It’ll be a while before I’m able to get my eyes on the live-action sequel to 2017’s Gintama. In the meantime, the longstanding animated series I binged that year will remain in my beating heart for years to come, and if you have access to a streaming service for animated shows that includes Gintama in its library, consider this an invitation to one of the best, most hilarious and entertaining experiences of your life…so long as you can stomach some occasional toilet humor along the way.
This show’s also had some animated films in between, all the while breaking the fourth wall more times than I care to count in jabbing at its own longevity with inside-jokes about getting cancelled, which was never the case. The animated series finalized its run though, and it was a really GOOD one, with fans celebrating the voice actors in arenas non-stop and filling seats for live stage reading events. There are videos of this you can find online as well. It’s insane, and it makes me wish I were in the room for some of these things.
At long last though, Gintama, long since Hideaki Sorachi’s gonzo Edo-period action sci-fi comedy manga took Weekly Shonen Jump by the balls in 2003 until ending in 2019, with Sunrise and eventually Bandai Namco Pictures carrying the torch for its animated series run collectively for twelve years, the third and conclusive animated movie, Gintama: The Very Final, had its run in Japan earlier this year from Warner Bros. Japan. With that, Eleven Arts has since been handed the reigns for the film’s release in the United States with theatrical releases on November 21 and 22, presented in English Dub and Japanese with English subtitles. Tickets go on sale through Fathom Events starting October 8.
Gintoki, Takasugi and Katsura fight past the Tendoushuu forces, who have taken over the Terminal. The mothership at the top of the terminal is absorbing large amounts of Altana and channeling it into the body of the child Shoyo in order to resurrect him and obtain true immortality. As the group is attacked, they split up into two, with Katsura holding on to Shoyo’s heart. Katsura and Hitsugi engage in a fierce battle, and the latter eventually stabs and destroys the heart, revealing that he had no intention of reviving the child; he only wanted to free Utsuro from the curse of immortality. Without the heart, Shoyu would only be able to regenerate and maintain his body temporarily. In the terminal, the Shinsengumi, Hyakka, Oniwabanshu and the rest of the Kabukicho residents fight the rest of the Tendoushuu army, while Matsudaira shoots down the ships outside.
