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A Quick, Easy Guide to the Gintama Drama


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Via_01



Joined: 24 Aug 2014
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 11:23 pm Reply with quote
Ziko577 wrote:
Gintama was always a series that kinda failed at times to address the plot and instead focused too much on comedy and nonsense. After reading this article, I realize that perhaps if the manga ends soon, it will be a rushed and hasty ending as things are left unexplained, vague, and give little clues as where the plot's going at times.


Surprisingly enough, most of the plot points that remain unexplained in the anime have already been resolved in the manga. I don't think there's much left to address at this point other than Gintoki's birth or something like that.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:54 am Reply with quote
Nice article. I've never really seperated Gintama into "funny arcs" and "serious arcs" because the longer arcs at the very least always combined both elements (to variyng degrees). I love the humour in this anime but it's also been one of the few shounen series that made me tear up because of the heartbreaking drama.

Speaking of which, i'm not sure my heart is ready for the coming arc, but i am definitely excited!
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razberry_yum



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:59 am Reply with quote
Great recap of the overarching plot of Gintama! Thanks for the refresher, and hopefully it will help folks who haven't been following the on-going story that closely or those who have just discovered the anime.
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JaggedAuthor



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 2:21 am Reply with quote
razberry_yum wrote:
Great recap of the overarching plot of Gintama! Thanks for the refresher, and hopefully it will help folks who haven't been following the on-going story that closely or those who have just discovered the anime.


Thanks! At times, it seemed like I was writing about a whole other series.
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razberry_yum



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 2:27 am Reply with quote
JaggedAuthor wrote:
razberry_yum wrote:
Great recap of the overarching plot of Gintama! Thanks for the refresher, and hopefully it will help folks who haven't been following the on-going story that closely or those who have just discovered the anime.


Thanks! At times, it seemed like I was writing about a whole other series.


I'm just imagining the reaction of folks who skipped out on Gintama because it wasn't serious enough but decided to come back to see what's going on...right in the middle of the Shogun Assassination Arc. "What the hell? What am I even watching? Is this even Gintama??" Lololol.
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navycherub



Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 233
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:49 am Reply with quote
Wow, I didn't even know I wanted this writeup until I finished reading it. I watched Gintama slowly over the past few years (was finally caught up before the third "season" started) and I never even realized how many details about the politics of the world and the Joi War were there until you put them in convenient chronological order. It was actually kind of fascinating to read, and I've seen the whole show! A part of me feels like the animators should make an animated recap version of the entire summary if they haven't already.
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Midhun Harindran



Joined: 27 Nov 2015
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:45 pm Reply with quote
The"Kiseki no sedai" was a pun on the Kuroko no basuke series. I doubt they werew really called that
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JaggedAuthor



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 4:37 pm Reply with quote
Midhun Harindran wrote:
The"Kiseki no sedai" was a pun on the Kuroko no basuke series. I doubt they werew really called that


Oh, I didn't think they were. That was more a dig at Zura's weirdness than a statement of fact. Incidentally, I considered mentioning Kurokono Tasuke but felt it wouldn't really suit the tone of the article.
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amcnulty



Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:30 pm Reply with quote
razberry_yum wrote:
JaggedAuthor wrote:
razberry_yum wrote:
Great recap of the overarching plot of Gintama! Thanks for the refresher, and hopefully it will help folks who haven't been following the on-going story that closely or those who have just discovered the anime.


Thanks! At times, it seemed like I was writing about a whole other series.


I'm just imagining the reaction of folks who skipped out on Gintama because it wasn't serious enough but decided to come back to see what's going on...right in the middle of the Shogun Assassination Arc. "What the hell? What am I even watching? Is this even Gintama??" Lololol.


Laughing I can't even imagine how weird that would be. Luckily even the serious arcs have some humor in it... It feels like so many shonen shows start off funny (at least a little funny) and become all-serious, all-the-time.
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razberry_yum



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:52 pm Reply with quote
JaggedAuthor wrote:
Midhun Harindran wrote:
The"Kiseki no sedai" was a pun on the Kuroko no basuke series. I doubt they werew really called that


Oh, I didn't think they were. That was more a dig at Zura's weirdness than a statement of fact. Incidentally, I considered mentioning Kurokono Tasuke but felt it wouldn't really suit the tone of the article.


I know that was Sorachi's joke about KuroBasu, but wouldn't it be funny if that person (phantom 5th of the Joui 4, is what he was referred to as, right?) ended up playing an important role in the near future, or if he's been under the Elizabeth garb this entire time? I wouldn't put it past Sorachi to pull something like that.
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JaggedAuthor



Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Posts: 981
PostPosted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 6:33 pm Reply with quote
If Tasuke turned out to be Elizabeth, that would be perfect.
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Ninjajake12



Joined: 04 Aug 2015
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 7:57 am Reply with quote
JaggedAuthor wrote:
If Tasuke turned out to be Elizabeth, that would be perfect.


If that's the case, that'd be kinda creepy, wouldn't it? Lol. Some guy with hairy legs creeping in the shadows.

Anyways, Bravo! I've honestly forgotten quite a bit of the backstory since many of these arcs are separated by 30-50 episodes each. I'll have to go back and rewatch all of them just to refresh my memory. Very well-written article and I think it gives people who may not understand the seriousness of Gintama a proper introduction and well-rounded definition of what's happening.

I've always been a fan of the balance. I love comedy, but the drama arcs always have me running to the TV. The fact that Sorachi has mastered both genres (in my opinion) is pretty spectacular. I haven't read or watched a series that has been able to make me laugh more than Gintama and yet make me cry from sad moments during the serious arcs. It's funny you mention afterthoughts...I wouldn't be surprised if these drama arcs were indeed afterthoughts to keep manga readers hooked when it started (which is tough to do in Jump). But somewhere deep down, I think he had a plan to reveal Gintoki's past and gradually create this story into an entire universe on its own. It's quite amazing to see how far Gintama has came. Personally, my favorites are Red Spider Arc, Yoshiwara in Flames Arc, Courtesan of a Nation Arc, and Kabukicho 4 Arc...excluding mini arcs like Okita's Sister and whatnot.

I can't wait to see this plot build and unfold! I'm an anime-watcher and not a manga-reader, so this will all be new to me! Very excited!
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Genos



Joined: 24 Oct 2015
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 11:31 am Reply with quote
From here on out Gintama is serious, however, in the latest chapters there has been more comedy in it again (through word play, not the random chapter style comedy). Gintama doesn't need the comedy anymore: comedy was an aid in character and relationship development, and now that all the characters can interact the way they need to, the series can reach its climax.

In one of the latest volumes of the manga, Sorachi wrote about ending the series. spoiler[ He wrote that he was moving his characters into place to end it the way he wanted to. I don't think the ending will be rushed: although, as the article explains, this isn't real history, it's mapped onto history. This arc moves Gintama out of the Edo period into the Meiji era. Gintama has about a year of life left in the manga, which is enough chapters to end the current struggle, and leave that open ended future in the new era.]

If Gintama did not have its plot, the series would not have survived, and the plot is a mapping of history- the real changes in the government, shifts in power, and so on mapped onto the characters we've come to love. What makes Gintama brilliant, however, is its comedy and the way the comedy has integrated itself into the necessary character development to enable the serious plot to take place. Without all the goofy crap between all these grouped off characters who would seemingly have nothing to do with each other as they are from completely separate walks of life, it wouldn't make any sense for the current arcs or past arcs (like Ito for example off the top of my head) to take place. Without all the silly run ins in the street, Yorozuya's friendship with the Shingengumi, Zura and the Shogun wouldn't have met, Zura and Kondou would have less of a strange connection, we would have never met Zenzou, and so on and so forth may not have successfully happened. Furthermore, all of the serious arcs are connected, there really aren't that many loose ends if you are caught up in the manga: every serious arc is about the bakufu and tendoshu, their current state, and their status in the past in relationship to Gintoki, and most of that has been answered recently, or is clearly about to be. The comedy enables the plot. You can choose not to like the plot, that's your business, but they are linked in my analysis of what has happened in this series, aka my opinion.
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