Gintama

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Gintama
Volume 1, (Japanese Version)
銀魂
(Silver Soul)
Genre Fantasy, Comedy, Shōnen, Science Fiction, Action
Manga
Authored by Hideaki Sorachi
Publisher Japan Shueisha
CanadaUnited States VIZ Media
Germany TOKYOPOP
Serialized in Japan Weekly Shonen Jump
CanadaUnited States Shonen Jump
Original run April 2, 2004 – Current
No. of volumes 14 and counting
TV anime
Directed by Shinji Takamatsu
Studio Sunrise
Network Japan TV Tokyo
Original run April 4, 2006 – Current
No. of episodes 32 and counting

Gintama (銀魂?) is a manga created by Hideaki Sorachi. The original manga began in April 2004 and is currently being published by Shueisha under Weekly Shonen Jump.

The manga has been licensed by VIZ Media in North America under the Shonen Jump label. The Shonen Jump website is currently polling readers' interest on Gintama. In the September 2006 issue of the North American Shonen Jump, which appeared in July 2006, a game on 352 spells out the words "Gintama is coming" on page 356. In other words, Gintama has been slated for release in North America. In the November 2006 issue, it says that Gintama will be put into the magazine starting in the January 2007 issue. The newly released December 2006 issue states that there will be one chapter of the manga every month, as opposed to the two or three chapters of the other serialized manga. Gintama is in the magazine now, and is currently on Lesson 2. The magazine plans to serialize the entire first volume.

An OVA of Gintama for Jump Festa 2006/Anime Tour 2005 has been announced in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 31.

The Gintama anime series debuted on April 3, 2006 TV Tokyo after Bleach.

Contents

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story takes place in Tokyo, Japan, which has been taken over by aliens called Amanto since the late Edo period. The samurai of Japan have fallen, and the Amanto placed a ban on carrying swords in public. The story focuses on an eccentric samurai with a natural perm, Sakata Gintoki, his (partial) apprentice Shimura Shinpachi, and a teenage alien girl: Kagura. All three are "freelancers" who search for work in order to pay the monthly rent, which usually goes unpaid anyway.

The story is a humorous tale, one that uses puns to deliver jokes and pictures to enhance the jokes. None of the characters are entirely serious throughout the series and Sorachi complains about Shinpachi in terms of the crudeness of the manga (i.e. "Hey! Don't take up manga space with useless extra characters!!"). Sorachi often includes omake at the end of his chapters, most of which are rants complaining of why he has to write omake. The story also tends to break the fourth wall (such as when Shinpachi tells Gintoki that he only protected himself and Otae for about a page and Gintoki retorts that a page takes a long time for a manga artist to draw).

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters from Gintama
Sakata Gintoki (坂田銀時 Sakata Gintoki (Seiyū - Tomokazu Sugita)?) 
Sakata Gintoki is the main character of the story. He has naturally permed hair, which he blames on his lacking love-life. He rides a motoscooter and wields a bokuto from Lake Toya. His job, as is written on his business card, is a "free-lancer" meaning he'll take any job for nearly any price. He has a sweet tooth and will go into crazed combat if he does not have his sweets (although he does have glycosuria).
In the past, he was a Joi (someone who drove off the Amanto to protect the government). He and Katsura Kotaro are the only mentioned survivors from the Joi. The only reason Gintoki does not join Katsura again to fight the aliens is that he does not like to fight alongside "gloomy terrorists".
His name might be a reference to Sakata Kintoki.
Shimura Shinpachi (志村新八 Shimura Shinpachi (Seiyū - Daisuke Sakaguchi)?) 
Shinpachi works under Gintoki to learn the ways of the samurai. However it seems more like he's just trying to help Gintoki pay the rent than to learn. Shinpachi is the captain of the "Otsū-chan's Imperial Guard," a pop-singer's fan club.
Shinpachi first met Gintoki after he was tripped by an alien ambassador. Gintoki beats up the ambassador and his guards, not to stand up for Shinpachi but to get revenge for his spilled parfait. Soon after, Gintoki framed Shinpachi for the crime, which somehow led to him saving Shimura Tae (Otae), Shinpachi's sister, from being added to a brothel.
Kagura (神楽 (Seiyū - Rie Kugimiya)?)
Kagura is an alien from the "Yato Clan," one of the strongest races in existence. She is a cute fourteen year-old girl in Chinese clothes. Despite her alien heritage, she looks like a normal human and talks with a Chinese accent. She can stop Gintoki's motorscooter single-handedly and has an umbrella that is bullet-proof and can fire bullets from the tip. Her stomach knows no bounds and she apparently loves to eat sukonbu. According to a fansite, she is the first JUMP girl to throw up, although an earlier example would be Orihime Inoue from Tite Kubo's Bleach (see Bleach volume 5) [1]
She originally came to Earth to earn money to help her parents financial situation. Because of her immense strength, she took to fighting for a gang. After she was told to kill a few people, she tried to escape from the gang and was almost run over by Gintoki's motorscooter. He liberated her, and she forced him to let her join his free-lancer business. She sleeps in the closet of Gintoki's home.

[edit] Japanese specific references

  • In the first episode of the anime, there is a section that explains how to correctly pronouce the title. This is because "Gintama" is written in hiragana as ぎんたま. The pun of the title occurs if the reader forgets the dakuten in the ぎ and pronounces it as "kintama" (金玉), which is a Japanese euphemism for testicles (literally "golden balls"). In an omake, a theoretical x-rated "Kintama" is shown with a blonde Gintoki. In an omake the author stated that he wanted schoolgirls to be able to say "Did you see this week's Gintama?" comfortably.
  • Seppuku is a ritual suicide by disembowelment. It is often used in this manga, especially during the Shinsengumi chapters.
  • Shinsengumi in Gintama is identical in romaji, but different in Japanese kanji to the original version; the original is 新撰組, while the Gintama version is 真選組.
  • Another reference to the manga "One Piece" is made in Chapter 14 of the manga, when Gintoki and Katsura are dressed up as space pirates. They mention their great desire to search for the great treasure, "One Pack".
  • In the manga, and now the anime as well, whenever Katsura and Gintoki are cosplaying as Space Pirates, they would always wear long coats with a red ream, with Katsura wearing an eyepatch over one of his eyes. This is a reference to Space Pirate Captain Harlock.
  • In one of the anime episodes, you will find one Shinsengumi's officers, the Badminton-loving Yamazaki, wearing a Seigaku uniform as well as Ryoma's cap. This is a reference to Prince of Tennis.
  • Gintoki dresses as Sena Kobayakawa from Eyeshield 21 in episode 15.
  • Kondo Isao's sword is named Kotetsu, just like the sword which the historical Kondo Isami was said to have used. The kanji however differs: Kondo Isami's was 虎徹 while the one in Gintama is 虎鉄. The sword was broken in episode 17, to Kondo's horror, as he was still paying the instalments for the sword.
  • A kappa-like character appears in episode 21.
  • In episode 18, Kagura appears in a yellow jumpsuit that resembles the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death.
  • The duel between Kondo and Gintoki over Otae is probably a parody of the infamous duel between Sasaki and Musashi.

[edit] Music

The opening "Pray" was sung by Tommy heavenly6. In episode 25, it was changed to "遠い匂い" ("Tooi Nioi", "Faraway Smell") by YO-KING. The first ending was "風船ガム"(fu-sen gam, meaning "bubble gum") is by Captain Straydum. It changed to "Mr. Raindrop" by Amplified in early July. From the episode 25, the ending changed to "雪のツバサ"(Yukino tsubasa, meaning "snow wing") by redballoon.

[edit] Game Appearances

There have been three games featuring Gintama characters so far, all three of on the DS: a game based on the manga and anime and the Shonen Jump crossover Jump Superstars, and the sequel to Jump Superstars, "Jump Ultimate Stars". Another game, also on the DS, is to be released in the near future: "Gintama: Gintoki vs. Hijikata?!" . None of these games are slated for international release.

[edit] External links

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In other languages