Set in Edo, which has been conquered by aliens named Amanto, the plot follows samurai Gintoki Sakata, who works as a freelancer in his self-established store, "Yorozuya", alongside his friends Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura, offering a wide range of services to handle various tasks and odd jobs.

The story is set in an alternate-history late-Edo period, where humanity is attacked by aliens called "Amanto" (天人, "Sky People").

He agrees to an unequal contract with the aliens, placing a ban on carrying swords in public and allowing the invaders to enter the country.

The trio also meets Gintoki's former comrades from the Amanto invasion, including the revolutionary Kotaro Katsura who is friendly toward them despite his terrorist activities against the alien-controlled government.

The story is a balance between episodic and shorter arc based plotlines that resolve quickly, and a rich background plot that develops from its beginning to end.

Over time, Takasugi gains allies, including Kagura's brother Kamui, and the elite fighting unit Mimawarigumi to prepare for his large-scale coup d'état.

Hideaki Sorachi's main focus in Gintama is the use of gags; during the manga's second year of serialization, he started to add more drama to the story while still keeping the comedy.

[15] Sorachi liked the Bakumatsu and Sengoku periods due to how both were eras of change and thus presented the positive and negative points of humanity.

The series was then set in an alternate Bakumatsu to give a bigger significance to the characters' bushido as in that time samurais were at the low point of their lives.

[11] Sorachi also cited the manga series Rurouni Kenshin, set during the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods, as a major source of inspiration.

Although Sorachi was pleased with the first tankōbon selling all of its copies, he later learned Shueisha was afraid of poor sales which resulted in the minimum printed.

By the second year and beyond, he became more daring in his stories and concepts, creating longer storylines that included more drama while keeping his sense of humor and satirization of modern Japan by way of his fictionalized past.

[65] On April 5, 2010, TV Tokyo stations began airing high-definition reruns of older episodes of Gintama under the title Yorinuki Gintama-san (よりぬき銀魂さん, lit.

[76] On December 21, 2014, during Jump Festa's super stage event, it was announced that a new Gintama TV series was in the works for an April 2015 premiere.

[77] The cast of Yorozuya; Tomokazu Sugita (Gintoki), Daisuke Sakaguchi (Shinpachi), and Rie Kugimiya (Kagura) attended the event.

[82] Sunrise announced that the final arc of the manga would be adapted into an anime series and began airing on January 7, 2018, spanning 12 episodes and running until March 25.

[87][88] An anime adaptation of the Class 3Z Ginpachi-sensei spin-off light novel was announced at the Gintama Ato no Matsuri event on March 19, 2023.

[99] It is titled Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya and follows Gintoki as he travels to a future where he has to deal with a mysterious group of sorcerers.

[106] A Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba card illustrated by Sorachi, depicting Tanjiro Kamado and the Hashira, were given to the theatergoers in the film's first week of screenings.

The film stars Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata,[117] along with Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, and Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura.

[118] The film follows a retelling of the franchise's successful Benizakura arc in which Kotaro Katsura is attacked by a member of the army Kiheitai, and Odd Jobs Gin starts searching for him.

[119] In April 2018, it was announced that Shun Oguri, Kanna Hashimoto and Masaki Suda would reprise their roles as Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi respectively.

In the original crossover, Gintoki, Kagura, Kondo, Hijikata, Okita, and Takasuki as well as non-playable Shinpachi and Elizabeth appear in a few costumes such as Terry Bogard.

[174] In August 2008, TV Tokyo announced that Gintama and Naruto "contributed to robust sales of overseas rights in the last fiscal year which ended in March.

[177] The CD soundtrack Gintama The Best received the "Animation Album of the Year award" from the Kinema Junpo's DVD Navigator Japanese magazine.

Carlo Santos from Anime News Network found the manga to be a "one-of-a-kind comedy" praising the characters' personalities and gags.

[8] Jokes regarding clichés from other shōnen series were also positively received by About.com writer Deb Aoki, who, like Santos, found the artwork to be "the only thing that distracts from the otherwise considerable pleasures of this loveable, goofy manga".

[185] Additionally, the humor's quality was found to be inconsistent within the first episodes due to the depth some bring,[186] to the point that some viewers may abandon the series.

[187] Episode 232 of the anime series had a defamatory depiction of a character that referenced a specific politician, then–Minister for Government Revitalisation Renhō Murata, which resulted in the cancelation of its rerun on AT-X.

Renhō's representative denied having objected to the episode although a report from the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun stated the affected party contacted TV Tokyo.