Ranked #105

Gintama

This is my first review here, so please let me know what you guys think!

Gintama is about Sakata Gintoki, who is a samurai in an age where samurai's have been deemed unnecessary by the aliens who have taken over. As far as I can tell, that's about as deep of a story this anime has. But you probably won't care, because this anime is downright hilarious. The characters are funny, the situations they get in are completely ridiculous, and all the references to other anime/manga they have make it all the more enjoyable.

--Story--
As I mentioned earlier, there really isn't too much of a story line. Most of the story arcs last about 1-2 episodes, and some are pretty strange. But all the random references and pure comedy make up for any shortcoming in the story.

--Art--
The animation is just what you'd expect from a good comedy anime. The characters have their distinctive features, the backgrounds are pretty detailed, and you get all the classic elements that you'd expect from a comedy anime (depression lines, expanding heads, etc.).

--Sound--
The openings and closings are really good. They're all catchy and make you actually want to listen to them. The voice acting is well done and really gives life to the characters.

--Character--
The characters really make this anime awesome. From the Jump reading samurai Gintoki to the machine-gun-umbrella toting Kagura to the oversized skull-biting dog Sadaharu, everyone is unique and hilarious in their own way. There are a lot of recurring characters, and each has his or her own traits that set them apart from the rest. Also, a lot of the characters resemble characters from other anime, but with a twist. For example, the main character Sakata Gintoki is very similar to Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin, as both are very accomplished samurai; but while Kenshin is for the most part kind and quiet, Gintoki is very eccentric, somewhat rude at times, and seems to be overall very apathetic about everything. Things like this really make the characters familiar, yet unique, and overall very likeable.

--Enjoyment--
This anime makes me laugh out loud. Literally. There have been occasions where I nealy fell out of my chair of laughter. I'm always a little sad when an episode ends, because I laughed so much during the episode.

--Overall--
If you like comedy and have watched your share of anime, then I highly recommend Gintama. If you aren't well versed in anime, you may miss a bunch of references, but that shouldn't really affect your enjoyment of this anime. Overall, this anime is one of my favorite. read more

Gintama takes place in Edo(a.k.a Tokyo nowadays). Aliens who call themselves, the Amanto, have invaded Japan. In order to prevent another resistance of samurai's, they prohibited the use of swords. Only a handful of samurai's are remaining, Sakata Gintoki, a laid-back samurai who carries a wooden sword, is among these few. Together with Kagura, an extra-terrestrial girl with a monstrous strength, and Shinpachi, your average troubled adolescent, they'll take any kind of job as long as it fills their stomach and keeps them from getting kick out by the landlord.

Gintama is an action, comedy samurai anime with a sci-fi twist. You dont get to see this kind of anime's anymore, heck youve never seen an anime like this before. I mean seriously, where can you find a samurai whose role model is Bleach's Ichigo Kurosaki? Or an intense ordeal involving four adults who all recently took a dump in a comfort room that has run out of toilet paper and now they must decide on who among them has to run outside butt naked, to relieve them from their predicament?

Unlike most samurai's anime's, this anime is really all about the comedy.Dont misunderstand, their are several decent actions here and some of em are even pretty damn good but most of them are use for opportunity to present something extremely hilarious . Dont expect any amazing coup de grace here as Gintama doesnt want to be striking, it wants to be funny. But hey, it pays off. In an odd way, Gintama can be very unpredictable because of this. Its like watching the antics of Harry Houdini, you never know whats going to happen next.

To exaggerate something so insignificant is one of Gintama' primary nature. Now I would like to point out that Im not fond of slice of life anime's, because well lets face it, real life aint worth watching one cent especially when they all they do is talk about is the different ways to cut cheese. But Gintama is capable of making mundane circumstances into something incredibly ludicrous, that you have to be dead inside not to burst out and laugh your ass off.

A good example would be when the gang were all dead hungry but there's only one remaining food left? Who gets to eat the last food? The epic psychological warfare begins. If you havent noticed, every second of that is insanely diverting. And yes, that episode is the best Death Note parody I have ever come across. Its doesnt stop there. Gintama has all kinds of parody, whethers its Star Wars, Resident Evil, or some famous horror flick, there's nothing that can escape the derision of Gintama. It is so amazing how they were able to successfully mix samurai and modern pop culture into one show.

Gintama is promising from the start. It boasts distinguished characters that make up a unique combination that opens up future comic possibilities.

Gintama is episodic, meaning dont expect any heavy character development, although there are some minor alterations as the series progresses but it doesnt make enough difference to be considered. Who needs development anyway? As long as its funny, thats good enough for me.

The OP and ED in Gintama are pretty upbeat and catchy. Sometimes it can even make you laugh. As for the animation, it is fairly average. I have nothing against it because it fits right in the atmosphere of something utterly humorous.

Some people consider Gintama as the only thing decent anime that Shounen Jump serialized. Others think of it as the next best thing since sliced bread. I am neither of this. The way I see it, Gintama can only warrant two things for a person. Either they become fans of Gintama or become dumb with astonishment that they resort to watching paint dry.

If there's one thing you need to know about Gintama, it is blatantly comical.
And if thats what you have been looking for, then look no further. If not, look elsewhere. read more