”Gintama” indeed has a lot in store next year. It has just been hailed as the most anticipated anime series this winter of 2017. Aside from that, an official trailer has finally been released for the upcoming live-action film adaptation.

In a recent poll given by Charapedia, “Gintama” has placed first as the most anticipated anime series in a list of 20 titles. The said anime debuted as an original video animation (OVA) released by Sunrise in September 2005. It has finally premiered the anime series on television in April 2006 and it has already spawned 316 episodes in seven seasons.

The eighth season of “Gintama” will start airing on TXN (TV Tokyo) in January 2017. The said anime series will pick up where it left off in the last episode, which was aired in March 2016. The last episode, “Farewell Shinsengumi” saw the rebellion managing to escape but with Sasaki’s life on the line. Kondo and his group bade farewell as they left Edo.

Meanwhile, the official website for the live-action film adaptation of “Gintama” finally released the first official trailer. The teaser featured the main cast playing out the familiar main characters namely Gintoki Sakata, Shinpachi Shimura, and Kagura. It further teased fighting scenes with Gintoki going against familiar adversaries and him even being in bloodied clothes. The story of the movie revolves around Gintoki fighting off an alien invasion that has taken over the feudal era of Japan.

The three main characters Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura will be played by Japanese actors Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, and Kanna Hashimoto respectively. They will be joined by the rest of the cast namely Masami Nagasawa , Masaki Okada, Tsuyoshi Muro, Yuya Yagira, Ryo Yoshizawa, Nakamura Kankuro, and Tsuyohi Domoto who will be playing important roles in the movie adaptation as well. The film is directed by Yuichi Fukuda and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. With the principal filming wrapping up in September 2016, the said live action movie is set to release in July 2017.