Gintama

Episode 325

The Battle on Rakuyo enters its climax as the audience is treated to the remainder of Kagura and Kamui's backstory. Although he was introduced nearly 200 episodes ago, Kamui is among the show's most seldom-seen characters, and like Takasugi, he's always come off as a fairly one-dimensional villain. Prior to the current arc, his defining traits had been his desire to fight strong opponents and a complete lack of empathy, neither of which is a particularly original quality in a Shonen Jump antagonist. Fortunately, episode 325 does an admirable job of shedding some light on how Kamui became the man he is today.

Through flashback, we learn that young Kagura and Kamui were regarded as pariahs by other youth because of their mother's illness, which most Rakuyo residents believed could be spread. Being a Yato, Kamui was able to take down neighborhood bullies easily, but this didn't go over well with his father, who likened Kamui's actions to an elephant fighting a group of ants. As time wore on and Kouka's condition worsened, Kamui became increasingly resentful of Umibōzu for being away from home so often. Even though his father was off searching for ways to cure Kouka, Kamui believed that the only way to truly save his mother was to return her to the Altana-rich Kouan. After encountering a young Abuto and the Hosen-led Seventh Fleet, Kamui implored them to take him and his family back to the abandoned Yato homeworld, but neither of his parents was open to the idea. This prompted a father/son fight in which Umibōzu lost his left arm. Unable to remain on Rakuyo and watch his mother die, Kamui departed the Planet With the Seventh Fleet, marking the beginning of his career with the Harusame.

In the current timeline, Umibōzu finally appears to have the upper hand against Utsuro, when he punches through his opponent's chest and pierces his heart with a crystal of concentrated Altana from Kouan. Since Utsuro depends on Earth's Altana for survival, Umibōzu likens this tactic to putting diesel in a car that runs on unleaded. Unfortunately, not even this is enough to defeat the seemingly immortal Utsuro, who's able to regenerate a whole new body from the hand he lost in last week's episode. After leaving Umibōzu for dead, Utsuro makes his exit just in time for Kamui, Abuto, and the Odd Jobs crew to arrive on the scene. Realizing that Umibōzu is no condition to fight, Gintoki takes on the responsibility of “babysitting” Kamui and instructs the enraged youth to project all of the hatred he feels for his father onto him.

While Kamui's turn to the dark side does feel somewhat rushed, the plotline is relayed about as well as a villain backstory can be in about 20 minutes. It turns out that Kamui's problem isn't that that he doesn't feel—rather, he feels too much. Unable to cope with the inevitability of his mother's death and the muddled, unsatisfying messages he was getting from his father, he chose to cast off emotions altogether in an effort to attain his definition of true strength. Despite not actually being present for Kouka's passing, spending his formative years caring for a dying mother, dealing with a frequently-absent father, and being harassed by bullies clearly took a psychological toll on him. It turns out that Kamui is actually one of the series' more complex villains.

Now that Utsuro has made his exit, we may have to wait a while before the group has another chance to take him out. However, seeing Gintoki go toe-to-toe with Kamui is sure to be a fun watch. After all is said and done, Kamui will probably ally himself with the rest of the anti-Utsuro forces, but it'll be interesting to see how Gintama will get us there. With Kagura's actual brother duking it out with her adoptive brother, the stakes just keep getting higher.

Rating: B+

Gintama is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for over two decades.