Gintama 242

With Kyoushiro taken out by Saigou and his lot GIN prepares to make a run for it while leaving everything to TOUSHI, however his escape attempt is cut short when an already drunk Tsukuyo arrives and personally requests him.

Having a slightly busted laptop has made getting these out increasingly difficult. But on a Gintama related note, I’ve just noticed Sakamoto is nowhere to be seen in the new opening.

And after Otae’s explaination she gets the idea that Takamagahara is sort of like the Yoshiwara for women and demands such treatment, during which GIN had been making another escape attempt only to end up with his head up Kyuubei’s skirt. Other than that it turns out that he’s quite popular as Sacchan is also requesting him while her inner masochist submits to SOUGO’s sadist. And following this things start to heat up as things get a little hectic until Saigou, Kyuubei, and Tsukuyo put an end to it all, with a good part of the guests deciding to head home afterward. But while GIN tried to use it as an opportunity to escape, he’s cut off by the arrival of none other than Madame Yagami.

Now leaving them with the task of entertaining her with Kyoushiro still out of the picture while dealing with Tsukuyo, Sacchan, Kyuubei, and the others, most of whom are drunk now as well. So without a moment to waste GIN wastes no time in trying to stabilise the situation by turning things into a discussion about their favourite Dragon Ball characters, being hit by the likes of Tsukuyo and Otae at first for criticising it and later for no reason at all. And as things start to get out of control Madame Yagami calms things down by admitting that she likes Vegeta, leading to a discussion about him with Otae going on about how pathetic he was and Kyuubei that Piccolo was a way better character. And as a way of gaining her favour TOUSHI attempts to reenact one of Vegeta’s famous scenes, only to have it backfire and have bottles thrown at him.

After which SOUGO arrives and starts to sweet talk them as he prepares a champagne tower with tequila in hopes of getting them all absolutely wasted, but while the tequila may have taken him, GIN, and TOUSHI out it does absolutely nothing for the others. And having had enough Madame Yagami prepares to leave, not wanting Kyoushiro to see her face as it is now, going on to explain how by focussing on money she lost her friends or home and that the rumours about her are only rumours. However coming to the Takamagahara changed that, the smile Kyoushiro showed her was genuine and not just for show, and she ended up enjoying herself. The reason she wanted to return and why she enjoyed herself tonight. But as she steps out a familiar voice greets her and with the others inside and his fellow hosts at his back, he invites her to the Takamagahara for a third visit.

Next Episode:

Thoughts:

Seeing the other characters come into this episode simply for the sake of showing up may have been kind of tiring in my opinion, but it wasn’t that bad either, some of the jokes that it led to were fun and we got to see Tsukuyo again. Other than that while it was easy to see it coming, I also liked the twist regarding Madame Yagami and her motives for returning.

That she had enjoyed herself the first time may have been a little too easy to guess, Gintama uses twists like that all the time, but the reasons for just why she enjoyed herself were something that I think managed to mix it up a bit. Helping it branch out while retaining that idea, explaining that she was alone and despite how everyone would meet her with false smiles the one Kyoushiro showed her was genuine, and that the reason she wanted to return had simply been to see it again. It was simple but still effective all the same in bringing about the usual nice and sweet ending that always comes about once the music starts playing.

In comparison to the last episode though the arrivals of the other characters felt a little forced, while the Yorozuya calling in a few favours and having things spiral downwards from there with Kondo trailing Otae while being trailed by Sougo and Hijikata felt a little more natural, the same didn’t seem to be the case with Tsukuyo, Sacchan, and Kyuubei’s arrivals. Where as the former were slowly brought into it the latter all seemed to come in at once, for little other than Otae calling them in. They still weren’t that bad, if anything it was nice to see them again, but the reason I’m having these sentiments is probably because it felt more as if they were being brought in for the sake of bringing them in and keeping the fans happy than anything else, as has happened quite a few times before. It just felt a little unnecessary.

That said it really wasn’t all that bad, once again it gave us the chance to see Tsukuyo again and show off how she’s a bad drunk, as well as a few of the other characters, and a few of the jokes that came from it all were pretty good as well. The usual ones that happen for each of the recurring characters aside, it was pretty fun to see things somehow lead to a discussion about Dragon Ball as a sort of topic that everyone would have a say in, a sort of mutual subject that could ease a tense situation and allow everyone to find something in common. It even made me feel a little nostalgic, and while it wasn’t the first time that these parodies and sort of homages had appeared but they were fun all the same.