Gintama Reviews Episode 56: Keep an Eye on the Chief for the Day

THE STORY THUS FAR: the cast ushered in their second year optimistically by brainstorming ways to keep their show from getting cancelled, a baby that looks like gin-san got dropped off at his doorstep, the odd jobs crew fought to return the baby to his mom, gin-san helped a lady firefighter catch an arsonist, odd jobs was hired to help a woman find her son, and the odd jobs crew dressed up to protect a host club from yakuza

Let’s see how many times I can make fun of Idol Incidents in this review, shall we? The opening caption already counts as 1.

At the end of the last episode, there was a really short bit where Kondo and Mayokata started to really worry about public perception of the Shinsengumi after Sogo blew up yet another building with a rocket launcher, leading to this episode’s premise of them trying to fix their image by enlisting the help of everyone’s favorite one-dimensional idol parody.

Now as a quick disclaimer, I don’t mind that Otsu is a flat character. That’s probably part of the joke, and at least they didn’t do the cliché of having her fake nice for the cameras and then turn out to be an horrific spoiled brat in real life. They could probably do more with her, but they haven’t (thus far at least) and that’s fine because it’s not like she shows up all that often anyway.

Anywho, Otsu tells Mayo and Sogo that she doesn’t want to just stand around and smile, and swiftly proves herself to be fairly competent at keeping her temporary subordinates in line. Not bad for the first three minutes of the episode, amirite, Idol Incidents? (2)

Otsu sets about forcing the Shinsengumi to change their image, first by requiring them to end all sentences with something cute (under pain of seppuku), and second by bringing in a profoundly unhappy-looking Gin-san dressed as a centaur to act as their new mascot. Incidentally, the sound effect of the hooves clipping doesn’t match up with the animation, but this being Gintama I can’t be entirely sure if that was intentional or not.

The camera pans over to a shot of one of Takasugi’s subordinates chilling nearby while Gin-san teaches Kondo why you’re not supposed to stand behind a horse, but that’s probably not important.

Following a concert wherein Otsu completely trashes the Shinsengumi in song and Gin-san looks just about as depressed as humanly possible, she and Kondo have a chat about how important image is, and Gin-san wanders away to get drunk. An altogether understandable decision, all things considered.

Otsu spots a group of kids approaching and urges Gin-san back into the horse to perform his mascotly duties. Naturally, they end up traumatized instead, and Mayo somehow only just then recognizes them.

Otsu gets kidnapped while the police are busy brutalizing Our Heroes, and it takes them until they see a broadcast by the kidnappers to realize it, despite a call from Yamazaki (who’s working on a serial kidnapping case) and Sogo wondering aloud if she got kidnapped.

The kidnappers are revealed to be members of the Anti-Foreigner Faction demanding a hostage exchange, so the Shinsengumi attempt to spring into action, only to find their situation further complicated by a combination of media presence and Gin-san trolling.

There’s a hilarious spoof of the common trope of the hero and villain being able to hear each other talking at a normal volume over great distances, they resort to communicating via signs, and Sogo takes the opportunity to trick Mayo into humiliating himself on national television. Really, the whole standoff is the best part of the episode, and even though the review isn’t over yet, I’m already recommending it just for that stuff.

The fun times come to an end when the kidnappers order the Shinsengumi to kill Kondo lest they kill Otsu, and to Kondo’s immense credit, he accepts the condition without hesitation, and even delivers a speech to the Shinsengumi about how they need to follow through on promises to protect the things they swore to protect. It’s a really effective, incredibly badass scene, punctuated by the shots of the Shinsengumi grabbing and drawing their swords.

Naturally, Kondo doesn’t actually die, since the Odd Jobs crew snuck past the kidnappers guard and started sneaking hostages out while they were distracted by the show of bushido, and Yamazaki, who had been disguised as a hostage the entire time apparently, seizes the opportunity to grab Otsu and escape.

The lead kidnapper panics and looks back at the courtyard to find the rest of the Shinsengumi all pointing rocket launchers in his direction, and the situation is resolved with the bad guys getting blown up real good.

The episode ends with Takasugi’s buddy taking a call from Otsu, which I’m certain is not at all important.

I only managed two jokes at Idol Incidents’ expense. I probably could’ve managed more if I’d seen more than one episode, but as that ain’t happenin’, two will have to do.

Sakamoto’s in the next episode, which means we’re gonna get flashbacks. Till next time.

[ko-fi]