Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya

Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya (劇場版 銀魂 完結篇: 万事屋よ永遠なれ, Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare) is the second movie of the Gintama franchise. It premiered in movie theaters on July 6, 2013.

Introduction

During a job, Gintoki is thrown five years into the future by an android time machine, where a deadly virus has ravaged the planet and Edo is in ruins. As he tries to find a way home, he is forced to solve the mystery of both the virus' origins and his future self's mysterious disappearance. He must also contend with the effects both have wrought on some of the Gintama cast.

Summary

Gintoki stops the Movie Thief from illegally recording a Toriko movie and angrily chastises and beats it up outside the room. After forcing it to apologize to the (real) audience, Gintoki realizes that his constant bullying has both broken its camera head and made it cry. Apologetic, Gintoki later decides to help the thief illegally record another movie, earning the wrath of Shinpachi and Kagura. The Yorozuya trio have been hired as security detail for an old movie theater showing porn and shows both audiences movie theater etiquette and rules. This includes a mini film strip bonus set of the porn movie scene which the trio take. The Yorozuya realizes that during the introduction, the camera-headed man was sneakily fleeing but the group catch him. Gintoki decides that he alone will see what the thief recorded and takes him to the theater's bathroom. The moment he presses play, he is surrounded by a white light.

The scene shifts to the middle of a battlefield where both Amanto and humans were fighting during the Joui Wars. This leads to a large downed airship where a robed man, the last of a group, fights Gintoki on the ship's deck with his tendril-like ribbons. The figure was able to slash the Shiroyasha once before being beheaded. The bleeding, tired Gintoki leaves the carnage (his blood mysteriously glows for a second). The figure, revealed to be a machine, watches the soldier leave and gives him a solemn prediction and warning before dying, while Gintoki looks back solemnly:

"There you stand, soaked in blood. The splitting image of a demon. After failing to defend your comrades, you chose the path of carnage. But your monstrous hands... In time, they will even take those you hold dear, and crush them to oblivion. That is the price a demon pays. Devouring both beloved and hated, you will be left to howl in solitude, alone in this world, Shiroyasha."

Shinpachi narrates the usual overview of the Gintama setting, while a confused Gintoki tries to understand what's going on. Except Shinpachi deviates when he describes Gintoki... leading to the silver-haired man's grave. Horrified, he angrily berates Sunrise for doing a "final" movie but stops when he has no idea where he was. He tries to deny his surroundings until he hears footsteps and hides behind his grave with the Movie Thief. The figure is an older Otose paying respects and while talking to the grave, reveals that it's been five years since his death. Gintoki is also shocked to see that Edo is in ruins. He wanders around central Edo in a daze, seeing death, destruction, and destitution around him. The camera-headed machine reveals that it is a time machine created from this future and sent to the past to bring him here. The planet is in a state of decay due to a quarter of the population dying and another third fleeing. Its master wishes for Gintoki to save this world but before Gintoki can demand more infomation, its camera head is accidentally thrown into the street where it is run over. With the last of its energy, the Time Thief places a mole-like device on his forehead to disguise him and tells him to find Gengai. It adds that he's not alone as he will find help.

Gintoki is then surrounded by a motorcycle gang of mohawk punks wearing masks due to a "white plague". They demand his money and clothes but when he refuses they decide to attack him. They are interrupted by a robed figure who fights the punks with a familiar "Lake Toya" wooden sword and tells Gintoki to flee. The gang (and Gintoki) are horrified to see that the figure is Shinpachi of the Yorozuya; another person joins who is revealed to be Kagura and her pet Sadaharu, of a separate Yorozuya. Gintoki is shocked to see that Shinpachi and Kagura have grown to be capable fighters and more adult looking. The thugs decide to retreat. The two immediately confront each other on who is the better Odd Jobs but Gintoki quickly breaks it up. Remembering that he has a different appearance in everyone else's eyes, Gintoki's cover story is he's a country boy that was helped by "Gintoki" some time ago, who told him some of his life's story and gave him his signature outfit, going by the name Chinpo.

The group visits Otose's bar and seeing Kagura's and Shinpachi's antagonism, Gintoki asks about it. Otose answers that since future Gintoki's death, the two fought over who could take his place as Edo's "protector", even with the sorry state of the world now, and separated. It was even to the point that they had forsaken their identities as the alien foreigner and the straight man. Otose adds that everyone changed in these five years. This includes seeing the future Hasegawa (who somehow aged progressively to an elderly man despite being in his early forties), Catherine (who grew a beard) and Tama (who became a tank-like robot). Otose admits that even with future Gintoki gone, his friends were still here. Later at night, Gintoki visits the apartment and sees it empty and covered in dust. He asks what happened to Edo and about this plague. Kagura answers the virus began in Edo and quickly spread around the world. It kills people in a month, no known origins and no cure; its name "White Plague" is from the virus turning its victims hair white. Those who can afford it quickly flee the planet, leaving behind the poor, the infected, the opportunists, and the hardy. Future Gintoki disappeared before the plague became rampant, researching about it and revealing that the virus was man-made from nanomachines. She and Shinpachi believe that he was still alive somewhere, trying to find a way to cure it. Even though the past will never return, the two wished to make sure that there will be a place their boss can return to. Relieved, Gintoki requests Shinpachi and Kagura to reform the Yorozuya with him so they can finish Future Gintoki's job and to find Gengai for the camera robot. The two aren't thrilled with the request although Kagura is surprised that Sadaharu had quickly warmed up to the "stranger". Far away on a rooftop, a robed figure with the same appearance as the one shown in the Joui War battle watches.

The next day sees Shinpachi, Kagura, Gintoki and Sadaharu walk towards a bridge where a crowd has gathered due to a public execution. Gintoki is horrified to learn that not only has Gengai been slated for execution today, but also Katsura and Kondou as well. Kagura states that they were all arrested independently five years ago due to the same event. After future Gintoki vanished, both Gengai and Katsura had snapped, with the old mechanic drinking heavily and the moderate terrorist, now dressed like Takasugi, joining the extremist Jouishishi. The two wanted men were separately caught after being seen modifying a Colonel Sanders statue into a robotic Takasugi clone with lit cannons and bombs. Unfortunately, the statue was a disguised Kondou during his Tae-stalking moments and he took the blame for destroying the district with said explosives. Gintoki angrily tries to kill Katsura and Kondou for being fools yet is held back by Kagura. Suddenly the three men are saved by the former Shinsengumi and Katsura's Jouishishi, who had teamed up to save their leaders. With the distraction, Kagura, Shinpachi and Gintoki try to save Gengai from being beheaded but due to the younger two's antagonism, Gintoki accidentally beheads Gengai. While the three argue, the head is revealed to be a bomb and explodes.

During the night in an inn, the Shinsengumi and Jouishishi celebrate their leaders' return and their team-up to bring about a new era. They also celebrate the help of the Yorozuya, surprised that they were reforming although Hijikata, Okita and Katsura dismiss "Chinpo" as a poor replacement. Kagura and Shinpachi deny being reformed and Shinpachi coldly brushes off Kondou's questions about Tae before they both leave. Katsura and the Shinsengumi trio agree that the two were still reeling from their boss' death. Sometime later, Katsura stands in the veranda looking out in the rain lamenting his failure of protecting future Gintoki's world. He tells Gintoki that his future self realized that the plague was the same as the one created by a group of Amanto mercenaries, who used it to bring untold carnage of ally and enemy alike, named the Enmi. An eavesdropping Hijikata adds that their magic was in reality killer nanomachines that parallel the present plague's symptoms. Gintoki had wiped out the Enmi himself during the Joui Wars but there may have been a survivor. Before he disappeared, Gintoki had visited Katsura to reminisce about the past, something out of character for him to do and the terrorist laments on not seeing Gintoki's burden. Present Gintoki quietly looks out the veranda and sees an Enmi in the distance. Shocked, he rushes out in the pouring rain onto the streets but sees no sign of the figure. He notices Kagura and Sadaharu sitting out in the rain with sad faces.

At the same time, Shinpachi visits the hospital to visit Tae (secretly being followed by Kondou), who has become the victim of the White Plague (Kondou is stunned by the scene). Kyuubei, Tsukuyo and Sarutobi also visits Tae, trying to cheer her up. The weakened woman is happy for the visits but is saddened that everyone is drifting apart, mainly due to the missing glue that is Gintoki. She wishes for the samurai to return so she can see him one last time before she dies but Sarutobi tells her off for her pessimism and tearfully demands that Tae stay alive long enough to see Gintoki again. Present Gintoki arrives to liven the atmosphere before remembering that he was still in disguise. The nearly blind Tae believes "Gintoki" has returned and Shinpachi, Kagura and Kondou pretend that the Yorozuya was back together to save this world for her sake, making her happy. After leaving the hospital, Gintoki notes that the two arguing youths had defaulted to their respective identities and they emphatically deny it. The three then went their separate ways.

Gintoki returns to Otose's bar to see the real Gengai alive and well, drinking, and both he and Otose were fully aware of Gintoki's real identity. While the men share a drink, Gintoki admits that he has no idea at the moment on how he can fix the future and is still struggling to understand how he died. Gengai, who spent the five years in hiding creating the Time Thief, reveals that the person who summoned Gintoki was his future self. Before disappearing, he had asked Gengai to create it and use it to bring back his past self if he ever vanished, so his past self can find a way to save the world if he can't. In the early hours, Gintoki secretly thanks his future self and decides to help. Shinpachi and Kagura, dressed in their old clothing styles, join in, along with the Shinsengumi, Jouishishi, Yagyuu school, Hyakka, and Sarutobi to find the Enmi and keep their promise to Tae. They all spent the next few days searching but with no leads and no success. While resting, Kagura asks Gintoki his plans after saving the day and he answers that he will return home. Kagura then wonders if future Gintoki will return and becomes upset of how alike they both were (although they're the same person) but adds that when their boss returns, they will remind him of their temporary member who helped save the world. Kagura and Shinpachi notice that present Gintoki held the bonus theater prize but are interrupted by a call from Gengai. He tells them that after repairing the Time Theif, it was immediately stolen by the Enmi and both were now hiding in the Terminal ruins.

The Yorozuya split up to search for the mercenary and Gintoki was the first to find it. The two fight but Gintoki notices that the Enmi can somehow read all his moves. Gintoki was forced to think of a plan that lets himself be beaten up and then play dead to get the Enmi close enough so when it does the finishing blow, Gintoki strikes, and he succeeds. The Enmi states how happy it was that it was finally free and reveals itself to be ... the future Gintoki!! Gintoki stares in horror at his dying future self, who reveals that the incurable virus originated/ will originate from him. The mercenary Enmi were really the nanomachines they control and when Gintoki killed the leader, he was infected by them. Yet instead of him dying, the machines lied dormant, rebuilding their minds and studying his DNA for the next ten years to perfect their plague before infecting the unsuspecting world. When future Gintoki realized what's happening, it was too late as they begun to take over his body. He was able to retain himself long enough to ask Gengai about the time machine and reminisce with Katsura before killing himself. But by then, the Enmi took complete control and Gintoki was forced to watch as the world descended into chaos and death for the next five years until his secret plan comes to fruition. He tells his past self to finish the next phase, and with his words of "Gintoki being the only one who can defeat himself", dies with a smile.

The Time Thief tells Gintoki that the next phase of the plan was for him, after killing his future self, to be sent to the past, fifteen years before during the Joui Wars, and kill his past self after said person defeats and starts being infected by the Enmi. Gintoki readily accepts the task, knowing that in doing so, he will cease to exist and as a consequence, save the world. He apologies to Shinpachi and Kagura for not coming back, but the two arrive behind him and the machine. They show their movie bonus films, telling him that it was a last memento of their boss and they had hoped that it would become a complete set again. They tearfully call out to him to stay, revealing they realized that "Chinpo" was Gintoki. Discarding the disguise, he says goodbye and wishes that they would remember him and to be well in the new future. He is engulfed in light and Shinpachi and Kagura rush toward him. Yet they found themselves in the new future with a restored Edo. Wondering where Gintoki was, they happened to find Hijikata to ask him, but are stunned to hear that he never heard of Gintoki and didn't recognize them. In the past, present Gintoki and the Time Thief stand on a cliff overlooking the beginnings of that battle. It emphatically apologies to him for pragmatically saving the world by erasing his existence. Yet Gintoki thanks it, giving his theater bonus to the machine with a message of "Thank You" to his fellow members of the Yorozuya before running into the battlefield. In the future, Kagura and Shinpachi breakdown when they see Gintoki's apartment being something else. The two sob as they proclaim they didn't want this future without him. Just as Gintoki stabs his past self, Shinpachi and Kagura's memories were reset. The two wonder why they were crying and notice the Time Thief, rusted and battered due to living through the fifteen years after running out of energy for time jumps. It tells them that it is here now to save Gintoki, and revealed itself to be Tama.

In the past, GIntoki is relieved that everything is finished, but the person he stabbed was not his past self... it was Hasegawa!! Hasegawa had gotten past Gintoki and some of the Jouishishi faction drunk some time before, making them hung over before the battle. The madao felt responsible and decided to enter the battle disguised as Gintoki, meaning that not only was the Shiroyasha not participating, but the Enmi was still alive! Gintoki berates the older man for ruining the plan to save the future but Hasegawa tells him that he had actually succeeded, that the older man was from that future. Joining him was the Yorozuya, Shinsengumi, Katsura and his Jouishishi faction, Tae, Kyuubei and her school, Sarutobi, Tsukuyo and her Hyakka and Tama. Tama was able to restore everyone's memories of Gintoki thanks to her memory banks and after Gengai repaired her and the time machine camera, sent her and the groups back to the past at this moment, determined to restore Gintoki's future. Grateful, he tells them off for altering his timeline but is glad that he can be by their side. The Amanto army begins to attack, and are pushed back by, the future group, lead by Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura as they rush to the Enmi ship. Gintoki is first confronted by the four women who berate him for disappearing but are happy overall to see him again; Tae is happy that everyone has returned to normal, including her brother and Kagura. The Enmi leader is surprised to see the strength of the future army and sends its men to battle. They begin to send out their curse tags but an explosion from Katsura's bombs destroy them. The Shinsengumi and the Jouishishi work together to stop the Enmi from activation the curse, while Hijikata, Okita, and Kondou pave the way for the Yorozuya to reach the top of the ship. They do so and Gintoki strikes at the Enmi leader and they land in the abandoned command room.

The Enmi leader recognizes present Gintoki as the Shiroyasha, "repeating" the premonition and starts attacking him with its curse seals. It is surprised to see him still standing and continues its assault. Gintoki slowly walks towards it, confirming the leader's words while at the same time, his skin is covered in markings. Realizing his immunity thanks to already being infected, the Enmi physically fights him. Gintoki states that even if they cursed him and even if he destroys everything, the people he cared for will stop him. Gintoki holds the leader in place as Shinpachi and Kagura jump from the roof to stab it into the wall. It suddenly goes berserk, its curse ribbons capturing the two youths and expelling its multiple cores outside. It commends him for using his cursed body as a shield so his comrades can deal the finishing blow but mocks him for being unable to stop it from activating its curse and save them while Gintoki will watch the world be destroyed. The curse cores start to reach the future group until three very familiar men cut them down (the past Takasugi, Sakamoto, and Katsura), leading to both past and present Gintoki stabbing the last core within the Enmi leader, killing it. The four vanish and the Yorozuya sees some of the others climbing the ship to meet them.

Since they had changed the past, Shinpachi and Kagura wonder what the new future will bring. Tama agrees before destroying the time machine camera. Yamazaki wonders why she did this until Okita points out that that the Shinsengumi spy was fading away. Tama answers that due to the altered timeline, both the time machine and they themselves don't exist and so they, in a way, will return to the future. Yamazaki, Tama, and Hasegawa are the first to vanish, while some of the others decide to take advantage of the situation. Hijikata decides to finally arrest Katsura while Okita gleefully stabs Hijikata in the behind before all three fade. Kondou and Toujou decide to proclaim his love to Tae/ promote feminine clothing to Kyuubei before both women kicked them off the ship then fade. Sarutobi decides to proclaim her love to Gintoki but Tsukuyo beheads her and holds the head for ransom before both women fade. With everyone gone, Kagura, GIntoki, Sadaharu, and Shinpachi give each other one last hug, promising and hoping that they will meet each other again in this new future before fading.... Except for Shinpachi as just his glasses disappeared.

On a cliff face overlooking the battlefield, the Joui 4, who were watching the entire scene, leaves. Past Gintoki looks back and smiles. After credits, the Yorozuya had indeed meet each other again and it ends with another usual day at Kabuki-cho.

Characters

1. Yorozuya Gin-Chan
   1. Sakata Gintoki
   2. Shimura Shinpachi
   3. Kagura
   4. Sadaharu
2. Hasegawa Taizou
3. Otose
4. Catherine
5. Tama
6. Hiraga Gengai
7. Jouishishi
   1. Katsura Kotarou
   2. Elizabeth
8. Shinsengumi
   1. Kondou Isao
   2. Okita Sougo
   3. Hijikata Toushirou
   4. Yamazaki Sagaru
9. Shimura Tae
10. Yagyuu Kyuubei
11. Toujou Ayumu
12. Tsukuyo
13. Hyakka
14. Sarutobi Ayame
15. Sakamoto Tatsuma (cameo)
16. Takasugi Shinsuke (cameo)
17. Kurokono Tasuke  (flashback)