I <3 Gintama: News at 11
Oct. 15th, 2010 05:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotRegarding the Yoshiwara arc, which we finished last night: I love the humor in Gintama, it's made me laugh as hard as any anime ever has. That being said, I think I like the show best when it goes dramatic. Gintama Fanning: UR DOING IT RONG. orz
...Also I may have a thing for seeing Gintoki get the holy crap beaten out of him. *Ahem* (Can I help it if he's super hot, those rare times he gets seriousand covered in blood? Especially when he's doing that anime impossible-endurance thing and keeps standing up long after he should be dead, because he has to keep fighting for the sake of those he's protecting...) Oh, fight shounen, you push buttons I shouldn't even have.
And buttons I've long enjoyed as well. Kagura losing every vestige of control when Shinpachi's about to be killed, and then Shinpachi in turn saving her, bringing her back from the brink - yes, that high-pitched squeal you heard last night was my squee-meter breaking.
(Also, brief as it was, Gintoki holding Kagura after Kamui took her down and "shikkari shiro"ing her, yeah, that will never get old. AWWWW.)
The fights were fantastic and gorgeously animated - at least for the brief moments they were happening and weren't interrupted by a lot of talking, even by fight shounen standards - but then again, it's hard to hold that against the show, when they actually point out that they're not supposed to be an action show anyway and they aren't budgeted for such shenanigans...and then they take a break right in the middle of the most intense action to have an interlude of the characters discussing the urgent problem of how they're running out of manga to adapt, and exploring the various possible tacks anime take in such situations, and congratulating themselves at the end for managing to pad the ep by 4 minutes. (No, there is no meta like Gintama meta.)
But still, loved the fights. And loved, too, that Gintoki doesn't triumph by himself, that it's the women of Yoshiwara working together that wins the day. Gintoki's the catalyst but he's less the decisive force of victory than most shounen heroes are; he definitely couldn't have done it by himself, and they might have been able to succeed without him. Which would be frustrating under some circumstances, but given the nature of the story it's better this way; sometimes it's more satisfying to see people saving themselves than an all-powerful hero coming to the rescue.
Which didn't mean that Gintoki wasn't totally utterly badass, not giving up or staying knocked down, no matter how badly he's beaten. And he's read enough Jump to know that when the bad guy gets smashed through the wall and there's silence, the fight's not over - and then he leaps in the way of the kunai and just takes them. (Which is much, much more awesome than leaping in the way of kunai and deflecting most of them, only to take one to the face and then spend 5 minutes denying it ever happened ROFL O SHOW I <3 YOU 4EVER!) (...Though I'm still trying to figure out how the hell he was still standing at the end. He had to have passed out sometime, why didn't we get to see it? siiiigh!)
Then there was Umibozu's conversation with Gintoki at the end, blood father vs adopted father and for all their rivalry they both know that they both love their daughter more than anything. And when Kamui does come for Gintoki's life, Gintoki is going to have to find a way to save him, because that's what Kagura wants...
Gin-chan's my favorite; I maybe don't love Kagura and Shinpachi quite as much, but the Yorozuya is my favorite thing about the show, Gintoki with his little family, how much he'll do for them and how much they'll do for him and how much fun they have together, for all that they spend most of their time squabbling and making fun of each other. Family for all they're not related, there through good and bad, like it or not, no matter what.
But then all the chars are like that, really, one big crazy extended family. Like the penpal arc, with Gintoki and the Shinsengumi being terrible big brothers to Shinpachi and giving him all sorts of the worst advice and telling him his glasses are his best/only feature - except that they all genuinely care about him, too, and want him to find happiness, and it all comes across in the letters. (And then, Shinpachi at the end, standing on the building with his signs, and okay, yes, I do love Shinpachi lots!) And Gintoki talking about how Shinpachi is the kind of guy who, if he sees a girl crying, would leave the girl he's in love with to wipe those tears - however much he might make fun of him, because he's such an easy target and he's so easy to rile up, Gintoki loves Shinpachi so much, his little brother/protégé ...(I loved back in Kyuubei's introductory arc, when Kyuubei started telling Shinpachi how he was weak, how he always expects others to protect him, and Gintoki flips out and says she doesn't know him and has no right to talk to him like that...)
...So yes, I'm stuck on squee. Somewhere in here there should be more significant thoughts, maybe something on the female characters...
(...Gintama does a lot of interesting things with its female characters in general. For one thing, it has about the least fanservice of any shounen series I know. Gintoki is unusually un-perverted for his type of character (he'll enjoy looking at a naked girl if one happens to be in front of him, but otherwise he simply doesn't seem that interested) and the whole show in general just doesn't go there - this is a show that manages to have both an onsen/hot springs arc and a courtesan/prostitution/sex slavery arc with pretty much no cheesecake whatsoever. I think a couple of the courtesans might have shown a little cleavage in the background shots. I don't know if Sorachi just doesn't think T&A is funny (with the exception of BDSM gear...) or what, but when your sadomasochistic ninja girl is pretty much never seen striking a sexy pose, except entirely for laughs...yes, Gintama is a special show. It's not like it's one of those shounen series that has no female chars to speak of, either, quite to the contrary; the numbers aren't quite equal but there's more women, and more female major characters, than in a lot of series. And not only are the girls allowed to be as funny as the guys (which anime in general does tend to be better at, but it's still nice) but they're not any sort of stereotypes - Kagura in particular is about as unique a shounen heroine as Gintoki is a unique hero (that Kagura is possibly/probably the stronger fighter is just one aspect of this) but they're all...special. (Though het shipping is difficult despite this, because it seems like nearly every female character introduced in the later eps is in love with another woman, so... ^^))
...But then to think about the show too long or take it too seriously is kind of to deny the point, which is first and foremost CRACK. ...when it's not CUTE. Or TRAGEDY. Or in my case, SQUEEEEE~!
ETA: Really, how can you not love a show, when in an opening Q&A section the question is, "What's the point of Gintama? I don't get where it's is trying to go; I don't see what this anime's goal is," and the hero's answer is a flat, "Ore mo wakarimasen. [I don't know, either.]" and then he agrees that going two years without a goal is ridiculous, and he should be trying to become Samurai King:
...Also I may have a thing for seeing Gintoki get the holy crap beaten out of him. *Ahem* (Can I help it if he's super hot, those rare times he gets serious
And buttons I've long enjoyed as well. Kagura losing every vestige of control when Shinpachi's about to be killed, and then Shinpachi in turn saving her, bringing her back from the brink - yes, that high-pitched squeal you heard last night was my squee-meter breaking.
(Also, brief as it was, Gintoki holding Kagura after Kamui took her down and "shikkari shiro"ing her, yeah, that will never get old. AWWWW.)
The fights were fantastic and gorgeously animated - at least for the brief moments they were happening and weren't interrupted by a lot of talking, even by fight shounen standards - but then again, it's hard to hold that against the show, when they actually point out that they're not supposed to be an action show anyway and they aren't budgeted for such shenanigans...and then they take a break right in the middle of the most intense action to have an interlude of the characters discussing the urgent problem of how they're running out of manga to adapt, and exploring the various possible tacks anime take in such situations, and congratulating themselves at the end for managing to pad the ep by 4 minutes. (No, there is no meta like Gintama meta.)
But still, loved the fights. And loved, too, that Gintoki doesn't triumph by himself, that it's the women of Yoshiwara working together that wins the day. Gintoki's the catalyst but he's less the decisive force of victory than most shounen heroes are; he definitely couldn't have done it by himself, and they might have been able to succeed without him. Which would be frustrating under some circumstances, but given the nature of the story it's better this way; sometimes it's more satisfying to see people saving themselves than an all-powerful hero coming to the rescue.
Which didn't mean that Gintoki wasn't totally utterly badass, not giving up or staying knocked down, no matter how badly he's beaten. And he's read enough Jump to know that when the bad guy gets smashed through the wall and there's silence, the fight's not over - and then he leaps in the way of the kunai and just takes them. (Which is much, much more awesome than leaping in the way of kunai and deflecting most of them, only to take one to the face and then spend 5 minutes denying it ever happened ROFL O SHOW I <3 YOU 4EVER!) (...Though I'm still trying to figure out how the hell he was still standing at the end. He had to have passed out sometime, why didn't we get to see it? siiiigh!)
Then there was Umibozu's conversation with Gintoki at the end, blood father vs adopted father and for all their rivalry they both know that they both love their daughter more than anything. And when Kamui does come for Gintoki's life, Gintoki is going to have to find a way to save him, because that's what Kagura wants...
Gin-chan's my favorite; I maybe don't love Kagura and Shinpachi quite as much, but the Yorozuya is my favorite thing about the show, Gintoki with his little family, how much he'll do for them and how much they'll do for him and how much fun they have together, for all that they spend most of their time squabbling and making fun of each other. Family for all they're not related, there through good and bad, like it or not, no matter what.
But then all the chars are like that, really, one big crazy extended family. Like the penpal arc, with Gintoki and the Shinsengumi being terrible big brothers to Shinpachi and giving him all sorts of the worst advice and telling him his glasses are his best/only feature - except that they all genuinely care about him, too, and want him to find happiness, and it all comes across in the letters. (And then, Shinpachi at the end, standing on the building with his signs, and okay, yes, I do love Shinpachi lots!) And Gintoki talking about how Shinpachi is the kind of guy who, if he sees a girl crying, would leave the girl he's in love with to wipe those tears - however much he might make fun of him, because he's such an easy target and he's so easy to rile up, Gintoki loves Shinpachi so much, his little brother/protégé ...(I loved back in Kyuubei's introductory arc, when Kyuubei started telling Shinpachi how he was weak, how he always expects others to protect him, and Gintoki flips out and says she doesn't know him and has no right to talk to him like that...)
...So yes, I'm stuck on squee. Somewhere in here there should be more significant thoughts, maybe something on the female characters...
(...Gintama does a lot of interesting things with its female characters in general. For one thing, it has about the least fanservice of any shounen series I know. Gintoki is unusually un-perverted for his type of character (he'll enjoy looking at a naked girl if one happens to be in front of him, but otherwise he simply doesn't seem that interested) and the whole show in general just doesn't go there - this is a show that manages to have both an onsen/hot springs arc and a courtesan/prostitution/sex slavery arc with pretty much no cheesecake whatsoever. I think a couple of the courtesans might have shown a little cleavage in the background shots. I don't know if Sorachi just doesn't think T&A is funny (with the exception of BDSM gear...) or what, but when your sadomasochistic ninja girl is pretty much never seen striking a sexy pose, except entirely for laughs...yes, Gintama is a special show. It's not like it's one of those shounen series that has no female chars to speak of, either, quite to the contrary; the numbers aren't quite equal but there's more women, and more female major characters, than in a lot of series. And not only are the girls allowed to be as funny as the guys (which anime in general does tend to be better at, but it's still nice) but they're not any sort of stereotypes - Kagura in particular is about as unique a shounen heroine as Gintoki is a unique hero (that Kagura is possibly/probably the stronger fighter is just one aspect of this) but they're all...special. (Though het shipping is difficult despite this, because it seems like nearly every female character introduced in the later eps is in love with another woman, so... ^^))
...But then to think about the show too long or take it too seriously is kind of to deny the point, which is first and foremost CRACK. ...when it's not CUTE. Or TRAGEDY. Or in my case, SQUEEEEE~!
ETA: Really, how can you not love a show, when in an opening Q&A section the question is, "What's the point of Gintama? I don't get where it's is trying to go; I don't see what this anime's goal is," and the hero's answer is a flat, "Ore mo wakarimasen. [I don't know, either.]" and then he agrees that going two years without a goal is ridiculous, and he should be trying to become Samurai King:
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Date: 2010-10-16 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-16 03:38 am (UTC)(your icon fills me with squee~! ^^)
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Date: 2010-10-16 02:26 am (UTC)Of all the arcs, I do think that the Yoshiwara Arc is my favorite, partly because I loved all of the characters, especially the women. And like you, it mashed my squee buttons like crazy! The Shinsengumi Arc comes in second, though, because I literally started cursing the screen when I thought they had killed one of my favorite characters, although I didn't realize until that moment that I liked him that much XD
I'm trying to think on what you still have ahead of you. I think you may have already passed the mini-arc that first had me crying rivers, startled me into raucous laughter, and ended with me bawling even more. It's amazing that this is also the show that had a mini-arc on how disgusting the Shinsengumi's toilets are XD
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Date: 2010-10-16 03:49 am (UTC)...actually I found the Screwdriver arc hysterical. Just traumatizing as well ^^;;;;; (for comedy, I dunno, the penpal arc is awful sweet in places but killed me so ded in other places...)
And I don't know if I like the Shinsengumi arc or the Yoshiwara arc better; they both have so much to make me squee. And I'm partial to the Benizakura as well... (and hee - I totally think Sorachi did the Yamazaki-death fake-out just to make people realize how fond they'd gotten of him! I actually had a spoiler from much later that made me suspect he'd survived, but still...one of the reasons I love the show is that it goes serious...and tragic...enough that you can actually believe for a moment that he might be dead. ...and then he comes back and his funeral's getting supplanted by a dog's AHAHAHAHAH poor Yamazaki...)
...so the arc that made you cry, it didn't involve a dog, did it? a dog and cats and LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF CRACK? (really that's the summary of every plot arc in Gintama: X & X & SO MUCH CRACK.)
...Shisengumi toilets and THEN IT'S A NAUSICAA PARODY ZOMGWTF KONDOU-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN~!
But yes, happy place!! So much squee - I haven't really fanned like this in a while, it feels so good... (so good that I may have 15K words of fic and counting. ...oops?)
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Date: 2010-10-17 02:54 am (UTC)The Shinsengumi one was also amazing. though it was cracky to see Hijikata possessed by an otaku, later it became tragic and D:
(Though het shipping is difficult despite this, because it seems like nearly every female character introduced in the later eps is in love with another woman, so... ^^))
... Ahahah, Kyuubei/Otae is kind of cute.
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Date: 2010-10-17 04:56 am (UTC)... Ahahah, Kyuubei/Otae is kind of cute.
Heee, they totally are. That's one of the pairings I'm probably most behind, really ^^
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Date: 2010-10-17 03:01 pm (UTC)I actually thought Kondo/Otae on the sides was fascinating. XD; Kondo will probably not survive the beating.
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Date: 2010-10-17 08:00 pm (UTC)Ah, I love Zura & Gintoki as friends, and the Yorozuya + the Shinsengumi are awesome, as are the Shinsengumi on their own. And yeah, Kondo/Otae has potential - he could help revive the dojo, for one! - but on the other hand, yeeeeah, it might be rough on poor Kondo-kun! ^^;
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Date: 2010-10-17 04:58 am (UTC)--forgot to say it in previous comment, but yes, this - I love how the series can start out with something completely ridiculous and then go so strikingly dramatic. Okay, it gives me emotional whiplash but at the same time it's so much fun!
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Date: 2010-10-17 02:57 pm (UTC)