Gintama

Yes like in typical shounen jump fashion it takes a while to get going, the first really funny episode was episode 25, the hot pot episode, and the Benizakura arc started in episode 58.

I dunno, I watch it for the characters and the comedy, and from that perspective I knew it was worth watching by about episode 20? The thing that seemed to take the longest was introducing all the characters.

But once they're all properly established we get great comedy! Like Katsura, established as serious going watersledding with Elizabeth on the Shogun's head.

That being said, if any part of the show is over-played I feel it would be Madao's story. Talk about a shaggy dog story.

Yeah, the characters are really a big part of what keeps me interested in the series and it does take a while for all the regulars to be introduced. But as they do, the series get gradually better and better. And I really just love the constant tone-shifts in the series. Regarding Madao, I just really want something to go well for him, but that'd be... quite the change for the formula I guess.

Say, any of you following the manga at the moment? If so, what do you think of the current arc and the arc before it?

edited 5th Jun '13 1:12:34 PM by StormKnight

I follow the manga whenever the anime isn't airing.

I feel the Gender Bender arc went on for a bit too long and the running jokes got kinda old after awhile. The pacing is much better in this current Idol arc.

Not entirely sure what I think of the pacing myself, seeing as I began reading the manga when the Gender Bender arc had already ended, but I do feel it was a bit... slow in the beginning, then it suddenly rushed to end the arc with everybody suddenly back to their normal selves.

I liked many of the jokes though. In particular Kagura was ridiculously hilarious, but I was also amused by how different Tsukuyo's male self was from her female self, personality-wise.

When it comes to the current Idol Singer arc, I got a kick out of seeing Diamond Perfume again, but I'm a bit worried about it dragging on for too long. Still hilarious though.

I've been reading the manga for a while now. I feel like the recent arcs start of great but ends in a fizzle (Gender Bender and Kagura gets a boyfriend arc are good examples of this)

Mhm, aye, pretty much. That Kagura's boyfriend arc was a bit... strange, if worth it just for Gintoki and Umibouzu working together as Kagura's Overprotective Dads. I didn't really get drawn into the arc with the talking amanto swords either.

It just seems like we haven't had a good, serious major story arc since the Ikkoku Keisei arc (Which I consider the best serious arc so far) ended, which was almost 50 chapters ago.

The super serious character developing arcs are usually spaced pretty far apart.

I had forgotten about the Amanto sword arc (it probably tells you how I rate that arc). A recent individual chapter I really liked was Sa-chan spying through the mirror; Shinpachi's chest hair still cracks me up.

Indeed and the one involving Takasugi are even rarer.

Mhm, yeah. Checked the manga order of how far apart the arcs are distanced and a distance this big between the serious arcs have happened before. But at the same time there's also been serious arcs with not all that much distance between each other. It really varies a lot. They're almost always worth the wait though.

Sacchan playing Straight Man was quite amusing, especially when she first saw Shinpachi's fakechest hair . Though I somewhat preferred the chapter before it. Just something about Tsukuyo catching others' stupidity which makes it hilarious.

edited 8th Jun '13 11:52:11 AM by StormKnight

http://www.dm123.cn/bbs/read.php?tid=697330&ordertype=desc

Lots of images of the character design used in the movie, but this time in technocolor!

Seen them before. I was initially sceptical of Tsukuyo's future design, but I've slowly warmed up to it after seeing the character designs properly. Katsura as Takasugi cracks me up

As for Hijikata... Comparison of the real life Hijikata and Gintama Hijikata's movie-design◊, from yorozura-soul.

http://forums.yorozuyasoul.com/index.php?topic=1872.15

This thread has spoilers for the movie; enjoy.

And so begins the agonizingly months long wait for the movie to come out on dvd and be subbed...

I'm an active reader of the thread at the moment. Still having some trouble comprehending how all the back-and-forth time travelling as spoken of in the spoilers actually work out. It's... rather confusing to say the least. At least we know the white-haired girl is Tae now.

Also, wondering whether or not we should be adding Musashi and Ikumatsu to the character page, and where they'd fit best...

Something tells me that the people who have seen the movie aren't avid SF fans thus unfamiliar with the common time travel tropes and therefore are unable to properly explain the time travel aspect. Which comes across as very confusing at the moment.

Random question.

Which chapter/episode do you guys think was the most absurd of them all?

To me, it was that dicklicious episode. I mean...wow.

Well, I've since come to understand it better, but there's still some things I'm having trouble wrappin my head about. I seem to have some infuriating desire of making sense of time travel in fiction (Which is part of the reason Fairy Tail has given me a headache lately...)

You can't expect me to choose! D: (Though that episode would probably be the one I'd choose, if any)

New trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vIy1nXnyHZU

and a Sunrise spokesperson at a convention admits that there will be no more Gintama anime. :(

I think more they said that there are no plans of present. I think it'll come back in probably in about 2-3 years, when there's plenty of material to adapt. So yeah, not trusting the statement.

Also, the manga's entering another arc, this time one involving a Joi reunion party (With lots of lampshading of the fans demanding an arc detailing the past). And Takasugi and Yakult (Whatever it is) are now a thing, looking at tumblr.

edited 10th Jul '13 1:34:32 PM by StormKnight

For those who can't wait for the movie to come out on DVD to learn in detail what happens in it, some kind folks are currently translating its novel. It's essentially the entire movie just as a novel and there shouldn't be any deviations. Might help to know what happens by reading spoilers first before reading it though, speaking personally.

I know that due to how very inactive this thread is, this'll technically be a triple-post, but regardless, posting to say the second movie came out on DVD in Japan much earlier today. While I have watched it, it's been without subs, which we probably won't get for a while. Think we can agree to not posting any movie spoilers until we actually get subs?

That's probably a good idea. I think there will be little enough discussion without subs.

I did see a stream of it already, but I'm probably going to have to wait for subs.

Will probably be quite a while before we get subs for it, as there's not that much demand for it. I wasn't into Gintama at that point, but I heard the first movie took forever to be subbed (And even longer for a dub). How long did it take for the first movie to be subbed?

Ha, never mind that. We now have working subs available for the movie and not just google translate ones either. Go and enjoy! (And watch out for spoilers)

I watched it at AFA.

It was glorious.

Made even better by the NO MORE eiga dorobou mascot and the "security guard" actually acting out the anti-piracy footage as it was being shown on-screen, somewhere off to my right.

It was the second one, though just the part inside the theatre:

edited 26th Dec '13 8:03:31 PM by HanabiraKage