It's time to say goodbye to the Odd Jobs, Shinsengumi and every single other character Gintama has picked up along the way on its 16-year route between its initial air date and the day the final movie, Gintama: The Very Final, hits North American theaters on Nov. 21.

Gintama's Season 7, which aired in 2018, brought all the characters back together for the 'Silver Soul Arc' that many believed would be the end. But the anime pulled a characteristic gag and instead performed a time skip that completely changed the playing field. Here's what you need to know before The Very Final hits theaters.

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Anime Gintama Gintoki Hijikata Soul Switch

Gintama's main antagonist Utsuro, who is an alter-ego of Gintoki's beloved teacher Shoyo, had enacted his plan to take over Earth, while Gintoki and his assorted company prepared to defend Edo. Naturally, this partnership did not always go smoothly, and it took the promise of imminent destruction to stop the infighting and foster some unity among the Earth army. Ultimately, after a final confrontation of many forces, Utsuro triumphed over Gintoki and the Earth army anyway and Edo was destroyed.

Than the Gintama tale jumped forward two years, where everyone had gone their separate ways. Katsura had grown a mustache and become Prime Minister in a likely homage to Roy Mustang. Shinpachi now parted his hair and walked around acting the part of the Gintoki he first met. Kagura supposedly had a child, but that was revealed to also be a gag the moment she and Okita started fighting upon their reunion. Most significantly, Gintoki made a tentative peace with Takasugi, and the two shared what they've been up to the past two years.

Utsuro, meanwhile, is far from a clear-cut villain. He is a vessel for a large amount of the substance known as Altana -- which gave rise to a number of evil alternate personalities -- but also to the kindhearted Shoyo, who was the personality Gintoki was once forced to kill. Though beheaded, Utsuro's regenerative abilities were able to bring him back at that time and also after the destruction of Edo, which left the body completely in Utsuro's control.

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However, Gintoki found the baby Utsuro and cared for him, and the child matured rapidly into a sweet youngster. He confided in Gintoki that he had memories of his past lives, including Shoyo's. When pursued by enemies who would reattach him to Altana, the boy ripped out his heart and gave it to Gintoki to prevent any further resurrections. Knowing all this, Gintoki and Takasugi entered an uneasy alliance to take the boy back and save their teacher.

Gintama: The Very Final will be the ultimate showdown between Gintoki and Utsuro, as well as those who have been using Altana to wreak havoc all over the universe. No one's safety is guaranteed and there's no guessing what this showdown will mean for Odd Jobs or the three students who once studied under Shoyo. Whether a movie will be able to wrap up the storylines of all the major characters also remains to be seen. However, as of this writing, Gintama: The Very Final is 10th on MyAnimeList with an overall ranking of 9.01, so it's fair to say Gintama fans should be very excited and counting down the days until Nov. 21.

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