Gin Tama 12
December 25, 2009
Hideaki Sorachi – Viz – 2008 – 31+ volumes
This has been recommended by a couple people. The plot summary sounded exactly to my tastes, which mentions an odd job dealer who isn’t above making a fool of himself, aliens, and ancient Japan. Yes. Make it work, Gin Tama.
In all honesty, I was a little disappointed with the first couple chapters. The volume starts in the middle of a battle using the weird terminology of the series, and the one thing the series has going against it is the fact that it’s set in Ancient Japan and seems like it requires some familiarity with… stuff, like the Shinsengumi and the government system and stuff like that, things that I have not committed to memory.
After the first couple chapters, I was completely won over. Even without knowing any of the characters or much about what was going on, I still loved it. There was a weird chapter where a ninja was sent in to spy on Gin and company, and kept running into weird obstacles meant to stop Gin from escaping and… had actually trapped stalkers, or something.
A later chapter was Christmas-themed, featuring Santa and a really manly looking reindeer. Rarely do we see Santa in manga, and this chapter was particularly awesome since Gin didn’t seem to… get the fact that he was Santa, and kept trying to help him by turning him into a burglar.
This is also one of those Shounen Jump series with awesome letter segments between chapters, like Oda’s SBS Corners. Sorachi even answers questions for D-Gray Man that got sent to him by mistake. I love it.
I actually can’t say anything about the story, because I don’t know what’s going on, but I love what I’ve seen of the characters, and I adore the sense of humor, which is hard to get right. The goofy madcap ridiculousness is great. I’ve got one more volume of this, and I hope I learn a little more about what’s going on. In all actuality, I hope it continues with the one-shot chapters like the last 3/4 of this volume rather than returning to whatever the plot is. I love it best like this.
Also, it made me happy to read a manga with Santa in it around Christmas. Hope yins are having a Merry Christmas.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
December 25, 2009 at 6:10 am
I always wondered where Gin Tama was in your lists, as I consider it my favourite Shonen manga, in fact one of my favourite comics period.
If it convinces you to start from the beginning of the series – which I can’t recommend enough – the basic structure is mostly one shot chapters followed by slightly longer stories which never stay around too long but are just as good. And after those long stories there are one-shots dealing with the aftermath of the long stories, which are usually the best chapters of all.
And if you’re confused by the characters, they all get a full introduction as you read from the beginning, which is the best way to get into it. And chapter 17 is probably the best comic about a cherry blossom festival ever. You won’t regret it.
Also Happy Holidays!
December 26, 2009 at 12:33 am
Cool, thanks for the recommendation. I’ve got one more volume here, which I’ll probably read tonight, but if I wind up liking it as much as I liked this one, I’ll probably start over from the beginning. I didn’t have too much trouble with the characters since Gin’s group is easy to identify and pin down quickly, and after the first couple chapters in this volume, they seemed to be the only ones that mattered. But it does seem like it would be something I could start from the beginning, it’s got some very funny stuff.