GINTAMA
Gintama is a one-of-a-kind shonen anime, as it is the only one that manages to combine a demented but excellent quality comedy with narrative arcs of surprising depth in a balanced way.
The events narrated in the work of Hideaki Sorachi take shape in an ancient Edo now conquered by various alien races; here Gintoki Sakata, a samurai known as Shiroyasha, or white demon, lives his life day by day trying to run his handyman agency, the yorozuya. The story begins when Shimpachi Shimura, who sees a mentor in Gintoki and the little alien Kagura, who instead sees him as an older brother, decide to follow the samurai and cheer up Edo by creating havoc with him. The “serious” narrative arcs are incredibly well written and often enrich the backgrounds of the secondary characters that contribute to making the series a masterpiece; this narrative prevails especially in the second half of the work, but it is almost absent in the beginning, which could make it difficult to watch for some audiences. However, it must be considered that the pure comedy arcs, in addition to being in any case compelling given the often harsh ending, make Gintoki’s charismatic presence better understood who, despite being tormented by the ghosts of the past, always extends his hand towards those in difficulty, reassuring him and helping him to get up again; not to mention that every character introduced in the “comedy” arcs will then be important later on. the animations are good in the part, but they become excellent in the last chapters of the series, wonderful music both for the soundtracks and for the theme songs. This series also has generally very high ratings on several review sites like Myanimelist and IMBd with many episodes bordering on 10/10.
Gintama is a wonderful work and the alternation between comedy and seriousness reinforces its strengths, one of the most beautiful anime ever.
G.C.