don't lose to anyone else

you'll never get away from the sound of the anime that changed your brain chemistry at 15

[silversouling]

I'm currently rewatching Gintama so I decided to make this blog to document said rewatch. I watched Gintama for the first time 10 years ago and although I have rewatched several of its arcs since, I've never done a full rewatch from the first to the last episode before. Everything I post is first and foremost for ME, but you're invited to tag along!

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episodes 24-25-26

The first time I watched episode 24 I was afraid of where it was going. I braced myself, fearing that I was about to sit through 20 minutes of offensive jokes, but instead I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the outcome. While this is by no means a perfect episode, it is an episode whose core message is “don’t be fucking transphobic”, and I really appreciate that.

In this episode Gintoki is bigoted towards Saigo, one of Kabukicho’s four pillars, and in retaliation he is kidnapped and forced to cross dress at Saigo’s okama bar. There he meets Katsura - I mean Zurako - who is also going through the same, for the same reasons. During the first half of the episode most of the jokes come from either the okamas’ physical aspect or from the act of cross dressing itself, but in the second half we actually get a sympathetic look at the experiences and hardships of this people:

By the end of the episode the narrative makes it very clear that both Gintoki and Zura were wrong in their initial judgment and that Saigo and the rest of the okamas are worthy of respect and admiration. Is this episode the best representation of a non-cisgender experience? Possibly not, but ultimately I think Sorachi’s heart was in the right place when he wrote this. I mean, how many JUMP mangakas had their main character’s transphobia literally beaten out of them? For the early 2000s that’s pretty neat. 7.5/10.

More under the cut!

Episode 25 is one of early Gintama’s most beloved classics. The premise of the episode is a simple one: the Yorozuya are sharing a miso pot, and they all want to eat the meat in it. With such a premise, you wouldn’t expect to be in front of what’s arguably the best parody of Death Note that’s ever been made.

I think the reason why this parody is so good is that Sorachi understands and respects the source material he is making fun of. Nowadays people mostly joke about how ridiculous Death Note’s over-the-top mind games can get, but the thing is that, in-universe, those mind games actually work. The Yorozuya playing Light-and-L-like mind games with each other is very silly, but that’s not what makes the parody effective. What does it is that, just as in Death Note, in this episodes all these mind games also actually work. They are overthinking their every movement, reading between the lines of every little thing the other members say, assuming they are all playing the same game to get the meat, and they are absolutely correct. This episode totally deserves all the love it gets. 8/10.

And lastly, episode 26. An episode that exists. Sorry to the Takachin enjoyers, I like Shinpachi but I just do not care about his childhood friend, and therefore don’t have any further comments on this episode. 6/10 because this wasn’t bad, I’m just personally indifferent to it.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episodes 21-22-23

Starting off with the second two-parter episode of the series! In the the first half we follow the Yorozuya as they (seemingly) encounter a kappa while fishing. I like this one although it’s not one of my favorites. This episode also drops the minor but for me deeply interesting fact that there had been amanto on Earth before the invasion, something that I don’t remember if Sorachi ever mentions again.

In general in this rewatch I’ve been more interested in the amanto lore than I was on my first watch, so I like to catch on these little details even if they don’t have any follow up whatsoever.

Meanwhile in the second part of the episode Gintoki attempts to buy a fan and fails miserably. This is a very funny one, watching it on summer while having an actual fan on really enhanced the experience. 7/10 for both parts.

Episode 22 introduces an iconic Gintama character: Sachan, Gintoki’s ninja stalker. Sachan is a character that I have a bit of mixed feelings about: I think she is objectively one of the characters with the most potential both in comedy as well as in drama, but that she is painfully underused for most of the series. So many times her appearances in the story leave me wanting for more. In my opinion (and this may be unpopular, I don’t know what most people think about this to be honest) the “Sachan is obsessed with Gintoki and also a masochist” joke just gets old really quickly. Like, already in these early episodes quickly. For me, most of the humor from these scenes comes mainly from Yuu Kobayashi’s superb voice acting rather than the jokes themselves being particularly funny.

But my thing with Sachan is that I really like her character when she actually gets to do other things besides trying to fuck Gintoki. I love her in the mirror episode, I love her in the Shogun Assassination arc. I wish Sorachi had given her more of these moments outside her usual gag, because I feel he did do that with other supporting characters that had more or less the same importance as Sachan.

Going back to episode 22: I got whiplash when I remembered Sachan actually had a personality before becoming ****matized by Gintoki lol. 7/10.

And finally episode 23, where the Yorozuya travels to space and become stranded in a desert planet for plot reasons. Most of this set up works as an excuse to introduce yet another iconic supporting character: Sakamoto, the third and last of Gintoki’s war comrades that we’ll meet (kind of).

I love Sakamoto, his over-optimistic bordering on delusional personality is very charming to me and I never get tired of him when he appears. While the plot itself is not very remarkable in my opinion, the episode truly shines in the Joui war flashbacks.

So far every time we got a look at Gin’s past in the war we got the bleak moments of his last stand next to Zura. In this episode, for the first time we get to see a happy flashback of Gintoki during this time.

I’ll admit I did not remember these flashbacks were like this and was genuinely surprised by the tone. It seems… overly friendly to say the least lol. Which I found odd, not because I think it strange that a comrade-in-arms proposed Gintoki to travel the stars together (Gin is just incapable to have a non-homoerotic relationship with a man) but because I don’t remember Sakamoto and Gin being this close in future episodes, neither in the Joui War flashbacks nor in the present timeline. I guess later on Sorachi was too enraptured writing Gin and Takasugi’s homicidal psycho-sexual relationship to keep exploring the “hey did Sakamoto have a crush on Gintoki or what was all that about?” side plot.

Speaking of timelines, I’m really fascinated by Sakamoto’s timeline in the Joui War. He joined the war after the Shoka Sonjuku squad did (for the experience apparently?), managed to break through a childhood friend group of three and become its fourth member (INSANE accomplishment guys I think we truly do not grasp how difficult this is), and dropped out to go to space before the war was even over. Was he even a whole year with the group??

Anyway good episode. 7.5/10, I don’t rate it higher because being honest there are better episodes than this one.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episodes 18-19-20

I only have a brief comment to make on Episode 19, aka Gintama’s beach episode. There are some fun jokes and the characters get new outfits which is nice, but to be honest for some reason I don’t find this episode very memorable. I do really like this little moment in which Sadaharu follows Tae’s instructions tho - so cute!

Episodes 18 and 20, on the other hand, give us lots of early Yorozuya x Shinsengumi dynamics, of which I have much to say.

In episode 18, for the first time both groups have to work together, this time to caught a panty thief. At first glance this set up seems like the perfect ground for an endless stream of tasteless underwear jokes, but thankfully the humor leans more on the shenanigans that result from the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi working towards the same goal instead of antagonizing each other (and I dare to say, some of the underwear jokes were even tasteful, like Hijikata being mad because he apparently got a panty from the thief lol). I was surprised by what a fun time I had rewatching this episode, because I don’t remember liking it too much before.

What’s really interesting about this episode, however, is that this is so far the loosest manga chapter adaptation the anime gave us. In the original chapter (which is set right after the Yorozuya travels to space and meets Sakamoto) only Kondou becomes involved in the plan to catch the thief. The anime decides to involve the entire Shinsengumi, which heavily changes the majority of the scenes.

While I think Hijikata, Sougo and the rest of the Shinsengumi officers were well incorporated into the story, and I consider this version of the story is funnier than its manga counterpart, you can tell this episode is a bit “off’, because despite being a Yorozuya x Shinsengumi episode there’s a total lack of the main pairings we have between the two groups. It’s simply weird how despite being forced to work in proximity neither okikagu nor ginhiji interact at any point, specially since their dynamics had already been well established (Sougo and Kagura acting in a civil way around each other is just jarringly out of character).

All in all a fun episode, but it could’ve been better. 7.5/10.

Finally, on episode 20: I still remember the first time I watched it, mainly because this was the first Gintama episode that made me laugh hard. It’s not that I found the previous 19 episodes unfunny - almost all of them had at least one good joke that made me chuckle. But for some reason, it was episode 20 the one which made me fully appreciate Gintama’s sense of humor. Perhaps it was that by that point I had come to know and started loving all the characters and therefore they all became funnier to me. Perhaps it was Sugita’s high pitch screams. Whatever it was, episode 20 remains to this day one of my favorite early Gintama episodes.

This episode has a mystery: several Shinsengumi officers fall mysteriously ill, while they’re seemingly haunted by the ghost of a woman in red. Seizing the opportunity, the Yorozuya attempt to con the police officers until they’re caught - but for plot reasons they end up involved in the mystery anyways.

Now, this is a proper Yorozuya x Shinsengumi episode. Not only we get to see our usual pairings (there’s some real ginhiji excellence here), we also see less usual interactions, like the one between Kagura and Kondou.

Something that I find fascinating from this episode is that it give us a new piece of lore about Gintoki - that he is terrified of ghosts - which will eventually become a running gag. And while for most of the series this seems to be solely a comical detail, when we finally learn about Gin’s whole past suddenly him being afraid of ghosts actually makes so much sense.

This episode also give us what’s perhaps my favorite moments of the teen trio, aka the most underrated dynamic of Gintama in my opinion. Shinpachi clocking okikagu, then humbling them and then solving the mystery - he was on a generational run in this episode.

And while this was happening, ginhiji were running for their lives, invading each others personal space and having a very normal conversation.

I just love this episode. 8.5/10.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episode 17

And we reach to what’s probably the most important early Gintama episode. I’m still amazed at what a character Sorachi created when he made Takasugi, he appears for like five minutes this episode, does nothing, and then we don’t see him again until like 40 episodes later. And yet that single appearance is enough to tweak the trajectory of the series. From this moment onwards, Takasugi will loom over the narrative, and we now know that one day Gintoki will have to face him.

But while Takasugi definitely stole the spotlight he’s not actually the focus of the episode. This episode is actually about fathers and sons, and it presents one of Gintama’s most lasting supporting characters, Gengai. I have to admit that I find the first half of the episode a bit slow - we mostly learn about Gengai and his robots, and we get a hint at what happened to his son. But the pay off from the second half makes this build up absolutely worth it.

After we last saw him being approached by an ominous Takasugi, we learn about Gengai’s son and realize what he is planning to do at the festival. We also get the Takasugi scene from the episode:

I just know this moment here is what got him straight into the top 5 of that first popularity rank.

Meanwhile the teens are having their little subplot enjoying the festival (and causing wreckage).

(Shinpachi is already so done with them jjhkhk bestie you’re only on episode 17!).

As I mentioned in my review of the cherry blossom episode, this is in fact the second time Kagura and Sougo met, and therefore this shooting competition is actually a continuation of their first duel. Also I don’t think this was Sorachi’s intention, but I do find it very funny that Sougo showed up in the scene right after Hasegawa asked Kagura and Shinpachi if they were on a date.

Going back to Takasugi and Gin, we get a really interesting conversation that let us peek at what their relationship is like. I wonder how much of their shared past Sorachi had planned at this point, because here Takasugi seems to resent Gintoki just for abandoning their cause (and not because of You Know What).

I had also forgotten that it’s implied that Gin and Takasugi did fight during this episode (or at the least that Gin punched him), but Sorachi decided not to show it. A really cool way to show how fights in Gintama are always only about the characters and never about things like power levels or techniques: we can’t see these characters fight because Gin still hasn’t faced his past. It’s not the time yet.

Wrapping up the main plot, Gengai’s robots continue attacking, until Gin (who I guess just beat up Takasugi off camera) comes to stop them. At the last moment his robot-son rebels and refuses to attack, and we get this really touching moment.

In the epilogue, we learn that Gengai is now a fugitive, but went back to creating machines out of love. While I like the ending, I do not understand how could he possibly get away after what he did and now that bothers me. Sorachi really asked us to just Don’t Think About It lol.

Before finishing the review, I can’t not mention the other okikagu moment of the episode. I love living in a world where Kagura and Sougo being furious about their festival date being ruined is a canon thing that happened.

Very good episode, 8/10.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episode 125 (follow me on this one)

Yes, you read that correctly, for the first time on my rewatch I’m altering the watching order of the episodes. Although the title is a bit misleading: I didn’t watch the entirety of episode 125, but only the segment which showed the anime adaptation of Lesson 17. As I mentioned before, when adapting Gintama the anime made some changes to the source material, the most notable being switching the order of some of the episodes. I think these changes were mostly good, like introducing Kagura and the Shinsengumi earlier, which helped the already rocky pacing of the first chapters a lot. But if there is one change where I think the anime messed up is in how they handled the manga’s Lesson 17.

You see, Lesson 17 had the particularity of being the very first chapter of Gintama that was animated. It released half a year before the anime premiered as an OVA. So when the anime started its run, instead of including it among their first episodes (as they should’ve) they just straight up skipped it, only showing it during the recap of episode 125. Which not only is absolutely criminal because this is one of the best early Gintama chapters, it also actually impacts the continuity of the series. Not drastically, but still noticeable to those of us who care about one of the pillar Yorozuya/Shinsengumi relationships. Because this chapter has the very first interaction between Kagura and Okita Sougo. If Lesson 6 is ginhiji’s meetcute, then Lesson 17 is okikagu’s meetcute.

But not only that, this is the first Yorozuya x Shinsengumi chapter, period. So far every time the Yorozuya met with the Shinsengumi, we ended up focusing in either Hijikata or Kondou interacting mainly with Gintoki. In Lesson 17 Sorachi pretty much settles on what will be the most common pairings we’ll get down the road: Gintoki and Hijikata, Kondou and Tae (and Shinpachi by proxy), Kagura and Sougo. Even Shinpachi and Yamazaki, who will also be paired up a couple of times later on for being the “plain guys” of their respective groups, interact here for the first time. As I wrote to a friend right after I rewatched this episode: “Sorachi saw the light here”.

Well, the anime made the mistake of skipping this chapter during its first episodes, but I didn’t. I care about my continuity, so I think it’s important to at least try to watch it at some point after episode 9 and before episode 17. Not only I had a great time watching it in an order closer to the manga’s, it also made me appreciate the early Yorozuya x Shinsengumi dynamic more.

Way more under the cut because I couldn’t shut up about this episode!

The first thing that I realized on this rewatch (and the one that surprised me the most, to be honest) is that the Yorozuya were absolutely right during the whole episode. They were literally just chilling in a public space, having a picnic and enjoying the view, when the Shinsengumi crashed their party and Hijikata started bitching about that being “their” spot. The conflict of the episode was entirely manufactured by Hijikata alone, because no one else in the Shinsengumi actually cared about the spot the Yorozuya was taking and in fact were willing to move to a different one.

(The fact that Sougo also was fine with leaving is very funny to me… he really had no idea of the impact that staying was going to have in his life).

As for Kondou, he only partially supported his Vice Commander - he wanted Tae to stay. Hijikata was the only one who insisted in all of them leaving.

And what’s crazier is that, by his own admission, Hijikata was doing all of this just because of Gin:

Hijikata canonically saw Gin having a good time with his friends and instead of just going somewhere else he crashed their picnic and started a fight with him because he still isn’t over their last duel. Not even Kondou, who was publicly humiliated by Gin the last time they saw each other, seems to care anymore. Gin really has just been living rent free in Hijikata’s mind since they met (a canon fact by the way).

Hijikata’s repressed crush besides, this was an incredibly blatant abuse of authority by the Shinsengumi for such a banal reason that’s not surprising the Yorozuya was mad and immediately on board with the face off. The only thing I can say in defense of the Shinsengumi is that in the manga they were dressed as civilians (the first time we see everyone but Kondou out of uniform in fact), which makes it a little bit less bad I guess?

(Actually now that I think about it more, this is probably worse because they tried to exercise their authority as police officers without being in service).

Surprisingly, it’s the seemingly careless Okita who steps in and reminds everyone that throwing your sword around can kill people (“Okita Sougo actually cares about other people that isn’t Kondou and his sister” exhibit 1) and offers a different solution. I find very cute that he had this whole game prepared before hand - was he planning to play this with the Shinsengumi members at the cherry blossom viewing?

From here on, the rest is history. Everyone agrees to this insane game and we get our forever Yorozuya x Shinsengumi pairings:

Looking at the context in which we end up with these seating arrangements, it’s really interesting how Kagura and Sougo were originally a “pair the spares”: Hijikata wanted to fight Gintoki, Kondou likely requested to be paired with Tae (and Tae wanted to beat the crap out of her stalker) and Yamazaki probably asked Shinpachi to be the Yorozuya judge (him being the only member of his group that wasn’t eager to throw hands at the Shinsengumi). In-universe, Kagura and Sougo were paired up entirely by process of elimination (that’s not to say that Sorachi didn’t plan this, though).

All this leads to Kagura and Sougo’s epic rock-paper-scisor duel, which going by what Hijikata says, this is probably the first time Sougo found someone who can match his skills.

I really love this little “our kid is better than yours” moment ginhiji have here, they don’t know they’re witnessing said kids’ meetcute.

Beyond the fact that this is literally how they met, there’s another reason why this duel is crucial for Kagura and Sougo’s relationship: whomever won the fight is left unanswered, but they either couldn’t properly settled it or it was Kagura, because from now on, it will be Sougo who uses every chance he gets to stir up a fight with her in order to “settle the score” as it is explicitly stated in the manga:

This line did not make it to the anime since they not only skipped the cherry blossom chapter, they also adapted Soyo’s chapter before Kagura and Sougo had their first anime interaction. We have to grieve the loss of yet another line that pretty much confirms that a Yorozuya member has been living rent free in the mind of a Shinsengumi officer since they met.

Kagura and Sougo’s entire rivalry is founded in the fight they have in the cherry blossom chapter. By skipping this chapter the anime removes the very foundation of their relationship. In the anime their first interaction is now in episode 17, during the festival, where Sougo for no apparent reason starts competing with Kagura at the shooting booth. Except there is a reason!!! He’s still upset about the cherry blossom duel!!! In a way, this mirrors ginhiji’s early dynamic, with Hijikata looking for excuses to pick up a fight with Gintoki because he’s still pissed off about the outcome of the fight they had in their first encounter (Sorachi reheating his own nachos less than 20 chapters into the series lol).

Now, you may argue that okikagu still works the same without this chapter. Unlike Gintoki and Hijikata’s early rivalry, we really don’t need much explaining as to why they seemingly don’t like each other: they are both brats who love fighting and winning, of course they would clash whenever they met. I agree that you don’t need it to understand their dynamic (I certainly didn’t on my first watch), but this is still the in-universe reason for the characters becoming rivals. One can even wonder what would’ve happened had the Shinsengumi actually just moved places and left the Yorozuya alone - would Sougo still try to outwin Kagura at the shooting booth if he didn’t have “a score to settle” with her?

Well, this review got way to long, let’s wrap it up: I love how Hijikata really did all this just to get drunk with Gin, like that was truly the real goal all along lol.

9/10 they should’ve kept the correct chapter order for this one.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episodes 14-15-16

Episode 14: the first two-parter episode of the series! I will say from the get go that I enjoyed both of them, but the second half is definitely my favorite. But let’s start from the beginning.

During the first half we have our very first Shinsengumi only episode, and we get to see their dynamics while they are alone. So far we had only known Kondou mainly as Tae’s stalker, so this is the first time we actually get to see him as the commander of the Shinsengumi - and we start to understand why they love him so much despite Kondou being Like That. This episode also works as a sort of epilogue for the previous episode, as we learn more about the aftermath of Gintoki and Katsura’s clash with the Harusame. There are also a couple of jokes about toads thrown in there with different levels of effectiveness. Good first half, 7.5.

And then we get to the second part, which just makes me very happy. Kagura meets a girl in Kabukicho that seems out of place and befriends her. Plot twist, the girl is a literal princess. To be fair, not much happens in the episode: the majority of the episode is occupied by Kagura and Soyo just hanging out and having a great time, with the Shinsengumi in there carrying most of the comedy. It’s a sweet episode, but what really makes it for me is when Kagura takes Soyo’s hand and they run away from Hijikata and the rest of the Shinsengumi. There is something so freeing about that little moment of rebellion: it doesn’t matter that it is futile and that Soyo was always coming back to her life in the palace. It is the act itself of escaping what matters, it is the fact that for a very brief moment they got away. I don’t know, I’ve always found that moment touching.

I do hate that Sorachi will take so long to bring back Soyo, yet I like the implication that Kagura and Soyo remained friends even when we weren’t seeing in them. It almost feels like they did got away after all. 8/10.

More under the cut!

Moving on to episode 15, we are finally introduced to Elizabeth, one of the most iconic characters of the series. While I find this episode very charming (Katsura finding Elizabeth cute while everyone else just think he’s gross is a running joke I really like) and for most of the series I enjoy what Elizabeth brings to the story, I have to make a confession: learning Elizabeth’s backstory in the final arc kinda cooled my feelings towards the character. I really can’t explain it without going on a tangent about my feelings while those chapters were being published, but the short version is that I think we really really didn’t need to know all that lol.

The episode is still fun and light, and I had a good time rewatching it. Other than the Katsura and Elizabeth shenanigans, we also have the first appearance of Mutsu and mention of Sakamoto (my beloveds), and I also really like seeing how Gintoki and Sadaharu’s relationship is going since the dog was introduced five episodes ago:

Solid episode, 7/10.

And finally, episode 16! Do you remember how back in my review of episode 7 I said that the anime introducing Kagura before Hasegawa recontextualized a later joke? Well, it is the opening scene from this episode, with a broken Hasegawa sitting in a bench talking to Kagura. In the manga, this is the first time the characters are interacting, as Kagura wasn’t present in the chapter were Hasegawa looses his job for punching the Baka Ouji. So when she asks him how did he lost his job, she genuinely doesn’t know, as she isn’t aware of the story. In the anime Kagura ends up coming off a bit more cruel than in the manga, since now it seems she has either totally forgotten about the incident (which didn’t happen that long ago), or worse, that she does remember and it’s mocking him. She is unkind to Hasegawa when he opens up to her, but her disinterest in his story feels less mean-spirited in a context where she had nothing to do with the events that got him fired.

Then we get our very first Madao - and here I have to be that person who criticize localizations in subtitles, because the attempts at making “DORK” a thing are downright embarrassing. Back in 2015 I watched Gintama with Latin American fansubs that had ridiculously long footnotes and I loved it, so now I can’t help but feeling that the official English subtitles lack substance and sometimes even kill the joke. I’m a aware that wanting Madao to be kept untranslated is a very early 2010s take that only people who grew up watching anime fansubbed can sustain nowadays but still. Stop trying to make dork happen it’s not going to happen.

With this episode I’m also confirming that I just can’t find even slightly funny all the chagrins Hasegawa has to go through. He really is punished through out the whole story for having principles and sticking to them, something literally no one else in Gintama suffers. I think Sorachi himself later on realized what a sad character he created because the Madao episodes start dropping the comedy angle and become genuinely depressing at some point in the story, reason why I prefer those more. I still like this early Hasegawa though, where the joke seemed to be that he was just unlucky. 7/10.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episode 13

The first time I watched Gintama ten years ago, it took me time to get into the story. While I didn’t dislike the first episodes, I remember feeling that there was something missing in them. It was only when I got to this episode that I was able to tell what was it: for the first time, I could finally connect with the Yorozuya as a trio.

Perhaps this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I think that once Sorachi established Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura as our protagonists, he neglected actually showing us what their relationship looks like. I’m not saying they don’t interact, because they do, but most of their early interactions are in the context of a job or a gag. By this point in the story, we know more about Gintoki and Hijikata’s relationship than his relationship with Shinpachi and Kagura. Why are these kids sticking around Gin if he apparently is a terrible boss that doesn’t pay them proper salaries? Why is Gin even letting them work for him, if he never hired them in the first place? What is the thing that bonds all of them together?

For me, it was in episode 13 where I finally could see the answers to these questions, which is the reason why I’m so fond of it and why it remains one of my favorite early episodes.

The episode begins with the typical formula of the Yorozuya taking a job, this time finding a missing girl. However, we soon deviate from the usual formula when we learn said girl ended up involved in a very dangerous business.

While the episode doesn’t lack its fair share of jokes, it is so far the most serious one, since for the first time we have stakes when Shinpachi and Kagura are taken by the Harusame, one of the long standing factions of the series which makes its debut in the story here. And it’s in this moment when Gintoki finally has to face what these teenagers that saw something in him and decided to follow him exactly mean to him, and we the audience get yet another glimpse at the grief that Gin is carrying:

The final facedown between Gin and the Harusame guy settles the way battles work in the story: they are never about who’s actually the strongest, or about who has the better technique or weapon. Battles in Gintama are always about the characters finally facing something they’ve been avoiding or protecting something they care about. Gintoki doesn’t win because he’s strongest than the Harusame guy - none of that matters. He wins because he finally admits to himself that he cares about Shinpachi and Kagura and wants to keep them safe.

Finally, we end with my favorite part of the episode: our first Dadtoki moment! Top cutest moments of the entire series.

The only thing that makes me lower the score of this episode is all the extremely unfunny “Hamuko” jokes from the first half of the episode, but other than that, just a great early Gintama episode. 8/10.

[silversouling]

Gintama rewatch: episodes 10-11-12

I think Sorachi as an author does very good things in Gintama, but one of the best things he did, with no doubt, is giving the Yorozuya a giant dog. Not only that, by creating Sadaharu, Sorachi made a very bold statement that you rarely see in mainstream media - that is, that dogs can be jerks.

As a dog person, I really dislike how dogs are often associated with submissiveness and blind adoration in popular culture. If you really believe that all dogs are like that, I’ll assume you have never interacted with many dogs, or any at all. Dogs can have personalities as varied as their sizes and colors - and while some can indeed be the poster good boys of devotion, others will be bad behaved, disobedient, and may try to bite you. And still they will be their households’ beloved pet.

Sadaharu is canonically a giant deity and yet there’s something about him that makes him feel like a real pet. I think the reason he works so well in the story is that you can totally understand why the Yorozuya kept him despite his bad behavior. For Kagura, this is the first time she can have a pet that she won’t be afraid of hurting, and while the flashback of her accidentally killing her pet as a child is presented in a humorous tone, we know that Kagura’s truly feels remorse for not being able to control herself (and this will be a major part of her character arc later on). Meanwhile Gintoki and Sadaharu embody the “dad and the pet they said they didn’t want” dynamic perfectly well - and Shinpachi too, let’s not forget he also wasn’t keen on keeping Sadaharu.

There isn’t much to say about the episode itself, though: Kagura shows up with a giant dog and shenanigans ensure, Prince Hata makes a comeback to be annoying the antagonist of the episode, there’s a brief moment of tension when it seems that Kagura may have hurt Sadaharu, but thankfully he’s fine. There is also an anime-only little moment in which Hijikata and Sougo randomly show up and we get this totally normal ginhiji interaction:

(This is also the anime’s first interaction between Gin and Sougo - I’ll get to this relationship eventually, but let’s move on for now).

While I think this episode is sweet and we get some minor Kagura-lore, of the early episodes this is probably one of the least memorable. Yet while watching I really missed my late dogs. Having a dog is truly one of the best things in the world. 7/10.

(More under the cut!)

Episode 11 is a weird one for me: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this episode, yet I could never connect with it. This episode has an usually effective Gintama formula: opening with a comedy segment introducing the client, then we learn something emotional about said client which makes the Yorozuya want to fulfill their mission, then the Yorozuya finds a way to help their client and we get an either heartwarming or heartbreaking moment of resolution, the end. All of this happens here, yet the only thing about this episode that I can say didn’t left me feeling indifferent is learning a bit about Otose’s past. It’s a “it’s not you, it’s me” sort of situation really. 6.5/10.

And finally, on episode 12: I really would like to know what on Earth compelled Sorachi to introduce Catherine before the Shinsengumi in the manga. Probably one of the weirdest decisions of his early writing, I’m glad the anime adapted this later.

Still, I just can’t care for this episode. Personally I think Catherine is one of the laziest gag characters Sorachi created: so the “cat ear girl” character is not conventionally attractive and has an accent. That’s it. Sorachi, you’ve made really hilarious jokes. This just isn’t one of them.

That being said, I am very fond of the dialogue Gin and Catherine have, particularly this moment:

So I guess it’s not all bad after all. 6/10

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Also okikagu crumb from episode 9: they watch the same show lol

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Hijikata discovering bisexuality at the age of 27 and inmediately needing to lay down is very dear to me

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Gintama rewatch: episodes 8-9

And finally, Kondou’s first proper introduction! While so far I've liked the changes from the source material, I think I prefer the manga's “oops Tae’s creepy stalker is literally the commander of the Shinsengumi” plot twist to the anime's naked “the commander is fucking weird what the hell”. I don’t know, I think Sorachi was actually very careful with the reveal and the anime just wasted that - although I suppose that since we literally see Kondou in the Shinsengumi uniform on the opening there wasn’t much room for a plot twist to begin with.

Now, on the long standing gag of “Kondou is stalking Tae”: I think it gave us funny moments, but in itself I do not find it actually funny - does this make any sense? Like Stalker Kondou going into a duel with Gintoki and loosing it? Funny! Stalker Kondou creeping into Tae’s house? Ehhh not really. That being said, I think this episode works so well precisely because most of the jokes fall into the first category rather than the later: the punchline isn’t the stalking itself, but the situations it leads too.

My favorite part of the episode, however, wasn’t the main story line, but the anime-only Hijikata subplot: seeing him having to carry a full documentary in which everything went wrong on his back alone made me really root for him.

Lastly on episode 8 - is this a safe place to say I like Gintae? Because I do, and they have some good moments here. It’s truly a pity how later on in the series Sorachi barely makes them interact anymore.

And now onto episode 9 - or as I like to call it, Early Ginhiji Excellence. In this episode the Shinsengumi commit their (so far) most corrupt act as they decide to go out and kill the guy who humiliated their commander in a very petty duel. Insane plot line if you think about it for a second.

Hijikata being upset about Gin forgetting him already, I said oh I’m sure -

- because in case you don’t know, Hijikata canonically hadn’t stop thinking about Gin since he met him.

This line was cut out from the anime, an absolute criminal act. I was so annoyed when I found out.

Thankfully the rest of their conversation made it to the adaptation unchanged, and we get this moment of Hijikata trying to provoke Gintoki by mentioning “the woman” he and Kondou fought over. I’m really obsessed over this attempt at making Gin jealous, because we know he is actually not interested at all in said woman (since, as we learn later on, Hijikata still isn’t over the situationship he had when he was 16-years-old).

This episode’s duel ends up yet again with Gin winning and we get this really interesting momentary wrap up:

Gin really values protecting something above everything else - therefore he sees what Hijikata did as honorable and killing him dishonorable (well then there’s also the fact that killing a high-ranking Shinsengumi officer is just not a good idea and realistically Gin was never going to walk alive from murdering Hijikata but I don’t think Sorachi wanted us to think that much about it lol).

All in all really great early Gintama episodes. 8/10 for both of them.

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Btw I didn't abandon my Gintama rewatch, on the contrary now I have like 20+ episodes to review jjgk

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Gintama rewatch: episodes 6-7

I'll be honest: I really don't care for Otsu, so most (if not all) of her episodes usually leave me pretty indifferent. I think my main problem with Otsu is that I don't really get what Sorachi is exactly making fun of with her character: that she's a teen idol singing bizarre, inappropriate songs? that she's a teen idol who has a very parasocial fanbase made up of cringey teen boys? Is the joke that idol music is shallow and silly? Is the joke that otaku idols are weird? Is the joke that Otsu actually takes her career very seriously? Are we laughing with her or at her?

I really can't tell. She doesn't really work as commentary on the idol industry because she's canonically an upcoming idol who started as a street singer and her manager is just her mom. Episode 6 is her very first live show, and if my memory doesn't fail me, for most of the series she's not even that popular (aren't there a couple of jokes later on about her music flopping?). And I'm probably reading too much into this, but I just can't take the "her music is bad" joke because for what we know that is pretty much a very intentional creative choice on Otsu's side. Like I fully believe she actually wants to be a camp artist that sings bizarre songs. Sorachi really just created an underground singer that has a small but devoted fanbase that vibes with her weird aura and bizarre lyrics and told us "look at my parody of a popular teen idol!". Sir that's just not what you did here!

Anyway, I don't think I'll ever write this much about Otsu ever again. Her first episode is ok-ish, the storyline with her dad is fine but we really could've done without the attempted assault. 6/10.

Continuing with episode 7, we are introduced to two of the series most iconic supporting characters: Hasegawa and Prince Hata, aka Madao and the Baka Ouji. This episode is probably the biggest change from the source material so far, as in the manga this is actually the second chapter ever of Gintama and therefore both Hasegawa and the Baka Ouji are introduced before Kagura. Which is actually crazy if you ask me. The anime's change of the events' order resulted in our heroine being added to the episode, which brings several jokes that aren't in the original chapter and also recontextualizes a joke from a later episode.

Through out the series I became really fond of Hasegawa, so his "origin story" actually makes me feel a bit sad: he is the only character which will suffer consequences for standing up against an amanto for almost the entirety of the series. Perhaps is that I've grown older but I simply can't find much amusement in the "ha Madao is homeless and lame" jokes anymore. It doesn't help that I can't stand the Baka Ouji and that everytime Sorachi brought him back I felt that my patience was being tested (specially in the final arc oh my God). All this being said, this is a solid episode and I didn't dislike it, so it's a 7/10.

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Gintama rewatch: episode 5

At heart I'm a Shinsengumi girly, so I'm really glad the anime introduced them earlier than the manga. But before meeting our favourite tax robbing officers we are introduced to one of Gintoki's former acquaintances, Katsura, and we get our first glimpse into their shared past with the very first appearance of the "live your life beautifully until the end" flashback. We also learn that search warrants seemingly do not exist in Gintama's universe.

But to be honest the absolute highlight of the episode for me was what is, essentially, Gintoki and Hijikata's meet cute. Gintoki is shipped with half the cast (being an MC that has interesting dynamics with almost all the characters will do that), but personally I find his pairing with Hijikata to be the most compelling - I'll take Ginhiji over every other Gintoki ship everyday. There is a certain epicness in their first encounter (this is, after all, the first time we see Gintoki fight with someone who is a regular character of the series and not an antagonist-of-the-week), and you just know that you're witnessing something that will be very important later. Also, the first time I watched this episode I definitely didn't fully grasp how insane their first conversation is - what do you mean they're mid sword fight commenting on each other's eyes? 

No seriously in which moment of the fight they had time to look deep into the other's eyes and form an opinion on them??

Again, I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying this earlier episodes, I definitely underestimated early Gintama's rewatch value. 8/10.

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The way Gin's horoscope was right because that weekend he met Kagura :')

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Gintama rewatch: episodes 3-4

I firmly believe in recommending Gintama first time watchers to straight up skip the double episode special and start with episode 3 - which adapts the first chapter of the manga. Starting with how the Yorozuya came to be is simply the best way to get into the story.

I'll admit that although I love Gintama and it's my favorite series, it did took me a while to get into the story on my first watch. That's why I'm very surprised - and pleased - with how much I enjoyed Shinpachi and Kagura's introductions this time. Specially Kagura, seeing the real her after having to suffer through the absolute butchering of her character in Ginpachi-sensei was an absolute delight.

These episodes work to set up the Yorozuya triad. Given how early into the story we are, they do a pretty good job conveying some key information about these characters: Shinpachi's frustration with the end of the samurai era and his dream to reopen his father's dojo, Kagura's fight with her Yato blood and her wish to belong to some place, and Gintoki's need to protect those he sees as helpless - as well as hinting at him failing to do so in the past (if we had known!!).

Also I think it's cute how both Shinpachi and Kagura just hired themselves, 27-years-old Gin suddenly had two teenagers following him around and just had to accept it lol. 7/10 for episode 3 (Tae's subplot is just creepy) and 8/10 for episode 4 because I love Kagura.