The third season of the anime Gintama started off with a bang. Or rather, a bawling parody of a disgraced politician.
The first episode of the new season of Gintama began with a press conference in which the protagonist, Gintoki Sakata makes a public apology that the series did not end properly, and is having a new season.
He then sits down and proceeds to take questions from the audience. The first of which immediately sends him into an infantile freak-out, weeping uncontrollably and screaming his answers and pounding the table. If any of this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because this has happened before.
Last year, Japanese politician Ryutaro Nonomura held a similar press conference during which he was reduced to what can only be described as a blubbering baby throwing a crying tantrum.
Gintama is a comedic story published in Shonen Jump about how aliens invade during the Edo period and take over Japan. Much of the humour in Gintama is parody and satire of other popular works and topics and some of it can be fairly edgy, so utilising a highly publicised event/charade shouldn’t come off as too much of a surprise.
But apparently it was. Even to the publishers of the original manga.
Shortly after the first episode aired, the official twitter for Shonen Jump‘s editorial tweeted the following:
問題のオープニングを見て絶句する編集部一同。あらかじめ内容を知っていたためただ固まる真鍋。/Y pic.twitter.com/xjTOsT3cYB
— 少年ジャンプ編集部 (@jump_henshubu) April 8, 2015
Translation: “Upon watching the opening, the entire editorial staff was left speechless. Because he already knew what would happen, all Manabe [Gintama‘s editor] could do was remain motionless.”
It even had official twitter accounts for other Shonen Jump-based anime tweeting about it.
アニメ銀魂ＯＰに編集部騒然。
— 食戟のソーマ公式ＴＶアニメ放送中！ (@syokugeki_off) April 8, 2015
The twitter account for the Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma anime tweeted, “The [Shonen Jump] editorial department is in an uproar about the Gintama anime opening.”
元銀魂担当の経験則上、アニメを見てると〈後は野となれ山となれ〉みたいなやけっぱちな気持ちになるか、「こんなひどい話をジャンプに載せたの誰！？俺！？」と冷静な目でドン引きするかどちらかでした。頑張れ、真鍋！ともあれ、祝銀魂再開！！ https://t.co/rzy3I22DeO
— ハイキュー!!.com (@haikyu_com) April 8, 2015
The twitter account for Haikyu!! Tweeted, “From my experience as former editor of Gintama, when watching the anime I was always either in a mental state of abandon like ‘what happens happens’, or thinking ‘Who let this into Jump!? It was me!?’. Keep strong, Manabe! Be that as it may, congratulations on the continuation of Gintama!!”
Gintama Season 3 is currently airing weekly in Japan. It is available in the West on Crunchyroll.
Comments
6 responses to “Anime Satirises Life, Shocks Its Editors”
Sounds interesting. Japanese aren’t usually known for satire or comedy.
By that I mean good comedy, not the ‘Japanese’ comedy.
Never read any Mitsuru Adachi? Love that guy’s sense of humour…
My experience is that the Japanese love their puns, which unfortunately don’t work will in English after translation.
Context.
Cheers mate!
It wasn’t the ridiculous reaction that got me. The funniest thing was how everybody was taking a photo of everything, even a mic getting bumped.
It’s not funny when every time you get bumped a million camera flashes goes off.