Gintoki Sakata

About Gintoki Sakata

Gintoki Sakata is the lead character of Gintama, a former samurai turned founder of the Odd Jobs shop in alien ruled Edo. Lazy, broke, sweet toothed and addicted to Jump manga, he is also the Shiroyasha, a legendary swordsman of the Joi war, and the gap between those two men is the series' engine. Gintoki takes any job, protects anyone who ends up in his care, and faces down his own history one arc at a time, usually after complaining about it at length.

Appearance

Gintoki is a man in his late twenties with naturally wavy silver hair, a perm he is defensive about, and half lidded reddish brown eyes that give him a permanently sleepy, unimpressed look. He wears a white kimono with blue swirl patterns, worn half off one shoulder over a black shirt, with a belt, black trousers and boots, and he carries a wooden sword inscribed Lake Toya. Everything about the outfit is slightly sloppy and slightly cool in the same proportions as the man. In war flashbacks the same design appears younger, bloodier and in a white haori, and the joke design falls away completely.

Personality

Gintoki is lazy in the specific way of a man rationing his energy after years of spending it on war. He sleeps in, reads Jump on the job, gambles the rent and whines magnificently. He is also the first person through every door that matters. His code is simple and he states it often: protect what is in front of you, keep your promises, and never let the people you love carry your share. He hides grief under toilet humour so consistently that when he stops joking, entire arcs hold their breath.

Background & Story

Gintoki fought in the Joi war against the Amanto as a teenager, earning the name Shiroyasha, the White Demon, for his white clothes and terrifying sword work. His teacher, Shoyo Yoshida, had taken him in as an orphan of the battlefield, and the war's end took Shoyo from him in circumstances the series reveals very late and very painfully. After the defeat Gintoki drifted to Edo, was taken in by the snack shop owner Otose, and founded Odd Jobs above her bar. He has been there ever since, gathering strays: Shinpachi, Kagura, Sadaharu, and half the cast, while the past he avoids keeps sending people to his door.

Powers & Abilities

• Swordsmanship: Even with a wooden sword, Gintoki is one of the strongest fighters in the series, a war forged swordsman who has duelled Yato kings, assassins and immortals and walked away from all of them.
• Improvisation: Odd Jobs work made him a professional improviser: disguises, scams, negotiations and battlefield inventions, all produced on the spot and presented as the plan all along.
• Endurance: Gintoki absorbs punishment past any reasonable limit and keeps standing, a trait the series plays for comedy weekly and for drama in every serious arc, where it stops being funny.
• Odd Jobs Network: Twenty years of favours mean half of Edo owes Gintoki something: police, yakuza, courtesans, inventors and ex enemies all answer his calls, eventually.

Key Relationships

• Shinpachi Shimura: His employee and straight man, the normal person Gintoki's life is measured against. Gintoki teases him relentlessly and trusts him completely, in that order, daily.
• Kagura: His other employee and adopted chaos. They bicker like siblings, eat like competitors and protect each other like family, which, by the end, is simply what they are.
• Shoyo Yoshida: His teacher, who gathered war orphans and taught them the sword and how to live. Everything Gintoki believes comes from Shoyo, and everything that haunts him does too.
• Kotaro Katsura: His oldest comrade from Shoyo's school and the war. They have been finishing each other's bad ideas for twenty years, one as a rebel leader, one as a shopkeeper.
• Takasugi Shinsuke: His other comrade, who chose revenge for Shoyo's death. Gintoki and Takasugi are the same grief pointed in opposite directions, and the series builds to their collision for a decade.

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