shinpachi & happy

i like thinking a lot about when shinpachi first got into swordfighting as a kid... because despite the fact that shinpachi was probably the sort of kid who was there one moment and then suddenly gone the next and it was chaos bc WHERE'S SHINPACHI and then he's catching frogs in the nearby river or something without regard for anything else-- despite all that, it's not like he was really running away from having to do practice swordfighting as much as it's just.. shinpachi being shinpachi, he just lives way too much in the moment. he actually really loved swordfighting from a young age and i can imagine he was SO EXCITED getting into it at first.. this is so cool, this is so much fun to do??? let him kick some ass, he'll kick everyone's ass, he'll kick his own ass

he got menkyo kaiden at like age eighteen he improved so quickly.. i don't think it's bc of natural talent like souji and saitou as much as that shinpachi is just a SUPER HARD WORKER especially when it's for something he loves as much as swordfighting

shinpachi & old age

this is depressing don't make me you can't make me

anyway shinpachi and aging/old age means.. well, all his friends are dead, dinosaur book. in hakuouki saitou also.. technically dies, i'm just usually using that headcanon for maximum pain so it really just IS shinpachi and no one else.. i think he definitely got a little more withdrawn bc of it - like, he's still very obviously shinpachi and he does try to enjoy the things he's still got like his wife/kids by then (he was historically super protective of his grandkids it's so cute), but he's lost his friends, lost his sword for the most part, lost... a lot of stuff that made his life so great......

i guess you could say that he'd mature a lot really quickly. not that shinpachi isn't already mature (IN HIS OWN WAY) as he is now, but he's get a lot more subdued mature really quick and it's fucking depressing no i'm going to stop