Taizou Hasegawa

Taizou Hasegawa is a character from the Gintama anime and manga.

Taizou is a former government official at the beginning of his first appearance, but later lost his job and become a MADAO, short for marude damena ossan, which roughly translates into "totally hopeless old guy". MADAO does however, have other meanings throughout the course of Gintama.

Appearance
He wears a ragged, old brown suit and a pair of sunglasses. His eyes are rarely shown, and he is often seen smoking. He has dark brown messy hair.

Like Shinpachi, many of Hasegawa's friends stated that Hasegawa's sunglasses are more Hasegawa than Hasegawa himself. Throughout the series he is seen wearing various disguises and has been shown in different styles for gags.

Personality
He is a kind and good-hearted man but he always ends up alone, sad and miserable. Hasegawa is a man defined by his sunglasses. He treasures them as the only thing he could hold on to after losing his job and his wife left him.

Interestingly enough, most of his misfortunes could be led back to his involvement with the Yorozuya, even though they are his friends. However, whenever he gets into a real pinch, the Yorozuya steps in and helps him out, as seen in the Hasegawa Trial chapter and when Sakata Gintoki introduced him to the real estate agent Fudou Sanzou.

Hasegawa has been shown to have a masochistic streak for example when the people of Hingromaxon threw fruits at him and he was enjoying it; and when Tae punched him until she make him cry and he loved it. He has also confessed himself that he is "a bit of an M (masochist)."

Due to his lifestyle as a MADAO, he has shown many time depressed and deep in the void. Hasegawa is frequently smoking. In the opening songs, he is almost always shown holding a cigarette. He also drinks and gambles despite his financial status. Hasegawa has tried commit suicide multiple times but he always fails (However, in Frozen Time Arc, Hasegawa (repeatedly) dies due to the Yorozuya's actions, but his death is repeatedly undone)

Despite his multiple shortcomings and misfortunes, he has shown to be a genuinely kind individual who will sacrifice his own chance to escape from being a MADAO if it means to help others, as shown in the case with bringing back Daigoro's family back together despite the implication that Hasegawa and Daigoro's mother were developing feelings for each other. Also he paid off a debt worth millions plus the hospital bill for an ill little girl he befriended, by winning a gameshow that was rigged for him to lose.

Abilities
In his first appearance, he used a gun as a weapon. In the Sakata Kintoki arc, he used a broom as a weapon.

According to the "Spouzer" Kamenashi had, when Hasegawa puts on Kamenashi's sunglasses, his fighting powers are over 600K. (K is for konbu, meaning kelp), but once the glasses are removed, his powers dropped to 1K in Episode 117.

Trivia

 * Chapter 43 revealed that the first version of Kondou (which looks like Hasegawa) had him as the leader of the Shinsengumi. His appearance was a cross between Kondou and Hasegawa. Sorachi revealed that the initial Hasegawa was going to be portrayed as a useless man that's always trying to find a date.
 * In the same chapter, Sorachi said that Hasegawa is one of his favorite characters.
 * Until now, fans created fanart of his 'Shinsengumi' form along with Hijikata Toushirou, Shimura Shinpachi, and Okita Sougo .
 * Hasegawa is based on the main character of the show Onihei Hankachō named Hasegawa Heizō, whose nickname was Onihei.
 * His character is a parody of Cloud Strife from the Final Fantasy franchise.
 * Hasegawa's nickname in the Japanese manga is Madao. In the English translation made by VIZ, it is changed into DORK (Dumb Old Retarded Kook).
 * Hasegawa's looks is uncannily similar to Ikari Gendou of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame. They even share the same voice (Tachiki Fumihiko), leading to one questioning whether Hasegawa was a parody of Gendou in the first place.
 * The link of characters being voiced by Tachiki is further referenced in the video game J-Stars Victory VS, in which Gintoki will tell the One Piece character Akainu that his body will break if he keeps up his tension, with Shinpachi noting that he's mistaken him for Hasegawa due to their identical voices. Kagura if paired on a team with Akainu will throw out a nod to this as well, even using her prefered nickname "Madao" for Hasegawa to refer to Akainu.
 * He is the only character whose Japanese voice actor also portrays him in live-action adaption.