2017 was a dark year for Live Action Anime Films. In the States we got two back to back bombs
in Netflix’s Death Note and Ghost in the Shell.
Even Japan wasn’t immune as Fullmetal Alchemist crashed and burned in
the most boring fashion possible. All in
all, it was a year that told us in no small way that maybe man should stop
trying to adapt a medium that is able to do all of the things Live Action Films
cannot. And then I found Gintama. I had never seen the Anime before and only
knew of the name alone. Yet I was
hearing that in a year of whitewashing and soul lacking classic characters,
this was the film that beat the odds and won.
And for the most part, yeah it did just that.
A word of warning to those going in: if you aren’t familiar
with the world of Gintama, like I was, you aren’t going to be any more enlightened
about how the world works than you were going in (they even joke about it in
the films opening sequence). You could
scratch your head about why aliens with big heads and those who look like Giant
cartoon birds are walking around an Edo period market place with the Shinsengumi
chasing bandits in the streets…but honestly, if you’re really, really, really
into the movie you’re not going to care.
Gintama can be about explanations but it isnt about world building, it
goal at the end of the day is to have as much fun as possible with the elements
presented and, in that regard, it pulls off a big win.
Much of that success comes from the overall energy
brought to the table. Gintama is the
most Anime like Live Action Film ive ever seen.
From the cast reactions to the over the top sound effects of shouts and
slaps to the rapid fire close ups, this movie is trying to be Anime all the
time and its kind of refreshing. Best of
all, it is really, really funny. Even if
some of the jokes fly over your head, die hard Anime fans and even casual ones
will get a chuckle at all of the in joke Anime and Manga references which
include Dragon Ball, Gundam and One Piece to name a few. Kind of like Deadpool, Gintama isn’t afraid
to break the fourth wall and let the viewer know, “yes, you’re seeing this
reference and we know what it is…and you’re glad its here too”. And while he shares a few similarities with
Deadpool (so many Anime and Manga references), film lead and series protagonist
Gintoki is more relatable to Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin…except he’s
lazy and plenty rude. Still his heart is always in the right place and he seeks
to find a way to protect those around him with a sword rather than flat out
kill. And he’s got a great supporting
cast to bounce off of too. His verbal
spars with this worlds version of the Shinsengumi are priceless, especially
with Kondo, who gets some of the films biggest laughs. Special recognition should also go to the
pretty but femme Gintoki like Kagura and her rivalry with sexy film henchwoman,
the gun totting Makoto Kijima…and the commentary provided on it by the Lolita
loving Takechi.
The action isn’t quite up to the spellbinding, genre
defining standards of Rurouni Kenshin but there’s still plenty of fun to be hand
in the sword slashing showdowns. I will
say the action scenes are sort of few and far between and a lot of it is saved
for the ending but, when it’s on screen it does it’s job admirably. For the most part, this is definitely an
action comedy with an emphasis on the comedy…for the first two thirds of the
film. I thought a lot about the films
pacing and, a lot of the time, it didn’t bother me because I was loving the
humor and the characters (even if some jokes went on a bit longer than they
should have). But when the final battle
begins, the pacing and storytelling flaws cant be ignored. The tone of the film changes so…dramatically
as if Gintama is trying to be something super serious when it was doing just
fine balancing laughter even in the face of darkness. Trouble also comes from trying to balance two
stories. You have the revenge plot of Gintoki’s
old comrade, Takasugi, which is positioned to be the overarching plot across multiple
films (should more be made). And then
you have the “Possessed Sword” storyline which is the kind of tale you’d expect
from a stand alone film in an Anime series.
There’s a sudden need to deepen both storylines, wrap one up and bookmark
the other in the span of 30 minutes that tends to drag out longer than it should
and it brings things down quite a bit. What
action that does pop up is great but the switch in gears was unnecessary…I don’t
know, maybe if I knew the show better I might get it. Either way, Gintama should have stuck to one
story rather than two because it was on a good roll until it was time to cross
both paths and push them towards a mutual conclusion.
Gintama was the underdog Live Action Anime film of
2017. While clearly not without flaws,
it goes for broke entertainment wise.
The comedy is gold and the cast is having an absolute blast (seriously
there had to be a ton of takes because I doubt anyone could keep a straight
face the whole time). The references
range from chuckle to laugh out loud brilliance and you wont believe the titles
(and even a couple of icons) they bring up throughout. I’m not sure watching this movie would make me
want to commit to watching 300+ episodes of the Anime series but I would like
to see more of this films universe. I don’t
need anything explained, I don’t even need deep philosophy (thought what was
presented wasn’t bad). I just need
Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura running around Edo getting into trouble with Aliens,
swordsman and…any random person really.
Gintama is the renewed faith in Live Action Anime we’ve sorely needed
since Rurouni Kenshin. It had a great
start and I hope it gets better in future installments.
7.5/10
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