10:36 PM

okay so i'm going to be upfront if you haven't watched all of Gintama, this movie will absolutely destroy you in the best and worst way simultaneously. and if you HAVE watched all of it, buckle up because this one hits different

first things first the movie opens with a Dragon Ball Z parody summarizing the key events of the last two years and honestly that alone set the tone perfectly. only Gintama would go into its own emotional series finale by roasting Dragon Ball. legendary behavior

the core of the movie is Gintoki, Takasugi and Katsura pushing through the Tendoushuu forces to reach the Terminal, where the mothership is absorbing massive amounts of Altana and channeling it into the body of child Shouyou to resurrect him and grant true immortality. and that's where it gets emotionally complicated because Utsuro isn't just a villain, he's a vessel for both the cruel alter-ego that took over and the kindhearted Shoyo, the teacher Gintoki was once forced to kill. so the final fight isn't just action it's Gintoki literally fighting the ghost of someone he loved in order to set him free. i was NOT okay

the flashbacks are perfectly timed just when the action gets overwhelming, the film slows down with emotive callbacks that bring you back to everything that built up to this moment. it's such a smart structural choice because it makes you feel the weight of 15 years in real time

my only gripe is with a runtime of just 1 hour and 44 minutes, it was ambitious trying to give every character one last moment, and it did feel a little overcrowded. some storylines like Kondo and Otae deserved more than a quick glance. you can feel the movie straining under the weight of how many people it's trying to honor

but then the fake ending with Tama traveling into the future, revealed to be just a fragment of Hasegawa's imagination, had me both laughing and crying at the same time which is the most Gintama thing that has ever happened. the show trolled us one final time and i respect it so much

ultimately this movie is a love letter to 15 years of memories and it earns every emotional moment it asks you to feel. it's not a perfect movie but it's a perfect goodbye