 Written by Anonymooo
Try as I might, it’s hard for me to see a series like Gintama doing well over here. And yet, it is! This lets me hold out hope for Sakigake: Otokojuku! getting a release here. Or maybe not, I always get blank stares when I mention that series.
 Anyways, CR had the license for the first series, and not only was it liked, it was loved enough to encourage CR to pick up the new series, Gintama’ (pronounced “Gintama Dash” for those of you unfamiliar with Street Fighter II upgrades).
It’s been roughly a year since the original series ended (with a strange Christmas episode in March, no less), and just like initial director Takamatsu Shinji promised, a new series arrived and picks up with the same staff minus Takamatsu--Fujita Yoichi takes the reins now--but more importantly, it has the same feel and the same heart that the original had plenty of.
 For those of you who haven’t seen the series, Gintama is deceiving. At first, it looks like a historical action series in the vein of Rurouni Kenshin or Peacemaker Kurogane, and that’s very reasonable: it does take place in Edo during a time of political upheaval where a foreign power has irreversibly changed the Japanese way of life and removed the samurai from their seat of power by banning the carrying of swords. Technologically advanced weapons keep any ideas of rebellion easily cowed, and these foreigners run amok in cities, acting like they own the place.
 Sounds pretty familiar, right? We’ve seen this all before... sort of. Taking the idea of faraway conquerors and running all the way to the end zone and out of town with it, it is in fact actual honest-to-God aliens who have taken over Japan and turkey-slapped its military power into submission. But with all this heavy atmosphere, you’d think this would be a harsh tale of revenge and redemption while a small, hidden rebellion uses guerrilla tactics against a brutal regime, crushing innocents under its oppressive heel.
Or it could just be a goofy comedy, treating the occupation of the invading Amanto with passing references, rarely stopping to actually address the “bigger picture” and talk about Japan’s freedom.
 Now, for some people this might be an issue: one of the strengths of Japanese comic and animation storytelling is a general feeling of continuity, how stories are told in large, multi-part arcs that often have a lot of character development along the way. Contrary to this, Gintama has and always will be more or less a sitcom, save for a few story arcs that flesh out the real strength of this series: its characters.
Sakata Gintoki is a “freelancer,” which is a fancy way of saying that he’s broke and jobless and will do just about anything for money, because how else is he going to make rent for the month? Getting a real job, you say? That sounds like it involves effort. Thankfully, he’s partnered with his sometimes-reluctant but always-able apprentice, Shimura Shinpachi, and the immensely strong alien (who looks like a little Chinese girl) Kagura, and this unlucky trio will face any odds to see their job to the end and collect the money they so desperately need. Along the way, they run afoul of the Shinsengumi (yes, that Shinsengumi), an elite police force of swordsmen, and the occupying Amanto forces.
It’s a pretty simple premise, relatively speaking, and the status quo tends to be restored every time an arc ends. There’s no serious love triangles, very few epic confrontations as Gintoki is kind of chicken despite how powerful a swordsman he is, and more often than not, at the end of an episode everybody is back where they started. But with Gintama, it doesn’t feel like time wasted.
Rather, it feels more like a crazy afternoon hanging out with some of your best friends whom you’ve known for forever. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
 
 Written by Mark Williams
Gags in more slapstick comedies can often make for a choppy flow to the story. The story can end up flowing so roughly, in fact, that it must be either futilely simple or detrimentally short. This unfortunate phenomenon is the bane of all who wish to see a comedy that has a strong dramatic element to it. All to often, those seeking such a comedy are made to sacrifice a great deal of hilarity so as to maintain the drama. Viewers need suffer no longer for Crunchyroll has cured this debilitating monotony with its license, We, Without Wings: Under the Innocent Sky.
 The fluid nature of the show is the result of, in large part, the maintenance of certain restrictions on practices one finds painted comedy elsewhere. Jokes regarding how a scene is crafted are related through ridiculously inappropriate art and animation style, audio, and setting changes. Such comedy does not interfere with the drama in the comedy, but enhances it. The drama itself becomes out of place and, therefore, hilarious.
 Straight man within a number of other comedies change places with other characters within their respective shows. In some, this occurs within the same scene. A symbiotic relationship between comedy and a drama is not native to these environments and must be unnaturally rested into them. Unfortunate environments such as those, however prominent elsewhere, are foreign to the native environment of comedy lichen, We, Without Wings; its jokes are centred around a single straight man. A fellow whom not only does not run the positions in his comedy troop on an alternating cycle, but is featured for considerable stretches of scenes even across ending themes.
Destabilization of the show is rendered nigh impossible by this kilter anchor. The show maintains a degree of focus that is quite exceptional amongst its kin considering the barrage it receives on a near regular basis.
 The third aspect of Under the Innocent Sky that reveals its thoughtful, deliberate craftsmanship is its integration of jokes into its dramatic scenes. The transitions here are smoother then the gentle ocean breeze of a day at the beach—hot and cold—with jocular elements propagating naturally from the characterization of the persons involved. Straight men proceed about a scene quite reasonably, as they always do, and those around them overact to their conduct. As simple a setup as this is, the overreactions are so clever and unexpected that the comedy becomes something profound.
We, Without Wings: Under the Innocent Sky is ironically derived from eroge. For some viewers, that begets an inability to enjoy the show. It does indeed retain some of the original eroge's suggestive elements; however, these are turned satirically playful. Through the use of inordinate shading and illumination, affectedly shoddy censoring, flashing what is usually deliberate, and casually transitioning into tamer jokes, the light of this objectification gleams in stark disparity to the typical echi anime.
 Written by edsamac
You may have noticed quite a bit of Norse mythology elements embedded in the story of Astarotte no Omocha. There are quite a number of other references used, as well as some interesting word puns used in the series. Included, here, are just some of the references used in the story to add to your viewing pleasure!
 Yggdrasil - Also known as the "world tree" in Norse mythology, it contains among its branches the nine realms (or worlds) of the universe: Midgard, Alfheimr, Svartálfaheim, Vanaheimr, Muspellheim, Jöutenheimr, Niflheim, Asgard, and Hel.
Alfheimr - One of the nine realms in Norse mythology, it is the world of the "light elves" (differentiated from Svartálfaheim, the world of the "dark elves"). This explains why all of the characters in this realm have pointed ears - but it doesn't answer why there are vampires and succubi!
 Astarotte - Derived from the name Astarte, the Phonecian goddess of fertility and sexual love.
Asuha/Asuhariet - Asuha's name in Japanese is written as 明日葉, which literally means "the leaf of tomorrow". This is in reference to a leaf from the tree of the Yggdrasil, which Asuha actually has on her person. Asuha's other name, Asuhariet contains a germanic variation of the name Harriet, which was derived from the Germanic word heimiric, containing the word "heim" meaning "home". This word is used in reference to the different worlds in norse mythology. It's not surprising that if we took Asuheim and switched off "heim" with "gard", we'd get Asugard - the Engrish form of Asgard.
 Naoya - His name literally means "Godparent", probably in reference to his relationship with Asuha. His name is transliterated with the kanji 直哉, which literally means "the honest one", and "one who fixes (relationships)", perhaps in reference to his character.
Naruto Shippuden ©2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO / 2007 SHIPPUDEN All Rights Reserved., Soranowoto © Paradores/Aniplex/ 1121, Chu-Bra © Yumi NakataEFUTABASHA^CHU-BRA Partnership, Astro Boy, Dororo, Blackjack and Phoenix © Tezuka Productions All Rights Reserved, Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte Z © ADVFilms All Rights Reserved
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