It has been announced that the "20th Anniversary Gintama Exhibition - Gathering of 20 Years," an exhibition commemorating the 20th anniversary of the serialization of Hideaki Sorachi's popular manga "Gintama," will be held from December 14 to January 17, 2025 at Exhibition Hall A on the 4th floor of Sunshine City World Import Mart Building (Toshima-ku, Tokyo). Following the Tokyo venue, it will be held at the Osaka venue, Namba Parks Museum (Naniwa-ku, Osaka City), from March 1, 2025, and will also travel to Okayama, Fukuoka, Aichi, and other places.
A new teaser visual drawn by Sorachi was also released. Sorachi has remade the memorable first appearance scene of the main character, Gintoki Sakata, in the first lesson, after about 20 years.
The characters that made the top 20 in the character popularity poll "20th Anniversary of Gintama All Character Popularity Poll," held in preparation for the "Gintama Exhibition," were also announced. The top 20 are Shimura Shinpachi, Sakata Gintoki, Shimura Tae, Kagura, Katsura Kotaro, Hijikata Toshiro, Yamazaki Tai, Okita Sougo, Kondo Isami, Sakamoto Tatsuma, Mutsu, Takasugi Shinsuke, Sarutobi Ayame, Yoshida Shoyo, Yagyu Kyubei, Ito Kamotaro, Tsukuyo, Abuto, Kamui, and Imai Nobume (in order of appearance in the work). Illustrations of the top 20 characters drawn by Sorachi will be released on the official website and other sites on October 7th. The rankings from 21st place onwards will be announced at the "Gintama Exhibition". The popularity vote was accepted from December 17, 2023 to January 31, 2024, and a total of about 1 million votes were received.
The main theme of the "Gintama Exhibition" is "An exhibition created together with fans who support 'Gintama'", and the results of the fan votes conducted several times, including the "All Character Popularity Poll", will be reflected throughout the exhibition. In addition to the original drawings of the top 50 characters from the "All-Character Popularity Poll," Sorachi's handwritten manuscripts will be on display. The "Most Moving XX Chapter," "Funniest Chapter XX," and "Best Tsukkomi" chosen in the fan voting project "Make and Play Bogin Tamaten" will also be on display at the venue.
More than 100 original goods will also be on sale. The lineup will also include the "Guchiriya Tokkuri Set" (estimated price 4,180 yen), which was voted in first place in the "Item you want to see commercialized" section of the fan voting project "Make and Play with Gintama Store," followed by the "Hijikata Toshiro (Tosshi) Blanket in Cushion" (estimated price 7,700 yen), which came in second, the "Okita Sougo Sadistic Blanket in Cushion" (estimated price 7,700 yen), which came in third, the "Sakata Gintoki Aloha Shirt (with tin badge)" (estimated price 11,000 yen), which came in fourth, and the "Sadaharu's Shaking Mascot" (estimated price 3,520 yen), which came in fifth.
As a special gift for visitors, visitors will receive pocket tissues with "Otona no Teishin" stickers featuring lines from characters. There will be nine types in total, chosen at random.
"Gintama" is an action drama set in a fictional Edo. In a world ruled by aliens called Amanto, the sweet-toothed and reckless samurai Sakata Gintoki solves various cases brought to Yorozuya with his friends Shinpachi and Kagura. The series began serialization in December 2003 in Weekly Shonen Jump (Shueisha). It was also talked about that the final episode was not reached in Weekly Shonen Jump and Jump GIGA (Shueisha). After that, the "Beyond the Final Episode (Continuation)" was distributed on the "Gintama Official App". The final lesson, "Lesson 704: No Good People with Natural Curls," was distributed on June 20, 2019, and the third time was a charm, finally concluding the series. The total number of copies of the comics published is over 55 million.
The first season of the TV anime aired from 2006 to 2010, the second from 2011 to 2013, the third from 2015 to 2016, and the fourth from 2017 to 2018. The animated feature film "Gintama: The Movie - The New Benizakura Arc" was released in 2010, followed by "Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter - Be Forever Yorozuya" in 2013. The film "Gintama: The Final" was released in 2021. There is also buzz about the "Gintama" spinoff "3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei" being adapted into an anime.
