideoGame/ToukenRanbu'', which features [[CastFullOfPrettyBoys male]] [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personifications]] of historical Japanese swords, several characters are personifications of swords that belonged to members of the Shinsengumi. Izuminokami Kanesada and Yamatonokami Yasusada both even wear the Shinsengumi's distinctive blue and white haori.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Fictional portrayals often give extreme exaggeration of their martial skills often giving them superpowers and turning their officers and commanders into individual OneManArmy. Even more realistic portrayals show heavily outnumbered Shinsengumi capable of slaughtering large groups with less than 10 men. Granted in real life their reputation as ferocious warriors is justified history as they were that {{BADASS}} in real life.

* HIstoricalVillainUpgrade: At the same time, you may expect stories which focus primarily on the heroes of the Meiji Restoration to either portray them as [[AntiHero anti-heroic]] [[NobleDemon but with an honor code at best]] (see ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' below), or pure mindless attack dogs of the Shogunate.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Fiction often glosses over the more questionable politics and acts of the leaders and the group as a whole.

** The most well-known member of the group, at least to western followers of anime, is most likely Saitō Hajime, from his appearance in . As in real life, after the fall of the Shogunate he joined the Imperial government under the alias "Fujita Gorō", though in the manga he becomes a top spy for the government rather than merely joining the Tokyo Metropolitan Police (the latter merely being his cover identity in ''Kenshin''). (Okita Sōji also figures in the story, though only in a three-panel flashback--and he STILL ranked in the top ten of the character popularity poll!)