Gintama

Episode 328

Gintama closes out its latest cour by concluding The Battle on Rakuyo, the series' longest story arc to date. Although this season's rapid-fire pacing sometimes made the proceedings feel disjointed and difficult to follow, it still ranks as one of the show's best serious arcs. Characters like Kamui, Umibōzu, and Oboro, whose personal histories were up in the air for years, were adeptly fleshed out, and the show finally has a clearly-defined chief antagonist. This arc also featured some of the series' most impressive (but decidedly brief) action sequences.

The latest installment is primarily concerned with tying up loose ends, shining some light on Utsuro's past, and setting the stage for the final arc. We learn that hundreds of years before the Tendoshu's arrival on Earth, Utsuro was shunned by other humans, who didn't know what to make of his agelessness and invulnerability to death. Unable to be killed, the young immortal was locked away in an underground prison for countless years, during which time he developed multiple personalities to help him cope with his extreme loneliness. After freeing himself, Utsuro decided to mimic the behavior he observed in humans and began killing indiscriminately. This eventually drew the attention of a nearby magistrate, who recruited Utsuro and gave him the ominous mask that became a symbol of the Naraku.

In the current timeline, Utsuro's true plans are finally revealed. Having stolen multiple Altana keys from the Tendoshu and taken control of the Harusame, Utsuro dispatches fleets to several different planets and tasks them with tampering with those planets' respective terminals. This results in large-scale destruction and considerable loss of life, prompting each of the affected planets to send military forces to Earth to punish the Tendoshu. Utsuro's hope is that this will trigger a large-scale military conflict that will destroy the Earth, thus destroying the planet's massive Altana reserves and allowing him to die.

Although he has probably been the show's least interesting recurring antagonist, Oboro's death is handled well, and his backstory helps put a human face on a character whose sole purpose in life had been killing. As the audience learns, Utsuro was every bit as important to Oboro as Shoyo was to Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi, so it's fitting that Shinsuke would be his final opponent. It also seems that Oboro realized his days were numbered and elected to stay behind to provide Takasugi with information rather than best him in combat. Takasugi taking pity on the person who took his eye, acknowledging him as a fellow Shoka Sonjuku student and vowing to give him a proper burial, illustrates how far he's come from his days as a generic antagonist.

This arc's introductory episode explained exactly what Shoyo/Utsuro is, and its final chapter gives the audience some insight into his psyche. Shoyo being the good in Utsuro seems contrived, but I'm honestly not sure how else they could have satisfactorily explained the dramatic shift in personalities between the man who raised Gintoki and the one plotting to destroy the Earth. Utsuro is a unique character, if nothing else. Prior to the Farewell Shinsengumi Arc, I never would have imagined that Gintoki's adoptive father was the show's master villain, much less an immortal. Unfortunately, the half of the episode dedicated to Utsuro's origin suffers from the same problem as the latest season premiere—lots of important information shared in a short span of time. I can appreciate the staff's efforts to fit this arc into a single cour, but too much information is dumped into this portion of the episode. Although I found the new info fascinating, it doesn't feel like the audience is given enough time to fully digest each new revelation before it's buried by the next.

With the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance, this week's Gintama lays the groundwork for a final battle of epic proportions. True, there's a lot of information thrown at the audience, and it isn't always easy to follow along, but now that the exposition is out of the way, our heroes can concentrate on saving their home planet. It's a shame that the show is going into reruns for the foreseeable future, especially since a number of pre-endgame manga arcs have yet to be animated, but as usual, Gintama's eventual return is sure to excite the fanbase.

Rating: B+

Gintama is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is an author who has loved anime for over two decades.