Gintama

Gintama is an anime television series animated by Sunrise that began airing in April 2006 on TV Tokyo. Directors Shinji Takamatsu and Yoichi Fujita directed the anime based on the science-fiction comedy manga by Hideaki Sorachi. Audio Highs composed the background music, while Shinji Takeuchi designed the animated characters.

In an alternate Edo-period Japan, technologically advanced alien conquerors known as the Amanto invade Earth and force the samurai government into submission. The extraterrestrial invaders enforce a public sword ban, making the traditional samurai caste obsolete and stripping warriors of their political authority. Eccentric silver-haired veteran Gintoki Sakata defies this cultural shift by carrying a wooden sword and operating a freelance odd-jobs agency called Yorozuya. Gintoki soon hires earnest teenager Shinpachi Shimura and an alien girl named Kagura to accept odd jobs across the Kabuki district to pay rent.

Tomokazu Sugita stars as Gintoki Sakata alongside Daisuke Sakaguchi as Shinpachi Shimura. Sunrise animated the initial 201 episodes between April 2006 and March 2010. Sister studio Bandai Namco Pictures took over animation duties in 2015, continuing the franchise through sequels such as Gintama Prime and Gintama Dot until the television broadcast concluded in October 2018 at 367 total episodes. Three theatrical anime films reached Japanese cinemas: a retelling film in April 2010, an original story in July 2013, and the conclusion film Gintama: The Very Final in January 2021.

Crunchyroll began streaming the anime internationally in 2008, and Sentai Filmworks released the first 49 episodes on North American home video in 2010. In 2017, Funimation and Crunchyroll partnered to produce an English dub for the fourth television series. At the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2016, fans voted the anime the winner of the Anime of the Year Fan Award. The finale film Gintama: The Very Final generated over 1.9 billion yen ($17 million) in Japanese theatrical box office receipts during its 2021 domestic run.