http://dudewheresmypig.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] dudewheresmypig.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] entranceooc2008-07-08 07:49 am

(no subject)

I NOTICE WE HAVE ONLY ONE PEACEMAKER CHARACTER.

I therefore feel driven to explain to you the sheer awesome that is Okita's canon, and why you should all app from it now. ♥

(Split up into LJ cuts by character, because this is full of pictures and would clutter friends pages unconscionably.)


Meet the sexy badass vice-commander of the Shinsengumi for whom Okita is totally gay, Hijikata Toshizo Yoshitoyo, also known as the Demon Vice-commander. Possessor of a terrifying death glare, a kill count that is probably in the triple digits, and a haiku diary which he WILL defend with his life. Do not touch the haiku diary. (Unless, like everyone ever by which I mostly mean Okita, you find it hilarious to watch Hijikata-san bite through his pipe, hyperventilate and stab spears into the ceiling.)

You ought to play Hijikata because:
- He's a grumpy, intimidating badass with a well-hidden sense of humor and deep loyalty to his friends.
- Who doesn't want to play the Don Juan of Edo? (Every bored housewife in the damn city fell for that cool stare and the sexy legs, I swear.)
- Stays out late in the pleasure quarters. Sleeps till ten. Vice-commanders have it easy.
- Will not be able to detach Souji from his ankle with a crowbar.
- Did I mention completely fucking badass?
- He is hilarious, mostly against his will.
- He is lovable, mostly against his will.
- His motto, stated without comment, is: If you're not kicking people in the nuts, gouging eyes, and tripping people, it's not a real fight.


The Shinsengumi commander, Kondou Isami, nicest, sweetest, most fatherly murderous ogre of the lot. Leader of the Tennen Rishin-ryu school of martial arts, Souji's de facto big brother, Hijikata's close friend since they were both teens, prone to adopt everyone he sees who looks in need of adopting.

You ought to play Kondou-san because:
- He laughs in delight when watching Souji beat up small children. And then praises the small child for his bravery.
- It's a rare man who can take being clung to and hit on by his extremely sexy junior subordinate with a belly laugh and a "You sound like a prostitute, Souji."
- A complete romantic.
- Utterly even-tempered and quite a sweetheart. Very possibly the only well-adjusted and happy character in the series.


And then there is the Terrible Trio, Heisuke, Sano and Shinpachi. Prone to wandering around and harassing anyone who stands still long enough to look like a target, they're the Shinsengumi's resident comedy troupe. Heisuke is the youngest of the Shinsengumi members, with a severe case of hero-worship (Sano and Shinpachi regularly tease him about it being a crush) for the other vice-commander, Yamanami Keisuke. He's a very serious man under his cheeky, joking demeanor, and thinks deeply before taking action. He's wounded in the forehead by Yoshida, a mad pyromaniac rebel killed by Okita at the end of the first manga series. [SPOILER]He is one of the few who leaves the Shinsengumi out of a sense of honor, transferring to the group established by Itou a few years after Yamanami's spectacularly botched and bloody suicide. Harada Sanosuke is a mountain of a man, towering over most of the rest of the Shinsengumi; he wields a long spear, as do the rest of the members of his division. He's actually attempted hara-kiri in the past, successfully slicing open his belly but failing to die of the wound. Because of that, he has a wide, ugly scar across his stomach and a reputation for being unkillable. He also has an evil, evil sense of humor, though he's less inventive than Shinpachi and tends to play the straight man. Nagakura Shinpachi (historically, the man who popularized a lot of the stories about the Shinsengumi through his writings, and one of the few survivors of the unit) is tiny, redheaded, and thoroughly evil in entertaining ways. He's also a unit captain and excellent swordsman, even if he's not quite up to the high mark set by Okita, Kondou and Hijikata; but more entertaining is his habit of baiting or talking people into very unwise things. Shinpachi draws smiley-faces on Sano's stomach in ink, using the scar as a mouth; talks new recruits into mobbing Okita and begging for lessons, leading to them all being beaten black and blue; teases Okita about his girliness (okay, everyone not deathly terrified of Okita does THAT); and generally lives a life well-seasoned with the joy of schadenfreude.

All three have their awesome points, despite my lumping 'em all together.

Heisuke
- Deadpan humor combined with a very innocent face.
- Totally gay for Yamanami-san, and shameless about teasing other people regarding their personal lives. ♥
- Probably the smartest character in the series (Give or take Okita, also give or take Suzu's plotting)
- FUNNY.

Sano
- TERRIFY SMALL CHILDREN MERELY BY REMOVING YOUR SHIRT.
- Gain trample attacks.
- Mad intimidation skillz.
- Giant and scary, but pretty much made of marshmallow.
- Prone to hilarious dumb.

Shinpachi
- Prone to hilarious evil.
- Tiny and terrifyingly devious.
- Actually survives the war!
- Who doesn't want a character they can play with an iconset made entirely of evil smirks?


For those of you who are used to Saitou from Ruroni Kenshin, the Peace Maker version is a big change. The only similarity I can see is that they are both horsefaced men with a deep love of soba. PMK's Saitou, however, is a very quiet, somewhat dour sort, dressed like a monk, with a disturbing habit of seeing ghosts and helpfully pointing them out to the people they're haunting.

Saitou would be awesome to play because:
- He has the amazing ability to appear in the middle of any scene without anyone seeing him coming.
- He is INCREDIBLY creepy, knows it, and creeps people out for his own personal entertainment.
- As badass a swordsman as Okita.
- Sees ghosts. What's not awesome about that?


Okay, this is where I have to admit that as a late-series Okita player, I have a deep grudge against Yamanami-san for being a manipulative, petty bastard and stage-managing his own death for maximum trauma to his friends :| But that aside, I admit that Yamanami DOES have some very awesome points. The other vice-commander of the Shinsengumi, with Hijikata, Yamanami mainly handles accounting and logistical tasks. He's refused to wield his sword ever since, with Kondou, Hijikata and Okita, he snuck into the home of the Shinsengumi's previous co-commander and assassinated everyone within. Although the assassination was done on orders of their superiors, and provoked by the victim's corruption and incompetence, Yamanami is plagued with guilt for the dishonor of their methods. It's caused a deep rift between him, Kondou and Hijikata, though he and Okita still appear to be close.

- Quiet, thoughtful, serious, and exceptionally righteous.
- One-half of a beautiful and tragic love story, the other half of which is a female ninja working for their enemies, masquerading as a geisha in the pleasure quarters of Kyoto.
- Easily flustered.
- Nice, even if he does think too much.


NINJA DOCTOR. There is nothing that is not awesome about Susumu. Like most Peace Maker characters, he has reams of angsty backstory; unlike most of them, this actually influences his behavior. Quiet, dour, emotionlessly obedient to his commander and prone to snapping and trying to strangle really annoying people he DOESN'T have to listen to, Susumu also does the sneaky ninja thing terrifyingly well. He is probably in your ceiling.
Or outside your door. Or in your woodwork. Somewhere.

If not that, he's the gorgeous young married woman wandering by on the street outside. App Susumu because:
- he cross-dresses with amazing skill and realism
- SCALPEL SHURIKENS. THREE KNIVES, THREE KILLS. *swoons from awesome*
- Is in ur ceiling watching u steal poetry books
- Heir to all the amazing ninja badassery in an entire samurai manga. This is a lot of badass for one man to contain. He manages nonetheless.
- Kind of a psycho
- Known to throw shuriken at lurking observers in the bushes. And miss deliberately, because said observer is the dumb teenage recruit who fails at subterfuge.


(Also, I'm putting Souji on temporary too-mentally-unstable-to-talk-with-strangers hiatus and will remember next time not to poke the Yamanami thing.)

[identity profile] guardian795.livejournal.com 2008-07-08 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
I LOVE THIS SERIES BUT I'VE ONLY SEEN 4 EPISODES ORRRZZZZZ

[identity profile] is-the-catcher.livejournal.com 2008-07-08 09:10 am (UTC)(link)
Don't forget about the added bonus of getting the best Okita Souji player on the internet as a canonmate. :|

[identity profile] twilightbreaker.livejournal.com 2008-07-08 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Your determination is so inspiring. ;_________;

[identity profile] mutedfeather.livejournal.com 2008-07-09 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
i-idk. I watched the first part of an episode an really liked it...! But I have a really short attention span and got distracted after that. >_>

Plus I'm going to be at my limit after I app Mia.