Gintama is a tremendous live action adaptation that does justice to the manga.

 

It's once again time for another live-action adaptation that did justice to the source material. Gintama is a very well known manga, having sold over 50 million copies and has also been adapted into a very successful anime. Truth be told, I had always thought that Gintama would be really difficult to adapt into live-action due to Hideaki Sorachi's quirky sense of humour in regards to his characters and the satire of various pop-culture franchises and themes. Nevertheless, a movie was announced to be filmed in 2016 and released the following year. Yuichi Fukuda was the director tasked with doing the source material justice and I think he succeeded. 

Gintama is set in what is essentially an alternate timeline. In the late Edo period, humanity is attacked by aliens known as the Amanto. Samurai fight the Amanto in a bloody war before the shogun ultimately surrenders to the alien invaders. Laws are passed in which Amanto can come and go as they please, where as the samurai are forced to give up their katanas under the new sword prohibition. This prevents anyone from starting a war by rebelling against the cowardly shogun or the Amanto. 

The main protagonist of Gintama, Gintoki Sakata runs a freelance agency from which he and his crew do odd-jobs. He fought against the Amanto in the war along with old friends Kotaro Katsura and Shinsuke Takasugi. Alongside Gintoki, Shinpachi Shimura is the son of a former martial arts/sword fighting dojo instructor, a humongous dog named Sadahara and the supernaturally strong girl Kagura complete the line-up of the agency. One day, Katsura is attacked by the assassin Nizo Okada and the alien (Or person in a costume as Gintoki jokes about) Elizabeth, who was friends with Katsura needs Gintoki and his friends help to track the man down. Whilst investigating, Gintoki also receives a request from a talented blacksmith, Tetsuya Murata, to locate a famous sword named Benizakura. Both jobs are soon discovered to be linked as there's far more going on than meets the eye as the Shinsengumi are drawn into the conflicts and all hel breaks loose. 

Yuichi Fukuda proved to be a competent director and I thought that he did a wonderful job at adapting the manga to live-action. He managed to ensure that the actors stayed true to their roles and it worked like a charm. He managed to bring the unique and wacky setting of the late Edo period under an alien invasion to life with an ecliptic blend of Edo period buildings, costumes and streets as well as much more modern technology and even parodying other manga and anime. There's some interesting cat and tiger like aliens which Gintoki mocks with his use of nyan, flying ships that are seemingly rocket propelled and even off kilter sword designs. I enjoyed a number of the references and jokes, including the One Piece fruit bit and the old Char Aznable. The cinematography is pretty solid if at times unspectacular, it simply did the job.

It's kind of funny being an avid fan of the Shinsengumi, studying their history and watching a ton of dramas and movies about them and then seeing their portrayal in Gintama. I found their costumes to be rather dapper and a bit flashy in a good way. Seeing Isami Kondo being a nudist and primarily used as comedic relief is hilarious and contrasts nicely with the cool Toshizo Hijikata and the bazooka wielding Sougo Okita. 

What I enjoyed the most in Gintama was the fight scenes. They captured the essence of the fights in the anime superbly well with the choreography being heavily influenced by it and it actually resulted in some visually entertaining scenes.I won't critique the scenes too harshly as it's a comedic movie and should not be taken seriously, but I did find the static bind in Gintoki's second fight with Okada to be egregious due to it's length. Overall, though, Gintoki's fight scenes were all very well done and I really enjoyed the climatic showdown devolving into a fist fight. The scenes are shot incredibly well with each swing of the sword, fist and kick being framed perfectly and the action is esay to follow. There's some great use of slow-motion shots to emphasise certain blows and even comedic elements. 

I also greatly appreciated the epic music that played during the climatic showdown. It sounded like the sort of song you'd hear in a final boss battle in a video game and put a smile on my face. The soundtrack was rather solid in general and the Gintoki opening song made me laugh. It's also always nice to hear UVERworld, as they provided a solid song titled Decided as the theme. 

Shun Oguri has proven time and time again to be extremely reliable as a leading man and also very versatile as an actor. He also has a certain charismatic charm and gravitas that makes him ideal for roles such as Gintoki and it's hard not to root for him. As an action drama and movie veteran, he naturally excelled at the fight scenes and he was hilarious when it came to his comedic scenes. There was also some solid emotional heart to the movie as he fought against and tried to get through to an old friend in an epic showdown which worked due to Oguri's talent as an actor.

Another stand out for me was Jiro Sato as Henpeita Takechi. His perverted nature lead to hilarious scenes with Kagura, Matoko Kijima and even Shinpachi Shimura. His delivery was on point and had me rolling, I'll always fondly remember that he's not a lolicon, he's a feminist! Him capitulating to Kagura's demands even when she was supposed to be a prisoner was great. 

Everyone in the cast did a fantastic job and for the most part the casting was on point. The only miscast person was arguably Tsuyoshi Domoto as Shinsuke Takasugi. I felt like a Takeru Satoh, Go Ayano, Kohei Suzuki or Shota Matsuda would have suited the role more. Still, Domoto did the best he could and didn't do a bad job at all. He in fact did tremendously well in the fight scene that he had. 

Overall, I absolutely adored the live action adaptation of Gintama. I'd highly recommend it to fans of the anime and manga. I'd also recommend it to those who enjoy action comedies that delve into delightful absurdity and satire.