Gintama°

Sigh... Gintama. I remember back when this used to be my nr. 1 favorite anime as well as being the funniest. I remember starting it right before summer vacation and just binging the hell out of it, laughing at the hilarious moments and being kinda touched by some of the serious stuff too. It became something very special for me and it was just constantly getting better and better the further I got into it. When I finished the first 201 episodes of Gintama I was so excited to start season 2 or Gintama' right afterwards. I was about a quarter way into it and ... that's where I started to question myself if I was even enjoying what I was watching. I think I said "Oh maybe it's because I've watched too many episodes", so I took a bit of a break from it. Then I came back and finished it and didn't really know what to think. I mean, I did enjoy it but at the same time I didn't. None of the "serious" arcs didn't really hit me as much as they did in season 1 nor did the comedy. After that I just continued to watch and at some points were kinda forcing myself through some of it, I kept making up excuses in my head as to why I wasn't enjoying it and now I've realized that I was just lying to myself.

Now were here with Gintama°, this was the highest rated season of them all so I had a lot of hopes that it would rekindle my love for the show. I only watched 17 eps of it but honestly I think I had just already given up at that point tbh.

First of all I have to say that I personally think it's absolutely ridiculous that this season is the second highest rated anime on MAL. How this is even possible is honestly beyond me, it's not even the best season of Gintama like everyone seems to think so. There are so many better shows out there that I would rank higher than this but MAL's rating system pretty shit to begin with though so maybe that's not too surprising.
I think the biggest problem I started having with the show after season 1 was that the arcs didn't have enough built up. Every single arc after episode 201 feels so short and underdeveloped in my opinion. Arcs felt like they had so much more built up to them before, they really benefited from that, or maybe it's just me who got tired of the Gintama formula, I don't know tbh.
Gintama in of it self is also way too long for it's own good, it feels like the Sorachi didn't know how the hell to even end the series. If from 201 it had gone up to 270 eps, then maybe I wouldn't be making this review at all.

All in all Gintama is still special to me, it sure ain't my nr. 1 and may not even be in my top 10 for that matter but I will still remember it as being something dear to me. It's just sad that I couldn't be there till the end.

The next two paragraphs can be summarized to "the plot is skip-able"

I think most people will agree when I say Gintama is primarily a comedy series before anything. This is mostly what I like about it. I watch it to laugh, and sometimes I do, but not all the time. Sometimes there's actual plot or "serious" arcs which are seemingly put in for no other reason than to disrupt the shows comedic pacing or show that Gintama has some merit besides being a comedy series, but honestly for me they just ruin the comedic flow.

The plot is not that stellar. So I wont judge it ... based on that, even though there are long arcs with actual plot in them, you wont be doing yourself a disservice by skipping them and enjoying the show as a comedy series, IMO. If you disagree with this, please feel free to correct me but I feel safe in making the assumption that very few people watch Gintama for the plot.

So anyway, back to the actual thing we're all here for: the comedy. It's aight. That is, if we're grouping most of the episodes and "averaging the funny", its pretty okay, and that's what my rating reflects, an average of how much this season made me laugh.

Although if we look at this season on an episode by episode basis, I can confidently say a lot of the episodes have failed to make me laugh, and most episodes are kind of mid only providing the rare chuckle, BUTTTT some episodes such as episode 31 and especially 32 had me GENUINELY laughing. It's because of these standout episodes that I raise Gintama from a "mid" rating to an "above average". At this point halfway through the season am I overly excited to keep watching? Not really, its more like I have nothing else to watch and this show is pretty good/alright.

I genuinely hope Ill get more episodes that made me laugh as hard as ep 32, and I'll update this and maybe raise the rating if they do, but as of right now, Gintama is pretty good to/ alright, 6/10.

UPDATE: NVM, it literally has one more comedy episode which is kind of mid and then just turns into pure plot. Really disappointed.

2nd update: before you message me on this, yes i've seen the first season, no i did not start on 4th, i understand the characters and the world i just dont care about the plot whatsoever.