Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears.

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

Chronichles the story of the Forty-seven Ronin.

Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must eliminate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

Fewer samurai films are being made, and the Uzumasa studio has fallen on hard times. One day, veteran "kirareyaku" (whose job it is to be felled with a sword by a film's star) actor Kamiyama is tasked with teaching sword action techniques to fledgling actress Satsuki. A few years later, the now-retired Kamiyama is visited by Satsuki, who has become a popular star.

In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.

Jeremy’s quiet day in the park is interrupted when he's approached Martin, a strange and enigmatic man claiming to be an actor from the future preparing to play Jeremy in a film. Martin hints at future events, leaving Jeremy to interpret how much is true. Clues are dropped, questions are raised, and Jeremy begins to realize that his own story may be more complicated than he ever expected. Shot in a single unbroken take, through the perspective of an autonomous drone, Peace by Piece follows one conversation that slowly reveals the consequences Jeremy will one day face. Like Jeremy, the audience discovers the truth, piece by piece, until the final revelation.

Fearless Edo-period police inspector Hanzo Itami, nicknamed The Razor, has developed his own unique way of extracting information for his inquiries. His first adventure sees him investigating his superior officer's mistress, whom he suspects of having ties with a reputed criminal on the loose.

Against the backdrop of the Edo treasury devaluing currency and driving many into poverty, Hanzo Itami enforces the law without regard to status. He shows inadequate respect to the treasurer, who wants him dead.

Hanzo extracts a confession from a ghost using his assaulting methods, foils thieves, connects with Heisuke Takei a friend from his youth, offers protection to a forward-thinking physician Genan Sugino who has defamed his ruler, discovers a pleasure ring of young wives and a blind music teacher, and cuckolds a corrupt official under his very nose.

A compilation film of the Thorny Arc, episodes 43–46 in the second season, featuring additional footage. The movie is a part of the "Gintama 20th Anniversary Project."