Review of Gintama
Reviewing this anime is going to be really difficult because of how diverse it is and how much it changed over the course of 201 episodes. I'm going to break this down into categories since I feel there are very many anime within this anime that all blend seamlessly together. First, though, let's talk negatives. This anime, for all it's able to accomplish and how well it can present comedy and story together, deserves a ten. It's miraculous that an anime like this can do what it does. However, that doesn't mean it was perfect. Negatives: So, some of these episodes... were plain bad. I feellike most people talk about Gintama as this model for comedy, and it gets promoted as though it can't ever fail in that area. Gintama is a model for comedy, and no other anime will ever do it as well as Gintama, but sometimes the comedy falls flat. Sometimes that was due to the story of the episode(s) bringing down the comedy and sometimes the comedy itself was bad. If you're planning on watching this, fret not; this kind of thing only happened in maybe 8% of the total overall episode count.
There were three kinds of bad/uninteresting Gintama episodes: There were episodes that were boring to watch because the comedy didn't hit, there were episodes where the comedy was fine but the story dragged the comedy down, and there were episodes that tried to put weight onto a story that didn't support itself. This third kind of episode happened from time to time in some of the semi-serious arcs where the audience was meant to care for a new character and a new story, but the story failed to actually make the audience feel that way. Not bad episodes, but flat. The occasional bad episode is expected, especially in comedy, so it isn't anything to forsake the anime for. Moving on.
Comedy: This is what Gintama is, right? It breathes comedy in the most unique way possible, and the comedy itself becomes its own character. Gintama really does deserve all the praise it gets for it. It's vulgar and ridiculous and outlandish and classic all at once. It mocks everything from the anime industry to western media to its own anime studio. Even the mangaka. It breaks the fourth wall almost as a rule, and at this point, Gintama doesn't really have a fourth wall to break. The audience is put into the series, and that's one of the most brilliant aspects about it. This anime is brilliant with running jokes. Though there are exceptions, most memorable comedic moments that would normally disappear in an episodic series, constantly reappear to build up a repertoire of inside jokes that can't be enjoyed without having watched every episode. The comedy in Gintama is a masterpiece.
A lot of people say that it changed from the beginning to the end or that it was more refined; personally, I believe that it only seems that way because of the history of comedy behind the later episodes. The comedy wouldn't work if the beginning of this series hadn't been exclusively comedic.
Drama: I've heard this phrase a lot before when referring to Gintama: it's a comedic anime first and an action anime later. While this is true if you look at the episode count and how much time is allotted to comedy versus action, it is an extreme detriment to this anime to say that action takes a backseat. The action and drama and, as Gintama fans coin it, "seriousness" in this anime is handled with such care that the serious arcs make the audience feel like Gintama is just another Shounen with an incredible story. The tone changes completely from the comedy episodes, and yet, it still feels like you're watching the same anime as before. These serious arcs, in my opinion, can be divided up into two categories on their own: serious arcs and major story arcs.
Serious arcs: These are the arcs with heavy overtones that don't fall flat. This anime did extremely well to build up side characters through comedy every episode that when you see them get intense character development, it draws you in. The way Gintama is able to balance, and not even balance but meld, comedy and drama is insane. These arcs that put a character who is only ever known for being stupid into a scenario where they nearly die protecting what they love are works of art. The substance that even the side characters receive is one of the things that make Gintama so special.
Major story arcs: Now, I can't speak to this completely yet as only part of the major story has been revealed to me, but let me tell you something. The comedy in Gintama makes these arcs possible; it makes them shine, and damn, do they shine brightly. It's not even that Gintama does both drama and comedy well. It's that, somehow, this anime has made it possible for these characters to feel very natural while living in either comedy or drama. These major story arcs are dark and grungy and written so well. Hints of how they'll turn out are peppered even throughout the comedic episodes, and all of it perfectly sets up for a story that shows itself in sporadic bursts. New fans to the Gintama franchise always want to know if Gintama has a story, and it definitely does. It's remarkable that this anime is able to remove the viewer from the main story for thirty, forty episodes at a time and still keep them interested enough to watch it all.
Gintama isn't a comedic anime, and it isn't an action anime. This anime has managed to turn itself into a genre unseen anywhere else, in any medium of entertainment. It does anything but take itself seriously, and that's why the main story can be as dark and tragic as it is. I'd absolutely recommend this anime to anyone who is interested. It's near-perfection in all the ways it's possible for it to be, so watch it because it'll add something to you that you didn't know you were missing.