|
The last couple of months have been pretty good for films, with Ninja Scroll, Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike and Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King all hitting the shelves. But of all of them it's Gintama The Movie which I have been most intrigued by. Gintama is set in a fictional Japan
that was conquered by aliens during the feudal era, leaving it locked in the
samurai age but with a smattering of futuristic and modern technology.
After a hard-fought victory against the samurai of Edo, the aliens have brought
a kind of fractious peace and the remaining samurai have taken up other jobs or
have become outlaws and terrorists fighting against the new rulers.
Gintoki is a skilled but lazy samurai who has taken to running an odd jobs
company with his two assistants - aspiring samurai Shinpachi and the
superhumanly strong Kagura - and takes on any job in order to pay his rent.
His latest job seems quite straightforward, he is hired by a pair of swordsmiths
to try and recover a sword which has been stolen and used in a series of
assassinations of known samurai, but matters are complicated by the news that
one of the victims of these attacks was their friend Kotaro Katsura.
Whilst Gin searches for the sword, Shinpachi and Kagura are hired by Elizabeth -
a giant bird creature - to try and find Katsura, who has not been seen since he
was attacked and is presumed dead. However, the attacks on the samurai are
only the beginning. There's a dark plan at work behind the scenes and Gin,
Shinpachi and Kagura may be biting off more than they can chew with the
investigation. What are the attacks really about? And can Gin hope
to combat an opponent who easily defeated the skilled fighter Katsura? |
|
Gintama is one of those epic anime series that has taken a long time to reach our shores. It's pretty popular in Japan, clocking up over 250 anime episodes, several specials and nearly 50 collected volumes of manga, but its distinctly Japanese setting and frequent references and jokes about Japanese society and life made many Western distributors a bit wary of licensing it. In the UK you can get the manga from VIZ Media, but this film - which is based on the events of episodes 58 to 61 of the anime series - is the first anime incarnation of |
|
|
the franchise released here. I'm always a little wary of films based on long-running franchises as often they are aimed at an existing audience and spend little or no time explaining who anyone is or the story so far. It's therefore worrying that a film set partway through series 2 of the anime is the first many will get to see of these franchise. In fairness though the film does a reasonable job of giving you a grounding on the characters and premise of the series, with Gin granted a few flashbacks showing his childhood to flesh out his character and a few lines that pretty much tell you all you need to know about the villains and their grudges. There is a lack of depth around the pasts of the supporting cast, but that doesn't really stop the film being enjoyable. And enjoyable it is, despite the
more dramatic direction of the story as it progresses the film is
largely a comedy, and is frequently bizarre. The tone is set by an
intro sequence which breaks the fourth wall with cheerful abandon, the
characters wondering why Warner Bros had decided to fund the film and
whether they knew what it was about, and is merrily bizarre from then
on. You have Elizabeth, a giant bird thing who speaks by showing
wooden signposts (something borrowed from Ranma 1/2, but fun
nonetheless), the tomboyish and quick-tempered Kagura taunting the bad
guys and a swordsmith who is so used to the clang of metal he can only
shout. There's plenty of sight gags and stupid situations, some
references to other anime franchises and some great interplay between
the characters, whilst the animation and art is distinctive and suitably
fast paced. The action is pretty good too, with plenty of
swordfights and even a battle between flying gunships over Tokyo Bay,
whilst the story hints at plenty of additional background detail which
is hopefully explored in depth by the series itself. |
|
|
The story does let the film down though. Firstly it is suspiciously similar to the plot of season 9 of Bleach, featuring as it does a sword that merges with its wielder to grant awesome powers at a serious cost and a secret group harbouring old grudges and a plot to take over the city. It's also not quite as good at the drama as it is at the comedy, with some of the more serious scenes seeming a little stagy and some of the meaning lost unless you have the background knowledge of the series. Whilst you can mostly enjoy it |
|
without being familiar with the franchise there are some parts where the background knowledge would be useful, not least around Katsura and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is probably the film's weak link, albeit a funny weak link. There's no explanation as to why there is a giant bird / person in a bird costume walking around, or what its relationship with Katsura is, but every character seems to treat it completely normally despite no other characters in the film being remotely like it. It's odd, funny, but odd. To be honest that sums up Gintama The Movie nicely, it's funny but odd. There are several gags that fall flat if you're not familiar with Japanese history, society or the franchise itself, but for the most part it has its own unique brand of humour that makes it surprisingly engaging and entertaining. The plot is derivative, and there's a lot of background detail missing that would help flesh out the story, but there's plenty of action and it is great fun. It isn't above making fun of itself, particularly during the short intro and outro sequences that bookend the film, and whilst there's nothing particularly spectacular about the film story-wise it has an engaging cast who you want to see more of. Whilst this film may not be the best of starting points for the franchise it is certainly more accessible than some of the Bleach and Naruto films, and it has the feel of some of the action comedy anime from the 80's and 90's like Ranma 1/2 and The Slayers, which is no bad thing. Gintama The Movie may not be the best anime title released this Christmas, but there's plenty to like and if it opens the possibility of the series coming here then I for one will be looking forward to seeing more. Extras: None. A bit disappointing, it would have been nice to see some kind of promo for the series itself. Ratings Feature:
|
