The Reaper's Request: Please watch this program in a bright room and at a safe distance from your TV.
Boss, I gotta close up already.
And they say this area's gotten dangerous lately, so you'd best hurry on home.
Dangerous? What else is new?
Haven't you heard of the serial killer going after drunkards?
Just two days ago, another corpse was found in a back alley.
And there was something really strange about it.
At first glance, he looked like any old drunkard with nary a scratch on him,
but he was cut through the neck, leaving just one tiny bit of skin attached.
And because of that,
now there are rumors that it was the work of a Reaper.
No wonder the streets are so deserted everywhere.
When things get this gloomy, it even makes alcohol taste bad.
I wish someone would have a drink with me, Reaper or not.
Give it a rest, Boss.
Or else a Reaper really might show up to pour you a drink.
Oden
So scary!
I'd better take down my lamp before the candle gets snuffed out.
How stupid.
By just a tiny bit of skin on his neck?
Big whoopin' deal.
Even I could do that.
Hell, we're always scraping along by the skin of our necks.
Financially, that is.
Is that true?
If so, I'd like to ask you
to help me commit suicide.
The Reaper by Day and the Reaper by Night
I'm not sure I get it,
but you should probably rethink this.
If you committed suicide, uh,
wouldn't it be bad in a lot of ways?
How should I put this...
It's just wrong in all kinds of ways.
Basically, this isn't like you.
Cheer up!
What the hell would you know about me?!
What would I know?
I'd say it's all pretty obvious, really.
Stop judging a book by its cover!
You know nothing about my suffering!
I can pretty much guess.
You couldn't learn Bankai or something, right?
Wrong!
Anyway,
don't throw your life away.
You have the important mission of taking human lives...
Wait, that's not right.
You should know better than anyone how precious life is
because you take so many lives...
That's not it, either.
Man, this is a pain!
I have no idea how to stop a Reaper from committing suicide!
I must atone for all the lives I have taken.
Look, I get that.
But isn't that your job?
You don't have a choice.
Everyone understands that.
Just hurry and finish me off already!
P-Please!
Finish me!
End my suffering!
I don't even care anymore.
Don't resent me, okay?
Don't reduce my life span, okay?
Ow! Ow! Ow! I'm gonna die!
Didn't you want to die?!
H-Hurry up! Hurry up!
Hey, come on!
Quit moving around!
H-Here I come.
U-Uh, how much longer?
Hurry up and put me at ease.
J-Just a sec. Don't look this way.
I'm adjusting my aim right now! I'll take your head in one swing!
Are you done yet?
Hey, I'm really starting to hurt here.
Please, hurry!
S-Settle down!
This is the pain of all the lives you have taken so far!
And this one's for Krillin!
Hey! What do you think you're doing?!
H-Help...
I-I'm sorry! I can't do this after all!
It's too late to be saying that!
My guts are spilling out already!
Well, my brain's spilling out, so let's call it even!
Don't go wimping out on me now!
Hurry up and finish the job!
Kill me!
I'll die! I'll die!
This isn't helping with suicide, it's a scene out of Tuesday Suspense Theater!
Th-This ain't my fault, right?
This ain't a murder, right?
I just helped with the suicide, right?
And surely helping a Reaper commit suicide isn't a crime...
What's all this? Sure is noisy.
Did something happen?
I want to know what happened to you!
What about me?
What? That Reaper hanging from your back, that's what!
Reaper?
Wait, can you see something behind me?
Damn, is something haunting me?
Like hell!
The thing's lying limp on your back!
It's covered in blood!
That doesn't sound good.
I might die soon.
The Reaper up and died before you!
What happened? Don't tell me...
No, no! It was self-defense!
All I did was turn the tables on the Reaper who came after my life!
You killed it? You killed a Reaper?
Anyway, bring in all the Zanpakuto we have.
We'll all use our Bankai and send the Reaper back to Soul Society.
What are you trying to make us do?!
Not even Bankai can clear you of this crime!
Turn yourself in!
You've totally committed a murder here!
Screw you!
Only Soul Society can judge me—
No. Only people can judge other people.
You don't have to assist in my suicide anymore.
It's alive! The Reaper is alive!
I'm sorry.
This stomach wound was a fake.
I figured you'd never take my head unless I did something like this.
But I'm not allowed an honorable ritual suicide.
I'm more deserving of having my severed head stuck on a pike.
A Reaper doesn't even have the right to die.
A human?
No, I'm a Reaper.
Ikeda Asaemon,
a good-for-nothing Reaper who can't even have her own head,
let alone those of sinners.
I apologize for causing a fuss.
Who could it be at this time of night?
Again?
Yeah. The fourth one this week alone.
I never knew Reapers were such hard workers.
Seriously.
I wish they'd spare a thought for us cops who have to deal with their messes.
And unlike us, I bet they get paid for overtime in Soul Society.
This technique never ceases to amaze me.
Yeah, no ordinary swordsman could pull this off.
But Sogo, if they were as skilled as you—
Gimme a break.
I was busy all night, targeting your head like always.
You call that an alibi?
Besides, I'm not the only one capable of this. There are loads of others out there.
Did you know?
Someone committing a ritual suicide first pierces his belly,
and then his assistant lops off his head before he starts to suffer.
But it's not that easy to take someone's head in one swing.
If it goes badly, you fail to finish him off even after two or three strikes,
thus making him suffer more.
As such, it's usually up to the finest swordsman in the family to be the assistant.
Some among them try to
keep the head from falling to the ground and getting dirty
by leaving just one tiny bit of skin attached when they cut it,
a practice known as the Hung Head style of execution, or so I hear.
Do you mean to say that the murderer is one of us executioners?
And who might you be?
I asked him to help us with the investigation.
He's the Royal Swordskeeper,
the 18th Ikeda Yaemon-dono.
Royal Swordskeeper?
Basically, the arms magistrate who supervises all of the Shogun family's weaponry—
It's fine.
No need to address me so formally.
Everybody knows that trying out the swords is but a side job.
I know that we're called the clan of executioners who
behead those sentenced by the Bakufu,
no, that we are ridiculed as Reapers behind our backs.
Oh, I get it.
The quickest way to learn about a Reaper is to ask a Reaper—
Our job may seem like dirty work to outsiders,
but our swords purge criminals of their sins and return purity to their souls,
and we take great pride in them.
None in our family would swing their swords like this, bereft of conviction.
It's not like we're suspecting you.
We wanted to ask about this technique—
Or so I'd like to say,
but I don't think anyone outside the Ikeda family is capable of such a technique.
It's not that this head was left attached by one tiny bit of flesh,
but rather that it was chopped off so skillfully that its cells are coalescing.
Leaving even a person's cells unaware that they've been cut,
this art truly removes only their soul.
The Ikeda family's ultimate form of the Hung Head Technique,
Soul Cleansing.
And how many in your family can perform this technique?
Only a few.
First, the late former Yaemon.
The second would be me, who inherited the technique.
There are others, right?
No, there are none left in the family.
But there is one on the run.
Huh? I'm not hurt at all?
Are you all right, kid?!
Huh? Everything inside has been cut.
Hell, even the truck's been cut?!
Asaemon, why do you tremble so?
The man in front of you is no longer your master.
He is a criminal whose head you must take.
Waver not.
Do your duty.
When people sin and degenerate into demons,
we must make them human again at their end.
That is the Ikeda family's duty.
Would you be kind enough to make me human again
with your sword?
Never forget.
The only beings capable of turning people human again
are neither demons that take human heads
nor Reapers that take their souls,
but humans who sever their souls to save them.
Where'd she go?
That way! Look over there!
They've already got the entire town covered.
This might be a fitting end for me.
Not on my watch.
Aren't you the one who asked me to help you commit suicide,
my dear Reaper?
You're—
Hey, watch your hands!
Ikeda Asaemon.
I never thought
someone from a family that's served as bakufu executioners for generations
would ask me to behead them.
And I never thought asking you to assist me with suicide
would lead to your taking advantage of it to molest me.
I'm telling you, I didn't touch nothing!
You see, compared to girls, Reapers have one more private part you shouldn't touch.
I'm telling you, I didn't touch your private parts!
Privates of the Caribbean.
That's just a skull!
It's the skull of Caribbean, the pirate said to be the first criminal put down by
the Ikeda family of bakufu executioners.
Now that you've laid your hands on a Reaper's holy privates,
you will definitely lose your nape.
And how exactly are you gonna have my nape in your state?
Oh, did I say nape?
I meant nip.
She took my nipple!
What have you done?! And when?!
Taking a criminal's head without letting them realize they've lost it...
That's what a Reaper's sword does.
Lost it? More like "lost teat"!
No need to worry.
My sword doesn't even hurt the cells.
If you put it back, it'll stick.
Then please draw it back when the DVD version comes out.
Help, Yabuki-sensei!
Damn you! I'm seriously gonna throw you into the depths of Hell!
Calm down!
Stop! Don't touch my private parts!
A job well done, Odd Jobs.
You actually managed to bring her here before the police could.
As the head of the Ikeda family, I thank you.
Y-Yaemon-sama...
You've finally come back home, Asaemon.
This is Ishikawa Rokuemon's head.
And this is the head of Weasel Boy Jirokichi.
And that's...
Who was it again?
Well, it's somebody's nipple.
Excuse me.
This nipple looks familiar to me.
They're all heads of the heinous villains the Ikeda family has put down.
This is mine, isn't it?
Why is it already part of your collection?
Feel free to observe them all you like.
Dinner will be served momentarily.
That's the mansion of the bakufu's executioners for you.
Everything is so clear-cut.
They're desperate to show themselves off.
Uh, Gin-san...
Can we just take our money and go?
I don't really feel like eating with skulls staring at me.
Wait up, Shinpachi.
There's something fishy about that young head of the Reapers.
Oops.
Guys that put on that Sakai Masato-ish fake smile
tend to be the type to kill people with a smile on their face.
He might've welcomed her back warmly,
but he's probably trying to wipe out the family's black sheep behind closed doors.
They say a Reaper always approaches you with a smile...
No, that's the devil.
A Reaper would be standing behind you before you even realized it.
And he'd take your life in the blink of an eye.
I returned your nipple.
Shall we begin, then?
Uh, we'll pass for tonight.
Is something wrong?
Nah, I'm just starting to feel sick of this room—
I mean, to my stomach.
Perfect!
We've prepared a very nutritious Ikeda special course for you.
First, we have the appetizer, live frog.
Then the side dish, monkey brain,
and the main course, broiled boar head.
And then...
They're all heads!
W-Wow! They're all unusual dishes!
B-But do you have anything that's a bit closer to home?
Of course.
Here's the dessert: somebody's nipple.
That hits too close to home!
Enough with the taking it off and putting it back on!
What the hell do you think my nipples are?!
Asaemon cooked this meal herself.
I thought it'd be a good way to let her thank you personally.
That's not the point.
Why the hell are you—
Why are we welcoming back the traitor who killed the former head?
If you tell anyone else what I tell you, I'll have to behead all of you, as well.
Do you still want to know?
Asaemon and I are like siblings.
I'm the former Yaemon's own son,
whereas Asaemon was an orphan he adopted.
However, our Ikeda family cares not about blood lineage.
For generations,
only the most skilled swordsman has been chosen as the bakufu executioner
and inherited the Yaemon name, proof of being the Ikeda family head.
The former Yaemon thought we had that potential,
and so we supported each other like siblings,
competed like rivals, and raised the bar for each other.
Yaemon
People would say the family's future would be secure no matter
which of us became Yaemon.
But that's when
it came to light that the former Yaemon had gone against his duty
and secretly helped criminals escape in the past.
If the court were to find out, the Ikeda family would've been wiped out.
Then, did you...
We punished the former Yaemon in secrecy.
Asaemon was the one who helped him commit suicide.
But the court was bound to learn of his death eventually,
so Asaemon left home, unbeknownst to all.
To shroud the truth about the former Yaemon's death in darkness,
she took on the stigma of being a traitor who killed her lord,
and chose the path of wearing a bloodied Reaper's mask.
Asaemon is a loyal retainer who threw everything away to protect the Yaemon name.
Then were you trying to commit suicide
so you could erase both yourself and the truth before you got caught?
That's not true.
I'm no loyal retainer.
Asaemon-san!
She loved the previous head, our master, more than anyone else.
But I never thought she'd go so far to protect Father's name.
I'm glad we found her before it was too late.
Listen to yourself.
It wasn't just the sin of killing her lord she took on, right?
I mean, it'd be bad if the honorable family of bakufu executioners
produced a serial killer, now wouldn't it?
Especially if it were the head of the family,
because I hear the entire family would have to be wiped out.
I see.
You said Reapers approach with a smile on their face.
That might not be all that far off the mark.
A faint smile, is it?
You can't call that a crime.
They were all criminals
who would've lost their heads if the former head hadn't let them escape.
N-No way!
Don't tell me, you...
Asaemon and I shared a vow that day.
That even if we walked down different paths, the sky would keep us connected.
And under that sky, both the Reaper by day and
the Reaper by night would protect the things the previous head left us.
In my eyes,
she's also one of the precious things the previous Yaemon, my father, left me.
If I were planning to make her a sacrificial pawn,
I wouldn't have had you bring her back.
You think you can hide it forever?
So long as you're not the talkative sort, yes.
Then why'd you take that risk by telling us all this?
Please don't play dumb.
Now that you've heard all this, you'll either have to cooperate with me
or run into a serial killer and lose your head.
Because the list of criminals the previous Yaemon let escape ten years ago
Sakata Gintoki
has your name on it,
Sakata Gintoki-san.
Human or Demon?
Preview
There's a reason why Gintoki managed to survive
after being sentenced to death in the past.
Was it coincidence, or fate? Lucky or unlucky?
In the midst of doubt, there's a sudden twist in the story!!