The official production site has announced that Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, and Kanna Hashimoto will reprise their roles in GINTAMA 2 (銀魂2). Once again directed by Yuichi Fukuda (50 First Kisses), it’s due out in Japan on 17 August 2018.
The sequel to Gintama, and based the manga and anime of the same name, Shun Oguri will of course play Gintoki Sakata, while Masaki Suda and Kanna Hasimoto will reprise their roles as Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura respectively. They’ll also be joined by Jiro Sato as Henpeita Takechi.
Keeping with the self-referential nature of the franchise, the posters released for the film poke fun at the notion of a sequel. The text on Gintoki’s poster reads, “It’s double the pressure for a sequel.” Shinpachi’s text adds, “I hope it’s double the ticket sales too.” Kagura’s concludes, “It’d be great if the lunches on set are double too!” (Thanks to AnimeNewsNetwork for the translation).
Hideaki Sorachi’s creation and subsequent anime is notorious for acknowledging the fourth wall, and poking regular fun at the tropes of shōnen series. In our review for the first film, we found this approach to be a “wicked amount of fun.”
The proof was in the pudding as well: Gintama was the top grossing domestic film (live action) at the Japanese box office with ¥4.6 billion, following Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter and Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Nankyoku Kachi Kochi Daibōken.
Now all we need to know is whether Takayuki Yamada will return as the voice of Elizabeth the duck.
