Gintama: Jump Festa 2014 Special

This short Gintama special was produced for the Jump Special Anime Festa 2014 and bundled with the limited edition of the 58th volume of Hideaki Sorachi's manga. It brings back the Yorozuya, the odd-jobs trio from Edo: the lazy, sugar-loving samurai Gintoki Sakata, the straight-laced glasses-wearer Shinpachi Shimura, and the gluttonous Yato girl Kagura.

The tagline attached to the bundled anime, "It's time for all the Yorozuya members... to wake up just one more time," sets the tone for the episode: a call for the familiar crew to get back on their feet and do what they do best.

As with the rest of the franchise, the special leans on the series' trademark mix of absurd gags, parody, self-aware jokes about the show itself and its place in Shonen Jump, and the easy chemistry between its three leads. It is a small bonus piece made for fans who already know the cast of alien-occupied Edo, rather than a standalone story.