This is not really a review, but my overall thoughts on the series, not only the manga. While I do not like the beginning , this series is special. Its a comedy show that is genuinely funny, at some points i was crying laughing watching it and even rewatching it with friends and it has serious arcs that really hit.
First of all, the thing that cannot be ignored in Gintama, the comedy. At first, the comedy didn't really hit me and at some points it was kind of a chore to get through it (until like episode 40, and even there , there were funny episodes), hell, I still joke about how bad episode 21 was. And then the comedy started to only get better and better , only peaking at season four in my opinions. Gintama isn't afraid to have all kinds of jokes: absurd jokes, childish jokes, dark jokes, references , its not even afraid of showing and joking about real people in real life. of all shows I have seen, no show does comedy like Gintama.
And I can't talk about Gintama without talking about the characters. Gintama has the best cast of every media I have ever experienced, there is no single bad character and all of them at least gave me a chuckle. Gintama knows how to handle characters in a comedy show, while they do all have running jokes between the characters, like Katsura's famous phrase "Zura janai , Katsura da!" or Hijikata's love for mayonnaise, they are not the same joke over and over again and do have variety in how they use those running jokes , and its not the whole character and its something I can really appreciate because it not uncommon for comedy shows to just have a single joke for a character.
One of the strong points the series has is that the main cast is not there just to be funny. The characters in Gintama are wonderful, we have Gintoki, the lazy samurai with curly silver hair and a heartbreaking backstory of him and his fellow disciples losing their teacher. We have Shinpachi, the straight-man with glasses that has his father's dojo he and his sister, Otae ,want to revive. We have Kagura , the naive little alien girl with a big stomach and a troubled past with her family. These are our main 3 characters in the story and all are written brilliantly.
But the wonder of Gintama is that these 3 are not the only amazing characters in the story. We have a lot more characters that I deeply love , but will be too much for me to cover, I will cover some of them: We got the Shinsengumi, the police force of the city the show takes place in, Edo, with Hijikata Toshiro, Okita Sougo and Isao Kondo being the main three. We have Katsura Kotaro, Gintoki's past friend and fellow disciple,turned into a terrorist which wants to restore the old rules and laws of Edo, without the aliens. Shinsuke Takasugi, also Gintoki's past friend and fellow disciple, turned into a terrorist which wants to destroy this rotten world that took away his teacher. Hasegawa Taizo , a person who worked for the government and became a homeless and depressed person.
While I'm at it, Gintama has a strong female cast. Now days , people constantly say that every new series shows strong female cast that empowers females because the character is physically strong, Gintama's female cast empowers females in more than that way, they have an important role in the story and comedic parts, they aren't downplayed in the slightest, and that is why i love each one of them like: Ayame Sarutobi, a ninja from the Oniwabanshu that fell in love with Gintoki. Otose, an elderly woman which found Gintoki when he was gravely injured and gave him a home. Imai Nobume, a member from the Mimawarigumi and a cold hearted murderer with phenomenal character development. Tama, a Cute robot, which is my favorite female in the cast for just being cute with excellent episodes. And trust me, a lot more.
There are a lot of arcs ,the arcs in Gintama are split into 2 groups, serious and comedy. I am going to cover two serious ones and one comedic ones:
# Benizakura arc : Our first serious arc in the series. The Yorozuya received two jobs, namely searching of Katsura requested by Elizabeth and to search a dangerous sword known as Benizakura, by the blacksmith Tetsuya. Yet it's revealed there's more to both requests then they thought. This arc introduces Takasugi and the Kihetai to us and gives us a taste of how serious Gintama can get. It serves as a very good arc in the story and my biggest problem with it is that i think it could have been introduced to us a lot sooner.
#The Yagyu arc: Kondo is being put through an arranged marriage... to a gorilla, The Shinsengumi are pleading to Otae for help, but an old friend of Otae's, Yagyu Kyubei returns to claim her as their bride instead... This arc is a comedic one and a really funny one at that, it has the famous toilet paper battle episode, a friend of mine saw this episode without watching the show and said it was one of the funniest things he ever saw, which just goes to show you can enjoy it even if you're an outsider to the series.
#Shogun Assassination arc: The arc that captured the hearts of many, there are little jokes ,if any, after the first two episodes. Shige Shige finds himself a target for assassination from Nobu Nobu and his allies, the Kiheitai and the Harusame. To protect him, Matsudaira forms a plan to secretly smuggle him to Kyou, with the help of the Oniwabanshu, Shinsengumi and the Yorozuya. They must contend with enemy ninja, one of the strongest terrorist groups, and one of the strongest Amanto races to save the Shogun. Shogun Assassination arc is highly regarded as one of the best arcs in animanga history , it gave us a really solid and very good story , backstories for the shogun Shigeshige, Sarutobi and zenzo and more,and it gave us the best and long awaited fight in the whole series, Gintoki vs Takasugi.
To conclude my overall thoughts on this series, Gintama is a really important series for me, never have I binged a show more . It gave me and and my friends a series to talk a lot about , a series to obsesse over, a series we all commonly love. It made me discover friends and mutuals to talk with.
Thank you Sorachi for making Gintama truly special,
