Gintama

Every anime has it's funny, even hilarious moments. But not many are built around these moments. Gintama, for the most part definitely is.

This anime is completely insane. It's full of random hilarity and antics, while still maintaining a storyline (per episode and arcs). You don't even have to worry about fillers, because you won't know when they hit you, as there is no general plot. Plus, the fillers are just as funny and awesome as the other episodes, if not more. There are tons of references to anime and Japanese culture, which is kind of a down side for a person who isn't familiar with either or both. This reason also makes this anime almost impossible to dub and very hard to even sub! However, if you do get the jokes (and not all of them are reference related), you'll be in tears. It's not all just laughter though. There are definitely some heart touching, throat lump forming, beautiful moments in the anime too (though not as much).

All I can say is, if you're an anime fan and haven't watched it, you're doing yourself a big crime by missing this one. As the title says, I not only class this as one of the greatest anime, or even one of the greatest TV shows, but one of the most brilliant pieces of entertainment mankind has ever created.

I rarely laugh aloud when watching comedic shows, especially anime. Gintama can get me laughing for an entire episode! The humor only gets better as you go along, as you need to get to know the characters to appreciate the jokes/jibes fully. And then all of a sudden a serious arc slaps you in the face with nonstop action and cliffhanger episodes. Gintama is 70% humor and 30% Hunter x Hunter level action (for you shounen anime fans, I think you can recognize that high level compliment.) It just makes the action scenes that much more worth it and exciting when you get there. Not to mention the "serious arcs" somehow get even more intense and well animated the further you get, too. I'm SO happy I gave this one a try!

I've been watching TV shows, anime and movies for a very long time and i have watched shows like Seinfeld, How i Met your Mother, Friends, Curb your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Two and a half men, and many more. However, after watching Gintama, i have to say that this show is better than any other comedy show i have ever seen. The jokes are done so brilliantly that it legitimately makes you laugh out loud. Furthermore, every single character has been given a persona which suits their personality so incredibly well. The best part of the show is that each character is treated as they are the main character. If one of them doesn't show up for some time, you'll start to miss them.

This is just the comedy part though, when the show gets serious - boy it gets serious. It's like you're transported into a completely different anime. The action scenes are so fluent and so perfectly crafted that you will be at the edge of your seat the entire time. These action arcs last for about 2 to 5 episodes - they have a beginning, a mid-point, and an end. They aren't dragged like most anime. Each serious or action arc of the show highlights the characters and provide hindsight in their lives, allowing viewers to know them better.

This emotional connection with the characters is what's missing in most action movies, TV shows and anime but in Gintama, it's remarkably well done. Also, there's a balance between comedy and action, so you won't be stuck in one genre the entire time.

I had my reservations about watching Gintama, especially after watching the first few episodes. However, when I got through them, the show started to get a whole lot funnier and better. It seems that writer wasn't too confident in his work in the beginning but when he started to see how well his work can be, he started to take risks and came up with some of the best comedy and action arcs that I've ever seen.

Having watched a ton of TV shows, movies, and anime - I have to say that Gintama is (and probably will be) the best piece of entertainment I've watched in my whole life.

I absolutely 100% recommend everyone to watch it from the very start and please ignore the image quality, before you know it you will love the show so much it won't matter and then the quality gets much better in 2015 and 2017 releases. An anime that suits almost everyone..great comedy, tons of parodies, very likable characters, great action and fights, very heart warming at times...just about everything you could think of!

Man, this is true art! You want emotions? This anime got em. God, I love gintama. (Kintama too)