Gintama is one of the funniest anime of the last couple of decades, and its reputation is rightly deserved. Its unique blend of high-octane comedy with intense action and emotional drama is not seen in many other shows. While it may not be as high-profile as other Shonen Jump series, it is still quite popular.
Like any comedy series, Gintama sports a large amount of running gags over its large runtime. With a massive ensemble of quirky and eccentric characters, Gintama is full of ridiculous gags and jokes that set its comedy apart from the others. Here are some of the funniest running gags seen throughout the entire Gintama series.
10 Shinpachi's Glasses
Shimura Shinpachi is one of the most important characters in Gintama, but he admittedly does not have much of a presence, especially compared to the flashier members of the Yorozuya. He is so normal that his glasses are often his most distinguishing feature, much to his chagrin.
Eventually, this goes so far that some characters begin to insist that Shinpachi is the glasses themselves and that the human body is only an accessory. Naturally, Shinpachi hates this joke, but fans find it one of his funniest running gags.
9 Okita And Hijikata
The Shinsengumi police force is one of the most important parts of the Gintama cast, and Okita and Hijikata are among its most prominent members. However, despite being loyal to their leader Kondo, Okita and Hijikata are constantly at odds.
While Okita often bears most of the malice, Hijikata also dislikes Okita for his constant backstabbing tendencies. The clashes often bounce between simple bickering and all-out fighting. Their violent and dysfunctional relationship is a constant source of comedy, even if it does improve over time.
8 Mayonnaise
Hijikata Toshiro of the Shinsengumi is known for both his strictness and his seriousness, earning him the nickname of the Demon Vice-Commander. His Kyokuchu Hatto are the rules that the Shinsengumi must live by, and failure to adhere to the rules means harsh punishment.
Of course, Hijikata isn't a machine, and even he has his weaknesses. In this case, it's mayonnaise, which Hijikata consumes religiously. He loves it to the point that he pours massive amounts of it on plain white rice. While it's hilarious to see Hijikata's obsession with mayonnaise, it definitely adds color to a potentially one-note character.
7 Toilet Humor
Gintama has a lot of jokes that are based on references, not just to manga and anime, but also to Japanese pop culture and lifestyles. There are a lot of Japanese puns all over this series, and only someone well-versed in Japanese will get a lot of these jokes.
Of course, Gintama also has a lot of dirty jokes as well. In fact, dirty jokes are often the bread and butter of a Gintama episode, and it's not rare to see a bundle of mosaics all over the screen. While Gintama has a lot of clever jokes, it's not afraid to engage in lowbrow humor as well.
6 Breaking The Fourth Wall
Gintama rarely has any limits when it comes to what jokes it wants to make. As a result, it often happily makes meta jokes about its state as an anime, with frequent jokes about its possible cancellation. On a smaller scale, characters often make jokes about their appearance rate and character setting, as if they were actors in a show.
Gintama's breaking of the fourth wall is so ingrained into the series that it even had an arc surrounding the results of a real-life popularity poll. Even the author makes appearances in the anime in the form of a nose-picking gorilla.
5 Kondo And Sacchan's Stalking
Kondo is the leader of the Shinsengumi and a charismatic and humble leader in his own right. Despite that, he has one fatal flaw: he's a relentless stalker who constantly seeks Otae's affections, to the point that he spends an inordinate amount of time hiding around her and Shinpachi's home.
Kondo isn't the only stalker in the Gintama cast; the glasses-wearing ninja Sacchan also pines after the main character Gintoki, and frequently sneaks into his home in order to spy on him. While their actions are problematic, in the world of Gintama they are nothing but hilarious.
4 Madao's Misfortunes
Hasegawa is one of the most unfortunate characters in the series, being a hapless man with a penchant for falling into bad situations. Perpetually on the edge of poverty, Hasegawa constantly struggles to hold on to his money, and his predicament led to him being nicknamed Madao, meaning, among other things, that he is a good-for-nothing old man.
Throughout the series, Hasegawa undertakes a lot of trials and tribulations as he attempts to crawl back to a respectable lifestyle. While some of these stories can be somewhat serious, they are often hilarious, such as Hasegawa's many part-time jobs that are ultimately ruined by the gang.
3 Elizabeth's True Face
One of the more surreal characters in this series is Elizabeth, a strange duck-like creature and Katsura's erstwhile companion and pet. It's quite clear to everyone that Elizabeth is not what it appears to be, but no one is really sure what the truth really is.
Most of the time, Elizabeth plays a silent character that doesn't speak. However, sometimes it breaks character and speaks in a strange voice, revealing a darkened face from inside the costume. While Elizabeth's identity remains a mystery for most of the series, it is still a core part of the cast.
2 "It's Not Zura, It's Katsura!"
While Katsura Kotaro may be the ambitious leader of the Joi Rebels, he is also quite the scatterbrain as well. Despite being one of Gintoki's most loyal comrades and allies, he is also a ridiculous comic relief character that should have no business leading a rebellion.
While Katsura has a lot of running gags based around his airheaded character, his most famous gag revolves around Gintoki's nickname for him, "Zura". Katsura dislikes the nickname so much that he reflexively corrects anyone who says something even remotely close to it. This gag is one of Gintama's most famous, and it is one of Katsura's signature lines.
1 "It's The Shogun!"
While he may not appear very often, the Shogun is regardless one of the funniest characters in the Gintama cast. The Shogun frequently sneaks out of the palace in order to experience life the way that commoners do, but this always ends up with him crossing paths with the Odd Jobs crew.
Every encounter with the Shogun results in the crew trying to do their best to make sure he has a good time, but their endeavors often end in him being abused by those who are unaware of his true identity (or sometimes even by those who are aware). The Shogun handles it all with dignity, but that only makes things all the more hilarious.