Sightlines · reception

How Gintama: The Very Final was received

2021 · Chizuru Miyawaki · Gintama: The Very Final on Sightlines

The arc

Landed in Japan in January 2021 as a genuine event — a fandom farewell that outdrew everything else in cinemas — and it hasn't needed a reappraisal: it's still regarded as the rare long-running gag series that stuck the landing.

What’s debated

The eternal Gintama argument: after a decade of fake-out 'endings', is calling it The Very Final a promise or just the franchise's best-running joke — and can a film this steeped in series history mean anything to someone walking in cold?

Its footprint

It opens by shamelessly parodying Demon Slayer: Mugen Train — the box-office juggernaut of the moment — then went and knocked that very film off the top of the Japanese charts, a troll move fans still gleefully cite as peak Gintama.

Where it stands

Barely visible to general cinephiles but sacred to the faithful — a 'you must have seen hundreds of episodes first' finale that sits high on anime fans' Letterboxd lists.

Did you know? Its opening weekend ended Demon Slayer: Mugen Train's roughly 12-week reign at #1 on the Japanese box office — fitting, since the film literally opens with a Demon Slayer parody.