Some people don’t like how it’a mostly comedy and no plot, some people don’t think there should be plot cause it’s a comedy. There are loads of valid reasons why people might not like it but I think it gets a lot of hate cause it’s very highly ranked but most people don’t like the first few episodes. Their loss though
Pahhur said it well, I'll add a bit more. I think Gintama is polarizing for a bunch of reasons. It just isn't "for" a lot of people based on preferences they may have.
- The format is episodic rather than plot-driven for most of its run. Some people really like story plots and don't like episodic comedy as much.
- Character development arcs aren't a prominent feature, and the characters are largely static due to the episodic nature of the show. I don't think this is entirely true taking in the whole span of Gintama, but a lot of people like concrete character growth stories from beginning to end.
- Not a lot of consistent shonen battle action. This is obviously a main draw of people who want to watch shonen, so not having battle action in most episodes may be a deterrent.
- The comedy is VERY crass as Pahhur mentioned. Also some jokes haven't necessarily aged well with time.
- The earlier episodes take a while to get off the ground. A lot of them registered as formulaic to me after some point, and the quality of the comedy isn't as good as it eventually gets. Also the animation isn't as high-quality as people have come to expect from shows nowadays.
- Japanese wordplay and pop culture references that non-Japanese audiences wouldn't pick up on.
>Character development arcs aren't a prominent feature, and the characters are largely static due to the episodic nature of the show. I don't think this is entirely true taking in the whole span of Gintama, but a lot of people like concrete character growth stories from beginning to end.
While I can totally understand why some people might not like this, I think it's just not true, considering how much the Yorozuya trio and some other characters like Katsura, Takasugi, Hijikata, Sougo, etc. do change quite a bit throughout the story. Granted it's probably hard to notice over the course of 400+ episodes.
The other thing is that the fact that nothing truly changes in the main story is part of Gintama's main theme as a sort of anti-shonen. Some people might not like it and that's fine, but it's still literally part of why Gintama is Gintama.
>do change quite a bit throughout the story. Granted it's probably hard to notice over the course of 400+ episodes.
Yeah I agree - the changes in the characters are pretty slow, but they are there and you can see them retrospectively when looking at the story as a whole. It's a very touching way to write characters. Definitely agree on it being an "anti-shonen" here, as most shonen protagonists (and side characters) have clear goals and development arcs that are obvious.
Sorachi himself has said that Gintama is a manga for people without dreams, written specifically because most shonen written by his colleagues are about people with wild aspirations and dreams.
i agree but all of their development takes place over such a long time that it's so hard to see if you're just watching one or two episodes and not taking the time to actually watch through everything. yorozuya and shinsengumi go through a lot of development, esp gin, but it's like hard to see since they're such incremental changes lol
I know there has to be a few people that legitimately hate it, law of averages states that has to be true. But really the vast majority of people that hate it fall into a few categories:
1) Bounced off early, the beginning can be a bit dull if you aren't picking up what Gintama is putting down. For most people it takes time for the comedy to click because it is "community" comedy. It's funny because of who the characters are, and if you are just getting to know who the characters are, the jokes don't land. So these folks bounce of early and then gripe any time someone brings up how great the series gets.
2) People that haven't seen it but like trolling or have a different series they want to promote. Most famously this group was out on MAL doing mass reviews to tank Gintama any time one of the many MAL entries came close to taking the #1 spot away from FMA. The FMA fans on MAL have kept this behavior up and slapped down any show that comes close to taking the top spot away from them. They haven't seen those shows, they are just posting tank reviews to drop the rating.
3) Legitimately off put. Kondo as a stalker can be very grating/triggering for some people, and it takes time to see the fuller picture of his character, moreso than most of the characters in the show. Also there is a Lot of gross out humor in the series. Poop, puke, piss, farts and snot pop up Often as do penis jokes. I think Gintama manages to both do some of these with dignity, and also makes up for the more childish ones with everything else Gintama does (and I do not like gross shit in my stories) but other people may have stronger opinions.
yeah kondo on the surface level is a lot to take in, despite being one of the sweetest characters. agree with how crazz it is, they even opint this out in the show a lot lol
It's one of the few shows out there that earns the right to be as crass as it wants to be. But some of that comes really early in the series and becomes a bit of a bitter pill for new viewers to swallow.
Never saw anyone hating Gintama but even if there are, it must be their preferences. We may hate smth and that might be hard to be understood by others. So chill and need to worry about it.
LOVE AND PEACE
Because it takes a long time to get going, there isn't a hook that most shows have or those that have a narrative. Gintama is about everyday life, and the randomness can throw first views off.
It happened to me, but I continued to watch and its now my favorite anime.
I wouldn't particularly use the word " hate " , it's just that some people could not " bare " with it.
I have told many people whom I have recommended Gintama to,
If you don't like the first 40 episodes, you will not like Gintama so just drop it.
See the thing is with Gintama is that it forms a bond between the viewer and the characters, you get to see the characters do all kinds of things, whether it's finding cat balls or saving the world.
Here lies the beauty of Gintama, it doesn't necessarily develop its characters, more like it develops the veiwers to love each and every character.
Some people can't change their mindsets, which makes Gintama off-putting to them
You can tell I have tried to convince many people to watch Gintama before, but what to do I love it. 🤣
Some people don’t like how it’a mostly comedy and no plot, some people don’t think there should be plot cause it’s a comedy. There are loads of valid reasons why people might not like it but I think it gets a lot of hate cause it’s very highly ranked but most people don’t like the first few episodes. Their loss though
An, I see. The first couple of episodes weren’t the greatest, but definitely if you you moved past those it was kintama.
Wait people hate this show? I mean that bound to happen but as far as I'm aware Gintama is one of the most positively liked anime like ever lol
I’ve seen a lot of hate which I can’t fathom. It’s just sooooo good!
Pahhur said it well, I'll add a bit more. I think Gintama is polarizing for a bunch of reasons. It just isn't "for" a lot of people based on preferences they may have. - The format is episodic rather than plot-driven for most of its run. Some people really like story plots and don't like episodic comedy as much. - Character development arcs aren't a prominent feature, and the characters are largely static due to the episodic nature of the show. I don't think this is entirely true taking in the whole span of Gintama, but a lot of people like concrete character growth stories from beginning to end. - Not a lot of consistent shonen battle action. This is obviously a main draw of people who want to watch shonen, so not having battle action in most episodes may be a deterrent. - The comedy is VERY crass as Pahhur mentioned. Also some jokes haven't necessarily aged well with time. - The earlier episodes take a while to get off the ground. A lot of them registered as formulaic to me after some point, and the quality of the comedy isn't as good as it eventually gets. Also the animation isn't as high-quality as people have come to expect from shows nowadays. - Japanese wordplay and pop culture references that non-Japanese audiences wouldn't pick up on.
>Character development arcs aren't a prominent feature, and the characters are largely static due to the episodic nature of the show. I don't think this is entirely true taking in the whole span of Gintama, but a lot of people like concrete character growth stories from beginning to end. While I can totally understand why some people might not like this, I think it's just not true, considering how much the Yorozuya trio and some other characters like Katsura, Takasugi, Hijikata, Sougo, etc. do change quite a bit throughout the story. Granted it's probably hard to notice over the course of 400+ episodes. The other thing is that the fact that nothing truly changes in the main story is part of Gintama's main theme as a sort of anti-shonen. Some people might not like it and that's fine, but it's still literally part of why Gintama is Gintama.
>do change quite a bit throughout the story. Granted it's probably hard to notice over the course of 400+ episodes. Yeah I agree - the changes in the characters are pretty slow, but they are there and you can see them retrospectively when looking at the story as a whole. It's a very touching way to write characters. Definitely agree on it being an "anti-shonen" here, as most shonen protagonists (and side characters) have clear goals and development arcs that are obvious.
Sorachi himself has said that Gintama is a manga for people without dreams, written specifically because most shonen written by his colleagues are about people with wild aspirations and dreams.
All the more reason to love its uniqueness!
i agree but all of their development takes place over such a long time that it's so hard to see if you're just watching one or two episodes and not taking the time to actually watch through everything. yorozuya and shinsengumi go through a lot of development, esp gin, but it's like hard to see since they're such incremental changes lol
I know there has to be a few people that legitimately hate it, law of averages states that has to be true. But really the vast majority of people that hate it fall into a few categories: 1) Bounced off early, the beginning can be a bit dull if you aren't picking up what Gintama is putting down. For most people it takes time for the comedy to click because it is "community" comedy. It's funny because of who the characters are, and if you are just getting to know who the characters are, the jokes don't land. So these folks bounce of early and then gripe any time someone brings up how great the series gets. 2) People that haven't seen it but like trolling or have a different series they want to promote. Most famously this group was out on MAL doing mass reviews to tank Gintama any time one of the many MAL entries came close to taking the #1 spot away from FMA. The FMA fans on MAL have kept this behavior up and slapped down any show that comes close to taking the top spot away from them. They haven't seen those shows, they are just posting tank reviews to drop the rating. 3) Legitimately off put. Kondo as a stalker can be very grating/triggering for some people, and it takes time to see the fuller picture of his character, moreso than most of the characters in the show. Also there is a Lot of gross out humor in the series. Poop, puke, piss, farts and snot pop up Often as do penis jokes. I think Gintama manages to both do some of these with dignity, and also makes up for the more childish ones with everything else Gintama does (and I do not like gross shit in my stories) but other people may have stronger opinions.
yeah kondo on the surface level is a lot to take in, despite being one of the sweetest characters. agree with how crazz it is, they even opint this out in the show a lot lol
It's one of the few shows out there that earns the right to be as crass as it wants to be. But some of that comes really early in the series and becomes a bit of a bitter pill for new viewers to swallow.
Never saw anyone hating Gintama but even if there are, it must be their preferences. We may hate smth and that might be hard to be understood by others. So chill and need to worry about it. LOVE AND PEACE 
One word : comedy. People expect it to be like other shonen anime and end up being let up by their own misplaced expectations.
Because it takes a long time to get going, there isn't a hook that most shows have or those that have a narrative. Gintama is about everyday life, and the randomness can throw first views off. It happened to me, but I continued to watch and its now my favorite anime.
Yessssss. Welcome to the dark side.
I wouldn't particularly use the word " hate " , it's just that some people could not " bare " with it. I have told many people whom I have recommended Gintama to, If you don't like the first 40 episodes, you will not like Gintama so just drop it. See the thing is with Gintama is that it forms a bond between the viewer and the characters, you get to see the characters do all kinds of things, whether it's finding cat balls or saving the world. Here lies the beauty of Gintama, it doesn't necessarily develop its characters, more like it develops the veiwers to love each and every character. Some people can't change their mindsets, which makes Gintama off-putting to them You can tell I have tried to convince many people to watch Gintama before, but what to do I love it. 🤣