Shonen Jump's long-running sci-fi/historical comedy manga Gintama represents many things to many people. When it started publication in 2003, the idea of "meta" was not notwithstanding a very big deal in the public consciousness, and Gintama quickly became one of the nigh meta manga series in existence. By by the time it ended, about Gintama fans would by and large think the many, many times that the series announced its finale, and the many, many times its creator Hideaki Sorachi and the anime characters as well had to repent for the fake outs.

Gintama's fake endings were a beloved tradition for its fans. In a series with many running gags about production troubles and toll-saving measures, it was i of the more annoying, admitting hilarious inside jokes. When the series actually ended, some were left confused and hoped it was another fake-out; others were just sad to come across it go. The faux-outs are an enduring legacy of Gintama as a series, non only as one of the best examples of its meta qualities but likewise a reflection of its somewhat turbulent publication history. Every bit Gintama: The Last is finally hitting N America, permit's expect back at all the fake-out endings the series has had.

Gintama's Fake Endings Began In Anime

Gintama first anime fake ending

Given the manga's long rails record of imitation endings, some may be surprised to know that theGintama Boob tube anime really started the whole "finale scam" gag way earlier the manga did.

In Episode 125, during the center of its ongoing Season 3 (or Series i), the anime produced an episode called "Inbound The Final Chapter!," which aired in 2008. The episode begins with the Gintama specialty of a non-moving Yorozuya and our three protagonists discussing the potential finale of the series. It is a partial recap, and the production squad acknowledges that they demand to preserve material in social club to cease upwards the rest of the season.

Of course, the audiences are in the on the joke since everyone knows there are another 25 episodes to become in the flavor, and the characters in the anime likewise admit this fact. It'due south is simply some other style to complain about the difficulties of anime production. Only no one knew then that this would exist only the beginning of a very long franchise tradition.

Episode 150, the actual end of Season 3, titled "All's Well That Ends Well," in one case once again appear a fake finale for the Goggle box series. It begins as an emergency broadcast with our three protagonists dressed in blackness suits and accompanied by somber music as if they are attending a funeral. The creators used the economical crunch that was happening in the U.Southward. at the fourth dimension as an alibi to end the anime while making fun of its product company, Sunrise. An ominous figure that represents Shonen Jump emerges, ends this fake-out and forces the Gintama crew to go dorsum to work, capping it all with a simulated ending pose that looks like a real ending.

Other notable fake-outs are in the blithe films. At the end of Gintama: The Movie, all the characters debate over who gets to exist in the second film, while the anime'due south distributor, Warner Bros., ends everyone's dream by announcing it is abandoning the project. The second movie, Gintama: The Final Affiliate and now the third picture Gintama: The Concluding, all tease the stop in their titles, though the tertiary motion-picture show promises a real catastrophe for the serial.

Just the virtually notorious faux ending from the anime is no dubiousness its very last installment, Episode 367. The episode begins with a proper first half, titled "There Are Lines Even Villains Tin can't Cross," which is not that heady at all for a final episode, only that changes with the 2nd half, "Gintama Concluding Ending Scamming Trial."

Here, series creator Sorachi (as his gorilla avatar) is put on trial for all the simulated ending scams that he put the production through. It is revealed that the anime production committee wanted the manga and anime to terminate at the same fourth dimension and planned ahead for it, but Sorachi connected to expand the manga. As time went on and with no terminate in sight, the anime had to rearrange its plans several times, eventually still having to end on a cliffhanger. Therefore, the anime is not simply finished, but ironically, it concluded on one last simulated catastrophe… that'southward really the real cease of the series.

The Gintama Manga's Unfortunate Fake Out Endings

Compared to the anime, theGintama manga has a more troubled history. It started as a major hit in Shonen Jump -- at 1 point, nigh every bit popular equally the 'Big Three' -- has gotten more ane excellent anime adaptation, a shockingly proficient life-action motion-picture show series, a successful light novel adaption and video games, too.

Yet, towards the end of its run, Gintama lost a lot of popularity due to it splot being dragged out, a lot of repetition in terms of story structure, and a villain that just seemed unkillable. Its ranking in Shonen Bound started to drop towards the bottom, so it was time to wrap up the series.

Fans accept found that as early as 2016, it was announced that Gintama was entering its last arc, Silver Soul. As alluded to in Episode 367 of the anime, Sorachi continued to expand the plot, meaning that even though everyone else (including Shonen Jump, probably) was anticipating the finale and trying to program for information technology, but the manga's catastrophe just never came -- to the delight of many fans.

In August 2018, Shonen Jump announced that Gintama will end with 1 final affiliate, simply when the chapter came in September, it turned out the series was merely moving to Jump'southward spinoff magazine,Jump GIGA. Sorachi sincerely apologized to fans in Vol. 76 of the manga, saying that he had hoped the series would terminate in Shonen Jump and that he had failed the fans. Information technology was a very sad situation and some did meet this as a de facto counterfoil for the series, every bit GIGA is mostly reserved for upward-and-coming talents and spin-off series.

After moving to GIGA, Gintama was supposed to publish its concluding 3 capacity, which continued from December 2018 to February 2019, and every single embrace of GIGA teased Gintama's impending finale. Simply then the series moved again… to Bound's Gintama app. Yes, Jump made an app only for Gintama. The series ran on the app for its final two capacity from May to June. And even so, there was a snafu: information technology was first appear that the finale would be published on June 17, 2019, but information technology was delayed until June 20.

Gintama'south Actual Catastrophe

And then,Gintama ended for real this time. The latest motion-picture show,Gintama: The Last adapts the final chapters of the manga, thus giving us an actual decision to the anime every bit well. Sorachi has not done any more of the manga since Gintama's conclusion, but given his penchant for faking endings, let's hope this is not the final time he scams us.

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Xianwei Wu (171 Articles Published)

Xianwei Wu is contempo graduate from Journalism and mass communications from the University of Iowa. She has written academic papers on fandom and popular civilisation issues. If interested in any of her academic work, please reach out to her at: dabaiyan86@yahoo.com But her true passion has always been anime and manga, something she has loved since offset grade. She is besides a massive fujoshi and is unashamed of her love for everything Boy'south Love related. She besides loves talking well-nigh Japanese voice actors and the manga and anime industry in general.

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