Gintama Season 2

Gintama' (pronounced "Gintama Dash") is the second TV season of the Gintama anime. It is based on the manga by Hideaki Sorachi and was made by the studio Sunrise, with Yoichi Fujita as director. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 4, 2011, to March 26, 2012. It has 51 episodes, which are episodes 202 to 252 of the full series. It came after a short break, because the first TV series had ended in 2010.

Gintama takes place in a strange, funny version of old Japan. In the Edo period, aliens called the Amanto came to Earth and took control. The shogun gave in, and the government became a puppet of the aliens. Samurai were banned from carrying swords in public. In this world, old Japanese buildings stand next to spaceships, and people use phones and TVs while wearing kimonos. It is a mix of history and science fiction played mostly for laughs.

The main hero is Gintoki Sakata, a lazy samurai with silver hair who loves sweet food and reading manga magazines. He runs the Yorozuya, an "odd jobs" business that will do almost any work for money. He works with Shinpachi Shimura, a serious young man with glasses, and Kagura, a strong alien girl who eats far too much. They are usually broke, but they always end up helping the people of Edo. Other favorite characters include the Shinsengumi, a police force led by Isao Kondo, and his sharp vice-chief Toshiro Hijikata.

This season opens with a joke about the long break between seasons. Shinpachi comes back to Edo after a time skip and finds that everything has changed. His friends look and act like totally different people. Even his own sister Otae seems to have a new life. Confused and alone, he teams up with Hijikata, who is one of the few people still the same, to try to fix the city. It is a silly start that pokes fun at how other shows handle time skips.

After that, the season moves through many short comedy stories and longer story arcs. Some episodes are pure nonsense, full of dirty jokes, slapstick, and parodies of other famous anime and manga. Other arcs turn serious, with sword fights, sad pasts, and big emotional moments. Gintama is known for switching between these two moods very quickly, and somehow it works. One fun moment from this season was a crossover episode with the anime Sket Dance in September 2011.

A big part of the humor is that the characters often break the "fourth wall." This means they talk to the audience or joke about being in an anime. Some jokes are about Japanese culture or other shows, so a few may be hard to get for new viewers. But the friendships, the action, and the warm "found family" feeling of the Yorozuya are easy for anyone to enjoy.

Gintama has been very popular in Japan, often ranking high on TV and DVD charts. Critics have praised how well it mixes comedy and drama. Gintama' is a great place to see the series at its wild and funny best.