Review of Gintama

This review intends to cover all three series of Gintama, however it will be spoiler free. 

It’s incredibly hard to write a review for something that I love without coming across as biased, though I’ll try my best to be objective. That being said, although flawed, Gintama is indeed a masterpiece. It’s an anime that’s changed my view on the world, however it also suffers from the worst opening season I’ve ever seen in an anime. 

 The plot of Gintama is very much in the background, as the comedic stories are mainly episodic in nature. There is an overarching plot, however it’s referenced so rarelythat it’s easy to forget that it exists. The strength lies in the comedy, which thankfully is consistent. The series took roughly thirty episodes to start being something that I made a constant effort to watch, rather than being something I just watched as a side to other anime. That isn’t to say the opening episodes are bad, they’re just inconsistent. I would say that the first 25 episodes should be treated as the character/world-building episodes. If you manage to stick around for the first season you’ll have braved the worst the series has to offer. Although there are some duds scattered throughout the 263 episodes, in no way do they mar the overall enjoyment. The humour in the series ranges from crude toilet humour to brilliant parodies, and somehow even the toilet humour manages to be hilarious.



 Admittedly, I can’t really pinpoint why, but although it contains my favourite comedy arcs in the series, the standalone comedy in Gintama‘ felt slightly inferior to the original 201 episode’s. It was still hilarious, but it just didn’t feel as fresh. As I can’t really explain why I feel it wasn’t as good (and because Gintama’; Enchousen redeemed the series) it doesn’t detract from my overall feelings regarding the comedy. Having said that, I enjoyed it more upon rewatching after reading its content in the manga. 



While Gintama is at its core a comedy anime, there are a few serious arcs scattered throughout. These arcs go beyond the tiresome formula of other battle anime, masterfully combining comedy, drama and action into a surprisingly small amount of episodes (the longest arc doesn’t last any more than eight episodes). The comedy arcs are shorter and often parody other anime/games (an arc parodying Monster Hunter being a personal favourite of mine). While a broad knowledge of a variety of anime and genres is recommended, it is by no means necessary to enjoy the jokes. I started watching it not long after I’d seriously started watching anime (having only watched Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto and Full Metal Panic! previously) and still found the self-referential comedy is strong enough to stand on its own, with the references I didn’t quite understand eliciting a chuckle if nothing else.

As mentioned previously, I initially watched Gintama to provide a break from other anime, so if you go into it with such a mindset you should have built up a reasonable anime repertoire by the time you get to the gold (or should I say silver? ha ha). At its heart, it’s an anime that rewards dedication with a near constant stream of laughs (and feels when it comes to the serious arcs). 



The overarching plot of the anime is one of great interest, as it is firstly forgotten within the first fifty episodes and then referenced somewhat rarely. It’s hard to talk about the serious plot without venturing into spoiler territory. The best way I can think to describe it is a politically driven humans vs aliens epic. Kind of. Sometimes. Forget about aliens, they’re very much behind the scenes in the overall scheme of things. The main plot manages to be engrossing because it is drip-fed to the point where it’s always a welcome surprise to see advancement, however minor. 





The characters are where Gintama shines. Some may implore to skip to episode 25 if you aren’t enjoying the opening episodes, but I cannot stress enough how important they are in establishing the character’s defining traits throughout the series. The characters are like none I’ve ever experienced, and most importantly, they’re all flawed in one way or another. This means that there are no random nakama powerups or even any special abilities (from the humans that inhabit the series, anyway), just pure power and skill, which makes the fights a joy to watch. The only minor blight on the characters is an overuse of villain redemption, although the stories relating to such redemption are so detailed that it doesn’t ever feel stale.

As Gintama is an episodic comedy there is little in the way of character development outside of character introductory arcs, although this isn’t a problem because the lack of growth means that the comedy regarding character traits never really has to change (i.e the stalker will always be a stalker, the masochist will always be a masochist). The main antagonist has appeared in about six or seven episodes throughout the entire run, although they’re quite possibly the most genuinely threatening antagonist I’ve witnessed.



For the time it was made Gintama’s art is nothing special. It’s never bad, just incredibly average. It gets better as the series goes on, increasing in quality with its budget, eventually becoming the best looking shonen series I’ve seen. Character models are easily distinguishable and pleasant to look at, the visual gags are hilarious (get ready for more penis mosaics than you’d see at an erotic tile festival). When it comes to action the animation is fluid and the fighting intense. It’s funny how an anime that is primarily comedy has one of my favourite fights, and in fact does action better than pure shonen series such as Bleach and Naruto. 



The openings and endings of Gintama are the best I’ve heard in an anime. Besides the second opening and first ending, every theme is either instantly likeable or eventually grows on you. As for the soundtrack, it has everything, from jazz to hard rock (forgive my lack of genre descriptions). Although some tracks can feel overused, they’re so good and so well utilised that they rarely, if ever, detract from the mood. Enough new tracks are added each season to keep things interesting. 



Overall, Gintama ends up being much more than what it initially appears to be. Judging by the first 30 episodes, I never would have expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but it ends up becoming so funny and profound that I can’t help but think I’ll never enjoy another anime as much. So far that sentiment’s held true.

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