I'll just crush everything,
until the beast ceases its growling

      When I started drafting up a little information section for this creepy bastard lovable character, I looked at aspects of his personality and matched them to his astrology sign. If you were to look at the traits of a leo, or perhaps any other person under any other sign, you'd find that those traits listed more or less correspond to that person. Let's take a look at Takasugi's listed astrological traits:

Stubborn, impulsive, showy, dramatic, and sometimes vain. Can also be seen to have a sunny demeanor; loves to be at the center of attention.
Because crushing things will make me feel better. Takasugi SMASH.

      (From this point forwards, a lot of the following text will be coming from my own analysis, if you will, on Takasugi, so everything said here is not necessarily canon but notions based on observations.) Takasugi's hate of change ties into him being stubborn: he absolutely abhors the invasion of the Amanto and the sudden shift from a traditional Japanese setting to a completely new environment that Takasugi wasn't accustomed to. Not only was he pushed into a world where he couldn't function properly in, he was ultimately forced into a world where his previous relationships either are not the same as they were before or do not exist at all.

      It is the influence of the Amanto that distorts Takasugi's personality: from his perspective, everything is the Amanto's fault. It was after his teacher's death that Takasugi swore revenge and thus fought in the Amanto war, which as we know, ended in the Amanto's favor. The Amanto's invasion, their deep ties within the government, and their complete diminishing of any form of bushido (basically denouncing samurai and its value), only secured his desire to completely destroy everything; so much that it has become is catchphrase (true to Gintama fashion!) Takasugi also criticizes the government for giving in so easily; he sees the officials as being weak and unfit to guide or have control over Edo and ultimately, blames them as well for his teacher's death. Takasugi, never having recovered from the loss of his favored teacher, seeks to get rid of the world entirely: a world without his teacher and to live without his teachings isn't a world worth living for.

      Takasugi undeniably clings to his past in one form or another. Being someone who had everything and then suddenly having to lose his teacher and a number of his comrades through war, only to come out at the end defeated and severely wounded, it's no wonder that Takasugi wishes to wreak revenge on the world that we have come to know as Gintama. Despite this, we see him as being a person who holds his past dear to him, as he had kept his school book from Shouyou-sensei throughout all those years.

fashionista!       Takasugi's style overall outlines us an idea of the "showy, dramatic and vain" aspect of his personality. Takasugi probably has the best fashion sense next to Katsura (and no, this is not my bias speaking). Takasugi is seen in both the manga and anime wearing a bright magenta or purple kimono with gold detail (respecively). In the anime, his clothing details butterflies, whereas in the manga, it is more or less decorated with patterned flowers. He also is sometimes seen wearing a dark colored overcoat with a gold swirled pattern. In some cases, presumably when he is casually strolling through Edo (such as in cameos or when he's basically up to no good), he is seen wearing a large straw hat. His style makes him easily recognizable throughout the entire series, but this could also be due to his rare and sometimes short screen times. Whether his clothes are bright for that reason or because Takasugi is color blind, we do not know. (I say this jokingly; Takasugi's fashion sense is flawless. I mean, just look at that cleavage!) Aside from that, his clothes are definitely a trademark of him, and while it makes him easy to spot, he has never been caught by the Shinsengumi.

      Takasugi tells Katsura upon his first appearance in the series that he's in town for the festival, which are associated with huge crowds, dramatic shows and most of all, fireworks. This particular festival also happens to have a certain Bakufu official attending, which makes it even more fun in Takasugi's case. With an even higher level of security surrounding this festival, the chances of being caught by the authorities is high risk--this festival just keeps getting better. In this sense, Takasugi is a kind of guy who likes to be dramatic and showy: his actions tend to either be the source of the conflicts that arise in Gintama, or he is playing center stage. Having known that Gengai was in charge of putting on a display for the Bakufu, he approaches him and basically plants the idea of public revenge. While it is his subordinate who actually starts a fight with our main protagonists, Takasugi is the one who comissioned the original problem. Takasugi also has the ability to create mini-soap operas within the Shinsengumi and the Harusame pirates. Basically, Takasugi is all for stirring things up and sparking up Gintama with plot twists! What a drama queen!