3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei

The boys (and girls) are back in town.

After years of, more or less, silence, the Gintama franchise is back from the dead...kinda. 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei is a side story inspired by a Light Novel of the same name, taking place in what is pretty much an alternative universe, but not really, and the premise itself was actually already used a few times during the original run of the Gintama anime itself so good luck making sense of that mess of a continuity.

So how does the long awaited return fare after all these years and with a new wrtiting staff?
In short: Pretty good.

In long: The ... show relies HEAVILY, and I do mean HEAVILY, on one´s pre-existing knowledge of the Gintama series and it´s characters. 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei jumps straight into the action with characters, known and loved by the fans, being themselves. A delight for the fans, but everyone else is kinda left hanging, trying to piece together any semblence of "what the frick is going on" minute 1.
Te anime is clearly and unappologetically made for the fans of the Gintama franchise and newcomers will find it hard, getting into some of the humor, while lacking the context behind every charcter, their actions and why others react to them as they do.

If you never watched or read Gintama, this show will most likely not impress you. It relies heavily on context and inside jokes you are expected to know by now, and if you dont, the humor is heavilly hit or miss. Not to say the show is not funny on its own, but the majority of enjoyment comes from things, new viewers will not be able to pick up on.

BUT, if you are a Gintama fan, boy is this a treat that scratches that loooong unscratched itch. For the most part, the characters, the writing and the jokes land well. There are some clear growing pains for the series to overcome under the new "managment", to reach its predecessors greatness, but if all you need is just more Gintama in your life, 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei is that and then some.

here's my honest unbiased review as a hardcore gintama fan

I've watched Gintama from start to finish so I think I'm credible enough to write this review. First off, when I started the original show I had to admit the first episodes were a rough start for me where they could only manage to get a few (generous) chuckles out of me. It took a while to establish a lot of characters and set up a lot of inside jokes, and it's that build up of understanding why the characters are the way that they are that led to the most hilarious moments much later on ... in the show... The pay off was worth it in my opinion.

That being said, in Ginpachi sensei I feel that same rough start- maybe even a bit rougher than Gintama's.

I do give a lot of grace to these new writers for being passed on such a huge responsibility and recognize the pressure and that's why I continue watching and urge everyone else to have the patience for it. But in all honesty, the first few episodes you can really feel their struggle to find the right note in terms of the humor and how to utilize the characters in this new school setting.

A lot of their jokes didn't land for me and felt forced, it felt like they were just relying on pure slapstick and your nostalgia for the characters, most of them (kagura, kondo, gintoki specifically) felt very caricature-like and just made me miss how they were in Gintama but in the later episodes I can finally see the writing shine and for those moments I believe there's huge potential for this show.

So what's my advice to the gintama fans who come in to this show? Manage your expectations but don't give up on the show, there's good moments sprinkled there but just like how Gintama took a while to build it's characters and it's jokes, give that same grace and patience for this one- because trust me there's potential for it to be great; the seeds are already there and budding. I'm definitely not dropping it and I enjoy seeing how the writers slowly breathe life into this new setting and I hope you guys support it as well so we can get more seasons from this one

"3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei" es un spin-off paródico de Gintama, que traslada a sus personajes a un entorno escolar con la única intención de hacer humor autorreferencial y sketches absurdos. Muy enfocado en torno al chiste inmediato y la ruptura constante de la cuarta pared.

El principal problema de la serie es precisamente ese enfoque. El humor es extremadamente irregular, muy dependiente de referencias internas a Gintama, chistes meta y exageraciones caricaturescas de los personajes. Esto hace que, más que una obra con identidad propia, se sienta como contenido accesorio para los fans de gintama, y pensado exclusivamente para fans muy metidos en la franquicia. Fuera de ... ese contexto, gran parte de los gags pierden fuerza o directamente no funcionan si no has visto previamente bastantes capítulos de la original.

A nivel narrativo, no hay demamasiado que analizar, tiene un carácter episódico donde, diferentes personajes de la serie, no se enfrentan a conflictos reales y funcionan únicamente como vehículos de chistes, lo que refuerza la sensación de que la serie existe más por inercia que por una necesidad creativa real.

En conjunto, 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei es una obra ligera y prescindible, que puede resultardivertida en momentos muy concretos si se es fan de Gintama, pero que carece de ambición, ingenio sostenido o identidad propia que la haga destacar sobre otras series, incluso de la misma gintama. No es ofensiva ni especialmente mala, y particularmente la disfruté al haber visto antes la serie, pero no me imagino a una persona que no sepa nada de gintama disfrutando esto, y realmente tampoco aporta nada relevante al medio ni a la franquicia. La recomiendo únicamente si se es muy fan de Gintama.


ENG:


"3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei" is a parody spin-off of Gintama, which places its characters in a school setting with the sole intention of creating self-referential humor and absurd sketches. It's heavily focused on immediate gags and the constant breaking of the fourth wall.

The series' main problem is precisely this approach. The humor is extremely uneven, heavily reliant on internal Gintama references, meta jokes, and caricatured exaggerations of the characters. This makes it feel less like a work with its own identity and more like supplementary content for Gintama fans, designed exclusively for those deeply immersed in the franchise. Outside of that context, many of the gags fall flat or simply don't work if you haven't seen several episodes of the original series.

Narratively, there's not much to analyze. It has an episodic structure where different characters from the series don't face real conflicts and function solely as vehicles for jokes, reinforcing the feeling that the series exists more out of inertia than genuine creative necessity.

Overall, 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei is a light and dispensable work that might be amusing at specific moments if you're a Gintama fan, but it lacks ambition, sustained wit, or a distinct identity that would make it stand out from other series, even within the Gintama franchise itself. It's not offensive or particularly bad, and I personally enjoyed it because I'd seen the series beforehand, but I can't imagine someone unfamiliar with Gintama enjoying this, and it doesn't really contribute anything relevant to the medium or the franchise. I only recommend it if you're a die-hard Gintama fan.