Gintama Anime Review

Written by VJO on January 22, 2012 at 11:58 PM

Gintama is a comedy anime that's been running for quite a while now (over 200 episodes). As with any long running series, there will be some excellent episodes (great wit and humour/serious action, fluid, crisp animation and epic backround music). There will also be episodes that are not up to standard (pure silliness for the sake of being silly, cheap-looking animation, generic background music).

Gintama is a series that should not be taken too seriously because it is, first and foremost, a comedy series. Viewers that begin this series expecting serious drama and long, focused arcs will be disappointed. True, there are some short, serious arcs but don't read too much into it. Gintama parodies a lot of the anime genres out there. There are some jokes and references that the non-Japanese audience will understand and others that they won't. Some of the humour is cultural and cannot be translated well outside of their context.

What I LIKE about Gintama:
-Good humour, knows not to take itself too seriously
-Excellent voice actors, very versatile voice acting, excellent expression of emotions
-Enjoyable opening and ending themes as well as background music
-Short, serious arcs that deliver great emotional impact and are always a pleasant surprise
-Nice animation, most of the time

What I DISLIKE about Gintama:
-Lots of otaku knowledge required for true enjoyment
-Requires an understanding of Japanese culture, some humour is exclusive
-Some overused jokes
-Sometimes a bit too silly where silliness does not add to the humour of the scene or may annoy the viewer
-Some episodes come across as "dry". Lacks the brilliance of the ideas that lit past episodes

Summary
I like Gintama. Whenever I want to relax and let my mind loose, Gintama is the anime to watch. There are some flaws but nothing which detracts too much from the show. Overall, a pretty average series with above average moments.

My rating of Gintama is an overall 7 out of 10.