Gintama

Synopsis Life isn’t easy in feudal Japan… especially since the aliens landed and conquered everything! Oh sure, the new health care is great, but the public ban on the use of swords has left a lot of defeated samurai with a difficult decision to make concerning their future career paths! This is especially true if, as in the case of Gintoki Sakata, they’re not particularly inclined towards holding a day job, which is why Gintoki’s opted for the freelance route, taking any job that’s offered to him as long as the financial remuneration sounds right. Unfortunately, in a brave new world filled with stray bug-eyed montsters, upwardly mobile Yakuza and overly ambitious E.T. entrepreneurs, those jobs usually don’t pay as well as they should for the pain, suffering and indignities endured! Main Character

Kagura (神楽)

Age: 14-15 years old
Birthday: November 3
Zodiac: Scorpio
Height: 155 cm
Weight: 40 kg

Although she appears to be a normal, cute, human girl in Chinese-style clothing, she actually belongs to the Yato Clan, one of the strongest and most bloodthirsty of the Amanto races. The Yato are said to have "transparent" skin that is highly sensitive to sunlight, so Kagura carries a purple parasol at all times. The parasol is also the Yato clan's weapon of choice; Kagura's is bulletproof and fires bullets from its tip. Because of her Yato blood, she is super-strong and can stop a speeding motorscooter with one hand. Although stronger than most humans, she cannot control her strength perfectly. Her super-human strength makes her extremely bad with pets. Most of her pets, with the exception of Sadaharu, have met with an untimely demise by her hands.

She is also extremely flexible and fast; capable of catching multiple speeding bullets between her teeth and fingers. During battle, she's often seen flipping through the air and performing various acrobatic feats. Due to her Yato blood, she is capable of rapid regeneration. During the Benizakura arc, she is seen healing from a gunshot wound almost overnight.

Kagura also have an unsually strong appetite. She is able to comsume large quantity of food within a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, her tastes are endearingly plain. Sukonbu, rice, and eggs are among her favorite foods.

Her immediate family consists of her father, Umibouzu, a widely recognized alien hunter, her mother, who is deceased, and her older brother Kamui, once presumed missing who is now involved with the space pirates Harusame.

She came to Earth to earn money for her family. She found work fighting for a gang, but when they ordered her to kill her target, she ran away. Not long afterwards, she met Gintoki and Shinpachi when Gintoki accidentally ran her down with his scooter. After they helped her to make a clean break from the gang, she intimidated Gintoki into hiring her. She now lives at the Yorozuya and sleeps in Gintoki's closet, like Doraemon.

Kagura and Gintoki share an odd father-daughter-like relationship. Together with Shinpachi, the three of them makes for a strange, dysfunctional, yet tightly knit family. Kagura is very protective of Gintoki. Although, she herself has gotten into many fights with him, rarely does she let anyone else pick on him. She seems to trust wholeheartedly in Gintoki's ability and strength. Even in sticky situations, she has no doubt that Gin-chan would come save her. She has a tendency to imitate Gintoki's bad habits, and would often quote the bad advices he gives her. Some of her lines starts with "Gin-chan says..." or "Gin-chan told me..."

Kagura is also somewhat of a tomboy. She is often seen partaking in games with various neighborhood boys. Although her candid manner of speech often cause them to shun her, she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she has no problem at all with forcing her way into their game. In battle, she has proven to be bull-headed and a sore loser. Like Gintoki, and probably because of his influence, she is not above resorting to petty tricks and manipulation to get the better of her adversary. Unlike many conventional manga heroine, she doesn't display the same consciousness toward decorum, table manners and physical appearance. Puking, cussing, picking her nose, spitting, fighting, and scratching herself are common behavior for Kagura.

She regards Okita, captain of the Shinsengumi, as a rival. She detests him, and appeared to be disgusted when she previously mentioned (about Okita), that "he definitely likes me", but as that hasn't been brought up since, it is uncertain on if it should be considered canon, that he apparently likes her.

According to the OVA, Kagura is the first and only Weekly Shonen Jump girl to vomit on-screen. To date, she has induced herself to vomit on several occasions. She also has an uncanny knack for seeming calm or detached during high-tension situations; in episode 5, she slept through a car-chase. Her appetite knows no bounds, and she is especially fond of sukonbu.

In Japanese, Kagura speaks in a stereotypical dialect that is associated with Chinese immigrants. In the English-translated manga, she punctuates her sentences with yup, uh-huh, nope, and the like.

In the last Gintama character popularity poll, she came in 6th place.

Gintoki Sakata (坂田銀時)

Birthday: October 10
Zodiac: Libra
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 65 kg
Age: 20's

Sakata Gintoki is a samurai living in an era when samurai are no longer needed. To add to his troubles, oppressive aliens have moved in to invade. Gintoki lives with Kagura and Shinpachi, taking on odd jobs to make the world a better place...and to pay their rent. In the Joi war, he was known as the "White Devil" (Shiroyasha) 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 Amanto.

Gintoki has naturally permed silver hair, which he blames for his lacking love-life. He has a big crush on the TV's news weather girl, Ketsuno. In fact, to date, the only time he is seen to have blushed is when he tries to make use of Sadaharu and Ketsuno's dog to get a chance to talk to her. Though several female characters have shown an interest in Gintoki, he usually does not show any response back and merely puts up with them as annoyances.

Gin has two major obsessions in life. He is obsessed with sweet foods such as parfait, ice cream and cake. His second obsession is reading the manga anthology magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. (Which, not coincidentally, is where Gintama is published in). Gin will go to great lengths to get the latest Jump issue, to the point of reckless behavior. His Jump obsession makes him easily dream of being like other Jump heroes, including wishing that he had a "Bankai" similar to the hero characters of Bleach.

Despite his appearance and initial behavior, Gintoki has a great amount of pride for the old bushido code. He takes it upon himself to rescue or avenge not only his comrades and friends but also people he barely got acquainted to, be it a pit-fighter who was taking care of abandoned orphans or an Amanto who resembles a kappa.

Despite being a fearsome fighter with nearly unmatched skills, he avoids needless bloodshed after suffering the loss of most of his friends and allies during the Joi war.

Shinpachi Shimura (志村新八)

Birthdate: August 12
Zodiac: Leo
Height: 166 cm
Weight: 55 kg
Age: 16

Shinpachi Shimura works under Gintoki to learn the ways of the samurai. He used to stay at his family's dōjo. However, it seems more like he's just trying to help Gintoki pay the rent than to learn. Shinpachi is the captain of the "Otsu's Imperial Guard," a pop-singer's fan club.

Shinpachi meets Gintoki after Shinpachi was tripped by the ambassador of Planet Chatoran. Gintoki beats up the ambassador and his guards, not to stand up for Shinpachi, but to get revenge for his spilled parfait. Gintoki frames Shinpachi for the crime, which somehow led to him saving Shimura Tae (Otae), Shinpachi's sister, from becoming part of a brothel.

Despite his meek appearance, Shinpachi is a more than competent swordsman of his family's Kakidō-Ryu, the type of swordmanship his dojo teaches.

In the character popularity poll, he was in 8th place.

His name is roughly based on Shinsengumi member Nagakura Shinpachi and comedian Ken Shimura.