Sorachi's comments on arcs from the Gintama-kun no ayumi
Benizakura arc: It was even made into a movie so it’s a popular arc right now, but when it was still coming out the ratings were low because it was so long so I was eager to end it as soon as possible.
Host arc: I wanted to draw something bewitching and scandalous typical for Kabuki-cho, but the aftertaste would have sucked so at some point it become just a clusterfuck of yakuza, hosts and yorozuya. In the end it was simply a story about a mom.
Yagyuu arc: Usually long Gintama arcs become long little by little, but the Yagyuu arc was an exception; it was a well thought, carried out long arc. It’s when I first tried to make those fellows who hate each other cooperate.
Mitsuba arc: I drew it thinking that it was finally time to explain Okita’s animosity towards Hijikata, but it became much more complicated than I thought and I started getting worried that the readers would lose interest. To this day I still wonder if it would have been better to make Mitsuba and Hijikata exchange at least a couple of words at the end.
Fuyo arc: Drew it only because of seeing I, Robot.
Monkey Hunter arc: Drew it only because of being into Monster Hunter at the time.
Shinsengumi Crisis arc: Since the real Shinsengumi was constantly troubled by internal conflicts I thought it was the time to give this Shinsengumi one, too.
Ryugujo arc: I wanted to make something like Crayon Shin-chan, something to resemble stuff kids watch on their summer vacation. The jokes are for adults though.
Yoshiwara in Flames arc: The initial plan was to use Yoshiwara to tell a heart-warming story about human relationships, but since I ended up introducing Kagura’s brother I had to prolong it from the three chapters I wanted at first and in conclusion it became another long arc. But you must admit that it doesn’t happen in manga that often - having such large amounts of people trying to take down a mere old man.
Tosshi arc: Tosshi’s arc is all about Ghibli films. I had a fever of about 40 degrees and my head wasn’t functioning anymore and everything I could think about was my favourite Ghibli films, so it became what it is.
Popularity poll arc: It might sound rude to the people who have participated in the ranking, but I drew this thinking about how the characters themselves wouldn’t have been too happy with this kind of polls.
Onmyouji arc: I’ve always loved ghost stories so I forcefully tried to fit Gintama into the said context. I did some proper research before drawing it though.
Kabuki-cho Four Devas arc: I wanted to get to the leaders of Kabuki-cho. When the readers sent me questions like, ‘why are they acting so weird’ upon seeing the yakuza greeting scenes, I felt the tremenduous generation gap that is going on.
2 Years Later arc: I used the fact that I was given a break in the manga and made it into a two years break for the case. Turning everything back to normal was a pain.
Executer(glasses) arc: The theme of Hissatsu Shiokinin got stuck in my head so I was drawing the chapters listening to its soundtrack.
Scandal arc: It was right when the youth protection law passed so I thought that putting Gin-san in such a situation would be interesting. I was drawing it thinking that it will be still delightful even if it gets shut down because of the said law.
Renhou arc: At first it wasn’t supposed to be that long, I just wanted to give Elizabeth a proper backstory and be over with it but eventually I got carried by the flow and it tranformed in what it is.
Baragaki arc: I had the idea of Mimawarigumi from way before, but this arc concentrated on Hijikata and his being as a living thorny kid.
Kintama arc: During the Scandal arc as I was thinking of a possibility of Gintama violating a law and therefore getting shut down, I wondered what would I do if I had to put a sudden end to it. I thought that I’d start something of the opposite extreme, like shoujo manga, and started doodling it; on the last page I tore off the mask and started drawing Gin-san&co, brazenly transforming the thing in Gintama but with a different title. I thought it would be interesting to execute afterwards.
Courtesan of a Nation arc: It was quite difficult to express the relations going on in this arc in one sitting, but to put it simply, it’s the Tendoshu controling the bakufu vs the Hitotsubashi unit who wants to take it down, the Shogun who stays off the Tendoshu, also Tendoshu vs Hitotsubashi vs Shogun, and the way these three factions oppose each other.
Kodokan(School of Beam Saber) arc: I started this thinking that it was time toget back to Shinpachi’s dream and get it moving a little. I ended it with a gag, but Shinpachi is actually still training the homeless on his days off.
Kagura’s boyfriend arc: The reaction for Tama’s miai was so good so I thought making something similar for Kagura, too.
Cursed sword(Excalibur) arc: I wanted to give a backstory to the sword used by the blacksmith and didn’t realise when exctly it turned into a long arc.
Genderbender arc: Be it because it’s banal or overused it’s already been 10 years so I waned to try my hand on it. I want to try everything curious before this manga ends.
Idol arc: I may be speaking badly about idols a lot, but I deeply respect the professionals. I thought I should express what I think about them as a whole.
Shinigami arc: Something important. Something that needed to happen for future reference.
