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Gintama's Hideaki Sorachi Unveils All His Demon Slayer Art of Tanjirō, Hashira

Last month, we had a tease of three Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters as drawn by Gintama author Hideaki Sorachi. Now, we can see the entire collage, with Tanjirō surrounded by all nine Hashira, as well as another illustration of Gintama's Yorozuya trio.

In true Gintama fashion, the text on the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba illustration reads "The final battle of the Hashira (samurai)! Though most of them aren't even involved" — acknowledging that only some of the Hashira are in the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train film's main plot.

The two illustrations will adorn a double-sided mini-poster that theaters will start handing out to audiences of the Gintama: The Final film on January 29, the start of the film's fourth weekend. Theatergoers during the film's first week are also receiving one of 10 randomly distributed cards that feature each of the characters Sorachi drew.

Sorachi also drew animation sketches for footage in the film, and theaters will hand out four more randomly distributed cards with those sketches in the second and third weeks of screenings. Written messages from 31 cast and staff members, including the director, will also be included in the audience gifts.

Gintama: The Final opened in Japan last Friday. The film isbe based on the finale of the original manga, combined with new story elements.

The manga is also inspiring a new net anime special titled Gintama The Semi-Final with a story that will be a two-episode prequel to the film. The net anime will premiere exclusively in Japan on the online dTV service on January 15. The film also has a novel by Mirei Miyamoto that also shipped last Friday.

Sorachi's original "science-fiction period-drama comedy" manga began in 2003 and ended in June 2019 with over 55 million copies in circulation. The latest anime series premiered in July 2018. The manga has also inspired various original video anime (OVA), event anime, two live-action films, and two live-action net spinoffs. Viz Media published the manga's first 23 volumes in English.

The first 49 episodes of the first television series began streaming on Hulu with a new English dub in December. Sentai Filmworks released the anime's first 49 episodes on DVD in 2010 and 2011, but that release did not include an English dub.

Sources: Gintama: The Final film's official website, Comic Natalie