Gintama is the epitome of comedy anime, and Hideaki Sorachi often tests the boundaries of censorship and copyrights with it. The mangaka cares little about how it will affect hs series as long as the episode is funny and he gets to attack the anime staff with his clever jabs.
From Dragon Ball and Naruto to One Piece, Gintama has parodied some of the biggest names in the anime world. In fact, Sorachi is not afraid of calling out animation staff, Bandai Namco, and even superiors in the company through Gintoki. Gintama does not break the fourth wall because it simply does not exist in the series.
Gintama’s Aim is to Parody Every Anime on Earth
Let’s begin with one of the biggest anime, Dragon Ball. Gintama THE FINAL, which was supposed to be the last we ever see of Gintama (a blatant lie), begins with a parody of Dragon Ball. In fact, Gintama is filled with Dragon Ball parodies, and Gintoki loves dressing up as Goku. In one particular episode, he tried to fool Kagura and Shinpachi into thinking he had returned after a long training bout.
Bleach is also another series that is often parodied in Gintama. Gintoki often dresses up as a Shinigami and pretends to be Ichigo Kurosaki. In one of the episodes, he even uses Final Getsuga Tenshou. The next candidate from the long list of parodies is One Piece. From sailing in a ship to become the King of the Pirates, to using Luffy’s Gomu Gomu no Mi reference, Hideaki Sorachi has left no stone unturned to let fans know that he adores One Piece. Except, Gintoki ate the Wave Wave fruit, which turned his hair wavy, and he is in search of the treasure to solve his financial problems.
Next in line is Assassination Classroom; Gintoki tries to teach a child, but Tskuyo is constantly on the watch and begins to call him Koro-sensei. Gintoki even commented that Tsukuyo was ready to assassinate him at any moment. From Kuroko’s Basketball, Baki, Berserk, Fullmetal Alchemist, Golgo 13, and Hunter x Hunter to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, Hideaki Sorachi has spared absolutely no one.
How Does Hideaki Sorachi Get Away with Parodying So Many Anime in Gintama?
You might be wondering why Sorachi has not caught a copyright lawsuit yet. While it is unknown whether there have been any copyright issues, Gintama does pay a heavy price for the creative freedom in it. Hideaki never portrayed any series in a bad light, and it only parodied everything for fun. Due to the low views as well as graphic jokes, the anime was shifted to the midnight slot.
Parody and satire are also protected under fair use since they are forms of free speech. Another big help is the fact that Gintama is ultimately under Shueisha, one of the biggest Japanese publication companies that also owns tons of other anime/manga. Most of the anime parodies portrayed in Gintama are from the same company, so it would be foolish to run a lawsuit on itself.
Your best bet would be to think that every Gintama parody was done after obtaining permission from the respective authors. But it’s funny to think that every other week, a random mangaka gets a notification that Gintama will be parodying their work yet again. Authors of frequently parodied works like Akira Toriyama, Tite Kubo, or Eiichiro Oda must have been either extremely tired or particularly amused by it.
Gintama is available to read on Viz Media, and the anime is streaming on Crunchyroll.
