Reviewing All Gender Swaps In Gintama Dekobokko Arc

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Anime gender swaps are so popular in the anime community that there’s even an entire sub-community dedicated to this. However, most of these are fan-made and usually unofficial. Almost no anime has a separate gender bender arc that features the manga author’s original characters. It’s easy to understand why, as it doesn’t make sense for the Anime’s plot most times. But nothing is out of reach for Gintama.

Dekobokko Arc

Gintama’s 51st arc, the Dekobokko Arc (episode 275-277), is about a mysterious cult that swaps people’s genders of Kabuki district through a satellite launched bio-attack. Knowing Gintama, I first thought the characters were going to look like trannies, but it turns out they actually had some amazing gender swap character design (at least, most of them).

Gintama Characters who didn’t have a gender swap

Shimura Tae

The only character who didn’t get a gender swap was Shimura Tae, who was out of town during the virus attack. After getting to know that all the guys had gotten a more feminine body than her, especially with the chest part (where she clearly lacks), she went on a rampage crushing their breasts. That being said, she is the main heroine of this arc, as this entire plot revolves around Tae and Kyuubei’s relationship.

Shimura Shinpachi (with pink glasses)

Following the “Shinpachi is actually the glasses (and not the human)” troupe, only Shinpachi didn’t have a gender swap character. Instead, his glasses had a color swap: his usually blue framed glasses became pink colored, indicating the gender swap.

Genderbent Gintama characters

Yagyuu Kyuubei as Yagyuu Jyuubei

Kyuubei is the main character of this arc. Because she was indecisive about her gender (and unable to come to terms with her feelings for Tae), she ends up attracting a mysterious cult’s attention, which ultimately leads to the gender-swapping bio-attack.

Gintoki as (Vag***) Ginko

Yes, Gintoki actually tries to name himself “that” after exciting himself with a thorough body check in the restroom. But thanks to Kyubei, his female name ended up as Ginko and not something weird. Honestly, it was astounding to see how cute his genderbent character design was.

Kagura as Kagura Dun

Kagura’s gender swap went pretty wild. She became a completely unrelated character probably from some other anime, game, or a famous general from Japanese history. What I know is that it clearly referenced something that I didn’t get as I’m not a native Japanese person.

Sadaharu as Sekitobaharu

While all others had a gender swap, Sadaharu was the only one who had a species swap. He went from a giant, fluffy dog into a horse (which probably was a continuation of Kagura’s historical reference).

Kondou Isao as Goriko

Kondo Isao had the most drastic character change. He went from Gorilla to Bishoujo just like that. While he had the appearance of a mature foreign woman, his personality and love for Tae are still the same. However, he did give up Tae to Kyubei as he had become a woman and was “unable to satisfy her needs”.

Sougo as Souko

Given his sadistic nature and his beautiful genderbent form, Sougo soon rose to become Kabuki district’s #1 courtesan of the night. He became the goddess of all the masochistic perverts and was revered by them.

Hijikata Toushirou as Tenko

All the mayonnaise Hijikata had devoured when he was a man came back to bite him when he had a gender swap, as he became a bit too overweight. This translated into him being the least attractive of the bunch. Hijikata was the only one to be spared from Tae’s breast crush attack as she felt sorry for him. He still had the same male voice, unlike the rest who had a girlish voice.

Tsukuyo as Tsukuo & Sarutobi Ayame as Ayao

These two were the MVP of this Gintama arc. They became way stronger, as their power and cool personality made them something far more amazing than the rest of them. Especially Tsukuyo, who became a super hot husbando material! Just look this hotness:

That being said, Sarutobi going back to her masochistic self kinda spoiled her badass image. At the end of the show, she joined with Sougou and went around the city doing SM play with him.

Otose & Catherine

These two didn’t have much role to play in this arc. They only appeared for a second and disappeared for the rest of the time.

Yamazaki Sagaru as Shisako

Yamazaki didn’t have much screen time in this arc (like in most other arcs lol). He became this adorable schoolgirl-looking character with twin tails.
Unlike the rest of the Shinsengumi, who were in uniform, Yamazaki was the only one to show up in Kimono. This was probably done to enforce his little girl-like appearance. If I remember correctly, he had the same voice as his male version, just like Hijikata.

Conclusion

Just like every other Gintama arc, this one had a ton of dirty jokes, amazing fights, and seriously sentimental scenes, along with some valuable life lessons. But the very fact that this was a genderbend arc made it much better than the rest, as we all (well, most of us) love these kinds of stuff. It had a 10/10 story, fun characters, and even had a little bit of Kyubei x Tae romance.