GINTAMA - Mr. Ginpachi's Zany Class

Episode 8

The good news is that this week's episode is an overall improvement from what we got last time, and comes packed with better jokes. The bad news is that this one isn't quite among the funniest that we've gotten so far, and relies on a few punchlines that feel too cheap. Still, I'll take a few awkward jokes over none of them hitting at all, and what we're given makes for a decent outing.

"Outing" is a pretty apt description for the episode, as this one centers around the class going on a school trip. Since trips are usually a good excuse for students to cut loose, it's only fitting that the plot this time mostly centers around Hijikata, and his desire to maintain order at any cost…or trying to, anyway. While he's more than happy to go around shouting seppuku at anyone who gets out of line, he's immune to getting wrapped up in their antics, either, which provides some good laughs. My favorite bit in that regard was seeing him try to stop a pillow fight, only to immediately start tossing some around himself and taking the fall for it while everyone else pretends they slept through the whole thing. I'm not normally one for jokes about misguided blame, but having it happen to someone as strict as Hijikata is too good to pass up, and I'm more than happy to see the show have fun at his expense.

Unfortunately, the non-Hijikata-related gags in the first half are a bit more hit or miss. Particularly the one where Kondo and Madao attempt to peep on the girls while they're bathing, only to run into Tojo, who claims to be shielding Kyubei from any would-be perverts while having on a pair of binoculars himself. It's decently funny, and the part with all three attempting to disguise themselves as beetles to avoid getting caught is sort of original. Peeping jokes are so standard that it's hard to make them not come off as cheap or predictable, and seeing the trio get inevitably tortured for their misdeeds didn't get that much of a laugh out of me.

I'm also a bit mixed on the dramatic side of the episode involving a new student named Hanako, who transferred into Class 3-Z to avoid a group of delinquents she owes money to. It's not a bad setup, but the twist that she owes the head delinquent money because she left dog poop all over his yard just felt a bit too random, and killed my emotional investment pretty quickly. I did like the scene where the others all show up wearing disguises to save Hanako from the delinquents without damaging the school's reputation, but some of the disguises were funnier than others. The girls all dressing as maikos and Katsura cosplaying as Michael Jackson got some good laughs out of me, but I was less enthused by Kondo also dressing up as a maiko since the “joke” was clearly just meant to be seeing him in drag, and it felt a bit tasteless. On the bright side, it was nice that Hijikata was the one to propose this wacky plan and to see that he's willing to bend the rules to help others. Plus, I got a good chuckle out of the band of delinquents looking like a bunch of stereotypical nerds, and the fact that this was never acknowledged made the decision funnier. None of this was enough to make this episode feel like a standout compared to how funny the ones about the trio of thieves or Shinpachi moving away were, but this was a decent way to spend twenty minutes, and sometimes that's all you can really ask for.

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GINTAMA - Mr. Ginpachi's Zany Class is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.