More "Gintama" impressions. (Episodes 7-12, plus Jump Festa '05)
Eheh... so, I've been lazy and haven't watched that much further into Gintama, despite thinking it's adorable. ^^; I did, however, watch eps 7-9 about three weeks or a month back, then the Jump Festa '05 ep about two weeks back, and today I got off my butt (or rather, parked my ass in front of this screen rather than the TV's, LOL) and watched eps 10-12.
So, anyway, some more thoughts (mild spoilers, I think?). I did take some "reaction notes" to all the eps, and am working off of them for this character commentary. Anyhow:
- LOL, Kagura can come up with the most amusing thoughts, be they related to the situation at hand (such as her "people need to be dead before they're put in a pot" comment in ep 7 when they're hiding in the pot to attract the giant octopus they were hired to catch) or totally random (like her "street" impersonation in ep 11, or her "Hamaru-kun" anecdote in the same ep).
- Gintoki's lines of reasoning tend to be pretty humorous and LOLwut, too. Such as his "when a woman thinks something's cute, you can't trust it" comment in ep 10, or the "strawberry milk" analogy in ep 11 (which was kinda gross in one part, yet still managed to inspire the entire hospital staff, LOL), or the "snot from the same nostril" in ep 12 when comparing himself and Catherine.
- Poor Shinpachi, not only the straight man, but a geeky one, too. "99 points of damage!" at having to smell Gin-san's stinky starwberry-milk-breath in ep 11, LOL. XD
- Returning to the subject of Kagura, her story of why she couldn't get close to another animal until Sadaharu (technically the 2nd, as her first pet from her story also went by the same name) was dumped on the trio was pretty sad. And kinda-LOLing at Shinpachi saying "I don't know whether to cry or laugh" in reaction to it - oh man, that's heartless, even for the straight man of the group. XD
- Anyway, onto other characters: First off, Katsura (since he was only in the Jump Festa ep, it'll be brief). I'm liking how, despite his tendency to be a bit too serious for his own good, there are still moments of silly humor with him, like in the Festa ep, in which his subordinates and him are all seriously going "Um, is this plagiarism?" at the Gundam-like mecha he just got, which is an amusing comment in itself, but then... it turns out in the end that they're having this conversation while making shadow-puppets. XD
- Next, Kondo. LOL, I like how the head of the Shinsengumi is a total boneheaded dork who shirks his duties in order to be a crazy stalker. And kind of hot sometimes, even when he does supremely stupid things like show up at a park with nothing but his undies, flippers, and a snorkler in order to win Otae's heart, LOL. XD I'd almost feel bad for him getting rejected by Otae so much if it weren't that hello, he's still a stalker! and the fact that it's always pretty damn funny to watch. XD (Was also highly amused that, when Gin-san first calls himk a "gorilla" in ep 8, they actually put ape-grunting sounds in the background - that was a cute touch. XD)
- And Otae... LOL, Otae. She's kinda scary! Not only does she have her poor brother and sometimes even Gintoki pretty much under control when she's around, but she's got the entire Shinsengumi whipped, and it's from only one "confrotation" in the Jump Festa ep, hahaha. XD
- Hijikata is still as pissy as ever! XD I like how loyal he is to Kondo, and even works as a sorta PR-machine, because whenever Kondo is doing something stupid, he tries his best to keep it under wraps, to the point of threatening subordinates with death, death, and MORE DEATH if they show any doubt in the guy. I also like how he seems to be, despite appearances, as much of a boneheaded dork as Gin-san (thinking of their drinking contest in the Festa ep here, LOL such morons XD) and the rest of them. XD
- Okita... is apparently both lazy and pure evil! XD Lazy because he apparently does the morning routine excercises in his sleep (you can hear him snoring, and he's wearing his sleep mask, too), and evil because of all the things he does to Hijikata (and sometimes Kondo). For example, in episode 9, when it turns out that the reason the rest of the Shinsengumi found out about Kondo's defeat by Gintoki (which Hiji was so desperate to keep under wraps, but was foolish enough to confide the truth to Okita) was because Okita told them... and did so through the loudspeaker system, LOL. And then in ep 10, with him putting a leash on Hijikata, which I bet must've fueled a good number of fangirl minds, hahaha... and then at the end, trying to get Kondo to wear it instead, since Hiji was so "uncooperative" with his idea, LMAO. XD
Okita's kind of badass at the same time, though. I mean, he was able to keep up with Kagura during their "Hit-and-Cover Rock-Paper-Scissors" match (and the brawl that ensued later, too) in the Festa ep. So he's pretty cool all-around, actually. :D
- Lastly, Otose (Gin-san and the Yorozuya's landlady) is actually kind of cool, when you look past her usual cranky "When the hell are you going to pay the rent?!" self, which is what eps 11 and 12 (which were shown as an hour-long special) do. First, she's kind enough to see the old man in the hospital who was in love with her in their youth (who had hired Gin-san & co. to find her), despite apparently not remembering him at all. Also, when we find out how she had met Gintoki, and how he wound up becoming her tenant. And lastly, how she forgave Catherine (the cat-eared Amanto woman who works at her bar, who's actually a fairly adept thief) and, after Catherine was arrested, offered her to come back to the bar after her release, if she wanted to. All signs point to that yes, she's actually a pretty good person overall. :)
...and that would be it, for now. Man, this series is getting kinda awesome, hee! :D
Oh, and there were some more Ginpachi-sensei shorts in some of the eps! I think the one I liked best in this set was the one that was all basically just a PSA for Gin-san to say "I am NOT old, dammit!" when asked about his participation in the rebellion against the Amanto and his actual age, LOL. XD
EDIT: There are now some mild spoilers for eps 13 and 14 in the comments, in case anyone other than ruaki's reading these. XD
So, anyway, some more thoughts (mild spoilers, I think?). I did take some "reaction notes" to all the eps, and am working off of them for this character commentary. Anyhow:
- LOL, Kagura can come up with the most amusing thoughts, be they related to the situation at hand (such as her "people need to be dead before they're put in a pot" comment in ep 7 when they're hiding in the pot to attract the giant octopus they were hired to catch) or totally random (like her "street" impersonation in ep 11, or her "Hamaru-kun" anecdote in the same ep).
- Gintoki's lines of reasoning tend to be pretty humorous and LOLwut, too. Such as his "when a woman thinks something's cute, you can't trust it" comment in ep 10, or the "strawberry milk" analogy in ep 11 (which was kinda gross in one part, yet still managed to inspire the entire hospital staff, LOL), or the "snot from the same nostril" in ep 12 when comparing himself and Catherine.
- Poor Shinpachi, not only the straight man, but a geeky one, too. "99 points of damage!" at having to smell Gin-san's stinky starwberry-milk-breath in ep 11, LOL. XD
- Returning to the subject of Kagura, her story of why she couldn't get close to another animal until Sadaharu (technically the 2nd, as her first pet from her story also went by the same name) was dumped on the trio was pretty sad. And kinda-LOLing at Shinpachi saying "I don't know whether to cry or laugh" in reaction to it - oh man, that's heartless, even for the straight man of the group. XD
- Anyway, onto other characters: First off, Katsura (since he was only in the Jump Festa ep, it'll be brief). I'm liking how, despite his tendency to be a bit too serious for his own good, there are still moments of silly humor with him, like in the Festa ep, in which his subordinates and him are all seriously going "Um, is this plagiarism?" at the Gundam-like mecha he just got, which is an amusing comment in itself, but then... it turns out in the end that they're having this conversation while making shadow-puppets. XD
- Next, Kondo. LOL, I like how the head of the Shinsengumi is a total boneheaded dork who shirks his duties in order to be a crazy stalker. And kind of hot sometimes, even when he does supremely stupid things like show up at a park with nothing but his undies, flippers, and a snorkler in order to win Otae's heart, LOL. XD I'd almost feel bad for him getting rejected by Otae so much if it weren't that hello, he's still a stalker! and the fact that it's always pretty damn funny to watch. XD (Was also highly amused that, when Gin-san first calls himk a "gorilla" in ep 8, they actually put ape-grunting sounds in the background - that was a cute touch. XD)
- And Otae... LOL, Otae. She's kinda scary! Not only does she have her poor brother and sometimes even Gintoki pretty much under control when she's around, but she's got the entire Shinsengumi whipped, and it's from only one "confrotation" in the Jump Festa ep, hahaha. XD
- Hijikata is still as pissy as ever! XD I like how loyal he is to Kondo, and even works as a sorta PR-machine, because whenever Kondo is doing something stupid, he tries his best to keep it under wraps, to the point of threatening subordinates with death, death, and MORE DEATH if they show any doubt in the guy. I also like how he seems to be, despite appearances, as much of a boneheaded dork as Gin-san (thinking of their drinking contest in the Festa ep here, LOL such morons XD) and the rest of them. XD
- Okita... is apparently both lazy and pure evil! XD Lazy because he apparently does the morning routine excercises in his sleep (you can hear him snoring, and he's wearing his sleep mask, too), and evil because of all the things he does to Hijikata (and sometimes Kondo). For example, in episode 9, when it turns out that the reason the rest of the Shinsengumi found out about Kondo's defeat by Gintoki (which Hiji was so desperate to keep under wraps, but was foolish enough to confide the truth to Okita) was because Okita told them... and did so through the loudspeaker system, LOL. And then in ep 10, with him putting a leash on Hijikata, which I bet must've fueled a good number of fangirl minds, hahaha... and then at the end, trying to get Kondo to wear it instead, since Hiji was so "uncooperative" with his idea, LMAO. XD
Okita's kind of badass at the same time, though. I mean, he was able to keep up with Kagura during their "Hit-and-Cover Rock-Paper-Scissors" match (and the brawl that ensued later, too) in the Festa ep. So he's pretty cool all-around, actually. :D
- Lastly, Otose (Gin-san and the Yorozuya's landlady) is actually kind of cool, when you look past her usual cranky "When the hell are you going to pay the rent?!" self, which is what eps 11 and 12 (which were shown as an hour-long special) do. First, she's kind enough to see the old man in the hospital who was in love with her in their youth (who had hired Gin-san & co. to find her), despite apparently not remembering him at all. Also, when we find out how she had met Gintoki, and how he wound up becoming her tenant. And lastly, how she forgave Catherine (the cat-eared Amanto woman who works at her bar, who's actually a fairly adept thief) and, after Catherine was arrested, offered her to come back to the bar after her release, if she wanted to. All signs point to that yes, she's actually a pretty good person overall. :)
...and that would be it, for now. Man, this series is getting kinda awesome, hee! :D
Oh, and there were some more Ginpachi-sensei shorts in some of the eps! I think the one I liked best in this set was the one that was all basically just a PSA for Gin-san to say "I am NOT old, dammit!" when asked about his participation in the rebellion against the Amanto and his actual age, LOL. XD
EDIT: There are now some mild spoilers for eps 13 and 14 in the comments, in case anyone other than ruaki's reading these. XD