Characters / Gintama Yorozuya Gin

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The main characters of the series, the Yorozuya Gin is a freelancer business in the red light district of Kabukicho in Edo.

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General Tropes

• Badass Crew: Particularly in serious arcs.
• Breaking the Fellowship: After the fight against Utsuro is over, Gintoki announced that he found something else to do so he disbands the Yorozuya while Kagura goes back to her father in finding a way to help Sadaharu and Shinpachi stays in Edo while running the Yorozuya by himself. It turns out that Gintoki was trying to find Utsuro who dived into the Altana and is reborn elsewhere as Shouyo. Eventually, what happens then leads to the Yorozuya being reunited after two years and Sadaharu returns back to normal.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Gintoki and Shinpachi. Kagura's mother died and her father rarely came home. At one point a client came and mothered them, and they all assume she was the mother of one of them before realizing they all lost their moms.
• Dressing as the Enemy: They all disguise themselves as members of the Hyakka to sneak into Hosen's palace with Tsukuyo, but are immediately discovered.
• The Gadfly: It's more of something that Gintoki and Kagura do, but the ninth opening has all of them pulling a great troll-face.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Shinpachi and Kagura are 16 and 14 respectively, whereas Gin is twenty-something.
• Jack of All Trades: What their job basically is. Heck, this is what yorozuya literally translates to in English.
• Perpetual Poverty: They hardly ever get paid for what they do, and Otose really sticks her neck out for them. And once they do have money, Gintoki usually spends it on Pachinko machines or keeping Kagura and Sadaharu fed.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A washed up war veteran, an otaku dojo heir, and an illegal alien immigrant, all grouped together and doing odd jobs.
• Snark Ball: They each have their moments.
• Straight Man: Primarily Shinpachi, though Gintoki is not too far behind.
• True Companions: They fight and insult each other all the time, but when it really counts, they're as close a family you can get.
• Two Guys and a Girl.

Gintoki Sakata

Gintoki Sakata

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (JP), Haruka Tomatsu (JP, female), Michael Daingerfield (EN, series), Jennifer Cameron (EN, female), Chris Patton (EN, movie), Alfredo Martínez (Spain), Shun Oguri (Live Action movie)

A lazy, washed-up samurai living in an era when samurai are no longer needed. Gintoki resides with his friends Kagura and Shinpachi, taking on odd jobs to make the world a better place and to pay off their rent. The three of them run a freelancer business known as Yorozuya Gin (Odd Jobs Gin).

During the Joi War, he was known as the Shiroyasha or "White Demon" due to his silver hair and white coat he wore in battle, which, combined with his impressive capabilities as a swordsman, made him famous among his comrades and struck fear into the hearts of the Amanto. He fought the invaders until he realized the lack of sense in doing so, leading to him choosing to instead make a living as a freelancer for hire in Edo.

Gintoki has an insufferable sweet tooth and is also obsessed with acquiring and reading the Weekly Shōnen Jump. Despite his uncaring attitude and brash behavior, Gintoki has a great amount of pride for the old bushido code and will go to great lengths to protect anyone in trouble, be it those he considers close comrades or complete strangers.

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• Accidental Misnaming: Sakamoto always calls him "Kintoki" instead of Gintoki. Gintoki always objects to this, especially since if his name were "Kintoki", the series' title would be "Kintama", which, in Japanese, means balls.
• Accidental Pervert: Has on three occasions groped Tsukuyo, who has in turn responded with violence. He has also pulled down Kyubei's swimsuit and looked up under their kimono at one point, with similarly predictable results.
• The Alcoholic: He loves a drink, and he routinely gets completely drunk. At one point, his nearest and dearest decided it was a problem and... took steps.
• Affectionate Nickname: Gin-chan, as Kagura likes to call him.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: Discussed and not played for laughs in the amnesia arc where he hates what he felt like he used to be. With already guilt in his heart, and the others talking about how he used to be behind his back making him hate himself even more. He even moves away and starts working in a Justaway factory, until his memory returns.
• Anti-Hero: Gintoki isn't exactly what you'd call your typical Shonen Hero. A man of several vices, he drinks, gambles (and loses), rarely (if ever) pays his rent on time and sometimes can be quite the troll. Also, when the situation requires it, he will kill his enemies. In spite of this, Gintoki is a good person at heart and when push comes to shove, you can expect him to do the right thing.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: The Gender Bender Arc shows him to be very pretty as a woman.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Has a long string of moments where he fights back-to-back together with someone else. The most notable has to be his back-to-back fight alongside Katsura against the Harusame in the Benizakura arc.
• Badass and Baby: In the Infant Strife arc he has to fight while carrying the baby Kanshichiro, who is falsely believed to be his son.
• Badass Boast: He makes a lot of them before proceeding to kick ass. Below is one of the earlier ones, when he's about to take on Daraku.
  "Hey, listen. I don't care what you punks do around the universe, but this is my sword, and anywhere it can reach is my country. Bastards who come in and try to mess with my things... whether it be a shogun, whether it be space pirates, whether it be a meteorite... I’ll destroy them!"
• Badass Normal: He's just a regular human, but through Charles Atlas Superpower and being a Determinator he manages to stand up to and defeat people of mass destruction and superpowerful aliens.
• Bash Brothers: Despite how much they get on each others' nerves, when the chips are down, Gintoki and Hijikata work together quite well and are a terrifying duo to go up against.
  • Also applies to him and Katsura given how they were taught by the same master since they were kids and both took part in the Joui war together.
• Benevolent Boss: Despite his persistent failure of paying a decent salary, Gintoki is like family to Shinpachi and Kagura. Whenever they're in danger, Gintoki will go through hell and back to protect them, and vice versa.
• Big Brother Instinct: At one point a one-off character actually assumes he is Shinpachi's big brother. It's also implied that he would kill any guy who tried to shack up with Kagura. In addition, Okita of all people looks up to him as something of a big brother figure, as seen when Gintoki is the first person Okita goes to after Okita's sister asked Okita if he has made any friends outside of the Shinsengumi.
• Big Damn Heroes: Too many times to count. It's usually accompanied by some truly fantastic snarking.
• Butt-Monkey: Expect him to be the one being the butt of jokes in an episode, usually thanks to his or his friend's antics.
• Brain Bleach: At the end of the Scandal Arc, his reaction to learning he did sleep with Hasegawa while absolutely wasted? Run as far away as possible to a bar where he immediately begins ordering booze to get drunk enough to forget he just learned that.
• Bridal Carry: Carries Tsukuyo in his arms after freeing her from Jiraia's web.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: An amazingly skilled fighter who could slice through a legion of enemies in seconds, yet spends his days scrambling after JUMP magazines and lounging about eating sweets.
• Broken Smile: In chapter 674 when asked to return to Yorozuya.
• Celeb Crush: Has one on Ana Ketsuno. He's absolutely thrilled at getting a chance to help her in the Onmyoji arc, but then a shikigami comes crashing into his house...
• Character Development: While most of his development into the person he is now is shown in flashbacks, he does begin to care more openly for the people around him in the present.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: How else can one describe the human who is able to take on people of mass destruction such as the swordsman possessed by a parasite sword which can cut through warships like knife through butter and the mob boss from one of the strongest races in the universe?
• Chick Magnet: Gintoki tends to easily attract the attention of those he meets, largely just by helping them out. He has a minor harem among the girls he regularly interacts with (Tae, Kyuubei, Sacchan, and Tsukuyo) and tends to get a good amount of Ship Tease with them, but also gets some minor Ship Tease with Pirako, who seemed to take a liking to him, even suggesting they marry so he can join her family. He's also quite popular among the courtesans of Yoshiwara, having attracted a large number of them before he ever saved them from Hosen, his popularity only increasing afterwards, and even the Cute Ghost Girl Rei decided against ascending to Heaven just so she could be the one to wash his back when he goes to pass on.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Regularly watches and reads porn, oogles women at the pool, makes all sort of propositions and sexual comments, but he genuinely cares about his female friends and outright refuses to take advantage of them (probably because they kick his ass when he does it by accident).
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Downplayed, but still noticeable. As much of an anti-hero that he claims he is, he cant help but butt in to someone else's problems even if he and the others are not paid for it. He remarks about this trait in an episode, saying that he should stop meddling with other people's affairs. a reason of this might be because of his promise to Shouyou, where the latter says that he should fight and protect everyone he knows.
• Combat Pragmatist: He will use every possible advantage he can to win a fight and is not afraid to cheat outright, as seen in his duel with Kondo where Gintoki gave him a broken sword to fight with. He does it again when the first thing he does in his fight against the Onmyoji Doman is to start beating the crap out of him before he can summon his shikigami.
• Confusion Fu: His fighting style is unpredictable, consisting of seemingly random one-handed swings with his wooden katana. This only becomes more prominent when he sometimes brandishes a katana in both hands.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All goofiness and shenanigans aside, Gintoki's past is nothing short of horrible.
  • At the youngest we've seen, Gintoki was found wandering on a battlefield eating off corpses. He was adopted by Shouyou and lived a few peaceful years until the war broke out, his school was burned down and Shouyou was captured. He entered the war to save Shouyou, and lost not only his teacher but also countless comrades, the guilt of which continues to haunt him to this day.
  • Even his past after the war was not particularly bright. He was arrested and tortured in prison while waiting for the day of execution. He escaped prison on a stroke of luck and was only barely alive as Otose found him dishevelled, starving, and slumped against a tombstone in a graveyard.
  • All the hints of his dark past eventually come to a head when it's revealed that he was forced to kill Shouyou in exchange for allowing Katsura, Takasugi and himself live.
• Deadpan Snarker: Whenever he gets to be the straight man.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Why he started the Yorozuya in the first place.
• Determinator: Even after being pummeled and slashed to near-death, he never gives up a fight, pushing on through sheer willpower despite his injuries until he beats his enemy.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: Gin's default expression has him with a half-lidded eyes, resulting from his incredibly lazy and sarcastic personality. In-universe, he is described as having "dead fish eyes".
• Dressing as the Enemy: Apart from the aforementioned failed attempt to disguise himself as one of the Hyakka, he later on disguises himself as a member of the Naraku along with Tsukuyo and Nobume, which allows him to get the drop on Oboro while Tsukuyo and Nobume take care of Sadasada and his escape vessel, respectively.
• Drunken Master: Bansai remarks while fighting him that his tune is "haphazard, like jazz" but with an undignified air, as if he were drunk.
• Dual Wielding: Fights against Hosen with his wooden katana in one hand and a regular steel katana in the other.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even after he saved Kabukicho many times, he is still treated as a nuisance by everyone that knows him, or a weirdo by those who don't. But this gets subverted later on in the story, as everyone gains respect for him the more he solves other people's problems.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: People often tell him that he has dead, fish-like eyes.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He loses his goggles after the first episode/chapter as Sorachi found it to be annoying to draw.
• Empowered Badass Normal: In the Onmyoji arc, he gets his wooden sword empowered by the nearby onmyoji and shikigami, allowing him to defeat Antenmaru.
• Enemy Mine:
  • He and Jirocho unite to take on Kada's Elite Mooks together before they settle the score between each other with a Single-Stroke Battle.
  • Happens again in the Shogun Assassination arc with him and Kagura briefly fighting together with Takasugi and Kamui against the Naraku.
• Experienced Protagonist: He was already a great war hero and extreme badass prior to the start of the series. He notably doesn't get particularly stronger either, but manages to tap back into his years of experience in battle whenever he's involved in a serious fight.
• Expy: Gintoki's personality and wits are similar to (Young) Joseph Joestar from Jojo's Bizzare Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency; there's also the fact they share the same voice actor in the Japansese dub. Gintoki's notorious past as the Shiroyasha (plus his current attempt to stay out of the way of fights) is almost a Whole-Plot Reference to Himura Kenshin's past as the Hitokiri Battousai. The only difference is that Gintoki has way more levity and mischief in his life than Kenshin.
• Failure Knight: A large part of Gintoki's desire to protect others and the absurd lengths he goes to do it is due to the guilt of believing that he couldn't save or protect anyone during the war. The other part is him being Gintoki.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: It's not because he thinks it's cool to wear his clothes that way, okay?! It's because he can reach his special weapon faster if his right arm is sleeveless, understand?!
• Foil: To Takasugi. Both are Joui war veterans who are tormented by their past and the regret they have for causing their mentor's death. But Gintoki decided to move on from the past and helps and befriends many people, implementing their mentor's teachings and ideals along the way, while Takasugi decided to walk down a bloody path, doing terrorism acts here and there to overthrow the government and destroy the world that took their mentor away from them.
  "While you've abandoned a hundred people, I've connected with a thousand. While you're casting aside a thousand, I have ten thousand helping me out. So what's an army of a few thousand?"
  • He is also a foil to Oboro. Both of them are Shouyou's first students. Both were saved by him when they were children and owed him their lives in a way. But Oboro ended up staying in Naraku to keep them away from Shouyou, ironically going against his mentor's teachings in order to protect him, although it was clearly not what Shouyou wanted from him. But when he saw Shouyou together with his new students, he was overcome by jealousy and decided to tell Naraku where Shouyou was in order to get him captured and thus, to have Shouyou for himself. Meanwhile Gintoki, who loves Shouyou just as much, was willing to kill him when forced to choose between killing Shouyou or Katsura and Takasugi, because he knew that was what Shouyou wanted him to do. Even if he had to kill the person he loves the most, he will do it in order to protect what Shouyou held dear and to keep Shouyou's teachings and ideals alive. When Shouyou came back to life as Utsuro, Oboro decided to serve him despite knowing it's not the same person. When Gintoki met Utsuro, he decided to fight him because he knew it's not the same person.
• Forgot I Couldn't Swim: Has a tendency to fight on bridges, ships, and boats. Sure it looks cool, but one of the problems is that he can't swim and he happens to fall off them a lot. It's rarely explained how he gets to safety again.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: For absolutely no reason, he goes through one with Sadaharu in the anime, which at the end of episode switches to Shinpachi's glasses. Of course everything's back to normal in next episode. It happens again in chapter 470, this time with Hijikata.
• Free-Fall Fight: The latter half of his fight with Oboro has both of them falling from the top of the Shogun's palace while they fight mid-air. Gintoki wins the fight by throwing his broken bokuto into the roof below, impaling Oboro on it, while he himself just gets a very hard landing that he somehow survives.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: He has no sympathy for villains with a Dark and Troubled Past, believing that people can and should be able to rise above their circumstances, as he was able to do the same himself. However, he knows how terrible it feels to be at rock bottom, and so he tries to help people out before they've done something terrible (preventing a suicide in the Correspondence Arc) and if the villains truly are sorry for what they've done (Ryuuju Arc).
• Friend to All Children: He's willing to go fight a literal deathmatch in a coliseum just to make some children stop crying, in addition to singlehandedly challenging the mob boss of the strongest alien race in the galaxy to reunite a scruffy pickpocket with his mother. It's safe to say that he has a weakness for kids.
• The Gadfly: He likes to say things that are intentionally meant to make fun or provoke others.
• The Gambling Addict: He always tries to gamble his way to money, but he never succeeds.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Had a pair hanging around his neck as part of his initial character design in the manga, but dropped after the first chapter because they became a pain to draw all the time. They still appear on his scooter helmet, but he almost never actually uses them.
• Good Is Not Nice: Gintoki is not exactly the friendliest person at a glance. He is rude, brash, brazen, apathetic and sometimes can be a little arrogant and petty. But once you get to know him, you realize there is a kind man with a heart of gold underneath all of that.
• Goofy Print Underwear: Pink strawberry boxers.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Usually Played for Laughs whenever he is annoyed or pissed at someone. Played straight in the Owee arc, where he uses the Elder's body as a weapon to fight the monsters. Needless to say, the Elder died.
• Groin Attack: May explain why he can survive many fatal wounds, as most if not all of the damages goes into his groin, including detachments, conversion, and disintegration. Also explains why it's called Gintama (Can be misread as "testicles" in Japanese).
• Has a Type: It's Zig Zagged whether he likes Tsundere characteristics or not as he claims to not like violent women, but when his Love Interest of the Dating Sim arc turned into the girl of his dreams did she turn into a fullblown tsundere after much abuse of him. He was even interested in sleeping with her, which even squicked the In-Universe hardcore Otaku out.
• The Hero: At best when he shows some compassion for his friends or does fight for what is right.
• Heroic BSoD: Had a small one after Shigeshige was assassinated.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Katsura, who he has known since childhood.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Acts quite rude to everyone he first meets, but will quickly change if he find the person to be agreeable with. Even to his comrades, he will belittle them and abandon them in comedic situations, but in serious ones, he will not let them die to the best of his abilities.
• Historical Domain Character: Very loosely based on Kintaro, also known as Sakata Kintoki. Notably, they're from entirely different time periods.
  • In terms of his backstory and relationship with other characters, (sans the intelligence), he is a lot closer to Kusaka Genzui, an Isshin Shishi samurai and one of the prominent students of Yoshida Shoin (in which Gintoki's mentor Shouyou is based off) alongside Takasugi Shinsaku and Katsura Kogoro (the fact that Genzui is sometimes depicted in white kimono doesn't help).
• Honor Before Reason: He takes his code of Bushido very seriously and will always do the right thing in the end no matter how dangerous it is, shown most prominently in the more serious arc.
• Hot-Blooded: Gintoki's normally pretty lazy and relaxed, but when he's really excited he gets fired up.
• Humble Hero: "Humble" isn't really a word that normally applies to him, but when it comes to the matter of being the Savior of Yoshiwara, he's adamant about not deserving the title and praise.
• Hypocritical Humor: Always refers to Katsura as Zura but gets hilariously mad when Sakamoto does the same to him, calling him Kintoki instead of Gintoki.
• Iconic Outfit: His white yukata with a blue swirl pattern on the bottom and at the end of the sleeves, black red-lined shirt with a popped collar and black pants and knee-high black boots are this. But what is more memorable in his outfit is how he wears it, where it is worn so that his arm only goes through the left sleeve and the right half droops down over his obi.
• Improvised Weapon: Gintoki's hands are capable of turning anything into a weapon in lieu of anything better, be it someone's pipe or the broken pieces of his own wooden sword.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Extremely well hidden, but it's there. Underneath the arrogant Narcissist who compliments himself in the mirror, is a Death Seeker with Survivor Guilt from his Dark and Troubled Past, and all that keeps him alive is his wish to be able to protect his friends once and for all.
• It's All My Fault: In the second movie, he learns that he's the cause of the White Plague which has devastated the world. He then takes on the responsibility alone, going back in time to kill himself to prevent the incident from ever happening. A good thing the rest of the cast followed suit and helped prevent that from happening.
• It's Personal: Sadasada and Oboro earns his eternal hatred when they're revealed to be responsible for Shouyou's arrest and execution, causing him to go into a blind rage to get back at them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rude and snarky to almost everyone and often scoffs off other people's problems as none of his business. However, when push comes to shove, his kindness and sense of honor pushes him beyond humanly possible limits and the juxtaposition certainly makes him seem that much more awesome.
• Kill the Ones You Love: It is later revealed that Gintoki was forced to kill his mentor and father figure Shouyou, who is arguably the most important person in his life, to spare Katsura and Takasugi's lives.
• Killing Intent: When he is especially pissed off and in serious battles such as against Oboro, Jirocho and Batou, he radiates it. When fighting against Batou, in particular, who reads his opponents' minds, Gintoki's killing intent was able to throw him off, making the former see illusionary copies attacking, not sensing his location properly and when he thought he bisected Gintoki, it was merely a fake. In fact, during the war, when he was facing Pakuyasha (Gintoki's old "student",a supply delivery boy), he remembered deeply not the man who was facing him, but rather Gintoki's killing intent behind Pakuyasha.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He is quite cynical due to what happened in his past, often rude and sarcastic. But he still does everything in his power to help the people around him, sometimes even strangers.
• Lightning Bruiser: He can move very fast in combat and his strikes also pack a huge punch.
• Limited Wardrobe: He goes to a store that sells only the same clothes he wears. Turns out that he wears sports clothes.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Lazy, arrogant, and quite the manchild, but when the situation calls for it he will step up to the plate and prove just why he's known as the White Demon. This is lampshaded with the title There Will Be Hell to Pay when a Lazy Man Gets Angry.
• Made of Iron: Gintoki may be human, but his toughness is anything but. He regularly survives getting skewered, slashed up in multiple ways and being hit by overwhelming blunt force. It's even lampshaded early on when both he and Shinpachi are hit by a car; Shinpachi's hospitalized in the following episode, but Gintoki is just fine. When Shinpachi questions his durability, Gintoki says it's because of all the calcium he gets from drinking strawberry milk.
• Magnetic Hero: There's something about Gintoki that make people go out of their way to help him.
• Manchild: Gintoki is, at his age, an enthusiastic JUMP reader who has an affinity for sweet foods. In episode 250, he was even angered after finding out he didn't receive a New Year's Envelope, which is something only kids are supposed to get. In general, he will avoid responsibility like most people would avoid plague until things get serious. Or it's a part of the job. Or it's a good day for saving people.
• Master Swordsman: Gintoki is one of the most skilled and dangerous swordsmen in the series, though his style is anything but typical.
• Meaningful Echo: He first meets Otose much like he meets Shouyou-sensei — getting food from the dead. Only this time he asks.
• Messy Hair: He has messy curled hair and hates it, often wishing he had straight hair instead.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Meet the main character: He's greedy, lazy, perverted, prone to gambling and drinking, and not all that nice a person in general. However he still has his own morals and goes out of his way to help people in need. He also has plenty of surprisingly profound life lessons to share to people.
• Mysterious Past: Downplayed. He does have a largely defined past, but it only starts at the point he was the "Corpse Eating Demon" and found by Shoyo. His past before that though, including his parentage and how he became an orphan, is completely unknown. This gets lampshaded during the final "Ginpachi-Sensei", where Kagura, speaking for the fans, notes how Gintoki's past before Shoyo was never actually explained despite the series now ending, even bringing up a fan theory that Gintoki might be half-Amanto to explain his unnatural silver hair, with Sorachi writing that part off as just wanting Gintoki to have Anime Hair.
• Narcissist: For all of his couldn't-care-less ways, Gintoki often notes just how good-looking he is.
• No One Could Survive That!: Has on different occasions been heavily wounded and dropped off either a bridge or fallen into the water, being presumed dead each time. Though in the case of his fight against Jiraia, he would have died of his wounds had Zenzo not been nearby to fish him out and get him to Yoshiwara for medical attention. He has been on hospital hundreds of times of course.
• Not a Morning Person: He's often seen complaining when he wakes up in the morning, usually with bloodshot eyes and unkempt hair. This is because he often goes out to drink during the night and wakes up with hangover.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Breaks Oboro's first sword by biting it.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Gintoki's more perceptive than he lets on. He often pretends to not care or notice when someone's in trouble or distress. Then he'll pop in to help them out when they need it the most.
• Oblivious to His Own Description: In the Confessional arc, he overhears the two first customers of Tama's confessional, who are obviously Shinpachi and Kagura. They describe their boss as a piece of shit who doesn't pay a good salary, is stingy, shady and has smelly feet. Gintoki can't believe there's such an awful person in this world.
• One-Man Army: Still has the reputation from the war and often goes to town on huge groups of enemies on his own.
• Papa Wolf: He tries his best to take care of Kagura in place of her dad and serves as a heartwarming father figure in the Infant Strife Arc. His reaction to violence being committed near the child is less than calm.
• Parental Substitute: He acts as one to Kagura in place of her absent father. She even referred to him in one episode as her "oyaji" (old man).
• Patricide: He was forced to kill his father figure as part of a Sadistic Choice in order to save Katsura and Takasugi.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: One of the biggest in anime and manga as a whole, coming with at least 1 Shout-Out per episode in this already Reference Overdosed series, even in serious arcs. He reads Weekly Shounen Jump, the magazine it's from, and has only mentioned a few with a Bland Name, but most are directly Shout-Out, if censored are mostly just one character/letter ●-ed or bleeped out making it quite useless. This has not gone without issues however as both Sunrise and Shueisha pray they won't get sued anymore. He's also a Shell-Shocked Veteran with a Hidden Heart of Gold who has managed to destroy a spaceship with a bokuto as Wooden Katanas Are Even Better.
• Public Domain Character: He is named after and partially based on the semi-mythical Kintaro, also known as Kintoki Sakata. Ironically, Gin's Evil Counterpart is the one who gets this name.
• Red Baron: Probably not a good idea to take the nickname "White Demon" ("Shiroyasha" in Japanese) lightly.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Inverted. Despite having deep red eyes in the anime, he is not what you'd call a bad guy. However, it's played straight during the Courtesan of a Nation arc when he gets really angry at Sada Sada and Oboro. Due to the shadows, one of his eyes is little more than an ominous red glint.
• The Reveal: A shocking truth about his past is revealed late in the series: He was the one who killed Shouyou, having been forced by the Tendoshu to make a Sadistic Choice between killing his beloved mentor to save his friends Katsura and Takasugi or killing his friends to save his mentor.
• Sadistic Choice: Gintoki was forced to choose between executing his master or allowing Katsura and Takasugi to die. Honoring his promise with his master to protect his comrades no matter what, Gintoki killed him.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Oh trust us, he does. See for yourself. Mostly on comedic moments though.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Lost many of his friends during the Joi War. While he is not out for vengeance, his grief over those losses is implied a few times and is never played for laughs.
• Shipper on Deck: For Katsura and Ikumatsu, teasing the former about his relationship with the latter and offering to be his wingman.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Bansai pulls a "The Reason You Suck" Speech against him in the Shinsengumi Rebellion Arc, telling him he has nothing left to fight for, Gintoki responds with his own speech before pulling Bansai's helicopter to the ground using his own strings against him.
  Gintoki: "Clean out your ears and listen up! I've never once fought for the sake of this cheap country. I couldn't care less if the country or the samurai fell. I have always... Then and now... ! What I protect... has never changed!"
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: Gintoki's no genius and was a pretty lazy student for everything except swordsmanship when he was under Shoyou's care. Still, he's experienced a lot in life and knows when to share a few words of encouragement for when his friends need it the most.
  Gintoki (to Tsukuyo after she had to kill her master): Your face isn't ugly. It's a pretty face carrying a clean soul.
• Slasher Smile: He does this every now and then.
• Smoking Hot Sex: Parodied twice in the Love Potion arc!
  • After smelling too much of the love-inducing incense Aizen-kou, Kagura and Shinpachi find him in bed with an old woman while smoking, though the woman reveals he couldn't get it up.
  • At the end of the arc, after smelling too much of the antidote Aidan-kou, he is found smoking in bed together with Kondo, who then reveals "there are bananas not even gorillas touch."
• Sobriquet Sex Switch: When turned into a woman in the Gender Bender Arc, Gintoki becomes 'Ginko'.
• Stepford Snarker: He is quite the Deadpan Snarker, but it is really quite obvious that his sarcastic attitude is simply his way to cope with his past traumas.
• Strong and Skilled: He takes unbelievable amounts of punishment and can stand up to superhuman Amanto but is shown to be a skilled swordsman with an unpredictable fighting style.
• Super Drowning Skills: Henpeita claims that he is unable to swim because of a devil fruit, but is revealed to have never learned how to swim. Coupled with the fact that he usually fights near rivers or seas...
• Survivor Guilt: He has a lot of it regarding all of his comrades who died in the Joui War, but especially regarding the death of his master and father figure, Shouyou.
• Sweet Tooth: He loves to eat anything sweet, really, but strawberry milk (!!!) seems to be the most prominent for him, as well as chocolate parfaits and a heap of sweet adzuki beans on rice.
• Taking the Bullet: Has twice so far taken a barrage of kunai in Tsukuyo's stead and survived it both times.
• Team Dad: When he actually bothers to act as a responsible adult, he's a caring father/older brother figure to Shinpachi and Kagura.
• Third-Person Person: While Gintoki normally uses male pronouns, he occasionally switches to talk like this, referring to himself as Gin-san. He isn't being egoistic or anything when doing that. It's more like that he gets his point across better then. Such as "Gin-san really can't figure out how to separate trash, give him a break," for example.
• Tsundere: A more subdued and unusual example. Gintoki outwardly appears indifferent and uncaring to other people's problems, but he does care and usually try to help them in his own way. A major example is in the beginning of Courtesan of a nation arc, when Gintoki pretends not to care about the old courtesan's pipe dream of meeting her long lost lover again, only for Kagura and Shinpachi to reveal that he had been searching up and down for that man, which prompts him to blush profusely.
  • Funnily, Gintoki is very aware of this trope and occasionally makes explicit use of tsundere tactics to get his way, such as using it to get women to visit the Takamagahara host club.
• Use Your Head: Caps off his fight with Jiraia after the latter's Villainous Breakdown with a powerful headbutt.
• Vague Age: All we know is that he is in his twenties, most likely mid- or late-twenties. He is only recently confirmed to be 27.
• Verbal Tic: Ends many of his sentences with "Oi", which is Japanese equivalent of "Hey".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Katsura and Sakamoto. And pretty much all of his friends.
• Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Gintoki's primary weapon is a wooden sword he claims to be made out of the wood of a 10,000 year old diamond/adamantine tree, which he calls Lake Toya, but is actually bought through mail order, and it being a present from a wizard is just an urban legend Gin made up for fun.
  • The things he can do with it are incredible though, as he's managed to stab and slash people with it on occasion. Though it's somewhat mitigated by the fact that Gintoki does use steel swords when he is up against stronger opponents (i.e. his battles against Night King Hosen and Nizo possessed by Benizakura).
• Would Hit a Girl: Downplayed. He has no compunctions about hitting girls, especially in a comical way, but he has never killed one and hesitated long enough at the end of the Four Devas arc to let Kada exit the scene, despite being in perfect position to kill her and put an end to her threat.
• Wrecked Weapon: Any weapon in his hand inevitably gets broken at one point or another in the more serious arcs.
• "X" Marks the Hero: He gains a Yamcha-esque scar during the two-year "timeskip". Of course it turns out to be a fake and he was really just playing along.
• You Can Barely Stand: Almost every single final confrontation with an Arc Villain has him barely able to stand, but somehow pulling off a win through sheer determination. Both Tae and Tsukuyo note on two separate occasions that he'd confront the villain even if they tried to stop him, so they let him go anyway.

Shinpachi Shimura

Shinpachi Shimura

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (JP), Cole Howard (EN, series), Mark X. Laskowski (movie) (EN), Mariano García (Spain), Masaki Suda (Live Action movie)

A 16-year-old samurai-in-training who joins Gintoki in hopes of studying under him. He stays at his family's dojo along with his older sister Otae Shimura. Although he commonly criticizes Gintoki's lazy behavior, Shinpachi comes to regard him as a very important person to him in the same fashion as Kagura.

Despite his meek, scholarly appearance, Shinpachi is a more than competent swordsman. He serves as the captain of the "Otsu's Imperial Guard," a fan club devoted to the famous idol singer Otsu and takes his role seriously.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Otae calls him "Shin-chan" and Gintoki occasionally calls him "Patsuan".
• Alliterative Name: Shinpachi Shimura.
• Badass on Paper: You wouldn't give him much credit due his rather average stature, but trust us, he does pull off his own weight much better than you'd expect.
• Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. He will try his best to protect his older sister from harm, be it enemies or his sister's stalker.
• Big Brother Worship: He openly admits how much he loves his older sister at one point.
• Butt-Monkey: While far from the only one in the series, he seems to be designated this role among the main trio.
• Clark Kent Outfit: His usual kimono is expectedly baggy so it's hard to tell at first but whenever he gets a Shirtless Scene, Shinpachi displays an aptly athletic body, fitting for a Heir to the Dojo.
• Cowardly Lion: He is pretty much a normal person by the story's standards and will flee the first chance he can get. But if his family and friends are harmed, he will not hesitate to use his sword to fight them. He gets better the longer the story goes and becomes a competent swordsman later.
• Cute Glasses Boy: To the point where the glasses are often identified as his only actual character trait.
• A Day in the Limelight: He and Tae get a bit more backstory during the Beam Sword Style arc.
• Distracted by the Sexy: He instantly falls head-over-heels for a Moe girl just because she had cat ears. His subsequent lack of judgment ends poorly for him. Although thanks to his friends, it ends worse for her.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Invoked whenever he takes up his position as head of Otsu's fan club.
• Enraged by Idiocy: As a Straight Man, he is this. One of the most notable moments is him pissed off to Katsura and Tatsuma's incompetent assistance with Nobunobu during their negotiation with Shijiaku in the Silver Soul Arc. He even crushed the communicator when they reported their second negotiation gets a little...shitty.

  Shinpachi: '''JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS NEGOTIATING?!"

• Expy: Weirdly enough, to Myojin Yahiko. Both are orphans aspiring to become a full-fledged samurai as well as being a sort of protege to the main protagonist. Yahiko is a Kid Samurai, while Shinpachi is an adolescent who is also competent in different fields. Shinpachi having an older sister is also a nod to a Ruroken one-shot chapter where Yahiko and Kaoru (as well as Megumi) are siblings.
• Future Badass: Shinpachi's Bad Future self in the second movie is grown up, Darker and Edgier and much more of a badass.
• Geek: A mild version. His passion of Otsu-chan is somewhat geeky but he's quite competent at many other things besides this.
• The Generic Guy: Shinpachi is most often relegated to the role of Straight Man, so much so that he's occasionally lampooned as being little more. Later episodes make fun of the fact that his identifying character trait is his glasses, to the point where the cast addresses a pair of glasses as if they're really Shinpachi.
  • In a Ginpachi-sensei skit, Gintoki teaches viewers how to draw Shinpachi and Kagura's faces. For Shinpachi, draw a face as average as possible, then add glasses. For Kagura, draw a Shinpachi without glasses, then add two buns on the side. Then Gintoki says Shinpachi's face is the base for all other faces and if you master Shinpachi, you can draw any face.
  • In J-Stars Victory VS, while Gintoki, Kagura, and Sadaharu appear as themselves, Shinpachi only appears as a pair of glasses while commentating on whatever Gintoki is doing.
  • After the Time Skip this is downplayed a little since he is now a Tall, Dark, and Handsome Bishōnen.
• Heir to the Dojo: Together with Otae. Eventually, Pachi gets to regularly teach a group of homeless bums in exchange for chestnuts.
• He Is All Grown Up: In the second movie's Bad Future, he grows up to be a Tall, Dark, and Handsome Bishōnen. Gets lampshaded by Gintoki, who says that he doesn't recognize those pair of glasses at all.
  • Totally played straight after the Time Skip.
• Historical Domain Character: He is actually based on the historical person Nagakura Shinpachi, one of the captains of the Shinsengumi, which was given a nod in the fake Time Skip arc (With a caveat of being the Odd Name Out: Most of the Shinsengumi characters retain their family name, only getting their first name modified with a single kanji. Shinpachi meanwhile, has his family name changed altogether on account of being one of the main characters, but his given name remains the same).He was also one of the kenjutsu instructors, hence why this Shinpachi along with his sister are Heirs To The Dojo.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Otsu-chan's biggest fan? Possibly, but he's nowhere near as good a singer as she is.
  • Despite having a usually calm and caring personality, though, Shinpachi is also well-known — particularly amongst anime viewers — for his shrill and shrieking harpy voice whenever he tries, as the show's commentating Straight Man, to keep the sanity together in whatever ridiculous situation(s) the characters have gotten themselves into yet again, regardless of often utterly failing in the end.
• Incest Subtext: Shinpachi tends to be a little over-protective of Otae. Majority of time it's Played for Laughs. Of course, Shinpachi doesn't help his "Sister-Complex" image any; during the Virtual Girlfriend arc, his ideal girlfriend was a big sister type who also looked suspiciously similar to Otae.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Seriously, take a good look at Shinpachi, then take a good look at his seiyuu. There really is no difference at all. It gets Lampshaded in episode 241. Later on, he expresses sincere pleasure in having Masaki Suda cast as him in live-action because of this as well.
• In-Series Nickname: He is often called "Patsu-san", mostly by Gintoki, and more rarely by Kagura.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Averted. He was forced to duel Obi Hajime, a former head coach at their dojo and someone Shinpachi considered a mentor and brother. Hajime's human body had already died. He was revived by Amanto as a cyborg to be used in a scheme against planet earth. Shinpachi was mentally prepared to kill Hajime, but the latter's human consciousness was awoken by the cries of his loved ones during the fight. Hajime ended up saving the earth and sacrificing himself in the process.
• Like Brother and Sister: He's like the sane, responsible, and caring older brother Kamui could never be to Kagura.
• Limited Wardrobe: Double Subverted. He switches out his usual attire for a fedora, scarf, coat, khakis, and dress shoes, and the OP even shows him wearing his new outfit, but he immediately apologizes and promises to go back to his old outfit next week.
• Mistaken for Masturbating: In the Correspondence arc, Otae mentions to Gintoki that Shinpachi has lately spent all day locked inside his room and she saw many crumpled papers on the floor. Gintoki then gets Shinpachi a porn magazine and some dominatrices to help him in his new "hobby". After receiving an "explanation" from Gintoki, Otae also gives Shinpachi some konjac snacks^note these can apparently be used as sex toys so he can "enjoy himself". Outraged at the misunderstanding, Shinpachi explains he was just trying to write a letter to a girl he has never met before.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Trends to have this attitude regarding all of Otae's would-be suitors; primarily Kondo and to a lesser degree Gintoki and Kyubei. Of course, Shinpachi's antics can also results in people accusing him of having a Sister Complex.
• Nervous Wreck: Overreacts at anything, sometimes to the point of getting a stroke.
• Nice Guy: In contrast to Gintoki and Kagura's jerkass behaviors, Shinpachi is often polite and tries being a bit more considerate to people's feelings. He tries to keep them in while while apologizing to the people they offended.
• Nightmare Face: Gains one when he accidentally inhales an evil spirit in the Onsen arc.
• The Nondescript: Second only to Yamazaki in nondescriptness, yet so much so that it's become a Running Gag that the cast talks to a pair of glasses as if it were Shinpachi.
• No-Respect Guy: Unless he's in his fanclub leader role.
• Not So Above It All: Many, many times. Of particularly note would be the incident with Pandemonium.
• Only Sane Man: Relatively speaking, as Shinpachi has his own quirks. But as a fairly normal person in a crazy gag series, Shinpachi is one of the few people that act with any manner of sanity.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He's a competent swordsman but the people around him are just ludicrously powerful. Of the three Odd Jobs characters, he's also the one with the least ties to the main plot of the story (Gin with his mentor and his past in the Joi war, Kagura and her Yato heritage and brother), putting him out of focus there as well.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Blue Oni to Kagura's Red Oni. He's the down-to-earth Straight Man and she's the energetic Action Girl. Even the colors of their clothing fit into the trope.
• Running Gag: His glasses being his only distinguishing trait, to the point where many characters say that they are him. He also consistently gets 8th place in the character polls, which is a topic brought up many times. It was only at the second to last poll when he was able to snag a seventh place position, and he's left bewildered and confused.
• Sacred First Kiss: He accidentally gets his First Kiss with one of the ugly creatures called Pandemonium.◊ It causes him to fantasize the Pandemonium's face as that of a pretty young girl (while still having the body of a bug), falling in love with it... until it's eaten by a demon.
• Sobriquet Sex Switch: Shinpachi goes by "Pachie" when he goes in drag.
• Squick: In-Universe reaction to Gintoki undressing to sleep with his Dating Sim girlfriend. This is also what makes him get over his game addiction, which Otae sent Gintoki in the first place to beat out of him.
• Stoic Spectacles: His Bad Future self in the second movie.
• Straight Man: His main role in the series is to react with outrage at the ridiculous things that happen and lampshade the absurdity of it. Although sometimes he is Not So Above It All, which becomes important in the Time-Skip Arc, where he says he actually enjoys being wacky as everyone else and leaving the job as straight man to someone else.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: In the second movie's Bad Future, he grows up to be tall, handsome, and much more serious than he is now.
• Team Mom: You'd be surprised how many traits he's got down, from his usually calm, caring personality to his occasionally displayed domestic skills, and his determination to protect those he loves. This all despite him being, you know, male. His nondescriptness might reinforce this trait.
• Took a Level in Badass: Becomes more and more badass over the course of the series, showing himself capable of taking down opponents you'd never have imagined him even standing up to at the beginning of the series. This is going to the point to manage to stop Utsuro and lands some hits to him.
• Tragic Keepsake: Uses Gin's sword in the Bad Future of the second movie.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: His crossdressing persona, Pachie. He does look really cute, albeit a little plain.
• Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Like Gintoki, he also uses wooden katanas as his weapons, though nowhere near as effectively.

Kagura

Kagura

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Kouji Ishii (JP, male), Jocelyne Loewen (EN, series), Scott McNeil (series, male), Luci Christian (movie) (EN), Marta Méndez (Spain), Kanna Hashimoto (Live Action movie)

Seemingly an innocuous, carefree young girl of Chinese descent, Kagura is actually an alien belonging to the Yato Clan, one of the strongest and most bloodthirsty of the Amanto races. Because of her Yato blood, she is extremely strong and an incredibly fierce and capable fighter, able to singlehandedly take down multiple enemies, crush vehicles with her bare hands, and regenerate from wounds sustained in combat. She came to Earth to earn money for her family, and to escape her violent Yato heritage, which she staunchly rejects.

Kagura and Gintoki's relationship is very much a father-daughter one and she is highly protective of him, often affectionately referring to him as Gin-chan. Kagura also has an unusually strong appetite and is often seen devouring mountains of food or complaining that she's hungry. She is often seen with or riding atop of her gigantic pet dog Sadaharu.

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• Achilles' Heel: She is a cute Lightning Bruiser who can throw a car one-handed, but without her umbrella she'll get sunstroke. Though she seems to be handling the sun better than certain other Yato, being able to stay out in the sun without any harm, at least for a while. Then again, according to a Ginpachi-sensei question, she's just in the studio when we see her basking in the sun without her umbrella.
• Action Girl: As a Yato, she is one of the strongest girls in the series, and is arguably the most powerful among the Yorozuya. Although Gintoki is an accomplished samurai with immense strength, Kagura's is incomparably and insanely powerful, so much that she could strike back an RPG with her umbrella.
• Analogy Backfire: At one point she compares Gin, Shinpachi and herself to a human body (i.e. they work together well and have to stick together), but claims that Gin and Shin are the left arm and leg, and she is the white blood cells. The others are less than reassured after being told that they're a pile of bloody, disembodied limbs.
• And Call Him "George": She unintentionally kills any cute animal she keeps (like say, a rabbit) by hugging them when she sleeps. Both Gintoki and Shinpachi were unsure whether to laugh or cry at such a story. Averted later when she gets Sadaharu, who is normally aggressive and deadly, and has the tendency to bite on anyone's head to draw blood, but for someone like Kagura, is the perfect pet.
• Anime Chinese Girl: In both appearance and in speech mannerisms, aru. Which is why Okita calls her "China girl". However, she's not actually Chinese, but a Human Alien from a race with a Chinese aesthetic.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Kagura looks quite good dressed as a male host. Though subverted whenever she gets genderbent as she becomes a huge buff old man with a beard and a missing eye like in the Monster Hunter and Dekobokko arcs.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She is the youngest of the trio and acts quite childish even for her age.
• Badass Adorable: Her quirky, childish tendencies are all so endearing, but she can hold her own against an entire army if need be.
• Badass Family: Easily qualifies, given her strength, as well as Kamui's and Umibozu's strength.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Whenever she doesn't have her Parasol of Pain, she fights using martial arts.
• Big Eater: Her tastes are rather plain though, befitting of her childish behavior.
• Big Sister Worship: She loves Otae, addresses her extremely respectfully, and hugs her a lot.
• Brutal Honesty: A firm practitioner of this, especially when it comes to debunking the myth of Women's Mysteries.
• Bullet Catch: Against Matako, catching two with her fingers and one with her teeth.
• Cain and Abel: She is the Abel, while her brother Kamui is the Cain. He seems rather indifferent but Kagura is still very sore over the attempt to kill their dad and the abandonment.
• Can't Stand Them, Can't Live Without Them: She really loses her temper when she pretends to run away and no one really seems to notice, but in the end she misses them and comes back, justifying it by saying that she's the only one who could put up with Gin and Shinpachi.
• Chronic Pet Killer: Played for laughs. Like in episode 65, where she crushes her own beetle in agitation. Happily averted with Sadaharu, who's big enough to survive it.
• Closet Sublet: After her introduction story, she got Gintoki to take her in by punching (and cracking) the wall next to him. Now, she lives with him as a coworker/daughter-of-sorts, sleeping in his closet. Sorachi compares her to Doraemon for this.
• Cosmetic Catastrophe: When acting as a cabaret hostess, Kagura tries putting on makeup. She ends up looking like a clown.
• Cute Bruiser: Small, adorable and super strong.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Prone to accidental mishaps due to being a super strong Yato.
• Dual Age Modes: During the Time Skip in the final arc, Kamui taught Kagura a technique to change her physical age. She uses this to play a prank on Shinpachi by turning into a little girl and claiming she's her own daughter. She can also turn into an old woman.
• Dysfunctional Family: Her family has... problems, to say the least.
• Expy: One of the main characters in the mobile RPG Onmyōji (2016) has a frightening number of similarities with her, which include name, role in the main group, weapon, Healing Factor ability and even voice actress.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Her outfit in the second movie.
• Fiery Redhead: Has an outspoken presence and temper to match with her hair.
• Fun Size: After the real Time Skip, a younger and smaller Kagura called Kanna claims to be Kagura's daughter, having been born Piccolo style after Kagura ate too many bananas. Of course, it's quickly revealed that it's just Kagura shapeshifting as a joke.
• Girlish Pigtails: After the two-year Time Skip (both the fake and real one), Kagura combines her odango hair with pigtails.
• Healing Factor: Comes with being from the Yato Clan. She can heal bullet wounds in a matter of hours.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She once gets a boyfriend who turns out to be a giant Amanto, though they part at the end of the arc.
• Human Alien: Despite looking human she is actually one of the Yato, an Amanto race known by their insane strength, quick healing abilities and weakness to sunlight.
• Idiot Hero: None too bright, enjoys fighting a lot, sternly clings to her ideals, and eats her hosts into poverty.
• The Illegal: She's a literal illegal alien who arrived on Earth by hanging onto a spaceship.
• In-Series Nickname: Okita calls her "Chinagirl", which is both a way to refer to her Chinese looks and mannerism and to insult her as a foreigner.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's often very crude and blunt in her manner of speaking, gets violent with minimal provocation, and can act very selfish and greedy. Despite all that, Kagura is a girl with a giant heart who will do anything for her friends.
• Kiddie Kid: She often acts much more childish than her fourteen years of age would imply.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite her small size, she's both super strong and very endurable, and has speed to match with it.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Shinpachi. The way they interact makes them siblings in everything but blood.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: Later chapters show her to take really after her mother, Kouka. Both wearing hair decs, are Badass Adorable, stubborn, and a soft centre.
• Little Miss Badass: Don't underestimate her because of her age and size, she will kick your ass several times over. She proves herself a capable, independent fighter numerous times in the series, such as going toe to toe with her elder brother, Kamui, one of the strongest Yato alive. When she was a child, she could singlehandedly beat up thugs twice her size to protect herself.
• Ms. Fanservice: Kagura is not usually used for fanservice due to her age, but whenever she is shown as a grown-up is used in a few fanservice gags, most prominently in the (fake) Time Skip arc.
• Now That's Using Your Teeth!: As mentioned in Bullet Catch, when she fights Matako she catches one of her bullets with her teeth.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: When she fights for food.
• Older Than She Looks: She's 14, but looks and acts like somebody a few years younger.
• One of the Boys: Most of her friends in Kabukicho are shown to be boys, and she does use crude language.
• Parasol of Pain: Dual-functionality. Sunlight deterrent (the Yato are incredibly weak to the sun's rays) and a rapid-fire projectile weapon.
• Parasol of Prettiness: Subverted due to the above, but she does love having a pretty umbrella.
• Parental Abandonment: Her father is, for the most part, off fighting monsters, while her mother died of an illness. After Umibouzu's first appearance, it seems they keep in touch through letters.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She can wipe the floor with opponents physically larger than her due to her Yato heritage.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the Red Oni to Shinpachi's Blue Oni. Kagura is the energetic Action Girl while Shinpachi is the more down-to-earth Straight Man. Even the colors of their clothing fit into the trope.
• Rivals Team Up: With Okita. They compete at everything, but are more than willing to team up against rampaging robots that ruin a festival for them.
• Second Episode Introduction: Kagura is introduced in the second episode of the anime where she meets Gintoki and Shinpachi after they accidentally run her over. The episode ends with Kagura deciding to join the Yorozuya until she earns enough money to go back to her home planet.
• She's All Grown Up: Invoked with the "Timeskip" arc when she shows up two years later taller and with boobs. Meanwhile her Bad Future self in the second movie actually plays this one straight. Gintoki even lampshades it.
• Slasher Smile: During the time her Yato instincts took over in her fight against Abuto, her smile was constantly affixed in a psychotic grin.
• Strong and Skilled: The fact that she hails from an entire race of incredibly strong race of alien super soldiers and her apparently completely natural martial skills as a result make her quite the formidable foe.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like a younger version of her mother, Kouka. Her older self in the Bad Future of the second movie is almost identical to Kouka.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Kagura hates her own Yato instincts and with good reason: When Abuto almost kills Shinpachi, she turns into a mindless berserker with no reason and control, brutally curb-stomping Abuto with a creepy smile on her face. As such, she does everything she can to maintain control over them and even subconsciously holds back on her punches to not kill people.
• Super-Strength: Being a Yato, Kagura is by far the physically strongest of the Yorozuya.
• Technical Pacifist: Does not like killing and subconsciously holds back her true strength in fights to avoid killing anyone, but she sure isn't afraid of beating somebody up.
• Third Law of Gender-Bending: It is a Running Joke in Gintama that when Kagura had the chance to become a male, she turns into a scary old man befitting her violent personality. For example in the Genderbend Arc, instead of following the standard tropes of Rule 63 she turns into Xiahou Dun - a historical chinese general who instilled fear in his enemy by plucking and eating his own eyeball.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Crude manners, hangs out with boys, but she also has girly interests and really likes cute things.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sukonbu, or pickled seaweed.
• Tsundere: Becomes this in the Bad Future of the second movie. Gintoki comments that her personality finally matches her voice actress.
• Unstoppable Rage: Only invoked once thus far when Shinpachi is mere seconds from death and her innate Yato instincts are awakened, turning her into a rampaging monster.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: No one ever seems to find the presence of an ultra-rare alien worthy of comment, even though she's apparently identifiable on sight as otherworldly. Although it's implied that most bystanders believe her to be Chinese.
• Use Your Head: Does this against several characters in the manga, including her brother. She uses even more headbutts in the anime.
• Verbal Tic: Ends many of her sentences with "aru", a typical speech pattern for Chinese characters in Anime (which is translated as "uh-huh" in the Viz licensed volumes). In the Mexican Spanish dub she speaks with a slight Chinese accent without going overboard with it, while in the European Spanish she talks in stereotypically Chinese You No Take Candle.
• Volleying Insults: Whenever she and Okita meet, this is usually what happens, when they're not at each other's throat that is.
• Waif-Fu: She may look like a little girl, but she's really a super strong Yato fighter.

Sadaharu

Sadaharu

Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (JP), Kyle Jones (movie) (EN)

A huge dog who was left in the care of the Yorozuya after being abandoned by his original owners. At first, Gin and Shinpachi weren't too keen of the idea of Sadaharu living at Yorozuya, thanks to his habit to chew on anything smaller than himself (including humans), but as the time has passed in series they have become attached to him too and he has become tamer and friendlier towards everyone as well, even letting Kagura ride on his back regularly. Shinpachi and Gintoki too, when the situation is serious enough and they need to get somewhere fast.

Before meeting Sadaharu, Kagura had vowed to never go near animals again because she accidentally killed her first pet with a hug. Since Sadaharu is pretty strong himself, she doesn't have that problem with him. After seeing how important that is to Kagura, Gintoki agrees to take him in.

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• Big Friendly Dog: Initially subverted as everyone but Kagura turns into a Chew Toy when he's around. Sadaharu's strength and aggression makes him ideal for the superhumanly strong Kagura, who has crushed several pets to death in the past. Later double subverted as Sadaharu got better. Nowadays, he's a pretty nice dog.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: He turns into a horse during the Gender Bender Arc, possible reference to All Girls Like Ponies.
• Canine Companion: Almost constantly by Kagura's side.
• Canis Major: He's huge enough for several people to ride on him...and he grows even larger when he drinks strawberry milk.
• Cute Is Evil: At first, Sadaharu was a lot more savage and dangerous, only kept in control because Kagura is even stronger than him. Kagura still chose to keep him because he's a big, cute dog, but he grows into a Big Friendly Dog over time.
• Dead Guy Junior: Sadaharu was named after Kagura's first pet rabbit which she accidentally killed while having a nightmare.
• Dog Walks You: Given his enormous size, it's usually Sadaharu who walks his owners rather than the other way around.
• Doorstop Baby: He was abandoned on the Yorozuya's doorstep by a pair of Miko sisters.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In a filler episode in the anime...with Gintoki. Then during the Freak Friday arc, Madao occupied his body for a moment and loved it...before he turned into Sadaharu's poop.
• Horse of a Different Color: The Yorozuya, usually Kagura, often ride on Sadaharu's back. He was also transformed into an actual horse during the Gender Bender arc.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To Kagura. When they got a translator to understand his barks, he's surprisingly snarky.
• Team Pet: The Yorozuya's resident animal member.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He used to be more of a nuisance for the Yorozuya, giving them multiple head wounds, but now he hardly does it, and is more adorable for it.

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