a5c7b9f00b In the early 17th century, Japan adopted strict isolation policies and severed almost all ties with foreign countries. In 1853, the US fleet commanded by Admiral Perry forced the doors open, leading to a modernization of the nation's sociopolitical systems and the eventual fall of the Shogunate. The samurai regime ended its life with the imperial restoration in 1868. That's what history tells, but in Gintama, that's not what happens. Instead of the US fleet, the country is stormed by spaceships coming from four corners of the universe and soon we see it occupied by extraterrestrials. The Shogunate has become a puppet of alien occupation armies. All samurais have been disarmed and reduced to temp workers with no skills who just try to make ends meet. Gintama is a story of a handyman named Gintoki, a samurai with no respect for rules set by the invaders, who's ready to take any job to survive. He and his gang, however, are also among the very few who have not forgotten the morale of a swordsman. Wherever they go, all they do is to create troubles. Troubles that they of course try to solve, but in reality… In an era where aliens have invaded and taken over feudal Tokyo, an unemployed samurai finds work however he can. I rarely laugh aloud when watching comedic shows, especially anime. Gintama can get me laughing for an entire episode! The humor only gets betteryou go along,you need to get to know the characters to appreciate the jokes/jibes fully. And then all of a sudden a serious arc slaps you in the face with nonstop action and cliffhanger episodes. Gintama is 70% humor and 30% Hunter x Hunter level action (for you shounen anime fans, I think you can recognize that high level compliment.) It just makes the action scenes that much more worth it and exciting when you get there. Not to mention the "serious arcs" somehow get even more intense and well animated the further you get, too. I'm SO happy I gave this one a try! I'm not anime veteran (I've seen only few dozens titles), I'm not Japanese, I haven't read manga, but I'm still able to enjoy Gintama anime. And enjoy it a lot. Perfect drama / comedy ratio for satirical show keeps me watching one episode after another. Arcs are mostly short, condensed and even recaps for them are really refreshing. I know it is almost impossible to sub/dub this thing (without or even with comments) but people make a great things great and even I could understand most of the puns / jokes. And there is a lot, even in one sentence. That's Gintama for you :D. And now for really technical review: - Story: None - or almost none. There's some background, but it's irrelevant in most cases. It's slowly revealed in some arcs. What could you expect from satire / comedy? - Characters: Awesome -one of the episodes claims - there isn't one main character - and it's actually true. Fact: Gin-san is most recognizable but most of the episodes doesn't revolve around him. There are a lot of multi-dimensional characters, which makes this anime working. - Visualization: You cannot predict what would be presented to you in the next episode. It could be standard slow paced animation (even some stills), CGI/3D saturated picture or even live action. - Music - It is well paced, suitable. Some pieces are borrowed / covered, but still epic (i.e. Madao send from DMC4). Overall: I could recommend this for all anime fans. It could be hard to watch for inexperienced watchers, which could not understand some of the references / digs (like me), but I am sure they'll have a lot of fun watching this. PS. This is my first review after ~2k watched movies/series and about the same or even more review - so be gentle, please. PS2. English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mishaps. PS3: I''m really disappointed by so few reviews on Gintama. PS4. Watch Gintama: it's awesome
chingmomosi Admin replied
363 weeks ago