I’ve always been in love with stories.

As a kid, I devoured as many books as I could get my hands on. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, yes, but also Neil Gaiman and Thomas Covenant and countless other authors and novels I’ve long since forgotten. Ditto movies, TV, and animation. I consume stories more ravenously than anyone else I know, perhaps moreso than most people on the face of the earth. The experience of losing myself in fiction, of seeing myself reflected in the struggles and triumphs of imaginary people, has meant more to me than I can ever properly put into words. Heck, the reason I started my blog in the first place is because of how desperate I was to communicate that feeling to others. Stories have helped me understand life, helped me better myself, helped me find friends and community I never would have otherwise. Stories matter to me. Stories will always matter to me.

And no story has mattered quite as much to me... as Gintama.

Gintama is, without question, the greatest work of fiction I’ve ever experienced. It’s the funniest comedy I’ve ever laughed at. It’s the most exhilarating action romp I’ve ever cheered at. It’s got the single greatest- and largest- cast of characters you’ll ever find, in anime or elsewhere. Its plot effortlessly sets up the longest narrative domino chain ever and brings it all masterfully crashing down. It weaves together countless threads, countless ideas, countless ways of telling a story, all somehow working in lockstep within the same universe. And just as the cherry on top, it’s also the greatest story about stories ever told. Through its jokes and its drama alike, Gintama is a rousing battle cry for the power of storytelling to change the world, a masterful guide to smashing tired tropes apart, a full-throated argument for the importance of letting old, harmful stories go and letting new, brighter tales take their place. It will make you believe in the power of storytelling- and the importance of doing it right- even if you’re the most jaded person on the face of the earth. And it accomplishes all that while still being, itself, the greatest, most entertaining, most moving, most overwhelming, most beautiful story anyone has ever written. Gintama is the standard against which I judge all other media, the impossible bar that can never be reached again but must always be strived for. Even three years after I finished its TV run, it remains the unmatched pinnacle of all the fiction I’ve seen.

And now, almost two decades after Hideaki Sorachi wrote that first chapter... it’s finally over.

Gintama: the Final is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s the final installment of Gintama’s story. It’s the conclusion to over 360 episodes of buildup and payoff. It’s the final battle for the fate of Edo, the final challenge for Gintoki, Shinpachi, Kagura, Katsura, Takasugi, Sakamoto, Otae, and everyone else in this rowdy, ridiculous city to overcome. Picking up right where the Semi-Final OVA left off, this movie wastes no time jumping straight into the action (well, almost no time; the hilarious recap segment that kicks the whole thing off is the perfect primer for the chaos to come). It’s a nearly movie-long climax, racing from start to finish on pure adrenaline as every single character faces down the remnants of Utsuro’s grand design. Now that the show’s done all the hard legwork of actually setting up the characters and stakes and emotional investment, the movie finale can jump straight into the fire and low the audience away with one staggering action setpiece after another, all building on each other to incomprehensible heights of awe until it finally slows down for a twenty-five minute epilogue at the very end. I’d almost compare it to End of Evangelion on that front; two legendary shows with endings compromised by production issues, finally getting to end things on their own terms with the cinematic scope such grand finales deserve.

Yes, I’m comparing this adaptation of a crass, poop-filled Shonen Jump manga to the series that literally defined the face of modern anime. Deal with it.

Because Jesus fucking criminy hopscotching Christ on a bagel, this movie is amazing. It’s nothing but gobsmacking moment after gobsmacking moment, one jaw-dropping action beat immediately being topped by the next one, a never-ending cascade of sword strikes and punches and explosions and energy blasts all cracking off with the brazen confidence of a series standing at the top of the world, putting on one last spectacular fireworks shower before packing it in for good. To call it epic would be an insult; to call it legendary would be the understatement of the century. And thanks to that big shiny movie budget, it’s all rendered in some of the most stunning animation I’ve seen all year. Every frame is gorgeous, every blow is beautiful, every moment is brought to life not just with polish, but with genuine grace. From the chaos of battle to the moments of love and connection- and yes, even to the batshit absurd comedy- this movie is a visual marvel. Gintoki and Utsuro’s final showdown, in particular, climaxes in a sequence of wordless visual storytelling edited so perfectly, bringing so many of the shows’ most powerful themes and arcs to a close just through the flow of one shot to the next, I almost couldn’t believe it was real. There’s no way human hands could have put something so beautiful together. It just isn’t possible.

But that’s always been the beauty of Gintama, isn’t it? Every time you think it’s finally peaked, it somehow keeps rising higher. This show is defined by doing the impossible over and over again, never resting on its laurels, always striving to be that much better, than much bolder, that much more satisfying to watch unfold. So really, it’s only fitting that The Final manages to blow my expectations out of the water once again for the road. This may not be the most complex or challenging arc Gintama’s ever done, but in terms of sheer impact, this may well be the highest peak it’s ever reached. So many characters, big and small, bringing their story to a close. So many thematic ideas all woven into a grand tapestry, finally complete after fifteen years on air. This show started with such humble beginnings, with roughshod animation and a story that was only barely showing signs of the monster it would grow into. And now, it’s reached its end with an veritable atom bomb of a climax, a sprawling epic reaching its end with unparalleled fireworks and a production lavish enough for the gods themselves. If there’s a bigger glow-up in anime history, name is, because I don’t think it exists.

And I’ve seen that change in real time. I’ve seen this show grow from its humble beginnings, getting better and better by the episode, until it stood head and shoulders above all its contemporaries. I’ve laughed louder, I’ve cried harder, I’ve fallen deeper and deeper in love with every last character living their ridiculous lives in this ridiculous city. Where so many stories falter as they go, Gintama’s footsteps only grew surer. Where so many stories peak well before they end and gradually lose when made them special in the first place, Gintama never stopped setting new gold standards of quality. And where so many anime’s ending fizzle out in disappointment, Gintama sent us home with one of the greatest finales to any piece of media I’ve ever seen. This scrappy underdog has accomplished something that so few of its shonen contemporaries even come close to: it lasted for hundreds of episodes and never stopped improving for a second, finally ending its run as the best possible version of itself. I thought I couldn’t love Gintama any more than I did at the end of its TV run; I’m happy to say this show proved me wrong one last time. I love Gintama more now than I ever did before. I love every step of the journey it’s taken me on. I. Love. Gintama.

But now, it really is over. No more false starts or fake-out endings or unexpected delays for the anime staff to use the characters as mouthpieces to complain about. Gintama is really, truly over. This incredible story I’ve spent god knows how many words gushing over has come to an end at last.

And you know what? I couldn’t be happier.

That may honestly be the most surprising thing about Gintama: the Final. Going into it, I was so certain that when it was over, I’d feel empty. I’d feel sad knowing that this was all the Gintama I was ever going to get. Now that it IS over, though? All I feel is joy. Joy that it ended as perfectly as I could possibly ask for. Joy for all the good times its given me over the years. Joy that I was given something so unspeakably beautiful to carry with me for the rest of my life. Will I miss it? Fucking absolutely. But as this show itself is well aware of, all things in life must come to an end. We can’t hold back the future forever; times change whether we want them to or not. All we can do is move forward, taking with us the things that truly matter and letting them enrich the paths we have yet to walk. Gintama may be over, but it will always be a part of my life. The feelings it brought out of me, the thoughts it inspired in me... my life will forever be touched by the Odd Jobs crew and all the dumbasses they befriended over the years. I couldn’t be more grateful for the journey it’s taken me on.

And I couldn’t be more grateful for being able to share that journey with all of you.

Gintama: the Final is a masterpiece. But really, did you need me to tell you that? The final chapter of a story that’s only ever gotten better, a story that’s already re-written the rules of what’s possible in storytelling too many times to count, a story that’s blasted so high into the atmosphere it might as well be in orbit at this point... what else could it be, but a masterpiece? It’s joy and wonder, shock and awe, beauty and bravery in equal measure. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect show, the pinnacle of a tale with far too many pinnacles to count, one last hurrah to celebrate everything it’s been able to accomplish. It’s astonishing. It’s unbelievable. It’s an achievement that shouldn’t be possible. It’s one of the most satisfying endings to any piece of fiction ever. It’s a goodbye fifteen years in the making that somehow leaves you wanting for nothing. It’s the last, greatest achievement of the greatest story ever told.

It also features a scene where a tear-jearking reunion is interrupted by Gintoki’s legs detaching from him and becoming sentient old men after being pooped out of Sadaharu’s ass.

It is, in other words, nothing more or less than Gintama.

And there will never be any higher praise than that.