#gintae

[craftydragonperson]

Shimura Otae and her smile

I believe some viewers felt Otae enjoyed hurting people because her smiling followed suit of her aggressive tendencies; her brutality added at the beginning of the shows adaptation seemed especially heinous to most. Everyone throws punches left and right but her upside down frown is what leaves people with the wrong impression.

I believe international viewers are left out of the culture context about her outward appearance. I mean she looks like an everyday woman of Edo, just with a bit of a temper. I felt it was just her gimmick at first; the innocent look that does a complete one-eighty, yet that isn’t the full case.

I got done watching a reaction video (I know I’m one of those people lol). This person, who after watching the Yagyuu Arc, gave thoughts on the episode. Discussing Otae’s true genuine smile of jubilation and joy, and not the smile she always wore. The put up front reminded them of studying in Japan.

The person mentioned they actually studied abroad numerous times throughout videos. The wrap up of the arc immediately brought thought of a book their Japanese professor had given the class. They still have the book in both English and Japanese as a keepsake.

The Japanese professor was very particular, to all studying in the class, to understand the concept of the Japanese smile. How and what they were presenting in Japan could be the complete opposite of what was going on internally. That it was quite normal for someone to have a smile on their face but inside they’re in incredible pain and sorrow.

Book covers for Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

The professor brought that up when the class were reading the book Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. It was about someone that was always smiling externally but inside there was so much trauma.

They watched the film version and the film portrayed the book quite well. In the story though, you can read the internal monologue of the main character but in the movie you don’t have access to that. So you just see the main character from the outside. And if you just watch it, without any context of Japanese culture, without the context of the book with the internal monologue, you would think; and it would leave you with a completely different impression of the main character. You wouldn’t even realize just how much pain she was in.

☝️ This here is how I think viewers see Otae. They can’t discern what they see and perceive her character as just being high-handed. This is how one would surmise her personality without truly knowing the person inside. And I suppose people believe this is her true nature. Which, I won’t lie, at times could be true . . . .

However there is also other obvious facets that people tend to overlook time after time. She was raised for a short time and by few people who taught her to smile through the tough times in life. And that concept has been embedded in her, throughout the series. It’s given her wisdom and strength at such a young age. It’s this reason that I fell for this character. She has more strength than mere brawn. This way of masking pain goes outside the boundaries of Japanese culture, nonetheless it’s something upheld as a society. It’s taught and becomes an automatic way of operating through daily life. She’s the product of that time and it’s day-to-day people. I hope this can cut her some slack from viewers who think nothing but physical power of her.

BTW for anyone interested the book is amazing. It’s a tiny read but a ton you can acquire from reading it! I highly recommend. Plus, you may find other similar characteristic’s that may have been inspiration for a persona in the Gintama series. It adds to how Sorachi takes and intertwines historical figures with important fictional works to create key roles for his own series. 😮

[gintamayorozuya]

GINPACHI SENSEI ♥

New Illustration

[kenkao-love]

Rurouni Kenshin × Gintama

[ixsanacer]

my fav gintae artist 💕

<3

[gintokey]

[hinata-ryo]

[tae-shimura-is-my-wife]

I find so funny and iconic that Gin doesn't encourage Kondou's crush on Tae neither seems to like it, especially because he has 0 problems teasing Hijikata or Katsura and kinda is envolved in certain romantic subplots with other characters, but when it cames to Kondou he's more than pleased to move the gorilla away from her 😆

[vordark]

[forgloryforhonor]

In the Novelization of Be Forever Yorozuya, when Shinpachi, Kagura and Chin-san (Gintoki) rushed to the terminal, Otae's condition suddenly turned for the worse.

You get a sense of urgency because you want Otae to be saved yet the three haven't found what they were looking for yet.

Then Otae flatlines at the moment when Gintoki finally stabbed Enmi at the conclusion of their duel.

Otae was surrounded by her doctors at the time of her death, while the rest of Yorozuya were away.

It's a cruel, futile end.

[ilyokkgsmiabf]

Hiiiiii! So I was wondering if any of you would like to recommend Gintama fanfics/Au!

Pretty please 🥺

[tifameesu]

arrested for defying the shogun idk is that what happened in farewell shinsengumi

[theqrianana]

GinTae Week 2023

Day 1 - Ice Cream

[oddjobsqueen]

Not to bug you or your ship but

You are aware that otae has supported the idea of gintoki and tsukuyo being together right?

In a drama cd released after the final

Just letting you know

Im aware of the existence of that drama cd which wasnt even written by sorachi.

Besides, Tae’s reaction was consistent with how she reacted about gintoki many times before. When kyubei asked her about gintoki not being in edo, she said its fine because she didnt want to admit she missed him. In the final movie, she only mentioned shinpachi kagura and sadaharu who wanted to see gintoki again but not herself because she didnt want to admit she wanted to see him again too. In the drama cd she diverted the attention from herself to tsukuyo because she didnt want to admit that she likes him.

And it didnt bug me because no one in the group had any reaction when tae suggested that tsukuyo would be the one interested in who gintoki fancies, proving that that the idea of gintsu is not even worth noting. Compared to how shinpachi and sacchan became absolutely hysterical when it was suggested that tae likes gintoki because the characters know gintae have the biggest potential.

Anyway not to bug you or your ship but manga-wise gintoki and tsukuyo last interaction was 5 years before the final movie. Just letting you know.

[super-hero-confessions]

[and-you-found-me]

Want to do this again cuz i feel like my opinions have changed a lot lololol

[gintokey]