DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionGintama'
ANIME ActionGintama°
MANGA ActionGintama
MOVIE ActionGintama: Kanketsu-hen - Yorozuya yo Eien Nare
SPECIAL ActionGintama': Futon ni Haitte kara Buki Nokoshi ni Kizuite Neru ni Nerenai Toki mo Aru
MOVIE ActionGintama on Theater 2D: Ikkoku Keisei-hen
MOVIE ActionGintama on Theater 2D: Kintama-hen

REVIEWS

• 

  Jacklekins

  100/100
  My experiences with Gintama, Tsukuyo and Courtesan of a Nation.

  Gintama is a fantastic series, and one that quickly became a favorite of mine, although not without problems. One of my biggest problems with this series when first watching it was season 3, and Courtesan of a Nation in specific. My feelings on the arc now are much different, but let's just go over my entire experience up to this point and explain why Courtesan disappointed me at first and what I feel about it now after a rewatch of the arc. Spoilers for The first 3 seasons of Gintama.

  I initial dropped Gintama after about 6 episodes, much like a few of my other favorites, and it took me until episode 8 to really get invested and grow to love this series. A lot of ups and downs along the way, but the main things I want to highlight for season 1 here are Yoshiwara in Flames and Red Spider. Yoshiwara was my short term goal when picking up Gintama for the second time. I wanted to meet Tsukuyo. I thought she would be a great character and fit my taste extremely well, and I was right. As soon as I saw her I fell in love with her character. She ended up being my favorite in the series by the end of Yoshiwara. Although the arc had some incredible moments alongside her, she was the main reason I enjoyed this arc as much as I did. Later in season 1 she fully became my irreplacable favorite in Gintama, and also my fourth overall. Red Spider is my favorite arc in Gintama, even anime as a whole. It resonated deeply with me and it meant a lot to me seeing this story in Gintama.

  Tsukuyo's story in Yoshiwara is great. She's adorable and sweet, but also very strong and capable. It doesn't have to give you much more than what it does to make Tsukuyo a great character and get my hopes up for even more of her story, but Red Spider blows it out of the water. An entire arc dedicated to Tsukuyo and her own weaknesses and past traumas. Not to mention the incredible use of color and symbolism in this arc. It's my favorite because of those things and my own personal experiences with trauma and how I cope and deal with my problems. I see so much of my self in Tsukuyo and this arc only reinforces those feelings. Seeing her struggle to open up and rely on others, being afraid of being a burden, and ultimately Gintoki helping her and telling her it's okay meant a lot to me. Although Gakkou Gurashi helped me learn these lessons already, Gintama truly struck a cord with me. It's exploration of Tsukuyo and those traumatic experiences and feelings are incredible. "It's a pretty face carrying a clean soul." My favorite Gintama quote and one that captures the entire essence and feeling of Tsukuyo as a character. Her scars are the path she chose to lead, and although they may be a result of those traumatic experiences they will always be hopeful and a reminder that Tsukuyo controls her own path in life and no one else. She found people to love and cherish, who will help her through her problems. That is why this arc is so important and meaningful to me.

  Season 2 doesn't have any arcs dedicated to Tsukuyo and her growth, but does have a lot of really great stand alone episodes with her and I love all of them. What's most important about S2 in this case is Four Devas. My second favorite arc, and one moment in specific that absolutely amazed and shocked me. Gintoki and Jirocho's fight. Seeing Gin snap hit me incredibly hard. It is one of my favorite moments in the entire series, and practically made the entire arc on it's own, but why is it important for season 3? More specifically Courtesan?

  It's one of the biggest reasons Courtesan disappointed me. I watched all of Gintama in about 3 months so when I got to Courtesan I was still sort of fresh off the excitement of Four Devas and had very high hopes that it would go beyond those moments and give me even more incredible moments. It did not do that the first time around. Gintoki DOES snap again, but it is short lived this time around so I waited the entire arc for him to get badass and do it again, but it never came. I ended up disappointed despite crying at the ending and thinking it was gorgeous. Despite the beginning being incredible and everything interesting going on with Nobume. My expectations from prior arcs made Courtesan worse. However, on rewatch I loved this arc. It became one of my favorites almost immediately and I loved every moment of it. Parts that disappointed me originally were beautifully done, and even fantastic. I think part of that is because I knew where the story was going from there, but I also recognized just how incredible it is as closure for Tsukuyo this time around.

  Tsukuyo is a major part of Courtesan of a Nation. Her last time being in the spotlight of a "serious" arc, although her character grows more even beyond this point. She is the most important character in it. She finally begins to trust in others and get help from her friends. She made the promise with everyone to come back safe and alive. When Gintoki got shot by Isaburo she was the one to put her life at risk to protect him. Courtesan completes Tsukuyo's arc in a beautiful way, and gives closure to her past mistakes. She becomes more open and loving towards those she cares about and more accepting of her femininity (although still a little embarrassed by it). This is why I love Courtesan of a Nation now. For the closure it gives on Tsukuyo's story.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  ForeverAnimeX

  100/100
  A chilling reminder of what gintama has and will continue to so in the future.

  

  "Welcome to my first ever review, it had to be gintama one way or the other due to it's massive influence over my life for the better and I will forever hold it dearly, anyways, I really hope that you enjoy this review, without further ado let us start!"

  I am going to be using the following headings to review this anime:

  Plot 10/10 x Characters 10/10 x Audio 10/10

  totally not biased says forever as he sips on his coffee
  ...

  

  Plot (arcs):
  Personally, this is where gintama shines the most just behind it's phenomenal cast of characters. In this season, there are three arcs known as the "Kintama arc" x "Courtesan Of A Nation Arc" and finally the "Beam Saber Arc".

  In the kintama arc we are introduced into a world that has no existence/recollection of gintoki but rather the perfected version of himself known as kintoki. Main objective in this arc? Gintoki making everyone remember his existence while eradicating kintoki from edo. This arc was very touching in the sense that even though everyone forgot about gintoki, sadaharu and tama never forgot about his existence and legacy, personally, this speaks volumes about how influental gintoki is on their lives as a whole. A character like kintoki who appeared for around 4 episodes can never be better than the likes of gintoki who has stayed for multiple years with 200+ episodes to his name. A perfected version of gintoki aka kintoki (testicles literally) was no match for the people in the kabuki district that had a bond with gintoki which further reinforces this idea. I mean if this doesn't show the impact gintoki has on all the other characters I don't know what will. This really wasn't the best arc from this season as the "courtesan of a nation arc" claimed victory by significant margins but nonetheless, this arc was fairly enjoyable with its fair share of comedy and vice versa.

  In the "Courtesan Of A Nation Arc" which I like to believe is a continuation of the "yoshiwara in flames arc" (to some extent) we are presented with the past of gintoki which is rarely ever mentioned up to this point. It also introduces the characters "shoyo" and "oboro" who will play an significant role in the future which portrays the careful world building gintama is capable of doing. In short, Suzuran (Yoshiwara's most beautiful courtesan) made a promise with someone decades ago to meet each other at the next full moon but that certain someone never came and gintoki x tsukuyo decided to find where that person was. This led them to the house of the shogun as that "someone" was the former shogun. This dude.. I HATED HIS SOUL okay reasons? so much that I can't list them here ! Nobume (aka donut lovin' blue hair girl) and Isaburo by coincidence were protecting the shogun due to certain circumstances. This arc, THIS ARC, is the one to beat. As soon as gintoki enters the palace we get a glimpse of gintoki in his so called "beserk" mode as he goes head to head against Oboro. This fight had me shivering the entire time as I ached in pain being unable to tell someone my thoughts every second of the fight. This fight left gintoki in a near death situation but with the help of sasaki he was able to battle oboro the second time around and defeated him (oboro's whereabouts are unknown as of the end of this season). Seeing the shinsengumi, tsukuyo, nobume, white version of shinsengumi all helping gintoki fight against the previous corrupt shogun was truly a sight to behold. Gintoki has created a family in this series, a great family who will protect him even in the depths of hell, seeing everyone help him genuinely made me shed a tear. Overall, this arc is the best to date (until ep 300-) as the plot advances with no signs of slowing down!

  Finally, the "Beam Saber Arc".. personally it was a bit underwhelming compared to the other two arcs but if you don't compare it was a decent arc that is able to hold it's own weight in this huge franchise. Being only 3 episodes we discover than Shinpachi and Otae had discovered their long lost instructor with the catch that he is a cyborg now due to a life threatening situation in space that rendered him limb-less. Another catch is that he is equipped with a beam that could destroy the entire of earth in which he has no control over it's detonation. I like this arc as it shows how far Gin is willing to go to protect those he loves and purposely makes himself the villain to prevent both Otae x Shinpachi from learning that exact truth. Gintoki even bows down to the Shinsengumi to protect Shinpachi. Since Gintoki himself is a very proud person the fact that Sougo himself says that statement makes it even more significant. Honestly this arc allowed me to confirm that Gintoki is the best character to grace this medium.

  

  Characters:

  In general, the characters of this series are something that I will love regardless how much times I watch this series. In my opinion, there is no primary protagonist to this series, every single character is the main character of this story which is what makes it so special whether the role is small or large. We get to see every single character in action (except zura WHYYY) which creates a sense that everyone is bonded by the silver light of Gintoki himself as he adventures the beautiful but strange (in the funny sense) kabuki district. This exact bond is what lured me to gintama the second time for a rewatch, It's truly priceless that we are allowed to view the family that is the yorozuya and it is also the reason that I give it the non biased 10/10 rating.

  

  Audio:
  Simply unfair, it's just too good for me. We are introduced with the OP's "Sakura Mitsutsuki " and "LETS GO OUT" with the ED's "Moonwalk" and "Expect". In my opinion, every single OP x ED was stunning but "sakura mitsusuki" was beyond that. This song has reached 23 million views on youtube > as of 24.06.2021 and it fully deserves it. The visuals were exceptional, the song was beautiful, I can't stop looping this on spotify because of those reasons. SPYAIR really outdone themselves with this song and I can never thank them enough for it. If there was anything I wanted you to take away from this "review", I demand you to listen to "sakura mitsusuki". This song should be the sole reason that you (yeah you) decide to start gintama, It's that good and for those reasons, "sakura mitsusuki" carries the ratings to the impossible 10/10 totally not biased 100% no way.

  

  In general, thanks to all of those who read my first ever review, If you think there is anything I should fix or improve on do let me know on a private dm on my profile! Keep it cool forever, see you next time fellow yorozuya members!

  from your friendly neighbourhood essay writer - forever

  

  Continue on AniList
• 

  EpicSponge101

  83/100
  The Other Half of That Broken Moon

  This review will once again be a general arc breakdown, and a follow up to the first and second. Of course, full spoilers in this review. If you want a non-spoiler review, go read Gintama season 1’s.

  

  3 reviews in, I’m sure you get how this works. I’ll start with a little touch up, and dedicate most of the review to breaking down each arc.

  This one will be relatively short with only 13 episodes of content to cover, but bear with me, because this season was jam packed. It was an entourage of serious arc after serious arc— which for some reason seemingly had a way increased budget from previous seasons. I don’t have anything to note beyond this precursor, so into the meat and bones we go!

  Kintoki Arc

  

  The Kintama arc has a pretty wacky premise; I love it. Waking up to find yourself replaced by a superior version of you is genius, and it leads to a lot of good drama. It ends up tackling some neat existential ideas like “Should I even want to go back if they’re happier with the other me around”. Of course, the moral of the story here was that Gintoki’s dim luster made him him, and no replacement would be apt. It was a predictable moral point for a Shounen, but it was relatively impactful either way. It drives home the point of everyone being special and irreplaceable in their own way, and also shows the bond Gintoki and the rest of the cast share. The other thematic strokes were good as well, as all of Kintoki’s friends revolting against him exemplified the idea of true friendship being correcting each other’s path when they go astray.

  I thought the comedy was super solid as well, making creative jokes off of the doppelgänger situation. Like Gintoki always finding a way to bash him in the head out of anger was hilarious, and somehow unexpected almost every time. Not to mention the Tama and Sadaharu Yorozuya team was just neat to see. Also, one can’t forget the opening being solely Kintoki for the gag; replacing Gintoki in the previous episodes with Kintoki.

  Of course, the main attraction would be Kintoki himself; I thought his character arc was sublime. He strived for his own ideal life of being a protagonist as he was created to be one, and felt threatened by Gintoki coming back to replace him. This is a large part of why they sympathized with him in the end, as he was created by them and had no say in his role in life. Also, the idea of our main antagonist just wanting to be a harem protagonist is fucking hilarious.

  I also thought the structure of the plot was nice. There were several neat twists that were shocking to various degrees. They really strengthened Tama’s relationship with Gintoki during this arc as well, I really appreciated them showing the bolt hair-pin Gintoki gave her. Though, when she “died” and came back it just felt hollow. Character revivals are just generally not fun, and it seems to be a recurring thing in Gintama.

  So, in conclusion, Kintama was an incredibly fun arc with a lot of things to offer— even the ending was super satisfying. It was a blast all the way through, and it got me hyped for later ones.

  Courtesan of a Nation Arc

  

  Courtesan of a Nation was a very satisfying conclusion to the Yoshiwara trilogy, and perhaps the best serious arc in the series up to this point. There’s a LOT of branching plot threads to cover, though, so I suppose I’ll cover them individually.

  Maizo and Suzuran

  Suzuran, the famous courtesan of Yoshiwara, had a solid introduction. It grounded her character with some funny jokes, and established her connection to Gintoki well. It also semi-subtly began building up towards a phenomenal emotional pay-off. I wish I could say the same for Maizo, however. He wasn’t bad in his introduction, but the whole wanting to be stepped on by a child thing was strange and a bit off putting. I wasn’t initially sure how his character would largely play into things, but the reveal of him being Suzuran’s beloved was super well done. It helped paint the Shogun Sada Sada in a villainous light, and established him as a threat on the levels of pettiness he would go into. The idea of Maizo suffering, wanting to return to Suzuru under the moon was beautiful; it naturally set up for a good emotional pay-off when they met up. The actual meeting scene was done near perfectly, as we see Suzuran finally achieve her wish on her deathbed. This was amplified by the idea that it just barely happened, and some smart direction flashing them from the past to the present with the motif of Sakura petals. Also, if you didn’t know, the lyrics of opening 13 tell their story— which is the opening that plays over this arc, obviously. This was probably the emotional point in Gintama, and it was super well set up. Something about their love enduring over such a period of time is just special; I understand if you don’t find such a concept appealing, but the direction and way it’s conveyed should be enough to get most invested.

  The Coup D’etat

  As mentioned in my 4 Devas review, Gintama is quickly turning into political warfare— and it’s incredibly hype while being thematically poignant. The arc accentuates the idea of samurai being beings that live for their own ideals, and how their lifestyle should be protected. We see samurai revolt against an entire governmental system for the sake of principles, almost outlawing them as terrorists. Of course, the Shogun comes in to usurp his predecessor as one of the most hype twists in the series. Not only was it unexpected, but it perfectly played this comedic character into a serious arc, and gave him a good bit of development. The Shogun has always been connected to his people and always cared about the citizens of Edo, so it makes sense to have him resign from his position and want to leave the political power struggle— believing he isn’t worthy of ruling such samurai. On the other end of the spectrum, it’s awesome to see opposing forces like the Mimawarigumi and the Shinsengumi band together for the sake of a common foe— and the others to protect the samurai ideal.

  This also continues to build upon the world, introducing and developing factions like the world leaders Tendoshu. Not to mention the political faction vying for control, the Hitotsubashi. You can feel the political power struggles boiling up in the background, and tell this is just the beginning. They even casually name dropped “Nobunobu”, who I’m sure will be important later. Then, as a closing note, Takasugi’s appearance politically assassinating Sada Sada once against drives in his relevance and potential threat.

  Oboro and Gintoki’s Past

  This plotline finally gives some reprieve to long and not-subtly foreshadowed events. The mystery of Gintoki’s past has been built up for 100’s of episodes, as we only get nibbles of bits of information as to what transpired back in the Joi War. Our built up intrigue is immediately peaked by linking Oboro to Gintoki in some way, and the bits of his past that they reveal get you wanting more. Not to mention, his seeming connection with Nobume sets up a new mystery to be satisfied. Then, the actual fight with Oboro and Gintoki is beautifully animated and directed; it has levity due to Gintoki willingly attempting to kill someone. We don’t get much of their plot line here, but what we do see is impactful and memorable.

  Miscellaneous

  For other things I’d like to note, I feel like Tsukuyo had her character developed well here. Hinowa directly pointed out her parallels to Gintoki, and it really shows how she’s been subtly influenced by him. On top of this, I think the comedy was super strong. The cliffhanger ending of the Shogun getting knocked out by a can was super funny; it’s an attestament to the Shogun’s comedic power. He’s an important, powerful political figure but he always ends up in the most unfortunate of situations. Of course, this is sometimes subverted for comedic effect like in the pool episode, but the idea generally remains— and it’s on full display here. I’d also like to note Princess Soyo and Kagura’s relationship coming back into play was a nest touch, and was totally unexpected. It felt like the political connections the crew had gained over the series had really paid off. If I had one complaint, the political exposition was perhaps a bit too much for the pacing at certain times— but that’s minor.

  Beam Saber Arc

  

  For sure the most troubling arc of season 3, I still really like Beam Saber in spite of its flaws. Though, I would be remiss to not mention them.
  The most glaring thing for many people are in line with Renho’s flaws— the abundance of Star Wars references. Of course, the references in themselves are not the issue, but the way they are delivered is problematic. They constantly rely on using Star Wars jokes for humor, with no back-up punchline or subtly in play. It’s a parody, sure, but it’s practically just saying “laugh because of popular things”. Which, obviously, is incredibly lazy writing. Though, outside of this, I found Hajime to be a fun and well-developed character. Even if the theme of laughing instead of crying is overdone and cliche, it was poignant here due to the presentation towards the end. Had they not concluded Hajime’s character arc by killing him, which conversely teaches Otae and Shinpachi, I would have been pissed. That truly would have been cliche Shounen. Hajime’s struggle of wanting to see his childhood friends off for one last time selfishly is endearing, and pretty sympathetic. Gintoki wanting to save him from his fate is perfectly fitting of his character, as well as him making himself the villain for it. Everything fell properly in line for the character’s action, and it’s honestly rare to see such potent characterization. Shinpachi’s initial rage at Gintoki was heartbreaking as well, and the same goes for Otae’s solemn silence. In the end, Hajime was an awesome character who taught us the importance of laughter, as cliche as that may be.

  The comedy beats in this arc outside of the Star Wars stuff we’re super solid as well. Drawing on Otae forgetting her original goal as a character was genius, and it’s the exact kind of smart and self-aware writing I expect from Gintama. I’m so glad they addressed it instead of having it become an actual plot hole or major issue. The conclusion of them opening the dojo with Hajime credited as an eternal founder was incredibly sweet as well. Not to mention Otae and Shinpachi just moving on from his death, learning to laugh and live from him. Super awesome stuff.

  Conclusion

  

  To finish off, since I don’t have enough to say for a whole section— I though Sadaharu’s arc of growth in episode 266 was very sweet.

  Anyways, I’m wrapping it up on this note— damn, that exceeded my expectations. It was hype, funny, and emotional. Incredibly jam packed for a season, and definitely the best one for now. So onto season 4! Also, if you have any thoughts, feel free to message me of course— or hit me up on Discord.

  Next Review— Gintama Season 4

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  ComedySaiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan 2
• ANIME

  ComedySKET DANCE
• ONA

  ComedyHanhua Riji 3