Review of Gintama
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" - Gintama is an anime that verifies this Aristotelian platitude on a multitude of planes. Kidding. Kind of. Also, warning - fanboy review ahead with occasional mild criticism thrown in to provide pseudo-legitimacy. Gintama is an odd one, but belonging to the lovable variety, or so I'd presume. On the first watch, one wonders if the essentially primitive animation and a somewhat overly colorful cast is worth the time, but as one gets immersed in the world where J-pop references and historical fiction collide with sci-fi and an esoteric but quickly endearing sense of humor,it's one hell of a ride.
Story(8): The narrative is surprisingly well built, and focuses on some more dramatic/action-based arcs interrupted by essentially disjoint episodes and mini-arcs. Unlike anime like Naruto (kill me for mentioning this in a Gintama review, but well) where filler is code for 'skip' more often than not, Gintama fillers are more filling than the main arcs itself. It's not exactly the Serial Experiments Lain of storytelling, but manages to be conventional and yet oddly satisfying.
Art(7): The animation is not particularly well polished, and the mangaka himself admits to the fact that the character designs are very basic and interchangeable, sometimes characters distinguished solely by their hairstyles (Gintoki and Hijikata) and costume, their base facial features being more or less identical. In spite of this, the overall flavor is really gutsy and cheery, and is rarely a reason for complain, but at the same time nothing to enthuse about.
Sound(10): The music is EXTRAORDINARILY amazing. It's a universe of sound. From the hilarious openings for Prince Hata, to the hardboiled Camus soundtracks, blues, jazz, traditional japanese music, straight up J-rock, Otsuu chan's Chome Chome - this is a varied soundtrack if there ever was one. The epic music is epic enough for all the great fight arcs - Benizakura, Yoshiwara etc. The collected CDs make for great background music for all occasions - birthday parties and funerals included.
Character(10): The mangaka and the voice actors have breathed life into the characters like no other. As with all great multi-cast anime, it rarely relies on the primary protagonist to carry the weight of overall development - it instead focuses on the complex relationships developing all across the cast - from Gorilla and Sarutobi's stalker-kinship to the uncanny meta-rivalry between Katsura and Kyubei in one of the series' more bizarre arcs- it all makes for some fantastic attachments, not only to each character's unique idiosyncrasies, but also to the bonds they develop, which are organically instrumental in shaping the series narrative, and at the same time provide for great running gags (Zura janai, katsura da!).
Enjoyment(10): I've tried a lot to find an anime even remotely as funny or engaging as Gintama, and failed. For some reason(s) (or the aforementioned plethora of), this anime resonates like the proverbial tuning fork - the ensemble of lovable characters (except Shinpachi, no one likes a whiner, but someone has to make Yamazaki look good), the sometimes lame but still expertly dropped one liners, the episode naming, the voice acting, the thematic diversity, the references that threaten to over-annotate the episode for the lesser informed viewer.. all make this anime, in my opinion, a piece of art that's as perfectly flawed and alive as any out there.
Hence, an overall 10! And can't wait for the new season to begin! Love and peace, y0!
P.S - First anime review, but please be brutally honest with the voting.