Review of Gintama

"Listen up! Let's say you drink too much strawberry milk, and have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. But it's cold outside your bed. You don't want to get up, but the urge to urinate is just too strong! You make up your mind to go! You run to the bathroom, stand in front of the toilet, and let loose! You think that all your life has led to this moment! But then you realize! It isn't the bathroom, you're still in bed! That feeling of lukewarm wetness spreads like wildfire! But you don't stop! You can't stop! That's what I'mtalking about! THAT'S THE TRUTH OF THE STRAWBERRY MILK! DO YOU GET IT!?"
-Sakata Gintoki, 2006

When talking about anime, easily one of the most popular and prolific genres is the battle shounen. Two guys with muscles bigger than their heads screaming at the top of their lungs while beating the hell out of each other for seven hours seems to never get old within the anime community. Time and time again the genre has proven itself to not only be extremely popular, with the recent explosion of interest surrounding Boku no Hero Academia, but also very commercially viable, hence why so many get made and why many feel so mass produced. It's one of the first things that the general public thinks of when they hear anime, aside from, y'know, underage school girls with breasts bigger than their heads who want to have sex with strange tentacle monsters! In fact, I actually asked my Mother what she thought about anime, being that she knows virtually nothing, and she told me that whoever was into that kind of stuff must be some kind of strange social weirdo, as she looked me dead in the eyes, obviously disappointed that her Son is a filthy weeb who faps to Love-Live doujins. But, I digress! Over the years however, long-form running shounen adaptations have been heavily stigmatised by fans and for perfectly good reason. Not only is the sheer length of these shows intimidating, but since the anime is usually still running alongside its manga adaptation, the anime will often have to resort to using filler in order to let the manga run head, with Naruto being the all-time world champion of this, cutting back to filler even when the manga was over and there was no reason to do so! Most long-form running shounen as well typically are accused of falling apart as they go along, with greater plot holes, strange changes in tone from the original which doesn't sit too well with fans, and an abundance of animation errors and inconsistencies due to the constant working of the show.

However Gintama, despite it being a long-form running shounen with over three-hundred episodes, is still one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed anime out there, despite itself being one of the longest running anime around, with pretty much every season dominating the top anime lists here on this website. My score for this review as well also indicates that I agree with much of the critical acclaim behind Gintama, to a certain extent anyway. But, why exactly is that? What does Gintama do that over long-form shounen fail at? Well, let's see if I can answer why in this review! Let's grab our wooden katana, take up some random odd job and dive into the bat-shit world that is Gintama!

The Amanto, aliens from the far reaches of outer space, have invaded Japan, ending the age of the samurai, and a prohibition of swords has been put in place, but, despite this, several people still carry the spirit of the samurai in their hearts. One such person just happens to be our protagonist, a man by the name of Sakata Gintoki, who, despite constant gambling, drinking and all around being a rather useless member of society, carries on the will of the samurai. Not only that but Gintoki runs his own business taking on various odd jobs, along with a young girl by the name of Kagura, an extremely strong alien from the Yato clan, and Shinpachi, the straight man, otaku of the series. The show sees them taking on various jobs and the such in an insane and over the top fashion, while, at the same time, having to fight anyone who threatens their way of life. Talking about Gintama's plot is rather difficult, not because it is filled with allegorical writing or symbolism, but because of the unconventional narrative structure, the show has when compared to a typical shounen series. As such, fans of the show have dubbed each story arc into one of two categories. The "serious arcs" and the "comedy arcs". While Gintama does have an overall narrative that explodes in latter seasons resulting in a plethora of character deaths and fights, it is extremely subtle. Every so often we'll see glimpses of the antagonists in the background, plotting out some kind of plan or getting together allies for their army, and even getting involved in the more serious arcs of the show. Gintama is far more comedy focused than anything else, and will constantly switch between the serious and comedic arcs, but what makes this work is that it never feels as if the comedy is intrusive on any of the more serious moments. There is enough downtime between each major event to never make the comedy feel jarring, which is actually a problem I had in the later seasons of the show since they tried to combine both and it came across as rather forced and strange. However, despite the lack of an overall narrative, for the most part, the comedy arcs never feel like filler or just pointless ways to stretch out the story. Every arc we at least learn something new about the characters or their relationship, which makes them feel more than just simple comedic gags; the show has enough energy and charisma to keep everything entertaining throughout its entire run. The setting of Gintama as well is used to full effect in order to create interesting scenarios and story arcs. Also, since the comedy arcs allow us to learn more about the characters and bond with them too, this creates a greater sense of urgency and narrative tension during the more serious arcs, where everyone's life is in danger, with intense and well-animated samurai fight scenes with plenty of blood and emotional weight. It's this constant cathartic pay-off from the comedic hijinks to the climax of the serious arcs which is what makes Gintama so incredibly addicting to watch and marathon.

One of the most generic pieces of criticism I see in regards to the comedy of Gintama is that it is filled with nothing but referential humour. While I personally don't have a problem with references, since a well-timed reference can create a greater connection between the audience and the work at hand, and some of the parodies in Gintama can be pretty well done, I can understand why people are not a fan of this. For starters, references can't stand on their own since they are using other pieces of work to build the comedy around, but they're also limited in their appeal. Some fans may not even get the reference or parody and as a result, may not find the joke funny, and even if you're well-versed in anime knowledge, Gintama makes countless references to Japanese TV shows which more often than not, alienates the viewer. Of course, the anime is marketed towards Japanese viewers so I'm not going to accuse the show of having too obscure references, but for western viewers, it's something to point out. Even when the subtitles attempt to explain the joke and reference, it ends up killing the flow of the episode since you have to stop and read it all, which, more often than not, fills the entire screen with explanations, and being told why a joke is funny is far less funny than experiencing the joke for yourself. However, to say that the entirety of Gintama is based around references and parodies would not be an accurate statement, since most of the comedy is derivative of the character interactions and the absurd scenarios the characters find themselves in.

Gintama's cast of characters is HUGE! As a result, it creates an insane amount of comedic possibilities and interactions since each character has their own unique quirk. There are so many characters in the show that it would be impossible to go through them all, but each one, at the very least, brings something new to the table, and are all fundamentally flawed characters. What I mean by that is, that none of the characters are actually what you would consider 'good people'. Take Gintoki for example. While he does have a set of morals that he abides by, and when push comes to shove he will do the right thing and try to help people in trouble, he is a lazy adult who gambles for most of the day, gets drunk frequently, is always late to pay the rent and overall does some sleazy things. But what makes Gintoki hilarious is the fact that is flawed, and thus relatable, always getting some form of punishment for whatever he does, which feels satisfying to watch. Gintoki's character is easily one of my favourite anime characters ever, with his screaming in response to situations of danger are always enough to make me burst out laughing and his sarcasm is something that I adore. Gintoki also was a fierce samurai who thought on the front lines against the Amanto invasion, and the show gives us little hints into the war that transpired in the past, but, in typical Gintama fashion, every time they are about to go into detail of the event, they essentially troll us and make a joke instead, although eventually, we do learn about the specifics of what happened in the later seasons.

The other two main characters, who work with Gintoki, as previously mentioned, are Kagura and Shinpachi, and the three together have fantastic chemistry, being able to hold whole episodes together just by themselves. Shinpachi is more so the straight man for the series, which makes him the most relatable as a result, as we experience the story through his eyes; a voice of rationality in this insane world we're presented with, although he does break away from this shell many times to play one of the more eccentric characters, especially in the otaku arc where he is battling against other filthy weebs to become the number one fan of a popular idol in the show. Typically, Shinpachi is the butt of the joke in plenty of scenarios, and due to his straight man personality, many of the characters forget he exists, and all they remember about Shimpachi is his glasses, which makes for plenty of funny re-occurring jokes down the line. Finally, of the main trio, we have Kagura, a young child from the Yato clan, an extremely powerful race of Amanto, who came to Earth in order to send money back to her father, giving her character a bit more emotional depth, although she spends most of her time playing. She actually forms an odd, younger-sister relationship with Gintoki (don't worry, it's no Eromanga-sensei "odd"), and even though she doesn't show her affection very often, there are plenty of subtle little hints that she cares deeply for him, adding onto her character and these scenes where she exhibits this characteristic are genuinely charming. Together, the trio forms sort of a dysfunctional family, with Gintoki being the head, and this family dynamic actually develops and grows during the course of the series as each character begins to bond closer together other the more serious arcs where the narrative stakes are much higher.

There are dozens of characters in the show and if I were to talk about them all I'd be here to the end of time! At the very least, each character gets to shine in their own respective story arc(s) and each one carries their own catchphrases and re-occurring gags that go through a snowball effect, in that they become all the funnier as the show goes along and the scenarios become even more silly and over the top. Some of the best examples include Hasegawa, a man who becomes homeless and, despite his best efforts to find work, he gets fired every time and lives in a cardboard box - he is essentially like Gil from the Simpsons, the Shinsengumi, the police of Gintama, comprised of a heavy smoker vice-captain who is addicted to mayonnaise and will eat it with anything, a first division captain who is a sadist and a commander who is a Gorilla and the rebel group led by an absolute idiot called Katsura along with his assistant, Elizabeth, who is a man dressed up in a duck outfit, all of which Katsura doesn't realise. Each character's personality trait I just mentioned all greatly benefit from this snowball effect and each characteristic keeps building up upon itself, getting funnier and funnier each time they're on screen. Gintama also takes some of the most mundane ideas for jokes and turns them into something hilarious by constant build up. Take, for example, a scene that I and one of my friends love, The Toilet Battle scene. In this scene, five characters go to the bathroom in five stalls next to each other, all of which have no toilet paper. From there, it becomes a twenty minute psychological battle of lies and deception, as each character tries to manipulate each other into using sandpaper as a substitute for toilet paper, and there are many other scenes like this that keep building upon itself in hilarious ways! A lot of what makes the show pretty funny as well is the over the top close-up reaction images of all the characters, which was something I also commented on in my Cromartie High School review, and Gintama has practically mastered the art of this, with some of the funniest and most detailed close-up shots around.

Gintama also makes it a habit of breaking the fourth wall constantly, by addressing the audience and making fun of itself every step of the way too. Gintoki often complains, as the series goes along, that the popularity for Gintama is declining and the time slots for the show were moved later into the night, with him breaking down and crying over this fact which is delightfully entertaining. In some instances, Gintoki and Shinpachi depicted as real models, visit the real Studio Sunrise, the studio responsible for creating the show. While they explore the insides of the studio, they remark about how messy the place is, how lazy each member of the team is and actually come across the producer laying down on his desk, as they remark that his wife has recently cheated on him which is why he is so depressed. The entire anime is completely self-aware of how stupid it actually is and goes full out with this fact at every opportunity and it seems the people behind this are having an absolute blast creating the show. The voice actor's performances are also fantastic and really sell the comedy of the show. Sugita Tomokazu's performance of Gintoki is probably the best role he has ever done and does an amazing job in conveying Gintoki's personality and the screaming Gintoki does is wonderfully hilarious.

Gintama isn't completely flawless, however. For starters, the anime often utilises rather vulgar comedy with plenty of characters being stripped of their clothing, with a mosaic covering their genitals, along with some unfunny dick and poop jokes that feel rather juvenile, and some of the comedy can downright feel unfunny and fall flat on its face. Depending on how much you enjoy this sort of comedy, this can be a bad thing or a good thing. Also, during the more serious arcs in the show, it can fall into some of the trappings that come with your typical battle shounen series with Gintoki delivering quite the number of inspirational lines before dealing a finishing blow to his opponent, which kind of does get old the more he does it. Gintama doesn't exactly have the greatest start either, with it taking a few episodes to build up some steam and personality, and the very first two episodes of the show are awful. Essentially, they're the only two filler episodes in the show (in the case that they are not adapted from the original manga) and is a strange one hour special that is not funny, confusing and boring to watch. At episode three the story basically starts, so I'd just recommend skipping the first two. As previously mentioned too, the parodies and references to shows can sometimes feel a little too overly abundant, and some of the parodies either completely go over my head or simply are not that funny. However, these moments were few and far between for me, and most of the problems never ruined the entire experience for me.

Gintama's animation is pretty consistent throughout with some minor hiccups here and there, due to the sheer length of the series; for a long-running shounen adaptation, the anime looks good from a visual standpoint, and really shines during some of the fight scenes, especially in the Yoshiwara in Flames arc, which is one of my personal favourite anime story arcs of all time! The animation in the arc looks amazing, especially during the fight between Gintoki and Hosen. The entire arc is tense, suspenseful, full of emotional weight, and develops Kagura's and Shinpachi's characters very well. Gintama's soundtrack is also pretty damn good, with each track fitting the tone of each scene and arc very well, and, with eight openings and ten endings, I'm sure you'll find one that you like, although a couple of the tracks can sound a little too similar. Opening five and six are easily my favourite, with opening five's dark imagery and tone fitting well with that found in the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc that it was used for. Gintama plays around a lot with different animation styles and experiments a lot as well, most particularly a scene in the anime where only the outlines have been drawn and Gintoki complains about the laziness of the staff in episode 94, and in the Popularity Poll arc, where Shinpachi runs between different storyboards, as we see the animation and art style change constantly, from Fist of the North Star to Dragon Ball Z. The staff even re-drew the eighth opening all in paint, as Shinpachi remarks before the credits that the show's budget is decreasing! There was so much effort put into making the show both as visually appealing and visually funny as possible.

In conclusion, if you couldn't tell from my praise, I love Gintama, and it stands above most long-form running shounen for its quality and consistently funny arcs, combined with its emotionally heavy serious arcs. Gintama is one of the few pieces of media that has actually made me laugh hysterically on many an occasion, and I would highly recommend this show, despite the length. Its characters are all charismatic and funny, each bringing something new to the table, the comedy, for the most part, is pretty strong and consistent, and this is some of the most fun I've ever had with an anime! Its second season is even better than the first as well for having much better animation, and funnier episodes, while presenting it all in a much more easy to digest 50 episodes. For a good representation of what Gintama is actually about, go and check out the ninth opening of the show (the first from the second season) as it combines the goofy antics and serious nature of Gintama perfectly in ninety seconds. As I said before, comedy is completely subjective, and I know for a fact my taste in comedy is strange as hell, so perhaps there might be some people who would look at me and think I'm nuts for finding it so funny, and that's completely fine! Check it out for yourself at some point; who knows, you may end up thinking it is funny too!