If you avert your eyes from the dark, you'll be blind to the rays of a new day. So keep your eyes open, no matter how dark the night ahead may be.'
Gintama has finally, or rather, unfortunately, rolled up the sleeves and laid the foundations for its final showdown. What our Gin-san doesn't know is that the night could be darker than he thought. All the unresolved questions, all the open wounds will be figured out in the second half of the season, leading us to an end which will completely satisfy in a first moment, but looking back, we'll leave a huge gap wanting us for a new series to come out so badly, like a madao is looking for a job, the desperation will tie us in a indissoluble bond. So get ready for some dark sleepless nights. The hype is real and it will keep your eyes very open! However sooner or later, it should have happened, so it's better to not overthink it and put our Tama to rest. Obviously i mean souls! not OO ..ok, you didn't get it.
Getting more in details, the action won't be the absolute protagonist of the season, in fact it will make room, in its usual style, to a good slice of comedy which will make the series start off with a bang and keep the pace on till the last 2 arcs, but this is legit, it just want to gift us ..sigh.. its last lightheartedness's moments ..sigh.. ok i'm not crying.. really.. so get a full taste as long as you can.
The overall plot will be a real turning point, showing us a tons of glorious flashbacks joining all the puzzle's pieces on the troubled past of the legendary Joi team.
The result is a perfect blend of action, drama, emotion and wit which will make you die from laughing up to cry for sadness, in poor words, the perfect anime. I'm not surprised it's ranked #1 because even with great efforts you won't find any flaws. If you did, i throw you an anpan right in the face.
What truly make gintama to shine soo bright lies in its capacity (under all the jokes and crap) to teach us little life lessons touching the deepest part of ourselves. Each stand alone episode will satisfy more than a christmas lunch and this is a win-win for a series. The emotional osts bind up divinely to the moving moments and when the going gets tough the music is not lagging behind, exuding true Epicness in each battle theme. (Kabukicho 4 devas theme was memorable).
The animation on the whole is good and quickly develops every season. It's not on the same level as ufotable but this really doesn't matter because you will spend 3/4 of episodes with the tears in your eyes from laughing or you're too much focused on what's going on to pay attention.
The only complaint i could say for Gintama is the frequent use of kanji in the gags, but this is absolutely normal considering it's a japanese show, so the best compliment you can ever give to this anime is:
I wanted to be japanese just to understand better gintama!! :P
If you haven't seen this series and you're wondering why it's so popular, all i can say is, give it a try, seriously, it will worth every minute.
This anime and all its fantastic characters will show you how strong or weak people can be, how fragile or precious they are, you will discover the true meaning of Samurai.
