{"id":62014,"date":"2026-03-09T19:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=62014"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:13:24","slug":"gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An unexpected dieting streak by\u00a0Gintama<\/strong>\u00a0creator Hideaki Sorachi\u00a0was\u00a0reportedly\u00a0what\u00a0set his recently announced Netflix anime\u00a0adaptation\u00a0in motion.\u00a0According to Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Yu Saito,\u00a0who spoke\u00a0at a recent joint press event attended by\u00a0Oricon News<\/a>, the idea to adapt\u00a0Sorachi\u2019s debut\u00a0one-shot\u00a0manga\u00a0Dandelion\u00a0(2002)\u00a0came about after\u00a0Gintama\u00a0ended\u00a0in 2019.\u00a0At the time, Sorachi had stopped drawing manga altogether and decided to focus on losing weight instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe very first spark came after Gintama ended, when the author wasn’t drawing manga and was really focused on dieting…\u201d Saito explained. \u201cWe thought, \u2018How about doing something to motivate him to draw again, like turning a short story into an anime or something?\u2019 When we asked, he said something like, \u201cWell, if that happened, I\u2019d be happy.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then,\u00a0this\u00a0tentative idea eventually became a full Netflix production.\u00a0Originally, the project was\u00a0reportedly envisioned\u00a0as four short episodes. However,\u00a0to the surprise of Sorachi\u2019s editors,\u00a0Netflix proposed expanding it into a seven-episode series,\u00a0despite the source material’s\u00a0relatively short\u00a0length of\u00a031 pages. When informed of the expanded scope, Sorachi\u2019s first response was\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t push yourselves too hard.\u201d\u00a0Saito noted that Sorachi\u00a0has a positive stance on seeing his work adapted,\u00a0and that his attitude is\u00a0generally to\u00a0leave\u00a0things to the creators involved once the source material leaves his hands,\u00a0which makes him easy to work with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Produced by NAZ, Dandelion is directed by Daisuke Mataga, with Yosuke Suzuki overseeing series composition and Ai Asari handling character designs. Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia, Haikyuu!!) will be handling the music. The main cast includes Chikahiro Kobayashi (Saichi Sugimoto in Golden Kamuy and Legoshi in Beastars) and Megumi Han (Gon Freecss in Hunter \u00d7 Hunter). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published as Sorachi\u2019s debut work and later included in the first volume of\u00a0Gintama, Dandelion follows angels Tetsuo\u00a0Tanba\u00a0and Misaki\u00a0Kurogane\u00a0of the Japanese Angel Federation\u2019s\u00a0send-off department as they guide lingering spirits to the afterlife. The anime adaptation will expand on the short\u00a0one-shot\u00a0with original episodes and previously unexplored backstories.\u00a0The series is scheduled to premiere\u00a0in\u00a0April\u00a02026.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:\u00a0Anime studio\u202fpartnerships with\u202fglobal\u202fgiants like Netflix\u202fmay\u202fspur\u202freform of Japan\u2019s investor-centric production system, insider says<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the upcoming Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi’s Dandelion came to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":62018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-62014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nGintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi's Dandelion came to be.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi's Dandelion came to be.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T10:13:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-09T10:13:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1006\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohamed Hassan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohamed Hassan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi's Dandelion came to be.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi's Dandelion came to be.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-03-09T10:13:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-09T10:13:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1006,"height":567,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mohamed Hassan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mohamed Hassan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/"},"author":{"name":"Mohamed Hassan","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c6169108e73d8dc4c25de1cb8df9ae05"},"headline":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-03-09T10:13:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T10:13:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/"},"wordCount":427,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg","keywords":["Anime","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News","Non-Gaming News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/","name":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-09T10:13:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-09T10:13:24+00:00","description":"Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief talks about how the Netflix anime adaptation of Hideaki Sorachi's Dandelion came to be.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260306-6201-001.jpg","width":1006,"height":567,"caption":"Gintama"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/gintama-creator-stopped-drawing-manga-and-started-dieting-intensely-after-the-series-finished-upcoming-dandelion-anime-project-was-launched-to-motivate-him\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gintama\u00a0creator\u00a0\u201cstopped drawing manga and started\u00a0dieting intensely\u201d after the series finished. Upcoming Dandelion anime project was launched to motivate him\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c6169108e73d8dc4c25de1cb8df9ae05","name":"Mohamed Hassan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1720547168675-1-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1720547168675-1-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1720547168675-1-150x150.jpg","caption":"Mohamed Hassan"},"description":"Mohamed from Egypt has been covering Japanese and indie games for more than 8 years for local and international outlets. He is very interested in the Japanese language and culture, and is a long term fan of JRPGs, indie games and visual novels.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/mohamed-hassan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62020,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62014\/revisions\/62020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}