It always feels so much easier to start series that have only 12 volumes or episodes. I have always personally stayed away from the longer running shows, as I have thought for them to be a waste of time, when I could finish 20 or more series in their time. Gintama truly showed me how wrong I was about how I thought.
Gintama does not only have the most colorful and large cast of characters but an overall interesting story and rich world. Whilst the series does seem quite innocent type of comedy manga for quite a few chapters, Sorachi does show later on his clear talent to write good action packed shonen too. What I feel like I should specially praise is how Gintoki Sakata is like, as he is far from what you would think an average anime role model or shonen hero is like. Whilst other protagonist's do have their bad sides too to make them seem more human and bad at something, Gintoki is instead the last person you should take model after. In other words, a drunken broke mess of an man. Still, Gintoki manages to be the most human than any other character I have seen, whilst still influencing everyone's lives around him.
The overall score for the story from me is easily a 10. Giving any less would feel wrong. Each chapter, no matter if it was an stand alone story or part of an long going arch felt special. All of the chapters gave you an interesting, thrilling and absolutely chaotic dumb experience, that made me laugh, cry and face palm with the characters time and time over. Some of the side stories felt more stupid than I could tell, but they still tied up always well and felt like a good part of Gintama in the end. There was not a single chapter that felt like a bore to read.
For the art I would give an good 9. I am not an pro when it comes to describing art, but I think Gintama had a beautiful style and nice warm feeling to it. The art style was able to make the world seem more alive and convey feelings well. Fight scenes were absolutely amazing through the art too to follow.
As I stated before, I loved the characters of Gintama, so 10 is easily the right choice from me. It is impressive for me how Gintama has so many characters with so many colorful personalities. Many other shorter and longer mangas/animes do not pull it as well as Gintama did. Still, what I appriciated more with the chars was that they could all go from 0 to 100 and backwards so fast. From an all super serious moment, things suddenly could turn full on comedic without making it feel too out of place, more like part of whom the characters were.
What can I say for the enjoyment? I loved it. The comedy, the fights, sad parts and slight fan service. It all tied down well making the manga extremely enjoyable and fun to follow all the way from the beginning to the end. easy 10.
Overall score: 10 I would give Gintama even more, since the manga has become a very close part of me. I loved it from the first chapter to the very last. Usually, at the end of such masterpieces, I would say that I'd feel incredibly empty, knowing that I won't be able to read or watch more of the characters adventures, but with Gintama, I feel extremely happy and fulfilled. I got so much good out of gintama and will keep praising it for all days to come. So, instead of being empty after reading Gintama, I feel like I got my own silver lining to my soul.
Thank you for the great journey odd jobs and the cheese cake, Sorachi.
