Thank you for purchasing volume 71! By the time this volume comes out, the news of a second Gintama live action will probably have been released. Which miracle will have happened?! After the success of the first movie, I felt like I was able to get away just before the others realized that I had won the game by deception, but even so, another movie will be made and now I feel like it can’t work again, I can’t just trick people and run away quietly.
Miracles are exceptional events, they don’t always happen. Why are human beings so greedy that they can’t stop until they hit the ground and sink into the deepest despair? Well… I already said that the first film would be a flop, let alone the second one! The risk is very high. Think of the great Home Alone: the second one was not well received by the public because Macaulay’s smug face got on everyone’s nerves. Or that masterpiece Rec: the second one made us immediately lose interest because of the zombie who started to tell his story with the air of a guy who is showing off. Now I wonder, in Gintama who the hell can afford that? The problem is not so much for Oguri and the others, who have already enjoyed success elsewhere and are well past their boastful stage. Even for Fukuda, the director, there’s no problem because he’s been working so hard lately that he’ll die before he can strut his stuff.
The question is, which smug face will irritate the audience more than the others? Eh…? The one of the gorilla who spits while looking down on others despite doing nothing? Who are you talking about?! Who is this imbecile?! Come forward if you dare to show yourself in front of me!
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 254
QUESTION FROM MS. HIJIRI ICHIHARA, GIFU PROVINCE
Good morning, Sorachi sensei, I have a question for you. Until they returned to Edo, what did the Shinsengumi actually do? Also, definitely let me know why their uniform changed!
ANSWER:
When the Shinsengumi left Edo there was still Nobunobu in charge. And in order to bring him down, they recruited all the people who wanted to remove him, expanding their sphere of influence from place to place. To make a long story short, they gathered men and prepared to overthrow the Shogunate. However, before they could take action, war broke out on a planetary scale at the hands of Utsuro and planet earth became the target of the liberation army. Since it was not the case to continue clashing among compatriots, they returned to Edo along with new recruits in a revamped uniform and are now fighting to defend the city.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 255
QUESTION FROM MR. “GINTAMA LOVE”, OSAKA PROVINCE
Hello, I am contacting you because I am having great difficulty with promotional phone calls. I have tried various methods to avoid them but I keep getting them. Please let me know if there’s a way to stop the operator on duty from calling me and make them stop once and for all.
ANSWER:
Usually, call centre operators are looking for compliant people who can’t say no. If you just let them know for a moment that you are listening to what they have to say, they will go on talking, taking advantage of your kindness and creating the conditions in which you will find it difficult to refuse their proposal. So you don’t even have to step into their ring. If you simply refuse the offer, there is a risk that they will leave you alone for a while and then offer you the same thing again some time later. So if you really want to solve this, you have to seize the moment to go on the offensive, i.e. as soon as they get in the ring and start talking you have to start saying, without letting them finish the first sentence: “Oh, excuse me, but I don’t need that in my house!”. In this way you will trip them up and they will surely fall down. On top of that you can pretend to be a cheeky guy who talks impudently over others. If they try to stand up and retort, give them a combined attack of “Excuse me!” and “I don’t need that!” Overlapping their words to prevent them from getting back on their feet. But it’s best not to overdo it. I used to make a lot of these combined attacks, while coldly refusing subscriptions to newspapers etc. that were offered to me over the intercom. Until one day I found a piece of paper in my mailbox saying “Die!”. So my advice to you is to try to deal with them in a caring manner, without leading them on, with a firm attitude, but without forgetting that they are still human beings doing their job.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 256
QUESTION BY MR. VERY WHITE, FROM SAGA PROVINCE
Hello, super bright Sorachi sensei! I am a big fan of the Yato. Their race is characterized by white skin, not being able to stand sunlight, having a big appetite… and then what? Is there any other characteristic you haven’t revealed to us yet? Even a silly one will do! If you’d let me know, I’d be delighted!
ANSWER:
They have a weakness that they call “Ma-Mi’s Void” which consists of falling for a couple of seconds into a state of inability to fight that is accompanied by a state of fogginess for which the two actresses, Maki Mizuno and Miki Mizuno, are mistaken.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 257
QUESTION FROM MR. “I LOVE KAMUI MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE” FROM FUKUOKA PROVINCE
Sensei, I have a question that goes back some time, that is, to the 580th lesson. There’s a flashback where you see Umibozu and Kamui running away from Kouka. What had those two been up to?
ANSWER:
After much heated discussion as to whether it was Maki Mizuno or Miki Mizuno, they discovered that it was Maki Sakai.
CONTACT WITH THE READERS: QUESTION CORNER 258
QUESTION FROM MR. “I’M NOT ZURA, BUT KOMA-SAN”, OSAKA PROVINCE
Sorachi sensei, good morning! In a question corner of volume 52 you said that you didn’t want to watch the Gintama anime anymore after the private screening for insiders. Is it the same for the live action?
ANSWER:
As for the live action, since I had a looming deadline to deliver the boards, I didn’t even attend the private screening. I had it copied onto a DVD and watched it with my editor during a meeting between the two of us. However, having attended the insider screenings several times, I can assure you that it is like being in hell. Since everyone knows the content of the film, they don’t show the slightest enthusiasm and the effect is that they have already failed as the author of the subject matter alone. So I think it was for the best. Seeing the movie and being able to badmouth it without worrying about anyone made me enjoy it much more.
Having said that, the volume 71 special “That Miracle Will Never Happen Again” ends here. Rest assured, even though sales of the manga increased after the success of the film, yours truly doesn’t feel proud at all. A movie that grosses this much, even if it was based on a crappy work, would lead to increased sales of the latter. What does that mean? It means that I make practically no profit. As I feared, having now passed the seventy-volume mark, the work is unattractive to a new readership. Perhaps I should close up shop with this issue. Of course! From the next issue it’ll be much more tempting to collect the volumes because we’ll start again from volume 1 of Gintama 2! Please! This is the age of 2! Either way, pick number 2!
New topic: “Like Terminator 2 and Alien 2, there are also many masterpieces among the number 2s”
RESULTS OF THE POPULARITY POLL (5TH EDITION)
…BUT FIRST AN APOLOGY FROM OUR EDITOR.
For this edition initially, some of the characters were not included in the voting. I apologize to everyone who participated for the inconvenience this caused them, but we have promptly remedied it here. Again, a thousand apologies! (The Editor).
THE RANKING TAKES A SHARP JOLT!
Honestly, this result leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Shinpachi was convinced that he was the ’embodiment’ of 8th place, but he was promoted to 7th.
This is to be welcomed but, to put it bluntly, it’s a real tragedy. It’s not as newsworthy, you see. You readers just don’t understand the spirit of this work! Well, congratulations, Shinshichi*.
*Shinshichi means ‘seven’.
Following the recount of the votes, there have been some changes which we report. Here is the corrected classification:
TOTAL VOTES RECEIVED: 17462!
1st. Sakata Gintoki (4638 votes)
2nd. Hijikata Toshirou (2385 votes)
3rd. Okita Sougo (1698 votes)
4th. Takasugi Shinsuke (1572 votes)
5th. Kagura (1206 votes)
6th. Katsura Kotaro (966 votes)
7th. Shimura Shinpachi (576 votes)
8th. Kamui (543 votes)
9th. Tsukuyo (465 votes)
10th. Shimura Tae (273 votes)
11th. Yamazaki Sagaru (228 votes)
12th. Oboro (197 votes)
13th. Sakamoto Tatsuma (195 votes)
14th. Sarutobi Ayame (191 votes)
15th. Sorachi Hideaki (189 votes)
16th. Kondou Isao (174 votes)
17th. Imai Nobume (150 votes)
18th. Hattori Zenzou (149 votes)
19th. Sadaharu/Elizabeth (144 votes)
21st. Yoshida Shouyo (138 votes)
22nd. Saito Shimaru (123 votes)
23rd. Sasaki Isaburo/Kijima Matako (90 votes)
25th. Abuto (72 votes)
26th. Mutsu (69 votes)
27th. Utsuro/Sakata Ginpachi (60 votes)
29th. Kawakami Bansai (54 votes)
30th. Just Away (42 votes)
31st. Kouka/Hasegawa Taizou (39 votes)
33rd. Okita Mitsuba (36 votes)
34th. Yagyu Kyuubei (33 votes)
35th. Tokugawa Shigeshige (24 votes)
36th. Ikeda Yaemon (out of ranking) (19 votes)
37th. Tama/Sakata Kintoki (18 votes)
39th. Itou Kamoutaro/Oguri Shun (15 votes)
41st. Kis-My-Ft2*/Miyata Toshiya of the Kis-My-Ft2 (out of ranking) (14 votes)
42nd. Okada Nizou (13 votes)
43rd. Hedoro/Takechi Henpeita/Shiroyasha (12 votes)
46th. Utsuro (kid) (out of ranking) (10 votes)
47th. Umibozu/ Doromizu Jirochou (9 votes)
49th. Ungyo (8 votes)
50th. Shachi/Okita Soko (7 votes)
52nd. Ikeda Asaemon (6 votes)
53rd. Prince Hata/ Kagura (Be Forever Yorozuya) (5 votes)
55th. Tokugawa Soyo (4 votes)
56th. Chin Pirako (3 votes)
57th. Shijaku/Hoichi/Dozaemon/Ikumatsu/Takatin/Kada/Waki Kaoru/Shinpachi’s glasses/False Battosai/Hashimoto Kanna/Sugita Tomokazu (2 votes)
As for the people who received only one vote, we would like to omit them, not without regret.
*Japanese boy band that has nothing to do with Gintama.
Yorozuya Shinigami 