Gintama is unique for its comedy and has become legendary for its parody.
Airing back in the 2000s with many variations in content, it has become the OG of anime comedy in the 21st century and the influence behind many (but not all) similar shows.
Let’s talk about those similar anime shows since they’re worth watching if you haven’t already.
Each anime is unique but definitely NOT the same.
Anime that parallels Gintama:
1. My Bride Is A Mermaid
My Bride Is A Mermaid is still one of my favourite comedy series of all time. It’s a rom-com to be accurate since romance is involved, as well as “being engaged” to marry between the two characters.
Sun Seto is a mermaid and her family is Yakuza. She saves Nagasumi from growing up in the ocean and chooses to get engaged to him to avoid her family killing him which is a mermaid rule if outsiders find out their secrets.
The killer father who doesn’t give a F, the questionable character called MASA who seemingly makes people gay, the charming mother of Sun Seto, and the arrogant Luna (voiced by Lucy Heartfilia).
My Bride Is A Mermaid is a journey in comedy, romance, and everything in between.
It’s also one of the few anime like Gintama that was released 1 year after and has romance added in while managing to keep everything funny.
Related: 12 Of The Funniest Rom Com Anime That Are English Dubbed
2. Good Luck Girl
Good Luck Girl is led by Sakura Ichiko, who is hilariously called “tit-chiko” in various parts of the series.
She’s the luckiest person in the world, and luck always seems to be on her side. She’s the type of person who could walk out in the middle of a road with a truck only metres away from running her over, only to somehow be unscathed after the fact.
Momiji appears on earth to deal with this phenomenon surrounding Ichiko, and basically she has too much “good luck” that somehow makes other people have bad luck by extension.
Momiji fights Ichiko over it, and that’s where the comedy, parody, and madness begins.
It starts well and ends even better. It even has character development.
3. Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt
Panty And Stocking is a vulgar type of anime depending on your threshold and tastes for these types of shows.
Unlike Gintama, this specializes in ECCHI and the comedy matches this topic, attempting to make it the most comedic, silliest shit you’ve ever seen despite the content.
It’s one of a kind.
4. The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K
Saiki K is a guy who was able to walk on air when he couldn’t even speak yet. He’s a born psychic which his name plays on.
He only wants to be unbothered, live his life, and have no one interfering in his business unwarranted while he eats desserts and follows his interests.
But this never happens.
He’s so strong he hats antennas that limit his abilities to keep them in check.
He even comically changed the hair colours of millions of people on the planet and made it “normal” for people to think having purple hair for example isn’t a big deal (he rewrote reality with anime logic).
5. Miname-Ke
Miname-Ke is one of my favourite comedy anime series of all time, hands down. It’s an underrated comedy/slice of life few people shout about in the 2nd decade of the century.
Kana Minami is the middle sister, Chiaki Minami is the youngest sister, and Haruka Minami is the oldest sister who takes care of the household and is “Motherly”.
Kana and Chiaki fight a lot and Chiaki in particular is an absolute savage towards her middle sister.
While the range of comedy in Minami-Ke isn’t as diverse as Gintama, the level of comedy and the laughs you get out if it are on par.
6. Konosuba
Konosuba is a parody Isekai series and might be the only one to exist, especially by popularity standards.
It’s the ISEKAI of Gintama.
Kazuma dies a pathetic death and is shamed before being reborn into the new world. The same goddess who shames him is forced to accompany Kazuma, and she becomes “the useless Goddess” Aqua.
That’s followed by a knight with masochistic tendencies and a Chuunibyou girl who’s obsessed with explosion magic and is hilariously as strong as she claims to be.
Konosuba might not hit for everybody, but if it does, you’ll be a loyal fan forever and warm to the story more and more.
7. Sket Dance
Yusuke Fujisaki, Switch, and Hime Onizuka are the main trio characters of this series. Each has its own backstory, which is revealed over this 70+ episode series.
Some are deep, but they solidify the characters’ backstories and add meaning alongside the anime’s usual comedy, parody, and comical elements.
Sket Dance is like a different shade of Gintama in that it focuses also on self improvement, especially as a main topic, but manages to slip parody in there and make the two mix and blend in ways few anime can pull off.
8. Shimoneta
Shimoneta is about liberty and freedom, but not in the usual way. This anime censors and jails anyone talking about sexual jokes, humour, or even talking about sex in the first place.
It’s considered dirty, unclean, filthy, and unproper.
One character rebels against this ideology and comes up with a plan to flood school and the world with the exact thing they’re censoring.
There are obvious extremes in this anime like Gintama, except it’s focused on topics of sex and mostly lewd jokes and topics.
9. Nichijou
Nichijou is extreme comedy. The kind that you’ll either love and will burst out laughing at, or the kind that will make you throw up and force you to drop the anime altogether.
There are no two ways about this kind of anime and its kind of parody and comedy.
References to various Shounen anime, as well as superpowers, characters, cliches, and all the rest of it, are covered here in various ways like Gintama.
The anime unfortunately had a bad time when it was released despite it going on to be successful (popularity), so it didn’t achieve as much as it could have.
10. Seitokai Yakuindomo
This anime is a slice of life/comedy series that is more playful in nature when it comes to lewd jokes, sexual humour, and things of this nature.
You have Shino Amakusa, the black haired main female character who’s sarcastic and pretends like she doesn’t know that she’s being deliberately sarcastic.
Shichijou Aria is the so called airhead who is smarter and more aware than she lets on.
Suzu Hagimura is a small girl who is smart, intelligent, and insecure about her height.
Then there is Tsuda, a plain but sane male character as well as HATA, a journalist who’s comical in her own way.
It’s the most specific anime when it comes to sexual comedy and despite being niche, the quality is high and the series is successful.
