I am currently doing research for a Gintama video that will revolve around the theme of found family within this series, and during my rewatch I rediscovered the radio exercise episode centered around Kagura.
I was taken aback by how relatable this episode is to me nowadays, but first, a summary.
Kagura is zealously attending a radio exercise club in the park, of which she has never missed a day and has perfect attendance. She has a lot of confidence dedicating herself to this task.
These days, other kids don’t bother coming to these radio exercises, but Kagura’s pride is knocked down a peg when she learns that another kid named Hongo has been attending these exercises without missing a day himself.
Kagura’s instructor mentions that he comes to these because of his poor health and wants to keep himself active as much as he can. She doesn’t make much note of it and is focused on the frustration stirring within her that someone might possibly beat her perfect attendance. He even shows up fifteen minutes before the exercise begins, whilst Kagura shows up just barely in time.
I thought it was cute that Kagura was so sure that Hongo would stay up late to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service for the friday night movie slot on tv, but ended up watching it herself and losing sleep, but still attending the next day.
Hongo quickly breaks the ice with Kagura when the instructor doesn’t show up for family reasons, and asks Kagura if she would like him to stamp her card for attendance that day.
Despite how vulgar, crude, gross, harsh, and obstinate Kagura is, she is very good at making friends with normal kids.
Kagura wonders why Hongo isn’t going on vacation as well and learns about his chronic illness and does not judge him in the slightest for it, or see him as different in any way. She simply ponders over how fickle life is that someone has the money to go on vacation but they don’t have the health for it, saying her situation is the opposite in that she has the health but not the funds.
What really struck a chord with me the most in this episode was when Hongo said that his illness prevents him from doing anything for very long, which is exactly what I have been dealing with for the last couple of years.
Back in 2018 when I first watched this show, I certainly felt bad for Hongo, but I couldn’t imagine the reality of actually having to live like that. But now I do, and anytime I see disability represented in fiction now, it resonates with me in a way I never could have expected.
Hongo figures that since his life is so limited, he would like to have at least one thing that he can commit to and accomplish while he’s still around.
Kagura takes this as if he’s insinuating that he’s on his deathbed, in which he simply shrugs off and denies.
I also relate to how he says he can be pessimistic because of his health problems, I know I certainly can be at times.
Kagura finds joy in having a rival to keep her in check for perfect attendance, not seeing Hongo as less than her at all and treating him as an equal.
This episode made me appreciate myself much more and reminded me that even though I can do very little, people have told me that my presence and the things that I can do have worth. It made me imagine how sad people would be if I gave up on the things I wanted to do or if I wasn’t around at all. It was really nice to see someone strong like Kagura treat someone like me with respect.
Hongo lived his life frustrated about how little he can do, and wished he had a normal body like everyone he was jealous over. But after exercising with Kagura, he realized that it doesn’t matter how poor his health is, what matters is having a friend to do hard things with.
There is a very important message here that I really need to think on, that I don’t fully comprehend right now.
And so the title “The Value of Disabled People” does not imply that disabled people are special or should be treated as such, they are just regular people struggling in their own ways just like anyone else. And it also means that disabled people should learn to see their value despite how useless or weak they might feel. If you express yourself even just a little bit to someone, or someone loves you for just being you, then you’re doing more than enough.
The Value of Disabled People | A Lesson From Gintama