‘Gintama’ Live-Action Film Goes Viral Over ‘One Piece’ Reference

Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama is a fan favorite series for its blend of action and fourth wall breaking comedy, and it’s gotten even more popular with its anime series that helped bring many of its gags to life. Both of the live-action films were successful in this regard as well.

One particular scene from the first Gintama live action film is going viral among fans for its big reference to another Weekly Shonen Jump series, One Piece, as Gintoki almost bites into a prop Devil Fruit.

As shared by @santoryubeastZ on Twitter, the viral scene in question sees Shun Oguri’s Gintoki speaking with Tsuyoshi Muro’s Gengai about a Devil Fruit. Gengai tells Gintoki to eat the Devil Fruit so his whole body will become rubber, but Gintoki refuses because he’s not trying to become the Pirate King. Gengai eventually convinces Gintoki by putting a straw hat on his head and saying “Gomu Gomu no Gintoki” much like One Piece’s Luffy would shout for his rubber attacks.

Just when Gintoki is about to bite the “Devil Fruit” however, Gengai laughs and tells him it’s a fake prop. Joking that Gintoki reads too much Shonen Jump because there’s no way something like the Devil Fruits are real, he dances a bit before an embarassed Gintoki begins hitting him. This is just one of the many references and jokes found in the Gintama series as a whole, and the playfulness of the series definitely made its way into the live-action adaptation as well. It was so well-received among fans that not only did it eventually get a sequel, but a short live-action drama series in Japan as well.

Gintama was originally created by Hideaki Sorachi for Weekly Shonen Jump in 2003. The series is set in an Edo period Japan that’s been invaded by aliens known as Amanto. After the shogun surrenders, humans then are forced to live alongside these invaders. The series follows a samurai Gintoki Sakata, who picks up odd jobs with his friends Shinpachi and Kagura to pay the rent for their Yorozuya home base. After ending its run in Weekly Shonen Jump (and had fans thinking the series would end forever), the series will be continuing in Jump GIGA magazine.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.

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