General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Gintama: The Movie—Be Forever Yorozuya

Gintama: The Movie—Be Forever Yorozuya (Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare, 劇場版銀魂完結篇万事屋よ永遠なれ) is a 2013 Japanese animated film, the second theatrical film based on Hideaki Sorachi's manga Gintama. Produced by Sunrise and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it opened in Japan on July 6, 2013 with a running time of 110 minutes.¹^•² The film was positioned as the conclusion of the Gintama television anime series, with an entirely original story written by the manga's creator.²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	July 6, 2013, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures; 110 minutes¹^•²
Story	An original, anime-only episode written by manga creator Hideaki Sorachi, in which Gintoki is thrown into a ruined future Edo²
Main staff	Director Yoichi Fujita; script Akatsuki Yamatoya; supervisor Shinji Takamatsu; character design and chief animation direction Shinji Takeuchi¹
Opening weekend	221,469 admissions on 127 screens in two days, ¥281,859,900, more than 140% of the first film's opening³
Final box office	About ¥1.7 billion in Japan⁴
Theme song	"Genjou Destruction" (現状ディストラクション) by SPYAIR⁵
Home video	Blu-ray and DVD released December 18, 2013 by Aniplex⁶

Spoilers

Story

The film follows Sakata Gintoki, leader of the Yorozuya odd-jobs trio in an Edo transformed by an alien invasion. An unexplained force throws him into a future in which he does not exist, where he finds Edo in ruins: the wealthy have left the planet, the poor remain, anti-government activists see an opening to topple the regime, and thugs exploit the loosening of the law.¹

Wandering the ruined city, Gintoki meets two young people: a bespectacled youth who drives off delinquents with a wooden sword bearing the word "Tōyako," and a woman in a Chinese dress patterned after Gintoki's own clothing, leading an enormous dog. They are the grown-up Shinpachi and Kagura, his former companions.¹ Gintoki then confronts a series of drastically changed figures from his past and a shocking truth about the future, and works to reunite his friends and find out what went wrong so he can fix it.¹^•⁷ Promotional material also emphasized that the film would reveal truths about Gintoki's hidden past, including his days as a feared samurai known as the Shiroyasha.²^•⁸

Production and intent

The film was the second Gintama theatrical feature, following Gintama: The Movie: Benizakura Arc, a New Translation (2010). Director Yoichi Fujita had worked on the Gintama anime series, and the original story was written entirely by manga author Hideaki Sorachi as a finale for the anime.² The main staff also included scriptwriter Akatsuki Yamatoya, supervisor Shinji Takamatsu, and character designer and chief animation director Shinji Takeuchi.¹

The Gintama anime was known for repeatedly announcing its own end and then retracting it, so when the title was announced some fans reacted with skepticism. Fujita said the word "Kanketsu-hen" (Final Chapter) in the title was chosen precisely because the series had "too many prior convictions" to be believed otherwise, and that this film was the genuine conclusion of the anime. He explained that a theatrical film, rather than a side story, was a deliberate choice: ending on a large stage with a strong work was preferable to letting a long-running series wear down gradually. At the time of release he stated that there was no offer for a sequel.⁹

Box office

The film opened on 127 screens nationwide and drew 221,469 admissions over its first two days (July 6 and 7, 2013), earning ¥281,859,900 and debuting at fourth place in the national film attendance ranking. Its screen average of ¥2,210,146 per screen was the highest among films released the same day, and its opening was more than 140% of the 2010 Benizakura film's.³ The film ultimately grossed about ¥1.7 billion in Japan.⁴ Box Office Mojo records a worldwide gross of $15,954,700, essentially all from Japan, with small additional releases in Singapore (October 17, 2013) and Hong Kong (December 5, 2013).⁷

Home video and later releases

Aniplex released the film on Blu-ray and DVD on December 18, 2013, in a fully production-limited edition (three discs including a cast talk DVD and a newly written drama CD, plus a complete book and other extras) priced at ¥9,000 before tax for Blu-ray and ¥8,000 for DVD, alongside regular editions.⁶ A novelization by Tomohito Ōsaki, with original work by Hideaki Sorachi, was published by Shueisha under the JUMP jBOOKS label on July 8, 2013, timed to the film's release.¹⁰

The "final chapter" did not hold: the television anime resumed in 2015, and a third film, Gintama: The Final, adapting the manga's ending, opened in January 2021.¹¹ In 2025 the film returned to theaters in a 4DX re-release, alongside a 4DX version of The Final.¹²

Place in the series

Because the anime staff did not know in 2013 whether the series would continue, the film was written as a self-contained, anime-original ending rather than an adaptation of manga chapters, which distinguishes it from the Benizakura film (a retelling of an early arc) and The Final (an adaptation of the manga's conclusion).²^•¹¹ Voice cast members from the series reprised their roles, including Tomokazu Sugita as Gintoki, Daisuke Sakaguchi as Shinpachi, and Rie Kugimiya as Kagura.²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026