Gin Tama Mini Review (manga)
January 15th, 2008 by Nothayama
PG-16 for violence, but I’ve yet to see anything worse than 13+ material; official series website (manga)
Gin Tama is a comic with a really interesting premise. The story takes place in an alternate history that’s not so much hard science fiction as eclectic fantasy: around the end of the samurai-dominated Edo period, aliens invaded Japan. The invaders simultaneously boosted technology to modern levels and turned humans into second-class citizens on their home planet – ladies in kimonos bemoan the current joblessness reported on their television sets, and dudes with katanas ride mopeds down the street in pursuit of green tentacle monsters from outer space. It’s weird, but it works.
If only the rest of the series could live up to the promise. Gin Tama doesn’t do anything really wrong, but it doesn’t do anything really right either. The characters seem interesting enough at first – quirky badass Gin, cowardly everyman Shinpachi, and cutesy strongwoman Kagura avoid the annoying clichés they could have easily become, but it seems like it’s only because their characterizations are too shallow to illicit any kind of emotional response, annoyance included. The constant jokes are totally inoffensive, but only mildly amusing. The plot’s too weird to work as a serious adventure story, and the ease with which Gin fights off his enemies removes any sense of danger or excitement from the proceedings. The worst offense, however, is that the whole story is permeated with an air of disinterest and unimportance. Jokes don’t feel funny, serious moments don’t feel vital, characters who should care about each other brush each other off at even the most serious of moments. If the characters themselves don’t seem to care about what’s going on around them, why should we?
Volume three is sitting on the table right next to me, but I just can’t bring myself to do more than skim absently through it. Volume two ended on a cliffhanger that left a few of the main characters in mortal peril, but I’m having a lot of trouble caring. I imagine this series worked a lot better in serialization. I can see it being a fun, relaxing diversion between chapters of the comics I actually bought the magazine for. On its own, 200 pages at a time and for the same price as a volume of One Piece or Death Note, it quickly loses its appeal. There’s also an anime for this series, but I’ve yet to watch it.
Initial impression: Worth a try if you can find it in a library or discount bin or if you’re lucky enough to have a really big manga budget and a lot of time for reading. Otherwise, there are probably better things to spend your money on. (NotHayama)
One of the things that made Gin Tama popular in Japan was its slightly offensive sense of humour. Naturally, Viz decided to remove that from the translation.
I guess that would explain the Viz book’s high age rating for no apparent reason, then. What kind of offensive, I wonder?
I dunno about the manga, but the anime made me laugh so hard that I once passed out. Literally.
anime was a lot better. though after a while, all the characters seem to have the exact same extreme personality. just watch it for humor.
All I’m going to say is that I thought the anime was better. You’re right about the manga, I think it’s more middle-school humor than its rating.
I can understand your sentiments. When I first got into Gintama, it was just started to be published by Jump and the first few chapters were not that interesting. I totally forgot about it for other series. Then I saw the Anime in TokyoTV, and that what got me hooked in the series. What makes Gintama so fun (and popular in Japan) is not the underlying stories itself, which are rather forgetful, but the parodies and gags of the series. (Which could have been lost in the English translation – haven’t read the english version of Viz yet though.)
In fact what could be the main premise of the series – The Samurai and Amanto conflict seem to be relegated to background filler in later chapters. Even what could have been a important person in the Ultra nationalist resistance against the Amanto, Katsura never even got himself a serious arc.
What people seem to be interested in Gintama are the Dragonball spoofs, its brilliant Deathnote and Gundam parodies and the way it mercilessly pokes at the Otaku culture. Not to mention that most of the characters sound like they came out of a Manzai act on speed and you have a winner in the eyes of most Japanese viewers.
Anime rocks…It even shook my first place and my favourite anime Trigun.But Trigun remains best.Gintama is by far the second best.Main character is someone you can relate to-you watch and read mangas-so does he. You probably like to waste some time on a game-so does he.He likes to get wasted on someone else’s account-so do YOU! One of the few animes out there that make perfect jokes with breaking the fourth wall. Guys(it is made for guys) that dont like it…just cant cope with tons of historical,modern day and otaku lifestyle references.Gintama has it all! One episode made me cry while I was laughing.My last call is next: Gintama is epic.End of story.
My friend was talking about this anime a week ago (as she is always talking about anime), and she told me not to watch it because of some “disturbing” joke in one of the first few episodes. Since then, I have been deliberating whether or not to go look it up. Considering what Kserijaro just said, I am now quite motivated to go check it out, because I always love an anime that can make me laugh. Thanks!
If you’re watching the anime, get past the first 5 episodes, and then you’ll have the time of your life. If you’re reading the manga, try the first 20 or so chapters.
The thing about Gintama is that even though it was originally a manga, the fast pacing and zany humor makes it work so much better as an anime. Gintama isn’t meant to be serious. It’s more along the lines of a gag-manga; it’s basically a series of fillers, with a couple of story arcs thrown in for character development. The great thing about Gintama is that it knows how to poke fun at itself, along with (of course), its great parodies and obscure references to otaku-culture. It’s not like Naruto or Bleach, where you sit down and devour 200 chapters in one sitting. It’s something that you pick up when there are no new chapters of One Piece and stop whenever you feel like. That is why there is seems to be little character development; if there was character development and a plot, people would get lost about where the story was. In my opinion, Gintama is more like an insane slice-of-life manga. where the extraordinary happens to be a daily occurrence.
PS: It’s not as if Gintoki is a completely useless human being who happens to be a fighting demon. The manga-ka has given him (and the other characters)philosophical wisdom which he spouts at appropriately manly moments. Although on the surface Gintama is quite shallow, if you read deeper, there’s a lot of meaning in the characters’ words….or maybe it’s just really shallow.
Main girl was hiding too see how everyone feel…Gintoki exits bathroom and start moaning about his swollen crotch thingy. Gintama voice actor crew is comprised out of most famous anime seiyu like (noticeable role names)
1. Excel Saga-Excel
2.Gundam Series-Jean Xavier
3.Hikaru no Go-Fujiwara no Sai
4.Samurai Champloo- Mugen and One Piece-Zoro
5.D-Gray Man-Lavi
6.Bleach-Kon
7.Norio Wakamoto- Legend of animes..just look it up
8.Takehito Koyasu also…look it up
9.Bleach-Rukia,Hisana,Devil May cry OVA-Lady
10.Bleach-Ichimaru Gin
11.Naruto Shippuden-Killer Bee
12.Neon Genesis Evangelion- Gendo Ikari
Last but best
13. Naruto-Orochimaru
And many other famous voices like Sasuke and Gaara from Naruto.