I gave the story a 'very poor' because there was no option for 'non-existent.'

This show is foolish. I fear if i dwell on it too long i'll lose more IQ points than ever. It's a strange phantom that's in everyone's periphery vision, everyone has heard of Gintama, but they aren't quite sure what it's about or whether it's good or not.

I'm telling you, the worst position you can put your friend in is asking him to explain what gintama is and what makes it a good show. They will fail, and if they manage too please stop them before they begin to get a glassy eyed look and drool right in front of you.

This idiotic, insane, hilarious masterpiece is a great shounen that you can watch absolutely any time you want. In the middle of a depressing anime? Watch gintama. Doing homework and want a break? Watch gintama. Have absolutely no idea what anime to watch and don't want to invest too much time or interest? Watch gintama. I just want to warn you that you will lose braincells. It's so stupidly funny. Never has there ever been an appropriate time to use the acroynm 'LOL' or 'ROTFL'

And a rare shounen masterpiece.

Still stupid though. (show less)

Gintama is a hard series to do a review for. You either really love the series or you really hate it. Both sides have good reasons for liking it or hating it and I respect that. I have personally been on both sides. I was introduced to Gintama when the manga was translated into English and after reading through volume one, I liked it. However, it didn't really appeal too much to me because the translated manga was too stiff to laugh at and a lot of cultural references were lost. When I tried to go through the anime at first, I didn't find it too funny. Plus I wasn't a big fan of toilet humor in the first place. So I ditched the series a good few years until one year I decided to give it a try again only because it got dubbed in Cantonese. I was hoping that since Chinese and Japanese share similarities in terms of language structure and some cultural references, maybe the translation would become a lot smoother. It turns out that I was right, the Chinese translation was much more easier to digest and new references were used in place of some old references to adapt to a new audience. It didn't take away original essence from the show itself.

In general, the story was meant to make its viewers laugh out loud with a lot of gags, puns, toilet humor etc. Today when I watch Gintama, I do laugh out loud at some episodes clutching my stomach because it really is that funny. Sometimes the jokes run on too long and become very senseless which I criticize about Gintama. Some gags are so meaningless that it is unnecessary to the show. Other than that, Sorachi Hideaki mangoes to ties gags with a larger picture. At many times, the episodes end with some sort of moral. All the characters in the story are very well developed and I think the main reason people love them so much is that they're so human. Each character, villain or hero, show multiple facets. Our protagonist, Gintoki, is lazy, cowardly, and rude but he cares about friends, honor, and living life to its fullest. Various antagonists like Takasugi Shinsuke for instance lust for destruction and power but it all stemmed from good will at first. I find it hard to dislike a character because they all have their good points and bad points.

Gintama is set in an alternate universe where Japan's history is rewritten. For history junkies like me, it's very fun to pick out historical references and political icons of Japan. Many characters in the series were based on people from the Tokugawa Shogunate such as the Shinsengumi or Sakamoto Ryoma from the Bakumatsu period. Sorachi-sensei often times uses these references loosely and add a twist to it. If you are familiar with kanji, their names are often rewritten to sound like the original. Sorachi likes to combine the traditional Japanese culture with new age technology so you have existence of samurai and robots in the same time period. The series is also very serious at time and very heart wrenching. Some story arcs concern life and death situations that the viewer can't help but shed a tear. Despite the gags, a lot of the morals throughout the story are like messages to the viewer, reminding us to live life to its fullest. Depending on the episodes, they're pretty deep even though the titles are absolutely bullshit sometimes. (show less)

third review of today, review box still not on display.

pros
+ excellently over-the-top characters with great parallels to society
+ intelligent dialogue and humour, great wits and sarcasm; may seem superficial at first glance but does not only parody other shows but actually goes into REAL social problems
+ jokes are always fresh, nothing gets stale or notably repeated throughout this series
cons
- as amazing as the jokes and characters are, there is no storyline at all
- you'd need to be a japanese major to get all of the jokes
- music gets repetitive throughout the series (it's the only thing though)

conclusion: set in a completely crazy alternate-history world, gintama is a highly intelligent mature comedy, great not only for those who love crack but also for those who are looking for a more intelligent social critique. there is a high variety of jokes. to get all of those, a major in japanese culture would be required, and even so, you need at least some otaku knowledge; if you have that though, you're guaranteed to laugh. not to overdose, but other than that a must for comedy-loving otaku. personally, this still is my #1 comedy series and i can't see that changing anytime soon.

peace. (show less)

I started watching Gintama after having seen a lot of positive reviews, and noticing that a lot of the people who enjoy my style of anime were also watching gintama. As i began watching i loved the characters and the story seemed so full of potential, there was initially a little bit of action, and i was waiting and waiting for it to build into something incredible. However i have stopped after about 35 episodes. The storyline is based on too many small stories for my liking, and not enough has occurred in the main (or "big") storyline, to make it feel like the anime is progressing. While i enjoy it, and will probably be happy to watch an episode now and then for the humour and characters, this won't feature in my all time favourites until i see a bit of progression in the storyline, and perhaps a bit more action. I can understand why it is popular and makes the cut of the most popular animes, but i'm still waiting for more development. Who knows, maybe if i watch more episodes it will start amping up, but in the meantime, 35 episodes is enough of an investment on my behalf for now. (show less)