Gintama' starts off 2 years after the original series and pretty much continues the legacy of Gintama. Somehow Shinpachi and Hijikata feel to have been "left behind" because everybody but themselves changed in those 2 years that they didn't realize had been passed... or did they? Note: Clarified by the man Gintoki himself at the beginning of episode 5, the title's pronounciation is neither Gintama Dash or Gintama Dot, it's simply Gintama. The little dot is just there for grown up reasons, because they grow hair down there and so on...