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
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Oct 7, 2018
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 ... |
