Gintama
Gintama (銀魂, lit. "Silver Soul") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2003 to September 2018, later in Jump Giga from December 2018 to February 2019, and finished on the Gintama app, where it ran from May to June 2019. Its chapters were collected in 77 tankōbon volumes. Set in Edo, which has been conquered by aliens named Amanto, the plot follows life from the point of view of samurai Gintoki Sakata, who works as a freelancer alongside his friends Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura to pay the monthly rent. Sorachi added the science fiction setting to develop characters to his liking after his editor suggested doing a historical series.
The series has been adapted into an original video animation (OVA) by Sunrise and was featured at Jump Festa 2006 Anime Tour in 2005. This was followed by a full 367-episode anime television series, which debuted in April 2006 on TV Tokyo, and finished in October 2018. Three animated films have been produced. The first film premiered in April 2010. The second film premiered in July 2013. The third and final film premiered in January 2021. Besides the anime series, there have been various light novels and video games based on Gintama. A live-action film adaptation of the same name was released in July 2017 in Japan by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The manga has been licensed by Viz Media in North America. In addition to publishing the individual volumes of the series, Viz serialized its first chapters in their Shonen Jump manga anthology. It debuted in the January 2007 issue and was serialized at a rate of one chapter a month. Sentai Filmworks initially licensed the series. The website Crunchyroll purchased the anime's streaming rights and home video rights.
In Japan, the Gintama manga has been popular, with over 55 million copies in print, making it one of the best-selling manga series. The anime and its DVDs have been featured, at various times, in the Top Ten rankings of their respective media, while TV Tokyo has announced that the first Gintama anime was responsible for high sales overseas along with the anime adaptation from Naruto. Publications for manga, anime, and others have commented on the Gintama manga. Positive responses have focused on the comedy and characters from the series, as well as its overarching plot and action choreography.
