Jeez, it's been a while since I've updated.
There are a number of reasons for that, but the main one is that I bought a PS3 and have been playing BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Final Fantasy XIII, Prototype and Arcana Heart 3 rather than watching anime. Then I started watching again, and I decided to watch Gintama of all things, a 201 episode series. Unlike most such long series undertakings, Gintama is episodic and ridiculous enough that I don't actually feel the need to finish it (I've gotten through 81 episodes and enjoyed myself but I don't really need more, I don't think).
So, Gintama.
I haven't watched the entire thing, and it's a very different beast from anything I've reviewed so far, so I'm going to tentatively give it a B. This is actually high praise seeing as I watched a full 80 episodes and one of the things I judge very strictly on is how well a series uses the time it takes up. Gintama is shamelessly episodic and scarcely has a plot to call a plot: filler isn't so much an unfortunate necessity as a way of life for the show, but since it has thoroughly embraced it, it works out quite well.
The primary premise of the series is that, in the middle of Edo-era Japan, a group of anthropomorphic animal aliens invaded earth and subdued the local populace. A large number of samurai resisted the invasion, but the resistance fell apart as the government had already surrendered. Among these samurai was Sakata Gintoki, who now works as a "Yorozuya," a jack-of-all-trades who will do any odd job for enough money to pay the rent. Gintoki is a lazy, slightly perverted, immature, self-centered jerk with a heart of gold who loves his friends and has dedicated himself to what he believes is most important in life. He is accompanied by his "apprentice" Shinpachi and a young alien girl who he took in named Kagura, but the setting and the character's work mostly serve as a framing device for screwball comedy, social commentary and japanese pop cultural in-jokes.
The series has no fourth wall, with the characters being actively aware they're in an anime (despite the fact that they also read manga), and indeed often trying to prevent each other from doing things that would get them cancelled. Gintoki's laziness is occasionally countered by threats of him no longer being the main character of the show, and they are not afraid to poke fun at themselves: during a clip show episode, they comment how Kagura's figure has regressed since her first appearance, then move on to re-dubbing over lines from previous episodes with the commenting character's voice during the clip show.
It noticeably violently averts traditional fan service and the many of the characters are deliberately drawn as being somewhat plain and unattractive, if not downright ugly. The show also deliberately stretches the bounds of what they are allowed to broadcast and the boundaries of taste, having a particular penchant for toilet humor, though generally avoiding sex jokes while remaining exceptionally puerile. The counter to this is that when it (very occasionally) decides to do a serious plot, it does an excellent job of maintaining the series' general humor and treating the serious plot with just enough gravity to allow it to be taken seriously, a combination which deserves sincere commendation.
Gintama is a very unusual series, and very different from what I usually watch, but I highly recommend it to anyone who's had it up to here with cute, fan service, over-the-top violence or oh-so-serious subject matter. If extremely crude, self-referential humor or unattractive characters get on your nerves, go ahead and stay away.
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