For the English release of the first movie, he was voiced by Chris Patton, whereas in the Gintama° episodes Gintoki was played by Michael Daingerfield; later, Roly Gutiérrez dubbed him in the first anime series.

However, Sorachi's version was planned to be as unrealistic as possible; his force included both men and women possessing bizarre traits that were nothing like the original Shinsengumi, and that would seep into many of the characters that would be part of his eventual manga.

Quickly giving him the nickname of "Gin-san", the original concept of the silver-haired Hijikata was shattered and Sorachi recreated the character from the ground up into the lazy-eyed freelancer he would be in the series.

[5] Gintoki Sakata is a freelancer former samurai living in an era where aliens known as the Amanto have come to Earth after the Joi War, a battle in which the latter defeated the former.

[13] Shoyo was unjustly accused of trying to raise an army, which resulted in his capture, with Gintoki and his friends entering the Joi War to rescue their teacher.

After his master's death, Gintoki chooses to open a freelance business where he could handle matters his own way, while continuing to live by his own samurai code.

[16][17] The group often have problems to pay the monthly rent for Otose, Gintoki's landlady whom he swore to protect after eating the food offerings meant to her husband's grave.

[20] Despite being a dangerous combatant well-versed in the ways of the sword, he acts like a coward most of the time to avoid needless bloodshed because of the trauma of suffering the loss of most of his friends and allies during the Joui war.

Throughout the series, he has demonstrated tremendous skill in swordsmanship, being able to fight on equal grounds against Utsuro, the evil persona of his master (whom Gintoki has never been able to win a match) or other Amanto that are considered the strongest in their respective class.

[23] Although Gintoki is more than capable of defeating powerful Amanto warriors and various other samurai, he will not hesitate to use tricks and manipulation if it means a quick and easy victory.

The second film, Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya has Gintoki travelling to a future where Edo has been destroyed and has to stop the threat that ruined the city.

[45][46] Ike and Momiken from the Japanese rock band SPYAIR commented that Gintoki was their favorite character from the series as both of them found him cool.

While reviewing the fifth volume of the manga Carlo Santos from Anime News Network found Gintoki's personality as one of the sources of comedy in the series, remarking the way he talks as well as his actions through the chapters.

[48] On the other hand, About.com writer Deb Aoki found Gintoki's carefree attitude and his desire to protect people as a "tradition of other shonen anti-heroes."

[49] Michael Aronson from Manga Life criticized Gintoki's expression in the first volumes from the series as he mentions it does not reflect his dialogues.

Another parody was made by Gintoki in the 2017 release of the anime with he referencing the Gilgamesh Night show due to the series taking its timeslot.

[53] Anime News Network writer Amy McNulty had mixed feelings about Michael Daingerfield's work as Gintoki's English actor as she found it too similar to Hijikata and Katsura.

[54] On the other hand, Mike Toole, another member from Anime News Network, found Daingerfield's work as appealing as the one from the original cast, Tomokazu Sugita.