Well, first of all, what's Gintama even about? If you haven't watched the show, you might think that Gintama is a slapstick comedy with a lot of references to other things, and this is half correct because there is way more to it. Without spoiling, I'd just say that the show has some serious moments and even story arcs that present some dark themes. So, in short, Gintama gets serious. __
So now let me tell you what Gintama is about. The show takes place in Edo, Japan, when aliens are ruling this place. Meanwhile, Gintoki Sakata (the main character) is trying to get money from doing odd jobs, meanwhile he and the watchers meet the other characters. There are Kagura and Shinpachi that getting introduced in the first 2 (canon) episodes, which are the other main characters besides Gintoki. Later on, we met on the side characters like Katsura and the Shinsengumi, and after we met a certain number of characters which all in my opinion feel different from each other, the story started to build its plot. And that's why I like early Gintama. _ But does it remain like that after the first serious arcs? Sort of, comedy episodes are still there and hitting even better, and the serious arcs are now filled with more action and dark themes than before. _ So, after I talked about the show itself and the characters, here are my thoughts:__ This show is incredible, and I couldn't help but feel myself as a viewer getting attached to the characters and feel a sort of relatability between them. Every story arc got me hooked, between if it had serious themes or it was comedy. I like Gintama a lot, and in my opinion, it's worth watching, just be patient if you dislike the early episodes. It will hit you at some point.
Now, I will review on a scale of 1 to 10 some things about the show, like arcs, characters, soundtrack, and animation.
Story arcs - 10/10: Yes, imo Gintama's arcs are all amazing, my favorite one from this season is probably the Benizakura arc, but other arcs like the Shinsengumi arcs, Yoshiwara, and Red Spiders were also bangers.
Characters - easy 10/10: Every character felt different from each other, but still had a sort of realism. Gintoki is probably everyone's favorite Gintama character, but others like Hijikata, Katsura, Kagura, Sougo, and so on are also very likable.
Soundtrack - 10/10: From openings to endings to OSTs, all bangers to hear. Pray is my favorite opening, and Speed of Flow is my favorite ending of season 1/The first 201 episodes.
Animation - 7/10: The animation isn't great, the whole 201 episodes were in 4:3 and not in and never changed to 16:9 until the second season. The animation can still be great and smooth even in this ratio, tho.
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In conclusion: Gintama is my second favorite anime, and this is a show I'd recommend to anyone, even if it's over 300 episodes long and without many fillers (The fillers are worth watching imo), it still is for almost any anime fan. This show has action, drama, and comedy. And with all of that, it also has tons of likeable characters that I mentioned before, the viewers at the start will mainly get attached to Gintoki, Kagura, Katsura, and Hijikata probably
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So what are you waiting for? Why not give it a chance, huh?
(I'm not forcing)
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So overall:
(P.S.: I would probably write reviews about the later seasons too at some point)
