Gintama: Collection 1

Entertaining, fun, crazy and odd but will require patience as this is a long-running anime series
Since 2003, "Gin Tama" (which means "Silver Soul" has been a manga series that has entertained many "Shonen Jump" fans. Written and illustrated by mangaka Hideaki Sorachi, the popular manga received an anime adaptation and has aired in Japan since 2006 on TV Tokyo and has since surpassed over a 100 episodes. The anime series now makes its debut in the US on DVD courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with the first 13 episodes in "Gintama - Collection 1'.

The series is directed by Shinji Takamatsu ("After War Gundam", "School Rumble" series, "SD Gundam"), series composition by Akatsuki Yamatoya ("Buso Renkin", "Blue Dragon", Soul Eater", "Transformers: Cybertron"), character designs by Shinji Takeuchi ("Geneshaft", "Heat Guy J", "Planetes") and music by Audio HIGHS.

"Gin Tama" is a series that takes place during the Edo Period (Tokyo - 1860's) but in this alternate reality of the Edo Period, aliens known as Amanto have conquered Japan and because of the war against the...

One of the Best Animes Ever
Gintama will parody anything and everything and every episode is hilarious. Gin and his two associates take on any job to try and keep from being eternally penny-less and make fun of both Japanese and Western culture while doing so. Some arcs have extremely good battles, up there or above any other shonen titles.

The quality on these two DVDs is excellent. Subtitles seem accurate. Note, it only has Japanese audio track, but then again it'd be too hard for anything to really translate over. Another thing is that they have subtitles that explain some of the inside jokes and references, but those do seem to disappear too quickly, so you'll likely have to go back and pause it to read that.

I highly recommend this series. Right now it's taking a break in Japan since it ran too close to the manga material, but it will take a while before these catch up and by then they'll be doing more episodes there.

Anachronism in it's finest form
I loved this show since I first saw it on youtube, before it became popular on Crunchyroll. It makes so much references to older anime shows that many people in the US aren't familiar with. Many people I know had a hard time understanding the show, or trying to get why it had so much anachronism. I made an "Americanized" explanation for those people:

'Let's imagine that Abe Lincoln wasn't killed by the actor who killed him, but by aliens. Those aliens took over the US, and brought all their technological advances to the country, making guns and cowboys obsolete. So, cowboys had to rely on more "creative" ways to make money. Because guns are now illegal, the main character uses a paintball pistol.

Then I tell them that if they find that explanation interesting, just imagine it in a Japanese setting; and it works!'

Makes sense, right?

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