May 8, 2017
Let me start by saying that the word "comedy" in Gintama is the biggest misconception, as it might give you a wrong impression about this anime. As a person who has no sense of humor and hates comedies, I avoided Gintama for the longest time. Little did I know that there's so much, so much more to it.
I know a lot of people found it hard to watch Gintama during the first dozen of episodes. A lot of hardcore fans dropped it several times before they actually started liking it. However, surprisingly for myself, I got into it since
...
the episode 2, (that episode is totally nonsense). Something just "clicked" in me. I just felt it. I felt the pain, I felt soul within this anime.
You can get a hint, of Gintama being really deep from the very first opening, from the way Gintoki looks at his friends (the moment when he wakes up and finds everyone sitting there happily). Because of that opening, I never had a thought of dropping this anime (which is pretty rare even among the fans). Gintama is a total chaos, but within this chaos it hides a deep meaning.
I had no doubts I would fall in love with this anime, although I hate toilet humor, and humor in general.
I won't lie if I say that Gintama has literally everything. It includes all the genres, it touches all the topics. I've been through a lot in my life, and ridiculously, this anime reflects the reality better than any other anime.
Gintama is full of life. It's not like any other comedy. While watching it you will feel the pain of every character, you will choke from laughter and a minute later you will drown in your own tears.
PLOT
Although a lot of people state that Gintama has no plot, it's not true.
The idea is pretty simple - Gintoki, a lazy ex-samurai with the "eyes of dead fish", a boring boy with glasses Shinpachi, and an alien-girl with monster powers Kagura open their own "business" called "Yorozuya". They take orders on all the possible tasks, from finding a lost cat, to protecting the whole universe, as long as they are paid.
That is how they meet a lot of different people, witness heartbreaking stories, learn to live, and teach us life.
As the anime continues, the past of the characters gets revealed, including the past of Gintoki himself.
That is when the plot starts getting real and everything starts to make sense. By the end of the anime, Gintama develops into a high quality shounen, I dare to say, even better, than it's Shonen Jump-neighbors Bleach and Naruto.
Structure
The whole anime consists from separate episodes and mini-arcs.
Arcs in Gintama are mostly of different genres: comedy, tragedy, drama, horror, mecha, romantic, whatever genre you can think off. Everything is executed in the highest quality, no matter which genre it is.
ART
I always find it hard to get used to the art style of an anime, no matter how good it is. But when it came to Gintama, I fell in love with the graphics since the episode one. Absolutely beautiful characters, neat and pleasing to the eye. Right proportions.
Gintoki Sakata - the most handsome anime protagonist I've ever seen, and I'm being totally sincere.
CHARACTERS
The strongest point in Gintama is the characters. There are a lot, a lot of diverse characters, but you know what? Not a single one of them is normal. Not a single adequate human being, including the Yorozuya and Shogun himself (aka Sho-chan)
Gintoki Sakata is not a bishonen, neither is he an ambitious teenager, who wants to protect the whole world. He is a lazy adult, who just wants to live his life, read Shonen Jump and earn some money for breakfast.
Shinpachi, a simple, boring boy who wears glasses. Or glasses, who wear a boy. You decide. For Gintama characters, he is just a "glasses holder". And no matter how boring he is (he is fully aware), Sorachi managed to turn this character into something very, very unique.
Kagura. What should be a main female character of an anime be like? Feminine, modest and beautiful? Not a bit. This girl eats a lot, picks her nose, swears, and she is strong like a monster. But you know what? I've never seen an anime character with such a pure soul. I've never seen a better female protagonist.
And, there are a bunch of other weirdos: stalkers, gorilla, transes, robots, aliens, human-size dogs, sadists, masochists, freaks. But each one of them is a good person, who is ready to die, to protect their friends.
Every character is so well thought that you will get a feeling you know them personally. They are so unique, that you will never find anyone similar in any other anime.
The antagonists, like Takasugi and Kamui, although just appear twice, will impress you right away.
FIGHTS AND ACTION
Ta-daam! Aaaaand... here comes the strongest part of Gintama!!! (and I'm being totally serious)
Fights are what I watch shonen for, and this is the main reason why I started watching Gintama with a totally positive mood (I had heard it has amazing fighting scenes).
Sword fights? Ninja battles? Samurai fights? Gintama has it all. No ninjutsu or zanpakuto needed, Gintama nailed the action better than any other shounen anime, without any superpowers. I know what I'm talking about.
As a person, who has done martial arts, and who has watched a bunch of action movies etc, I will say:
Gintama has the best fights and battles among all the anime I've watched so far.
I would be totally fine with Gintama having no humor, but Gintama without action would be a big no to me.
Thank you, Sorachi-san, for this masterpiece.
In only several months, Gintama became a part of my life. It was the best anime I've watched, and ever will.
In conclusion, I just want to shout out to everyone out there, who tried watching Gintama and dropped, and to anyone who is hesitating to start.
Start it! Watch it! Tolerate the first 20-50 episodes.
Gintama starts getting real and epic after the Benizakura arc (around episode 58), and by the end of the second season it turns into an amazing, high quality action shounen.
Even if you don't like the first season, tolerate it, it gets much better after the second season, and you won't help watching it once you're into it.
After the third season you will be crying like a baby, because you will see some deepest stories, and also amazing fights.
After the fourth season you will be terrified to continue watching, because things will get real, like very real.
After the fifth season you will quietly cry in your room, because you won't get over it for the longest time. Chances are, you will want to rewatch it.
Thank you, if you read this long review, and pardon my grammar mistakes. I hope you enjoy watching this masterpiece.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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