Review of Gintama
Jesus Christ, it may have taken over a year and a half but I finally Gintama, which is apparently supposed to be one of the greatest anime ever according to MAL. Despite the amount of time it took me to complete this, and its score on MAL, I always try at judge things based off what the show has to offer. Gintama is one hell of a show and I can definitely understand why a lot of people love it, however I can't say it's anything mind blowing. This show has some major problems that hold it back from being a lot better than itcan be. Also, this review is solely based on this season of Gintama, although I don't expect the rest of the seasons to be much better or worse, but I would hope for it to get better of course.
Story: 6
Gintama is mainly a shounen comedy anime which lasts 201 episodes. The length alone might be a turn off for some people and usually I wouldn't mind this, however Gintama has some major issues when it comes to its premise and structure. Besides character introductions, some small world building, and other important info in the first few episodes, the series never goes anywhere. Gintama's episodes are split up into two categories. First, there are the typical gag episodes which usually last for 1 or sometimes 2 episodes. Second, there are actual arcs that can range from 4 to even more than 8 episodes long. For myself, I almost always prefer anime that have overarching episodes that connect with each other, but honestly I think I'd rather watch more episodic episodes than the actual arcs. This is simply because all of the arcs don't connect to the story since there isn't one at all. This is a big problem for a series with over 300 episodes. Even an episodic series like Urusei Yatsura, which is over 100 episodes, has a simple end goal of the main characters falling in love with each other. Gintama doesn't even have that, the premise is just to watch these characters dick around and do whatever the story tells them to. That being sad, as long as the episodes and stories are good, this shouldn't matter, right? Well sadly I can't say for this to be true.
Its safe to say that fans of Gintama admit that the series doesn't start off great and everyone has their own opinion of when the series gets better or as great as they say. Some say it gets better after episode 20, 30, 50, 60, or even as far as 100. For me, I'd say I noticed some improvement around episode 30 but around episode 50-60 is when the series become more consistent. The first 30 episodes aren't that good honestly. Most of them are usually decent, they're some good jokes here and there but the writing was not that good. The episodes ranged from at best solid and at worst meh. This will definitely throw a lot of people off and that's completely fine since asking people to tolerate at least 30 episodes just to get to a good show is not worth it. Even after episode 60 or so, the series still isn't great. It might be more consistent and doesn't have as much "whatever" episodes but it still has some duds here and there which is expected of something consisting of 150 episodes.
As mentioned, Gintama has both many episodic and short overarching episode arcs. Although both share a big problem with the series, the overarching usually sees this more often. This issue is the tone of the series. Gintama is both a shounen, but mostly a comedy series. Episodic episodes usually stick to a more relaxed, light hearted tone but may also decide to be serious on very short occasions. During the arcs, the series drastically changes from Gin losing his testicles to something as serious as an entire clan defeating a giant monster which is taken very seriously. This can be very jarring at times and is honestly hard to take some arcs or scenes seriously. It can just be back to back to back sometimes with the comedy and actual seriousness of the plot. Sometimes it works and when it does it works well, but other times it can just be annoying or a chore to finish certain scenes. This doesn't ruin the show by is easily one of the bigger problems I have with it.
Overall, most of Gintama's episodes and arcs are good. Of course, some arcs and episodes are better than others such as the Benizakura arc, which is why I like the movie more than this season honestly.
Art: 8
Gintama was a long running anime that ran for 4 years on a weekly basis and for that I'm surprised to see the show look as good as it does. It looks better than other weekly anime such as Naruto and Bleach which although don't look great by any means, its still impressive to see this quality for a weekly show. Of course, other shows look better, mainly Hunter Hunter which looks great and even amazing nearly every episode but for Gintama, it looks good for pretty much every episode. The fight scenes look good when they need to be, characters are on model pretty much all the time, and I have trouble finding some bad still shots or poor use of direction, cinematography, etc. The show will sometimes use some backgrounds or still shots for up to minutes but it's purposely meant for jokes and the cast points this out all the time which I'm honestly fine with. But yeah, character designs are good, backgrounds look good, and thankfully every episode is consistently above average, just don't expect any fight or scene to look amazing or mind blowing like from other shounens.
Sound: 8
Gintama has a pretty damn good soundtrack. It's distinct, catchy, and always a fun to listen to some of these tracks. Many of the OPs and EDs are really enjoyable and the main OST is solid as well. My only gripe would be that certain tracks can be overplayed. Gintama is 201 episodes and its repetitive hearing the same sad or goofy song be played during those specific scenes. Thankfully the tracks are good, but still I would've liked to seen some other tracks be made or at least another version of some of these tracks.
As for voice acting, the cast is just great. I literally watch every anime dubbed besides a very very small amount of anime, and at this moment Sentai Filmworks has had the rights to Gintama for a few years, yet only decided to dub season 4 and the first movie along with Warner Bros. I tried the first 5 minutes of the movie and Gin, Kagura, and Shinpachi's voices all sounded absolutely off and terrible. Acting was fine but these voices should not be coming out of these characters' mouths. Then again, thats the movie and this is the first season. The Japanese cast is again just great and well above average. Everyone puts in a lot of emotion and fits incredibly well with their roles.
Characters: 7
Gintama's cast of characters might not be that deep but I'm not the one to judge characters based on how much development or "deep" they are. Gintama is supposed to be a silly show that gets serious whenever it feels like it and that's what the cast represents. Everyone usually acts a certain way in most episodes but whenever the plot needs characters like Gin or Katsura to kick ass they can. I'm not a huge fan of the cast myself, but I can say it's overall good. Gin is great and is the best character in the show. He's funny, lovable, and also badass at the same time. Others such as Kagura, Kondo and Sarutobi are also some of my favorites. (And FYI: Because everything I say is right, Sarutobi is best girl.) Although I do enjoy most of the cast, I will say that some others, while still entertaining, are overrated such as Okita, Toshiro, and Tae. Don't have much problems with the cast, they're not the best but they're enjoyable.
Enjoyment: 7
Due to its inconsistency, Gintama's enjoyment varies from episode to episode. Most of the time I'm enjoying myself with a good amount of the episodes and arcs, sometimes I'll be waiting for episodes or scenes to end, but there can be moments like the Shogun episode around 150 which is a blast from start to finish. I laughed my ass off at almost every single joke in the episode, that's how good Gintama can be. Sadly, this almost never happens but the comedy is Gintama is usually good but there is a big problem with Gintama's jokes. Since Gintama is a parody, there is a good amount of references that ranges from the likes of Dragon Ball down to something as specific as certain Japenese singers that most people from an English audience probably wouldn't get. Luckily the subs explain where most of these references come from but the jokes usually only work if you've seen or know or where the source of the joke comes from. I have never played Dragon Quest before (besides Hero in Smash), so I usually have no idea what they're talking about. However, if you understand some of these jokes, they can work out exceptionally well such as dedicating nearly half an episode to the Frieza, or Breeza saga from Dragon Ball. It can be hilarious at times but it all depends on the circumstances.
Honestly the reason it took me so long to complete Gintama was due to its structure. It can be difficult to watch a bunch of episodic episodes or arcs in one sitting that don't really go anywhere so I usually stuck to watching a few episodes a week or even only one or two a month. I have this problem with other shows, mainly some slice of lifes but Gintama is just one of those shows where it's usually better to watch it in small chunks and only a few episodes a time instead like 10-15 with big shounens like Dragon Ball.
Overall: 7
I think I'm being a bit generous here due to its inconsistency but I'd say Gintama is overall a good series. Without a doubt it has some big and small flaws but if you can get past them you'll have a good time with it. The series is heavily overrated and don't expect this to be up there with the likes of Hunter Hunter or FMAB, just expect a good and usually entertaining time with this one.