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Anime Look Back: Gintama Movie 1 Summary

One night at a bridge, the Joi terrorist Kotaro Katsura is attacked by a ronin. Katsura's comrade, Elizabeth, goes to the freelancer trio Yorozuya requesting for their help in finding Katsura. While Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura to search for Katsura, Gintoki Sakata receives a request from the swordsmith Murata Tetsuya to retrieve the cursed sword Benizakura which has been stolen to commit serial murder. Shinpachi and Elizabeth are ambushed by the assassin Nizo Okada, a previous antagonist known to the Yorozuya as Nizo the Butcher, who claims to have killed Katsura, showing them the hair he cut off. Gintoki comes to protect Shinpachi and Elizabeth but is overwhelmed by Nizo and the Benizakura, which is revealed to be no ordinary cursed sword. Before Nizo lands another fatal hit on Gintoki, Shinpachi slashes off one of Nizo's arms, forcing the latter to retreat when people started to gather at the commotion.


Meanwhile, Kagura, with the help of her pet Inugami Sadaharu, finds hints of Katsura's whereabouts in a ship owned by the Joi terrorist group Kiheitai led by Gintoki and Katsura's former ally, Shinsuke Takasugi. After the Kiheitai subdues Kagura, it is revealed that Nizo is one of them and that Murata Tetsuya has been acting as an accomplice in hopes of perfecting the Benizakura, which they had been mass-producing as a bioweapon. While Gintoki is recovering from his wounds, Murata Tetsuko reveals her brother's intentions and requests him to stop her brother. Shinpachi and Elizabeth discover Kagura's location through Sadaharu, with Shinpachi infiltrating the ship to save Kagura while Elizabeth leads Katsura's faction to attack the Kiheitai. While under attack, Takasugi slashes at Elizabeth only to be attacked by Katsura who has been hiding in the ship disguised as another Elizabeth. In the middle of the chaos between the two factions, Katsura blows up the factory and destroys all the remaining Benizakura, save for the one Nizo holds. Katsura wishes to confront Takasugi once again with Kagura and Shinpachi aiding him, facing off against two of the Kiheitai's core members: Matako Kijima the gunslinger and Henpeita Takechi the strategist, respectively.


Tetsuko gives Gintoki a new sword she created to battle Okada on their way to the Kiheitai's ship. Despite not having fully recovered yet, Gintoki manages to stay on par with Nizo's enhanced skills due to the latter's body suffering great stress from the Benizakura. Even as the Benizakura exerts Nizo's body to strengthen itself, Gintoki eventually overpowers Nizo as stated by Tetsuya that "the life or death confrontation [may have] awakened memories of battle that lay dormant inside of [Gintoki]." Nizo is eventually consumed by the Benizakura and goes berserk, interrupting Shinpachi and Kagura's respective battles. As Shinpachi, Kagura and Tetsuko try to save Gintoki from Nizo, Tetsuya sacrifices his life to protect his sister, realizing the error of his ways. Having briefly recovered, Gintoki uses Tetsuko's sword to finish off Nizo and destroys the Benizakura. Later, Takasugi reveals his intentions to destroy the Bakufu along with the rest of the world that took his, Katsura's and Gintoki's master, Shoyo Yoshida, from them. In order to gain power, Takasugi - along with the 5th core member of the Kiheitai Bansai Kawakami - allied with the amanto Harusame space pirates which Katsura and the Yorozuya had previously encountered, promising them Gintoki and Katsura's heads. Gintoki's group reunites with Katsura's and escape from the ship before declaring Takasugi as an enemy, that the next time they meet they will show no mercy regardless of their past.


Besides the main storyline, the film features two shorts added at the beginning and the end. The former has the Yorozuya trio comically introducing themselves to the audience with their self-proclaimed Gintama specialty background-only style while the latter has the series' cast discussing ideas for a second movie until they are interrupted by stand-ins of the Warner Bros. the Yorozuya initially referred to as Mr. War and Mr. Ner (refer to the former short) who cancel their next projects due to falsely claiming their Gintama anime are not considered "mega-hit" in Japan, as they are considered "ripoffs" of other "mega-hit" manga like Bleach and Naruto.


Rating: 9/10

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