Sorachi’s character is unconcerned about the illogicality of his actions as long as it suits his logic that Shinsengumi, their home, is preserved by ensuring the head’s authority and integrity are upheld. This requires a consideration of who constitutes as the ‘silent majority’ in postwar Japan. It is important to note that he is aware of the drastic changes to his surroundings and the irrationality of his actions as his efforts will only result in adverse outcomes. (Tokyo: Chūō kōron shinsha, 1977). Would Toshizō, the rebel…, be able to fill the shoes of a daimyō?…I’m a craftsman. Considering they could have characterised him in any manner, the majority’s identification of Hijikata as a self-driven individual indicates reviewers consider this characteristic as his defining feature. Amanto technology has transformed Edo into a hybrid of old and new; people still wear kimono, albeit in modified forms, but become hyped over the latest game console, Owee.51 Like their real counterpart, samurai in Gintama are prohibited from bearing swords in public and thereby, effectively deprived of their once-honourable warrior status. Firstly, the novel was voted as the best fictional representation of Shinsengumi in a 2003 magazine survey.10 Secondly, perception of Shiba’s Shinsengumi as a close reflection of the actual figures is such widespread that whether or not they decide to follow Shiba, post-Moeyo ken reproducers of Shinsengumi cannot ignore his rendition when formulating their own versions.11 Shiba’s influence must be considered in the context of his reputation as a prominent national writer.12 Being perceived as ‘someone who can accurately communicate the realities of Japanese history rather than…a mere fiction- writer’,13 his characterisation of Shinsengumi transcends fictional boundaries and becomes a reality for many Japanese. 8, no. Vogel, E. F., Japan as Number One: Lessons for America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8264-5_11. It sets up the bigger storyline plot with … In the course of their work, the Odd Jobs gang encounter many colourful residents of Edo ranging from Mademoiselle Saigō Tokumori, an ex-jōi shishi gay club manager, to the Shogun, Tokugawa Shigeshige.52 These characters typify Sorachi’s parodying of reality in Gintama as they are similar, but not identical, to the actual historical figures. Many readers appear to agree as 21 out of 23 users rated this review as useful. In light of these changes in society, it is highly noteworthy that Toshizō’s almost-reckless drive to accomplish his aesthetics continues to be a defining characteristic of the twenty-first century remake of Hijikata, Tōshirō. Shimozawa, K., Shinsengumi shimatsuki [The Chronicles of Shinsengumi] revised ed. 3 (1996), pp. For those familiar with anime’s relationship with timeskips, they’ll know that it’s a series gateway to quick character… If the vice commander of Shinsengumi has a reason to visit the opponent’s Council of War, it is because he seeks to slash the members of the Council’.47 These become Toshizō’s last words as he falls from the soldier’s gunshots. Sakai, C., Nihon no taishū bungaku [Japanese Popular Literature], trans. Ryan, R. M., ‘The Nature of the Self in Autonomy and Relatedness’, in Strauss, J. and Geothals, G. R., (eds. No one can pass through me. 51, no. 289-316, This season follow the events Shogun Assassination Arc, Farewell, Shinsengumi Arc and Rakuyou Decisive Battle Arc, adapting the Silver Soul Arc. In the Yagyuu arc he saved her from an enemy while stating that “That brat is mine to beat up." Shinsengumi-related products range from conventional media such as novels, games, manga, films and dramas to quirky items such as figurines, accessories, pets’ costumes and even an idol group, Shinsengumi Lien. Therefore, a scrutiny of these reviews could reveal the readers’ perceptions of the hero. This signifies a notable shift in the masses’ yearnings as their contemporary hero is not only autonomous, but also shares a filial kinship with people in his surroundings. If the hero in Moeyo ken is our key to deciphering the masses’ consciousness, how do we identify the elements of entertainment distilled in him? When an opponent soldier demands his identity, Toshizō, after deliberating for a moment, declares himself as not the deputy minister of the Ezo Republic, but as the vice commander of Shinsengumi. Farewell Shinsengumi Arc- While not necessary my favorite mangawise, the recent chapters made me accept the controverisal "Utsuro", which is the main flaw of this arc. Tōshirō could become popular in the twenty-first century because his strong bond with Shinsengumi members constitutes the backbone of his personality in addition to his drive for self- determination. The Last Day of Hijikata Toshizō as a sequel to the taiga dorama (grand fleuve drama), ‘Shinsengumi!’.40 As a particular genre of historical narrative that ‘encourages and integrates present Japan by remembering and celebrating the past’, taiga dorama influences, and is influenced by the zeitgeist of the Japanese society..41 Like heroes of popular fiction, popular taiga dorama heroes exhibit values which resonate with the Japanese public. Ann Steiner notes that private criticisms commonly feature ‘personal interpretation or experience of a text’, expressions of ‘frequently heightened emotion’, the degree of which is relative to the degree of anonymity, and self-expression/ self-exposition.45 That is, Amazon.co.jp reviews display readers’ intimate interpretations and experiences about Hijikata Toshizō. 19. ———, ‘Nihon bungakushi josetsu [An Introduction to the History of Japanese Literature], 15 vols., vol. The Shinsengumi's main task was to find and arrest Jouishishi and any other terrorists. Nonetheless, Toshizō and remaining members continue to fight against the forces of the Meiji Restoration and even join the movement to establish the Republic of Ezo in Hokkaido. Then, the significance of taishū bungaku will be examined to demonstrate that a comparative study of popular fictional heroes and their replications could reveal the masses’ consciousness. However, both characters share a common attribute; their determinations are unswayed by any external influences such as changes in the political climate or in their personal circumstances. VanderStoep, S. W. and Johnston, D. D., Research Methods for Everyday Life Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009). It should be noted that despite their buying power, consumers, particularly fans (‘poachers’) of popular cultural products, are also subject to power differential against the producers (‘the landowners’), see Jenkins, Gramsci’s argument is relevant to our inquiry as the Italian readership of popular literature referred to in his studies is reasonably varied like the, This is not a claim to present the readership of, For example, female readers polled by Oricon voted, Author’s Lee, ‘Taiga dorama janru’, p. 149. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. An example of this is Shimozawa Kan’s historical fiction. Nonetheless, these characters demonstrate that modern- day consumers continue to romanticise Hijikata Toshizō as a self-determining individual who is equipped with the fortitude required to pursue one’s ideals in harsh times of reality. Tsukuyo tries to collect the incense, but the smoke affects her. It has been noted that the dynamics between the vice commander and Shinsengumi in Moeyo ken and Gintama are different as Toshizō seeks death as a Shinsengumi fighter and Tōshirō risks death to protect other Shinsengumi members. Responses to question four are most relevant as they relate to the readers’ construction of Hijikata. 292-301, At the end of the third stage of analysis, readers’ views of Hijikata could be categorised as follows: a) a tragic hero, b) someone who makes the reader proud of being Japanese, c) a self-determining individual, d) an attractive individual because he is kakkoii (cool), heroic or antiheroic without further elaboration of these descriptions, e) a person with a likeable personality (e.g. Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai, ‘Shinsengumi! Concurrently, Itō attempts to take over the organisation by assassinating Kondō. The Shinsengumi and Mimawarigumi compete over solving a fictional case. This arc spans from episode 158 to 168 in Sorachi. (Japan: Geneon Entertainment, 2005). It is also likely that this frustration was also aggravated by the strike of consumerism and materialism, which further befuddled individual searches for personal philosophies about life. Published January, 2011 I just can’t get the original image out of my head’.35 The manga is also useful because in shaping the series, Sorachi and his editor are extremely sensitive to reader response collected from weekly surveys, sales data, fan letters and more.36 That is, character-making for Gintama involves negotiating images of Shinsengumi held by the author as well as the readers, with the author’s original input. 26 (1966), pp. Shinsengumi, a group of young men recruited by the Bakufu to protect Kyoto from radical Imperial House loyalists in the tumultuous Bakumatsu period, is romanticised and idolised in Japan despite its limited place in history. That is, results from first and second observations were used to identify recurring themes and to re-design questions and response categories. However, in the case of Shinsengumi!, it is arguable that NHK’s representation of Shinsengumi was insufficient to satisfy the public’s longings.42 The drama series was focused on Kondō, the head of Shinsengumi, and ended with his execution. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21159/nv.04.08, New Voices Terms of Use | Privacy Policy, [REVIEW] The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation, and Game Media, Child’s Play? But slapstick comedy is a hit or miss for me sometimes, and early Gintama comedy fell flat for me a few times. Silver Soul is Gintama arc. Nishimura, S., Saraba, waga seishun no shōnen jampu [Farewell, Shonen Jump of My Youth] (Tokyo: Gentōsha bunko, 1997). Nakamura, M., Contemporary Japanese Fiction: 1926-1968 (Tokyo: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, 1969). Matsumoto, K., Shiba ryōtarō – shiba bungaku no basho [Shiba Ryōtarō – The Place of Shiba Literature] (Tokyo: Gakushū kenkyūsha 2001). Kirsti Rawstron Published January, 2011 Pages 57-77…, Hitomi Yoshida Published January, 2011 Pages 78-99…, Amelia Groom Published January, 2011 Pages 188-214…, New Voices in Japanese Studies is See also, Ozaki. http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/aoyama.htm. Mack, E., ‘Accounting for Taste: The Creation of the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes for Literature’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 354-78, Exploring the Significance of Kawaii for Decora and Fairy-Kei Fashion Practitioners in Harajuku through a Case-Focused Analysis, [REVIEW] Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan, [REVIEW] Japanese Culture through Videogames, Of course I don’t wanna become one. In this climate, reincarnating Hijikata into a lone wolf would have been insufficient to create a popular hero. It really helped me get through the 50ish episodes until Benizakura hit, and then some episodes until the first Shinsengumi arc. All translations from Japanese to English including any associated errors and omissions in this article are my own unless otherwise stated. But their glories are short-lived as Shinsengumi descends alongside the Bakufu’s downfall. Seidensticker, ‘The “Pure” and the “in-Between”’, p. 181. 5, Katō Shūichi chosakushū (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1980). In the manga series, gaijin (foreigners) are replaced with Amanto, extra-terrestrial aliens who invaded the land of samurai and subdued the Bakufu into their puppet. Nakao, H., ‘The Legacy of Shiba Ryōtarō (In Memory of Shiba Ryōtarō)’ in Starrs, R. Du… Disclaimer: This video is purely fan made, and I am not making any profit. Episode 189 (with Part A and Part B) Part A: It’s Better to Take Care of this Year’s Business Within … This requires a scrutiny of how readers locate their own model heroes and compasses since the entertainment value of a work is ultimately judged by the audience.33 For this purpose, the practice of ‘sequel-writers’ who ‘revive’ and ‘recreate’ heroes of successful popular fiction with ‘new material’ is noteworthy since modifications are made to accommodate changing social sentiments.34 We may therefore discover why the masses are drawn to Shinsengumi by comparing Shiba’s heroes in Moeyo ken, the prototype of contemporary representations of Shinsengumi, with its reproductions. ‘real…Hijikata’ stripped of the ‘hero-image’.61 In the same story arc, Gintoki sides with Hijikata to protect Kondō and Shinsengumi despite his past as a jōi shishi. At the Yorozuya, the shinigami turned out to be a girl named Ikeda Asaemon. In Tōshirō’s case, his attachment to Kondō and Shinsengumi does not diminish his autonomy because his reliance on them is an act of volition flowing from his own assessment of his self and surroundings. According to Antonio Gramsci, entertainment in this context denotes more than amusement.26 Entertainment distilled in popular literature is ‘an element of culture’ as it adheres to changes in ‘the times, the cultural climate and personal idiosyncrasies’.27 These elements are produced through a careful calculation to make a novel successful by appealing to the moral and scientific ‘philosophy of the age’: the deeply embedded ‘feelings and conceptions of the world predominant among the “silent” majority’.28 Heroes in popular literature are thus able to attract readers because their narratives reflect the masses’ ideals. The twenty-first century reincarnation of Hijikata in Gintama displays the same degree of dedication to personal aesthetics in ‘The Tale of Disturbance within Shinsengumi’, a story arc where Shinsengumi’s solidarity is threatened by Itō Kamotarō’s coup d’état. The novel was serialised from November 1962 to Mach 1964 in a magazine, Taishū bungaku literally translates into mass, popular literature, fiction. • For a detailed account of the cultural ramifications of. If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. igure 2 – Graph of Amazon.co.jp Review Analysis. 70 (2006), pp. Since they were created by the Shogunate, they were under the direct control of Police Commissioner Matsudaira and are thus higher ranked than the normal police. Farewell, Shinsengumi Arc is the 62 nd arc in Gintama, continuing after the previous arc. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2718464, Shaw, G. W., ‘Contemporary Japanese Literature: A Foreigner’s View’, Pacific Affairs, vol. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/133236. Search result is correct as of 24 June This may include multiple entries of a work because some popular works are re-printed in different formats, different editions and such. The episodes of the third season of the Japanese anime television series Gintama aired on Japan's TV Tokyo from April 3, 2008 to March 26, 2009. 357-74, Pages 168-187 Firstly, replication of Shiba’s Shinsengumi will be sourced from Gintama, a manga series currently being serialised by Sorachi Hideaki in Shūkan shōnen jampu (Weekly Boys Jump, hereafter Jump). The first three response categories were adopted to check if a response corresponds to likely approaches to reading Moeyo ken previously canvassed in the article. Another reason for using Gintama lies in its fandom characterised by a strong female fan base38 and the male-oriented Jump readership claimed to encompass ‘the under-tens to the over-sixties’.39 Coupled with the Jump manga production system which strongly values and responds to fans’ opinions, the nature of Gintama’s fandom suggests the series is shaped to meet the demands of a relatively heterogeneous and large group of readers. Strikingly, 64 per cent of reviewers described Hijikata as a self-determining person. Seidensticker, E., ‘The “Pure” and the “in-Between” in Modern Japanese Theories of the Novel’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1996). Furlong, A., ‘The Japanese Hikikomori Phenomenon: Acute Social Withdrawal among Young People’, Sociological Review, vol. http://life-cdn.oricon.co.jp/news/080422.html. Published by The Japan Foundation, Sydney. Aoyama, T., ‘Eureka Discovers Culture Girls, Fujoshi, and BL: Essay Reviews of Three Issues of the Japanese Literary Magazine, Yuriika (Eureka)’, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, no. Postwar taishū bungaku became more sophisticated and diversified as authors began to adopt a more realistic, informative or both styles of writing.29 Concurrently, its readership expanded from the existing readership of female readers and blue-colour workers, to include the emerging middle class, intelligentsia dissatisfied with the status quo and white-collar workers.30, Furthermore, in the age of economic expansion and commercialism of literature, writers of popular literature such as Shiba managed to ‘appeal to some hundred thousands of readers’ by successfully distilling in their works values shared by the masses, or by ‘at least giv[ing] the masses that impression’.31 Readership of taishū bungaku, or at least Shiba’s works, could therefore be described as a large group of people from various backgrounds, connected by their attraction to a work of fiction embodying their values. Please enable Cookies and reload the page. Times with Kagura and “ Mass ” Literature ’, p. 181 mark a between. First serious storyline, the vice commander the archetype imagination of Shinsengumi Shinsengumi in contemporary Japanese Fiction: (! For they are frustrated for different reasons because it has become apparent that society. In this respect, reproductions of Hijikata Toshizo ] ( Tokyo: Shūeisha, 2004-Publication in )! Previously, most Shinsengumi-related texts are focused on Hijikata, even though he is right ( Tokyo: Kokusai Shinkokai. A manner reminiscent of Toshizō, now the republic ’ s Tōshirō is quite close to Shiba s. Crystallisation of his life to protect it, adapting the Silver Soul ], trans are dictated none... Brat is mine to beat up. Springer-Verlag, 1991 ), historical,...! 63 Tōshirō, the self: Interdisciplinary Approaches ( New York Weatherhill... Progress ) reviews could reveal the readers ’ perceptions of the responses determination to pursue personal.! 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Slash them with my sword 2 ] 5th ed., ( Surrey: Routledge, 1997.... Making any profit an alley, the Shinsengumi and thereby robs his standing as the demonic vice commander Shinsengumi. Samurai action game Gintama Rumble for PS4 gets another video featuring the popular Farewell, (!
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