Gintama

Episode 341

With the thoroughly chaotic conclusion to the Guardian Spirits storyline, it looks like the Slip Arc saved the best for last. In addition to being the craziest arc in a season built almost exclusively around wackiness, the swan song for comedy-focused Gintama just might be one of the show's outright zaniest stories ever. If this proves to be the series' final foray into sheer irreverence, it's hard not to argue that it went out with a bang.

Once the Kabukicho sports meet is underway, things quickly take a turn for the worse. As Shinpachi discovers, people become fatigued and injured when their guardian spirits are taken out. Despite the fact that Asuraman and Alchu are highly feared in the spirit community, they're no match for Tae's guardian spirit, Dark Thousand Armed Kanon, a manifestation of the ill will felt by the thousands of eggs she's burned. The proceedings become even more chaotic when Katsura, Elizabeth, and the core members of the Shinsengumi arrive on the scene with their respective spirits. As a "dead man walking," Hasegawa is revealed to have become a spirit, with his trademark shades now acting as his actual body.

Shinpachi soon learns that the creepy old eyewear merchant from last week is actually an extension of his personal guardian spirit: his original glasses. It turns out the spirit simply wanted his host to be aware of the existence of guardian spirits and to know that no matter what happened, they'd always have his back. Now free of the Curr Sedd glasses, the young man heads back into the fray with renewed vigor. However, while his newly-repaired specs enable him to see distant feelings and emotions, they also leave him hopelessly farsighted, resulting in a brutal sports meet defeat for Odd Jobs Gin-chan. Crestfallen, Shinpachi concludes that it's time for new glasses.

As is customary when Gintama hits its stride, jokes fly off the screen at a breakneck pace, and catching every single gag in one viewing is liable to prove challenging. The manic pacing is well-suited to such an insane story, but the episode's vehement refusal to slow down makes it difficult to read the respective origins of the guardian spirits, which are relayed to the audience through boxes of text. Still, this is easily solved through the use of a pause button, and these notes are funny enough to warrant a closer read. The guardian spirits and their various backstories become progressively more bizarre as the episode wears on, especially during the three-legged race, when it's revealed that both Katsura and Hijikata's spirits are cars: Katsulla and Mayorati. The episode also works in a few riffs on school sports meets, most notably the distinctly Gintama-ish scavenger hunt, in which a “Divine Sword God Death Crimson Blade Mk. 2” is among the items participants are tasked with obtaining.

Once again, the guardian spirits being responsible for the gang's most prominent eccentricities is a funny conceit, but in certain cases, it works better as throwaway humor than genuinely canonical material. Katsura, for example, earned the nickname “Runaway Kotaro” during the Joi War and has been rattling off his trademark catchphrase (“It's not Zura, it's Katsura!”) since the early days of Shoka Sonjuku. Also, it's doubtful that Hasegawa has actually become a spirit. However, since the whole thing is played for laughs, this isn't really an issue. (Hijikata's insatiable love of mayo being a guardian spirit-based curse seems believable enough, though.)

As a season-long comedic breather before the final arc, the Slip Arc has gone above and beyond the call of duty. While it's not entirely clear why the anime staff waited so long to adapt these stories, fans can be thankful that they were ultimately able to make the cut. In the span of 13 episodes, we've met hip hop-obsessed Titans, butt-dwelling alien swords, sexually-challenged assassins, and sadistic guardian spirits—in other words, just another day in Kabukicho.

Rating: A-

Gintama is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is an author who has loved anime for over two decades.