GinTsu

GinTsu is the het ship between Sakata Gintoki and Tsukuyo from the Gintama fandom.

Yoshiwara in Flames
Episode 140/Lesson 211-213

Starting out as enemies, Gintoki's and Tsukuyo's first meeting happens in the Yoshiwara in Flames Arc, when Gintoki steps in to reflect Tsukuyo's kunais that were aimed at Seita and Shinpachi. His entrance to the fight doesn't work as smoothly and main-character-like as he planned to, as one of Tsukuyo's kunais lands straight in his forehead and he's bleeding pretty badly. His instant reaction to that is denying the fact that he got stabbed to not be embarrassed in front of the enemy. Gintoki and Shinpachi argue about what happened while Tsukuyo, Kagura and the Hyakka just stand by and watch them. It gets to a point where he is too embarrassed to face his enemies Tsukuyo and the Hyakka. At that point Tsukuyo steps in and helps him, saying he knocked down every of her attacks even though she knows it's a lie. Gintoki is surprised about this and says she's a nice girl for going along with it. He faces her for the first time and downplays her attack and describes her kunais as kunais going for a leisurely stroll. Furthermore, Gintoki resorts to flirting with her, suggesting to stab her with something better, but he is interrupted when he notices that he has a Kunai stuck in his hand as well. In the manga you can even see that one of Tsukuyo's kunai is sticking on his backside when he turns around again.

Gintoki asks Tsukuyo to lend him her kiseru to light up the remaining bombs and to make sure they make a promise to each other that they will return if everyone survives to the end.

Silver Soul Arc
Episode 367

Tsukuyo is the only character who is shown to have a flashback about Gintoki directly. The flashback touches the topic of Tsukuyo's reasons to stay behind. One of Hinowa's lines stands out: "You could've gone after him, you know?" This line losely implies that Tsukuyo was the last person to see him after the Yorozuya disbanded after the first part of Silver Sould ended because there was no other way for Tsukuyo to be able to follow him. Even the Ninjas instructed by Sacchan weren't able to find Gintoki or Zenzou, so Tsukuyo finding Gintoki si nearly impossible. She had the chance to go with him, Gintoki is shown to walk away in her flashback. Tsukuyo insists that she had to stay behind and promises herself to tell him about all the changes in the town when he comes back eventually. After the end of the manga, that promise is still open.

Chapter 699 Tsukuyo and the Hyakka are hindering the amanto from following Shinpachi and Kagura in the terminal. Just when Tsukuyo gets hit by an enemy, Zenzou and Sacchan arrive to help her. They can be seen fighting together. Sacchan tells her she should die between the legs of the man she loves instead of dying in a place like this. It is interesting that instead of denying Sacchan's accusations, she just accepts it and says she doesn't intend to die with anyone. She will live on and see him again. In the japanese original manga scans, Gintoki's name is written in his Kanji, but the kanji are read her as "アイツ(aitsu=that guy). What she says in spoken form is: "I'll live and see him again, so until then, you take care of him for me." but the written form translates to "I'll live and see Gintoki again, until then, please take care of Gintoki for me." This double meaning technique, which is often used in manga, implies that Tsukuyo is only talking about him and no one else.

3Z Ginpachi Sensei Novel 6: Funky Monkey Teachers
Lecture 1 "Don’t expect ot understand everything after just one day of experience. Eh? No one said anything about understanding? Then.., I’m sorry."

Tsukuyo appears for the first time as the new teacher transferred from Yoshiwara Commercial in the 6th novel of the Class 3-Z Ginpachi-sensei series. Tsukuyo is in charge of health and physical education. In one of her First Aid simulation classes, Ginpachi acts as the wounded person much to the surprise of the student. It is mentioned that he was supposed to show up later in the book and not in her class (p. 49).

Lecture 3 “Playing Doctor as adults is not the same as playing Doctor as children”

Chapter 1

Ginpachi is using a shortcut through the back gate behind the gym of Gintama High to get to class. On his way, he spots a suspicious person reaching for something white stuck in a tree. Ginpachi runs to confront the man, but he escapes behind the gym from where Ginpachi came from and runs into Tsukuyo, who is ordered by Ginpachi to "Get that pervert!". She was using the same shortcut as Ginpachi at almost the same time. Tsukuyo knocks the man out and Ginpachi comes over. Shortly after, they realize it was actually the doctor who was supposed to do health checkups on the students. Ginpachi tries to shift the blame on Tsukuyo, saying she should go to the principals office to confess her crime. He will come with her as a collegial/friendship support and to make sure her punishement will be as light as possible. She throws two kunai into the back of his head and he complains that she should use chalk or something because of the teacher setting they are in. But she replies that she doesn't care. They argue for a bit and Ginpachi concludes (in a soft voice) that it's seven to three parts her fault too. But he actually means that she has the biggest fault and as a reply to that, she pinned him to the gyms wall with countless kunai, to which he says the exact same thing as in a similar scene from Courtesan of a Nation Arc: "… un, ochitsuite, tsukkī" (Calm down, Tsukki). He suggests that they should work together on a plan to solve this problem.

Chapter 2

Tsukuyo agreed to the plan and Ginpachi and Tsukuyo dress up as a doctor and a nurse. They cover their faces with masks to prevent to be indentified by their students. Ginpachi says it's an easy operation: They just have to play doctors and then say good-bye. No one will find out about them. As a reaction to this, Tsukuyo sighs softly (そっと = softly; gently) at Ginpachi's stubborness. Their plans works smoothly until Hata and the vice principal show up in the gym. They are getting nervous about being identified. Suddenly, the Toyako hermit appears in the gym and Ginpachi and Tsukuyo jump up the stage in unison and together they kick the real doctor back into the tool closet.

Quotes
"It's a (very) beautiful face with a clean soul."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Episode 181

"It's fine, I don't mind. If that's what you want, I don't mind being only yours."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

"In return, Shinigami Tayuu, I wonder if you are prepared to be monopolized."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

"I'm sick of it, falling in love, falling out of love, incense and smoke. Just choking on the poisonous smoke of one idiot's kiseru and no one elses is enough for me"

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

"You're right, that is...enough. Whether it's spring or winter, if I can be next to you like this once in a while, blowing poisonous smoke in your face, that's enough to make me happy."

- Tsukuyo to Gintoki, Love Potion Arc

"If there's a woman I want to make a move on, I can't do it like I normally would."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

"Unless she has a bunch of grandiose reasons lined up in front of her, she can't even go meet with the man she loves. "The world doesn't matter, I just want to die by your side." That's all the reason a woman needs to meet a man, isn't it? Women, humans, It's okay for them to be stupid creatures like that, isn't it?"

"All this time I've been avertin' my eyes, thinkin' "I can't be a stupid creature like that." I ain't even got the right to fight here."

"I don't see any problem. Wanting to be by someone's side, we gathered here for effeminate reasons like that, didn't we?"

Behind the Scenes
Toyako Summit 2008 and the introduction of Tsukuyo into the Manga and Anime

Before the release of Yoshiwara, in Flames Arc Hideaki Sorachi and his editors had a meeting about the future of Gintama. The whole interview about the "Toyako Summit 2008" can be found in volume 25 during the Yoshiwara in Flames Arc. This interview talks about things that are missing in the Gintama Manga. The main point of this meeting turned into a discussion about a new character which ultimately turned into Tsukuyo. It is mentioned that a love interest like Lala from ToLOVEru is needed for Gintoki. This might be the reason why this manga series is a running gag between Gintoki and Tsukuyo (It is also mentioned in the Character Book 2). The interview was later turned into an episode that is considered filler by the fandom, mostly because they don’t know that this episode is based on a discussion.

Different releases of Love Potion Arc

The original release of Love Potion Arc in Weekly Shonen Jump had a different wording for both of their (confession) lines. Because of some fans interpreting his said line differently than it was intended, his dialogue was changed to make clear he was talking about Tsukuyo and not someone who is not present during that scene on the balcony. His line changed from just "some idiot's secondhand smoke" to "some idiot's kiseru smoke" directly referring to Tsukuyo. The anime also left out one word from Gintoki which is still later said by Tsukuyo. Tsukuyo's dialogue on the other hand was changed so that it sounds more personal. Instead of referring to herself (nushi) she is now referring to Gintoki directly (omae-sama). You can read more about these changes in this japanese blog entry.

Fanon
According to pixiv stats, GinTsu is the third most popular hetship in Gintama fandom.

When searching for Gintama and adding Gintoki's first kanji on japanese yahoo, Gintsu is the 4th and 8th remmonded search suggestion. If you type in Gintoki's full name after "Gintama", it also is the 4th result. Typing in Gintoki's full name only, suggests "GintokiTsukuyo" as the second search suggestion.

Chemistry between them could already be seen in her introduction arc (Yoshiwara in Flames). However, a lot of fans really started to ship this pairing with the publication of Red Spider Arc

Fandom Events

GinTsu week is held by the english speaking fandom for a few years now, usually starting with Tsukuyo's birthday on February 9th. The Japanese fandom celebrates their Mid-Birthday in June. In October 2021, a bigger GinTsu fandom event was held titled "Strawberry Moon 2021". It was a big collaboration between Writers and Artists and was held on Twitter and Tumblr. All Submissions were collected in a physical book release later.

Ship Dynamics and Popular Themes in Fanfictions

The most popular dynamic of this ship is the Girlboss - Malewife trope which often comes hand in hand with the "Trophy Husband" trope. These dynamics between them are found in canon. Tsukuyo is a workaholic who would not give up her job even for a relationship and Gintoki would be happy to just stay at home and do the "housewife" stuff while Tsukuyo is at work.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * City of Dreams by loveatthirdsight is (sorted by Kudos on AO3) the most popular and one of the longest fanfictions for this Ship. It is a canon divergence fic which deals with the thought of what if the Shiroyasha had met a young Courtesan of Death years before the original story of Gintama starts.
 * City of Dreams by loveatthirdsight is (sorted by Kudos on AO3) the most popular and one of the longest fanfictions for this Ship. It is a canon divergence fic which deals with the thought of what if the Shiroyasha had met a young Courtesan of Death years before the original story of Gintama starts.

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Trivia
Nicknames

Gintoki and Tsukuyo give each other different names during the series. It is notable that Tsukuyo is one of the only characters that calls him by his full name.

Gintoki to Tsukuyo:


 * o-kāsan
 * Tayuu
 * Oboko (Virgin)
 * Honey
 * Tsukuyo Tayuu
 * Courtesan of Boobs

Tsukuyo to Gintoki:


 * Darling
 * Bakemono

Gintoki's and Tsukuyo's name and character origins
 * Gintoki and Tsukuyo are two of the few characters in the Gintama casts who's names are based on mythology:
 * Gintoki - According to Hideaki Sorachi, Gintoki's name was based on Sakata Kintoki, also known as Kintaro, from a famous folk tale set in the Heian Period. Kintaro became friends with the animals that lived on the mountain where he was raised and was even capable of battling with them. After certain events, he became a samurai and eventually went under the name Sakata Kintoki (坂田公時). Sorachi-sensei, in one of the question corners, explains this and doesn't intend on making Gin-san a descendant of Kintaro. His robot counterpart actually does take the name of Sakata Kintoki.
 * Tsukuyo - Her name and character is based on a kami from shintou mythology. Tsukuyomi, sometimes called Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (the great God Tsukuyomi), is rendered as 月読尊, or simply 月読 in Kanji. This name directly translates to “moon-reading,” a popular practice in the noble courts of pre-modern Japan where parties would stay up all night moon-gazing and reading poetry. An alternate Kanji reading is tsukuyo, moon-light, and mi, watching. His personality is described as follows: Tsukuyomi is very much a match for his wife Amaterasu. Beautiful and serene, he believes in order and etiquette and enforces them whenever he can. His enforcement of such ideals extends to the point that he is willing to kill to maintain order, despite killing itself being a breach of etiquette in the heavenly court. Thus, there is irony in Tsukuyomi’s strict adherence to etiquette: to enforce it, he is willing to break it. Though the moon is often regarded as beautiful and worthy of viewing, Tsukuyomi himself is seen as a negative figure in Shinto and Japanese folklore. This personality description can be projected onto Tsukuyo who, for example, also kills to maintain order in Yoshiwara.
 * The first (still existing) fanart on pixiv for the GinTsu ship was uploaded on February 28, 2009.
 * GinTsu ranks as fourth on cbr.com's 15 Best Ships in Shounen Anime list.

Variations

 * ShiroTsuki