Chaotic comedy and parody of everything anime, full of cliches, grotesque situations, absurd dialogues, puns and jokes.
Team of broke dysfunctional delinquents having crazy adventures without leaving the town of Edo [1]. The show remotely resembles "Futurama" with lack of transient story and each episode being loosely connected, isolated adventure. Abundant references to everything, and the more you know about history of Japan (e.g. Shinsengumi [2]) the more references you'll be able to recognise.
Characters are fully aware of being in the anime show and they repeatedly express concerns of being cancelled. They make fun of opening and closing credits, etc. Main character is addicted to (weekly Shonen) JUMP manga magazine despite "being too old to be reading it".
Loud, hyperbolic comedy gets tedious. Very few things are serious in this show and I could not endure more than 49 episodes that have too much repetition of the same jokes and conversation patterns. There are some genuinely funny moments, smart and original, but few, among too much noise and butt jokes.
No character in this show have the slightest ambition. They are all drifters, just hanging around, letting flow of adventure taking them wherever it goes. They pick noses.
Hilariously most unattractive nekomimi (cat lady) character.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/918/Gintama
If "sorry" was enough, we wouldn't have seppuku.
Your eyes are bloodshot. Were you up all night playing Tetris?
This is too much, even for a special two-part episode.
Why can't I have a Bankai or something like that. ... I wish I could shoot something like Getsuga Tensho, too...
We don't need road traffic laws in this day and age.
A super strong beautiful heroine who's big eater? Kagura appears!
You don't understand the suffering that people with naturally wavy hair have to go through!
How did you plan on helping me when you can't even get a helicopter?
The set-up is right out of manga!
The secret to enjoying life is to hold on to the kid inside you.
"Can't we skip this intro already?"
Huh? But there might be people watching this for the first time.
With the start of the show like this, we'll be cancelled before the end of the season!
You've got some nerve, singing karaoke while plotting to overthrow the government!
But we haven't lost sight of ourselves to the point where we would wag our tails for the government.
In the pursuit of our mission, a few small sacrifices are nothing!
What? Are our ratings so bad that we need blatant moe pandering?
Anime is such a wonderful thing!
The stress of modern education without a father is showing up here!
Once you've come of age, it isn't your parents' fault anymore.
Well, there may be difficult moments, tough moments and unbearable moments... You might think things are difficult now, but in the future, it's gonna get a lot worse. If you keep that in mind, you can endure it.
Hey, don't waste a scene on a minor character!
I'll stuff a live fish into your mailbox one day!
You contradicted your own argument just to cover up your error!
Really, give me a break. I'm the main character, you know.
"Gin Tama" supports "DEATH NOTE"!
I can't die until I get my paycheck for this month!
Ramen shops with long menus never do well.
"One arm of mine is worth three of yours!"
"Oh yeah?! Well, three of mine are worth six of yours!!"
I may not look it, but as a kid, I pretended to be a ninja all the time.
That sounds like some kind of evil anime organization.
Are you some Jackie Chan? And besides, he's already fifty! Oh man, when'd I stop going to see his movies? I guess Jackie Chan is the turning point when a boy turns into a man.
This isn't good... According to my data, there's a 99.8% probability I'll be beaten in the next scene.
Just so you know, anime is a tough job that doesn't make much money, so I wouldn't recommend it.
We don't need any of that superfluous storyline!
We are lucky. The God of Poverty is definitely with us.
Love, be it tragic or whatever, helps people mature.
Old ladies do fine after their husbands die. But if a man's wife dies first, he usually just comes apart.
See also another, somewhat accurate review: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=291287
Edo is a former name of Tokyo, before foreign influence in the mid 19th century. In the show, alien invasion to Edo and "swaggering, arrogant aliens" is a reference to American (and/or Western) influence. ↩