I have a question for the people who have been keeping up with the latest episodes of Gintama. As some of you may know, I’ve been keeping up with Rumbel’s subs for the series. Now that Horriblesubs have released the final missing episodes between Rumbel’s and the start of Crunchyroll’s, I decided to slowly marathon up to the latest episodes. Right now, I have just finished episode 124 and am seriously considering to drop the series altogether.
My question to you is: is Gintama really going to improve?
Because seriously, my patience at this point has entirely run out. I have heard that around episode 140, this series gets serious again with a bunch of good episodes around Kagura’s past, but is that really going to be worth it if the creators are going to delve into boring fillers again? Is it really going to be worth it, watching a dozen episodes, just to get to one good one?
Ever since the new director took over at episode 101 for me, this series has lost all of its charms, but I had faith in the series, hoping that it might pick itself back up. However, then I reached episode 120, which was the funniest episode ever since this guy took over. So what was the best joke in that episode? A rip-off of one of the best jokes of the first director. It was at this point that I realized that it was getting pointless to watch this series.
I truly rate the first 100 episodes among the top comedies I have ever seen. Sure, it also did have its share of weak episodes, but those were vastly outnumbered by the number of awesome and really well written episodes. The new director however just failed to live up to it in every single way. The penis jokes for example have become way too obvious, and that’s just the tip of the ice-berg.
Another pet peeves of the new director is that he tries to stuff in as much references to other shounen series as possible. I’m always in for a good parody, but that’s the problem: instead of parodying, the new director is simply listing a bunch of references without making fun of them. After a while this becomes really, really boring.
Then there’s also the matter of the increase of lengthy arcs. In the first 100 episodes, the only arcs that took up more than 2 episodes were the ones that mattered: the ones that developed the characters and made optimal use of their length. Right now the long arcs are just dragging on beyond belief, often wasting entire episodes with things that can be solved within only 10 minutes. The biggest example of this are episodes 121, 122 and 123: what the heck was the point in dragging this on for three episodes? The entire story would have fit into just a half of an episode, and instead it became an utterly predictable bore-fest that just would not end.
A more fundamental problem however is that the quality of the script-writing has gone down a lot. The first 100 episodes were really good at tugging at my heart-strings, not through its characters, but because of its subtle writing that knew exactly what to say. Especially the long monologues of the characters were deep, meaningful and really got the best out of the characters in the serious moments. That’s completely gone now as well. The dialogue has become uninspired, cheap, and way too much focused on over the top violence in an attempt to make up.
I’m really beginning to feel that I’m just watching the show for the heck of it, which is a shame because there are many better shows at the moment that I’d rather spend my attention at. In the end, there really seems to be a curse on shounen series that go beyond the 100 episode mark: Dragonball Z would have been fine if it just ended after 26 episodes; it would have been a nice action series that way. Naruto was pretty much a good series until the start of the final Chuunin Examinations, after which it dragged its story on and on beyond belief. Bleach was also a very entertaining shounen series for its first 30 episodes… until it descended into a bunch of boring and predictable fights around the Ichigo the Marty Stu. Gintama lasted longer than the others, but in the end, my enthusiasm for the first 100 episodes is just completely gone at this point.
So yeah, if I do end up dropping it (which is pretty likely at this point), what do you want me to do? Write a review about just the first 100 episodes, or is that review not really necessary?]]>
My Dilemma with Gintama
If you drop it, or even if you don’t, please do review the first 100 episodes. For me, that much of Gintama was 10/10. Mention your complaints about the new director if you drop it.
I would love a review of this show, even it is “only” of the first 100 episodes. I am wondering whether or not this show is worth getting into and, though we differ when it comes to Miyazaki, your anime reviews are the only ones I bother to read.
I don’t know if Gintama will improve since I never noticed it declining. If you do decide todrop it I recommend you watch ep 150 as your final ep, after the whole fake final episode I couldn’t wait to see more!
I guess every good idea worns out after 100 episodes. I lasted long for a couple seasons of Inuyasha at my best. After that I usually skip these kind of long series.
well, the Yoshiwara arc contains one of the best fights, alot of blood and great writing also there’s Kamui. Yeah i would say watch the whole 3rd season because of 150 (it’s in my top 5 best Gintama episodes. Also episode 119 had the best DBZ spoof of all time! :D.. Though i dropped after episode 150. That’s where it started to drag for me =/.
you should probably read the manga instead
I am not a fan of Gintama but what I usually do in these type of situations with similar types of series is skip the filler episodes (you can usually find out Online what episodes are filler from manga fans).
Or even better yet read the manga!
I’ve been jumping around with episodes of Gintama and honestly haven’t got a clue what falls under the 1st 100 episodes and what doesn’t, but I just know there was a point with those endlessly long (*gasp* typically shounen?) like arcs that just killed what I originally liked about the show – tight in your face humour that came in excellently easily deliverable easily digested episodic bits. And it really feels sad to see that happen.
Personally, I just skip to whichever arcs catch my interest. Of course, having read the manga gives you the advantage of spotting the good ones 🙂 The Kagura’s past one is definitely worth a watch, even if you’re not going to watch anything else.
I’ve been watching Gintama as long as you have, and I sincerely think that for your own good, you should drop it. That’s what I did- I’m pretty sure there’s going to be more and more utterly boring fillers, so you should really think of making it like a “hiatus”. When it gets better you can go back and review it again, but for right now just take a break and look at some more promising animes around. 😀
I do agree that there were quite a few weak episodes after the new director took over. But I love the characters too much to give up the show entirely. On the bright side, things have started to pick up recently. I guess whether you drop it or not depends on much a Gintama fan you are.
As for the review, I think it’s pretty unnecessary. You are either a Gintama fan or you are not.
Well,i don’t watch gintama! but i found it very interesting the way u made a comment about most famous shounen and how they became boring and stuff! I have to say that i completely agree with u, but i noticed u didn’t say anything about One Piece…. hahaha! i would like to hear well, read) ur opinion on OP, cause that’s a shounen that i reeaaly like, i mean, it’s still a shounen so it has a lot of the cliches of the genre, but it does it with such charisma!! heheheh!
I just think One Piece is what it’s meant to be: a really entertaining series with a bunch of likeable characters and exciting fights; and it doesn’t try to be anything else. I just feel is a series with a lot of heart, and even now when it’s over the 400 episodes… it feels like the creators are still inspired by the soul of the story, the setting and the characters.
Ooops! sorry for draggin on myself! XD but if u don’t mind i would like to hear ur opinion on One Piece as well. and about the gintama issue… i think u shoul make a review, at least for the first 100 episodes!
Peace.and.out!
“My question to you is: is Gintama really going to improve? ”
Improve from the total shit it was in the first place ? Nope, not gonna improve.
I really have no idea as for what advice to give you, since I don’t really know how good or bad episodes from 120 onwards are (I’m sticking with Rumbel and have no intention of ever watching Gintama from CR). But I agree with bassment’s comment – it all depends on how much of a Gintama fan you consider yourself. As for me, I love the characters too much to even think of dropping it. And it’s not like the new director’s episodes are that bad, anyway. A lot of them were quite enjoyable… but yeah, that’s just my opinion.
@some.random.dude!
I’d also like to know psgels’s opinion on One Piece, but, as far as I know, he hasn’t watched it yet… And “charisma” is a perfect word to describe OP 🙂
I agree with you. I haven’t been touching Gintama, for half a year because I find it getting boring. I used to follow the raw manga and raw anime. Though looking at the comments, I guess I should check some of the serious arcs.
I agree with the above comment that you should check One Piece. One Piece is probably the exact opposite of the regular shonen, as in the first 15 or so episodes are bore-fest. But once the crews are introduced, the stories start rolling (just skip the anime fillers).
Considering you like Gintama and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, you should check One Piece. It has the perfect mix of FMA style of epic-patient-planned story telling with Gintama’s light-heartedness. There are good reasons why One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan.
Of course you should do the review of the first 100 episodes, after all the direction’s change marks a check point in the series
And if you aren’t enjoying the series right now, just drop it, it’s useless to keep hoping the series’ll get better, just take a break 😀
Instead of watching the other 50 episodes of Gintama you could check other long series like Monster.
No wonder there are more short arcs now than before. I didn’t realise there’s a change of directors but I thought it strange that in the past, only stories that really matter and have some message to deliver are given 2 episodes or more whereas the rest are only single episodes, but it has all changed now. I’ve watched till episode 137 and urm, frankly speaking they ain’t really very entertaining. I suggest to skip those fillers and jump to the meat–the Yoshiwara arc with Kamui. I heard many fascinating stories about it. At least that’s what I plan to do too. (Takasugi is going to appear then too right? Episode 150. All the more reason to watch episode 150!)
About p-kun’s comment about One Piece – I would really not recommend skipping fillers in OP, because:
1) the anime creators happen to include some important canon stuff in them (like the information about the Calm Belt in Apis arc)
2) most of them are really enjoyable to watch, some being simply hilarious (I laughed and loled throughout pretty much the entire G8 arc), some of them having interesting plot (lost memories arc), and other introducing some actually nice and likeable filler characters (like the marines in G8 and Rainbow Mist arcs)…
3) filler arcs in OP are rather short – if I remember correctly, there wasn’t one longer than 10 episodes (while in Naruto or Bleach fillers can drag even for 30-80 episodes), not to mention that they don’t happen that often
4) there’s just too many memorable and precious little scenes in them (mostly the interaction between the crew members), that are simply a must-see 🙂
So yeah, psgels, if you ever start watching OP, I suggest you not skip the fillers 😉
The only shounen that improves with time is One Piece, because it started off very slow and created a huge world to be explored that keeps in expansion.
I watch it once every 6 months in large batches so it turns out more entertaining. Hajime no Ippo is one of my favorite anime and NC kinda dragged it over the point.
Still, my recommendation is that you watch a longer series like Monster, Aria or Legend of the Galactic Heroes instead, as they’re much more worth it.
Can’t say much about Gintama, which I’m not watching, but I’ve got to say I completely agree with your assessment of Bleach there. I really liked it in the beginning as well, but then…. IIRC Bleach was the series that finally broke the camel’s back and made me avoid virtually all more-than-2-cours anime, unless I hear something really really enticing about them. It’s just not worth it to get invested in a series you’ll be forced to drop sooner or later out due to how they start dragging on…
Although, I’ve got to say that I might still watch such series on TV if nothing better were on, because then I’d have to spend the absolute minimum effort of sitting my ass down and fingering the remote; but they’re definitely not worth spending my time downloading them or even going to a streaming site to see them.
I usually just follow the series from what is currently airing and I love it. It never declined for me either. However, I have been marathoning the horrible subs stuff they just released and the screwdriver arc and the pen pal arc seem long and tedious. Having seen everything after that I enjoy probably 8 episodes out of 10. I don’t love every single part of every arc but there are some episodes I just would have hated to miss. I tried to look over the episode list and recommend the ones to watch but I think they all have their merits. The arc immediately following this pen pal arc is about an old dog and an old man who refuse to die before the other. For me it had a nice touching end. The yoshiwara arc has the best fights for Kagura of the series, though I think Gintoki’s fight vs Nizo in the Benizakura arc was better than his fights with Housen. I also enjoyed the Tsusengumi Otsu fanclub arc. Sporadic episodes inbetween ranged from getting old to awesome. episode 150 was mentioned and yeah it should be watched. Soooo yeah, went on way too long but I love Gintama and it saddens me a little that you might drop it but please do a 100 episode review if you do.
To be honest, I stopped around 10x episodes too and skipped directly to 150; a few episodes were a miss for me but I think it’s becoming a little better? Or am I just making myself like them, I’m not quite sure. I think you should stick around for the next few episodes because I really really still like this show regardless. But if you do end up dropping, I guess I’ll just have to do with a review of the first 100. 🙂
How can you seriously believe that a show that goes on for this long would be able to sustain the high it put you on to begin with. I’d LOVE to see any long running series that could do that, especially when it’s based on a manga which is running concurrently.
Hard to say whether Gintama will improve since it has always been a mishmash of either dull or awesome episodes to me. I personally don’t like marathoning through series such as Gintama since it’s so easy to run into a string of boring episodes that way. Instead, I watch them out of order and either skip the ones that doesn’t interest me or leave them for later. Like someone else suggested, maybe you should skip to the Yoshiwara arc. Episode 150 was pretty boring for me but 148-149, as well as some of the newer episodes like 166 and 173 are highly amusing and I suggest you give them a try before deciding whether to drop the series.
Kaguura-Jasant didnt crack you up?
Look, if anything, watch the episodes about arch you mentioned at 140….its one of the best arches I have ever seen. Then stop, lol, that will be an good end for you.
I’m watching eps 150+ and you made a good choice in no longer watching the series. The longer story arcs wear out their welcome and, what was a tightly scripted one-episode premise becomes long and dragged out. If you get a chance, watch the Astro Figher Sunred series! Great parody series, yet very different from Gintama.
Naaahh gintama just gets lame and lamer. There’s only some kick ass arcs coming.
God, 2009. I was learning to fap by that time. Anyway, whether you droped it or not, the point is that, as I’m actually on episode 177, I should tell you not to drop it (even though I know it’s kinda useless right now). For what I read, the low quality you mentioned was caused by Sunrise, whom changed the director because all the reclamations they were reciving plus the not-so-good audience. Until 130-ish you can notice. But after that it just got better. Now I really don’t know if you ended up dropping it or not, but I hope you didn’t, because then I know you had a real good time. If you don’t believe me, check my nickname on YouTube