Shogun...
We were always at odds as enemies,
but we shared the same ambition to make this a better country.
I couldn't put an end to you with my own hands,
so I failed to keep the promise I made as an enemy.
But the promise we made as friends who pursued the same ambition...
I'll definitely fulfill it.
Farewell Shinsengumi Arc Part Two
Heroes Always Arrive Fashionably Late
Kodokan Dojo
Watch the Farewell Shinsengumi Arc in a bright room and at a safe distance from your TV!!
Well, I have to head to work now.
So you're staying home again today?
If you decide to go to Odd Jobs, make sure to lock up, okay?
Sis.
Don't worry. There's no need to lock up anymore.
Above the ceiling,
under the overhang,
the shadows of the walls,
and the shadows of utility poles
are all free of that gorilla stalker now.
But then, why is it
that life's not the least bit fun?
A long time ago, some idiot asked me this:
Snack Smile
If I could take any one thing I like to a deserted island, what would I take?
I answered thusly...
"Camus."
People live on the water they drink.
But men live on booze.
After all, it goes perfectly with anything.
Be it bar snacks, meat, women,
bitching, or whining.
Men get through life by mixing all things good or bad
with their drinks and gulping them down.
That said,
there is just one combination that doesn't work.
Booze and bozos.
Damn, quit drinking with a gloomy face.
You're making my booze taste bad. Get out.
Booze is for drinking when you're gloomy. You get out.
Why are you at my welcome party, anyway?
These guys dragged me here, saying they'd treat me to free booze.
I wouldn't subject myself to your soppy, rainy-season b*llsack of a mug otherwise.
Whose face are you calling a b*llsack?
That's rich, coming from a forever droopy, parched b*llsack of a mug.
A parched b*llsack's more hygienic than a soppy one, you b*llsack!
There's nothing hygienic about b*lls, you b*llsack!
Good thing we brought Gin-san along, huh, Boss?
The vice chief was down in the dumps, but he's full of energy now.
I guess there's one more thing I'd take to a deserted island.
Perhaps men need a rival to bust their b*lls at all times.
You can't call that a deserted island anymore.
And what do b*lls have to do with anything?
Gahhh
Could you knock it off?
If you're going to make a scene, I'll have to ask you to leave.
Before that,
could you stop deciphering my hard-boiled monologues and weaponizing them?
But if you really do want to drink,
I've got all night.
There's no way I'd get drunk if you served me with that sad look.
If you have questions, ask me when sober instead of setting up a party as an excuse.
Though I'm afraid I don't have any answers to give you.
I mean, I've got no idea what to do myself.
Due to that, my comrades have all drifted apart.
Demonic Vice Chief, my ass.
Without him,
I can't do anything.
That's not true.
You're doing well.
Even though you lost everything due to your foolish bosses,
you're still working as a cop, doing whatever you can for Edo.
Allow me to offer you a word of praise as the Commissioner-General of Police,
loser.
I thought I told you to forget about work today, Sasaki.
Sneaking into town to get a peek at the lives of plebeians
was a hobby of the previous shogun, Lord Shigeshige, was it not?
Then I shall follow suit.
Continue drinking as you were.
Tonight, consider me merely Nobunobu.
Let me hear you mongrels howl.
You're Okita Sogo of the Shinsengumi, correct?
Go away. You've got the wrong person.
Come with us quietly—
Didn't you hear me?
I'm sayin' that doesn't exist anymore.
Or what?
Did you flies swarm here thinkin' you could get revenge now that we've split up?
Right now, I'm just a manslayer on the loose.
Instead of sending you pigs to the sty, I'll throw you into the hotpot called hell.
And now that I don't have any jobs or duties to worry about, I'll do it my way.
You—
Outta the way.
You're hindering our walk.
Snack Smile
I have booked this entire place tonight.
Drink to your heart's content, everyone.
Drink up.
Join me in raising a toast to Lord Shigeshige's happiness in the afterlife.
Or would you rather toast to your boss's afterlife instead?
You're jumping the gun, Nobunobu-sama.
Matsudaira Katakuriko and Kondo Isao don't get executed for another five days.
Those under their patronage may yet stage a rebellion.
I told you to forget about work today.
And I've already hunted down everyone who could rebel against me.
To confirm that,
how about we put him in charge of security for the execution and see what happens?
It would be rather amusing to make a man oversee his former boss's execution.
And it would be the perfect opportunity to test his loyalty to me.
If he were to shed a single tear,
we could put him in charge of security for his other comrades' executions, too.
What's the matter?
You still won't drink?
Are you saying you won't drink what I offer you?
That is understandable.
This vulgar liquid can hardly be called alcohol.
W-We're terribly sorry!
Lord Shigeshige seemed to like this one...
I see.
I'm sorry, but could I ask you to dispose of these?
R-Right away!
Not that.
I meant disposing of you two.
Did you really think I would be satisfied by the same things as him?
I, Tokugawa Nobunobu, am the man who will bring about a new era.
Thus, my alcohol, women, and subordinates must far surpass their predecessors.
If you do not have fine wine, bring me fine women.
What the hell are you people doing?
Hurting innocent folk one after another,
changing the world to what suits you best...
New era?
Who in their right mind would follow people like you?!
If you don't protect the populace that keeps the country afloat,
how can you call yourself a shogun?
How can you call yourself police?!
Otae-chan!
This is my new era.
Which means that incompetent police who can protect the populace but not the shogun
and incompetent shoguns who die unable to protect the country
have no place here.
Nor do the foolish people who oppose this new era.
Real police...
Real samurai wouldn't do this.
That man
would never do something like this.
Save that punch for the idiot boss who left you guys behind.
This isn't a matter for you cops.
A drunk is best punched by another drunk.
Y-You knave!
What have you done to the shogun?!
Hello?
Are you alive, Nobunobu-sama?
Mind if I take this chance to exchange email addresses?
To: Nobutas The shogun got his teeth bashed in again lol
Sheesh. Just when your wounds from before had almost healed, too.
How sad.
Sakata-san...
I never expected you to act out before Hijikata-san.
For a worthless reason,
you went and committed a sin that a hundred disembowelments couldn't atone for.
Are you kidding me?
I'm in the running for that moronic lord's most loyal retainer.
"I wanna forget all about work and drink tonight."
That's what the man lying there, merely Nobunobu-san, said.
All I did was play along.
You wanted to know how we plebs live, right?
Down here, bite someone and they'll bite back.
It's common sense.
Don't be swinging your fist down at people if you're not ready to get punched.
Tell your ignorant little rich boy that,
you lapdogs.
Hey.
What's the meaning of this?
Don't you see the situation?
What did you come here to do?
Aren't you a policeman?
At least deal with the traffic, then.
I can't even walk my dog like this.
There's no policeman here.
Haven't you heard? We've already—
If you've already disbanded,
why are you still wearing that?
I heard that you protected Soyo-chan back then.
From that pain-in-the-ass moron.
It means nothing when I couldn't protect the one who mattered most.
The princess probably resents me, too,
as nothing but a manslayer who couldn't protect her brother.
Well, she did nothing but curse you,
saying she couldn't eat liver or offal anymore because of you.
As long as it's not those two, she says she'll book a restaurant up your alley,
and to let her know what you like before she invites you.
The Shinsengumi may be gone,
but that doesn't change the fact that there are lives you've saved.
It doesn't change the fact that you protected two girls.
Don't worry.
Even if you don't wear that outfit, we know.
We know that you...
That you guys are cops.
No matter what you all do from now on, we know the Shinsengumi.
So quit moping around in a place like this.
Go break the gorilla out of his cage or deal with traffic.
Just do your job already.
Wait, are you cheering me up right now?
Did you think I was depressed?
As if.
I'm just telling you to change out of those rags already 'cause they stink.
That settles it.
I'm never taking my uniform off again.
I sure as hell ain't gonna do what you tell me.
Hear that, scrubs?
So long as I still wear this uniform,
the Shinsengumi won't die.
As such, you guys are gonna be massacred either way!
Nothing's changed!
Would you listen to us?! We're—
Too late to beg for your lives!
You're hindering our walk!
Wait! Hold on, Captain Okita!
I see.
The shogun may change, and so may the era,
but fools will stay fools, huh?
Release her.
Treat the wounded.
True, Nobunobu-sama went too far tonight.
Rather than let the new government's reputation get even worse,
it'd save time to have a single fool take all the blame.
Gin-san!
What are you doing, Hijikata-san?
We can't let you take him away.
If we kept quiet here,
we wouldn't be cops anymore, let alone hard-boiled.
Right, Boss?
Regardless of who you're up against,
if we can't tell who we should punish and who we should protect,
we cops are done for.
You guys are the weird ones here.
At this rate, this country will fall to ruin, Commissioner-General.
I gulped down those words along with my Camus.
There are some things men can't say out loud.
Don't hide in your hard-boiled monologues now!
Do you know why humans have survived for five billion years
in Earth's ever-changing environment?
It's because we adapt.
To put it in terms simple enough for you non-elites to understand,
when a new Sentai series begins, you go,
"I won't accept this! Bioman was better,"
every time, don't you?
But by the time the series ends,
you find it hard to say goodbye to Changeman as well.
Humans have survived this long by adapting to all kinds of changes like that.
Yes, the heroes this time don't protect the weak.
But you'll get used to it eventually.
No, you have no choice but to get used to it.
Because as much as you might lament or fight that fact,
the old era, and the old heroes, won't ever come back.
If you don't adapt, you'll just walk the path of destruction, like the Shinsengumi.
If I may, Commissioner-General,
none of us has died yet.
That is if you stay put right there, Hijikata-san.
If you so much as lift a finger,
you and your comrades will vanish from history as traitors.
It should be clear to you now...
You can no longer be heroes.
Are you leaving, sirs?
But you haven't partaken of your orders yet.
I was just bringing them to you.
Nasty Stick
I don't recall ever ordering those.
Oh...
It was the customer who was sitting over there until just now,
a man in his tighty-whities, who ordered them for you.
Tighty-whities?
We've already been paid for them, so there's no need for that.
We don't expect anything from the bakufu or the police anymore.
Because there's a hero right here.
What's going on here?
Why are you guys with Joi Rebels?
Hey, Yamazaki. What are you playing at?
Why are you singling me out?
You always treat me like an extra, but you single me out now?!
Depending on your answer, somebody's gonna get hurt real bad.
You.
Y-You've got it wrong, Captain Okita!
Hey, say something!
Something
I didn't ask you to break out that classic gag!
Eli?
You guys are with Katsura?!
Calm down, Sogo-kun.
Shimaru-niisan...
There's a reason for this.
The thing is...
Uh...
Listen to me!
No, listen to me!
No, me!
Hey...
I said me, damn it!
My story's better!
Mine's deeper!
Mine's more serious!
Your characters and placards are overlapping too much for me to understand.
Mine's sharper!
Mine's more awesome!
You're seriously annoying!
Shut it, my former pet!
Get lost, my former owner!
But you loved me so much!
I was obviously pretending.
You tricked me?!
Fool you once, shame on you.
Say what?!
Takes one to know one!
Stupid! Stupid!
Anyway, we mean you no harm.
Uh, you're not the least bit convincing.
We come here not as Shinsengumi or Joi Rebels.
We came to talk as simply samurai.
It's a smokescreen!
Hurry up and go.
Gintoki...
Let us meet at dawn.
What's that bastard playing at?!
A newcomer?
You must be quite the heinous criminal to get thrown in here.
What did you do?
Beats me.
I don't think I did anything wrong,
but if I had to say, it'd be that I picked a huge fight with the country.
I see.
I'm the opposite.
I thought I was protecting the country, but ended up in here before I knew it.
How ironic.
We'd be enemies if we met outside,
but in here, we're fellow inmates tied to the same prison.
Well, this relationship won't last too long.
How about we let bygones be bygones and get along?
It is as you say.
At this point, the outside world is the same as this place.
Everyone is an inmate, tied to a prison we call the state.
If we don't forget about allies, enemies, grudges, and fight as one,
the country itself will be executed.
Joi Rebels alone cannot overturn this situation.
So let me ask you as well,
Shinsengumi Chief, Kondo Isao.
Lend me your strength, so that we might protect this country.
To Be Continued
Preview
We can't protect anything.
Article 4 of the Shinsengumi Code:
"When the Chief is away, the Vice Chief will have full control of the squad."
It's still not too late.
If you have something to protect,
then break out of that crooked cage.
Who's the crazy one here?
Farewell Shinsengumi Arc Part Three
Lost and Found
Katsura enters the prison where Kondo's being held
as a fellow inmate.
Meanwhile, Hijikata still hasn't shaken off his despair.
Will he be able to rise again?