Drop-In to Manga - Manga, Mental Health & Community

I went through a stage of burnout late last month, so I decided to binge a manga series that I always wanted to check out. So I chose Akiko Higashimura's Tokyo Tarareba Girls. I always wanted to check the manga out since I was a fan of Princess Jellyfish. I knew what to expect from fan reactions, but damn, Tokyo Tarareba Girls maybe wasn't the best choice to read when you're dealing with burnout and the anxiety that can lead to it. At the same time, I appreciated what Higashimura wanted to tell her readers with the manga.

Spoilers about the ending of the manga incoming.

"Rage will be your strength!"

After seeing Atsushi Kaneko's Search and Destroy get nominated every year at the American Manga Awards since its inception and winning ALA's Outstanding Comic Award for Adults, I decided to see what makes the story a modern classic. I will say that this is perhaps one of the best revenge manga stories I have ever read. I absolutely love Kaneko's approach to justifying the kind of anger that bring meaningful change.

Has it been that long for North America's top manga publisher? 10 years ago, I wrote about their 30th anniversary and here we are.

What has happened since that time? For starters, I was a bit worried about how many new hits they can come up. But with Demon Slayer blowing up the way it did, One Piece finally breaking through into the Western anime fan consciousness, Spy X Family highlighting the strength of titles not published in Weekly Jump, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End being potentially a modern-day classic, and a lot more, I think VIZ will be fine.

VIZ Media capitalized on he COVID-19 pandemic with fans being stuck at home buying manga to further its status as the leader in manga entertainment. The best thing about VIZ is that Shueisha has a knack for nurturing talent in a way that can guarantee a series will be a hit. Editors working for the Jump imprint take chances on unknown talent and are very responsive towards fan feedback. They also know how to motivate talent to do their best while staying in line. This was explained at a Anime NYC 2025 panel where Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Yu Saito showed up and talked about the process of running the magazine. Their work environment, as he describes, sounds better for development.

Given how harsh the manga industry is towards mangaka at times in terms of workload, this is refreshing. And this is perhaps a big reason why Takeru Hokazono's Kagurabachi has become a huge success before its 2027 anime adaptation despite Hokazono being very young for a mangaka (early-to-mid '20s). VIZ was smart in announcing an English license very fast in March 2024, which was 6 months after the manga's original debut, compared to other licenses. I personally think Kagurabachi is a great action series that fits today's times.

Some of you may have critical opinions about VIZ and they might be fair, but you can't deny the impact they have had in anime culture in its rise to the mainstream this decade. The manga industry still needs them.

A very fun shonen series that has received massive attention in its debut has finally caught my eye. That manga is none other than Ao Hatesaka's GALAXIAS. It's about a young girl named Geo who teams up with an amnesiac half-dragon/half-human named Nereid and together, they go on an adventure looking for Yuri Holst, a legendary adventurer who is accused of killing the Dragon King. Their journey has been fun to read so far with a early theme on allowing people to be confident in their decision-making on what they want in life.

These are the scenes in Volumes 1 and 2 that showcase this theme.

There have been times where I felt that I was incapable of being someone who can be caring to others, but it's scenes like the ones here in Tsurumaikada's Medalist Volume 7 that remind me that I can be warm towards people who need it.

Many adults, like Tsukasa Akeuraji, have had their dreams derailed for all kinds of reasons. It then becomes easy to fall into cynicism and despair. But sometimes, we might meet someone like a Inori Yuitsuka who makes us want to believe again. And more importantly, help them achieve the dreams that we couldn't.

The more I read Medalist, the more I really start to see this is a story about Tsukasa trying to find peace with his life through Inori. It's so easy to say that everyone can make their dreams come true, but circumstances don't always allow that to happen. And when that happens, people often get stuck. They don't know how to change or aren't willing to accept that change may be necessary. It's also likely that people don't know where to look for answers and more often than not, they're in the form of others, especially in a community.

Hell is other people, but on the flip side, success is other people. There are those who want the best for you. We're all born to be whatever we can be in the face of adversity with the help of people fighting for us. The irony of true success is that it comes when you help other people succeed.

And I think the grand lesson of the scenes above is that we're also born to be genuine and compassionate human beings who want the ones they love to be what they want to/can be. We're not put on this earth to be productive/efficient individually. We were born to be part of an interdependent world that makes it go round for the better. We're all capable of giving warmth to others. Doing so actually gives us the warmth we do need to melt the harsh coldness of reality that freezes our hearts.

About maybe 12-13 years ago, there were two things that were a huge part of my anime/manga fandom - Crunchyroll and Right Stuf. I remember the days where I watched my favorite series on Crunchyroll a week after without a Premium subscription (even though I had one). I remember the days when I get a huge catalog of anime and manga titles to order from Right Stuff. I spent a good amount of money on those two businesses because they were amazing outlets that help support the anime and manga industries.

Fast forward to now, Right Stuf is gone and Crunchyroll, which is now under Sony and bought RIght Stuf, has done something that I can't even bother to comprehend. They have the nerve to put a paywall to their own store (which was supposed to be the successor to Right Stuff) just to invoke a sense of FOMO to all Crunchyroll subscribers with limited-edition and timed exclusive goods.

I don't know where to start with this, but all I know is that it sucks. I see that Sony/Crunchyroll is trying to create a scarcity mindset to its customers. While I understand that having so much merchandise to store in a retail warehouse is expensive, I hate that the people behind this move are inducing a mentality that does more harm than good. It doesn't promote a health community; it just promotes unnecessary competition over material goods that may not last long in the end. There's so many people out there who feel they aren't "good enough" or "have enough" (if they aren't in survival mode) just to feel appreciated. And you want to add more of that to their mental plate? Give me a damn break.

I worry about the fans who are going to buy into Crunchyroll's new online store agenda. It's like Crunchyroll believes that their fans are easy to control because anime/manga fandom is central to their lives. Fans can't live without it, so to speak. How dare Crunchyroll assume that fans' lives only revolve around consuming anime/manga and chasing the latest series. I'm glad that many fans that are speaking out against Crunchyroll's decision-making, but they aren't the super-hardcore ones who feel they must have everything anime-related to feel validated.

It reminds me of people who receive a mental health diagnosis officially/unofficially and think "Well, that's that. I can't be more than this label." They then decide to lower their goals and expectations when their limits are greater than they think. It's like Crunchyroll is telling anime fans that they are nothing more than victims who are forced to accept their business decisions or else. But I can tell you that fans do have choices to resist. Anime and manga fandom are about resisting the mainstream interests and now maybe it's a good time to go back to that kind of thinking.

Finally, this reminds me of what the true problem is - classism. If you think about it, Crunchyroll's decision is about separating the rich anime fans and the poor anime fans. It reflects another thing happening in the North American anime scene, anime conventions are becoming more expensive to attend. If you're poor, you don't deserve the limited edition goods. You didn't work hard enough, so try harder. Chin up, right? I worry that Crunchyroll made a very classist move for the sake of late-stage capitalism. So many of our societal problems right now are due to classism. Classism causes mental health to plummet due to the lack of accessible resources to those who really need them the most.

I'll end by this with something I once heard in the past. There was a time where nerd experts proclaimed that the geeks shall inherit the Earth. In some ways, we have. But sadly, the companies running the show are the ones who actually control the Earth by selling the idea that we geeks have won, regardless whether we're anime fans or not.

Today, I was catching up on anime-related news and found a really fun response column to a topic that I never thought would be discussed 20 years ago - anime being found everywhere in the public eye after years of being shunned by mainstream culture.

From sports to fashion to films, anime and manga culture has seeped into the spotlight that has many Western media outlets/properties wondering what's going on. Anime News Network's Answerman tackles the subject by providing four examples of how anime fandom has become a huge part of people's lives. Sports and fashion alongside people using anime/manga's narrative structure (i.e. guy is throwing through his "villain arc") were discussed, but the last point the column addresses got my attention the most. It brings up the emotional register. I'll quote the paragraph.

"The one I find genuinely moving, if I can be unfashionably sincere for a paragraph, is how anime's specific emotional grammar, unguarded, unironic, full-volume sincerity about grief, ambition, loneliness, and connection, has become acceptable in Western media in ways that would have gotten laughed out of a writers' room fifteen years ago. Western drama had to learn, via anime, that you're allowed to let a character cry for an uncomfortably long time, or deliver a speech about friendship with zero ironic distance, and audiences will not just tolerate it, they'll clip it and post it with a crying emoji. That shift in permission, the idea that big, sincere feeling isn't automatically cringe, didn't come from prestige TV. It came from thousands of hours of shonen finales normalizing catharsis without a safety net of sarcasm."

I think about the times when I watched Dragon Ball Z and screamed like Vegeta whenever I got mad or wanted to pump myself up. But back then, I was laughed at or shunned. A decade ago, I tried to be more like Gintoki from Gintama and make my point with long conversations on what's important in life. Some people found it cool, but I never felt appreciated for saying how I honestly felt.

Even today, I still act like a shonen anime/manga character at times despite being a middle-age adult. For starters, I actually do cry a lot whenever I feel emotionally distressed at times. I do try to make speeches to keep my connections alive without any irony at all. I tell my friends that I love them all and show gratitude towards them without shame.

I honestly this is one the best things that have come from mainstream anime/manga culture - the ability to express all kinds of emotions without being shamed for it. Western culture still thinks some feelings are better than others when every feeling is valid, even the bad ones. Even though individualism might suggest that every one is free to express emotions, it's dictated by norms that tell people which emotions are fine to express (usually not ones that are "negative). Relationships aren't also super-important to address compared to collectivist cultures, where relationships are emphasized as a major part of one's life.

Anime and manga remind us that we're all human beings that are interdependent on one another. We thrive and suffer because of one another. What we do is based on the relationships we have with the world around us. Maybe that's why I love two-page art spreads of characters looking/being at the area around them. They're able to be there and find themselves because of those who make the environments livable for them.

I'm catching up to Chica Umino's March Comes in Like a Lion in manga form and I'm left amazed by the artwork showcasing various emotional states of the characters.

For anyone who loves Hirayasumi and wants more manga similar to it, I wholeheartedly recommend Fumiko Takano's Miss Ruki. This was voted one of the best manga/comics of 2025 and it is currently nominated for Best Translation at the 2026 American Manga Awards.

Hey all, it's already July of this year. I wanted to do a check-in because there's a lot going on. While I'm still reading a good amount of manga, I've been drawn more to K-Pop culture. At the same time, there's some things that I've noticed this year that make me wonder.

First off, the whole drama with Gachiakuta's Kei Urana getting off of social media because she voiced her opinions about manga piracy. It's so unfortunate that she's gone, but I feel that it's best due to the lack of context that algorithm-fueled social media provides. I did dislike her fellow co-creator Hideyoshi Ando's remarks that poor people should work hard to buy manga instead of pirating it when he doesn't understand the context behind why some (maybe most) people are systematically poor in the first place. Even though the internet has opened up vast exposure to other cultures, that knowledge is sometimes simplified and even more stereotyped than in real life.

Which leads to my 2nd observation, Boichi of Dr. Stone and Sun-Ken Rock fame has gone on X/Twitter to discuss his takes on everything related to manga promotion overseas. Thank god for his perspective because he actually has reasonable takes on everything. Especially one large thread where Boichi explains the problem with selling manga overseas is that so many people outside of the major countries in the world have no practical way in buying it. I've had many comments from blog readers over the years about not being able to buy manga in their country and they're from countries like Norway or Finland (which don't seem to have the infrastructure in place for manga publishing).

Next, there was a social media post I read back in April about manga publishers and why Japanese manga publishers are still struggling with piracy. Basically, the post talked about how famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami managed to break into the North American mainstream book scene. He decided to connect with an overseas publishing agent to help promote his works. Japanese manga publishers apparently do not like to do this. This is evident seeing how Japanese companies love to control everything related to content promotion and dislike foreigners (who may not necessarily be familiar with Japanese business culture/etiquette) from handling it. Despite how Japanese publishers nurture their hit talent in positive ways, most mangaka struggle with making money despite having some rights to their work. Japanese publishers want most of the money to themselves. Overseas promotion and relinquishing some control to them does get expensive and that's probably one reason why manga piracy is still a problem.

The promotion of Japanese content leads me to my next observation - why Korean pop culture has become quite the hot thing. When I listen to K-Pop, there's so many available videos and articles featuring many of the idols and personalities involved in the scene. The best part is how easy and accessible the music is. I can find whatever I want to listen with little to no issues. Japanese music, for the most part, is still hard to access due to record companies continuously region-locking music videos and performance streams. Japanese music is very good and deserves more attention, but Japan is shooting itself in the foot and I don't think they care. I heard that record labels started promoting streaming services like Spotify very late into the game when most artists outside of Japan went that route. Anisongs are great, but solely relying on them to become a known global music powerhouse isn't enough because the anime industry seems like it's in a bubble waiting to be burst at some point. Plus, there might be a situation where non-fans go "Japanese music = anime" like "anime = perverted stuff" without getting the full picture. I would hate to see that.

Anyway, I don't want to be all doom and gloom even though I do worry about the mental health of people who don't have healthy communities to be around. Over time, I started to realize how individualized most of us have become. We're supposed to be resilient in the face of everything, but I'll be the first to tell you that I still feel sad despite my resilience. The only reason why I'm still resilient is because there are people in my life that I care about and care about me in return. I believe that being resilient means that you're surrounded with healthy relationships that help you cope with whatever scars you have.

I don't know if this needs to be said, but Keigo Shinzo's Hirayasumi is a slept-on series that is a huge hit for people who are tired of living lives that are about being productive for the sake of society's ideals.

I've been enjoying Jinushi's Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You a bunch lately. Especially the events of Volume 6, so I wanted to talk about the mangaka's comments at the end.

Even though the main male character, Sasaki, is a klutz at times, he tries really hard to be kind to others. Which gets the attention of a conbini store clerk named Yamada. Both bond over smoking cigarettes in the back of the same conbini that connects them. Over time, we get to learn what drives Sasaki to continue talking to Yamada despite a huge age gap between the two. What happens in Volume 6 is Sasaki beginning to accept what he always wanted.

"I'm still afraid of the past..." I think a lot of us can relate to that part. We work hard to move forward, but when we start getting successful, a sense of imposter syndrome kicks in. Also, the brain that warns us of danger often plays crafty tricks in our heads because your safety is the most important thing. It will take any kind of psychological harm (even if it's not exactly life-threatening) and make it a bigger deal than it is. Our brains haven't evolved enough to handle modern life.

But like Sasaki, we deserve something warm to hear our hearts and make us want to appreciate the here and now. Like Jinushi says, we can't be moving forward and looking back at the same time. I'm not going to lie that parts of my past still scare me and have affected my view on people at times, but I have seen that parts of the present I experienced are filled with joy. Sure, I will stumble and go through rough times in the present, but I know I'll be fine because I have loving people who will get emotional over me whenever I fall.

I want you all to feel the same and to not keep looking at the rear view mirror. I also want to challenge the whole idea that we don't need anyone but ourselves to get through the worst moments ever. If someone genuinely wants to give you a loving hand and makes you want to be like them, take it.

©Kei Urana, Kodansha

I finally got the chance to get caught up on Kei Urana's Gachiakuta. I know Urana has gone through a lot of drama recently due to manga industry concerns, but this is probably my favorite shonen action series to read at the moment. I just finished the first 10 volumes of the manga (which is going to be collected as a special box set to be released in Fall 2026) and I appreciate what the story is trying to tell early on.

For those who haven't heard of the manga, Gachiakuta is about a kid named Rudo, who gets blamed for the murder of his foster parent, Rego, and thrown from his home world known as the Sphere into an area right below it known as the Pit. The Pit is a place throw all their trash. It is not safe as the trash accumulation and polluted air leads to the creation of monsters called Trash Beasts. Rudo meets a group, the Cleaners, that exterminates the Trash Beasts, and a rival group, the Raiders, who are ruthlessly trying to find certain items in the Pit to reach the Sphere. Rudo joins the Cleaners in an attempt to get revenge on the actual culprit who killed Regto.

I wrote about the manga in the past and I really like how Rudo slowly evolves from feeling like he has nothing to experiencing emotions he's never processed. In the first real arc, the Inside Trash Beast Raiders Battle Arc, Rudo is faced by the Raiders' leader, Zodyl. Zodyl tries to convince Rudo that the Cleaners aren't really his friends. He says that if Rudo is serious about revenge, then he has to go to the Sphere himself. But Rudo tells Zodyl that the Cleaners have never judged him and accepted every part of his personality. His goal as of right now is to both have revenge and have fun with his newfound friends.

After the arc, there's some conversations between the Cleaners, particularly Enjin and Zanka, about Rudo's mentality. They do note that living a life of revenge isn't the best way to live life. While Rudo is indeed happy being around people that he cares about and doing things for them, Regto's death and the circumstances behind it are always in the background.

I think it goes to say - you can't just enjoy life while thinking about getting back at those that wronged you. I remember reading this article about what we really want when it comes to revenge. I wonder when we experience those thoughts, what emotions are running through our head behinds anger? Do you feel shame, despair, fear? Are we ashamed that we now become vulnerable despite looking strong on the outside? Revenge gives off this feeling that we can fight back with some kind of perceived strength, when that strength is flimsy at best.

And then I think about the idea of restorative justice. Restorative justice is about confronting the person who wronged you and having a conversation (albeit tense) with them. There were signs of this in Gachikuta Volume 4 when Rudo meets a girl named Amo, who nearly takes out the Cleaners with her abilities. Rudo is enraged over how she has hurt them and nearly kills her. Enjin manages to have a heart-felt conversation with Rudo about growing up. After that conversation, Rudo apologizes to Amo and attempts to bond with her because both don't know how to properly connect with other people due to their rough childhoods. Amo becomes a big part of Rudo's thinking as she holds clues to getting back to the Sphere.

Seeing a moment like that makes me think about Gachiakuta's theme of people treating certain valuable things like trash. Sometimes, the things we shouldn't throw away aren't material objects. The idea of revenge is a normal thought, to be honest. But it deserves to be thrown into the trash when it gradually starts to affect the relationships around you. This is a big reason why I'm fascinated with Gachiakuta and the lore behind it right now.

Life shouldn't be just about revenge and getting back at those that wronged you. Unfortunately, society seems to preach that a lot and maybe that's the grand point. The Sphere is full of "elite" residents who will punish you when you go against their rules. The Cleaners are the antithesis of that, while the Raiders might be the same as the Sphere's residents in their own way.

Today, I'm 16!

I know I haven't written in quite a while until just recently. It's a struggle to prioritize what hobbies/interests are relevant in your life when the ones you enjoy the most have some equal value. At the same time, I don't want to be someone who's going to hustle every interest I have.

I am still reading manga, but it's not a huge priority for me to talk about it as much. I'm getting more joy from being around people in the mahjong community I'm in and also K-Pop for that matter. Now I wonder if that's because adults can socially connect easier compared to anime/manga events being mostly catered to kids and teenagers. There are events for adults though and some manga fans are starting to address the lack of small hubs for adult-aged manga fans.

I think I needed a small break from being "on" a lot about manga and trying to find things to say. Despite this, I did check out events like Kodansha House last October and met Fujita of Wotakoi fame.

At the same time, I notice that I'm really not a huge fan of being on X/Twitter and BlueSky a whole lot anymore. I feel like I have more important things to do than go on social media. I'm usually on Discord a lot (even though there's things going on that may move users away from it). I know the manga press scene relies on social media a whole lot, but maybe I'm just aging out of it gracefully.

I won't predict and/or guarantee anything for the blog right now because I'm in a different place of my life. Different and more content to say the least. I do dislike that great writing/blogging is shunned due to media consolidation, AI usage, and algorithmic preference for social media controversy. Someone told me a while back that I am one of the last few who still writes for the hell of writing.

Sure, I won't get a bazillion hits on the internet. But at the very least, I'll just keep blogging in a way that's emotionally honest and brave. Not many people I know do that.

For anyone who keeps up with the manga scene, you probably know that we're in a golden age of yuri manga. Even I have gotten on board. Earlier this month, Yen Press had a week-long Yuri Cafe event in my area. While I wasn't able to make it due to getting sick, I have read the titles Yen Press were featuring at the event. I want to highlight some key moments in those titles in this post.

First off, I'll highlight Volume 5 of She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki. In this volume, the main couple, Yuki Nomoto and Totoko Kagusa, are about ready to start their journey as a live-in couple by moving in together. However, they will not see two important people in their lives, Kaname Yako and Sena Nagumo, as much. Nagumo laments about how she was only starting to get close to Kagusa and Nomoto and feels lonely because of the change. But, Yako assures Nagumo that things will be okay even if things end.

Life changes for everyone and so do relationships. As much effort we can put into the relationships that matter in our lives, it may not be enough. Still, the grand message is don't give up in keeping connections you value alive. And stay open to meeting new people and forming new relationships.

It's hard to find genuine relationships in your life and I am lucky to keep in touch with a few somehow.

Next up is everyone's yuri darling series, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai. In Volume 3, Mitsuki Koga gets picked up by a male classmate about her writing a song in English. He decides to translate Koga's song on a blackboard without her permission. Koga doesn't say anything, but her best friend, Aya Osawa, gets pissed at the guy and tells him to erase his translation as it was disrespecting Koga's love for music. Osawa's response causes Koga to look and become more like "the hot record store guy" at her job. She becomes more assertive and confronts the male classmate by telling him that she can provide him a CD of her song if he wants a listen. And then this happens.

A long time ago, I had a friend who defended me from a bunch of criticism from people who I thought were my friends. Seeing this scene makes me think about those days. If you're able to find friends who get angry for you on your behalf, those are people worth keeping because they truly are a dime a dozen. It is hard to speak up at times and it's okay to let your support defend you while developing your ability to talk back when needed without pleasing anyone.

I think that's a big reason why I still persist despite whatever setbacks came my way.

Finally, I will showcase Love Bullet by inee. This is such an compelling manga about people who die, but unable to find love, and are reborn as cupids. They are tasked with pairing up humans in romantic relationships and instead of using bow and arrows, they use modern projectile weaponry like guns and grenades. The main character, Koharu Sakurada, is tasked with her first mission as a cupid to find love for a girl, Aki Tamaki, who happens to be a former high school classmate that confessed to her. Unfortunately, Koharu died after the confession happen and Aki still has grief over it. So it was a complicated first mission, but Koharu manages to complete it after hearing what a now 20-year-old Aki has to say.

I wish more people acknowledge that we never truly move on from relationships that we lost and it's okay to say that we still miss those people in our lives. I sometimes don't see that in our culture. If we don't accept their missing presence and the emotions that come with it, then we never truly heal. Moving forward is a lot healthier than moving on.

I'm still sad about some relationships that just dissipated and feeling sad has allowed me to be able to value the ones I still have even more and treasure new people that come my way.

What I find common about these 3 titles is that they are all about moving forward with the help of those who genuinely care about you. I feel that there's a collective grief about everything in the world right now. What we need right now is a dose of compassionate and realistic reassurance ensuring that we're going to be okay as long as we acknowledge the pain, not fall into total cynicism, and persist with love.

Hey everyone! Hope you all are having a great holiday season or doing okay at the very least. I know it's been a while, but I'm alive. Just a lot has been going on. I still am reading manga and have a list of series I liked from this year, but I'm saving that post for the 1st week of January.

If you want to know what has been happening the last few months, well, blame mahjong.

I was the top IRL meetups player of the month in October 2025 out of 110 people and top online meetups player of the month in November 2025. Add to the fact that I won an online monthly tournament back in February 2025. This has been my year for mahjong.

I do have a lot of thoughts about mental health and while I still care about the topic, I still felt like I had to step away for a short while because I sometimes feel like we're not really focusing on addressing the whole spectrum and that hasn't changed anything for the better despite growing awareness.

Oh yeah, I also went to 5 K-Pop concerts in the span of 4 months in NYC. New York is so spoiled right now for concerts and I'm fortunate to be a fan at my age, even though I think the market is oversaturated right now.

I'll slowly get back to blogging soon because I still like to read manga a lot. But I know I'm not the same person I was 15 years ago when I first started the blog. Life happens and new joy comes from the unexpected.

A few weeks ago, I was in the front of a karaoke parlor, waiting to meet up with new friends. While I was waiting, I saw a male/female couple walk towards a restaurant next to the karaoke parlor. The woman caught my attention because of she wore a t-shirt I currently own. It was a UNIQLO Gintama t-shirt of a pixelated Kagura. I immediately thought, "Ahhhh, Gintama is still so loved!" And after what I saw at Anime NYC 2025 and heard at Anime Expo 2025, Gintama's resurgence comes at a perfect time because it's about preserving relationships even if you're not close with everyone around you.

It's been 6 years since the Gintama manga ended and 4 years since the anime adapted everything from it. And we are in 2025 with some of its key arcs being compiled into movies and the spinoff, Gintama: Ginpachi's Zany Class, finally getting a proper anime series instead of being omake. Even better, we have a Yoshiwara in Flames arc remake in 2026 as that's the arc where Gintama really put itself on the map as a great shonen series worth following.

Gintama has meant so much to me and I'm glad it still resonates with people even today. I talked about the many Gintama cosplayers I saw at Anime NYC 2025, so here's a couple that I really loved.

Beautiful, no?

What I think makes Gintama still relevant today is its focus on how community really helps someone move forward from pain. Back in the start of the series, Gintoki Sakata talked about how he wanted to walk away from relationships considering his past. But Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura made life bearable. Sure, they all fight and argue a lot, but those moments are what make life "life."

And it really takes people to become stronger, not just solo training arcs.

Sadly, a lot of society ignores how much communities do make a difference in the lives of other people and actually generate the changes that improves well-being. This is what I see with Gintama and especially how Gintoki's home of Kabukicho always bands together whenever trouble comes along. It is incredible to see regular citizens fight against alien oppressors especially during the final arcs. Despite whatever disagreements we have over certain issues, we all want the same things - food, shelter, love, financial stability, and a sense of meaning.

This makes me think about a particular moment in the Shinsengumi Rebellion Arc. Gintoki is fighting against one of Shinsuke Takasugi's Kiheitai comrades, Bansai Kawakami. Bansai is confused as to why Gintoki would fight for the Shinsengumi despite their bonds not being "close." He calls Gintoki a ghost that only exists in the past and there's nothing for him to protect anymore. But Gintoki tells Bansai that what he wants to protect hasn't changed and dares him to cut off the bonds he has.

Gintama is basically saying that the ebbs and flows of mental health is affected by the social environment around you. All the compilation films that have come out so far reflect this. People are trying to change, but find it hard to do it. Some people want to find resolution in their lives and can't do it themselves. Sometimes, the change comes from outsiders who know how important relationships are to well-being. I feel like I should actually revisit the arcs covered in those compilation movies properly and see how important it is to fight together and help one another to be the change they want to be.

In any case, Gintama is back in a big way. We're fighting against regimes that want to see us fight against one another instead of together. I want the burning flames inside Gintoki's heart to inspire us to do something meaningful for someone, even if it's tiny. A tiny spark can generate a powerful reaction that makes someone's soul shine with a nice silver.

And create a fiery community that, to sound like Gintoki, will never die out.