Review of Gintama

Bear with me, I'm not a good writer but I'll try to summarize why I think Gintama is one of the best shows in its own genre, if not out of all anime. The story is well.. there is no strong overlapping story gluing all arcs in to a coherent chronological composition, but rather the show focuses on adventures of a samurai and his Yorozuya in time where samurai are not needed, aliens fly around in space ships and gorillas are chiefs of police. It is really hard to explain Gintama's story because it is not meant to make any sense, the show is very randombut it all kinda fits in to create a beautiful world which will suck you in and keep you interested for many episodes to come.

Characters are what makes this show what it is. Lead protagonist Gintoki is absolutely lovable as a character, both in his comedic and serious moments, but the rest of the cast doesn't fall short either. Almost every side character gets his own arc, some of who get multiple of them and each one of them is very well thought out and has a distinctive trait or a gag which follows them throughout entire show (i.e Katsuras famous quote "Zura ja nai, Katsura da!"). They are often parodies of arch type characters from other anime or even types of people you find in real life, there are sadists, tomboys, masochists, samurai, old men in mascot suits, homeless and that's just the tip of the iceberg, you are bound to find one which you'll love.

Comedy is a big part of the show, seeing how this is a.. comedy show. A lot of the jokes are references to other shows, so if you haven't seen much anime before some jokes might fly right over your head, but don't be discouraged, the show is enjoyable even if you just started watching anime. Even the word play surprisingly translates well to english (i.e Kintoki being word play on ball sack and Gintoki).

Art is okayish, nothing special. Quality increases exponentially with number of episodes because the show was underfunded and close to being cancelled multiple times during its early stages, and.. I can understand why, but I'll get to that later.
Music is great, although repetitive. Openings and endings are for the most part very enjoyable and my favorite ones being songs "Pray", "Mr. Raindrop", "Shura" and "Hey hey samurai heart". Overall, Gintama maintains the quality of its OP's and endings from the start of the show to the end.

Before the final verdict, I must say that I have at first dropped Gintama. I watched it up to episode 15 and couldn't be assed to watch a minute of it for another year before finally picking it up again and almost binge watching it. I guess I have matured as a viewer and changed my view and expectations of it. A lot of people assume that because it's well rated that it starts of great and continues like that to the end, but it just doesn't. The show really picks up at Benizakura arc and before that kinda drags on being half funded, sloppy and unpolished. Although those episodes are enjoyable, the quality increase is HUGE, so bear with the show, give it a proper chance, and it will most definitely pay off.

Now, as for the final verdict, I rate this show with 10 and I absolutely loved it. It has it's flaws but they are minor. I understand that this show may not be for everyone because of its weird premise and setting, but Gintama is a show I recommended to all friends of mine and they all loved it. It is a beautiful story about friendship which captures things most important in human lives and presents it in a comedic, yet relatable way and that's why I wholeheartedly recommend it.