Parents' Guide to

Gintama

By Jeremy Looney, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

A group of misfit samurai take on odd jobs in comedy anime.

TV Hulu Anime 2006
Gintama TV show poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

  • Gintama TV show: screenshot 1
  • Gintama TV show: screenshot 2
  • Gintama TV show: screenshot 3

Community Reviews

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age 17+

Based on 1 parent review

Hammond O.
Hammond O. Parent of 9 and 14-year-old
August 19, 2023
age 17+

Great show, inaccurate professional review

This show is absolutely hilarious, but the Common Sense Media reviewer doesn’t have the most accurate review of the series. The series is very much aimed at adults in my opinion, don’t ask me how it’s a Shonen Jump series (targeted towards teen boys in Japan). But, I guess Chainsaw Man is also a shonen for some reason. One thing I’d like to note is that the female characters are great in the show, and while 98% are goofy idiots, literally every character in this show is an idiot. The main characters are not all male, as the review suggests. The show has a male protagonist, but there are two other protagonists, and one of them is female. This show does not objectify women like some other anime, and there is far more male nudity that female nudity. There is a lot of sexual humor, including several references of b*lls and fetishes. I don’t suggest it to a kid who doesn’t have any or limited knowledge about sex. I’m 240 episodes in by now, and the violence isn’t too extreme, but there’s plenty of bloody moments, and only one or two major deaths I can remember. There is some swearing here and there, sometimes sh*t, and the very rare f*ck. The ending of the series has the possibility to get more violent, but I doubt it’ll change that much. I’d recommend this show to any anime fan, as there is a lot of references that will go over your head if you haven’t seen any. If you’re new to anime, I’d say you should watch a bit more first. Great characters and hilarious comedy make Gintama an anime classic.
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What's the Story?

GINTAMA is a shonen comedy anime about samurai Gintoki Sakata (voiced by Michael Daingerfield). Gintoki is a freelancer who runs an odd-jobs business with his friends Shinpachi (Cole Howard) and Kagura (Jocelyne Loewen). Together the trio takes on random odd jobs where they encounter a strange cast of various friends and foes alike. The series is episodic without much of a consistent storyline. Sometimes the trio get into seemingly harmless quests, like capturing a lost cat. Other times, the show can be more serious and has Gintoki facing off against the Yakuza or ruthless assassins.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (2 ):

This comedy anime focuses on gags but can sometimes have surprisingly serious, deep and emotional moments. Gintama is an interesting show; most of the time it's an innocuous comedy. Characters get into all sorts of goofy situations and there's a lot of humor that entails. There really isn't a central plot to follow, the series is mostly episodic with each episode consisting of a new random storyline. Characters are dynamic -- they have understandable motivations and sometimes surprisingly deep backstories for a comedy series. This can be jarring as the series is so lighthearted and goofy that the more serious and dangerous moments can feel like a complete shift in tone. The humor can sometimes seem very strange -- it's hard to say if the show is just trying to be very random, or if jokes are lost in translation due to the cultural differences between Japan and the West. The art and animation are well done, and the alternate feudal Japan setting is interesting. Overall, the series is good with an interesting mix of comedy and some drama, but not a great starter anime.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Why do you think the story choose to have futuristic aliens occupy a feudal Japan? Is there any social commentary or are there any social issues between the aliens and humans that the series is trying to speak to?

  • Some historic figures are depicted in this series, how do these figures compare to their real-life counterparts? Why do you think these figures were included in the story?

TV Details

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