But some good news! I was pleasantly surprised to see that Gintama is returning in April. Here is the trailer and its going to be in widescreen HD finally!

I’m so glad that a fansub group like Rumbel subs took over, and obviously are way passed where I stopped my blogging. They are on Episode 102 now. Congrats to them and to all of us who had been watching Gintama raw before it got subbed.

Which leads me to the Crunchyroll. I don’t know how they did it, or who is doing the subbing, but they have the latest episode straight from japan hours after it airs. That is so cool. Streams right off the website. 

I have to say… All of this makes me feel my work on this blog helped out somewhat. When I started writing this thing, no one was subbing this great show. I remember Shinsen subs trying it out, but they try out every show and never complete the job. But now there are two places to get Gintama in english and that is awesome. This show like I had said, is definitely worth it. 

As Gintama gets ready for its fourth season, I just had to post this for my own sake, and boy I’m glad it isn’t going to end. They really got me thinking it was over with these past few weeks, but last week’s episode confirmed that the show would go on!  More on that in another post I guess if I feel like it~

Again I’m so sorry and thanks all for visiting my site still. Hopefully I get these summaries done soon, before this Thursday’s episode airs.

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part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 10

Next Episode Preview: 

Thoughts on Episode: 

• Ok watching last episode’s preview, I thought we were going to get some more action! But alas this is Gintama, and they sure always know how to throw us for a loop. Instead of the big showdown fight, we get a mental showdown, which worked quite well I must say.
• Gintama always knows how to build up a joke, and at first I thought it was funny to see Kondo-san stuck there in the bathroom without any toilet paper… Then Gin-san gets stuck, then Binbokusai-sama, and lastly Toujou. It just works out, and the way it got resolved at the end was hilarious.  The whole sand paper deal… and then Binbokusai-sama and Gin-san basically played mind games and forced Kondo and Toujou into that situation.
• See last episode I thought was quite hard to understand because of all the fighting technique talk… this episode was even harder to understand with all that mind games talk… in the bathroom no less.
• Next episode looks like we should finally get a resolution to this. I was surprised to see Otae-san get all worked up when she heard that Shinpachi had come. Can Shinpachi beat Kyuubei?!?!

part1

part2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part6

part7

part8

Next Episode Preview:

Thoughts on the Episode:

• I totally thought this was going to be some food eating competition between Kitaouji and Hijikata. But it turned out to be totally opposite. Instead it was action packed fighting, and they even had the flashback for Hijikata. I wasn’t expecting this at all, and it surprised me. Again Gintama can be just as cool as those serious shows when it wants to be.
• Unfortunately with all of that talk about fighting and techniques, I really had a hard time understanding this episode. Comedy stuff is usually easier than this kind of technical talk about swordplay and such. So I’m gonna have a hard time with the summary >.<
• The comedy part of this episode was all at the beginning, and the thing that Kagura did was hilarious. Kondo-san was like so mad, wondering who did this to Sougo. When I saw the broken ankle I knew it something funny was coming. Then they show Kagura’s picture on the cell phone. So funny Great way to end that whole situation from last episode.
• Looks like next episode is gonna be the showdown. Toujou looks like he’s really strong, and we don’t know anything about the old grandpa.

The start of the episode has Kyuubei talking with his father. His father tells him that he’s disappointed in him. He was suppose to go out on this journey to hone his skills in the Yagyuu Chinkage ryu style. All of the sudden he returns, and with some woman he wants to marry. “Was all he was doing these 3 years was trying to find a wife? “, he asks. Kyuubei tries to respond, and calls him “chichi-ue (father)”, but his father tells him to be quiet. His father tells him not to call him “chichi-ue”, but “papa” instead. (You think he’s about to tell him to shut up because he’s mad at him, and not done with his lecture, but no its the chichi thing. Chisai is small in Japanese, and his father doesn’t like how chichi-ue has the “chi” in it. Hope that makes sense.) We also see that his father is really small at that same moment, so that accentuates the point.

Kyuubei’s father thinks that Otae-chan is definitely cute, but being the daughter of a rival dojo she cannot be brought into the Yagyuu clan. Kyuubei gets up and walks off. He says that if there is something precious in his life to protect, he will do so. Just like his papa-ue would do the same for his own. He will protect his special person. He swears on his left eye that he lost. Koshinori-sama gets called out by his students about something.

Shift to Gin-san and Kagura, they yell at Shinpachi for leaving them out of this. Kagura says that its mean for him to have left her out of the fun. Kondo-san comes to Shinpachi’s defense and says that he didn’t want to get them involved in this. Gin-san tells Gorilla to shut up and asks why he’s even here. Kondo says that he couldn’t stand seeing Otae-san’s face when she said goodbye to them. This is probably something that she doesn’t want. He then wonders why Hijikata and Okita are here as well.

Hijikata tells him that he has some unfinished business with the Yagyuu clan. Also today was a day off so he had nothing else to do. Okita tells him that he doesn’t want to see Gorilla-san become their big sis, (Bubbles-Ojou). He then says that he has to work today, but he felt like skipping. Sougo then says that Kondo-san also skipped out on work too, but he replies that he actually requested a day off for this.

Shinpachi finally talks and he tells Gin-san that it is ok if they say he has a Sister complex. He loves his sister very much, and doesn’t want to be apart from her. If possible he wants them to be together forever. But if in fact she does fall in love with someone, even if its some (someone help me out with what he called Gin-san ), or a gorilla stalker (kondo-san) , or a mayonnaise fanatic (Hijikata), as long as his sister was happy about it, he would be ready for it. But the fact that his sister was crying when she said goodbye means that she isn’t happy with this. And he wont have that.

He just wants her to always smile and be happy. Kagura asks Gin-san what would they would do if she really fell in love with that little shrimp. They’d be in the wrong. Gin-san says that they usually are always wrong anyhow, butting into other peoples affairs. He then tells Gin-san that they aren’t heroes or his sister’s allies, they are his allies. Hijikata-san walks by and says that he isn’t their allies, he’s just here to get into a fight. Kondo-san puts his hand on Shinpachi’s shoulders and says with the 6 of us here we can probably defeat these Yagyuu. Shall we go, little brother. Shinpachi then looks at him and says who’s the little brother here?!?! (lol that totally switched the mood).

Inside the mansion a couple of guys are talking about the young master bringing in a young girl. She’s with the grandma doing some training about becoming a wife. The other guy says that its probably a matter of time before she runs away, she was actually quite his type. He looks up and asks Kitaouji what the heck he is doing. He’s poring way too much ketchup on his food. Kitaouji replies that ketchup goes with anything. A third guy (Nishino) tells the two, Kitaouji and Minamoto to stop fighting, while eatting his flan. A forth man (Toujou) tells them as well to stop fighting about food, and he wonders about the young master having a wife. He splits his egg and the yoke falls and splits as well… He gets all upset about that. He yells at the old grandma for buying crappy eggs, and wants to run to the market to buy some more. It looks like when he threw his food in the air it landed onto Kagura’s head…

Sougo walks up to Kagura and tells her that she’s got an egg on her head. Kagura tosses him across the room, and Hijikata says that Sougo was in the wrong there… Okita lands right in front of the four Yagyuu guys and is taken hostage. Toujou welcomes the Dojo challengers. The four name themselves as Kitaouji Itsuki (guy with glasses), Minamito Sui (pretty boy guy), Nishino Tsukamu (bald guy), and Toujou Ayumu (silver haired guy). Toujou tells them that after all that ruckus they made, don’t think they can just walk out alive.

Gin-san tells them that they have no business with them. What are they some kind of 100%? Yagyuu 100% (Obviously a spoof of Ichigo 100% – the names of the 4 guys – thanks Anon). Minamoto tells them that they have a hostage here, but the guys all throw their boukens at them. Hijikata tells them that Sougo isn’t even worth being a hostage, and Kagura jumps in as well yelling out to kill him. Sougo tells them after this is over, he’ll deal with them.

Kitaouji asks Toujou to allow him to deal with these guys, when Kyuubei shows up and tells them to stop. He tells his men that these are his wife’s acquaintances, and not to treat them badly. He walks towards Shinpachi and says that he didn’t think Shinpachi would have the guts to show up here. Shinpachi says that he didn’t come here today as a little brother, but as a representative of his dojo. Shimura Tae is an important part of their dojo. He’s come here to talk about an arrangement. Kyuubei wonders what kind of talk, and Kondo-san elaborates that a samurai talks with his sword. Sougo then says that a samurai dies by the sword, Hijikata then says that they will take the girl by using their swords. Kagura doesn’t like to paint pretty words, and says straight up that they are challenging them to a duel.

Kyuubei thinks that its a joke that they would challenge the Yagyuu clan. Gin-san responds saying that they sure are challenging them. He says that he has people here that are dumb, don’t even know each other, for that matter doesn’t even care if the other dies, but one thing is for certain, they know that they are all strong.

The old lady holds up some burnt thing and asks Otae-dono what it is. She responds that its bbq eggs, its been her specialty for a long time. Otaki-san gets mad at Otae and says that she isn’t worthy to be making food for the Yagyuu clan. Otaki-san goes to slap her with her fan, but Otae blocks it. Otae wonders what kind of wife training this is, with the violence and blocks her attack with her chopsticks. Otaki wonders about this girl’s strength and that she could become the head woman of the clan in the future. Satisfied she turns around and tells Otae to make sure she picks up after the mess. Make sure not to throw it away, since it is her food she has to eat it. Dog food would fit her perfectly. Then it shows Otae feeding that food to an old man.

“Binbokusai-sama what are you doing!”, Otaki calls out. He says that its a waste and its still edible. She crys out that it doesn’t matter that its edible but what is the head of the Yagyuu clan doing…

Back over to the main event, Kyuubei shows them some dishes. He says that they will all wear it somewhere on their bodies and the point is to break the other person’s dish. It’ll be a 6 on 6 match, and the grounds is all of the Yagyuu mansion. If the captain of the team’s dish is broken, the match is over. Toujou then adds that, the Yagyuu’s captain is hiding somewhere on the mansion grounds, and who it is they wont tell them. They don’t care who the yorozuya’s leader is, they’ll be able to deal with them. This gets them mad.

Kondo-san kicking the tree is mad at them and says that he wont let them take Otae-san from him. Shinpachi jumps in and says that she was never his to begin with. Kondo-san then places the disk on Shinpachi and names him captain. Also he puts it at a very vulnerable spot that is easily protected. Shinpachi says that if he gets hit there, one hit would knock him out for sure.

Kondo-san tries to comfort him saying that he’ll protect him, but Shinpachi wants someone else to be the captain. Sougo puts the dish on Hijikata-san’s eye saying that since he is feeling reckless today he can go with just one eye. Gin-san goes to put his dish on Hijikata’s other eye and wants to leave it to him to protect.

Kagura thinks she came up with the perfect idea of putting it under her feet. No one will notice that. She takes a step and breaks her dish already. She kneels down to check if it cut her foot, and Gin-san jumps in to slap her upside the head. He tells her to go ask some Yagyuu person for a replacement dish. Hijikata tells them that its probably too dangerous to send her alone. They should break out in pairs, and everyone else pairs up and runs off. That leaves Hijikata with Kagura.

Hijikata asks the maid there for a replacement dish. She gladly gives a new one, but it has some soy sauce on it. Kagura doesn’t want it. Hijikata then wants to give his dish to her, but she doesn’t want it because it has mayonnaise on it. Hijikata gets mad saying it doesn’t, and Kagura turns to see this huge dish in the room. She wants that one. Hijikata wonders how she’s even gonna fight with that big thing. Kagura only wants that thing, Hijikata actually goes to get it when Kagura notices afar that there is some smoke from a fire. Hijikata thinks that it’s already begun and they have no time to be messing…. Kagura thinks that she has no choice but to use those two dishes. She places them around her like a bra. Hijikata tells her to stop because she took his dish too. That was when the big guy, Nishino drops in.

We hear the old man crying out in joy. He’s asking for her to go deeper…. and such. Otae then tells him to stop with the sexual harassment. He wonders how Kyuubei could have brought this girl that he used to play with when they were little into the clan. He tells her to go a bit more deeper, almost there. Otae pulls out a big old ear booger, and the old man remembers when Otae used to come around and happily play. (I’m not too sure why Otae is feeling embarrassed here, trying to hide something.) The old man walks telling the young couple good luck.

Otae wonders where he is running off to. He replies that there are some noisy people that have come by that he has to take care of.

Back to the fight, Kagura gets tossed in the air and is about to get attacked by Minami. That is when Sougo jumps in and saves her saying that he’s the one that is gonna be the one to kill this girl. Nishino gets hit from behind and its Hijikata-san. Okita wonders what the heck that big dish is, and Hijikata replies that its a handicap

Minami asks Kitaouji about his face, and he tells him that his pretty boy face has been bloodied. Minami gets out his cell phone to check his face and thinks that its quite manly to have some blood on his face. He calls out to Nishino to come and get in the picture. Doesn’t this look cool! They take a picture of themselves, thinking that they’ve never been wounded before. This might be a good fight after all.

Seems like they are just ignoring Kagura, Sougo, and Hijikata. Hijikata asks Sougo where that Yorozuya yarou went. Sougo thinks that the big guy will be fine on his own. Kagura gets scared that he left Gin-san by himself. She walks off to go look for him, saying that he gets lonely sometimes. Nishino throws a rock in front of her to block her way. He’s in the middle of his speech about being careful when Kagura throws the rock back at him. She tells him to not get in her way. Their opponents are the two fools over there, speaking about Hijikata and Sougo.

The 6 break up into dueling pairs. Kagura vs Nishino,Hijikata vs Kitaouji, and Sougo vs Minami.

Kitaoji tells him that he’ll teach mr vice captain of the Shinsengumi how its like to be a real samurai. Minami goes up to Sougo and asks him not to hit each other in the face. That would make the women cry. Sougo goes to slap him at his feet saying that he isn’t here to break the guys dish. He’s here to beat his head in to a pulp. Minami gets his butt kicked by Sougo and says that he’s incredibly strong. Sougo goes to pick him up and finds that Minami’s dish is behind his neck. He’s about to go break it when…

Kagura gets thrown right into him. Nishino wonders what the heck Minami is doing, facing a kid like that. He tells him that he’s quite dangerous. Sougo asks Kagura what she is doing, getting beat up by that guy. Kagura tells him to be quiet and that she doesn’t seem to be feeling well. Apparently her wrist is broken and all purple.

Sougo thinks that if they bend it back maybe it’ll fix it. Nishino tries to stop him saying that it’s probably not a good idea to touch it. He goes to bend it back anyways, and that sends Kagura screaming. She gets all mad calling him a kuso gaki. Then she kicks him in the ankle, breaking it. Sougo asks her if she wants to go at it, and Kagura replies that Gin-chan told her to always repay the favor.

Nishino thinks that its all over now. The two teammates are fighting amongst themselves. He tells them to give them their dishes. They refuse and run into the house.

Now there is one with no arm and one with no leg, they are useless as samurai. Sougo asks Kagura what is better, to work together to beat that guy or to get beat by him. Kagura says that she hates both ideas. But again Gin-chan told her to repay the favor.

Nishino calls out to them to show themselves. They do, and its Sougo sitting on top of Kagura. Sougo tells him to come get them. One samurai with no feet to use, and one with no arm are cooperating with each other… Nishino wonders if they can dodge his attacks, he doesn’t have time to play with these kids and attacks. Kagura goes to dodge everyone of the attacks, except its still landing on Sougo’s face above, but still missing the dish on his head. He goes for the killer over the top chop but his bouken gets stuck on the ceiling. Sougo says that he’s been waiting for that to happen. This has all been in their plans.

The two go to charge at Nishino to take out his dish but Sougo is too tall and hits the doorway with his head. His dish breaks as he falls to the floor. But Kagura grabs his leg and swings him right at Nishino. The two head butt each other and Nishino’s dish breaks.

Next Episode Preview:

Thoughts on the Episode:

• This was quite an enjoyable episode. Gintama never ceases to amaze me. Right at the get go there is the joke about the Yagyuu family being small. We all knew Kyuubei was suppose to be small and his family as well, so to finally see his father, and then his grandfather… he’s actually the normal size one.
• As expected, there was a dojo challenge, and I was wondering what was going to happen with that. The part where Kagura gets her plate and steps on it was hilarious because they had to go ask for a new one. That lead to Hijikata-san getting a huge plate and calling it a handicap
• Oh man and seeing Kagura, and Sougo team up was just great. We all remember the last time those two clashed, back during the beetle fighting episode. This time they injure each other on purpose and end up having to team up to take out that big guy.
• And then there is the Otae factor. Seeing that part where she clashes with the Yagyuu grandmother (I guess it is the head maid, I’m not really sure. They didn’t really say for sure, but according to Anon that is who Otaki-san is.) was pretty funny. She’s strong enough to carry on the Yagyuu family, but she can’t cook… Oh we finally get Shinpachi admitting that he has a sister complex too lol.
• Next episode looks to be a good one, with the obvious implication of ketchup vs mayonnaise. They built it up in the preview as this one on one battle, but it looks like its gonna come down to a food match up.

The episode starts out with some kids playing outside a Shinto Shrine. The little girl tells the boys who are crying to stop. That isn’t the way Samurai’s are suppose to act. The boy next to the girl says that “tae-san” and his grandfather always keep saying the same thing. “Do Samurai really have to be strong?”, he asks. Everyone calls him small, even Tae-chan who is a girl is bigger than him. There is no way a small guy like him could ever be a big strong Samurai. Tae-chan, the girl, tells him that when he grows up into an adult for sure he will be big and strong. The boy replies that his whole family, including his grandfather and father are all small.

Tae-chan then goes on to say how according to her data, many people in powerful positions are small in stature, such as corporate CEOs and such… She’s trying to make him feel better. She then says that even if he is smaller than everyone else, his heart and the heart of the samurai is bigger than anyone else. She calls him Kyuu-chan. He then asks her that when he does become a strong hearted samurai will she…. (Then it fades to an old photo, it is obvious now who these two characters are… can’t you see little Shinpachi!).

Flash back to the present and we’re at Otae-san’s workplace, Snack Sumairu (smile?). None other than Hijikata-san shows up, and all the girls working there flock to him. They make jokes about how its not gori (Kondo-san) showing up but Hijikata-han. Hijikata-san definitely looks uncomfortable.

Hijikata-san meets up with Otae-san and she assumes that he’s there to hit on her as well. She says that recently she hasn’t seen Gori-san around, and now is it Hijikata-san coming to stalk her. What is with these Shinsengumi people?Hijikata says that it’s not like he wants to be here. Otae-san asks him if he knows about the relationship between Kondo-san and herself. Hijikata has no idea what she is talking about. She tells him that this is like some romantic drama, having two people fight over her… Hijikata says that that isn’t the case.. but she continues on saying that she is high maintenance you know!Hijikata says that isn’t it and changes the subject to tell her that Kondo-san has been trying so many times to propose to her, but that hasn’t worked out. Instead he gets himself hurt. She then figures out that Hijikata-san is actually here for Kondo-san. That is when the rest of the Shinsengumi guys jump in.

All of them ask as one for Otae-san to be Kondo-san’s wife and become their “big sister”. She wonders what is going on, and Hijikata-san tells her that an arranged marriage proposal has come in for Kondo-san. Its something that the higher ups have put together for political reasons. Once Kondo-san saw who he was going to be hooked up with he’s been acting totally strange. They show him in the car with Hijikata-san checking out some really ugly looking lady. He tells Toushi to check out that hot babe….

Otae-san thinks that this is a great thing. Now she wont be stalked by Kondo-san anymore, and now he’s found love. This works out perfect for the both of them. Then Hijikata shows her a picture of the girl arranged to marry Kondo-san. Her name is Bubbles-sama and well she’s a Gorilla. Again Otae-san thinks that this is perfect. A perfect couple, both look like gorillas… Yamazaki tells her that while Kondo-san might look like a Gorilla, that girl is a “real” gorilla! There is no way that they could have her for their “nee-san” (big sister). The only one that can stop their Captain is her. Otae thinks that she would make a great wife. Yamazak bows his head and tells her that she doesn’t have to go so far as to marry Kondo-san but to at least stop him from doing this. He says that he’s a man bowing to a woman asking for help here. She starts getting annoyed and beings to beat them up telling them to get lost. All these stalkers are making her mad.

Hijikata sits at the table and picks up his cell phone and calls Kondo-san. He tells him that there ended up being no chance here. He probably needs to get ready and face the inevitable. He then tells him to not ever use him for something like this again. At that moment one of the Shinsengumi guys gets thrown into the table. It’s some mysterious man who did it…

The rest of the Shinsengumi guys gather around him and the guy asks them why they are trying to hurt a woman. How can they call themselves Samurai. Yamazaki points out that it was Otae that started it, and shes the one beating them up…and yes they are Samurai! The boy then says that its not good for them to be trying to hurt his very special person. They wonder what the heck this little shrimp could do… Hijikata-san tells them to stop it and stop making a scene here. He tells them to lets get out of here, and tells the boy to come as well… isn’t he underage to be coming into a place like this. The boy replies with a “What did you just say… I’m a..” and he throws up his hat and unsheaths his katana. He takes a shot at Hijikata who barely blocks it in time, but it leaves a crack in Hijikata’s Katana. He announces himself a Yagyuu Kyuubei. Obviously Otae-san recognizes who it is.

Looks like the yorozuya gang are up early for some work. Shinpachi sounds like he is worried about his sister. He says that she works late in the night and comes home in the early morning. Last night she came home particularly late, and just left again right away in the early morning. Gin-san says that its probably best in these situations to not to do anything…let nature take its course kind of thing. Shinpachi then says that before getting married she isn’t allowed to be doing any of that stuff! How does he know that she isn’t meeting up with someone she’s going to marry… and Shinpachi tries to defend himself that there is nobody out there. He wont accept that! Gin-san starts to give him a lecture that his older sister isn’t gonna be there for him forever. She’s going to get married eventually and there is nothing he can do about it. That’s just how being an adult is. (I’m not sure what Kagura said… it was a pun but Shinpachi makes her cry). Shinpachi sits there wondering who could be the one that his sister is getting hooked up with. He then thinks its Kondo-san. No way!

Down below Kondo-san is walking with Matsudaira-sama. He thinks that he heard his name being called out. Matsudaira-sama thinks that he’s a bit nervous. I don’t blame him… It seems that he’s about to meet his arranged engaged wife to be. Matsudaira also brings up how he also met his wife through an arranged marriage, and he was quite nervous at the time too. He takes out the picture of Bubbles-sama and says that those arranged marriage photos aren’t that great. He says that she may look like a gorilla but I’m sure she is quite the looker in person. Kondo jumps in to say that she doesn’t look like a gorilla, she “IS’ a gorilla. Matsudaira then says its probably just that she isn’t very photogenic, and the photo makes her look like a gorilla. He then tells Kondo to just gut it out and take it head on. He also brings up the fact that this marriage has some large consequences and the whole of earth is counting on him. So get to it… and Kondo still looking at the photo is thinking that this is really a gorilla. Matsudaira tells him to forget about the photo and probably in person she will be 3 times better looking than that photo. “Trust the old man” , he says…

They arrive at their destination and open the sliding door. There is Bubbles-sama… and she’s 3 times the size that they expected… not 3 times prettier! At that moment Kyuubei and Otae-san walk right past them. Otae stops thinking that she has just seen a gorilla. Kyuubei has no idea what she just meant…but he thinks that its just how tae-chan is always acting.

Inside the room, Kondo-san is asking what hobbies that Bubbles-ojou (princess) has. Bubbles just makes a gruntting sound. Obviously Kondo-san is nervous and he starts blurbing out nonsense. He even thinks that, wondering what he is saying. He then wonders if Bubbles can even understand what he is saying. It looks to him that she is starting to look like she isn’t having a good time… or maybe he can’t even tell. He then thinks that if this keeps up the Earth is in big trouble… at that moment

Goodness he farts because he’s feeling too nervous. Not a good thing here. He’s feeling like he has to use the restroom now. He doesn’t know what he can do now to not be rude and excuse himself. He gets up and walks to the door making a grunting sound and pointing outside. The subtitles say “that he is going to take a walk.. want to come as well?” (or something to that effect). The misunderstanding means that Bubbles-oojou follows him out the room.

Otae-san and Kyuubei are having a talk in their own room. Otae-san says that she didn’t expect to see him so soon. She heard that he went out on a trip, but didn’t know that he would be back. He should have let her know. Kyuubei says that no one knows that he is back. He came back to meet her first. You hear some crash that sounds like Bubbles and then Kyuubei runs in to hug Otae-san. He then asks her if she remembers the promise that she made to him when they were younger. Like he promised he has come back stronger, now its time for Tae-chan to fufill her part of the promise.

Outside Bubbles is lying on the floor. It looks like a rock or the roof hit her in the head. Kondo-san is wondering why that happened, and Gin-san and Kagura show themselves up on the roof of the house. Gin-san says sorry his hand slipped, and Kagura says that she sees 2 gorillas. At that moment…Kondo-san lets it loose…. And Kyuubei goes to kiss Otae-san.

Shinpachi goes to collect the money for the roof work and thinks about buying something for his sister from the bargin bin with that money. He thinks that he’s the only man in his sister’s life (or something to that effect), there’s no way there is some man that she’s going out early in the morning to meet. He ends up walking passed the room Kyuubei and Otae are in and catches the kiss.

Bubbles-Oojou has some missing hair and Kondo-san asks if she is alright. He can see that her hair has been totally cut, not to mention his butthole totally let it out too. But worse than that, the worst people to be here, are here. Gin-san wonders what the heck they are doing. There is no way that Kondo-san is going to tell them about his engagement to this gorilla… or the fact that he let one loose. He tells them that the gorilla is his pet. He also thinks to himself telling Oojou sorry and hoping that she doesn’t understand a word he is saying. Of course that doesn’t matter as Gin-san and Kagura start playing around with her, treating her like a pet. When she sneezes, Gin-san slaps her in the face for having bad manners.

Kondo-san tries to get away telling them that he’s in the middle of walking her. As he walks off the poop falls out of his pants…. Gin-san wonders what the heck is that, and Kagura says that it is indeed poop. Kondo-san thinks to himself that he didn’t wear any trunks under the hakama today, so thats why it just “fell out”… Gin-san tries to ask if that thing just fell out of his hakama. To counter the embarrassment, he tries to pin it on Oojou and kicks her into the pond. Trying to put the blame on her, he yells that he told her not to going poop anywhere like that. Gin-san says that he did in fact see it fall out of kondo-san’s pants. Kondo again trying to divert the comments says that it wasn’t him.. “Don’t you know how old I am, theres no way I could do that.” Kagura then points to the “trail” of poop that leads right to Kondo-san. Looks like finally Bubbles-Oojou has had it.

Back with Otae-san, Kyuubei and Shinpachi… Otae tries to tell Shinpachi that it is a misunderstanding, but Shinpachi doesn’t listen and charges at Kyuubei wondering what he has done to his sister. Kyuubei recognizes that it is Shinpachi and tells him that he he hasn’t changed. Maybe he should actually try to get stronger for a change, as he flips him accross the room. Shinpachi recognizes that it is Yagyuu Kyuubei-san. He wonders what he is doing here. Kyuubei tells him that he probably doesn’t know but when they were kids Tae-san made a promise to him to marry him when he became a strong samurai. Today is the day where he takes her to join the Yagyuu clan. Now she has become his thing, and he can’t say anything about it. Shinpachi thinks that it is a joke for him to still believe in a child’s promise. As he turns to his sister to try to see what she says, Otae just stays silent. She gets up and tells Shinpachi that she is sorry, as she walks to Kyuubei.

Shinpachi tries to yell to her, and at that moment Gin-san and company crash through the doorway with Bubbles-Oojou right behind. Gin-san yells at Kondo to do something about his pet. Kondo starts to tell them the truth when he sees Otae-san there. Gin-san catches the mood and says that it looks like they’ve come at a bad time here. Otae-san tells them all goodbye with tears in her eyes and turns her back on them. Gin-san seems hit pretty hard by this and slowly tries to get up and stop her, but Bubbles goes berserk and gets in the way.

Hijikata-san checks his sword and sees that there is a crack in it. Okita-kun tells him that this is now the second time that he’s been defeated. Hijikata doesn’t think that he’s been beat, but Okita tells him that this is the second time that his katana has been cracked before. The first time was when he fought with Gin-san. Okita then tells him that they were close to being killed there by that Yagyuu guy. Okita then starts with the background story saying that in the past the Yagyuu clan has been one of the top martial arts families. But since the Amanto have come they have been fairly quiet. He then talks about Yagyuu Kyuubei. He might be a small fellow but he has a very quick sword. They say that he is a genius since he was born. They probably had no chance dealing with the Yagyuu fighting style. This of course makes Hijikata-san even more upset.

Okita then brings up the fact that Kondo-san has no chance at winning against Kyuubei, both in fighting and the fact that Kyuubei is a childhood friend of Otae’s. Hijikata tells him not to underestimate Kondo-san. He was brave enough to deal with the Bubbles-Oojou, and it looks like he is now willing to fight for what he wants. If he puts his mind to it, Kondo-san can accomplish anything.

Back at the yorozuya, Kagura is wondering why Shinpachi hasn’t come back these past few days. She also wonders if Otae-san will ever come back. Gin-san thinks that she’s probably busy getting ready to become a bride and stuff. It must be hard work marrying into a large prestigious  family such as the Yagyuu. He doesn’t know about this childhood promise thing, so it isn’t his problem. Kagura then says that her mother told her that becoming a bride is suppose to be a happy event, and for the rest of her life she should be happy and smile at the time of her death. Kagura wonders if Otae would be happy with this in the end.

Gin-san doesn’t seem to want to hear anymore and he takes a time out. Kagura wonders if Otae is actually hiding something, she must be. Gin-san tries to tell himself that she probably will smile at the end, but really he knows that isn’t true. He thinks of that scene when he saw Otae-san say goodbye to them and she was crying. Gin-san thinks to himself that he saw something bad that he didn’t want to see.

Over at what looks to be the Yagyuu mansion, Shinpachi and Kondo-san prepare to enter it. The guards think that they are probably here to challenge the dojo to a duel or something. No way would they try to challenge the great Yagyuu clan. Shinpachi and Kondo-san reply that they wouldn’t try something so vulgar… and instead kick the door down.

They rush in and announced who they are, along with their fighting styles (though I didn’t really understand what Kondo-san said ) They ask to give back Otae-san. The group of Yagyuu students see that there is only two of them, and try to surround them. But it looks like backup has arrived! Gin-san says he’s here to help representing the what was it Shinpachi?, Tennen-Paama Ryu (Natural Perm SwordStyle – thanks naruteoh123).

Next Episode Preview:

Thoughts on the Episode:

• As expected the beginning of the Yagyuu arc is as good as advertised. Honestly for the last couple episodes I haven’t laughed like I did this episode. So there is no doubt that these arc’s take Gintama to a whole another level.
• I didn’t read the manga so again I’m just going from what I’m watching in the anime. I do admit though that I read the first chapter to the Yagyuu arc so I did know what was going to happen in the beginning. I just didn’t know that there was some connection between Yagyuu Kyuubei and Otae-san. So to see that work out was kind of interesting. It also means that originally I thought this was focusing on Kondo-san getting hooked up with a Gorilla princess. But in fact its all about Otae-san getting basically kidnapped by Kyuubei.
• I’ve been waiting this whole time to say this after I first heard about the Yagyuu arc. Its obvious that Otae-san calls Kondo-san Gori, short for gorilla. So to see them actually try to pair him up with a large Gorilla just seems to work.
• I have no idea why they did the whole poop thing… but it sure was funny, and quite detailed too I might add.
• This Yagyuu Kyuubei seems like a pretty cool character. Kind of reminds me of Kenshin, as he’s kind of small but kick butt.
• Looking at the next episode preview, I guess that the Yagyuu clan has some baddies that our cast of characters have to deal with. It always seems pretty cool when they make henchmen that the good guys have to face like back in the Benizakura arc.
• New Op Themes and End Themes for this occasion. Going to take a little getting used to, especially the end theme with all that bare chest being shown… I guess it’s their samurai spirit! At first I was thinking, ok Gin-san looks cool like that, then it started going down hill from there, from showing Matsudaira-sama with a gun to Baka-Ooji and his servant… That wasn’t nice Sunrise!

This week’s Gintama was a recap episode. A lot like episode 50 was at the start of season 2. But get ready for the Yagyuu arc next!

Next Episode Preview: 

Thoughts on the Episode:

• Maybe they shouldn’t have even aired this episode… You have to admit though, the way the Gintama staff does these filler/recap episodes is very unique and ends up being quite entertaining… even though it is quite obvious the staff is recycling images…
• This was for the halfway point of the 2nd season of Gintama.
• It was basically like a director’s audio cut that you get when you buy DVD movies. The cast commented on the beginning of the story and how they all met up.
• Then there was musical arrangements. Otsu-chan sang the intro op theme, and then Gin-san wanted the normal op theme. During that we got to see the Prince Baka-Ooji instead.
• They made a trailer for a Gintama movie! Complete with release date. Based on the Benizakura arc. Yeah I’d watch that! Then they went and redid the best part of that arc and had Baka-Ooji do the voice over for Takasugi. Shinpachi notes how all the Takasugi fans probably wanna kill Baka-Ooji for that.
• Yep the Yagyuu arc is finally starting next episode. I have heard quite a bit about this and I can’t wait to see it!

The episode starts out with a disclaimer about the episode being a tribute to the 30th anniversary tribute to the Kochikame manga (Thanks to the anonymous poster for that info ).

We see the whole gang down at Otose-san’s watering hole. Gin-san notices Catharine’s eyebrows are connecting into a unibrow. Catharine embarrassed, says that she will go take care of it. Kagura blurts out to Catharine not to be showing that ugly thing this early in the morning. Catharine replies back for her to die.

Gin-san and Shinpachi wonder of the fact that Catharine probably drank too much milk and the attitude goes sour. Gin-san starts talking about how a woman should act and the screen starts focusing on none other than Ketsuno Ana at an accident. Otose-san wonders recognizes where it occured (probably somewhere close by).

Catharine walks back with her head down. She looks up and her eyebrows grew into a full fledge unibrow. The gang all laugh at her but she doesn’t respond. Instead she goes after Otose-san. Gin-san thinks it probably Catharine getting back at her boss from all that stress. Otose-san gets up and her Shinpachi asks if she is ok. The eyebrows on her start growing into a Unibrow as well and she start chasing after them.

Shinpachi wonders what the heck is going on, and Gin-san has no idea. Shinpachi runs up to the taxi and asks for a ride. But it turns out the taxi driver has the unibrow thing as well. Gin-san has to kick the taxi driver to save Shinpachi.

The town’s alarm siren sounds and issues a warning to be on the look out for people with unibrows. They are causing havoc throughout the whole town. It warns people to stay away from anyone who has a unibrow. Over at the police station there are tons of reporters asking the police chief about the incident. His only response is that they are currently investigating right now One of the reporters asks if its the 30th anniversary of Kochikame this year, and he replies that its actually the 31st anniversary. (The Manga episode was for the 30th anniversary)

In an ally the three are hiding from all the unibrow zombies. Gin-san walks in further into the ally and runs into a tip of a sword. Its Katsura-san. He tells Gin-san to lift his head up and show his eyebrows… Katsura looks like he was injured somehow. He’s glad that their eyebrows aren’t connected yet and tells them not to go that way. He says that all that is waiting for them is hell there. It then shows a flashback of what happened, and it looks like he was just taking out the garbage and fell down a flight of stairs… Katsura says that it was probably a bad idea to wear sandals while throwing out the trash… Shinpachi is wondering if he got hurt throwing the trash or by those unibrow zombies. Kagura tells zura that he probably needs to throw away his head in the trash.

Gin-san asks Katsura what those things are. Katsura doesn’t have a clue but he knows that anybody with unibrows have been acting strangely. Basically like Zombies… unibrow zombies he calls them (well mayuzomu for short). Gin-san asks him if there is any way out of this, he actually calls him Katsura… but he’s still enamored with the mayuzomu name. Gin-san see a bunch of the zombies and calls out that mayuzomu’s are coming… Katsura just smirks that he used the name he came up with. Gin-san gets all upset at that, and Katsura is totally happy about Gin-san using that name. Its settled they are mayuzomu!

Nows not the time to argue… Someone yells at them to come this way. They all jump into a window into a bathroom. Its Hasegawa-san! Of course Gin-san and Katsura are stuck in the window… He’d been working at the pachinko parlor. It turns out Hasegawa-san was injured.

We get a flashback as to what happened to Hasegawa. (I’m assuming this scene has to do with the Kochikame anniversary…). Shinpachi is wondering what the heck is he talking about. This is like a totally different incident that he is talking about. Its the tenchou (boss). Hasegawa-san also talks about if he wasn’t wearing sandals he would have been able to get away… Enough with the sandals says Shinpachi. Shinpachi then says that what happened to Hasegawa-san has nothing to do with the mayuzomu outbreak… Oh did he just say mayuzomu thinks Katsura-san with a smirk. Gin-san pops him again for that.

They walk out of the bathroom and into the pachinko room. Shinpachi says that they can’t just stay here, they’ll eventually get attacked by the zombies. They have no choice but to move forward. “Move forward? Which direction would be forward?”, asks Sa-chan-san. What is she doing here! “Why are all the zombies gathering to the pachinko store?!”, asks Katsura-san. Sa-chan replies that its some kind of special day at the pachinko place (sorry I’m not exactly sure what the special occasion is). Katsura-san then thinks that it is impossible, why would the zombies be thinking like some middle aged man… (tribute to Kochikame). Seems that the mayuzome are all gathering at places middle aged men would gather at. The moment the people’s eyebrows connected, was the moment they became middle aged men. Its because of the Ryo-II! (Oh man this would have made no sense without knowing the Kochikame connection – The main character is named Ryotsu hence Ryo-II, and he’s a middle aged police officer with the personality of a 12 year old~). Katsura goes crazy with the Ryo-II thing, and even Sa-chan as well. Shinpachi is just standing there wondering what the heck he is talking about.

Sa-chan explains that its some hell made virus. Apparently made in some conflict in space with space monkeys… Anyone who is affected by it will grow a unibrow and become a lazy middle aged man. Anyone who is touched by someone with a unibrow will also become a lazy middle aged man. Katsura gets scared at this fact thinking that the whole earth will turn into a planet with lazy middle aged men. Its the end for the earth.

…It looks like Gin-san and Shinpachi don’t believe a word they are saying and start playing the pachinko. That was pretty anti-climactic! “The world is going to end”, says Katsura to Gin-san. Gin-san says what is wrong with being a lazy old man…Sa-chan says “its going to be everyone including me! How are you going to feel if your loved one gets turned into a lazy old man!” Gin-san ignores her and keeps playing.. and actually wins. She then has a flashback of her own… with that same tencho guy professing his love for her… Shinpachi again is wondering where the heck that visual is coming from.

Gin-san tells them to shut up and that they’ll be fine. The glass is baring the unibrow zombies from coming in anyway. They can just wait a couple of days for help to arrive. Of course the Pachinko shop has food supplies….. Or not as Kagura ate it all. Now they are in trouble. There goes all the food, says Shinpachi. Gin-san passes Katsura and Sa-chan a candy bar and tells them that they’ll be ok with that… no need to have a serious face. Its not like the big boss (evil king) is coming…

Perfect timing to see the evil king or queen has indeed arrived. Its Otae-san and she’s been turned into a mayuzomu! Looks like outside doesn’t look much better. Ketsuno Ana is at the scene reporting that probably everyone in that area has turned into unibrow zombies. What is going to happen to Edo?!

Over at the scene of the accident, chief Mastsudaira is overseeing the investigation. There is no sign of the truck driver, but a note was left inside that reads Congratulations Kochikame 30th anniversary. The chief starts talking about how its the 31st anniversary now… think about how the anime takes longer to make, they should be thinking ahead…

No way… that isn’t your sister anymore Shinpachi! She’s completely been affected by the Ryo-II virus and turned into a lazy middle aged man complete with cheese stick and drink in hand. What is this she’s giving orders… using sign language… “Lets have another drink today… ”

The zombies start going after them and they have to run to the back. Hasegawa bars the door and tells them to run to the back of the place. This large door will probably hold them. That is until Otae-san jump kicks the door down. They run over to the elevator and are saved… but Hasegawa-san is missing. Or at least he is missing, his sunglasses made it safely! Sa-chan asks if they all made it safely, Gin-san counts that all 6 made it. Shinpachi thinks wait a minute theres not 6 count again. Gin-san counts himself, Shinpachi, Kagura, Katsura, Sa-chan, and Hasegawa-san. That’s 6. Wait a minute!! Hasegawa-san is these sunglasses?!? Gin-san says yeah Hasegawa-san is the gura-san… (sunglasses). Shinpachi pleads with them to go back and help Hasegawa-san. Kagura says that theres no way that he made it, and there is no way that she’s going to grow a unibrow.

(I was lost here with the conversation with Gin-san, Kagura and Shinpachi =x)…

The elevator stops on the third floor, and Shinpachi wonders why. He pushed the button for the first floor. Gin-san states the obvious that someone on the third floor probably pushed the call button… Don’t let the door open! as the guys all start jamming on the buttons. But the door opens anyway and its Elisabeth! “Don’t be scaring us like that, I’ll kill you!”, says Gin-san. Katsura is happy that she is alright. She even saved Hasegawa-san. Great job!

Its great that Elisabeth was able to get through the mayuzomu… come to think of it Elisabeth doesn’t have any eyebrows! That must be it. Elisabeth is unaffected by the virus. Their special weapon to combat the zombies has appeared! Elisabeth replies to that… and on her sign thing Katsura notices that her “n” was written incorrectly…

It zooms in on it and Gin-san and Shinpachi definiately notice it. They shut the elevator door behind Katsura and you hear him scream. Shinpachi calls out to Gin-san, and he says to not worry about it. They must move on and live… That’s not what he was talking about though. If Elisabeth is infected what about… Hasegawa-san behind them!

Sa-chan tells them that they have to shave off Hasegawa-san’s eyebrows. Thats the only way to defeat the virus. She passes them all a razor. Gin-san wonders why the heck she even has them with her. Gin-san goes to swipe at Hasegawa-san’s eyebrow but misses and shaves his head. Kagura tries to do the same as she doesn’t care. Shinpachi says that now even if he does come back to being human he wont be able to walk in public. Sa-chan says that they have to do it in one go or else Hasegawa-san will be shamed forever. She goes to do it but her glasses fall off and instead she shaves off a piece of Shinpachi’s hair instead.

The elevator makes it to the top and they all run out. Above theres a helicoptor and in it is chief Matsudaira. He tells Sa-chan nice job and leave it up to him now. He says that he’s brought food for them… like they need that now.He says that thanks to them they were able to find out about the virus and created a vaccine. Matsudaira is about to fire it in his bazooka thing when… it looks like he became a lazy old man too. The bazooka goes falling down. Its up to Gin-san to save the day as he goes to grab the Bazooka and fires it. He’s the only man there who could fight the lazy middle aged man disease! Why is that?! It’s because he’s already a lazy middle aged man!!! So that was actually a good thing.

Thoughts on Episode:

• There was no next episode preview, at least nothing was shown or mentioned in it.
• I was wondering what the heck that first screen was at the start of the episode… Is that the McDonalds sign? I forgot about it until the part with Elisabeth, then it clicked.
• I was totally thrown off by the unibrow thing, but it turned out to be quite funny. I was like what kind of joke are they going to make here with Catharine’s unibrow… Then poof the whole city has gone mad with unibrows. Some of the jokes they made I kind of had a hard time understanding because they had some puns with the unibrow thing.
• I was totally wondering what they were going to do to spice up the episode. Leave it to Otae-san to brighten up an episode of Gintama . Even if we don’t get to hear Satsuki Yukino-san’s voice work.
• During the episode I was thinking, do the people get turned back to normal if you shave their unibrow. Of course Sa-chan is thinking along the same lines as well. I was totally waiting for that.
• I enjoyed this episode much more than last week’s episode. It seems that they are still keeping with the horror trend. This week with the killer zombies, it totally reminded me of Resident Evil. Especially the last part where Gin-san needed a big bazooka to save the day, and of course the whole virus thing. So this must have been a tribute to Resident Evil/Biohazard. Which seems pretty timely as the new Resident Evil movie came out this weekend.

part2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 10

Next Episode Preview: 

Thoughts on Episode:

•  When I saw the preview for this episode, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. After watching it I don’t think it was one of the better Gintama episodes out there. It still had some funny points in it like the Mario mushroom cameo thing. But I think the only other time I laughed was when Gin-san pee’d in the river.
• The start was interesting when Otose-san and Catharine were asking for the rent. Actually I thought that was more funny than the actual episode.
• Not much else to say, I think the director even knew that it was going to be a kind of down episode and used the extra time to put in things like at the beginning and the end.