on Gintama'
Jun. 7th, 2011 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotGintama 211, second ep into the Kabuki-chou arc, and DAMN. I love this series because of, not in spite of, all its crack - but that once a year or so when it drops the comedy and gets its fight shounen on....yowza. The hiatus didn't change that any. And they were clearly saving their budget for this one, too, because it looks gorgeous:
Right after this, Gintoki taking on Jirocho in the graveyard, was one of the two scenes in this arc that I was most looking forward to seeing animated. It did rather the opposite of disappointing.
I love Gintoki and Otose's unique relationship, that he's the pathetic stray she couldn't help but take home, and he skips on the rent and calls her "baba" and she blows smoke in his face and yells and sends Tama after him - but she understands him. Gintoki's very good at understanding people, reading their hearts, but Otose might be the only one who knows him better than he knows her. And she showed him kindness, and she's maybe the first person he dared promise to protect after the war, his first step back to life - and he knows he can never fully repay her, and maybe doesn't realize that being her family is enough.
I also may have a little tiny thing for seeing my heroes completely lose it. Shiroyasha especially, because he's so dangerous, so completely rabid-dog vicious, for all that he's not out of control - I love that Gintoki's not one of those shounen split-personality type fighters; unlike Kenshin or Ginji, or Goku or Kagura, he doesn't lose his mind or his conscience. He just gets really fucking motivated.
And there's just something about seeing this:
become this:
...Yeah.
I love that he doesn't say anything, he just yells (oh Sugita~!) and keeps flinging himself at his enemy. And even for a shounen, the moment that his bokutou is shattered mid-swing and Gintoki grabs the spinning shard out of the air and stabs it into Jirocho's shoulder is about an eleven on the scale of badass battle.
Of course being the first confrontation, no badassery is enough.
Not that Shiroyasha gives a damn.
But it's not a serious arc unless Gintoki is nearly killed, and while he's been hurt worse, he's maybe never been as badly beaten as this, that we've seen:
(you know you're in an anime when the weather cries for you.)
They re-animated the flashback, too, so soft and lovely.
"Baa-san..."
Otose-san...! Gin-saaaan...! *wibble*
Next ep now please? Bring on the aaaaaangst!
Right after this, Gintoki taking on Jirocho in the graveyard, was one of the two scenes in this arc that I was most looking forward to seeing animated. It did rather the opposite of disappointing.
I love Gintoki and Otose's unique relationship, that he's the pathetic stray she couldn't help but take home, and he skips on the rent and calls her "baba" and she blows smoke in his face and yells and sends Tama after him - but she understands him. Gintoki's very good at understanding people, reading their hearts, but Otose might be the only one who knows him better than he knows her. And she showed him kindness, and she's maybe the first person he dared promise to protect after the war, his first step back to life - and he knows he can never fully repay her, and maybe doesn't realize that being her family is enough.
I also may have a little tiny thing for seeing my heroes completely lose it. Shiroyasha especially, because he's so dangerous, so completely rabid-dog vicious, for all that he's not out of control - I love that Gintoki's not one of those shounen split-personality type fighters; unlike Kenshin or Ginji, or Goku or Kagura, he doesn't lose his mind or his conscience. He just gets really fucking motivated.
And there's just something about seeing this:
become this:
...Yeah.
I love that he doesn't say anything, he just yells (oh Sugita~!) and keeps flinging himself at his enemy. And even for a shounen, the moment that his bokutou is shattered mid-swing and Gintoki grabs the spinning shard out of the air and stabs it into Jirocho's shoulder is about an eleven on the scale of badass battle.
Of course being the first confrontation, no badassery is enough.
Not that Shiroyasha gives a damn.
But it's not a serious arc unless Gintoki is nearly killed, and while he's been hurt worse, he's maybe never been as badly beaten as this, that we've seen:
(you know you're in an anime when the weather cries for you.)
They re-animated the flashback, too, so soft and lovely.
"Baa-san..."
Otose-san...! Gin-saaaan...! *wibble*
Next ep now please? Bring on the aaaaaangst!
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Date: 2011-06-07 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 09:20 am (UTC)But yeah, so far at least the anime is doing it fantastic justice ^^ (and it's so pretty! totally worth watching just for that...)
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Date: 2011-06-07 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 08:12 pm (UTC)...but the rest of the time it's insane, Animaniacs-esque parody of shounen manga and Japanese pop culture - it's Kenshin minus the romance and times a metric ton of crack, with toilet humor galore ("toilet humor" is not a metaphor here. There is literally an ep about 4 characters trapped in the stalls of a public restroom for lack of toilet paper. An entire episode.) So that first shot I posted is much closer to the usual mood of the show (and I'd say you could just watch the serious eps, but I don't think they'd work as well if you didn't know the chars from the rest...)
The first shot's from the current opening, and it gives you a fair idea of the general feel of the show (watch here, flopped to prevent youtube censorship.) So, yeah...you could try it (and don't get me wrong, I really do think it's a uniquely awesome series!) but if you're in a Kenshin mood you might want to check out another Tokugawa/Meiji era anime to get your samurai fix? ^^ (I've heard
goodslashy things about Peacemaker Kurogane...)(otoh, Dragon Quest is the mangaka's favorite game ever, so... XD)
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Date: 2011-06-07 08:04 pm (UTC)It was really gorgeously animated and the acting was top-notch. Not that it isn't always, but I really love Sugita when he's serious. He has fantastic comic timing but when he does dramatic scenes he's even better. I really loved how there was little for him to say in the last scenes of the episode but he made the most of every word. That "Baa-san" at the end made my heart break...
Also the fighiting in Gintama is way more "raw" than in most shounen titles. Probably due to the characters not having any special attacks, magical weapons etc. Of course they are stronger and faster than average people, and can endure a LOT of injuries, but still we get a lot of realism with them fighting using every possible means and adjusting to particular situations. The part with the broken bokutou was a great example of this, same as the eye-stabbing with Tsukuyo's pipe in Yoshiwara.
And I guess there's no option but to love Gintoki waaay too much for one's own good xD The sneaky bastard somehow managed to become my favourite character of everything ever :D
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Date: 2011-06-07 08:25 pm (UTC)Hee, yeah, the seiyuu in Gintama are all great, but I do love Sugita, and he does the drama as well as he does the comedy, which is saying something...! (also okay I like the little pained gasps...) And the "Baa-san" was beautiful because it was so soft and underplayed (and Gintoki was actually crying! Gintoki who doesn't cry or say thank you...Gin-saaaan...)
And yes I like that about the Gintama fights, too - don't get me wrong, I love shounen pseudoscience and crazy special moves(One Piece is my favorite series ever, after all...!) , but the way Gintoki just goes for it however he can is brutally intense. (It's one of the many things that makes Gintama feel more like a seinen even if it is in Shounen Jump)
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Date: 2011-06-09 07:12 pm (UTC)But yes, that semi-realistic style in Gintama simply fits the characters' personalities best. Plus the seriousness and brutality always makes for a great change of mood from the comedy.
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Date: 2011-06-07 09:08 pm (UTC)I seriously can't get enough of this series, but to be honest, I'm a larger fan of the anime than the manga. (The seiyuu make it happen! And Sugita~ <3)
But yes, the Kabuki-chou arc is lovely. The relationship between Gintoki and Otose is just so moving--- and ohh-- this anime just makes me cry so much. ToT
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Date: 2011-06-07 09:21 pm (UTC)And yes - Gintama is one of the only series that I hands-down prefer the anime over the manga. It's so much prettier (Sorachi is a mad but brilliant writer, but an artist less so...), and a lot of the gags make more sense animated. I think of the Gintama manga as the storyboard for the anime, really. Which is why I am so very excited to be getting to see Kabuki-chou animated (also Sugita is indeed <333!)
(And yeah, I love Gintama, but One Piece is my ~~FAVORITE MANGA OF ALL TIME~~ and I pretty much worship Odacchi for his storytelling and artistic skills, so, erm, yeah....I went a long while without reading it but just caught up now so there's definitely more OP squee to come...)
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Date: 2011-06-07 10:04 pm (UTC)I'm one of those weird rabid seiyuu fans-- so the reason I started watching Gintama back then was because of the cast list. I remember reading a couple of chapters of the Gintama manga, but the anime left me with a larger impact. Because like you've said, though the story is good, it being beautifully animated is what really won me over. (And Sugita is the PERFECT Gintoki.)
As for One Piece, it's the other way around for me. One Piece is also my Ultimate Favorite Manga OF ALL TIME (YAY! OUR TASTES ARE THE SAME, LOL), but the anime less so. True, I enjoy the seiyuu cast, but the manga is on a whole different level. Nothing can compare, which leaves the anime much more lacking in comparison. The animation is also pretty low quality and the manga art is so much better.
But yes! One Piece is on a completely different level from the rest of all JUMP series in history, seriously. It's the only series I've religiously kept up with since the first chapter. Odacchi's storytelling skills is epic, a work of genius-- I think I've read the manga front to current chapter at least 20 times over the years. I can't believe I've been loving this series for 10+ years. It's never happened to me before!
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Date: 2011-06-07 10:35 pm (UTC)And OP, yes - I got into the series originally through the anime (back in, hmm, '04, so it's not been 10 years yet for me but getting there...!) but definitely prefer the manga - the anime with its budget can't hope to match Oda's art (it's more dynamic than the animation for all that it's still shots!)(excepting Strong World, which is gorgeous) and the pacing, argh (if only they'd just take a year off like Gintama!) But the seiyuu are fantastic (Nakai! Hirata! Yamaguchi Kappei! Tanaka Mayumi!), and it's fun to be able to watch it with someone...
But yeah, the true One Piece is Oda-sensei's manga. I actually was way behind - didn't read it for about 2 years (Impel Down/Marineford happened right around a time I really wasn't in the mood for depressing stories ^^;) and only just caught up with an epic reread of the entire series in the last month - totally revived my love; as you say, it's a genius work, pretty much unparalleled. I really don't think you could have a better shounen series, and if it continues to the end as strong as it's gone so far (and with Odacchi I'm expecting it will!), it'll be one of the greatest stories of anything of all time.
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Date: 2011-06-07 11:04 pm (UTC)Seems like we've both tread on similar paths. :) I've been a seiyuu-fan as long as I can remember. It started with Tenku Senki Shurato who's voiced by Seki Toshihiko. So Seki Toshihiko was my first seiyuu crush ever. So yay! He holds a special place in my heart.
Then my love for seiyuu just went haywire for a while (though it stopped a couple of years ago), but it's tempered to a steady flare these days. There's a select list of seiyuu I still keep tabs on, though, and I still enjoy their works. :)
I've actually discovered Sugita in some seiyuu magazine from way back. It was a after his debut in Masou Kishin Cybuster-- I think it was early 2000s-- just before his big role in Chobits. But I remember a small black and white article of him and a couple other upcoming seiyuu-- and now they're all big-name seiyuu. It's amazing to see their progress, lol. But I remember watching the Fuyo/Tama arc in Gintama, and loled a little bit of the Chobits-reference.
As for the One Piece anime, I do enjoy it once in a while. I don't watch it religiously, but I do go back once in a while after reading the manga to scenes where I think I would like to watch some seiyuu action, haha. And I do love the cast, Tanaka Mayumi's the perfect Luffy, and I can't imagine anyone else as Zoro other than Nakai Kazuya. All the One Piece staff have awesome chemistry together, and I think that's what makes it so fun, even if the animation is subpar. I love it when they talk about their drinking parties and family parties with Oda-- it makes the 'nakamaship' even more awesome. :)
There was a period where I stopped reading One Piece for about a month so I could just catch up all at once later (think it was the Thriller Bark arc), but it didn't work-- I've developed a need for a weekly fix. It's quite sad. T_T;
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Date: 2011-06-07 11:33 pm (UTC)Seki Toshihiko I think I first saw as Legato in Trigun, but I got to know him best in Saiyuki (which is one of the more extreme cases of the seiyuu being the only thing it has going for it. And the manga is one of my all-time faves. But the anime is just! so! bad!)(I do madly want Saiyuki/Gintama/OP x-over fanart, because the Nakai-Hirata-Ishida Akira confluence is too much fun to pass up.)
Ahh, Sugita got his break in Chobits! That probably explains how he got Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi (have never seen the Chobits anime, though I've read the manga...I have a, hmm, let's call it a love-hate relationship with CLAMP. ^^;) Getting him for Gintoki was a stroke of genius, though! He's got such a crazy range, you can barely recognize him on the more extreme emotional ends - and since Gintoki runs the full spectrum from hysterical loon to scary badass, yeah, he's perfect for it.
I haven't kept up with the OP anime for a while (except, as you say, for certain moments - okay, I'll admit it, I love the way Tanaka Mayumi makes Luffy scream! The end of Sabaody...yow.) but lately I've been watching Water 7 with my bro (he's never gotten around to reading the manga, and hadn't seen the anime since Skypiea, so was getting tired of me talking about it and spoiling future awesomeness) and yeah, the animation fails to add anything to Oda's art, but the seiyuu do give it an extra bit of wow, really put their heart & soul into it.
There was a period where I stopped reading One Piece for about a month so I could just catch up all at once later (think it was the Thriller Bark arc), but it didn't work-- I've developed a need for a weekly fix. It's quite sad.
Ahahah that's what's happened to me with Gintama; I'd wait and watch the arcs all at once, but I can't last that long!
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Date: 2011-06-09 07:23 pm (UTC)The Chobits anime was pretty good, but due to censorship issues they changed some of the plot, which made for a weird and hardly conprehesnible ending. Only after I'd read the manga I got what it was all about.
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Date: 2011-06-09 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-10 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 10:22 am (UTC)Sooo tl;dr: I was wondering if I can add you? I need more Gintafriends and you seem awesome/thoughtful/awesome.
And yeah, the episode's gorgeous. I've actually read through the entire arc (but am not gonna spoiler bomb, don't worry) and it is definitely one of the most emotional ones we've had so far.
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Date: 2011-06-12 10:43 am (UTC)And yes, I've skimmed enough of this arc to have been dying to see it animated (especially looking forward to the next ep - the confrontation between the Yorozuya is one of the bits that I actually stopped and read the Japanese for, and oh, so intense and beautiful...)
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Date: 2011-06-12 10:54 am (UTC)aaah, that scene was amazing. There's one line Shinpachi said that just got to me and for some reason while reading that I can sorta hear Sakaguchi saying the line and ;___;
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Date: 2011-07-23 08:10 am (UTC)When I read this part in the manga I cried a bit cause I didn't know if Otose would die or not.
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Date: 2011-07-23 07:48 pm (UTC)I'm a little disappointed I had that part spoiled for me - I'd seen Otose in the manga after this arc, so knew she lived - but still, so intense...!