Gintama° is home to one of the greatest stretch of epsiodes in the medium. The first ⅔ of the series is classic Gintama comedy. The Afro, barber and feigned illness arcs were extremely funny and so were the stand alone episodes this season while not consistently as funny as S2 they still managed to yet hit the spot and when they did you'd be bound to get a laugh or two.
The shinigami arc focuses on asaemon and explores Gintoki's past even further, the introduction of Nobu Nobu was done very well too. The visuals in this arc were the spot light of it looking consistently pretty throughout with new OSTs here and there.
The final third of this series starts off with a shock and maintains this blood wrenching tension for two succesive arcs. Sougo and kamui have a short heated fight maintaining the hype and excitement of this arc. Many characters like Sachan and Zenzo get focus too and develop into more likable characters.
EP 305 "Sworn enemy" delivers the highly anticipated Gintoki vs Takasugi fight in a raw and exciting fashion with quick sword fighting and hand to hand combat choreography. Between this fight a numerous amount of rightly used flashbacks are placed that explain the entire story and recontextualize everything we had seen thus far.
Takasugi receives his much needed characterization that solidifies him and Gintoki as rivals like no other.
Shoyo was the world to them, when that world is killed in front of them, they are to choose either two paths one is revenge (takasugi) and the other is suppressing those emotions (Gintoki). It's these layers of themes that built upon this rivalry. After all its their own weakness because of which they possess a strong hatred towards the other.
The shogun assassination arcs ends in an extremely bleak point and the atmosphere only darkens in the next arc.
The farewell shinsengumi arc as the name suggests focuses on the shinsengumi and their bonds with not only among themselves but as well as the Yorozuya. Kondo develops and so does his relationship with the rest of crew. An absolutely striking plot twist that contradicts one of the major themes of Gintama, escaping your past and your past keeps on haunting you.
Isaburo's backstory made him a fantastic character and deepened his relationship with nobume. A rather important focus on them made this arc reach even higher emotional notes than the previous.
This arc ended on a rather bittersweet note with the shinsengumi saluting and all the characters interacting and sharing a sweet moment with each other.
Visuals and sound (8/10)
The serious arcs looked eye candy though the comedy ones felt rather static. There were a few weakly produced episodes but the majority overshadowed it, the FS arc was top tier in terms of production and some scenes were visually fantastic.
The voice actors are still fantastic, the openings and endings were solid too.
OP 15>OP 17>OP14>OP 16
ED 26>ED 25>Rest
To conclude,
Gintama Season 4 was an excellent payoff to its wonderful build-up. Everything from here on marks the "end game" of the series.
Thanks for reading.
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