Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Gintama Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 21, 2018

In terms of overall strangeness, nothing will probably ever be able to totally replace Hare and Guu, one of the first anime I reviewed outside of more mainstream fare like Akira, but if I were forced to offer a runner up, one of the finalists would most likely be Gintama. Perhaps because in the many years since Hare and Guu first traipsed across my television screen I’ve reviewed a lot of anime, I actually had kind of forgotten about Gin Tama: The Movie, thinking instead that I was having some kind of weird déjà vu as I watched this live action adaptation. Everything clicked into place memory wise once a giant white duck like creature named Elizabeth toddled into view, though, and indeed that very character is probably as totemic as any in providing an apt example for exactly how gonzo Gintama can be. (As I mentioned in the Gin Tama: The Movie Blu-ray review, this franchise’s title is variously transliterated as either Gintama, GinTama or Gin Tama. Since Well Go USA’s cover lists this as Gintama, that’s the version we’ll use here.)

In a way, you could simply refer to my Gin Tama: The Movie Blu-ray review for a more or less recap of both content and style for this “new, improved” Gintama, since, aside from that aforementioned live action element, this is in some ways one of those “re-creation” remakes a la Gus Van Sant’s version of Psycho, at least in its broad strokes. Once again Gintoki Singata (Shun Oguri) and his acolytes are battling the serial killer known as Nizo Okada (Hirofumi Arai), a villain who has become more or less bionically linked to a magical katana, a sword whose inherent “intelligence” is slowly but surely taking over Nizo’s mind and body.

If there are at least some plot similarities between this outing and the animated Gin Tama: The Movie, the stylistic similarities are probably only more pronounced. Gintama is a franchise which has built much of its appeal and reputation on regularly bashing right through the fourth wall, and that is certainly repeatedly on display here. In fact, much as with Gin Tama: The Movie, this Gintama begins with a series of “false starts”, with (again) repeated Warner Brothers mastheads intruding, before the actual “story” (such as it is) gets underway. But over and over throughout this gonzo enterprise, characters make snide remarks to the audience and repeatedly comment on the action within the frame as if they’re viewers themselves. There is therefore quite a bit of “meta” data floating through the film, with things like the live action representation of the completely outlandish Elizabeth jokingly dismissed as obviously a “guy in a duck suit”.

What repeatedly struck me as perhaps a little odd about this adaptation is how its very style tended to distract rather than support the visuals. Kind of weirdly, the production design on this effort is rather minimal, and in fact a whole long sequence at the end featuring flying pirate ships (what is this, One Piece all of a sudden?) is almost absurdly underdeveloped, with backgrounds that feature nothing but clouds and a “set” that has very little to recommend it. Even the main street where a lot of the action plays out looks like leftovers from some long ago production where things weren’t quite detailed enough. It gives Gintama a kind of lo-fi appearance which is distinctly at odds with some of the high tech ambience (however ultimately silly it all is) of the underlying plot dynamics.

The film probably succeeds better as a series of sometimes outlandish vignettes than it does as an organic story. But even here there’s a kind of hit and miss quality, with some bits (a beetle hunt) being appropriately nutso, and others (the hard of hearing swordsmith) just kind of lying there, listless. Shun Oguri gives a perhaps surprisingly tamped down accounting of Gintoki, leaving most of the hyperbolic performing to the large supporting cast, which includes Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura and Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura.

Gintama Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gintama is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The IMDb only lists a 2K DI under its technical specifications for the film, and I haven't been able to find authoritative data on what cameras were used to digitally capture the imagery. One way or the other, this is a kind of curiously flat looking film, one whose detail levels are repeatedly kept at bay courtesy of a hazy overlay of blue and purple grading and/or lighting techniques. Ubiquitous rather soft looking CGI and green screen elements, especially for backgrounds, don't help to elevate detail levels much, either. That said, there are numerous examples of excellent detail and fine detail levels in the more naturally lit moments, where everything from goofy costumes to brightly colored hair pop with precision and a nicely saturated palette.

Gintama Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

At least arguably a bit more consistently satisfying is Gintama's boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in the original Japanese, with optional English subtitles). As any fan of this franchise will know, Gintama tends to be on the raucous side, and that is certainly the case with this live action cartoon. Sound effects are virtually nonstop throughout the film, with regular engagement of the side and rear channels. There are appealingly bizarre effects applied to everything from the snake like tentacles that emerge from the magical katana (and Nizo himself) to the whisking of Elizabeth's "conversational signs". It's just flat out goofy almost all of the time, but extremely enjoyable for those willing to just go with the flow. Dialogue, effects and score are all rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free and well prioritized track.

Gintama Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Teaser (1080p; 00:35)


• Trailer 1 (1080p; 00:37)


• Trailer 2 (1080p; 1:45)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that the supplements follow one another automatically. After the second trailer plays, the disc then automatically moves on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those other trailers also play at disc boot up.

Gintama Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Anyone who has watched any version of Gintama is probably filled to the brim with various questions, but the big one that kept occurring to me during this live action adaptation was a simple, Why? The film is not stunning enough from a production design standpoint to really make the decision to go to live action seem like a good one, and the relentless "noisiness" of the film gets to be rather tiring after a while, especially considering that Gintama runs for well over two hours (things easily could have been trimmed by at least a half an hour without any major detriments accruing). Fans of the franchise may well want to check this out, since it admittedly does deliver a few scattered laughs, and for those folks, the good news is technical merits are generally strong.