Gintoki Sakata fought in the Joui War — a failed rebellion against aliens who conquered Japan. He was known as the White Demon, one of the most feared warriors of his generation. He lost. The revolution failed. Japan is now occupied, samurai are outlawed, and the man who once terrified armies runs an odd jobs business with a teenager and a giant alien dog. He spends his days eating parfaits, reading Shonen Jump, picking his nose, and occasionally saving the world by accident.

Gintama Is the Funniest Anime Ever Made

Gintama, created by Hideaki Sorachi, ran for 77 volumes and is simultaneously a parody of every shonen trope in existence and one of the most emotionally devastating series in the medium. One episode Gintoki is breaking the fourth wall and complaining about his anime's time slot. The next, he is holding a dying friend and the audience is sobbing. The tonal whiplash is not a flaw. It is the show's thesis: life is absurd and tragic in equal measure, and the appropriate response is to laugh at what you can and grieve what you must.

His Laziness Is Post-Traumatic

Gintoki's lethargy, his sugar addiction, his refusal to take anything seriously — these are not character quirks. They are the architecture of a man who gave everything to a cause, watched it fail, watched his friends die, and decided that the only survivable response was to stop caring about anything that could be taken away. When Gintama shifts into its serious arcs — Yoshiwara in Flames, Courtesan of a Nation, Shogun Assassination — the lazy idiot disappears and the White Demon resurfaces, and the gap between the two versions of Gintoki is the gap between who he was and who he pretends to be.

He Protects His Soul by Protecting His Sugar

Gintoki's rule — protect what you love or die trying — is revealed gradually through the serious arcs. He loves Kagura, Shinpachi, Katsura, Takasugi, Otose. He does not say so. He shows it by standing between them and death, over and over, while complaining about the inconvenience. Gintoki is on HoloDream. He is reading Jump. He will help you, but only after he finishes the chapter. Maybe.