Gintama

Episode 268

Poor oft-forgotten Yamazaki's stuck spying on Gintoki after the Shinsengumi learn of the silver-haired samurai's past as the infamous White Yaksha. However, since Gintoki is the laziest person in existence and can barely be troubled to get off his butt and work, let alone conspire against the Shogunate, Yamazaki's stakeout across the street is spectacularly uneventful—until he falls in love with Tama, Otose's android maid.

When Yamazaki overhears Tama giving an overloaded checkout scanner (the actual scanner, not a checkout clerk) a pep talk at the grocery store, he takes her kind words to heart and subsequently develops an unhealthy (to say the least) obsession with watching her instead of Gintoki. When the Shinsengumi read his creepy stakeout journal and discover his sanity is hanging by a thread, the ever-devious Okita requests the Odd Jobs crew's permission for Yamazaki and Tama to have an omiai. (Only after he asks if Yamazaki can outright "borrow" the android for sex.)

The rest of the episode is focused on parodying traditional Japanese arranged marriage meetings. To get the most enjoyment out of this bit, you have to have an affinity for loads upon loads of pixelated vomit and tsukkomi humor. Yamazaki has always been the straight man of the Shinsengumi, but when it comes to straight men, he doesn't hold a candle to the long-suffering Shinpachi, which Gintoki's bespectacled sidekick is all too eager to point out. The meta joke of him critiquing Yamazaki's tsukkomi skills and assigning him points like an overly critical in-law throughout the omiai serves as one of the episode's highlights.

Gintoki and Kagura banter like the "parents" of the potential-bride-to-be, and Hijikata and Kondo are there to negotiate the marriage on behalf of Yamazaki. (Okita's just there to quip and consider murdering everyone as usual.) The fact that Yamazaki is so unnoticeable even at an omiai in his honor—to the point of being mistaken for a waiter more than once—is amusing. The interactions between everyone at the omiai table make for more than a few chuckles, but the episode relies too much on the same few jokes—particularly vomiting—for this week's installment to be ranked among the series' best.

If you've watched all of Gintama thus far, you'll enjoy episode 268—but you may not remember it in a month or two. With the hundreds of other hilarious misadventures Gintoki and the gang have had, an omiai story, which unfolds mostly around a shared table, can only go so far. Plus, there's nothing particularly original about the jokes in this story. Yamazaki is always overlooked. Tama always reacts with cool indifference to what's going on around her. Pixelated bodily fluids frequently flow like water in the world of Gintama. Usually, this series meshes familiar elements and character traits with outrageous new settings, making the most of all the tropes it's taken so long to establish. While this episode does a fair job of amusing loyal viewers, it offers little in the way of originality.

Rating: B-

Gintama is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.