If you could stomach the first Gintama, this movie is a 'must watch' as it's even better in some aspects.


The all star cast of the first Gintama was expanded even more to include Miura Haruma and Kubota Masataka. Miura, perhaps, doesn't quite manage to make his character charismatic enough but his fans would still be pleased with his performance. Kubota, on the other hand, has a field day playing Hitokiri Bansai which is hilarious on too many levels.

Kubota famously played a samurai who fiercely clung to his life but was still ruthlessly killed by Hittokiri Battousai in the first Rurouni Kenshin movie. Here his character is the one who has to ruthlessly kill a small fry that refuses to admit defeat. Moreover, every time Bansai appears on the screen a variation on the Ruroken ost starts playing. Gintama (both manga and the movies) has many pop-culture allusions and homages so, of course, it was only a matter of time before Ruroken jokes made an appearance.

Other homage that is too hilarious for words is Evangelion. The whole movie is worth to watch just for this one joke. The characters of Okada Masaki, Oguri Shun, and Suda wearing drug to earn some money is also unmissable.

Yoshizawa Ryo's Okita and Hasimoto Kanna's Kaguya have great chemistry together as they do in the manga. The best 'frenemies' relationship between Yagira Yuuya's Hijikata and Oguri Shun's Gintoki is also a delight as we watch grumbling Gintoki coming to the aid of too hard-boiled for his own good Hijikata.

The story itself is more coherent than the one in the first movie. The climax may be a bit underwhelming but it's all in a good fun.