Gintama: Am I Missing Something?

How many times has it happened that someone has told you that you just have to watch something because it's so incredible, but then you've gone in, watched it, and come out the other side feeling distinctly "meh"? For me, this is what's happening with Gintama. I've seen countless people praise it to the heavens, and telling me that it's hilarious and that I just must watch it, but I'm currently 42 episodes in to the first series and frankly, I just don't get what the big deal is.

Now, I'm not saying that I can't see the appeal at all, as I have found myself almost in tears with laughter at some episodes and that's what's kept me watching for so long. Unfortunately, the humour content is varied to say the least. While some storylines clearly demonstrate the genius that it's so famed for, the others all swing and miss, and when it's not being pant-wettingly funny, I honestly find it rather dull. Some of the most recent episodes that I've watched sum this up for me perfectly. Episode 38 saw the gang enter a snow sculpture contest, and I swear my parents thought I was insane, laughing away to myself as I watched it on my iPad in the middle of the holiday cottage. It took crude humour, extreme competitiveness, and oodles of snow to create one of the funniest pieces of animation I've seen in a long time. Conversely, episodes 41 and 42 focused on a storyline surrounding Kagura, her long-lost father, and their strained relationship. While there were odd instances of Gintama's comedy gold (such as Gintoki leaping into action with a battle cry of "I'll pee on you! I'll pee my sweet urine on you!"), I spent most of my time clock-watching and waiting for it to get entertaining. In a weird way it's kind of like the reverse of Bleach. Ichigo and co. are better when they strip away the ultra dumb comedy and focus on more serious plotlines, whereas Gintama is better when it doesn't attempt to be serious, sentimental or have some kind of deep meaning and instead centres on the wacky, crude and violent humour.

I love self-referential and fourth wall humour at the best of times. This is one area that Gintama truly excels in... ... well that and rude, crude gags!

That I'm still not in love with this series leads me to question: am I missing something?

Maybe it just takes a while to get going? If that is the case however, then I'm sorry but 40+ episodes is WAY too long for a warm-up. By now it should be in full swing and I should be contemplating in investing in some "Tena Lady" products to control my laughing-induced "accidents". But still I'm not.

Perhaps its comedy just doesn't match with my sense of humour? Well, maybe, but that wouldn't explain why I find half of the content hilarious.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the series by any stretch; in fact I generally quite enjoy it. I'm just a little disappointed and somewhat perplexed. I genuinely want to love it and half of me does. I won't give up watching it, because I'm sure that somewhere down the line, something will click and that'll be it, I'll fall in love with it. But for now, I just don't quite get it.