Mi espacio

Party hard :D

Because today is Kotaro Katsura's birthday, I will post not three, four or five, but six new loose manga redraws/other images! (I also made a watercolour picture, but that's in a separate post, unconnected to this series.)

21. Just two old farts off to try to save a despotic queen from herself. Ryugu Palace arc, beloved among Ginzura fans.

22. Start of the two-chapter Prison Island arc.Katsura is looking oddly serene as he's carted off to a hellish remote prison. Is he thinking of a beloved role model, perhaps...? ;___;

23. Second half of the Prison Island Arc. Poor fellow prisoner and POV character Suekichi struggles with forming a clear picture of Katsura.

24. Kintaro arc. Kagura and Katkeeping a vigil at the veterinary hospital. Kagura turned out a bit weird-looking here, which can happen at times when I do the inking without pencilling first.

Katsura entering the barbershop, little knowing what horrors await therein...

It's Ill Smith! (Or Virus Smith, as the French translation has it.) Sadly my inept rendition looks more like an aged Buddhist monk than Will Smith. Oh, well!

Volume 29 has no Zura but it does have the Tama arc, in which it turns out that the "King of the Leukocytes", a vital part of Tama's internal security system, looks exactly like Gintoki. That made me think of the manga Cells at Work, so I drew this crossover picture. Katsura is a Red Blood Cell who doesn't seem very impressed by an invasive bacterium.

31. Based on a panel from the gloriously meta Popularity Poll arc.

32. From the Kabukicho Stray Cats arc (though Catsura really looks much cuter in the manga than in my redraw!).

34. New Year's Cards chapter. He was on standby outside the wedding chapel this whole time! 😟

35. Another Zuraless volume. I drew Katsura taking a bath in an ornate pool. Unfortunately, the placement of the sword in the background (which I only added on its mounter to make everything look more fancy) rather suggests a decapitating scene. Honestly not my intention-- ! 😭

@zuragin suggested on BlueSky that it could also be seen as a summoning circle from which Katsura is emerging. I like that interpretation!

37. From the Swimming Pool arc. (Yes, this is three water-themed pictures in a row, with #35 and #36. It just suits him...!)

38. Ezurako is here - operation Infiltrating Maatsudaira's household has begun!

39. No Katsura in volume 39, which contains Gintoki's own Prison Arc, among other stories.

40. Sometimes you just want to draw slapstick violence with two small figures in a wintry landscape being idiots. From the Ski Vacation arc.

41. End of the Renho arc. ;__;

43. From the Kintama arc. Zura and Hasegawa break free from the fake memories and turn on Kintoki.

44. Cursed Kotatsu lesson. They're going to slander Takasugi on social media...!

46. Katsura has been on standby for the Courtesan of a Nation arc in the last volume this whole time! ;__; Sadaharu is not impressed.

Being a leader is tough. Based on the title page for Lesson 415. (I find it interesting how the manga has Katsura's and Shigeshige's horses be the negative images of each other.)

49. Ramen arc. Katsura and Ikumatsu in the river.

50. No Katsura in this volume - but what if he had been part of the Dekobokko arc?

52. From the fake illness/fake funeral arc. This was actually the first drawing I made of these and the one who started the whole thing. I was tired and wanted to draw something in ink, something featuring Katsura, but had no clear ideas. So I simply took a manga volume at random, found a panel I liked with Zura in it, and redrew it. And it was just very soothing and pleasant. "Hm! I guess I might do this for every single volume," I thought. Then realized Katsura is not in every volume, and decided I would just go freestyle with the other volumes.

53. Soul Switch arc. Yes, this is Katsura and Elizabeth - or at least their souls. Even if Katsura tries to pretend otherwise: "It's not Zura, it's Leader!"

55. Katsura is facing Saito in this picture based on a panel from the end of the Afro arc.

56. Guardian Spirits arc. Katsura and Elizabeth are inside Katsura's guardian spirit - a Toyota Corolla. (Despite Katsura not having a driver's license!)

As we reach the final intense quarter of Gintama, it starts to get much harder to stick to just one panel per volume to redraw. Volume 58 is the first one where I gave up and simply had to make a bonus picture as well.

But first, the main picture, which comes at the very start of a long, long-expected flashback. (Note that this is from Takasugi's POV.)

And the bonus picture! Gintoki's first real good look at Katsura, I will add.