Gintama (Anime)

Gintama: copyright Hideaki Sorachi / Shueisha, TV Tokyo, Dentsu-BNP-Aniplex

Nowadays, it’s really easy to find many different kinds of animes, for all the different tastes of the public. Action, adventure, humor, drama, thrillers... it doesn’t matter the type, you will find something to have fun with. Personally, most of my favorite animes have a lot of funny moments, regardless if they are about aliens, robots, dystopias, samurais or new society structures.

And if you want all these elements in one single hilarious series, then you definitely must watch Gintama. It’s the top animes of all time in many lists, and it’s probably the funniest of them all. The humor is the base of the series, which also has many other classical elements to create a unique universe.

Gintama cast (yes, there are "spoiler characters" in this image)

The anime story is about three main characters: Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura. They live in a Japan samurai-era, in the city of Edo, where aliens, called amanto, have taken the government and rule everything. In the beginning of the invasion, samurai groups tried to fight back the amanto, but with no success. Since then, the people are resigned and live their lives as normal as possible. Some maverick groups still fight for freedom, as others just embrace the new life style.

Kagura, Gintoki and Shinpachi

Sakata Gintoki is the series protagonist, a former samurai that fought in the war against the amanto. He is a slacker, sugar-blood young man, which is always trying to get advantages on the others. But, above everything, Gintoki is an honorable samurai that could sacrifice his own life to defend the needy ones, and, mostly, his friends and companions. He has founded the Yorozuya, a shop that accepts any kind of job for a fee. Shinpachi, Kagura and her dog Sadaharu, are the other members of the business.

Gintoki (and not "Kintoki" or "Gintama")

Shimura Shinpachi is a teenager samurai apprentice, and the “voice of reason” of the group. Always trying to be logical, he turns to be boring many times. However, Shinpachi is a true samurai, which fight for the weak and for the justice. He considers “Gin-san” a real samurai model, at least at most of the time. And he wears glasses. Yes, this detail is important in the story.

Shinpachi

Kagura is an amanto, member of the famous Yato Tribe. Although not being from our planet, she looks like a sweet girl. Thanks to her origin tribe, she has superhuman strength and speed, besides great fighting skills. She has a very explosive personality, having no fear to start an argument or a fight. Kagura is very innocent about many subjects, asking “Gin-chan” many random questions. Even being somewhat rude, she really loves the Yorozuya, and also can’t endure injustices.

Kagura

Along with them, there are many other characters in Gintama. Each one is able to deliver a different contribution to the series, creating an interesting and complex, but functional universe. For example, Shinpachi’s sister, Otae, is a beautiful woman with a badass personality, or the Shinsengumi, a military force, controlled by the government, or even Katsura and Elizabeth, members of the revolutionary force of Edo.

Gintama is a humor anime, and this characteristic is present in every single episode. Obviously, there are episodes focused in shonen like battles, relationships and even complex dramas. But, regardless the chapter proposal, the jokes are always there, sometimes silly, others appealing or smartly. As expected, most of the chapters are comedy ones, and these are the episodes that show why this anime is so loved and famous among many others.

And we can't forget of Sadaharu (this is an anime screenshot, obviously)

Other important quality of Gintama is the “fourth wall” definition. If the interaction with the audience can provide a good moment, the characters break the fourth wall to create comic jokes. As well as when Gintoki reads a Shonen Jump Magazine, and criticizes a manga called “Gintaman”, or when the last episode was so (funny, but) crazy, that Shinpachi apologizes to the audience during the next one.

Yes, this is also a Gintama episode...

Most of the episodes are independent, telling a complete story focused in some characters or (a Gintama universe) fact. You can have fun watching them, but it may be frustrating if you have not seen previous chapters, that, for example, presented a new character or important fact. That’s probably the only bad thing about the anime: the series tells many single stories, but they are integrated in the background. However, as the majority of the animes are sequential, Gintama can be enjoyed with less background than many others.

Actually, some people may find another Gintama feature annoying. The Japanese culture jokes appear many times, talking about celebrities, televisions programs, government, history facts, and others. If you, like me, don’t know a lot about the local traditions, some jokes will not be understood. You will depend on the translator’s notes, or in a side research, if you want to understand everything.

Gintama is a unique anime, which make use of many features to create good stories: funny plots, remarkable characters, lots of references to real life, smart fourth wall breaks, and, mostly, high quality humor. The action episodes are breathtaking; the scary ones give you goosebumps; the drama stories almost make you cry. And the humor will be always there, remembering you that it’s a Gintama episode. But the best ones are the comedy episodes, as the Yorozuya specialty is the humor, in all its possible (and funny) forms.