Feel like you’ve seen this art style somewhere before? You’re not alone!

Gintama, the comedy series about samurai vs. aliens set in feudal Japan, is a series that is known for not taking itself too seriously. The show is littered with jokes and parodies, sometimes even mirroring real life events.

It may have finished its anime run back in 2016, but a new theatrical anime was released on February 26 in commemoration of the anime’s 15-year anniversary. 

The trailer for the new movie, titled Gintama THE FINAL, was released in February and fans quickly noticed something different with the art style of the main characters.

▼ Watch the trailer for Gintama THE FINAL here.

The trailer opens with the camera zooming past planets in space. Gintoki’s voice is heard uttering the familiar opening: “The land of the samurai. There was a time, long ago, when our country was known by that name.”

As Gintoki goes on to explain the plot, it’s easy to believe that this is going to be a normal trailer, until the camera follows Gintoki as he walks up to the edge of a cliff.

The angles, the color of the ground — all of it seems somewhat familiar.

As the camera pans up Gintoki’s body, catching a glimpse of his bokuto sword with his name carved into it, we finally get to see the main characters’ faces.

▼ Yep. It’s a Dragon Ball parody.

Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura are looking less like they’re from the Edo period and more like they’re from the Dragon World, as the art style is the same as that of Dragon Ball. Every detail is paying homage to the legendary series, from the shape of the eyes, right down to the music, as fans who have already seen the movie reported that during a certain scene, Dragon Ball’s most famous opening theme HEAD-CHA-LA can be heard.

While Gintama has parodied a number of other series in the past, including One Piece and Hunter x Hunter, this parody was particularly impressive. In order to get the art style perfectly in line with how Goku and the gang look, the team behind Gintama THE FINAL actually consisted of some of the same staff that worked on the original Dragon Ball series.

Gintama fans took to Twitter to express their appreciation:

“When they started playing HEAD-CHA-LA I absolutely lost it.”
“It seems like a joke parody, but they even brought the Dragon Ball staff in. Amazing!”
“When I watched this at the cinema, I honestly thought I was watching the wrong movie, and I’d gone to see a Dragon Ball movie instead!”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from Gintama!“

While the title of the latest movie seems to suggest this might be the last time we see Gintoki and pals on our screens, fingers crossed that the staff take the Final Fantasy approach to the word “final” and we get to see more of them in the future. Otherwise we might have to look elsewhere to get our fix of the Gintama funnies!

Source: Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko
Images: YouTube/oricon
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