Gintama. Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen

For this review, I will not review this season alone, but the whole franchise up until the end of this season. This will be spoiler-free, unbiased and mostly objective, and instead of straight-up discussing the series, but mostly point out what makes Gintama unique while keeping the structure MAL suggests. Here we go

Story: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Animation: 8/10
Other factors: 9/10
Few complaints
Conclusion

Story:
Many Gintama watchers may notice something from the beginning of the story, something many end up disliking. That is the fact that "Gintama has no plot". The thing is that it doesn't.... But it does.... But doesn't. Without spoiling anything, Gintama is a mostly comedic series, only ... driven by the characters' actions and development. People will often refer to that as the story itself, which I disagree with. The plot is actually existent within the series, but we can say it happens "off screen", since the main cast is often not involved with it. The author does however throw out certain plot points and foreshadowing here and there, which later turn into an actual plot. Fans will often refer to the series' "serious arcs" as the plot, which is valid, since they do tie in with the plot itself. But shortly said: Even though Gintama has almost no plot, watchers still stay for the rest of the content, until the plot actually begins at (surprise, surprise) not episode 1. They way Gintama does it, is brilliant, since even though the plot is to be looked forward to, there is so much else before it that is both appealing and worth watching. Something the plot alone will never justify.

Characters:
The characters of this series are clearly the strongest points of the series' quality. Not because the rest is bad (look at my rating), but because they are just so well established. I've heard many fans state that "Gintama's cast will be the most lovable cast of characters you will experience", and even though many may argue with that, I agree with the statement, since it does make a point. Gintama has a huge cast, with maybe 20+ cast members that you will often see throughout the series, including the three protagonists: Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura. Aside from them, you will experience that almost all of the characters will get their own depth and quality, which make them unique and memorable characters. Almost everyone has their own quirks and problems, as well as backstories, experiences and later development. You will often watch them as you laugh at them and with them, as well as cry with them. Each one of them is lovable in their own way, not because you are guaranteed to relate to them, but because how much the author respects and loves them to write them the way they are. I could sit here and ramble on how deep and lovable the main character Gintoki is for instance, and how much his past experiences and present connect to each other to make a good character, but nothing I say any more, can do the characters' quality justice. If you feel like you don't like even one of the characters, then I do not know how to defend myself.

Animation:
This is finally something to complain a little about. The animation in this series has never been particularly good, nor has it ever been horrible. A very episodic series like this has no need for extraordinary or consistently stunning animation like the Fate-series or Violet Evergarden. In comedic and "calm" episodes, the animation is not the main point, since it is the comedy and the short-term storytelling that matters. You can say that intense scenes like battles, duels or chases require good animation for better experience, and that is exactly what Gintama has. Whenever a fight or an intense scene occurs, the animation will always step up (a lot) to make the scene great, but you cannot expect all of the 350+ episodes to have animation like that. Why I did not give the animation higher than 8/10, is because it would be to generous, but I do not complain too much either, since I do not require better animation than I need. If this is a problem to you, I will excuse myself, since this paragraph may have been useless in that case.

Other factors:
I will try to make my points shorter here, so that the paragraph won't be super long. MUSIC is an important part in a story, but for Gintama, it is not exceptionally good (but not bad at all). The "beautiful" soundtracks do not match with for instance Naruto's, and the motivational/intense tracks do not match with One Piece's. However, what Gintama does great, is creating few tracks that are associated with a certain scene or a character. There are a few songs you will hear maybe 2-3 times in the whole series, which you will associate with one powerful scene, which will make a good experience.
THE COLLECTION OF GENRES, is also an important factor that makes Gintama, in my opinion fantastic. It is mostly known for being a comedy series (which it excels in of course), but there is much more to it. You will see many other genres or elements from other genres all the time, since it can go from lung-paining comedy, to touching and calm Slice of Life, to (sometimes) deep and emotional romance, bombastic and exciting action and, not least: Tear jerking and painful drama. All these genres get switched between all the time, and it is made in a way that is not absolutely messy or not understandable, but instead very structured and well-made. That is something many pieces of fiction have a hard time with.

Few Complaints:
Since Gintama is very episodic, we are bound to enjoy some arcs and episodes more than others. Even though there has never been an episode or arc that I really hated, some episodes end up being a little weaker in both quality and enjoyment. Another complaint is that since the cast is so large, some characters will be a little less developed and more flat. And as said before, as there are characters you will most likely relate to, there are some you will not care about so much, and that is difficult to avoid. But these complaints compared to the rest of the praise do not push the series to a 9/10 for me at all, so the series is still pretty much perfect in my eyes (sorry for being a little biased there).

Conclusion:
If you want to start/continue with Gintama, there are things you must remember. This series requires patience, so do not expect it to become a masterpiece right away, but please know that as you go on, you will be rewarded with better and better stuff along the journey. When you finally reach the end, you may think "This series was long, but it was absolutely worth the time". But to be more straight forward, think of it like this:
The first serious/plot heavy arc (around 5 eps long) arrives somewhere between episode 50 and 60, where many watchers learn what Gintama can be and WILL be except just comedy. But if you still hate the show after episode 87, then I do not know how to defend myself lol. You will se more arcs like these of course, especially in the last 50 episodes. One more thing: since most of the comedy is based around parodies and references from other anime, it will be better if the watcher has some experience with anime and manga beforehand. Having watched between 5 and 10 animes is enough, I feel, so the comedy will become better. If this review helped, I greatly recommend this series, as it is the best anime (in quality) I have ever seen. I wish you a happy journey, and I hope you will enjoy this greatness of a series.

10/10

*This review covers the entire Gintama*

Let's start with the comedy because that's the main reason Gintama is so horrible. Gintama is often called "a comedy series without any comedy", and that's very accurate. The "comedy" in Gintama consists of colorful bunch of jokes... at least if our color vision is limited to two as practically every joke is either a) a penis joke or b) IT'S a PRank BrO. Be it a gorilla mistaking someone's dick for a banana or 7 feet long sword ending up inside someone's anal cavity, Gintama has it all. But don't worry. It's all made with self-awareness and 4th wall ... breaking so it's very funneh even after 700 chapters and 360 episodes. The parody side is really either a) an excuse to write something absolutely terrible and then claim it was made as a joke, or b) references that are so inaccurate and irrelevant that they could be used in E3's pressconference. The banter on the other hand is almost as hideous as seen in the movie Deadpool 2, but thank God not as meta. The comedy is so bad and badly timed that even during the more serious and decent moments, it comes there and completely ruins everything the series accomplishes by inserting some dude there who farts or does something equally lame.

The characters are something that could be decent -- to be frank, if the characters were a separate entity, they could all be said to be of respectable quality -- but the author practically never uses their personalities for their benefit. Almost every single reaction they show is ridiculously, even absurdly overreacted because the author doesn't trust that his characters' personalities alone could carry the content and the jokes he presents. The work is filled with moments where characters just yell some nonsense to each others because apparently, acting like overdramatic clowns is much better than actually creating comedy based to their characteristics. The sentence "it's so damn anime" is pretty much the perfect way to describe how Gintama's cast works. The only character who gets dealt with the respect they deserve, is Zura, and that's not enough.

The art is very clever. At least if we consider edgy 10 year old kids who are vandalizing the town by drawing pictures of genitals on every damn thing they see, clever. When it comes to Gintama, I don't think I have ever seen anyone put so much effort into making every goddamn background object resemble the shape of a penis. Perhaps my favorite part of the art is how often it focuses on puking and blood and assholes and dicks, yet every time these are censored and pixelated so its readers/viewers won't form a trauma because let's face it, most of them are also like 10 years old. It's beyond me how the main content is penis, farts and in generally, dirty jokes, yet they are presented pseudo and aimed for little kids. At least series like South Park went all out with their content and remained loyal to the idea to the very end. Gintama is just censorship aimed for people whose sense of humor was formed in elementary school toilets but never developed it more mature and over the top direction. Gintama is like a person who ages, but never grows up or matures.

As a conclusion: I laughed something like ~50 times during the entire run. Gintama is not a good series. It's characters are pretty much always used as comedy elements, the jokes get old in 50 episodes (starting from 80 because the first 80 don't even have any jokes), the writing is often ruined by stupid "gags" to a point that the good things become less good. Every cringe and downright awful piece of writing is justified by it being a parody. "So you're denying all the good things the show accomplished." Not really, I am just saying that even the worst of things have good sides in them and just like that, I won't be praising Gintama for its achievements.

The arc where everything makes sense!

When someone who doesn't know Gintama asks me to tell the synopsis, I can't explain it. I'm sure you can't either.


The intensity.

But on the other hand I can describe my different states: one second I start laughing and crying, the next I cling to my chair, the next I hold my breath, the next second I scream, the next I applaud, the next I want to cry so much because the emotion is so intense. In short, Gintama is a manga that does not leave anyone indifferent.

If Gintama has not lost her sense of humour, this season is barely ... letting us breathe. When you think Gintama can't do better, a new twist appears!


The arc where everything makes sense!

Let's talk about this new arc. For me, it is the arc where everything makes sense. In 15 years, Hideaki Sorachi has introduced us to characters who are all more atypical and marginal than each other. This arc is an opportunity to see all of them again: the ones we love and the others we love a little less and where we always wondered what they could bring to the story (Prince Hata for example).


A new approach to the main character.

In a typical shōnen, we are used to the character being the one who fights the most fearsome antagonist of each arc. And yet! Gintoki may be charismatic and badass, but he will not solve every situation on his own. This arc is a good example of this as he faces the strongest antagonist of Gintama. EVERY character has a role to play and it is together with their strengths and weaknesses that they will succeed in overcoming the challenges. Friendship, common purpose, teamwork are the key words of this season.


Verdict after 15 years:

Gintama has proven over and over again that it belongs among the greatest mangas shōnen. The mangaka masters the art of intensity with sometimes short, very short arcs (less than 10 episodes). So I was afraid when I saw the manga lasted so many years (700 chapters) and embarked on much longer arches. Well, I have to say, I'm speechless. So many plot twists and all of this without pretension with a dose of humour that makes Gintama a unique shōnen.


Bonus: an opening 21 full of emotion...

I invite you to look at it.

[Spoiler Warning]

Following the comedic and mostly lighthearted tone of the first cour with a few serious moments, the second cour takes off the gloves right away with some important deaths and a very real sense of impending doom.The stakes are suddenly much higher with very limited time for Earth.

Utsuro attempts to perpetrate a grandiose suicide to end his immortal self along with the whole of humanity whereas the Oddjobs,Kieheitai, Katsura,Joi Rebels, Yoshiwara and basically the whole of Edo attempts to protect their 'town'.

As if Utsuro isnt enough, The liberation army ,especially Prince Ensho, have nothing but the flame of hatred and war to ... keep themselves going forward to destroy Earth,the home of Atlanta.

The series starts off as Gintama like as it can be with a meta comedic flavor before veering off to the main story

Through short backstories, character motivations though not complex yet human-like give a side story and different perspective to each important character like Matako and Ensho, something which Gintama has been doing for quite some time alongside some really impressive foreshadowing.

Much anticipated fights, like Ensho vs Everyone, and rematches finally happen, with loads of bloodshed involved.

The second cour, serves to complement all that Gintama series has to offer via this silver soul arc from the comedy,badass character returns and build up in the first cour to the drama, character interaction,sheer epicness and the 'Gintama' factor that we all come to know and love in the second cour and to serve as an effective conclusion to the series

Spoiler Free Review

I know, I know, Gintama is one of those anime that just always impresses. Great humor, action, suspense . . . well, normally. First off, don't go thinking I disliked this second half of the Silver Soul arc. But it's not without its flaws, but we'll get there.

The arc has a great story and some shocking scenes. There is truly some heart wrenching suspense that you haven't experienced before in Gintama. Passionate and emotional scenes are filled throughout. A fantastic final battle, but . . . things are cut short. Not to go into details, but there is an abrupt feel that changes ... the mood entirely. It wasn't subtle and was disturbing. You're left thinking, "Wait . . . wait that was it?" Not at the end of the series of course, just part way through.

The series begins to take a good turn, but where it tries to slide back into the humor zone--I don't know. Yes, Gintama is known for this. But this time, it just didn't feel right. Most of this part is great, but there's that abruptness that greatly bothers me. This was not a strong finish to the series at all and I'm sad in saying that.

where do you can find anime that open a new season by.................... (CHECK NOW!!!)
overall 10
at first i had "bad" first impression of Gintama, i thought that The first Episodes and following few Episodes(until 5 maybe) quite average and sometimes i don't understand a few Japanese's culture reference, THEN I CONTINUE watching Gintama, then finding that this is the BEST COMEDY ANIME EVER, especially SILVER SOUL ARC IS THE most powerful and beautiful ARC EVER.

the story 10
immortality and the true meaning of ultimate power are shown clearly in THIS SEASON, and it's already make me goosebump with this civil war setting. NOTE:this is the continuation of ... silver soul arc from the 7th season

the character 10
Evil characters gathering in one place and reveal their past and their future (if there is smoke, then there must be fire)

the art 10
action scenes is shown clearly and not too light until make our eye hurt, our head won't be spinning because of the movement.

enjoyment 10
Some slapstick jokes and dirty jokes are repetitive, but this is Gintama way to maintain their UNIQUENESS until now. The humor's quality IS CONSISTENT, especially in this season. Even in the extremely most serious moment, the Gorilla author still insert funny things that you never expected before.

epilogue: imo only Gintama who can give critics and satire in funny way, they parodied corruptor.
only this anime make SATIRE ABOUT top person who SET LOW BUDGET
only this anime that insulting airing regulation in funny way.
only gintama who can make parody about some anime in excellent way (Bakuman, doraemon, Dragonball, one piece, Kuroko no Basket,Jojo stand hahahaha etc.)
EDITED: warning!! Gintama used to make me cry because of sad and stupid scene

(Sigh)
Unbelievable. If someone told me back in mid-2015 that in some three years I'd be watching the (supposedly) last arc of Gintama—easily one of my favorite series of all time—all blank-faced, thinking, "please let it end already", I'd be confused and probably laugh it off as some idiocy. Boy oh boy, I sure wish that was the case...

This needs to be said: Hideaki Sorachi is not a good writer. It's certainly true that he can write some outstanding comedy that could rival the world's best in terms of both creativity and gag density (remember the Character Poll arc? Brilliant concept AND execution!), and Gintama works ... perfectly well when it doesn't take itself seriously. But it all falls apart the moment Sorachi tries to introduce some drama into the plot; the more of it, the more obnoxious it becomes. The characters, all conveniently stuffed together for the occasion, immediately arm themselves with their corniest lines, so cringe-worthy that even the typical Shonen Jump series about a self-unaware spiky-haired underdog would consider them a faux pas. The plot armor surrounding the regular cast dispels all the dramatic tension, because we know for a fact: characters would only die when the author decides they should, circumstances and common sense be damned. Battles are won not with skill and strategy but with sheer determination and (now more often than not) various forms of deus ex machinae. Battle choreography is neither realistic nor aesthetically pleasing. Antagonists are all limp, incredibly conflicted, and would constantly waver between their sociopathic ambitions and attempts at a hamfisted redemption arc meant to trick the audience into thinking better of them. They would often have this sudden change of heart at the end (after a couple dozen flashbacks doing a very poor job at making us care)—only to be immediately killed by somebody even badder right afterwards, or they would proactively sacrifice themselves, succumbing to the injuries that should've killed them many times over by that point. But most importantly, none of them really warrant sympathy—their cause is never relatable nor exciting enough to even consider them important. Even Utsuro owes his status quo to the Joi Four's past history with him: whatever he is doing in the present is blown up to such immense scale that confrontation becomes inevitable, but otherwise it's completely irrelevant and uninteresting. The fact that Utsuro's alter ego was a teacher to Gintoki and the others is the only thing separating him from being a random last-boss bad guy. Frankly, the way Sorachi shoves the drama up your throat is insulting to intelligence.

And the worst part is that the series has mostly been focusing on this mess of a drama ever since the Shogun Assassination arc, constantly upping the ante of cringe-worthiness and exercises in literary impotence. One pointless epic battle after another, one entire-cour-spanning flashback after another. This is what anime at its worst looks like. And I'm not saying this to put down the anime production team—god knows they've been doing their darnedest to elevate the material. But they can't fix what is fundamentally wrong with the writing.

Thus, despite my affection towards the series as a whole, I won't sugarcoat the truth nor try to delude myself: *Gintama sucks when it stops being funny.* It gets dragged down by bad storytelling, poor pacing, braindead dialogues, stunted characterization, and all sorts of melodramatic emotional manipulation the very moment it takes a break from the jokes. If it hadn't established a deeply invested audience through a long and fruitful history of mostly high-quality comedy, nobody would watch it for the plot—let alone put it on so high a pedestal. Considering that, I resigned myself to see the series through at what I considered its lowest point, because I'd already invested so much in it and wanted to have at least some closure, however poor, along with the other 36,191 hopeless idiots—but what did I get there? In the last 1/3 of the arc the series does a 180° on me and goes back to being a (mostly) light-hearted comedy once again...

...And then, instead of giving me said closure, it kind of reboots itself and just ends midways. Nani the fuck?! I mean, sure, subversion of expectations and all that, but let's be real. No matter how you lampshade it by doing that 4th-wall-breaking commentary at the end, it goes beyond poor planning. And I'm one hundred percent on board with the anime production team: Sorachi (and his editor) should take responsibility for the disaster his series has become. That is, either end it already and provide a worthy payoff for all the stupid drama, or pretend that crap never happened and let it remain the episodic comedy it once was for a while longer (but then still end it before it outstays its welcome). But for the love of all that is holy, don't engage in this ridiculous "oh, but I want to conclude the story—oh, but I kinda don't want it to end—oh, but I want it to be serious—oh, but I also want more jokes in there" back-and-forth bullshit. It doesn't work and it leaves more than a few people with quite the bad aftertaste. It's the entertainment industry equivalent of an abusive family member whom you love not *because* they are a wonderful person but *despite* the wretched scum they are—simply because the bonds were formed back when your relationship was more wholesome. And we all (hopefully) know that the biggest mistake one can make when dealing with an abusive person is thinking that it'll go back to being wholesome if we remain patient and forgiving. Don't be stupid; vote with your feet and your wallet—that's the only thing that works against somebody trying to give you shit.

In summary, if I were fair and were judging this season for the travesty it was, I'd have given it a 4 it just barely deserved. But since I have a lingering affection towards some of the characters, and a lot of the gags in the last 1/3 genuinely made me laugh—and very nearly made it worth slogging through the first 2/3—I thought I'd bump it up a little. But make no mistake, this is nowhere near Gintama's finest, and I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch up until this point. Gintama° was fine, Porori-hen was a good break, but do yourself a favor and leave it all at that. The whole Utsuro thing isn't worth the time.

Of course, I recommend it, because what's the other option? Not complete “Gintama”? However, we've been on the concluding section for quite a long time. Almost every character had both completed their characters arcs and time to shine. This finish is starting to drag a lot, and it is made even worse by the inclusion of so many flashbacks: I get it, long series + a lot of minor characters that appeared not that much, but honestly it went on for too much time. Add to that the factor that this isn't even the actual last chapter.

Simply put, this is almost the definition of overstaying ... its welcome. Good thing the anime staff streamlined a lot, and it didn't drag it another season for the finale (Only 2 specials and a movie). I hope those are well executed, to give the proper sendoff this series absolutely deserves.

Gintama is finally over (Except for the final)

It has been one hellva ride holy

I have been watching Gintama for over a year actually, with taking month long breaks within the seasons haha.

This season? I did not enjoy

First off Ill get the good off the way.

... The last 4 episodes? Amazing. That is what I like about Gintama. The comedy!!!!!!
The last 4 episodes, and a few sprinkled here and there, great great comedy.
As soon as the action part of the arc ended, it was amazing. Seriously.

The rest? It was a lot of action. And I do not like action as much.

It was just the space invaders invading the weird glasses dudes ships with MADAO making a nice appearance. It was a little much if I am being real. And quite boring.

As soo as it ended?
The comedy was amazing.


The OP I skipped

Animation is good

All in all Im giving this a 6/10.

A like 9/10 for the last 4 episodes + 1 more episode for the other comedy

that's like 5/14which is a 35 percent but it was good so ill give it the 6/10

Thanks!
-CyanCheetah

Well that was a waste of time.

The second part of the Silver Soul Arc and the so-called end of Gintama was, in all honesty a bit of a let down. The first part had me deluded into thinking that it couldn't be it and was building up some secret final boss that would be dealt with in the Final movie but all I got was a pretty underwhelming climax and an epilogue that could easily make it to the worst arc of the whole anime, taking everything apart once more and not really doing anything with it.

The production has been gradually getting worse but this ... I can blame on me being an old-timer who prefers looking at 2000s anime.

I will still watch what remains because I want to see how the thing ends, I did suffer through the 367 episodes of that thing and I can now be safe to answer the age old question: Is Gintama worth it?

Well... not really. It would have been if it had half the length.

Also the comedy isn't good.

Given that this season feels like it was split in half by the story, I'm gonna go at this that way because, otherwise, I won't have anything to say.

The first half was hype. So many amazing things happened in the first half of this season by giving certain characters more screen time, inserting quality Gintama comedy, and changing the tone of the anime for the better. I enjoyed seeing the fruits of last season through the beginning of this season. I thought the plot progressed nicely and in a way that made sense. Gintoki did take more of a central stance in this season, which ... was awesome. I was hoping for a bit more character development from him, but for the most part, I thought his place and Yorozuya's place in the story was written really well.

The second half was something else. Some things changed, and the result wasn't explained in the best way it could've been explained. I sort of got lost during the second half of this season because I got confused. Even though I understand what the story turned into, it still felt pretty far removed from what had been going on before. As the second half drug on, I got an idea of what the rest of the series was going to be like, though, and I have to say that I like the uniqueness of it. A lot changed, but the end may be worth it.

I really regret that this season didn't give me a lot to talk about because it kind of threw me, but some very cool things happened this season, and I can only hope that Gintama: The Final will do this series justice because Gintama is so very special.

On that note, I'll be waiting.

I love Gintama (anime watcher only) because it is a slice of life comedy with a main story line that will be visit from time to time, the progression of the main story line is slow but works very well when it is imbedded within the casual slice of lifes which made them blend in naturally (we can tell shounen isn't Gorilla's strong suit from the previous season OVA and specials but they blended in well, a change of tastes). But this season goes full on shounen which gave me a Naruto and On piece vibe... but only the bad parts. The pacing is super ... draggy, the dialogs are generic and boring, and the character building is non-existed. To sum up this season is draggy, generic, boring, and very skippable.
In my opinion at least, this season abandoned everything makes Gintama great, and also a prime example of how a bad shounen anime should be like.

“What does it matter what they call us? We know what we’re trying to do. Isn’t that enough? […] Insurgent. Traitor. Rebel. You’ve all got your perfect titles already.”

- Takasugi, Episode 354 (Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen 1)

The opening scene of Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen perfectly sets up this series. Its self-deprecating tone reminding the audience about what Gintama is; setting a pace that means to expect the usual absurd comedy that goes hand in hand with this unique series.

There are only so many ways I can say this, but the cast continues to be absolutely amazing. From the enjoyable highs ... to the emotional lows, each character shines through. Perhaps what stands out is just how much each character, in their own way, is important to the story and how attached the audience has become to them. Certain characters have also grown so much in a short space of time, most notably with the Kiheitai and Nobunobu, yet it doesn't feel forced. They are humanised more than I thought could be possible, and watching their character development is really something special.

The callbacks to earlier episodes are handled well, with the series willingly joking about how long it has been, but they are interesting elements that nicely tie the serious and comedic moments together. While certain scenes may come across as a little bit like the "magic-of-friendship" trope, after 360 episodes, several films, and a lot of emotional moments; it is earned rather than thrown up as an easy solution.

Much like with the first half of this series, the animation is a little bit rough in places; but it doesn’t take anything away from the series. There are also a couple of throwbacks to elements that weren’t fully explored in the anime but are developed in the manga. This will be a more prominent problem if you skipped the early seasons of Gintama.

Overall, the ending of Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen is the perfect send-off to the anime’s TV appearance. It perfectly reflects the absolute chaos that it was to read the manga during the closing chapters while probably working as the perfect venting system for the anime staff. Gintama sends you off with a smile and a promise of the story continuing, no matter how long it would end up taking.

This review covers the Gintama series as a whole.
No spoilers too.
every category gets an 8-10 for me.
Although I haven't gotten into gintama when it first came out, when I first discovered the show, I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it out to the end of it. It seemed boring and it didn't really pique my interest as much. However, as I continued to watch the show, I got more and more attached. The comedy was good, it wasn't too much or too little, it's almost as if the show shaped me into who I am now. The artwork ... is nice and fits the story line of the series and although the animation was not the best (especially the old episodes, that's to be expected though.) There's really not much bad about the show, it's just one of those where you have to be patient with and eventually, you'll be attached. If you don't like it, than you just don't like it. But if you do, it stays with you forever. Generally, the storyline is pretty much what you'd expect from a shounen anime but better? I've never really been much of a person who gets into shounen but Gintama just sticks with me. This is more like a thank you letter to the series for shaping me and being something that means so much to me but I swear if you give this show patience and time, you won't regret it.

This season had a lot going for it. It immediately fixed the pacing issues of the season before it, it put its budget on display immediately, and even though the story shift halfway through sounds strange in concept, it really worked, and looked like it was going places. The emotionally charged opening had one of the best songs in the entire series, and effectively used the massive cast to its advantage.

So, uh.

Wtf was that?

If you've seen this season, you know what "that" is. If you haven't seen this season, spoilers are truly unavoidable for "that", but I can explain it in a way that doesn't ... actually spoil the actual story, considering what "that" is, so I think it's okay to keep reading.

Actual emotional stakes. Could've been one of the best moments in the series. Then the fourth wall is carted off to some faraway land to be cut into small pieces and disposed of one at a time. Why? Well, as Justice Sakata Gintoki explains, they had planned for the ending of the manga to come sooner, so there weren't enough episodes in the season to cover the rest.

Oh, but isn't Gintama known for its fourth-wall-breaking? Yes, but when it happens, it doesn't undermine the actual events. They're fleeting moments where the straight man gets annoyed and moves on, or beginning-of-episode segments at the start of non-serialized episodes. This was at a crucial moment.

Oh, but doesn't Gintama give its jokes excessive setup anyway? Yes, there will be moments where several minutes are given to an anecdote that turns out to be all in one character's head and only has the effect of a minor conversation point. Several minutes, MINUTES, not over a hundred hours.

But it's not their fault that the story wasn't the right length, and they're already working on the movie that's supposed to come out in 2021. Yes, but Read-The-Manga endings are an established practice. A dead stop would take about as much effort as this gag, and whether the ending got adapted would be considered a matter of fate and not anyone's competence. This way, the damage can't be undone.

It's a funny scene in isolation, but it's not in isolation. I had thought of some minor criticisms before that point, but I forgot them all when "that" happened, and I don't care enough to remember them anymore. Still gets an overall positive score because it was entertaining on a scene-to-scene basis, and had some truly great moments.

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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FIRST THINGS FIRST. NOTE!. This review sections are split in 2 parts. First is this season specific comments and second is franchise as whole. Plus score is given to whole franchise not this season. Will add though this season scores to the sections.

✦Story
#This season: So they decided to wrap it up (?.. although last ep finale felt so troll that I still have no idea if it is truly final season) with grand scale battle. To have a big fight, where pretty much all the characters do ... fight or show themselves. As idea I find it pretty nice thing. And I did enjoy quite a lot of moments. But what I hated that made this season biggest letdown as whole, (or simply I'm exhausted of Gintama.. or other reasons) would be that this arc had mixture of typical Gintama comedic aspect with serious aspect of the arc. I do love about Gintama pure comedy/parody arcs or really awesome serious arcs, but I am not fond of mixture of the two. Nevertheless, I found the cool arc being soiled with Gintama comedy a bit unnecessary and balance breaking. Aside that grand finale was fairly awesome. Plus few episodes in these 2 arcs had straightforward usual Gintama bizarre comedy, which did make me chuckle few times. 7/10, found it the least enjoyable arc of the whole franchise.
#Whole franchise.
As mentioned, Gintama does superb comedy/parody arcs and very cool serious arcs absolutely superb. Gory, awesome, powerful action and emotions of serious arcs. Bizarre, crude, dirty and so on humor of comedy arcs/episodes. Story itself is substantially quite well put and has fairly large world and many sides, which mostly comes in with the immense amount of characters. Well, comedy is hit or miss. You will either like or hate it. But this franchise has managed to really make me laugh of the time span of all seasons.

✦Art
#This season. It was good enough 7/10?
#Whole franchise: Great character design, a lot of artistic approaches, impactful scenes, well done action and Animation. But art'style/quality does feel a bit jumping around with few seasons. (mostly newer ones). But as whole, superb, very pleasing.

✦Sound
#This season. Once again.. good enough, but weakest of the franchise. 7/10
#Whole franchise: A lot of absolutely superb songs, soundtracks and so on. Quite a lot them I have listened many times over.

✦Character
#This season: Well, it's just cluster of the whole cast essentially. With awesome overpowered villain. Main character and his old friends and teacher story was pretty much well enough wrapped up. Lot of other characters, kinda remained as they were and few of them that had some sort or story given. Felt a bit loose ended. But as whole. Pretty great. 9/10
#Whole franchise: What can I say. Abnormally large cast with all sort of weird quirks. Whilst main characters do have story and a lot of their past, relationships, bonds and so on were presented. And gotta add, fairly impressive and impactful. Other than that, most characters stayed enjoyable in their character,role, place and time quite nicely. Even though a lot of the Anime didn't really have much of development between the characters. But instead we had simply glimpse of their lives, bonding and the whole adventure through going things together. Not sure what else to add aside having unreal amount of characters and almost all of them leave a mark or have fairly well done presence.

✦Enjoyment & Overall
#This season. As said before across the board. I felt these 2 seasons being fairly weak in comparison to a whole franchise. The idea of grand scheme is understandable, but somehow that blend of comedy and seriousness just didn't feel as good. I have no idea whenever I'm simply more depressed than ever or I have been exhausted of seeing Gintama or it simply was the weakest link. But nevertheless I did enjoy it, had some amazing fights and got few chuckles out of it. 8/10
#Whole franchise: I simply do adore the nonsensical humor with almost no bounds. References, parody, dirty humor, offensive humor and so on. And this Anime has managed to really make me laugh in the past. The amazing serious arcs with superb presentation of fights and their impact plus emotion deliverance was simply superb. Well obviously it had moments that were fairly dull or boring. But as whole I find it probably one of the best Anime out of there in the category of comedy/parody and action. With fairly unique and odd world setting. The whole world is pretty nonsensical, but the way it's presented and built, makes it superb. Also movies were quite amazing. Probably would add some more comments, but can't think of any at the current moment. And this review is annoyingly long anyways already to my taste.

Moral of the story. As franchise, it gets my TOPFAV tag, but these final 2 seasons, felt weak in comparison to every other season.

(This review applies to the entire Gintama series.)
What is Gintama about? Well, according to Gin-san: "We don't even know". But for me, Gintama is a great filler with some anime bows tucked in the middle of genius shapes.

Gintama tells a story about Japan at a time when it was dominated by alien forces, the plot focuses on our four protagonists: Gintoki, Shinpachi, Kagura and Sadaharu. Now speaking of the anime, Gintama is very good indeed, all the characters have a different charisma, from their personalities to their beliefs, like our revolutionary Zura, oh my mistake, "Zura janai, Katsura da.", Dear Hasegawa-san (Madao), the whole shinsegumi ... from Kondo-san (gorilla), Hijikata-san (mayonnaise) Okita-kun (sadist), among others. Seriously, there are soooo many characters, which turns out to be a problem too, as it's impossible to always show them all, so there are times when they just disappear for several episodes and yet more characters still appear, there are a few moments when that happens. makes it nauseating, but Gintama's universe is undoubtedly incredible, with the advent of aliens it is easy to put up with many different situations ranging from comedy (like all scenes in which Baka, I say, Hata Ouji appears) to dramas (Like Prejudice that exists between the amantos and humans), this is something strong in Gintama, is a shounen that has comedy as its essence, but knows how to create various heavy and sad situations, an example of this are the side storys of the villains, there are some that in fact they made me water. Apart from all these points, the songs, the soundtracks are wonderful, they fit the scenes very well and the amount they use is amazing (if you have the time looking for some playlist to hear some). And it's amazing how the stories fit together.

But undoubtedly, the characters are the most captivating things in the works, you may end up not liking one or the other, but it is impossible not to like at least one of them. Even such "villains" have their story very well developed, which makes you even more fond of Gintama, creating a special affection for this great "void of anime" and full of feelings. Not all episodes will make you laugh, or make you cry, but some of them will touch you, I'm sure, and don't underestimate Gintama because he wants to take everything in comedy, it's the author's way of showing that you should laugh even at times that seem impossible. Speaking of Gorilla (not Kondo), I find it impressive how he can mess with those who watch his work, but undeniable the clear improvement of the adaptation, the studio and director managed to give a unique air with all those 4th wall breaks.
Perhaps the only 'problem' in Gintama for us (from the west) is the various references to the culture there, such as the structure of their language or actors, comedians and the sennyu themselves (voice actors). Which makes some episodes extremely boring unless you really understand. I also think that not all ages can really appreciate Gintama, I remember I started watching when I was 10 ~ 11 and found it extremely, because I was a shounen without those screaming powers stuff or a protagonist who was really “badass” but Today, with my 19 years, I can enjoy much more. But I don't want to talk about it, so give Gintama a try, it's an amazing anime that has a lot to show you, both in history, in comedy, and of course in characters.
This ending is something completely plausible with Gintama, no doubt, something that only Gintama does, nothing, really, the anime ends the way it started: "Out of nowhere", but that's exactly what Gintama is all about.

(Essa review vale para toda a série Gintama)
(PT-Br) Do que se trata Gintama? Bem, de acordo com o Gin-san: "Nem nós sabemos". Mas para mim, Gintama é um grande filler com alguns arcos de anime enfiados no meio de formas geniais.

Gintama conta uma história sobre o Japão em um momento em que ele foi dominado por forças alienígenas, a trama tem como foco nossas quatro protagonistas: Gintoki, Shinpachi, Kagura e Sadaharu. Agora falando do anime, Gintama é de fato muito bom, todos os personagens tem um carisma diferente, desde suas personalidades até suas crenças, como nosso revolucionário Zura, oh erro meu, "Zura janai, Katsura da.", o querido Hasegawa-san (Madao), toda a shinsegumi desde o Kondo-san (gorila), Hijikata-san (maionese) Okita-kun (sadista), entre outros. Sério, tem muuuuuuitos personagens, o que acaba sendo um problema também, pois é impossível mostrar todos eles sempre, então tem alguns momentos em que eles simplesmente desaparecem por vários episódios e ainda assim continuam a aparecer mais personagens, tem alguns momentos em que isso se torna enjoativo, mas o universo de Gintama é sem dúvida incrível, com o advento dos alienígenas fica fácil colocar várias situações diferentes que vão desde comédia (como todas as cenas em que o Baka, digo, Hata Ouji aparece) até dramas (Como o preconceito que existe entre os amantos e os humanos), isso sim é algo forte em Gintama, é um shounen que tem a comédia como essência, mas sabe criar várias situações pesadas e tristes, um exemplo disso são as side storys dos vilões, tem algumas que de fato me fizeram lacrimejar. Além de todos esses pontos, as músicas, as soundtracks são maravilhosas, elas encaixam muito bem com as cenas e a quantidade que eles usam é incrível (se tiver um tempo procura algum playlist pra ouvir algumas). E são impressionantes como as histórias se encaixam.

Mas sem dúvidas, os personagens são as coisas mais cativantes das obras, você pode acabar não gostando de um ou outro, mas é impossível de não gostar de pelo menos um deles. Até os tais “vilões” tem suas histórias muito bem desenvolvidas, o que te faz gostar ainda mais de Gintama, criar um afeto especial por esse grande “vazio de anime” e cheio de sentimentos. Nem todos os episódios vão te fazer rir, ou te fazer chorar, mas alguns deles vai te tocar, tenho certeza, e não subestime Gintama por ele querer levar tudo na comédia, é o jeito do autor mostrar que você deve rir até em momentos que parecem impossíveis. Falando do Gorila (não o Kondo), eu acho impressionante como ele consegue mexer com o quem assiste sua obra, mas é inegável a clara melhora da adaptação, o estúdio e diretor conseguiram dar um ar único com todas aquelas quebras da 4° parede.
Talvez o único ‘‘problema’’ em Gintama para nós (do ocidente) sejam as várias referências a cultura de lá, como na estrutura de sua língua ou atores, comediantes e os próprios sennyu (dubladores). O que faz alguns episódios serem extremamente “chatos”, a menos que você realmente entenda. Também acho que nem todas as idades conseguem apreciar de fato Gintama, lembro que comecei a assistir quando tinha 10~11 anos e achei extremamente, pois era um shounen sem aquelas coisas de gritar poderes ou um protagonista que fosse de fato “badass”, mas hoje, com meus 19 anos, consigo aproveitar muito mais. Mas eu não quero me estender falando disso, então, deem uma chance a Gintama, é um anime incrível que tem muito o que te mostrar, tanto em história, quanto em comédia e, claro, em personagens.
Esse final é algo completamente plausivel com Gintama, sem dúvidas, algo que só Gintama faz, nada, sério, o anime termina da mesma forma que começou: "Do nada",as é justamente disso que se trata Gintama.

🌟 GINTAMA REVIEW 🌟

🔴 THIS IS A REVIEW ON ENTIRETY OF GINTAMA ANIME, NO SPOILERS 🔴

⚪ The cast is absolutely fantastic, which just keeps growing on you. There's just no way you could dislike a single character. All of them have good designs, some sort of significance throughout, their introductions never felt jarring & the dynamics are always heartwarming.

⚪ The general misconception is that Gintama is all about parody. But trust me, it's an unique blend of every genre alike & the focus on parody is bare minimum to keep that aspect funny consistently. The blend of genres is also the brightest aspect of the ... storytelling. From comedy to action to drama, the range is unbelievable. Also, it's applicable to the tonal shift as well. Pay-offs are usually very satisfying as a result!

⚪ The female cast was awesome, possibly the best I've ever seen in shonen. From Kagura, Kyubei to Tsukuyo, Otose; you can't help but adore each one of them!

⚪ Voice acting is something I never really focused on but in Gintama, I must admit that the voice actors were phenomenal. Possibly a huge part behind the show's success across the world!

⚪ Both the Benizakura Arc remake & original fanservice movies were good, something which is very rare for a long running franchise these days.

⚪ Gintoki, with all the core traits of a shonen protagonist, never felt the same old-school generic lead character. And every bits of credits for that goes to Sorachi for presenting him in such a magnificently likeable manner.

⚪ The world-building was a huge attraction. Edo period with alien invasion, modern day technology, Samurai outfits, idol culture, hostess bars, space travel & skyscrapers get as hilariously weird as it can be!

⚪ Unpredictability in arcs as they're so random is something very enjoyable. You never know what's gonna happen until the middle of the arc. Besides, majority of the serious arcs carry a message for the viewers to comprehend! Only one thing is always certain: a great conclusion. Beautiful!

⚪ For a industry that has shown incompetence in managing a big cast & delivering a satisfying conclusion under the shonen demograph, Gintama came as one of those rare surprises to me with an all round success!

⚪ Episodic concept is something I always try to avoid as getting invested in it is something I consider hugely difficult. But Gintama surely has managed to change my opinion on this format. Episodic episodes, in my opinion, were the greatest strength of the series initially!

⚫ Comedy was the key aspect for majority of the series & while it was brilliant for most of the parts, it still had some hiccups here and there.

⚫ The OST were fantastic but the usage wasn't. Sometimes, some of the tracks felt too repetitive or out of place. Although, it gets somewhat fixed from S3 onwards. But not much, and beyond the halfway mark.

⚫ Some of the arcs were highly inconsistent. Mostly you'll have Yoshiwara in Flames or Vacation Arcs, but some other times you'll also have Hard Boiled or Glasses Arcs. Subjectively depends on your taste though. But the lowest of some of the arcs are intolerable at times.

⚫ Too many Japanese references that's not very ideal for casual viewers with less knowledge on anime or Japanese culture in general. Therefore, some of the gags were always unfunny to me (e.g. the ones on Japanese actors) but at the same time, I enjoyed the anime references (e.g. Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc).

⚫ Animation is perhaps the show's biggest fault in the technical department. 4:3 & 480p for 201 episodes for a 2006 series was disappointing but it never really bothered me given the series's overall quality. And it improved significantly from S2, with the peak being S4. Animation, however, was never something out of the world, it was just consistently good in S4 (which is great for the long running seasons, i.e. S1, S2 & S4). The gorgeous art made it so visually pleasing. But from S5 onwards, it went downhill pretty significantly. S8, being the final ever season, didn't please me in that regard either.

⚫ Takasugi (and Kiheitai) was one character that had a a good amount of satisfying development & growth but I still feel like Sorachi missed out on a lot of opportunities for more exposure. Takasugi's growth into what he became, Kiheitai's formation & many more aspects could've been fleshed out a bit more.

⚪ TOP 5 SERIOUS ARCS: Farewell Shinsengumi, Shogun Assassination, Courtesan Of A Nation, Yoshiwara In Flames & Okita Mitsuba/Shinigami.

⚪ TOP 5 LIGHT-HEARTED ARCS: Hasegawa Prosecution, Vacation, Feigned Illness & Rehno.

SEASON 1: 9️⃣
SEASON 2: 8️⃣
SEASON 3: 9️⃣
SEASON 4: 🔟
SEASON 5: 9️⃣
SEASON 6: 7️⃣
SEASON 7: 8️⃣
SEASON 8: 9️⃣

‼️ LONG STORY SHORT: Gintama had its fair share of inconsistencies all along. But the problems were never minor. Negligible would be the ideal description. On top, the beautiful journey compensates everything & forces you to remember the positives only. Such is the greatness of Gintama. Go & watch it ASAP if you've not already! That's it!

It is a comedy anime, and Gintama is one of its best. Seeing Japanese humor emerge in the manner that it has in this anime has been quite entertaining. Even when things are awful, they are still wonderful. Having said that, this specific arc is exceptionally spectacular in its own right. Without delving into specifics, it is clear that the anime at this stage has a significant work ahead of it in terms of tying together the stories of several characters while also providing progress for each individual character. The effort is not insignificant, and the anime's shortcomings are shown by the fact that it ... may get bloated from time to time.

In general, the Arc is an excellent movie. It seems strange to me since I've become used to the program not taking itself seriously for a long time. Everyone receives a speech titled "awesome moment." The ridiculousness of each character receiving one of these opportunities is itself a comedy, if you think about it.

Gintama.: Shirogane no Tamashii-hen - Kouhan-sen
Gintama: Silver Soul Arc - Second Half War



The final and last season of Gintama comes to an end here. Despite the more disappointing results of the last arcs, I'm still excited about Gintama. This series could excellently convince with the blunt and idiotic character humor. Had until the end at least a still average main plot and very remarkably lovable characters.

In this season, the penultimate conflict with Utsuro takes place, which reaches its climax in the following film. After the war, there are only 3-4 episodes that have humor again and show the amusing side of Gintama. Honestly, these episodes ... were unexpectedly entertaining after all that came.


The climax of the war was "disappointing" but the fight against Utsuro was visually interesting. Of course, there was as much plot armor as possible, but you've already used to that in Gintama.

Other than that, this season didn't have much else to offer. It picked up right where the first half left off and continued the war directly. However, episode 10 +/- ended it and you saw the consequences and further developments.

The pacing of the episodes became somewhat faster.


The intro was one of the most beautiful both visually and musically. Not just of Gintama, but in general. It felt like a "closing" intro.

[Enjoyment 6]