Gintama's creator surprises Utsuro's VA with his sketch

One of the most popular anime and manga series of all time is none other than the revered comedy series Gintama. Written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi, the series was serialized in total from December 2003 to June 2019. All chapters were published under the Shueisha umbrella, albeit in different publications depending on the date discussed.

Gintama essentially follows an alternate history of Edo-era Japan, where humans and aliens live in harmony after the latter’s arrival and subsequent banning of swords. The series follows protagonist Gintoki Sakata, a samurai who works as a freelancer alongside friends Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura to make the monthly rent.

Sorachi’s humorous writing is one of the key reasons why the series is so successful. Given his latest sketch, which is making the rounds on Twitter, it seems as though this humor translates to a non-writing format quite well.

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Gintama author Sorachi draws a hilarious sketch of Koichi Yamadera, the voice behind the series’ Utsuro

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Gintama author Hideaki Sorachi is renowned for his sense of humor and overall expertise in comedy. While the main evidence for this is undoubtedly his aforementioned flagship manga series, a recent sketch reveals that Sorachi’s humor may translate incredibly well beyond the written word.

Koichi Yamadera, the voice behind the series’ Utsuro (who is considered the overarching antagonist of the series), recently posted a sketch to their Twitter profile. The sketch is one drawn by Sorachi for Yamadera to use as their profile picture, which they’ve since done. A collage of Yamadera’s sketched face is also being used for his header. Yamadera’s original tweet reads as follows when translated:

“Hideaki Sorachi drew my face just for my Twitter profile picture!! Bakibaki nasolabial folds are even clearer!! I've drawn various versions, so I think I'll change them from time to time. Gorilla... No, Sorachi-sensei, thank you very much!!”

Yamadera references how aspects of his facial beauty look even better in the sketch than in real life. He also calls Sorachi “Gorilla” in the tweet’s final words, a reference to Sorachi’s self-insert character in the series as an anthropomorphic gorilla. Hilariously, when this character is killed off in a gag, the series begins to go completely awry, both cementing this to be Sorachi’s self-insert and showing a great use of said self-insert.

The anime series recently concluded with its Gintama: The Very Final film, released on January 8, 2021. The film also received an additional tie-in entitled The Semi-Final, which bridged the gap between the ending of the TV anime and the movie.

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