On July 24-28, GAAAT Gallery held a “Gintama” pop-up at the Exhibit A Gallery in Los Angeles based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. The art gallery, which initially premiered in Chicago, featured a collection of unique metal canvas artwork of Gintama’s iconic characters for fans of the manga and Japanese pop art.
The GAAAT Art gallery is based in Tokyo, Japan and was founded in October 2021 with the goal of “fine art transformation” towards Japanese IP content through their metal canvas artwork.
“Home to North America’s largest Anime Expo, it is a city where the history of Little Tokyo and the entertainment spirit of Hollywood coexist—a place where Japanese pop culture is enthusiastically embraced and intersects daily life,” said Akinori Tsuguchi, marketing manager at GAAAT. “Therefore, we believed LA was the ultimate setting to showcase GAAAT’s artwork, which fuses traditional Japanese craftsmanship with the worldview of anime.”
“Gintama” is a long-running action comedy manga that takes place in an alternate universe where the Edo period of Japan has been taken over by aliens. “Gintama” made its debut on Weekly Shōnen Jump, a Japanese weekly manga magazine, in 2003 and made its anime debut in 2006. The anime is famous for its iconic characters, storylines and gags.
Attendees were able to reserve an entry timeslot or enter as walk-ins. Visitors also had the opportunity to receive a set of three exclusive prints featuring artwork from the gallery. All of the artwork had its own placard with its title, price and QR code for those who wanted to purchase it. Items ranged from $1700 to $10,000. A table in the back of the gallery was also there for fans to look at and purchase exclusive stickers, t-shirts and coasters featuring the “Gintama” characters.
According to the organizers, the GAAAT Gallery has collaborated with many partners, which are not limited to anime and manga IPs but also independent illustrators. GAAAT specializes in taking 2D digital artwork and adding more depth to the artwork by turning it into 32-layered UV ink metal canvas artwork.
Last year, the GAAAT gallery organized an international tour for its “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” gallery. Throughout 2026, GAAAT held several Bleach exhibitions for its 20th anniversary in Japan, Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles and New York.
Many of the featured artworks utilize existing art of the Gintama characters and hundreds of frames from Gintama episodes. The characters’ faces, clothes and backgrounds are filled with hundreds of frames, which collage the characters’ best moments in the show. GAAAT calls this unique Japanese pop-art style “CONVERGE ART.”
“In this exhibition, we have reconstructed the world of Gintama through diverse artistic expressions, including pop character art, pieces utilizing traditional Japanese metal leafing, and CONVERGE ART, which condenses hundreds of scenes into a single artwork. In Los Angeles—a city where diverse cultures coexist—we would be delighted if people of all generations and nationalities could enjoy the work from their own unique perspectives,” said Tsuguchi.
The “CONVERGE ART” seen in the gallery resonated with the fans that attended. Some fans said they could recognize individual frames from the show. Each piece in this style could be observed for several minutes by taking in every image.
“I would say it’s really authentic. Like, they showed both the cool parts of Gintama with all the character poses and the really funny parts and stuff I recognize, like the openings. And they even showed like the new series, the spinoff series, which I didn’t expect to see here,” said Sid Man, a fan at the exhibit.
Some fans at the event also found the artwork nostalgic because they saw scenes from older episodes being featured in the artwork.
“Showcasing the collage of the screencaps of the episodes is nostalgic. I watched all the episodes, so watching it was like, ‘ah, that really happened, huh?’” said Ky Ho, an attendee who came with their group of friends.
The GAAAT Gallery will continue to travel around the world, showing and selling its Japanese pop-art and works from many illustrators.
“The Gintama gallery was a fun outing for me; I specifically planned it as part of a date with my partner, so it worked out well. It was very nice seeing people show up and taking pictures with their plushies or the people who came in cosplay,” said Nik Tsai, an attendee who came to the gallery with their partner.