Note: This is my first review on this website so bear with me please
Second note: This is a spoiler free review of the entire gintama anime( as of writing this review I have not seen the 5th season of gintama and onwards)
Ah yes, the only show that most of its seasons place within the top 25 spots on this website, yet no one complains. This season is actually top 5 as of writing this review and I think it should be top 1. Never have I cried so hard yet laughed while watching an anime. Let me tell you this: Gintama is the king of
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hyping the viewer up. People refer to this franhise as it being a comedy and while that is true it doesn't mean it cannot get serious or emotional. As much this show has made me laugh, it has made me cry just as much in just two arcs.It's just constistantly good and gets better the more you watch it. I am not gonna talk too much about this season's predecessors, as this review will focus primarily on season 4.
Story: 10
People might argue that Gintama doesn't have a story. I will tell them that Gintama has a better story than most of the anime that come out nowadays. It's story is just as good now as it was when it was first released. Most of the episodes are episodic comedies and there are a few comedic arcs, but it's main focus is comedy. When the serious arcs hit ,though, that's when Gintama truly shines and differentiates itself from other shounen. Through it's comedy it presents it's plot. I am not gonna talk about the actual plot though because the plot itself is a spoiler. If you have seen the first 61 episodes of the first season you might actually tell what one of the plotpoints may be , but as you watch you realise that something else is building up and there is a higher power in play. Anyways, the entirety of the anime's plot won't be clear until much later.
Art: 10
I mean, what is tehre to say about art. This season is the best Gintama has looked compared to the previous seasons. The characters look better, their designs are more detailed, the colours are more saturated and the animation, oh the animation... The animation is a huge step up from before, not only in the comedic episodes, but also in the serious arcs. In every single season of Gintama they stay on budget for the comedy, but when a serious arc kicks in they just decide to put everything they have into it. This season was no exception. The animation was jaw-dropping( of course it wasn't better than one punch man s1 nor mob psycho, but it was still damn good). The fights had never looked better and it shows that a lot of hard work was put into this.
Sound: 10
The sound was really well used. The osts as always were were well executed and sound very good. No ost particularly stood out to me, however what stood out to me was the voice acting, both in the comedic skits and serious/emotional moments. It was just perfect and fit every situation. Due to their voice acting, some characters stood out to me as well,some made me laugh, others made me hyped, and others made me cry. A lot of emotion was put into voice acting in this season and you can really feel the characters' emotions through their voice actor.
Character: 10
This is the sector Gintama really shines. The characters. Every single character is memorable. I am just gonna do a small summary of some of the side characters that get introduced early on: Murderous police officer, Sadist police officer, Gorilla stalker police officer, Hemorrhoid ninja, Stalker ninja, Suicidal Hobo, Gorilla sister that gets stalked by gorilla police officer, Friendly neighbourhood terrorist and his pet a dude in penguin's costume, naive and stupid merchant and the actual terrorist. These characters are just the tip of the iceberg of all the characters that gintama has to offer. The main trio is just amazing. You have the protagonist, Gintoki: lazy, poor, good-for-nothing samurai that just reads manga all day. After you start watching the show , you realise he so much more than that, and that is especially clear in this season. This season made Gintoki my favourite anime character ever. Then you have Shinpachi, a bland samurai wannabe character that keeps getting made fun of. That's it. The final person of the trio is Kagura, a really strong girl that comes from an alien tribe and cannot stand in front of the sun. She does offer a lot to the anime and she can hype you up as well. The synergy between these three characters is one of if no the best in any anime out there. This show is purely character driven and it's character development is achieved through it's comedy and just reinforced through it's serious moments. Before you even realize, you feel way too connected to these characters, because they have made you laugh. Without realizing it, you are getting fed a lot of information about them( not just the main cast) that you end up anticipating their next move and you cannot stop rooting for them in any situation they are in. If they hurt, you will hurt. If they are sad, they will make you sad. If they are having fun, you will have fun. It's connections like these that you won't get from any other anime( at least not that I have watched). It is really hard to find any show, not just anime, with just a perfect dynamic and intresting cast. While I am watching the series I am constantly think about how a character would react in a certain situation and when I see that situation played out it goes almost just as I had anticipated yet I am still surprised, if that makes sense. That is a result of character development done right.
Enjoyment: 10
If you have made it this far into the review you probably know my answer already. This show is a rollercoaster of emotions and you are having a blast watching. In one episode you will laugh to your hearts content, and in another you will be extremely hyped up for a big fight. It's always one of the two. However, in this season, me clicking on the next episode could result in three outcomes: I would laugh my socks off, I would start getting hyped up for a big fight or I ould cry my eyes out. In one episode especially there was a moment I laughed, then I cried because I laughed and immediately afterwards I got hyped up because of a fight. I am an emotional person, but not every anime can make me cry. I have cried at steins gate, at violet evergarden, at your lie in april, at fma brotherhood, even at angel beats. Those times though I only shed one or two tears ( with the exception of steins gate and your lie in april, those made me cry more). In this season, though, I cried like a baby. Because of hype, because of emotion and because of sadness. That is also when voice acting gets into play. I cried, I laughed, I screamed because of hype. The comedy was amazing as expected, but the serious arcs and mainly those towards the end of the season were beyond phenomenal. So, yes, I did enjoy this.
Overall: 10
First things first thank you for making it this far into this review, unless you skipped the entire thing and just wanted to read my overall opinion, which is still fine. My favourite anime before Gintama was Steins Gate, before steins gate it was between Code Geass and Attack on titan( I have caught up to the manga). Gintama just annihilated my previous favourites and after finishing the second to last arc, in this season, it instantly became my favourite. Gintama deserves it's high ratings and in my opinion deserves even higher( As of writing this review I have seen the current top 5 anime on mal. Out of the top ten I haven't seen Hunter x Hunter, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu and march hits like a lion season 2. Considering the above, I believe my opinion bares some validity on the matter).Is it worth the 300+ episodes? Yes, it definantly is worth it regardless of what anime your taste in anime or your preferred genres. Gintama DOES NOT DISSAPOINT!
Feb 26, 2021
Note: This is my first review on this website so bear with me please
Second note: This is a spoiler free review of the entire gintama anime( as of writing this review I have not seen the 5th season of gintama and onwards) Ah yes, the only show that most of its seasons place within the top 25 spots on this website, yet no one complains. This season is actually top 5 as of writing this review and I think it should be top 1. Never have I cried so hard yet laughed while watching an anime. Let me tell you this: Gintama is the king of ... |
