Sougo Okita

Sougo Okita is a character from the Gintama anime and manga.

Sougo is the 1st Division Captain of the Shinsengumi, and was a trainee at Kondou Isao's dojo in his youth. He is the younger brother of Okita Mitsuba who raised him after their parents passed away. He is recognized as the best swordsman in the Shinsengumi and takes pride in his job to lead the vanguard as to open a path for the Shinsengumi.

Appearance
Okita Sougo appears to be a mild-featured young man with short, light brown hair and red-brown eyes. He has an almost-childlike innocent face as well as full lips and is often described as handsome. During the Correspondance arc, his picture is used to create the impression that 'Shinpachi' is attractive, and at one point, it is said that his good looks are all he has.

He wears the standard Shinsengumi uniform. Like all Shinsengumi captains, he wears a white cravat around his neck, tucked into a black vest with a yellow lock. His dark, unbuttoned jacket (reaching to the thigh with a collar) is decorated with gold buckles, buttons, and triangular-shaped cuffs. His black trousers are supported by a brown belt with a silver buckle. At the left hip is tied his sheath, holding his katana. He also wears black, heavy boots with a small heel.

When resting, or skipping work, he wears a distinct red sleep mask with eye markings. He carries it around with him and is rarely seen without it. It has a black border and red painted interior, decorated with wide-open eyes with straight lashes.

During the events of the Dekoboko Arc, he switched genders due to a curse and was seen in his female form. Shinpachi describes the gender-swapped Sougo as a "Grade A beauty, as expected." Later during the arc, he wears a yellow short kimono and thigh high tabi black socks.

Personality
Sougo's most prominent trait is his sadistic nature, an example of this being his collaring and chaining up Urara with a metal leash for an "S&M" (sadistic & masochistic) play. Hijikata even goes as far as calling him the King of the Planet of Sadists in episode 20. Although he is known as a sadist, he is extremely submissive to his sister, Okita Mitsuba, shown in his respectful way of speaking to her and the way he kneels before his sister to apologize. In episode 35, however, Sougo fell of a roller-coaster and admitted in his panic that his sadism stems from his insecurity.

He is shown to have evil intentions behind any good thing he does, and is very blunt about his dislike towards other people, especially to Hijikata. Despite this, Sougo is usually protective of the ones he cares for, such as his sister, Okita Mitsuba, and his commander, Kondou Isao (although Sougo repeatedly calls him Gorilla); when an official insults Kondou, Sougo draws his sword to kill him before being stopped by Hijikata. Additionally, he is unexpectedly sensitive to others' feelings when it truly counts, often saving his comrades' lives in battles and even taking on burdens for other people.

Sougo's ambition is to become the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi, and as such, he regularly attempts to usurp Hijikata of the position through various methods, ranging from framing him for murder (when he shoots Matsudaira and places the gun in Hijikata's hand with the intention of making it look like the vice-commander had been the one to shoot), to harming or even "killing" Hijikata. His attempts appear real enough that Hijikata was afraid he would get killed during the Shinsengumi Death Game arc. In spite of this, Sougo has respect for Hijikata and even considers him to be one of his 'three rotten friends' (the other two being Kondo and Sakata Gintoki). He also has a similar rivalry with Kagura of the Yorozuya, and the two often get in meaningless competitions over the smallest of situations.

In general, Sougo acts aloof and disinterested most of the time and is most often seen with a blank, deadpan expression on his face. Though he often acts lazy and slacks off on his jobs, he is very attentive when needed and does not hesitate to kill or cut down his enemies. He is also very observant and aware of political movements, as he is often the one explaining situations to the Yorozuya. Both Nobume and Kamui have stated that Sougo has the eyes of a killer, yet he doesn't wish for innocent people to walk the path he has taken and be stained by blood. This is particularly evident in the Rokkaku arc, where he would rather take the blame and hatred of the daughter of the Rokkaku owner than let her know the cruel truth of her father's death. Additionally, in Episode 27, he shows distaste towards the Rengokukan fighting ring and enlists the Yorozuya to help him shut it down.

Skills

 * Increased Strength: Kondo Isao once stated that Sougo was one of the best fighters in his dojo. His combat skills are at a lower level than Hijikata, but he rarely loses to him. He was able to cut a car in half with a single strike, and destroy concrete pillars supporting a building during his fight with Imai Nobume.
 * Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Shinpachi mentioned that Sougo is a genius swordsman and the strongest in Shinsengumi. He has shown incredible strength with his sword during the Rokkaku Arc, eradicating many Jouishishi members while deflecting sniper bullets with only two swords. He destroys an entire concrete building in the Baragaki Arc and was also able to fight squarely with Kamui during the Shogun Assassination Arc, managing to inflict many grave injuries.

Items

 * Katana model Kiku-Ichimonji RX-78 : Sougo carries a katana, a traditional Japanese sword. The handle is decorated with typical braid tsukaito. His katana has a built-in MP3 player, and the blade can cut through even rock.


 * The scabbard with his Kikumonji katana : His katana is sheathed within his scabbard called Saya, a sword Amanto from the star Excalliber. He found Saya in a pawnshop in New York and bought her. Excalliber-ians have one large eye, fringed with long eyelashes.
 * Shinsengumi Bazooka : Sougo can often be seen with a bazooka, which he uses to shoot not only opponents but also Hijikata.

Trivia

 * Based on Okita Soji, the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi. Soji was a prodigy and was seen as one of best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi. Though just a rumor (but at least true in Ryotaro Shiba's novels), he may have owned a katana called Kiku-ichimonji. In Gintama, he bought the Kiku-ichimonji RX-78.
 * In the Japanese version he likes to end his sentences in '~desaa' and "~desuzee'.
 * Sorachi originally designed Okita as a female wielding an umbrella; however, he had to be changed to a male since only men are allowed in the Shinsengumi. The umbrella ended up being given to Kagura and the appearance to Otsu; the female samurai idea went to Imai Nobume of Mimawarigumi.
 * Fans had created female version of him which was named 'Okita Sorachi' along with Hijikata Toushirou, Kondou Isao, and Shimura Shinpachi.
 * Acknowledged as the bishounen (aka 'beautiful youth') of the series, Gintoki took a mug-shot of him attempting to slice up Shinpachi and sent it off as Shinpachi's photo in the Pen-pal arc, explaining that he 'looked better' than Shinpachi. Belying the innocent-looking good looks however is an insanely sadistic person who delights in chaos and is always trying to 'kill' his Vice-Commander Hijikata Toushirou.
 * In Episode 159, it is revealed in "Teach us Ginpachi-sensei!" that Okita probably listens to Rakugo (a Japanese comic storytelling)
 * In Gintama the Movie: Be Forever Yorozuya, Sougo is similar to Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. He even has the same speech patterns and is even referred to as "manslayer" just like Kenshin.
 * His voice and live-action actors, Kenichi Suzumura and Ryo Yoshizawa are a veteran actors for Kamen Rider series, portraying respective characters:
 * Kenichi Suzumura: Voices one of Kamen Rider Den-O's protagonists Ryutaros/Kamen Rider Den-O Gun Form, and made a brief live-action appearance with as a goal keeper in Kamen Rider Kiva Movie: King of the Castle in the Demon World as part of the trivia of his role as Ryutaros.
 * Ryo Yoshizawa: Portrays Kamen Rider Fourze's secondary Rider, Kamen Rider Meteor/Ryusei Sakuta.
 * In a character poll by Charapedia, Sougo placed 1st in a poll among women for character names they would base their children's names on.