manga was unlikely to become popular, and recounted other people also telling him that the manga would not surpass the printing of two tankōbon volumes.<ref>Sorachi, H. (2009). 銀魂公式キャラクターブック2 「銀魂五年生. [in Japanese] (pp. 194 - 195) Shueisha. </bdi>.</ref> However, interest in the manga slowly increased, to the extent that Sorachi found he did not have “any fresh material to use” after the release of the third volume.<ref>Sorachi, H. (2008). Gin Tama, Vol. 3 (pg. 2). Viz Media. </bdi>.</ref> He later stated that he was overjoyed when the manga was adapted into an anime, and, until then, hadn’t fully grasped the extent to which the series was popular. Gintama was featured in the 2005 Jump Festa Anime Tour, which Sorachi visited and recounted seeing “the crowd’s reaction and realised that people actually knew about Gintama.” Writing style and influences Researchers have credited the popularity of the Gintama series to Sorachi’s uniquely humorous characters and satirisation of contemporary themes. It has been described by Sorachi as “Gently painting the life of a loser, a really likeable kind of humanity and reality”, stating that the appeal of the manga’s characters are due to their relatable, flawed nature. Smith has described the series as an “Edo-era comedy decked out in science fiction trappings and alternative historical versions of famous characters”. Critics have also complimented Sorachi’s distinctive sense of humour, often satirising Japanese pop culture, or frequent use of vulgar language and toilet humour. Smith has considered Gintama’s balance of comedic elements and drama as representing Sorachi’s unique style and approach to characters. Sorachi stated that reading Wanpakku Comics had the greatest influence on his work as a manga artist, though was also inspired by popular series such as Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitarou. He also mentioned that watching various variety shows and historical films served as creative inspiration for Gintama. Sorachi has stated that the midnight radio program Attack Young, by Akashi Eiichirou, inspired his satirical humour. In the early stages of production for Gintama, Sorachi stated that his editor encouraged him to write a story about the Japanese shinsengumi, due to the popularity of a TV drama called Shinsengumi! that was airing at the time. However, he felt that his creativity would be limited by the genre of historical fiction and thus decided to incorporate the shinsengumi as side characters in a science-fiction and comedy manga. As the first