GINTAMA 2: RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

Ratcheting Up the Mayhem for Sequel to Smash Hit

Venue(s): Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills
August 17, 2018 -
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Official website: gintama-film.com
Theater website: hlo.tohotheater.jp/net/schedule/009/TNPI2000J01.do


Title: 銀魂 2: 掟は破るためにこそある (Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu tame ni koso aru)
Director: Yuichi Fukuda (福田雄一 )
Duration: 130 min

Last year, we predicted that Yuichi Fukuda’s live-action Gintama would become a franchise (not such a tough call, even though the film lied and claimed it would be the “first and final” live-action adaptation). Gintama had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, became the domestic live-action box-office champ in 2017, and went on to a huge theatrical haul in China and elsewhere. So it’s no surprise that the sequel is already here. With its fanatical global fan base and Fukuda’s cult following in Japan (from stage, TV and screen), Gintama 2 could go even further.

[Read our coverage of 2017’s Gintama here.]

As ever, Warner Bros. is releasing its new film with English subs at Toho Cinemas in Roppongi, so get your cosplay on and join the over-the-top fun.

Gintama 2: Rules Are Made to Be Broken conflates the previously unconnected Shinsengumi Crisis and the Shogun Assassination arcs of Hideaki Sorachi’s long-running “science fiction super samurai spectacular” manga series in Weekly Shonen Jump (which has sold 55 million copies in Japan). The beloved gag manga is set in the alternate universe of past-and-future Tokyo, where aliens have taken charge of Edo (old Tokyo) — taking all the good jobs and confiscating all the samurai swords.

The action takes place around the Odd Jobs yorozuya agency run by silver-maned, nose-picking ex-samurai hero Gintoki Sakata (played by Shun Oguri in the films), and his sidekicks Shinpachi Shimura (Masaki Suda) and Kagura (Kanna Hashimoto).

In Gintama 2, the trio finally runs out of money, and is forced to look for part-time work — leading to a gig involving Shogun Shige Shige Tokugawa (Ryo Katsuji). Yorozuya Agency is hired to protect Shige Shige from an assassination attempt, helping Matsudaira Katakuriko (Shinichi Tsutsumi) secretly smuggle him to safety along with the Shinsengumi, leading to mayhem as enemy ninja show up.

Meanwhile, a rift divides the Shinsengumi special forces, after second-in-command Toshiro Hijikata (Yuya Yagira) is mysteriously embedded with a chip that essentially splits his personality, which causes convulsions involving leader Isao Kondo (Kankuro Nakamura), Sogo Okita (Ryo Yoshizawa) and advisor Kamotaro Ito (Haruma Miura).

Titillation is provided by the cabaret area where Shinpachi’s sister and Gintoki crush Tae Shimura (Masami Nagasawa) works, under a boss played by Fukuda regular Jiro Sato, who starred, hilariously, in the first Gintama.

Also returning for Gintama Masaki Okada as Kotaro Katsura, Gintoki’s childhood friend and a leader of the resistance; his sidekick Elizabeth, a big white blob who resembles Fujiko Fujio’s Q-taro character and speaks only through punchline-sign language (fan favorite Takayuki Yamada is apparently “portraying” the blob).

Gintama’s release last year was accompanied by a live-action net show with the same cast that debuted on Docomo's dTV streaming service oneday after the film's opening. Gintama 2 will also get an accompanying live-action show on dTV, for those who subscribe. Others will just have to wait for Gintama 3 next year.

Photos: ©空知英秋／集英社 ©2018 映画「銀魂２」製作委員会

Toho Cinemas Roppongi