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 yet a very big deal in the public consciousness, and Gintama quickly became one of the most meta manga series in existence. By by the time it ended, most Gintama fans would mostly remember the many, many times that the series announced its finale, and the many, many times its creator Hideaki Sorachi and the anime characters also had to apologize 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 cost-saving measures, it was one of the more annoying, albeit hilarious inside jokes. When the series actually ended, some were left confused and hoped it was another fake-out; others were just sad to see it go. The fake-outs are an enduring legacy of Gintama as a series, not only as one of the best examples of its meta qualities but also a reflection of its somewhat turbulent publication history. As Gintama: The Final is finally hitting North America, let’s look back at all the fake-out endings the series has had.
Gintama's Fake Endings Began In Anime
Given the manga’s long track record of fake endings, some may be surprised to know that the Gintama TV anime actually started the whole “finale scam” gag way before the manga did.
In Episode 125, during the middle of its ongoing Season 3 (or Series 1), the anime produced an episode called “Entering 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 team acknowledges that they need to preserve material in order to finish up the rest of the season.
Of course, the audiences are in the on the joke since everyone knows there are another 25 episodes to go in the season, and the characters in the anime also acknowledge this fact. It's is just another way to complain about the difficulties of anime production. But no one knew then that this would be only the beginning of a very long franchise tradition.
Episode 150, the actual end of Season 3, titled “All's Well That Ends Well,” once again announced a fake finale for the TV series. It begins as an emergency broadcast with our three protagonists dressed in black suits and accompanied by somber music as if they are attending a funeral. The creators used the economic crisis that was happening in the U.S. at the time as an excuse to end the anime while making fun of its production company, Sunrise. An ominous figure that represents Shonen Jump emerges, ends this fake-out and forces the Gintama crew to go back to work, capping it all with a fake ending pose that looks like a real ending.
Other notable fake-outs are in the animated films. At the end of Gintama: The Movie, all the characters argue over who gets to be in the second movie, while the anime’s distributor, Warner Bros., ends everyone’s dream by announcing it is abandoning the project. The second movie, Gintama: The Final Chapter and now the third movie Gintama: The Final, all tease the end in their titles, though the third film promises a real ending for the series.
But the most notorious fake ending from the anime is no doubt its very last installment, Episode 367. The episode begins with a proper first half, titled "There Are Lines Even Villains Can't Cross," which is not that exciting at all for a final episode, but that changes with the second half, "Gintama Final Ending Scamming Trial."
Here, series creator Sorachi (as his gorilla avatar) is put on trial for all the fake ending scams that he put the production through. It is revealed that the anime production committee wanted the manga and anime to end at the same time and planned ahead for it, but Sorachi continued to expand the manga. As time went on and with no end in sight, the anime had to rearrange its plans several times, eventually still having to end on a cliffhanger. Therefore, the anime is not only finished, but ironically, it ended on one last fake ending… that’s actually the real end of the series.
The Gintama Manga’s Unfortunate Fake Out Endings
Compared to the anime, the Gintama manga has a more troubled history. It started as a major hit in Shonen Jump -- at one point, almost as popular as the 'Big Three' -- has gotten more than one excellent anime adaptation, a shockingly good life-action film series, a successful light novel adaption and video games, too.
However, 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 Jump started to drop towards the bottom, so it was time to wrap up the series.
Fans have found that as early as 2016, it was announced that Gintama was entering its final 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 plan for it, but the manga's ending just never came -- to the delight of many fans.
In August 2018, Shonen Jump announced that Gintama will end with one last chapter, but when the chapter came in September, it turned out the series was just moving to Jump’s spinoff magazine, Jump GIGA. Sorachi sincerely apologized to fans in Vol. 76 of the manga, saying that he had hoped the series would end in Shonen Jump and that he had failed the fans. It was a very sad situation and some did see this as a de facto cancellation for the series, as GIGA is mostly reserved for up-and-coming talents and spin-off series.
After moving to GIGA, Gintama was supposed to publish its last three chapters, which continued from December 2018 to February 2019, and every single cover of GIGA teased Gintama’s impending finale. But then the series moved again… to Jump’s Gintama app. Yes, Jump made an app just for Gintama. The series ran on the app for its final two chapters from May to June. And even then, there was a snafu: it was first announced that the finale would be published on June 17, 2019, but it was delayed until June 20.
Gintama's Actual Ending
And then, Gintama ended for real this time. The latest movie, Gintama: The Final adapts the final chapters of the manga, thus giving us an actual conclusion to the anime as 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 last time he scams us.