Review of Gintama
Gintama is quite an interesting piece of work, why I say that? Cause it's a masterpiece without question but if you were to ask anyone about what the content of this story about, I'm sure most of them will be scratching their heads. So let me try my best to explain this anime without spoiling anything. In the beginning, we are told of is that a middle aged old man, a normal youth with glasses and a girl in a Chinese cheongsam(?) with a big a floofy dog going on with their lives as Yorozuya, taking on various tasks given to them by various clients. Butif you think it just ends with that, you are horribly mistaken my good sir/ lady. As I previously stated, it's very hard to explain what Gintama is about but that doesn't mean the story tries to follow different topics and different genres altogether and in the end, biting off more than it can chew. No, it's the complete opposite, this might be one of the most genres packed anime I've watched to this date and one of the few anime that is incredibly successful in each of those genres. The very first time when Gintama switched from comedy to action you would be confused for a slight moment but after a few minutes, you'll completely forget that you were watching a comedy anime. Every time Gintama switches the genres they do it soo seamlessly and so well that at that moment you forget this anime was originally something else. From the tears of joy and sorrow to the cheers of excitement the plot of Gintama is something so unique that I wouldn't hesitate to say it's truly a unique but still an amazing series across all mediums.
The art isn't anything exceptional but there aren't any complaints about it. The character designs are well done and are quite memorable as well. When it comes to the animation it is done by the same studio which made the legendary series Cowboy Bepop so you'd expect the animation to be quite good and it is just as you expected or sometimes even better. At times the quality of the animation, not even considering when it's from, is nothing even when compared to modern day anime. The attention to detail, the smooth and well directed action scenes are something done with soo much love and respect.
The soundtrack is good but nothing too impressive but one of the fields where this anime shines is its voice acting. Tomokazu Sugita, one of the most talented voice actors I've seen in this industry getting to play one of the best characters couldn't have been a better match. How he plays with his pitch to vary it on different syllables or his own unique pace for certain places is not only entertaining but astonishing to listen to. The other voice actors do not fall short as Shinpachi (Daisuke Sakaguchi) with his very loud but funny screams and Kagura (Rie Kugimiya) using a cute little accent to change the delivery of each line into a unique but cute speech all the other voice actors displaying their own talents in their own ways is just simply the best doing what they do best.
Character doesn't have much development it is not to say there isn't any. There are times where you see massive changes in characters you'd hate but in the end, you just can't help but fall in love with but also the characters you already love will gradually grow more and more with each episode.
Gintama is pretty much a parody of shounen to put it simply. The jokes in it are all reference to other shounen or big titles of the time which you can't help but laugh holding your tummy. Sometimes the show will find the wittiest ways to pass time in the show such as discussing how other shounen uses tricks to drag their shows or just teasing the creators of their own show. It's funny how they've made some names in Gintama. I'm not the best with my Japanese but some I've noticed are "Tama" the android = meaning balls, "Gintama" = a pun on the word "Kintama" which means testicles, "Ktsuno Ana" = ||Asshole|| and such, there should be more but those are the only ones I saw.
Would I recommend this to the general anime fans? No, the reason being you need to watch a couple of shows before you watch this or else you won't find Gintama as entertaining as it should be because of how the comedy works in this series. But all in all the story of the Shiroyasha (White Demon) is something else or rather it very much "hit different". Didn't find many issues and the strong points of the anime are too bright to even notice those little nitpicks. This is the fourth anime to ever make me do this and an anime truly well deserved to be given a rating of 10/10. A true masterpiece.