Gintama

Episode 282

Hasegawa Taizou's frightening tales of unemployment, isolation and broken dreams should ring true for any adult whose illusions of an idyllic life were dispelled at the end of childhood. Hasegawa has been popping up like a ghoul before any youth enjoying themselves in the park the "MADAO" calls home. His tales of woe, or more accurately Hasegawa's pained diatribes about the harsh hand life has dealt him, are initially intended to warn them. Instead, they wind up scaring the beejeebus out of parkgoers.

With summer in full swing, the children of Edo are eager to hear horror stories, and the sunglasses-clad loner has more than his fair share of them. Before long, Hasegawa's raking it in telling "macabre" tales to crowds of kids who have more allowance in their pockets than he has money to his name. However, after running out of things to gripe about, he seeks the Odd Jobs Trio's assistance in coming up with new yarns. Intrigued by the prospect of splitting the revenue for any good stories they share, Kagura and Shinpachi are willing to give it a go. A surprisingly timid Gintoki, however, wants no part in this business.

The rest of the episode chronicles the Odd Jobs Trio's attempts at crafting sufficiently frightening tales of terror. Hasegawa's not picky—he just wants something that will make him more money, even if it's clichéd—but Kagura has Saint Seiya on the brain, and things quickly go off the rails. Gintoki's scary story is the funniest of the bunch and showcases the series' ability to make a joke funnier by completely running it into the ground. (Cue the angry screeches of Hasegawa, this week's guest tsukkomi. It's always strange to see someone else have a conniption over Gintoki and Kagura's inanity when Shinpachi's sitting right there.) Gintoki's obsessive fear of being sued by Toei Animation in response to the episode's wealth of Saint Seiya references is also amusing, as he (falsely) claims the show is already in hot water for featuring parodies of ToLoveRu and Kuroko's Basketball.

The episode elicits a number of laughs, but the overall premise is nothing special. To better accommodate the rapid-fire nature of Sorachi's jokes, the animated version of Gintama often turns stories like these into half-episode segments—a decision that would have served this story well. With the action confined to four characters sitting around Gintoki's apartment telling ghost stories, the humor is largely dependent on the visual depictions of the tales. Most of the "scary" segments are painted in dark tones with somber music to lend the proceedings a gothic flavor. The visual choices do a nice job of punctuating the joke that none of these stories are very scary. When Shinpachi's tale—easily the scariest, if also the most clichéd—is interrupted with a bright burst of color and yet another Saint Seiya reference, it's visually jarring, as it should be.

Gintama episode 282 is brimming with droll humor and Saint Seiya references, but it's that kind of intentionally overdone repetitiveness that drives much of the show's comedy. While it makes for an amusing diversion, an above-average familiarity with Kurumada Masami's iconic shonen manga might be required to appreciate the majority of the jokes.

Rating: B-

Gintama is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.