Since December 2003, Gintama has been leading Shonen Jump and the entire manga industry as a comedy among comedies. Set in a version of feudal Japan that was invaded by aliens, Gintama has spent a good portion of its career parodying the shonen genre, the otaku community, and its various other contemporaries in manga and fiction.
As the story ventured into its Silver Soul Arc, it became evident that the series would be ending soon as it enveloped a more serious tone and various loose ends in its narrative began getting tied up. The arc now looks to see its conclusion in the upcoming film, Gintama The Final. With the premiere and that name looming over long time fans' heads, many are wondering if this will truly be the end or if the show can still go on.
10 END: The Silver Soul Arc Is A High Note
While the Silver Soul Arc's harsher tone and action-packed narrative is very distant from the series' classic, juvenile comedy, it may very well be the perfect finale for the series as a whole. For most of its run, Gintama has had moments of backstory, world-building, and sincere action sprinkled across the story, yet those elements rarely had any payoff, leaving many to even question if Hideaki Sorachi just forgot about them.
The Silver Soul Arc just feels like the final stage as it pulls up all of those receipts and gives them some satisfying payoff. It does all of this while still contributing some of the poop humor and slapstick comedy that the franchise is known for.
9 KEEP GOING: It's A Comedy Series
One of the most obvious reasons why Gintama can keep moving forward despite its next film being called "The Final" is because of the advantages of its format. As a comedy series, Gintama isn't prone to the same linearity and world-building restrictions of its peers.
Series like Naruto and One Piece had clear goals and growth in mind; and once those aspects have been achieved, their respective stories would become fundamentally different with the change in the status quo. However, in Gintama's case, there aren't actually any goals or need for a consistent status quo. It can take full advantage of its inherent absurdity to keep the story moving forward.
8 END: It's Been Around Long Enough
While Gintama is far from being the same kind of series as Naruto and One Piece, it has been running almost as long as them. Spanning 17 years at this point, Gintama has had more than its fair share of content, and Hideaki Sorachi has often commented within his own story that there is a very real struggle for mangaka to keep developing content.
Whether or not he was being sincere or just trying to make meta-humor, Sorachi has made plenty of money from the series and worked hard enough to have either earned retirement or to begin struggling with creative burn out.
7 KEEP GOING: There Can Be Anime-Only Content
One of the major advantages of being a comedy series is the fact that anime-only content is near indistinguishable from canon material. While stories like the battle to be Santa Claus or Hasegawa's trial are clearly and wholeheartedly written by Sorachi, the Gintama anime has developed plenty of classic content on its own.
This includes Odd Jobs and friends struggling to make sushi, Hijikata's parody of Will Wonka with mayonnaise, and the last "final" film, Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya, albeit that one was written by Hideaki Sorachi himself. If given the creator's blessing or even his help, the anime could certainly keep going with original content.
6 END: Its Popularity Has Dwindled
Whether or not longtime fans want to admit it, Gintama hasn't had the same pull that it used to for some time now. It began dropping in Shonen Jump's popularity rankings, and it was even moved to one of Jump's subsidiary issues for the tail end of its finale. The anime itself has struggled to find some air time.
With the last few arcs, the anime been progressively relegated to later and worse time slots on Japanese television, far from the prime time position of any other flourishing series. At this point, it's becoming harder to keep the series alive than it is to actually write it.
5 KEEP GOING: Sorachi Tends To Lie About Ending The Series
The issue with calling Gintama The Final the final part of the series as a whole is the fact that Sorachi has kind of waved that card a couple of times already. Fans were already reeling when the anime released Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya.
This was obviously not the case as the series continued after that, and Sorachi has even teased "ending" the series a couple of times after that. Given that Sorachi is often either trolling with the "finale" card or is simply just keeping everything close to his chest before he has any solid publishing or anime deals, there is a chance that "The Final" doesn't actually mean the end.
4 END: Faking Endings Can Get Pretty Annoying
It was forgivable after The Final Chapter for the story to continue, given its big critical reception, but people started becoming more suspicious as Sorachi started using the "finale" card again and again (It's been more than a year since the finale teaser.). While it's characteristic of a comedy writer to troll every now and then, there's only so many times that one can keep on essentially lying to their fans.
The Silver Soul Arc already has a massive finale feel to it, and it has done quite a bit to create (seemingly) unalterable changes to the world. It would be pretty annoying at this point for Sorachi to call this the "finale" and not really mean it.
3 KEEP GOING: Shonen Jump Has Been Losing Series
Shonen Jump has had a history of trying to keep its writers going for as long as possible. This is evident in decades-spanning franchises like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Bleach and seemed to be the case for Gintama. 2020 has been a harsh year for several industries, with Shonen Jump especially reeling from the sudden conclusion to several of its most popular series, such as Demon Slayer, The Promised Neverland, and Haikyuu!!.
While the magazine is never short on new series, it really could use some time tested content after the successive losses of several others. Given the chance, Gintama could very well be the franchise to save Shonen Jump or, at least, help it out during a seemingly dry period.
2 END: There's A New Generation Of Anime To Compete With
Gintama was clearly the byproduct of a peak period of battle shonen series. However, a lot of that impact came from a sincere connection with Jump and general anime at the time. If Gintama were to continue, it would have to comment on an entirely new generation of manga and anime that is slowly but surely abandoning the old formulas of their predecessors.
While the ideal setting would have Gintama do the same ruthless roasting that it's done for so many other properties, there's a real risk for new jokes to seem disconnected as if Gintoki had become an old man shaking a stick at the new kids playing on his lawn.
1 KEEP GOING: There's A New Generation Of Anime To Parody
Gintama wouldn't be where it is today if it didn't have the cleverness and flexibility to continue creating inventive plots and jokes. While it does run the risk of showing its age by trying to understand the new kids on the block, Sorachi has proven time and again that he is a huge fan of anything and everything manga and anime.
While plenty of his jokes have run their course, he has plenty of new material to work through in beloved new properties like Your Name., My Hero Academia, and Jujutsu Kaisen. Gintama could even try its hand at the sudden rise of the isekai genre. With plenty more to make fun of, Gintama always has a path forward.
What is Gintama silver soul arc about?
Silver Soul Arc Part One: Utsuro's master plan is in full effect as Earth is taken over by the Altana Liberation Army. With Odd Jobs still not back from Rakuyo, the residents of Kabuki District have a hard time adjusting to life as a colony. Silver Soul Arc Part Two: Katsura, Sakamoto, and Nobunobu arrive at the S.S.
Does Gintama get dark?
14 Gintama's Red Spider Arc Gets Dark And Dirty For Its Drama (Rating: 8.4) Going deep into this particular arc, things got really dark for the anime and that is meant literally. This batch of episodes takes place with little light, almost like a horror movie.
Is there action in Gintama?
The show follows the adventures of Gintoki Sakata, a former samurai, and his odd-jobs business. The fight scenes in Gintama are a mix of humour and intense action, making them memorable and a must-watch for fans of action-packed anime.
Does Gintama have a plot?
Set in Edo, which has been conquered by aliens named Amanto, the plot follows samurai Gintoki Sakata, who works as a freelancer in his self-established store, "Yorozuya", alongside his friends Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura, offering a wide range of services to handle various tasks and odd jobs.