The Thorny Arc strips Gintama down to its skeleton: a ragtag crew fighting impossible odds with nothing but improvisation, stubbornness, and jokes that land harder because the stakes are real. This theatrical cut adds footage that deepens what made those four episodes special, the moments where the show remembers it's been earning your trust for twenty years. You're watching a comedy that decided to break its own heart, then make you laugh while it's breaking.

Gintama on Theater 2D: Baragaki-hen is a 2023 theatrical film that recompiles the Thorny Arc, which aired as episodes 244 to 247 of the television series (episodes 43 to 46 of its second season), and adds footage not shown in the broadcast. It belongs to the Gintama 20th Anniversary Project and mixes action, comedy, drama and science fiction.