#just rewatched the benizakura movie and I am in a mood

[banapricot]

Once again thinking about how Takasugi and Katsura do down a very similarly destructive path because they idolized a man that they loved until he might as well have been a deity, making him so fundamental to the way they perceived the world that once he was gone they simply couldn't keep track of a reality that didn't include him. And the reason Zura changed tracks at the start of the show is because he never worshipped Shouyo to the extent Takasugi did - he split his reverence between his Sensei, who made him a Samurai, and Gintoki, who let him be Zura. But in BFY Gintoki went and died, too, sending Katsura tumbling back down the same path as Takasugi.

Gintoki never puts anyone on that sort of pedestal, never places that sort of responsibility on them, not even the man that gave him a sword and a life and a future, which is why he could cope with the loss better than the other two.

He's so human, so undeniably flawed, and after the war and the Shiroyasha he makes sure everyone sees him as such. He messes with Shigeshige and punches Nobunobu and pisses off Yato and mocks everyone he respects because they're all people, none of them are infallible, and he knows that worship can be as dangerous as faith is important.