Gintama: The Very Final will be available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Feb. 8, 2022, and digitally on Jan. 25, 2022.
Gintama: The Very Final brings the Odd Job crew back together again like old times, for one final, massive battle. It's utter chaos as the nefarious Utsuro (Adam Gibbs) threatens to bring everything and everyone to an end. He seeks a final reprieve from life, putting his immortal soul to rest once and for all. Gintoki (Michael Daingerfield), Takasugi (Kyle C. Jones), and Katsura (Jocelyne Loewen) must work in tandem to eliminate the threat Utsuro represents to bring order to their lives as well as the universe itself. As such, this is, as the title implies, the final (yes, we really mean it this time!) ending for a masterfully self-aware and intriguing series. Luckily, it's a fantastic one, and the send-off fans deserve as the irreverent saga wraps things up one last time.
Gintama may be one of the funniest send-ups of anime and the genre as a whole ever. Since its inception, it's taken the limits of what anime humor is capable of and stretched them well past what many might call acceptable. Shows like Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and Excel Saga have long held the crown for their raunchy humor, and we can't forget series like Prison School or Golden Boy, but Gintama takes things to the next level, with entire episodes dedicated to off-color, surreal jokes and snarky self-awareness imbued in every character. It's a shtick that could very easily get old over 350 episodes, but instead, you learn to love frontman Gintoki and the rest of the crew like a dysfunctional family.
With all the silliness, however, Gintama is still able to weave a solid shonen narrative together, similar to the likes of Naruto or Jujutsu Kaisen. The Very Final kicks off with Gintoki, Takasugi, and Katsura fighting their way through a sea of Tendoushuu soldiers, a group of some of the "truest" rules of the Earth, with their motherboard high above a structure called the Terminal. They're working to collect a type of energy source called Altana to resurrect the child form of Yoshida Shouyou, one of the split personalities of the immortal Utsuro. It's an intense battle that escalates further, with Shouyou revealing his true intentions: helping to end both his and Utsuro's lives, to free their souls from years and years of eternal torment.
This story thread is a great way to usher in new viewers, though it's doubtful anyone who hasn't been following Gintama at least off and on for some time would be seeing it in the first place. But distilling a major conflict into a massive good-versus-evil showdown helps it to become interesting even for those who aren't as up to date on the saga as others. It's surprisingly accessible, entertaining, and even makes an attempt to catch up viewers by way of a few manga-like scenes and a musical surprise I won't ruin here. It has to be heard to be believed.
As Gintoki and the rest of the squad work to bring peace to the universe, despite Utsuro's machinations, The Very Final is sure to bring back all the faces you knew and loved from throughout the series to give them fitting reasons to return in the film. It spends quite a bit of time giving these characters their fair due while still ensuring it focuses on the main trio. They've come a very long way, to be sure, and watching them come together and work as one feels just as good as reuniting with some of the personalities who have risen up throughout Gintama as a whole.
But here's an important question: is it still funny, even when dealing with more serious themes and action-packed battles? Absolutely. There's a bit of signature Gintama humor throughout every scene, even when you don't expect it. Still, it knows when to dial things back when necessary, pausing some in-combat silliness for truly epic battle scenes that do Gintoki and crew justice.
All these components work together to create a magical, giggle-worthy journey intercut with epic sword battles as well as the struggle to save the universe. Unfortunately, there's one small issue: there's a lot of ground to cover here, and the movie does need to rush a bit to a conclusion. Still, for a final goodbye to a crew so many knew and loved over the years, this is a fantastic sendoff all the less, even if it could have gone on for a few more hours and felt like the length of another standard episode.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/3ocVArM
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