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I have a love hate relationship with Gintama, on one hand- it has an amazingly intricate and complex world, with a unique story and a diverse cast of characters, a show that can be equally funny, heartwarming, and surprisingly dark all in the span of one episode. Yet on the other hand, it can be a show which is overwhelmingly Japanese in nature, to the point where ones enjoyment is significantly hindered by the massive language barrier between someone of english origin and its intended Japanese audience, anyone who says otherwise is a weeb in denial. A lot if not the majority of jokes ... in Gintama are Japanese language and Kanji word play based, therefore a dialogue line which would have a native Japanese speaker in tears, leaves an English speaker mildly confused or internally nodding in acknowledgement that a joke was just made. Regardless of this, Gintama still manages to be an incredibly enjoying experience to watch at times, with some episodes and arcs having me metaphorically at the edge of my seat in anticipation for the upcoming events, bringing tears to my eyes as the characters I have gotten to know over countless episodes show their passionate emotions and confront their inner demons.I love the characters of Gintama (fuck Tae though, she's unnecessarily fucking evil and the show would be better with her dead).

Overall, Gintama is a good show, however it is not one I would recommend to a friend as it is a show that takes at least 70 episodes to understand the rhythm and flow of.

Let me start by saying this is a very good manga, objectively speaking that is. The world of Vinland Saga is one of great depth and one built upon layers of history. The towns, cities, farms and campgrounds feel well thought out and are meticulously detailed, bringing the story to life with a strong sense and feel of believability. Many of the side characters in Vinland Saga seem to have been written to overwhelmingly overshadow the main character, to the point where I had fully believed that the story was in fact NOT about Thorfin, which I believe would have been a good thing. The ... main bone I have to pick with Vinland Saga lies within the writing of the main character, one who feels so underdeveloped and forgotten about by the author that he ends up feeling very forced onto the reader during the later half of the series. I wont spoil anything, but basically Thorfin changes his personality drastically after a series of events that unfold over a few years. To put it bluntly, he ruins the story for me completely by becoming a self sacrificing pussy. He creates these idiotic and irrational principals to live by that make him put up with insane amounts of unnecessary bullshit and suffering, many times it has become so brutal that I skip multiple pages because of how overly cringe worthy his bullshit can become. If you can look past and put up with a character that is incredibly arrogant and has an idiotic persistence, I recommend this manga