07x15 - Human or Demon?

[bunniefuu]

Yae: Father, I finally did it. I pulled off the Soul Cleansing technique.

Nbnb: The one who will join me in carving a path to a new era with that sword

Nbnb: will be you,

Nbnb: th.

Title: Human or Demon?

Yae: Sakata Gintoki-san.

Sign: The Reaper's Request: Please watch this program in a bright room and at a safe distance from your TV.

Yae: Or should I call you the White Yaksha instead?

Yae: Just like the serial k*ller's other victims,

Sakata,Sign: Sakata Gintoki

Yae: you, too, were supposed to lose your head ten years ago...

Yae: A criminal my father let escape.

Yae: Your life was saved by the former Yaemon, my father.

Yae: Doesn't that mean

Yae: you have a great responsibility to carry out?

Yae: My father paid for the sin of saving criminals with his life.

Yae: And to shroud the truth of his death in darkness,

Yae: Asaemon willfully became a traitor and a fugitive.

Yae: Since the Ikeda family saved your life,

Yae: surely you'd be justified to use it for the Ikeda family's sake?

Yae: Please,

Yae: keep Asaemon safe.

Station,Sign: Special Police Shinsengumi

Hij: What? They caught the serial k*ller before us?

Oki: Yeah. Looks like the Ikeda family got the jump on us.

Oki: Maybe they want to eliminate the one who brought shame to their family themselves.

Hij: To hell with that.

Hij: Executioners don't have that kind of authority.

Hij: Tell them to hand over the m*rder*r immediately.

Oki: It's too late.

Oki: The m*rder*r's already been reduced to a mere head.

Hij: Wh-What?

Oki: It was decided that she wouldn't be handed over to us,

Oki: but to the Mimawarigumi.

Oki: After a fair trial,

Oki: she was sentenced to death the same day,

Oki: and the execution has already been carried out by Ikeda Yaemon.

Hij: Th-That's absurd!

Hij: There's no way they'd hand down a sentence that quickly...

Paper,Sign: Notice of Execution Mimawarigumi Executioner: Ikeda Yaemon Criminal: Ikeda Asaemon

Oki: We even have confirmation from the coroner

Oki: that it was indeed the head

Oki: of the serial k*ller, Ikeda Asaemon.

Asa: Uh, I apologize if I'm mistaken,

Asa: but I'm still alive, aren't I?

Gin: Just your imagination.

Gin: You're a corpse, so just keep your eyes and mouth shut.

Asa: But there's a corpse with his eyes wide open right in front of me.

Gin: Who's got a corpse's eyes?

Asa: Then I still haven't managed to die?

Gin: You're dead on paper.

Gin: That's the bakufu executioners for you.

Gin: Looks like you're in cahoots with a bunch of people,

Gin: including the Mimawarigumi and the coroners.

Gin: Once you're classified as a corpse, that's that,

Gin: because the corpses of those ex*cuted

Gin: become the property of the bakufu executioner, the Royal Swordskeeper.

Gin: I hear you guys even provide bodies for lords to test their swords on.

Asa: So you were told to let me escape by hiding me among those corpses?

Gin: Sheesh.

Gin: First you ask me to finish you off, and now I'm supposed to protect you.

Gin: Your family's requests are all over the place.

Asa: Does he mean to say that a Reaper

Asa: who can't even have her own head,

Asa: let alone those of sinners, can still serve a purpose?

Asa: My sword can no longer cut anything,

Asa: for I've lost my humanity.

Gin: "When people sin and degenerate into demons,

Gin: the only beings capable of turning them human again at the end

Gin: are neither demons that take human heads

Gin: nor Reapers that take their souls,

Gin: but humans who sever their sins to save their souls."

Gin: That right?

Asa: H-How do you know about that?

Gin: I heard it from a certain executioner in the past.

Shin: I'm too scared to ask,

Shin: but I wonder what kind of crime Gin-san committed.

Shin: Well, given his history, he could be tried for treason at any time...

Kag: He's a walking obscenity.

Kag: It was probably just public indecency or something.

Kag: Thanks to that, we're being forced to help a family that dabbles in serial k*lling.

Kag: What a pain.

Shin: It's clear that they contacted us with

Shin: the intent of using us, knowing full well who Gin-san really was.

Shin: In which case, even if we manage to help Asaemon-san escape,

Shin: after that, we'll be...

Kag: Either way, there's no turning back.

Kag: Whether it's the criminal accomplice schtick or a Tasty Stick,

Kag: once you've had a taste, you'd better swallow it whole or it'll make a mess.

Shin: We're in huge trouble now, thanks to that moron!

Kag: Seriously. Nobody will ever take me as a bride now.

Oki: How about I take you, then?

Oki: I've even got a home prepared

Oki: where you'll get three meals a day, and you can lead a simple yet quiet life.

Oki: It's also got bars, though.

Oki: This is the police.

Oki: Stop the ship.

Oki: We're gonna take a good look around inside.

Asa: "No matter how many criminals you behead,

Asa: you must never lose the humanity needed to save people."

Asa: That was what the former bakufu executioner,

Asa: Ikeda Yaemon, taught me.

Asa: The Soul Cleansing technique we use for executions

Asa: is a reflection of that mentality.

Asa: We keep the head from falling to the ground and getting dirty

Asa: by taking only their life

Asa: and giving their soul a respectful send-off.

Asa: Ever since I got adopted by my master,

Asa: the teachings essential for a bakufu executioner were driven into my head,

Asa: and many criminals were punished with my sword.

Asa: But on that day,

Asa: when I had to k*ll him,

Asa: I suddenly didn't understand anymore.

Asa: Not what "sin" is,

Asa: nor what it means to judge people.

Asa: Because, in my eyes,

Asa: that criminal was the law itself.

Asa: I couldn't k*ll him unless I forgot everything and turned into a demon.

Asa: He meant the world to me,

Asa: and yet I couldn't even give him death as a human.

Asa: I wasn't trying to take my own life

Asa: to help the family or anything.

Asa: It was because I knew I was a demon that had to be punished.

Asa: Please tell me.

Asa: Was my master really

Asa: a criminal whose sins were so grave that he had to be punished by death?

Asa: Was my father really a demon?

Gin: If you consider the law to be right,

Gin: then he was without doubt a demon.

Gin: He let a guy like me back into society, after all.

Gin: However,

Gin: humans tend to have

Gin: rules of their own that they must uphold over man-made laws.

Gin: Those rules, your father never broke.

Gin: That executioner's conviction

Gin: to respect all people as fellow humans,

Gin: he never lost.

Gin: I don't know if that's good or evil,

Gin: demonic or humane.

Gin: There's no way to tell.

Gin: He was simply a good man.

Gin: A clumsy moron, much like you.

Shin: What do you think you're doing?

Shin: It's well within the authority of

Shin: the Royal Swordskeeper to transport the corpses of criminals!

Hij: If it truly were a corpse, sure.

Hij: Check it out, Sogo.

Shin: P-Please wait!

Shin: What gives you the right to do this?

Hij: Don't play dumb with me.

Hij: We know that the serial killings were carried out under orders from the Ikeda family.

Gin: Move! Give me some room here!

Hij: We know you're hiding the k*ller. Hurry up and hand them over.

Kag: What are you talking about?

Kag: There are only corpses here, as you can see.

Kag: Quit making baseless accusations!

Asa: You move!

Gin: S-Stop! I'm gonna fart!

Kag: Don't think you can get away with this, you damn fuzz!

Hij: Something came out!

Kag: Oh, dear. Looks like there's a rat in here.

Shin: Huh? Now it's popping out from here.

Kag: Sure is one lively rat.

Shin: I know, right?

Hij: Hey!

Hij: No matter how you look at it, that's not a rat!

Hij: Sogo, here.

Hij: Check out this barrel!

Oki: Why don't you help out for once?

Hij: But I just told you to examine this one!

Oki: Don't tell me you're afraid a ghost might show up.

Hij: Are you stupid?

Hij: Of course not.

Hij: I'm just sick of looking at corpses!

Hij: Outta my way!

Gin: I'll curse your family for seven generations, damn you!

Oki: Hijikata-san, there's a corpse in there too, you know.

Hij: No, this is the entrance to the Mayonnaise Line...

Oki: Pull yourself together.

Oki: We need to find the m*rder*r before she's handed over to them.

Shin: "Them"?

Oki: Enough of your little act.

Oki: We know the whole story already.

Oki: We looked into the backgrounds of the serial k*ller and the victims.

Oki: Their identities were well-hidden,

Oki: but they all either were, or were related to, rebels—

Oki: people who were to be purged after the end of the Joi w*r.

Oki: They were all involved in the Battle of Anekohara,

Oki: where they inflicted a crushing defeat

Oki: on the man known as a great general, Lord Hitotsubashi Narifuyu.

Oki: Hitotsubashi may be influential enough to take over the bakufu cabinet now,

Oki: but that battle led to him spending a long time on the political sidelines.

Oki: After the w*r,

Oki: the rebels who participated in the fighting,

Oki: and in most cases, their entire clans as well, were met with the purge.

Oki: However,

Oki: one man couldn't bear the sight of even women and children being mercilessly k*lled,

Oki: and tried to save them.

Oki: It was the bakufu executioner, the former Ikeda Yaemon.

Oki: And now he's been k*lled,

Oki: and everyone he saved is dying one after another.

Oki: What do you think that means?

Oki: Long story short,

Oki: Boss,

Oki: you guys, along with the former Yaemon, have been sold out

Oki: to gain favor with Hitotsubashi Nobunobu, the one rumored to be the next shogun...

Oki: by that Reaper.

Shin: We've been sold out to the Hitotsubashi?

Shin: What's that supposed to mean?

Shin: Basically,

Shin: the people who'd drawn the Hitotsubashi's ire in the past,

Shin: who were supposed to be purged, along with their families,

Shin: were secretly allowed to escape by the former Yaemon.

Shin: Ten years later, however,

Shin: Yaemon himself was k*lled by the Ikeda family,

Shin: and the people he'd saved were wiped out by the serial k*ller...

Shin: No, by Ikeda family members.

Shin: That's who all the corpses being carried on this ship are.

Shin: In order to gain favor with the Hitotsubashi faction,

Shin: Yaemon gave you guys up as an offering.

Asa: N-No way!

Asa: That has to be a lie!

Oki: That's rich, coming from someone who acted as Yaemon's hound,

Oki: ex*cuted the previous head, and even became a serial k*ller.

Kag: Asaemon's no serial k*ller!

Kag: The only criminal here is Gin-chan!

Shin: No! You don't have to tell them that, Kagura-chan!

Oki: Come to your senses already.

Oki: You weren't transporting anything. You were being transported.

Kag: Gin-chan was the one trafficking the weird powder!

Gin: I never did anything of the sort!

Kag: The kind you deal in the dark.

Gin: Want me to deal with you in the dark?!

Oki: But listen up, Hitotsubashi-san.

Oki: We can't hand this m*rder*r over to you.

Oki: Unfortunately, we're not very good at sucking up,

Oki: so if you refuse to keep your nose out of this case,

Oki: we'll have to book Lord Hitotsubashi,

Oki: candidate for next shogun or not.

G: Fine.

G: We've filed all the necessary paperwork for the cargo on this ship.

G: You have no right to book us for anything!

G: We've been told that all this ship has is corpses for Nobunobu-sama

G: to use to test the sword he was presented.

G: Reaper, cut them down.

G: If you side with us,

G: the Ikeda family's position in the next bakufu cabinet will be secure.

G: You can even sweep this entire matter under the rug.

G: Isn't that why you went so far as to k*ll the man who raised you?

Yae: Asaemon...

Yae: You did well to endure that.

Yae: Raise your head.

Yae: You've fulfilled your duty.

Yae: Be it our father, or our master,

Yae: it is our job to punish all sinners equally.

Yae: You protected the Ikeda family's honor, and our father's name,

Yae: with your sword.

Asa: Yaemon-sama...

Asa: Just what...

Asa: Just what did I protect with my sword?

Asa: Did I...

Asa: Did I

Asa: k*ll him for this?

G: What are you doing? k*ll them already.

G: Show us the Reaper's sword skills that have taken thousands of criminal's heads.

G: What reason is there to hesitate?

G: Your sword was sullied the moment you took your father's head—

Gin: Were you the one just running his filthy mouth?

Gin: What part of her sword is sullied?

Gin: Where do you see a Reaper?

Gin: Open your eyes wide and take a good look.

G: Y-You bastard!

Gin: If it's a Reaper you want,

Gin: there's one right here, you stinkin' pigs.

G: What the—

G: What's going on?!

Gin: Sorry to say it,

Gin: but a real Reaper wouldn't take your head in one swing.

Gin: A dirty piece of wood is all you louts deserve.

Gin: Don't think you're gonna die a painless death.

G: You bastards! You'll pay for this—

Oki: Good grief.

Oki: Are you planning on letting neither us nor them

Oki: have her

Oki: or your head?

Gin: I only have a head on my shoulders right now

Gin: thanks to a certain moronic executioner.

Gin: So if anyone's gonna have my head,

Gin: I'd rather it be

Gin: another moronic executioner like him.

G: k*ll them!

G: Take them out!

Gin: Asaemon!

Gin: Your sword isn't sullied in the least!

Gin: It wasn't you who k*lled your father,

Gin: but Yaemon and me!

Gin: And yet you still refuse to draw your sword?

Gin: Even when faced with sins that must be severed,

Gin: are you still gonna point that blade at yourself?!

Gin: Instead of wasting your sword on crap like that,

Gin: use it as a crutch to move forward,

Gin: even if your belly's been pierced and your guts are spilling out!

Gin: I don't care if you take Yaemon's head or mine!

Gin: Use that sword to take out the enemies standing in your way!

Gin: Aren't those the executioner's teachings you must truly uphold?!

Yae: The only beings capable of turning people human again

Yae: are neither demons that take human heads

Yae: nor Reapers that take their souls,

Yae: but humans who sever their sins

Yae: to save their souls.

Asa: Did you really think I'd cut you?

Asa: You're such a fool.

Asa: Did you really just use your own head as bait to spur me into action?

Asa: I don't know what kind of villainous crimes you committed,

Asa: but I'm starting to see why he saved you.

Asa: And that he did nothing wrong.

Kag: Gin-chan!

Shin: Asaemon-san!

Asa: Step aside.

Asa: Where's Yaemon?

Yae: It's a shame, Asaemon.

Yae: I never thought you'd make the same mistake as him.

Yae: Didn't we vow to protect the Ikeda family together, from the light and the shadows?

Yae: You've really become a traitor now, huh?

Asa: You're the traitor here,

Asa: bakufu executioner, Ikeda Yaemon.

Asa: I won't let you sully that name any further!

Yae: Are you going to walk down the same path as the former head?

Yae: Are you going to abandon your duty to save criminals' lives?

Asa: Our duties,

Asa: and the laws we must uphold,

Asa: exist to preserve the humanity of people.

Asa: And he upheld those laws by saving innocent lives.

Asa: He was a splendid executioner!

Asa: We're the ones who should be punished

Asa: for murdering him under the pretense of protecting our family.

Asa: Yaemon...

Asa: You will die with me here.

Yae: You're prepared to die in order to k*ll me, is it?

Yae: You think that if you stake your life on one swing,

Yae: your sword will reach the th Ikeda Yaemon's head?

Yae: You're willing to go so far

Yae: to protect the worthless things he left behind?

Asa: Yaemon!

Yae: Too slow.

Yae: My sword has long reached

Yae: your head.

Shin: Asaemon-san!

Sign: Asaemon's Dignity

Yae: The only beings capable of turning people human again

Sign: Yaemon's Pride

Sign: What must be upheld...

Yae: are humans who sever their sins to save their souls.

Sign: Preview

Title: Farewell, Reaper

Asa: Next Episode: "Farewell, Reaper."

Sign: Next Episode the Reaper Arc reaches its conclusion.

text r: The showdown between light and shadow

text l: spurs Gintoki into action.

text r: The past comes to light,

text l: and then...