This is my second full review on this site. I want a life for Christmas. Let me first address the minority among you, the ones actually wanting to know whether Gintama is worth watching - the ones looking for a proper review. Everybody knows the type - every time a season begins or concludes, a few of these pop out of the woodwork looking to "get into Gintama" or "catch up with Gintama" or whatever. I've had a number of them irl as well. I understand your confusion. For every 10/10 review claiming Gintama is the best thing since frozen bread, there are probably 5 userswith it being dropped, a score of 1/10, and an incredibly helpful tag of "overrated". Every time you decide to take the plunge, a voice in your head asks you - is it truly going to be worth it? In that 300+ episode runtime, you could be doing something useful (or watching other anime, I don't really care) - are you going to invest that time on poop jokes?
Truth is, I can't help you, and I don't think anyone can.
I will say this - when Gintama peaks, it is going to be one of the best anime you've ever seen. It will fully deserve that overblown 9+ score, which ranks it above other hot favorites and makes people salty. It's when it peaks that causes all the polarization, in my opinion.
Say you don't like toilet humor. Then for you, the show might peak during its parody bits.
I also know some who consider references to be the lowest form of comedy. Maybe the self-deprecating gags or the ones parodying tropes instead of other media are more your cup of tea.
"I don't really like anime comedy but I'm checking Gintama out coz of its high score" - the action arcs might be where the show peaks for you. (Seriously though the score doesn't make it less of a comedy)
These are only a few examples but the point I'm trying to make is Gintama is mixed bag of goodies which aren't limited to a single style or genre. The more among them you like, the more you are inclined to like the show as a whole, and vice versa.
Consequently, there is no teaser for Gintama - X episodes you can watch that will tell you exactly what the show is. People might say the show gets good after a certain episode - I think that's more of them finding the first instance where the show peaked for them. I dare say your experience would be different.
This isn't to say don't watch Gintama. But barreling through the show expecting 9+ quality right from the start will more often that not turn you away.
One possible way to watch is to get to know the main cast (~10 episodes) then check out some of the top comedy episodes (there probably are a few threads listing them here and there) - if you like them, great, the show has a definite peak for you, and you can decide to keep watching or not. If you don't, well, 300 episodes is honestly a lot, and most of it is comedy of the same or lower quality.
Onto this season then.
Honestly, this season was just regular Gintama. There were good episodes and bad episodes, similar to the previous seasons. Bad episodes, however, seem much more prominent when the season is 13 episodes, compared to 50 or 200. Variances in quality have been present throughout Gintama's run, and I don't necessarily feel this season is weak at least in terms of source material.
The biggest negative for me is the existence of a "Slip Arc" when it could have been adapted in order, with perhaps a break before SA began. I also expected the characters to make a lot more fun of the honestly moronic decision to skip stuff. Whatever. I've made my peace with BNP. Getting a complete adaptation is not something very common, and I suppose I should count my blessings.
The lack of budget saving background shots still irks me, though. It probably is fucking weird to want fillers, but the self parody segments were one of the biggest positives of Gintama comedy. The humor itself is great, but the love the staff felt for the show really shines through in the bonus segments, like Gintoki getting sleep paralysis for example. I just don't get that from any of the BNP seasons, not just this one. The switch from Sunrise to BNP makes me feel like overseeing an employee who went from giving 110% to 100%. I can't really complain, but I'm still disappointed.
In any case, whatever my feelings about BNP are, with the multi-colored poop segment of the Excalibur arc I can finally say unironically that I lost brain cells while watching Gintama. I appreciate the fact that they were trying to stick to the manga, which didn't have mosaics. But I can't believe that no one looked at the final product and went, "hey, this is unbelievably fucking stupid!" Or they did, and the staff just ran with it anyway. Lampshade stupid things, for god's sake. Make a character say that rainbow poop is shitty, no pun intended. It's moments like these where BNP refuses to utilize the reputation Gintama has built up over the years which make me hate them. Combine this with the ever-present janky zoomed out scenes - or scenes where the camera focuses on the background instead of the characters - to save budget instead of just airing the fucking static BG, and there's no love lost between me and BNP.
I don't mean for this to turn into another rant - I've accepted that this is the best we're going to get. This season is still weak, but for me it's more due to these small shortcomings that add up instead of the comedy being weaker or stale. I just hope this reduced budget goes to animating the multitude of fights in the SS arc in gloriously high quality. I want Gintama to go out with a bang, not fizzle towards its end.
tl;dr - same Gintama comedy, weaker execution, basically another BNP season 8/10
ZaZaber_san
December 25, 2017
Recommended
Introduction: Gintama... One of the top-rated anime that come out here on this website. At first when I saw Gintama on this website, having 9+/10 ratings on almost every show of it, I persuaded myself to watch all of the seasons even if its really hard due to my schedule. 300+ Episodes? Seriously. I can't even finish Bleach which is also 300+ episodes. So I recklessly tried Gintama from the beginning last summer and I, in fact, one of those who rated every Gintama a 10/10 with one pure reason. Comedy plus Values. Thats how I summarized Gintama. Now this season, the new Gintama came outand it is the "Slip Arc".
Story:
As stated in the first episode, this arc will present some comedic material throughout the series and after it, will begin the final arc which is the "Silver Soul" arc. Now I don't have a problems with this thing because more Gintama meaning more laughter that I really need in my life. If I'm going to review the story of Gintama, then you already know it is hard because... Gintama is meant to be random, though it is full of arcs and side stories. On this season of Gintama, we are presented by "Slip Arc", that also have side stories. For example, the story of Nishi Ikumatsu (Katsura's crush who makes ramen for him), who we saw how she was longing to see that one person who was keep on coming to her shack. Then comes Gin and Kankou (Umibouzou) father issues with the Titans. And also the scabbards' romantic story. Those were funny but there is still some value hidden within it. Like the story of Terakado Tsu (Otsu-chan), who was fallen to the streets again but rose up due to the help of her fans (this was a very funny two episodes). Slip Arc presented us variety of laughable side stories with simple values. Though 13 episodes is really not enough. Lack of executions or content is one of the issue of this arc though it is also an advantage to the author to go ahead with the final arc. What I can describe to it accurately is that this Gintama is like the mini-version of the first season of Gintama. Bite-sized. Let me tell you this. Compare a bite-size Oreo (the mini ones) to the original Oreo cookie. What Oreo have the more milk and chocolate? What Oreo have more taste? Obviously, its the original one although, the bite-size one are made for the ones who are lazy? or who wants to eat it like chips. The "Porori-hen" (Slip Arc) offered us what the original Gintama can do although the original have more variety.
Characters:
Ahh yes.. They are back at it again... First minute of the first episode of this anime showed us already that Gintama is basically the king of all parodies. With the references on top even on the following episodes, its safe to say that all of the characters stick to their attitude and motives since when they appeared in the other seasons. Also, we get to learn more stories about other characters and what can they do like Musashi, Tetsuko (the blacksmith) and Ikumatsu.
Art:
Art is simply Gintama and nothing changed. Though I love how the opening gave us so much colors and when it goes to the chorus, it shows the characters running and the background is full of past scenes from past episodes, which gives a good signifance to it.
Sound:
The opening gives us hype and thats all we need for every Gintama episode. While the ending gives us like good sets of girls dressed up in bride dress. Not to mention, the soundtrack and other sounds (like when Katsura enters and when someone fails) gives us a Gintama element to it.
Overall thoughts and Enjoyment:
This Gintama is one of the highest rated anime that was currently aired and yes it deserves to be one of the highest. Enjoyment was top-notch and it is safe to say that this Gintama is like a taste-test (or bite size lol) to the original Gintama. I, honestly, recommend you to watch it before the final arc of Gintama comes so that we will be having smiles before we end Gintama (even though I dont want it to end).
kokokuborou
December 26, 2017
Recommended
This review of Gintama is about the whole series from 2006-2017 including the Slip Arc. It's my tribute for these years that I spent together with Gintama. Enjoy! Take a seat and let’s talk about a memorable story. A story that will not be forgotten , a story that will make laugh and cry , a story that will teach about life and a story that will teach you about what is love and friends and how to value people that are close and dear to you. A story which every addicitive reader should know. Story 9/10 Have you ever saw a anime which can combine elementsof comedy and drama and execute it’s concept and idea so well. The story is simple not much to say about it it depicts elements from the history of Japan: Samurai, Katana, Edo-period arhitecture buildings, the old Kyoto capital , Shinsegumi, Shogun, ninja, etc. Since this has parody in the genre elements of parody are added like skyscrapers mixed with old Japanese houses and aliens . This may look dumb and stupid at a first glance but all this elements are explained in the anime during the story and it leaves a strong impact for the viewer.
Gintama manages to use so well the parody elements to fulfill it’s purpose of providing amusement to the viewer. Also these parody elements are combined with the drama and action this show has and as a pleasant surprise everything goes well avoiding the clusterfuck and helping with the progress of the story.
The themes that Gintama covers and abords are vast and the most important ones: family, love,human nature , parody and many more. Gintama doesn’t disappoints us in the slice of life genre at all as a contradiction it manages to execute that theme better than its parody genre.You will learn about family , about love , about sacrifices , about teacher student relation, about friends everything told in a mature perspective to the viewer and with a well directed and balanced tone of comedy and drama.
The purpose of this anime is simple and it’s executed with no flaws , Gintama makes you laugh as hard as you can and in the next minute it makes you cry and in the end it makes you shout as hard as you can :”What a great anime I saw”. Like I mentioned the transition between comedy and drama is flawless because this anime takes time to explain the characters and their background story and every detail is not missed at all.
The pace in the beginning is slow (first 40) we get used to the characters , habits, actions and interactions , what they like what they hate etc. We are introduced to the crazy setting this story is set and explained step by step about the aliens, skyscrapers , and other residents from that parody edo setting. After that everything comes as a roler coaster and for the pleasant surprise of the viewer this is where Gintama shines the drama and actions scenes well directed. Its strange right a parody being better in the drama and action well Gintama is a balanced show so you won’t notice much of a difference in the transition between comedy drama and action.
At the end of each episode you will learn a lesson about life. Yes each character in this anime tells to the viewer a lesson about life , and leaves a memorable impact on the viewer.
Characters 10/10
Despite it’s huge number of characters this show manages to develop each character and tell their background story without missing any detail. Even the minor character have their moments to shine in this anime and contribute to the development of other characters.
What Gintama manages to exceed many expectations is how it uses these characters to tell the story. Practically the characters in Gintama are the story and each character tells his own story from each of his/her perspective. Gintama connects those stories and bring a meaning to the progression of the story and characters.
Gintama doesn’t rushes at all the character development it takes it time for each character at a slow pace adding elements of comedy and drama to the story. At first as any parody the characters are presented as gag characters and used to provide entertainment but oh boy when the pace of the story increases those characters become irreplaceable in Gintama. Let me explain this statement , we get to know their story and circumstances , we are shown how they interact with other characters and how they influence each other directly or indirectly and we see the conclusion told by each character after their experience.
Gintama is like a school which teaches his viewers about life and each character from Gintama is a teacher who takes good care of his students and guides them through life.
Animation 8/10
Good animation, great fighthing scenes , and well directed drama scenes.
Sound 10/10
Great ost and opening songs, the sound is well balanced between the comedy and drama transition.
Enjoyment 10/10
You will laugh until your stomach will hurt, you will cry until you will fill a bucket , you will feel connected to the characters , you will shout “I love this anime” and in the end you will learn a lesson about life called Gintama.
Overall 10/10
This a story that you can tell to your kids and your kids to their kids and so on ……and in the end every generation will come up with the same conclusion :” Thank you for changing my life Gintama”.
Mixed Feelings
I don't know who I should blame between Bandai and TV Tokyo, but whoever decided that this should be adapted after Gintama. has seriously dropped the ball. If you take away anything from this review, just don't watch this season in the intended order. It would fit much better between Gintama' and Gintama° (yes, I do actually think it's funny). For short, the Slip Arc is a return to the basis of Gintama, a back to the usual style, with 5 arcs and a few standalone episodes fitting in a 13 episode duration. Not only is it moving away from what happened at the end of Gintama°and during Gintama. where the story started ramping up, it's actually inferior to what happened before.
Older seasons of Gintama had a pretty large amount of episodes which means they could afford to make 5-6 episodes arcs, which, in my opinion are always better than the rest. However, with only 13 episodes to show for it, the Slip Arc's longest arc is only 3 episodes, which doesn't leave much wiggle room to make a good story, although that singular 3 episode arc was quite good.
For the people who dislike Gintama getting more serious, it's probably a breath of fresh air, but for people like myself who actually enjoyed the main story pacing up, well it feels like some people at Bandai were desperate for money, they probably wanted to fund that Gintama Rumble thing that was mentioned.
A shame really, I have a busy week and not much time for anime. Still a decent season, just a step down compared to everything else.
