Sakata Gintoki

Sakata Gintoki is the main protagonist of the Gintama series. He is the founder and president of the Yorozuya (an outfit doing errands or odd-jobs for a fee), as well as a highly-skilled washed-up samurai living in an era when samurai are no longer needed, having fought in the Joui War in the past. During the war, he became known as the Shiroyasha due to his powerful swordsmanship, red colored demon-like eyes, white clothing, and silver hair.

Nickname: Gin-san, Yorozuya Age: 27 Birthday: October 10

Gintoki is extremely lazy. He is often seen wearing a vacant, dumb expression on his face and spends his days lounging around reading Shounen Jump whilst imparting wise and sage-like advice to his younger employees, even though he doesn't actually know what he's talking about most of the time. Due to his poverty and unwillingness to do mostly anything, he is always behind on his rent and often runs away when Otose, his landlady, comes to collect the payment. He often blows all of his savings on Pachinko and other gambling games, which his fellow Yorozuya members and "employees" Shinpachi and Kagura often scold him for.

Even though he is lazy and vulgar at times, Gintoki is quite dedicated to his job and tries to help people, strangers or not, with the best of his abilities (usually in a very strange and twisted way). He is sarcastic and unattached but he values connections more than anyone. Despite this, he has a serious side to him when it is needed. He very much enjoys, joking, being passionate, and arguing about stupid stuff so he and his friends at the end of a day can have a good laugh. He is quite charismatic and has the markings of a leader.

During his childhood he was a scavenger, roaming around without any purpose until he met Yoshida Shouyou, who took him in. Gintoki became Shouyou's first student of his newly opened school, Shoka Sonjuku, where he learned basic swordsmanship and academics. There, he met and befriended Katsura Kotarou and Takasugi Shinsuke. His happy days did not last for much, as years later during the Kansei Purge, the Tenshouin Naraku arrested Shouyou and burned down the school. Before leaving, Shouyou asked Gintoki to protect his fellow students, as a promise, to which Gintoki mentally agreed. After learning what happened, the students decided to join the ongoing Joui War, allied with the Joui, to rescue their imprisoned teacher. During the war, he defeated strong Amanto and killed many high ranking ones, able to turn the tide of battle. Another young man named Sakamoto Tatsuma joined and befriended him during this time.

During a battle, after Sakamoto was taken off the front lines due to injury, everyone except Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi were killed, and the trio was captured. Gintoki was forced to choose between killing Shouyou to save Katsura and Takasugi and vice versa. He decided to keep his promise to Shouyou and protect his friends, but in turn "broke" his promise to Takasugi to protect Shouyou. Shouyou gives Gintoki a final "thank you" before he is beheaded by him. After their enemies left, the trio buried their teacher's head and their comrades' corpses, then went their separate ways, leaving the war. Takasugi left with resentment towards Gintoki and later becomes an enemy of his. Deep down, Gintoki feels guilt about his past and tries to make amends with his actions.

Gintoki has immense strength, endurance and agility. His biggest weakness is his rage/anger when provoked, especially regarding those he cares about. Gintoki's trademark sword is a bokuto (wooden katana) instead of a normal blade, using it as a substitute for a real sword due to the Bakufu's ban on swords. He will not hesitate to use tricks and manipulation if it means a quick and easy victory. He does not like to waste time fighting when using a little brains over brawn will yield a much quicker ending.

Aside from sweets and snacks he also likes alchohol but his tolerance is not high. Gintoki is an skilled chef. He cannot swim, and has a fear of the supernatural. He can be cowardly around ghosts and such, often pretending not to be and unabashedly running away from such things. This is played for comedic effect.

Despite the interest of Tae, Sarutobi, Kyuubei, Tsukuyo and other women on him, Gintoki does not seem to care for any of the women he knows. He still gets excited when he sees random beautiful women however, and has a celeb crush on the TV weather girl Ketsuno Ana. Other notable characters in his life are the Shinsengumi, Hasegawa Taizou and Sadaharu (the mascot of Yorozuya) among others.