Firstly if youre not already a fan of Gintama this is not for you. Now assuming you are a fan this show will give you more Gintama. In many ways this show feels like an extended Gintama bit like if the Mantama bit went on for 12 episodes instead of 1. You get to see more of the characters you know and love Although... and get more of Gintamas comedy and occasional emotional moment or lesson. THE CHARACTERS A lot of characters also feel a bit more one note like theyve been reduced to just their running jokes. Some characters get more to work with then others and some are definitely left directionless without the context and position their character in the anime. Some transition well into their roles in a school. Prince Baka and his butler probably fair the best and fit seamlessly into their roles. The shinsengumi into disciplinary committee works well enough. Gintoki as the teacher Ginpachi worked although it took a bit to get used to the idea of him being older than the rest of the main cast and the students being all roughly the same age for that matter. Kagura and Kondo do not look like it. The shimuras both fit in well enough as they were both kinda the normal people of the cast already. Kamui works well as a delinquent they barely have to change him at all. Everyone else kinda loses something. Katsura and elizabeth feel like theyre missing something to replace them being Jouishishi. It feels like the show doesnt know what to do with Kagura shes only prominent in a couple episodes and while she does have a familial connection to Kamui who is important it only even gets brought up once. Takasugi feels very directionless although the anime itself does call this out in episode 11 as usual Gintama has always been selfaware. Its kinda hard to criticize this show when its clear that it often directly acknowledges those criticisms. That said being self aware doesnt automatically shield from any criticism. I also feel like some characters ok its toujou. Im not the biggest fan of toujou. I really dont like him. Why did he get so much screen time? Why Why Why? Was his VA really Cheap or something? got too much screen time while I feel like some should have had more screen time like kyuubei the annoying stalker get more screentime kagura. Of course with only 12 episodes compared to Gintamas 369 its expected that there wasnt enough time for all characters to get the spotlight. THE PLOT Its a mostly episodic affair this time with the only real multi episode affair being takasugi and gang and their story. It all culminates in what feels like it should be a final episode with episode 11. The takasugi plot line was pretty good and actually addressed some issues I was feeling with the show through its very meta conclusion. It feels very much like an early Gintama arc in that its only in a few episodes and surrounded by episodic comedy. I feel though that it wasnt quite enough. Personally one of the best things about gintama is how it combined episodic comedy with these overarching plot threads that would culminate in genuinely quite good serious arcs although even the serious arcs still have their comedy. It was that combination of irreverent comedy and well written serious story arcs that truly made Gintama for me. While the takasugi arc was something here it didnt quite scratch that itch for me. The oneoff emotional/moral lesson episodes were nowhere near the level they are in gintama. At best they reached the level of a mediocre episode from the main show. The conclusion to the takasugi arc was probably the best part of the show. It directly calls out the nature of the show as an unnecessary addon to a finished franchise. A cashgrab made without any real reason beyond making more gintama to prolong the franchise. SETTING One of my favourite things about Gintama other than the characters is the wonderfully weird world. A fusion between bakumatsu era and modern japan with aliens scifi and occasional fantasy/supernatural elements. It was the perfect backdrop for Gintama. In contrast I think Gintama High is a decent setting just not as interesting. Considering there were only 12 episodes to explore it though Im not too bothered. MISC Ginpachisensei as a show feels a bit fake at times. At several points different characters I think mostly just takasugi and gintoki/ginpachi refer to playing along and that is what it feels like the whole cast is doing. It feels less like a school anime and more like the cast of Gintama playing at being in a school anime. I think this is largely intended although it makes it harder to actually get invested in the characters and the world when the characters themselves dont seem to believe it either. It kinda feels like the anime itself isnt trying very hard like its almost here by contractual obligation or something. Again it feels a bit like if the mantama bit was stretched to 12 episodes. It was almost like I was subconsciously waiting for the whole school bit to end and them to go back to usual Gintama programming. A lot of this is addressed by the episode 11 conclusion but addressing it doesnt make it go away. CONCLUSION It was nice to see the cast of Gintama back again and I am definitely heavily biased in favour of this show I am someone who is very susceptible to here is more thing of thing you like. A recommend for fans of Gintama although dont go in expecting peak Gintama more like a kinda average set of episodes somewhere in the middle where the cast act out being in a highschool anime for 12 episodes. The season ended with the teaser of there potentially maybe being a season 2 happening sometime maybe. If that season 2 comes out I would watch it. I think most fans of Gintama agree that the early episodes of Gintama arent Gintama at its best I definitely enjoyed them but they werent peak gintama hopefully if this does get a second season it can develop more of its own identity.