You have to love an episode where Gin goes wild with his skills and shows just how good he is.
What They Say:
The Kabuki District battle is coming to an end and old promises are being erased.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The return of Otose wasn’t exactly a surprise as the battle reached a pitched level and the fight was really getting intense for a lot of them, including a very bloodied up Pirako and a whole lot of Kabuki men that aren’t anywhere near as pretty as they once were. And that’s saying a hell of a lot considering how un-pretty many of them looked. Otose does her best at the start to really set the mood for how they’re all there to protect the town and to do what’s right rather than fighting amongst themselves over things that in the end don’t even really matter all that much. It’s that rare time that Otose manages to look and sound the right part that is partially bestowed upon her because of her age.
The episode does continue its violent streak pretty well here even as the trannies and kabuki players all get their battle on, but it’s when it focuses on Jirocho and Gin as they fight together, back to back for a lot of it, that it really ratchets things up several notches. It’s bloody, brutal and powerful material that really makes you wish for a good, serious period piece involving these kinds of characters again. There’s a great look in Gin’s eyes during a lot of this that really says a ton as he is on the verge of finding all of this to be a thrill as they take down the “elite soldiers” with relative ease. The adrenaline rush is pretty profound though as they deal with the threat that is Kada and her group, and it’s admittedly good to see the two of them essentially collapse after all is said and done.
The episode does lose its momentum after the really good fight that Gin and Jirocho have to settle an older issue, but it’s pretty much a requirement to go this route to let things settle down and for everyone to deal with the fallout from events. With it focusing on the older generation like Jirocho and Otose, there are some good moments to be had here with how they’ve dealt with their lives and things they think of as they get closer to the end of it all. It’s fun just for the brief looks at a young Otose alone! The younger generation deals with their fallout as well, particularly when it comes to Pirako and the way she caused so many problems since her introduction, but she’s been off-putting from the start so it doesn’t do all that much for me. It’s good to see some closure to things, and Gin handles it right by deferring her and the problems with her for a bit as well.
In Summary:
When Gintama goes on multiple episode arcs, they tend to not be all that interesting for me, especially when they’re serious ones. What does work for them is when Gin goes to town on his opponents, getting serious and bloody by doing what’s required, as it gives you a taste of what the show would have been like if the aliens never arrived. Pirako hasn’t been that much of a draw for this storyline and the focus on the older characters has its moments, especially with Otose, but by and large things fell fairly flat for a lot of it. It was too long overall but still had plenty of very good moments, especially in this episode, and especially with the very end sequence itself which brings things full circle.
Grade: B
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.