Shout Out / Gintama

One of the many, many references in the anime.

"One of these days, we're going to get sued."

— Shinpachi Shimura

As a Gag Series, Gintama will not hesitate to heavily reference other media or people somehow — this can vary from simple name-dropping to blatant parodying.

Many thanks to Rumbel subs for pointing out plenty of the shout-outs.

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Anime & Manga

In general

• Constant shout-outs to fellow Shonen Jump series like Dragon Ball, Naruto and Bleach are fair game, especially in the episodes featuring the suffering editors of Gintaman. They're often renamed in-series, for example Naruto as Beruto (with the villains as Bakazuki instead of Akatsuki) and One Piece as One Park.
• There are a few shout-outs to Yoshihiro Togashi's work, including several jabs at Hunter × Hunter's hiatuses and Prince Hata being a walking shout-out to Level E (he's even called "Prince Baka" all the time!).
• The Elite Four belonging to the Yagyuu clan are named after the four romantic leads of the shonen comedy series Strawberry 100%. In particular: Tojo Aya becomes Tojo Ayumu, Nishino Tsukasa becomes Nishino Tsukamu, and Kitaoji Satsuki becomes Kitaoji Itsuki and Minamito Yui becomes Minamito Sui.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion references appear several times across the course of the series, especially the Units.
• Japanese music acts are frequently mentioned or parodied. B'z is Otae's favourite band, and Perfume and AKB48 are amongst the most targeted idol groups.
• Studio Ghibli films are another popular reference that spawn the recurring characters Pedoro and Hedoro, but reference to Laputa is the most common.
• Constant references/jokes/cameos/shoutouts to Dragon Quest, to the point that you would die of alcohol poisoning if you tried to make a Drinking Game out of them.
• Because Hijikata and Date Masamune share a voice actor, there are a few shout-outs to Sengoku Basara.
• The long-standing fan mail character "Ginpachi-sensei" is based off of the titular character of Kinpachi-sensei, and teaches a "Class 3-Z" to mimic the "Class 3-B" Kinpachi works with.

Specific arcs or chapters/episodes

• In Episode 9,during Gintoki's duel with Hijikata, it suddenly cuts to Kagura having a Newtype reaction(chime and all), when she realised Ladies Four was about to start.
• Kagura wears Bruce Lee's outfit from Game of Death in Episode 19.
• The planet they stranded on in episode 23 is awfully similar to Gunsmoke.
• Episode 25/ Chapter 100:
  • Gintoki quotes Itachi. They're fighting over nabe.
    "You should hate me more, curse me, and detest me! Then you should take the power of that hatred and use it to survive this rotten world."
  • To finish up the strategizing that was going on, Ryuk appears at the end.

• Episode 27:
  • Gintoki quotes Full Metal Alchemist's Roy Mustang's "it's a bad day for rain".
  • After Okita tells Gintoki about Kidomaru's death, the sound of rain can be heard in the background and Gintoki says "Man, I hate rain! It's not a good day to hear a tearjerker story."

• Episode 28:
  • Sacchan mistakes Kondou for the monkey in Speed Racer.
  • Sacchan, Matsudaira, and Kondou then steal a bike from the Doronbo gang.
  • Later, assassin-paranoid Matsudaira and blind Sacchan both start seeing Otose and Catherine like they're from Fist of the North Star.
• Episode 30:
  • The episode is pretty heavy on the crime-solving/detective references, so there's plenty of Case Closed references. Like the eponymous detective making a quick appearance, only with a topknot/chonmage. Gintoki even grabs a sleeping Mouri look-alike just so he can do Conan's normal routine.
  • Later on, Kagura suddenly cosplays Yankumi, and mixes up lines from Gokusen and Trick.
  • At the end, a few shots of Gintoki and Kagura have them change outfits to something that resemble other famous detective duos. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson.
• Episodes 34-5:
  • The cat girl that cons Shinpachi leaves behind a calling card that says she is the Mysterious Thief Cat's Ear.
  • The first of the episodes is a parody of Densha Otoko.
• Episode 35:
  • It's not "Kondou", it's Hitman Gorilla 13. Oh, and it's not "Sougo" either, it's Hitman Sougo 13.
  • Don't forget Warrior of Love Mayora 13!
• When describing the ideal heroine in Episode 43, Hasegawa holds the Gendou Pose while he speaks (bonus points for Fumihiko Tachiki sharing the VA of Gendou Ikari).
• Go-Ninja arc (chapters 67-9/episodes 43-4)
  • This whole entire arc can be considered a tribute to Super Sentai, from the epic (and hilarious) roll-calls to the unnecessarily flashy ninja costumes... which may or may not be a blatant jab to how its ninja Sentai are ridiculously flashy when they're supposed to be ninjas.
  • As the Yorozuya, Katsura and Sarutobi all wear their ninja gear and get set to go save Elizabeth, a Gintama Shippuden logo appears just before the commercial cut.
  • Gintoki at one point yells, "SATSUGAI SURUZO!"
  • When infiltrating the location that Elizabeth is in, Gintoki and the rest of the ninjas go through trials that look like the ones you see in Takeshi's Castle.
  • Gintoki and Hattori's battle somehow has a pause in the action when they try to imitate the Pegasus-Comet-Fist and the Kignas-Dance.
  • Later, Gintoki gets numb and is paralyzed while smelling Benzaiten Kaoru's rose-petal technique - a direct reference to Saint Seiya's Piscis Aphrodite Demon Rose technique against Pegasus.
• The second part of gambling episode, where Kada is being introduced, is the whole Akagi series, concentrated. It's all about mahjong, naturally. "ZAWA!"
• In Episode 49 where Hedoro makes his debut, Gintoki pushes Kagura around in a wooden cart like Lone Wolf and Cub.
• In Episode 49, the pro gambler Janki Akage's character design is loosely inspired on the main character of the gambling anime Kaiji.
• Episode 50 has the characters suggest improvements to the show. Shout-out overload ensues.
  • Shinpachi suggests a logo change, like maybe adding a Z or X.
  • Gintoki agrees: why not something like "Farewell", "Be Forever", "Final", or "The New Voyage"? Became Hilarious in Hindsight since the original Gintama movie produced much later ended up being called Gintama: The Movie, The Final Chapter, Be Forever Yorozuya.
  • Next up, Once Upon A Time In China Girl.
  • "What could Teradaya Otose's Earth Obliteration Plan be!?"
  • "You have yet to know the true Gintama."
  • Otose and Catherine as magical girls. Tama Cure Silver Soul!
  • Presenting the TakaraZura Theatre Club, Omegumi Performance, The Pig Rose of Versailles.
  • Sacchan suggests the show go for a more Saccyan feel, with a title that looks like it was taken from the Siren Games.
  • Otae suggests what's essentially a Dragon Ball, Bleach and One Piece hybrid, dubbed as DragonBleaPiece. Here, Otae beats up Kondo in three different locations, in three different costumes, and in three different ways. (Bankai! Gomu-Gomu! Ha!) In the same sequence, Kagura's dressed as Aty.
  • World Gintama Cooking Show, with your host, Hijikata.
  • The plot of Roman Gintama looks awfully familiar...
  • "Wherefore art thou, Otae-san?"
  • "...these days, thrills and shocks are what everyone wants."
  • The Prince of Jungle. The Yorozuya find Prince Hata but he ditches them to go to space, where he takes pictures with Jabba the Hut and Yoda. And some apes.
• Benizakura arc:
  • During his duel with Henpeita, Shinpachi tries to cover up his shaky hands by claiming to practice the "Drunken Sword." In response, the equally-nervous Henpeita lies and claims to be a master of a sword style called "Shimura-Ken," which is actually the name of a famous Japanese comedian.
  • After Katsura uses a hidden parachute to escape the space pirates, Gintoki asks if he's "Lupin."
  • Yamazaki shows off his badminton skills in episode 62, and after he beats his opponent, he says, "Mada mada dane".
  • In the same episode, while trying to mimic Otsuu's verbal tic, Yamazaki randomly ends one of his sentences with "Death Note". Also, Kycilia Zabi shows up in Otsuu's dressing room during this scene for some reason.
• Mother arc:
  • In the anime, one scene is a Pastel-Chalked Freeze Frame with Gintoki's Finger Gun gesture shining brightly... just like how Yusuke is occasionally depicted in the YuYu Hakusho anime.
  • A sign for the town doctor, White Jack appears in one of the places the Yorozuya stop by in their job in episode 54.
• The title of episode 66 is Hana Yori Dango. In this episode it means dango instead of boys, but still homophone regardless.
• Episode 67:
  • The title of the second half of the episode: The Ideal Girlfriend Has to be Minami-chan!
  • Gintoki compared Sacchan's treatment of him to the woman in Misery.
• Tama and the other robomaids in the Fuyo arc are an obscure reference to the cancelled Saber Marionette Z, an obscure Saber Marionette manga. Where the marionettes (basically androids) are given feelings turn evil and starts killing people, with one marionette stopping them. The titular saber marionettes can think and almost feel like Tama, and are also skilled fighters.
• The transmutation circle and quotes of Fullmetal Alchemist show up in episode 69.
• During the chase scene at the start of episode 71, Tama begins playing a Suspiciously Similar Song version of the Rocky theme. Both Gintoki and Kagura immediately notice the similarity, with Gintoki saying that using the actual song from the movie would likely get them in legal trouble.
  • ADRIAN
• Episode 72 ("Go with "Might" Driving"):
  • The Joui members keep talking about a drama titled Summer Sonata. Later, the said members keep talking about the The Silliness of Jang Geum.
  • During Katsura's driving test: "Maybe... there's a bomb that will explode if we go less than 50 km/h, planted by a Joui member!"
• Episode 74 is all about references to Kochikame—most prominently, the "zombies" shown in that episode share the same eyebrows of the protagonist.
• In opening 4, Katsura is dressed like Captain Harlock.
• In episode 77: "Where's the 100%? Shouldn't it be Yagyu 100%?"
• Episode 89 is full of references to and parodies of Bleach.
  • Toyako, the spirit of Gintoki's sword, looks a lot like a less cool Zangetsu.
  • The Shinsengumi's Victory Goddess, to a less extent, resembles long-haired Orihime.
  • To top off all the cameos, a lookalike of Ichigo himself—in shinigami form and Hollow mask—appears near the end. To introduce a ton of other gods.
  • Zenkai and Fuusenmaru sound familiar...
• During the girls' weight-loss camp: "A hunter is most vulnerable when he is about to capture his prey."
• Hasegawa Prosecution arc:
  • Hesegawa goes on trial because he's accused of doing the Kinniku Buster.
  • The concept the arc is an Affectionate Parody of the Ace Attorney game series with the prosecutor being a Captain Ersatz of the main prosecutor to the point of having the same bangs and the judge being more of a Dirty Old Man than the one in the games.
  • There are many references to Heidi, who also suddenly looks like something from The Ring.
• In one of his travels during Episode 96, Umibouzu runs into Char Aznable, and becomes a commander of his army.
• Episode 97:
  • Catherine's old gangmates looks members of Lupin III's gang, with Catherine serving as the group's Fujiko Mine stand-in. The anime version goes as far as to parody the Green Jacket OP but replacing the characters with Catherine and her old gang. Several of Catherine's past exploits also reference Lupin stories, such as when she claims to have defeated an old guy who was trying to clone people. Additionally, Catherine's old gang being called Cat's Punch is a nod to Cat's Eye, another popular heist manga.
  • An old heist of Catherine's looks like a scene from Charlie's Angels (2000).
• Owee arc:
  • The arc focuses on the release of the hottest game console from Betendo, the Bentendo Owee.
  • Gintoki's trying to bribe the other people in the line to change places with him, claiming that "In order to gain something, something of equal value must be given."
  • Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura at some point act like the main chracters from Heidi
  • The characters play a game called Bakiboki Memorial.
  • Katsura cosplays a certain humble plumber.
  • The store manager giving a speech under a spotlight while seated on a stool is a spoof of Stalker's episode openings from Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
  • The characters play a pixellated vomit version of Tetris that somehow also parodies the Nobunaga's Ambition series.
  • The final game of the Shinsengumi/Yorozuya battle involves Hijikata and Okita playing against Gintoki and Kagura in what's essentially a Dragon Quest parody.
• Episode 100:
  • The series parodies the Dragon Ball Z Kai opening.
  • A lot of jabs are made at "Namcha".
• During the Shinsengumi Rebellion arc, Hijikata compares himself to Yamcha, while Gintoki tells him that he's Vegeta, not Yamcha.
• In Episode 106 ("Love Mostly Runs on "Sudden Death" Mode"), the first soccer team that Gintoki and his crew face is a group of identical pentadecuplets parodying the Matsuno brothers.
• Episode 109 has a weird fixation with Jackie Chan. And his nose. Oh, and Jack—I mean, Dragon Leader himself appears. The entire bicycle scene (with the butt poke from the seatless bike) is also parodied.
• In episode 114, when eating the Hijikata Special, Kuriko says something along the lines of "I have found the One Piece of flavors!"
• When the gang are stranded on an island and believe they are alone and can do whatever they want without getting embarrassed:
  • Gintoki repeatedly tries to do the Kamehameha move, including the dramatic shouting.
  • Otae sings one of B'z's songs ("Taiyō no Komachi Angel") out loud while doing the clapping movements.
  • Kagura ponders if she can really see Laputa in the sky.
• Nobody really knows what the goal of Gintama is, so Gintoki sets it to "become the Samurai King". Becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when Tomokazu Sugita (Gintoki) takes the role as Charlotte Katakuri.
• There's an exchange where Gintoki has cornered a villain that is a hysterical parody of the flashback where YuYu Hakusho's Sensui and Itsuki meet :
  Gintoki: Do you have anything to say before you die?
  Villain: If you'd let me live for one more day, I'd like to watch my favorite TV show.
  Gintoki: That! Won't! WORK!!! (proceeds to kick bad guy's ass)
• This is like enrolling in school and having the teacher tell you to kill all the other bastards!
• Gintoki scolds Hasegawa in episode 120, saying that he's probably cursed. "Ippen shinde miru!"
• The Monkey Hunter arc:
  • The story is all about the trouble Monkey Hunter-obsessed aliens cause.
  • Instead of believing that aliens were messing with him, Kondo believes that he got stuck in a transporter device with a screwdriver that had fallen inside.
  • The real M looks a lot like Cloud, and Gintoki even asks him he's from FF to boot. (No, nevermind, it's Hasegawa.)
  • "Come back, my Shane!"
  • Hasegawa mentions an A.T. Field.
  • Gintoki informs Shinpachi that if he's going to upgrade his character he should "at least give [himself] a Psychogun."
• The Ghost Ryokan arc:
  • The arc is a parody of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. There's Artistic License with some takes, though there are some real references such as the Star Platinum lookalike Star Silver, and the Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs in the battle between Okami and Gintoki. Hilarious considering Tomokazu Sugita (Gintoki) voices Joseph Joestar in Battle Tendency.
  • There's a reference to Hirohiko Araki, mentioning that he is a fairy and doesn't seem to age.
  • During Oiwa's beating of Gintoki, she delivers a final punch that sends a beam of light into the sky that branches into a cross, referencing the after-product of an Angel's death in Evangelion.
• In the Yoshiwara arc, Yorozuya gang's self-introduction as new members of Hyakka◊ is a parody of Perfume's self-introduction.
• The Shinsengumi Death Game arc plays a huge reference to Saw when Hijikata & Okita are chained in a room by a man with a mask called Jiguzou and both of them have to prove the strong bonds that they have... but it proves to be a stunt set by Okita to get rid of Hijikata.
• During the false last episode of 150, Shinpachi is set-up as Shinji Ikari during the last five minutes of Episode 26 of Evangelion while the rest of the cast acts as surrogates for the supporting cast to teach him as the supporting cast of Evangelion taught Shinji, complete with everyone congratulating him as he stands atop the tallest tower in Edo. Once Shinpachi realizes it, he protests to such an ending for copyright reasons.
• When told by his barber that all samurai have their hair cut in a top-knot to look the same in Episode 151, Gintoki asks his barber if it's "The Human Instrumentality Project".
• In episode 153, Gintoki and Kagura listened to a radio program with DJ Junnijiro as its host. Obviously, Gintoki's fear of the supernatural made him unable to sleep at the end of the episode.
• In episode 154, the famous actor Shunnosuke Oguri attends Kyuubei's birthday party (and is one of the few people that stays when all the other guests leave). Hilarious in Hindsight as Shun Oguri (the actor being parodied) went on to play Gintoki in the live-action adaptation himself.
• Episode 158 uses instances that imitate the introduction of Sachiel, the title sequences and fonts, and the live-action sequence of the movie of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Otsu Arc:
  • One of the episode titles is Laputa's still good after seeing it so many times. The episode itself has a small part where Kondo, Okita, and Yamazaki discuss their favorite Ghibli films and their different aspects.
  • Shinpachi and Hijikata play a card game with "Otsuu Cards" that is suspiciously like Yu-Gi-Oh!.
  • Takatin blatantly looks like Hulk Hogan.
  • When the band summoned by Shinpachi's playing card suffers an attack from Hijikata's playing card, an A.T. Field forms and protects them.
• Katsura appears as Ill Smith, and has the tendency to shout "YES WE CAN!"
• Tama Quest arc:
  • Don't ask why Tama ended up in a Guntank body. All we know is she move faster this way and can detach her coreblock.
  • You can see a replication of Aerith's death and other Final Fantasy moments playing behind Gintoki while he's ranting about the use of long-ass CG cutscenes in games.
  • The rest of the images also depict cutscenes from various Playstation era games, including a Metal Gear Solid codec sequence, the Opera scene from Parasite Eve and the scene where Squall sees Rinoa for the first time in Final Fantasy VIII.
• Popularity Poll arc:
  • The spoof song of the Fist of the North Star opening "Ai wo Torimodose", with lyrics "I AM SHOCK!", is parodied when Shinpachi bulks up while making his way through all the lowly-ranked mob characters trying to sabotage him.
  • Otae, Kyuubei, Saachan and Tsukuyo form a unit in called "Diamond Perfume". The group repeatedly does the "Polyrhythm" dance as they target their enemies.
  • Katsura and Otae try to goad Hijikata into saying one of Masamune's signature Gratuitous English phrases and ask him if he's excited since SB was about to start its second season.
  • When Tsukuyo explains the plan of her comrades to have everyone become "1" (referring to poll ranking), Gintoki (currently positioned first in the poll) retorts, "What's with the pseudo "Human Instrumentality Project"? Commander Ikari may accept it, but I won't!"
• Episode 189 has a visitor that's suspiciously similar to Kai Shiden talking to a man that looks like General Revil talking about Katsura's exploits, only for the Kai Shiden lookalike to beat the hell out of Revil lookalike for talking instead about the 30th anniversary of Gundam.
• In response to Otose's comment that men ought to be neutered rather than cats, Shinpachi requests that the "Human Memberality Project" be post-poned until he's had sex in Episode 190. In this episode, Gintoki, having been given the body of a cat, converses with his trainer, who is also a human-turned-cat, about his ability as a cat being quantified as a synch-ratio, referencing the relationship between a pilot and their Eva in Evangelion.
• In the Diviner arc, Gintoki's balls have individual names: Yusuke and Sasuke. In addition to being Meaningful Names (Yusuke means 'Right Hand' and Sasuke means 'Left Hand'), they are also references to Kenta Shinohara (Sorachi's former assistant)'s Sket Dance as the right ball is called Bossun at one point (meaning the left hand refers to Tsubaki) and Gintoki mentions how the Sket Dance and Student Council at least try to get along. This is also significant considering that Bossun/Yusuke and Tsubaki/Sasuke are twin brothers — something that had been recently revealed in its manga at the time.
• In episode 201, Kyuubei's story about Christmas is a ripoff of The Little Match Girl where Kagura is the Little Match Girl, Hasegawa is the father and Shinpachi is the match in crucified position. The story turns Shinpachi into a punching bag for Kagura rather than turning to sparring.
  • Kondo's story ends with him taking a dump in Kagura's toilet, which he claims was meant to be a Calling Card like in Cat's Eye.
• The end of Episode 203 has Gintoki somehow be able to use Final Getsuga Tensho.
  • In the same episode, we have Gintoki dressed like Yamcha, and the Shinsengumi post has transformed into Holy Shinsengumi Empire, complete with Emperor "Jerkaiser" Okita de Sade Sougo III.
• Episode 204 has Gintoki asking "Is that your final answer?" And of course, it wouldn't be complete without Shinpachi going "Final answer! Wait, can I ask the audience?"
  • Earlier, various characters sent the Yorozuya New Year cards, with Sakamoto flaunting about his rise of popularity after last year's Taiga Drama based on his exploits aired. The Kiheitai joins in mocking Gin as well on their cards. ^note  The anime's second season aired in 2011, a year after Ryomaden's broadcast.
  • Also, after an angry Otae tries to kill Sacchan by wrapping her up in a mat and dumping her in a body of water, Sacchan eventually washes up on a remote island inhabited by an indigenous tribe. Sacchan's tribal outfit is a parody of San's from Princess Mononoke, right down to the mask and furry headdress.
• The color page cover of chapter 296 is a homage to Street Fighter II.
• Part of Jugem's Overly Long Name is "One-Thirds Pure Feelings", the title of the ending theme from the Rurouni Kenshin anime during the Amakusa arc called "1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou" by Siam Shade. There is also Betrayal Knows My Name somewhere in it.
• Glasses arc:
  • The storyline bears a striking resemblance to Kill Bill, including the music and naming of the assassins.
  • During the stakeout at Zenzo's house, the guys sneak out to go do some shopping at Don Quijote (a popular Japanese discount chain), and Zenzo even hears the store's trademark jingle over his walkie talkie.
• Episode 209:
  • During the Ginpachi-sensei segment. "Kakashi-sensei from class N had his Sharingan stolen. Anyone know anything?"
  • Kagura suggests airing the same episode eight times.
• In episode 213, Host club manager Kyoshiro is a master of "Hosto Shin Ken". He then gets challenged by Agomi, the self proclaimed "Ken-Oh" of the Okama faction. Upon defeat, Agomi's facial features change and he delivers a version of Raoh's phrase ("I have lived a life without chins!").
• A depressive ghost girl living in a cursed Blu-Ray disc is first seen appearing out of a well and approaching the screen, making Gintoki compare her to Sadako.
• Renho arc:
  • The entire arc is a shout out to Space Operas - particular with Gundams ("Even Bright-san had never hit me!").
  • Chapter 356 features the trump card weapon the Renho (Elizabeth's race) plan to use to invade Earth: the "white devil" mecha, which have blue color at the top, very blockish looking, and features beam saber and beam rifle - or as Shinpachi said, "It's not Renho army, that's Renpo Army!
  • Episode 236 gives us The Last Shot delivered by not-Amuro-Ray-but-still-has-his-voice Elizabeth.
  • The leader of the Renho race is also Dark Vader, voiced by Char.
  • The anime versions includes small shoutouts to characters from other anime, through the Renho wearing their iconic hairstyles or accessories. Examples (but certainly not limited to) Kotetsu and Barnaby, Naruto, Kakashi, Renji...
  • Only Zura can make Newtype reactions ridiculous.
  • We have GaoGaiGar... I mean, Kaien, VS. a giant Renho that has a drill for its weapon. Seems like Sunrise just decided to go crazy on all its mecha shows.
  • Fumiko is a complete shout out to Fujiko Mine.
• Episode 216 has some random Metal Gear shout-outs, with the "Patriots" being composed of the "naked" and "solid", which need to be "jacked" in with a stick. Gintoki also refers to strawberry milk as "Meso Gear".
• Episode 217 has Gintoki trying to use Inception as an excuse to take a nap.
• In episode 219, Kondou refers to Hedoro and his visiting relatives as "The Addams Family."
• The Love Choriss arc is one big parody about Love Plus.
• Zenzo refers to the blow-up Gintoki dolls in Episode 240 as Units 01 through 05, like the Evas. Also, when Otae straddles and bites into the head of one of the dolls in anger, her eyes turn red and she roars in a parody of Unit 01's going berserk in Episode 19 of Evangelion.
• Host Club arc:
  • Kyoshiro decides to change his shop to Plamo-kyo Shiro, blatantly copying the name of the Gundam series Plamo-Kyoshiro.
  • Hasegawa's "tie" has "I wanna meet Jang Geun Suk" written on it.
  • Hijikata rides in on a nearly naked Kondo (who has motorcycle handlebars taped to his head like Masamune's horse in the anime) yelling "Here we go! Okay! Let's Party!"
• During the Thorny arc, Kondou (whose nickname is "Gori-san") becomes the de facto captain of the Shinsengumi Basketball Team.
  Kondou: "The left hand is for support only!!"
• Episode 248, Madaodog Madaonaire, is pretty much a parody of Slumdog Millionaire, with Hasegawa.
• Kintama arc:
  • After first encountering Kintoki, Gintoki says that Kintama is an awful name for a show, and that something like Kin no Exorcist would be much flashier.
  • Gintoki attempts to kill Kintoki by bludgeoning him with a set of Gintama DVDs. When this doesn't work, he repeats the process with the complete VHS set of Kochikame, followed by DVDs of One Piece, Naruto and Bleach.
  • Gintoki eventually gets drunk and runs afoul of some punks who drag him into what seems to be a Gundam-themed gay BDSM club. After his flogging, a defeated Gintoki closes his eyes with a smile while a "The End" caption appears onscreen, parodying the infamous Downer Ending of Tomorrow's Joe.
  • The picture of Kintoki on his instruction manual shows him holding the RX-78-2 Gundam's trademark beam rifle and shield.
  • The subtitle of this arc is "The Lost Substitute Odd Job Arc".
  • When Gengai describes Kintoki's creation in Episode 254, he refers to Kintoki as "Perfect Gintoki Unit 01."
  • In the same episode, Tama's introduction for the title is done in a parody of Bleach's episode titles. When Gintoki points this out, he does an alternate sequences parodying Kaiji.
  • When Gintoki says that he's not gonna let a plastic model run his life, he references Plamo-Kyoshiro again.
  • Otae is again shown to be a fan of B'z, this time singing a karaoke version of their song "Ultra Soul."
  • After arriving to get Kyubei's pet monkey down from the roof, Gintoki says "Rise of the Planet of the Apes, right?"
  • In episode 255, Hasegawa tells Gengai to contact him by writing "XYZ" on the train station bulletin board since he doesn't own a phone.
  Gengai: Don't bring City Hunter into this.
  • Mantama's Bait-and-Switch Credits opening contains various parodies of several anime series like K-On! and Magical Girl series like Pretty Cure. This is justified of course, because of the fake ending that the main series had at the middle of episode 256 and it was just an illusion world created by Tama for Kintoki.
• Beam Sword Style arc:
• A former instructor of the Shimura family dojo reunites with the siblings and is called Obi Hajime. His nickname is Obi-One. Not only that, the people who "saved him" and transformed him into a cyborg are reminiscent of Yoda as well. They also give him a codename: "Kenofi"
• In one of the Next Episode Preview of the Gintama' Enchousen season, the Yorozuya jokes around about making a parody of Kuroko's Basketball.
• Gintama: The Movie, The Final Chapter, Be Forever Yorozuya:
  • Gintoki says he doesn't remember Shinpachi being a "Seigaku pillar" because of his new resemblance to the The Prince of Tennis character Tezuka.
  • Otsu have joined Oedo Muscats, a parody of Ebisu Muscats, which compose of AV actress and gravure idols, and shot videos for SUTEKI - considering it's a parody of Muteki, it's extremely likely to be an AV video.
  • Gintoki's concerned that the Yorozuya broke up just like The Checkers and worried that one of the two had wrote an "autobiography" to smear the other one.
  • Sougo, now a ronin, is dressed very similarly to Kenshin, lampshaded by Gintoki.
• Episode 266 begins Season 3 with Gintoki breaking down while apologizing for the show's "recent failures" (such as trolling the viewers two years ago about how Season 2 was supposed to be the last), copying almost shot-for-shot that of Ryutaro Nonomura, a Hyogo assemblyman accused of misusing public funds.
• In the Frozen Time arc, humanoid aliens, who have been alive from the beginning of the universe, appear their spaceship looks a bit too small for all of them, and, yeah, they can control time. Hm...
• When Ayame is spying on the Yorozuya in episode 270, she discovers that Kagura (apparently) has a furry, monkey-like tail. She begins mentally referring to Kagura as "Kakarot," and even has an Imagine Spot of Kagura turning into a Super Saiyan.
• Joui Reunion arc:
  • Audiences get to know about the Miracle Generation of the Joui War, conformed by Gintoki, Katsura, Sakamoto and Takasugi... and about a fifth 'Phantom' member of name Kurokono Tasuke. Kuroko's Basketball gags ensue.
  • After spending most of the episode trying to recall the so-called 'Phantom' member (with post-Joui War basketball games and lots of Pocari), they eventually recalled the grave truth that they're the ones who caused his death by blowing up the temple where Tasuke's in, to get rid of the Bakufu samurai... while they're playing kick-the-Pocari-can.
    Sakamoto: Aren't we in the middle of something?!
  • Gintoki also references the Persona series by suggesting to do an all out attack against the Bakufu.
    Gintoki: Mind if I say, "Now is the time for an all-out attack"?
• Chapter 416/Episode 274 makes a huge shoutout to famous copywriter Shigesato Itoi and one of his most famous creations, Mother, when the Yorozuya is formulating a publicity poster. They use an image from the commercial for the first game as the basis for their poster initially (Along with its tagline), then randomly start putting pictures of Itoi himself on the poster, as well.
• Chapter 436/Episode 274 brings up the Burakkumas. Plainly rip-offs of Rilakkuma [intended to be a set-up trap from Tae for Katsuo, as being part of the new generation of the Four Devas to 'clean up' the bad influences on Kabukichou.
• When discussing porn stashes, Shinpachi's To Love Ru stash becomes the focus and is also compared to Gintoki's "old days of Jump" when I"s was published.
• When Hasegawa asks for scary stories from the Yorozuya, a whole heap of Saint Seiya gags ensue thanks to Kagura.
  • Kagura starts it off by telling a scary story about... the five Bronze Saints trying to rescue Saori. Things go downhill from there when the other members attempt to tell scary stories which eventually develop into stories where 1) Ikki abandons Shun, 2) the revenge of Jabu-plushie for being thrown away by Saori in favor of playing with the new Seiya-plushie.
  • Cue to Gintoki's "fear" of being sued just because it was three series parodied and referred in a row from Weekly Shonen Jump's past and present authors.
  • The anime does a shot for shot remake of the original anime's ending animation during "A Phoenix Rises Over and Over Again". The whole episode was nothing but Seiya references, too.
  • The entire thing ended in the anime with Bandai Namco Entertainment being pursued by copyright agencies for the overuse of Seiya parodies in this episode.
• During the Soul Switch arc, Shinpachi, Kagura, and a bunch others became like Saito Hajime from Rurouni Kenshin, complete with strict hairstyle and his signature style/attack, the Gatotsu, due to Hijikata's efforts to become stricter with the Yorozuya.
• Chapter 486:
  • The chapter becomes a huge Street Fighter parody once Shinpachi starts trying to use his dojo's secret technique (which had its instructions written as a fighting game command). Among other things, it has Kyuubei using Guile's Flash Kick, and displays a parody of the results screen from Street Fighter II whenever Shinpachi tries and fails to use the technique against his opponent.
  • And there is a slight Art of Fighting parody due the "glasses" bar from Shinpachi. It's well known that the feature (which is in fact an energy bar) comes from that game.
• The first half of Episode 269 deals with Gintoki and Tsukuyo's attempts to make Seita gain interest in Japanese history. Gintoki attempts to shirk his responsibilities by having Seita read the historical manga Hana no Keiji, earning him a kunai to the back of the head from Tsukuyo. At one point, Tsukuyo calls Gintoki "Koro-sensei", and the next scene shows Koro-sensei cosplaying Gintoki◊. Also hilarious considering that Tomokazu Sugita (Gintoki) also voices Karasuma, the stoic agent looking after Koro-sensei.
  Gintoki: She seems ready to assassinate me at any moment!
  • After Hinowa forces the two of them to start Seita's lesson over from the beginning, a defeated Tsukuyo asks for a copy of "Nushi ni Todoke" to read.
  • The second half of the episode focuses on Shinpachi having to hide a collection of an Ecchi manga called Ho-Love Ru. Gintoki mentions that when he went through a similar phase with Video Girl Ai when he was younger, claiming that boys developing fixations on the Fanservice featured in Jump titles is a rite of passage.
• In episode 278, Ayame, Tsukuyo and Otae all have Sazae-san's hairstyle in the Imagine Spots Seita has while reading their respective lunch notes.
• In the Confessional arc, part of Katsura's training with the amnesiac shogun involves a TV showing a clip from Kuro no Onna Kyoushi (The Female Teacher in Black), a live-action Japanese drama that was airing while this arc of the manga was being written.
• Kagura's Boyfriend arc:
  • Chapter 420 brings us Umibouzu and Gintoki dressed in HUGE ADULT bodies, based on Yoichi Takahashi's drawing style of Captain Tsubasa's fame.
  • Kagura gets unwittingly betrothed to a boy from an alien planet inhabited by giants. Gintoki has quite a few words to say about the matter. Made even more obvious after the live action movie's cast was revealed and both Gintoki and Shinpachi discuss the heights of their respective actors while standing amidst a group of titans, with Eren in his Titan form standing beside them.
    "ATTACK ANYTIME YOU WANT, TITAAAAAAANS!! I'LL MAKE YOU FLY BACK INTO THE DEEP REACHES OF SPACE!"
• Chapter 444/episode 333 contains references to Golgo 13.
• Excalibur arc:
  • Gintoki cosplays while wearing the Dragon Slayer from Berserk, which he calls his "Alien Slayer", and tries to claim that it was the one he had shoved up his ass. When he's called out for lying, he thinks "It was far too large to say it was stabbed in my ass. Too big, too thick, and too heavy. My lie was far too suspicious." The response he gets is "Quit regretting it in that Berserk-style narration!"
  • Afterward, Gintoki changes his outfit to Cloud, to which they say, "You just switched out Berserk for Final Fantasy!"
• HDZ48 arc:
  • The group names are based off all the 48 groups such as AKB48.
  • "Diamond Perfume" make a comeback to back up Otsuu as band.
• When Bandai Namco Entertainment published the Gintama no Sugoroku video game for the Playstation Portable, the Yorozuya tries to get Tama to hack the game and improve it by adding "Tales of" to the title, for starters. It only gets more surreal from there.
• The Yorozuya are once tasked to forge the legendary swords of the hero Loto (and the evil lord) at about the same time.
• At the beginning of the very first episode of Gintama., the Odd Jobs trio mention that they've taken back their nighttime slot. Kagura then finds an antenna head piece on the ground and asks where it came from. The other two respond that it was from the previous nighttime slot occupant.
• The last episode of the Gintama. season ends with footage of the Yorozuya dubbed over by their live-action actors, including Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura. The trio pose, and Kagura does the same hand pose that made Kanna famous (a photo of her dancing with her idol group at the time and doing the hand pose went viral online). They also display a photo of Shun Oguri (Gintoki), joking that's all they would be able to show with their budget if they wanted to use him for real in the anime, and (anime) Gintoki dubs over the photo (with his mouth flaps replacing Oguri's mouth).
• The Porori Arc anime starts off with the series' typical opening narration from Shinpachi, then goes downhill from there thanks to Gintoki and Kagura shamelessly rewriting the story and basing it off of other anime:
  • Gintoki is introduced as someone who got his permed hair through the Wave Wave Fruit and is looking for the Pirate King's treasure, during the Great Pirate era.
  • Kagura is introduced as the cute smart girl looking for seven balls that summon a dragon.
  • Shinpachi is introduced as a glasses-monster-being capable of Pokémon Speak called Shinpachu. Gintoki then asks Shinpachu to summon the Japari bus.
  • The last scene tops it off — after the timeskip, the trio reunite at the Jabondy Archipelago (One Piece) to take the World Chunin Hunter Hero exam (Dragon Ball, Naruto, Hunter × Hunter, My Hero Academia).
  • Afterward, Shinpachi properly introduces Gintoki and Kagura... and then introduces himself as "Suda Masaki in 3D" (since he is his live-action actor).
• "3000 Leagues in Search of a Scabbard" is one to the classic World Masterpiece Theater series 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother.
• The Silver Soul arc:
  • Gintoki is glad that they're now in the new holy land of Jump Giga without any pirate senpais or cheeky kohais. Cue barely censored images of Luffy, Midoriya, Hinata, and Asta.
  • Gintoki points out how last week Shinpachi was playing Granblue Fantasy on the roof, which he denies. (Actor Allusion since Masaki Suda was just announced as Shinpachi's live-action adaptation actor when the chapter came out, and Suda often stars in the Granblue advertisements.)
  • Yamazaki looks like Rambo after the Shinsengumi make their return.
  • The Okoku Kingdom's Amazing Technicolor Population who act and live stereotypically western. A nod to Doug perhaps?
  • Hedoro becomes a Heva Unit 01 Hevandorogon. The Evangelion anime OST even plays (sadly cut out of Crunchyroll's release due to copyright) while Gintoki explains the rationale behind Heva Unit 01 to his not-so-impressed audience.
• In the epilogue arc:
  • Sakamoto does a Brave Men Road after his bankruptcy. He even takes on Nobuyuki Fukumoto's signature style while he does it.
  • Yamazaki gets rebuilt into a Robocop-esque katsudon maker after nearly dying in the final battle. He's later restored back to flesh and blood in the real final chapter... at the cost of his personality being split into 108 Mechazakis.
  • An inverted reference to Like a Dragon: Ishin! appears in chapter 675: where the usual yakuza cast is turned into shinzengumi in Ishin!, here the shinsengumi has turned into yakuza.
  • Kanna claims that, not unlike Piccolo's species from Dragon Ball, she was "born" via being vomited out by Kagura — this ends up being a throwaway line as it turns out "Kanna" is simply Kagura herself but de-aged.
  • The very last chapter in Jump has Otsuu belting out a song to help the war effort... and it's a real life gag song by Takashi Konomi about how much he likes writing The Prince of Tennis.
• In the anime's 4th season finale, Sorachi's gorilla avatar announces Gintama Final: End of Sky, parodying the second film of the original High&Low film series.

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Live-action films and webdramas

• Much like in the anime, there is a fourth-wall-breaking CGI segment at the beginning of the first film in the same style as Count Down TV.
  • During the segment, the way Gintoki keeps calling out "Ka~gura" is a reference to the Boys over Flowers drama; there Rui Hanazawa, played by Gintoki's actor Shun Oguri, would call out to the female protagonist in the same manner. Kagura and Shinpachi keep telling him off for it.
  • When the characters pose, Kagura does the same hand pose her actress Kanna Hashimoto did in a photo of her that went viral and propelled her to fame. A "once-in-a-million" photo of her doing the same pose is also shown.
• Otae (attempts to) read Dragon Ball to an injured Gintoki while he rests.
• After Katsura knocks down multiple policemen with a butterfly net and finishes the last one off by whacking him with a sword, he claims that he "only used the back of the sword". This undoubtedly references Kenshin's sakaboto.
• Gintoki goes to Gengai for help with his upcoming battle of the Kiheitai, and considers the following options:
  • An actual Zaku II that's been left at Gengai's for fixing, which Gintoki keeps pestering for even though the pilot (whose cosplaying as Char Aznable) has come to pick it up.
  • The gomu gomu fruit, alongside a suspiciously-similar straw hat Gintoki can wear.
• Not long before the climax is perhaps the most insane and hilarious parody of the film. Gintoki is trying to think of a way to get him and Tetsuko to the Kiheitai's ship to fight Nizou, and Gengai helps them out - by bringing NAUSICAA along and having her lend them her glider. Tetsuko is legitimately scared and keeps asking Gengai if they'll be okay.
• In an attempt to get Hijikata to snap out of his Tosshi persona and go help the Shinsengumi, the Yorozuya and Gengai reenact a typical Neon Genesis Evangelion scene, with Tosshi as Shinji and the others as Misato, Asuka, Rei and Gendo.
• When Gintoki needs to quickly get to the Shogun to stop Bansai from assassinating him, Gengai comes to his rescue and escorts him... via a blatant rip-off of My Neighbor Totoro's Catbus.
• The poster for Otae's cabaret boss for the second movie has a logo referencing The Godfather.
• In addition to the Dragon Ball parodies in the second episode of the second webdrama (where Hijikata is looking for cigarettes in space), Maetel and Tetsuro from Galaxy Express 999 also make guest appearances on the titular train. Tetsuro at one point remarks that Akira Toriyama and Leiji Matsumoto are going to get annoyed because of their characters being used for shameless gags.

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