*Includes: A Kimutaku parody clip. Do watch.
Not a fan of anime? No fret! Gintama is one anime I will recommend to even the non-otaku, guys and girls alike. 'Cause it's just that good. Guys who don't like shoujo, girls who don't care for shounen, y'all can still appreciate this anime. *Cough* that is if you don't mind some crude jokes every now and then. You do find Stephen Chow funny, don't you? (gotta check, 'cause my mom doesn't appreciate his indecent one-liners).
Like many shounen stuff, Gintama is set in a alternate world: In this one, samurais are banned and Amanto (aliens) and humans co-exist for better or for worse, after Amanto invaded Edo (now known as Tokyo). But none of that matters, not really. As long as you get this by watching the 1st episode, you're good to go. The format is episodic (like Friends) where the story resolves itself in a one episode (sometimes 2-4), so you can basically start watching from any of its 200+ epis.
Boys Love? Fanfics? Covered in this anime!
The reason why it shines is because...it's HI-larious. Not the heh kind, but the hold your sides from splitting due to laughter kind. To sum it up: Parody At Its Best. It makes fun of anything and everything: Shounen mangas in JUMP (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Detective Conan, Death Note etc. - even itself), famous figures in Japan (Shun Oguri, Odagiri Joe, Ichikawa Ebizo) and even outside Japan (Will Smith, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan).
