Shimura Otae

Shimura Tae (志村 妙 Shimura Tae), or just Otae (お妙) (the "お" (O) is an honorific used to refer to women), is the older sister of Shimura Shinpachi. The Shinsengumi have almost accepted her as the de facto lady boss, or rather the consort of their boss Kondou Isao, by calling her ne-e-san (姐さん).

She works at Snack Smile as a cabaret hostess to keep the family doujo Koudoukan going (though more often than not, she behaves more like a bouncer). In addition she is the leader and one of the original members of the Diamond Perfume.

She also became a member of the 4 Devas of Kabuki District after Otose's, Doromizu Jirochou's and Saigou Tokumori's retirement and Kujaku Hime Kada's seizure. As an official Deva, Tae is known as the "Kabukichō﻿ no Joō" (Translated: The Queen of the Kabuki District).

Background
Shimura Tae grew up with her brother Shimura Shinpachi and his father in their family dojou Koudoukan. Their father died when they were still young, leaving them to take care of the dojou, and also to be left in debt. Tae still wants to revive her father's dojo, as she believes that a child does not need a reason to protect what its parents once loved. To revive the dojo, Tae works in a Hostess Club as a Cabaret Hostess. Though she sometimes even physically abuses rude customers, she became the "main attraction" of the Hostess Club she works at. The customer Tae abuses the most is Kondo Isao. He fell in love with Tae when he was served by her in the Hostess Club and started stalking her since then. Tae strongly disapproves of his stalking activities and constantly beats him up, as he even hides in her house and follows her wherever she goes while trying to make her go out with him. Though Tae is annoyed by that, by now, Isao is an important part of her life, as he often risks his own life to protect Tae and prevent her from suffering.

When Otae was younger, she beat up the bullies who made fun of Yagyuu Kyuubei. From that moment on, Otae and Kyuubei were close childhood friends. Kyuubei greatly admired Tae because she was strong and carried even the heaviest burdens with a smile on her face. When Kyuubei saved Tae from her debt-collector's abuse and lost her eye in the process, Tae promised Kyuubei to marry her and become her new left eye.

Appearance
She is a beautiful young woman with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and brown eyes. Her beauty attracts numerous men, which makes her the main attraction of the famous cabaret club Snack Smile. It also causes opponents to heavily underestimate Tae's combat skills and cruelty, thus causing opponents like the Dobunezumi Group to gang up on Tae and get brutally cut up by her in the process.

(Quote from Otohime about Tae's appearance) "She's beautiful! U- Unbelievable! This beauty radiating as I hit her is just like the beauty of rose petals scattering!"

She wears a pink yukata with red flowers on it. She once admitted in her own words that she is 'flat chested'.[1] She can also be very violent, and her weapon of choice seems to be her fists and a naginata. She mostly puts a fake smile on, though despite that, her appearance can be very terrifying. When talking to others or covering her own sadness, Tae puts on a beautiful fake smile that leaves a gentle impression. However, just like Kamui, Tae's fake smile leaves a very terrifying impression when she is about to seriously injure someone.

Personality
She is very egotistical about her own good qualities, but very insecure about her bad qualities too. Though outwardly appearing sweet and good-natured, in reality she has a quick temper and a violent disposition, in particular towards 'gorilla-like stalkers'. Since their mother died in a young age, Tae always took care of her little brother Shinpachi and protected him. She is a very brave and strong woman who always cares more about her family and closest friends than even about herself- very similar to Gintoki. She always tries to look strong and happy, thus she always smiles, even if she's hurt or feels sad.

Strength & Abilities
Otae inherited a dojo together with his younger brother Shimura Shinpachi called Koudoukan (恒道館), specialising in the Tendoumushin sword-fighting style (天堂無心流, Tendou Mushin Ryuu). She is an experienced combatant with the ability to tell how strong someone is just by looking at that person. Thus she was able to identify Kondou as a highly skilled and beyond powerful samurai who could truly prove a threat to Gintoki, although she didn't know anything about Kondou at that point. She specialises in using a Naginata and she can even use only one hand swinging. Tae used to beat up bullies who picked on her brother Shimura Shinpachi and her childhood friend Yagyuu Kyuubei at a very young age and was already feared by everyone back then. When unarmored, Tae uses her fists to fight her opponents and fights surprisingly well even without any weapons. She was even able to knock Otohime's soldiers out with only her fists. During the Love Potion arc she has even shown to be capable of sending several opponents flying with only one punch.

Trivia

 * She was the only person during the Kintama arc who didn't feel hate toward Gintoki even when she believed the lie that he hurt Tama and she was the first person to start remembering Gintoki.
 * Gintoki is the first person Otae bow to during lesson 405.
 * The kanji character for her name which is 妙 means 'strange'.
 * Otae was born on Halloween. This might be an allusion to her scary demeanor.
 * It is believed that her personality and traits is based on Sakamoto Ryoma's Third older sister named Sakamoto Tome (坂本乙女) know as Otome (お乙女) by everyone, she always was describe as being violent and angry towards Sakamoto during his childhood to get him prepared to be a strong samurai.
 * Though it is stated that, unlike the Shinsengumi, her character was not based on a historical figure, there are a few historical figures that Tae's character, story and combat-style could very well be based on.
 * Her favorite food is ice cream Haagen-Dazs.
 * Otae has the same cooking skill as Bianchi from Hitman Reborn.
 * Otae has the same voice actress as Kagome Higurashi from InuYasha, Milly Thompson from Trigun, Koala from ONE PIECE, Miho Amakata from Free! and Shihouin Yoruichi from Bleach.