The fight to save the planet is heating up this week as new threats emerge and old friends arrive to extend help. Demonstrating Gintama's tendency to wear many hats, episode 345 features some of the simplest images of the show to date before slipping into a highly subversive zaniness in the third action. Fortunately, instead of causing the tonal whiplash, this mood shift helps eliminate the impending calamity and reminds that the audience that ultimately, is still Gintama.
Still locked in a fight with the Utsuro zombie army, the crew of Odd Jobs and Nobume meet yet another new enemy: the muscle-bound and seemingly unemotional Hitsugi, the last of the Three Naraku Wings. Despite having Gokokok Gintoki being gruesomely stuck in his throat, muscular powerhouse is no worse for wear and tear, implying that he has also taken part of Utsuro's blood. The melee was cut short when several ALA combat ships arrived at the scene and proceeded to blow the whole group into smithereens.
Because he and his friends were able to survive the explosion, Gintoki reasoned that their enemies had also managed to get out and regroup. Unfortunately, our heroes do not have time to gather themselves before being attacked by an ALA battalion on the streets of Edo. However, when everything seems to be missing, the Shinsengumi, who have succeeded in their quest to gather rebels from all over the country, make their big entrance and fight beside the Odd trio. Despite all their upheaval, the group's core members did little to improve their combat abilities. (As Gintoki muses, they've come even worse, if any.) Yamazaki, on the other hand, is now barely recognizable. In addition to changing its name to Zakiyama, spymaster soft-spoken is now a dead migrant to Rambo.
Meanwhile, Princess Soyo, who has been under the protection of Oniwabanshu since the death of her brother, returns to the palace in order to lead the Edo community through this crisis. When a battalion of ALA ships acting on Ensho's orders tried to blow the high-ceilinged castle, their efforts were hampered by Matsudaira, who had gained access to his own combat ship. Although its original aim was to overthrow the Nobunobu government, Edo's heaviest police commissioner now faces a much bigger challenge: protecting the entire planet.
When Odd Jobs's crew was beaten and forced to retreat, their distress was palpable, and this helped make this normally bizarre character feel more humane. Seeing them taken to a low position like this at the beginning of the bow, both are very sad and show how terrible the threats they face now. We were also given a glimpse of how the deepest secrets revealed in anygame arc had previously affected Gintoki. Between all the action and comic breaks, it's easy to forget that almost everything Gin believes about his past has now been thrown into an entirely new light. Instead of defusing his guilt for killing Shoyo, knowing Utsuro's existence only made him feel worse, eventually letting him question his relationship with this foster father. Even in the worst of times, Gintoki has been able to fight and instill confidence in the people around him, but toward the midpoint of this week's episode, he seems almost ready to give up. This may be the first time we've seen a silver-haired samurai in a vain frame of mind, but with a bit of luck, the return of an ongoing old ally will help bring it out of this joy.
Of course, this will not be a Gintama if the main characters are allowed to wallow in ennui as well. In Gintamasejatimode, the return of Shinsengumi is played to be much more epic than reality. Almost everything Shinsengumi has done since leaving Edo is underestimated to show how bad and non-functioning his core members are. Despite the dead brush in the Shinsengumi Arc of Farewell, Kondo is an exhibition of the shameless exhibition that always exists, albeit with badass scars. That reveals that he can now remove his penis at will (and not just the bar / mosaic sensor) is evidence of the dexterity of the show to take his beloved comedy movie as far as possible. Hijikata missed his efforts to quit smoking because the new epic bout technique is very funny, because in general he is the most serious member - although in this series, it does not say much.
Every week, Silver Soul has brought a lot of action, comedy, and exciting revealing to the table, and its final installment is no exception. Although they did not really hurt the screen time during Slip Arc, were happy to see Shinsengumi again, and the story behind Yamazaki's transformation into Zakiyama should prove funny. Despite all appearing lost for a while, the return of "criminal police" Edo has animated our heroes (and their performances) in the hope of a new hope.
