Gintama: THE VERY FINAL

Gintama: The Very Final is the movie that closes the Gintama anime for good. It opened in Japanese theaters on January 8, 2021. Hideaki Sorachi's manga had already ended in 2019, and the TV anime stopped in 2018 just before the last chapters. This film brings that ending to the screen. It adapts the manga's finale but also adds some new scenes and story ideas. The film was made by Bandai Namco Pictures, the studio behind the later seasons of the TV show.

Gintama is set in a strange, funny version of old Edo, the city we now call Tokyo. Aliens called Amanto came to Earth and took power, and samurai lost the right to carry swords. The hero, Gintoki Sakata, was once a great samurai who fought in that war. Today he is lazy, loves sweets, and runs an odd-jobs business called the Yorozuya with two friends: Shinpachi Shimura, a serious young man, and Kagura, a strong and hungry alien girl. Over the years, they made many friends and enemies across the city.

The movie begins two years after the huge battle at the end of the TV series. The three friends of the Yorozuya are no longer together. Gintoki has been traveling, searching the Earth's flow of energy for signs that the immortal Utsuro might come back. When remnants of a dangerous group appear again, still chasing the secret of living forever, Gintoki heads home to Edo. Soon the old team and their allies, including the Shinsengumi police force, launch an attack to take back the city's giant space port. A massive explosion could wipe out Edo and much of the world, so the stakes are very high.

At the center of the story are Gintoki and his old friends Kotaro Katsura and Shinsuke Takasugi. All three were students of the same kind teacher, Shoyo Yoshida, when they were children. Their paths split long ago, and some of them became bitter enemies. In this movie, they must face their shared past, and their teacher's wishes, to protect the future. It is a very emotional part of the story, and fans of the series will feel its weight.

The film is not all serious. True to the series, it has plenty of jokes, parody, and silly humor, and it even makes fun of itself for being a final movie. These light moments sit right next to sad and touching scenes, which is the mix Gintama is loved for.

This movie is made for fans. You should watch the TV series first, all the way through the Silver Soul Arc, because the film assumes you know the characters and what happened before. If you have come that far, it offers a big, heartfelt goodbye to a story that ran for more than fifteen years.