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Blu-ray Review: “Gintama” Is Great Fun But Way Too Long

[yasr_overall_rating]
 

In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, a young samurai finds work however he can.

Where do I start? Aliens take over the region of Edo in Japan. A resistance war occurs but the aliens win and after that outlaw swords and shame samurai fighters into giving up their careers. We follow Gintoki Sakata as he and two of his friends run an “odd jobs” company running different careers. They get hired on a case to hunt down a missing sword, drawn into a serial killer conspiracy, and discover a new band of ruthless rebels attempting to overthrow the government once again. It’s a lot to take in and with a cast of personalities so bright and vivid it can be hard to watch sometimes, but “Gintama” always draws back from its ridiculousness to poke fun at itself tongue-in-cheek.

One of the things I find mysterious and praiseworthy is the faithfulness live-action adaptations give to their original source material. Anime is known for quick cuts, nonsensical gap breaks, cartoonish creatures, and elaborate fight sequences that defy all known laws of physics. We buy a girl catching bullets with her teeth while doing backflips because it’s an animated show and physics don’t apply to those worlds (a la Bugs Bunny and friends.) So, trust me when I say this movie is exactly like if you took a season of anime and crammed it into two hours. Plot twists, character introductions, level ups, and more happen at the speed of light and yet the movie manages to take the time to laugh as well as bask in its outlandishness. It’s more meta than it is pure anime.

It faithfully crosses the gap from animation to live-action carrying with it all the tropes of anime and rarely ever allowing us to disbelieve. Instead, “Gintama” joins its audience to laugh and poke fun at itself whether they’re discussing the “man in the monster suit” in front of them or the size of theirs stunts budget. An anime that knows it’s an anime and that there are other anime sure draws a bizarre amount of cross-pollination. Even the main character reads manga and makes his judgment calls off of what he reads. In one scene we see a Gundam suit being retrieved by (what I can only assume) its pilot and then the Gum Gum fruit (from One Piece) being offered to Gintoki. Much later Gintoki rides the aircraft from Nausicaa, Valley of the Wind, after the characters debate its legality. Just when the film delivers an impactful fight sequence the pacing is broken up with a lengthy joke. As one character demands the execution of our protagonist another character talks about feminism and their Lolita complex. I can’t make this up!

“Gintama” exists kind of as the final form in the anime cycle: faithfully transcribing all the key elements of the genre while blatantly mocking other anime shows. It’s heyday occurred in 2006 apparently and the show peaked not long after. For the live-action movie to come back around demonstrates we live in the meta era of the anime genre. Where recent anime shows utilize this satire for commentary (poignant or not) “Gintama” takes a gleefully anarchical approach ripping up everything and everyone. The whiplash effect of the rapid tonal changes are fast, even for an anime, and perhaps too frequent. I wish there were fewer jokes (maybe because some of the jokes went over my head.) I’m a fan of naked emotion and ridiculous power-level increases for big boss battles. I’m not a fan of getting mired in your own satire. Check this one out, but do so maybe after you’ve watched some of the better-known adaptations. You won’t hate it, but after the first hour, you’ll wonder what the hell is going on. It’s the best I can offer.

Available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD & Digital HD March 6th from Well Go USA Entertainment

 

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