How should I start by explaining what Gintama is… Just Do It! "Just do it?" Asks the confused reader who has never watched an episode of Gintama before.
There is nothing average about this show, the main character is a sugar addict, who does anything for money, is kinda criminal, fights with a wooden sword, a little perverted, is a bad influence to everyone around him, even you, yes you the audience, is sarcastic, had a terrifying childhood, although we don’t find out too much about that at first, which isn’t much of a problem to the plot of Gintama - since there practically is none (and they don’t give a flying fu## about it).
You see the truth is, the mangaka and the anime creators took it as their mission to constantly conceive their fan base with fake movie announcements and so on, but we forgive them all lies and all last episodes, because Gintama does it brilliantly. The execution of the comedy bits are top-notch, very rarely is there an episode that I didn’t fully enjoy (and there are a few hundred of them).
The pretty, young, 'foreign heroine' spits, curses and is inappropriate in every possible situation, the straight guy with his signature feature glasses has to endure all kinds of insults, has a sister complex, is in love with an idol (worst idol ever), usually has to clean up after the mess his two friends leave behind, but still all three of them are best buds and stick together like gum in your hair.
Then there’s the Shinsengumi, worst police officers in the world, with a gorilla boss, who’s stalking his love interest and has a preference to being naked in public, a pretty looking sadist who tries to kill his superior officer - who is a proud mayo addict, chain smoker and has to deal with the insanity of both, his colleagues and his enemies.
Oh yeah, then there are aliens, terrorists, robots, prostitutes, random perverts, old friends, brothers and sisters and fathers and grandmas… Geez there are so many characters and different story’s in Gintama, some more important than others, which make this show super colorful, rich in variety, and I don’t think I exaggerate in saying, make this is the funniest anime of all time, anything is possible (I don't know what is going on in the depths of Hideaki's mind).
Besides having a good sense of humor, there’s plenty of drama too. Don’t expect something really deep here, but Gintoki and co. can get very emotional and protective of their loved ones, and I like the ‘oohhh’ moments of the show as much as the ‘WTF’ moments.
AND did I mention this is all happening during the ‘Edo-Period’? Yes, yes, old Japan, when women wore kimonos and men… did too. So if you like interesting but redundant information about that time period, Gintama brings some of them up from time to time, you will also see them do heavy parodying of many other shows (probably some of your favorites) and they are reckless in making fun of famous Japanese personalities, hell even of their own producers, and again it’s all forgiven because it’s so well done, and they make fun of themselves too.
I guess I’m done with praising this show, if you’re still not interested in watching it (some say you need to at least watch 10 episodes to fall in love with Gintama, to which I say BS, I fell in love with this show after three minutes) I don’t know how to convince you, that you will find a soul mate in Sakata Gintoki, the samurai with white natural perm and a high sugar level, who makes dirty jokes, who knows how to get out of a tricky situation and look cool while getting beat up… Yeah he’s not your typical protagonist in a shōnen jump manga/anime, but by being this different from others, he’s unique and special like the show itself.
The openings (Gintama has one of my favorites) and endings are creative, and they usually pick catchy songs for them. While the animation is pretty average, not bad, not outstanding, another thing that I want to mention and compliment on are the seiyū. All characters Gintoki, Kagura, Shinpachi, Hijikata, Kondo or one of my personal favorites Sarutobi, have amazing voice actors, of course with the hilarious material they are given, they must have enjoyed their jobs, too!
