Gintama Anime Review: A Chaotic Blend and a Waste of Time

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Comedy

Publisher: Viz Media (Manga)

Studio: Sunrise

Episodes: Ongoing

Ahhhh...another samurai anime. It must be interesting right? It must be packed with thrilling action and rendered with feudal romance. A tribute to the honor and eloquence of the samurai with originality and creativity to make it a keeper and a new favorite...right? Wrong. So terribly, disappointingly wrong.

I'll admit, I often unfairly associate samurai anime with the above standards. I do enjoy a good historically based flick, especially those set back in feudal Japan or Victorian England. Of course, I love creativity and a whole lot of originality in the piece, I want the views and mind of the creator to come out in the work. I appreciate the creative liberties writers can take in their work. However, Gintama seemed to really blow creative liberties out of proportion and turn their seemingly Edo based samurai anime into a strange mix of Japan's feudalistic past played out in modern day Japan (assuming Edo was still around), and adding alien invaders into the mix. Maybe it was this ridiculous premise, or the obnoxious and loudly spoken dialogue, the strange and inconsistent characterization, or perhaps the lack of a clear and supportable plot line that turned me off to this rather chaotic piece of work. I did ponder this for a while, but in the end it can be nothing more than the entire list combined that made me want to drop this anime like a bad habit and work as hard I as I could to forget I'd ever seen it.

One of the first of the many flaws in the series is to be found in the main character and his band of ridiculously mismatching and dim-witted companions. Yes this anime is supposed to be funny, and yes it makes fun of and references many other popular animes; but that just wasn't enough to hold this picture up. Ridiculous comedy or no, there still needs to be some basis for which to hold on to and Samurai and aliens sounds like a second rate movie script that wouldn't make it past a B grade director. (Forgive the harshness of this review.) The main character, one Sakata Gintoki is absolutely unlikable, un-relatable (save for his love of manga), irresponsible (and he's suppose to be a samurai), and immature. While his design on paper seems interesting enough, the second he starts moving and speaking any and all interest or attracting to him flies out the window. There is no mystery in this so called samurai, no honor, no respectability, no steadfast will or inner strength. He has nothing that anyone would look for in a samurai. He seems like Naruto, pre-ninja training and without the admirable determination and general likeability. (Pardon the manga reference, however the comparison holds water).

As for the supporting characters, they aren't much better. One, Kagura, is busy eating most of the time and a woman shoving her face may be funny once or twice. A large appetite is common in anime to add humor, but every time food is around nothing else matters to her. Tiring, very tiring! It's way too predictable. She's abrasive, loud, and simply unentertaining. The second supporting character is the "trainee" as it were. He joins the Gintoki clan in hopes of study the ways of the samurai. However, since his "master" is completely irresponsible, he ends up being the financial support for the group instead. The only character that upon first appearance began to hold some interest appeared shortly after with a large rather stupid and childish looking animal companion. There went any interest in him and the last string to hold onto for the series.

I can appreciate the creator's efforts in this work, as a writer I know how hard getting together work can be. Nonetheless, I could neither get into this series, nor buy into the chaotic antics that were meant to be humorous. The series came off as meaningless without a good solid plot line or anything to keep me wanting more. Something like this just isn't worth watching unless you want something you can stare at with glazed eyes thinking "what the..." I found myself wishing I'd chosen another series and wondering how Gintama made it through production. Better luck next time for director Takamatsu Shinji and author Hideaki Sorachi.