Review of Gintama

Most of the time, people says that Japan is a fusion between modernity and tradition, well, maybe that was the foundation of gintama's particular universe...welcome to the Edo period, where strange aliens called Amanto have invaded the Land of samourais. Basically, we follow the daily life of a trio of freelancers that would do everything and anything for money, our three main characters : Sakata Gintoki, a sugar lover, JUMP reader, lazy-perm hair with dead fish eyes ; Shinpachi Shimura alias glasses, eternal number 8 in the popularity poll, big supporter of Otsu-chan and the only (almost) serious and rational person in the trio ; Kagura, theonly female heroine in the shounen jump to ever puke, a walking stomach from the most powerful warrior's tribe : a Yato, and let's not forget their adorable and enormous dog Sadaharu. Due to some unforeseen circumstances these three end up working together and form the Yorozuya Gin-chan.

Well yeah, you would think that with a plot so ordinary and...actually, there isn't really a plot here, is there ? Well, many people thought the same exact thing at first, and I am no exception, the only difference is between the people who drop the serie right then and there and those who choose to give it a chance. I was one of the later, and God....thanks, I didn't miss this incredible opportunity.

Gintama is the epitome of unconventionality in so, so many ways. So, let's get it started :

The story :

Well, what can I say, there isn't actually a main story in gintama. Like I said before we follow mainly our trio in their everyday life, however, we discover through the arcs and the meeting with new characters the universe of gintama, how the governement work, the political tension that are hidden in the dark, the involvement of rebels...we also learn through the episodes the backstory of Gintoki, what had made him who he is now, how he had lived before and how he became a mere freelancer. Of course you' ll also learn about the others, and find out things that you didn't expect...yes, it's unpredictable.

Gintama is mainly comedy and parody, so many parody of other anime like bleach, naruto, Death note, jojo bizarre adventure, prince of tennis, DBZ and so on, without trashing them of course. Gintama also makes fun of their own cast, commenting about how they're short on money, about their so-called final arc, fighting about how some characters don't have enough screen-time...well, they just break the fourth wall beautifully, something that we don't see in other anime, and we just enter their world. It also use things of our everyday life and make it so funny to watch, like when you're fighting for food (it turn into a real war), or when you go to the toilet while there is no toilet paper anymore...ouch, have you ever seen a scene revolving around four guys in that situation ? Don't think so.

Even if gintama is mainly comedy, the emotional and action part are also enjoyable, with amazing battles with swords, or fists, bringing hype and thrill without dragging it for twenty episodes. The emotional moments and the lessons that we learn, like how sometimes even if we take risk in life or in a battle we may win as much as we may lose, how our true ennemy and the one we need to fight everyday is ourself, our own limits, how the things that are trully important are harder to bear, facing the possibility of losing it anytime. Of course, we still find the theme of power of friendship and team work but with no exagerration, the search of strengh...We also face death and loss (yeah, people die in Gintama, and they don't come back to life by some NAKAMA power crap.), emotional scene, even romance while not being cheesy...

the characters and the main protagonist :

When you think about main character in shounen, most of the time you think of the hero who aim for something and basically the plot revolve around that and how he reachs his goal through different battles (in other word, a nekketsu), you see the main hero evolve and grow both mentally and physically. Well, Gintama is...slightly different. First of all, unlike big name like Naruto or One piece, the hero of gintama, Sakata Gintoki, is already an adult which means that he has seen a lot in his life already, and experienced many battles and life lessons, so of course the view point is a little more mature. Gintoki is someone far from being the admirable hero with amazing powers that would blow your mind, truth to be said his only weapon is a mere bokuto, but maybe that is also why he's more relatable since he's closer to reality. Let's face it, none of us is always determinate, there are times when we want to cry, when we want to run away, who actually care about adventures and becoming Hokage ? You'd rather be lazy on your couch and pick you nose while reading your new issue of JUMP, right ? When you think about it, that's life, real life...nothing really big happen in it, everyday pass by and we're just trying to fight to live for tomorrow, that's our daily life. So yes, you have a main protagonist with nothing extraordinary about him, lazy, and a con man most of the time, but when he needs to, he stands for what he hold dear and even in front of stronger opponent he'd keep on standing firm with conviction, not with the power of his abilities or his sword, but his resolve and very soul. Through the serie he'll teach life lessons to people, things ordinary that we sometimes forgot, and he'll also learn from others, create bonds, and bear more precious burdens that'd make his strenght.

Another thing about gintama's characters, I don't think that there is any one of them that I hate, even those who had a short screen time (they even fight about those by the way), they're all likeable and each of them have their stories and their time to shine, be it the shinsengumi, the forever homeless hasegawa-san alias MADAO, or even the Shogun.

As a woman, I think that this point is truly important. I noticed that most of the time in shounen manga/anime, females characters are most of the time associated with the damsel in distress type, the one that need to be protected and usually is in love with one or the main male protagonist, or the worst, how they are used for fan-service only( I don't think that I need to say which anime I'm referring to). Gintama has many females characters and none of them are considered as weak or as a damsel in distress. They fight and stand at the same level as the males protagonist, get hurt, have their own resolve and reason to stand on the battlefield while never forgetting their femeninity as well, and there is no need for exagerrate fan- service bordering hentai.

Overall :

Gintama is an anime really complete that has many to offer if you'd give it a chance. Sure, it's long and need a long time to start but still, it's worth it. The comedy may sometimes be hard for those who doesn't understand japanese references but when you do you'll really get your share of laughter. I loved the great life lessons that gintama taught me, especially the way it approach the search of strenght and its meaning in a way different to other shounen, how we don't need to fight stronger opponents in different battles to get stronger but how we have to fight ourselves and our weaknesses, breaking our limits...or how sometimes sacrifice are necessary and how you have to sully your own hands, and most of all, even if you take a risk you have to expect to lose and not get what you're looking for.