AMINE AND MANGA

Gin Tama (Gintama, lit. "Silver Soul") is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. The original manga began in December 8, 2003 and is currently being published by Shueisha in Weekly Shōnen Jump. It is set in an Edo which has been conquered by aliens named Amanto. The plot follows the life from the samurai Gintoki Sakata who works as a free-lancer along his friends, Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura, in order to pay the monthly rent from where he lives. Sorachi added the science fiction setting in order to develop characters from his own liking after his editor suggested him to do an historical series.
The manga has been licensed by Viz Media in North America. In addition to publishing the individual volumes of the series, Viz serialized its chapters in their Shonen Jump manga anthology. It debuted in the January 2007 issue, and was serialized at a rate of one chapter a month. An original video animation of Gin Tama by Sunrise was featured at Jump Festa 2006 Anime Tour in 2005. This was followed by a full anime series which debuted on April 4, 2006, TV Tokyo and is still ongoing. Besides the anime series, there have been various light novels adaptations and video games based on Gin Tama.