gintama anime

Anime Like Gintama

After aliens invade Japan, they put a prohibition on swords. However, Gintoki Sakata still possesses the heart of a samurai.

Taking on odd jobs alongside of his friends, Gintama follows Gintoki during his chaotic life as an errand boy.

How does one describe a show that can do anything and everything it wants at any time? If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Gintama, head on down below.

Anime Like Gintama

For Fans of Silly People Solving Silly Problems

sket dance anime

SKET Dance

At Kaimei High School, there is a club dedicated to helping others. They call themselves the SKET Brigade, dedicates to Support, Kindness, Encouragement, and Troubleshooting.

This club’s cast of quirky members takes the requests of others and tries to live by SKET, though often being intentionally hilarious in their efforts.

Similarities Between Gintama and SKET Dance

  • The author of Sket Dance used to be an assistant to the Gintama author, which does not always mean the work is similar, but it does in this case
  • Both series follow a trio of odd job-doing, people-helping characters with eccentric personalities
  • Both love to break the 4th wall with meta jokes
  • Both also get a large chunk of comedy from parody

Differences Between Gintama and SKET Dance

  • Gintama takes place in an alternate, alien-invaded Edo Era Japan while Sket Dance is a modern-set school anime
  • Sket Dance follows a school club rather than three people doing odd jobs for money
medaka box anime

Medaka Box

As the perfect girl, it is only natural that Medaka Kurokami would win the election for school president by a landslide. Her first order of business is to install a “Medaka Box” in which the students could request her help.

Medaka fulfills these requests with top speed, adding a flower to the student council room with each student helped. However, during her trials, she discovered a malicious plot against the academy and herself.

Similarities Between Gintama and Medaka Box

  • Both series follow odd job-doing main characters where the odd jobs often go in an unexpected ways
  • The main characters treat each job seriously despite the content
  • Parody, 4th wall-breaking jokes, and eccentric characters rule the day
  • The plots are present, but often side-tracked by shenanigans

Differences Between Gintama and Medaka Box

  • Medaka Box is set in a school rather than Edo Japan like Gintama
  • There are really only two main characters in Medaka Box rather than a trio like in Gintama
  • Medaka Box is random, but not quite as random with its adventures as Gintama
great teacher onizuka anime

Great Teacher Onizuka

After becoming reformed from his rough and tumble past as a motorcycle gang leader, Onizuka is looking for a new ambition in life.

After witnessing a hot girl falling for her ugly teacher, he decides to become a teacher himself. However, instead of hot girls draping themselves all over him, he just has a group of problem students that the school administration had all but given up on.

Similarities Between Gintama and Great Teacher Onizuka

  • Both follow aloof, lazy, scummy, comedic, and yet overpowered main characters
  • The plots are both summed up as “helping people”
  • Enjoys frequent humor and eccentric characters

Differences Between Gintama and Great Teacher Onizuka

  • Great Teacher Onizuka is about a thug-turned-teacher unlike Gintama where he is only sometimes a teacher
  • Great Teacher Onizuka enjoys perverted comedy more frequently
  • Great Teacher Onizuka sticks closer to its plot of helping students

For Fans of Wildly Eccentric Characters

arakawa under the bridge anime

Arakawa Under The Bridge

Kou Ichinomiya, as the son of a wealthy businessman, has vowed never to become indebted to anyone.

However,when he falls in the river under Arakawa Bridge, someone dives in to save him, thus he owes his life to this person. She is a homeless girl named Nino who wants only one thing – to fall in love.

In order to pay her back, he accepts her offer to be her boyfriend, thus moving out of his home and starting a new life under the bridge.

Similarities Between Gintama and Arakawa Under The Bridge

  • Large, re-occurring cast of very random, very eccentric characters who are eccentric for explained reasons
  • Minimal, but present overall plot
  • Many episodes are just random daily adventures
  • Aliens?

Differences Between Gintama and Arakawa Under The Bridge

  • Arakawa Under the Bridge is about eccentric homeless under the bridge whose lives are viewed by a normal guy who is progressively becoming more eccentric himself
  • Arakawa Under the Bridge is, in part, a romance
  • The main character in Arakawa Under the Bridge is the straight man to the eccentrics unlike Gintoki who is full-on eccentric with them
the vampire dies in no time anime

The Vampire Dies in No Time

Vampire hunter Ronald has received a job to rescue the son of a woman from the castle of what is said to be a legendarily powerful vampire.

However, upon arriving, he finds that this “powerful” vampire named Draluc immediately turned to ash when he kicked in the door. In fact, most things scatter him into a pile of ash as this “legendarily powerful vampire” is just strange reputation given to him. He’s actually super weak to everything.

Furthermore, the child in question was just freeloading there to play games during the day when Draluc was asleep and unaware.

In a strange turn of events, Draluc’s castle is destroyed and he and his armadillo move in with Ronald at his office. Now the pair work together taking care of the vampires and other problems that plague the city.

Similarities Between Gintama and The Vampire Dies in No Time

  • Main characters that do request-based jobs
  • The main characters are both lazy/scummy for comedy
  • Very random, if present plots and excellent random jokes
  • Colorful expanding cast of eccentric characters

Differences Between Gintama and The Vampire Dies in No Time

  • Gintama is about alien-occupied Edo Japan while The Vampire Dies in No Time is about a supernatural world where creatures like vampires are common
  • The main characters in The Vampire Dies in No Time are a duo (plus an armadillo) rather than a trio like in Gintama
  • The main trio in Gintama is more competent than the main characters in The Vampire Dies in No Time
anime series like konosuba

Konosuba

On his way back from buying a new game, Kazuma Satou died a pathetic death.

However, he awakens before the Goddess Aqua who gives him two choices: go to heaven or reincarnate into an actual fantasy world. Naturally, the gamer picks the fantasy world.

Now, Kazuma must deal with defeating an evil demon king, useless party members, and paying living expenses.

Similarities Between Gintama and Konosuba

  • Characters that do odd jobs for a living
  • Main character group full of powerful people with huge personality flaws
  • Excellent random comedy
  • Lazy/scummy main character
  • Main plots are often character-driven rather than an overall journey

Differences Between Gintama and Konosuba

  • Konosuba is an isekai anime, so it is medieval fantasy rather than the fantasy-laced historical Japan setting of Gintama
  • Konosuba follows four main character rather than a trio
  • The comedy in Konosuba is not as rapidly paced as it is in Gintama

For Fans of Shounen Action That Doesn’t Take Itself Seriously All The Time

beelzebub anime

Beelzebub

Ishiyama High is a school full of delinquents, but they have one rule – don’t cross Tatsumi Oga, the strongest fighter in school.

One day, Oga is sitting by a riverbank when he encounters a floating man that splits down the middle to reveal a baby inside. This baby turns out to be Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, the son of the Demon Lord.

It turns out raising the future lord of the underworld is more trouble than you’d think.

Similarities Between Gintama and Beelzebub

  • Aloof, but strong main character
  • Real world blended with supernatural/paranormal characters
  • Senseless violence for comedy
  • Flimsy overall plot that is carried to greatness by comedy instead

Differences Between Gintama and Beelzebub

  • Beelzebub is about a thug taking care of the son of the demon lord, which is a bit different from the more diverse odd jobs in Gintama
  • Beelzebub does follow a plot more closely than Gintama follows its plot
  • Beelzebub may be high on comedy, but it is still a more shounen style action story
bobobo anime

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

In a futuristic world that lives free and happy, a military organization named the Maruhage Empire rose to power to further their plans of stealing everyone’s hair.

In the face of overwhelming might, a man with nose hairs of steel and a gleaming golden afro stands up to their tyranny. Trained in the ways of hair-based combat, Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo rescues a young girl named Beauty from the Maruhage who joins him on his journey to defeat the Emperor Tsuru Tsurulina IV and save the world.

Similarities Between Gintama and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

  • Random, weird, comedy at all times
  • Unique, diverse cast of eccentrics
  • Puns, parody, and references abound!
  • Unique comedy take on the shounen action genre

Differences Between Gintama and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

  • Gintama is weird, Bobobo tries to be weirder
  • Bobobo is specifically parodying shounen action anime as a genre whereas that is often just a byproduct in Gintama
  • Bobobo doesn’t take its actual plot quite as seriously as Gintama does when it gets serious
  • Gintama isn’t a fraction as hair-focused as Bobobo is
One Piece anime

One Piece

With his dying breath, legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger let the world know about his treasure, setting in motion the Grand Age of Pirates.

Among the many crews that set out to look for the legendary One Piece treasure is Monkey D. Luffy, a young man that has assembled a rag-tag crew to sail the Grand Line and hunt down One Piece.

Similarities Between Gintama and One Piece

  • Both are somewhat lengthy shounen anime to get into
  • Main character is as silly as he is serious
  • Occasional serious adventures inter-spliced with many sillier ones
  • Plots that allow the story to go any way it wants
  • Pretty good fights later on in the series as the silliness fades somewhat

Differences Between Gintama and One Piece

  • One Piece is about pirates while Gintama is about odd job-doing not-samurai
  • Gintama is a historical world changed by alien invasion while One Piece is a wholly fictional world with its own rules and powers
  • One Piece is often silly, but it has more focus on big shounen fights
golden kamuy anime

Golden Kamuy

After surviving the brutal Russo-Japanese war, Sugimoto gained the nickname “the immortal”. However, he now seeks the promise of gold to the north in Hokkaido in order to provide for the blind wife and infant son of his comrade who died in the war.

Yet, during his hunt, he hears the tale of a hidden stash of gold belonging to criminals with a map made out of human skin. Dismissing it as a tale at first, he soon finds that the man who told him the story has those very same map-like tattoos.

Now on a race with a native Ainu girl whose father was murdered for the gold, they try to make it to the stash before the criminals.

Similarities Between Gintama and Golden Kamuy

  • Serious plots made less serious by the random moments of humor
  • Large cast of re-occurring, quirky characters
  • Historical Japanese settings
  • Good fights, good jokes
  • Main characters with no real profession

Differences Between Gintama and Golden Kamuy

  • Golden Kamuy is more dedicated to its overall plot, but features a similar approach to humor that Gintama likes – Golden Kamuy does have less humor, though
  • Golden Kamuy has more serious moments than comical ones as it is telling an actual linear story
  • The main duo in Golden Kamuy is less eccentric and more fleshed out as characters than the trio in Gintama

For Fans of Absurd, Random Comedy

saiki k anime

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

Saiki Kusou has a wide array of superpowers that include things like telepathy and telekinesis.

He is so overpowered that he could, in fact, conquer the world in just a few days, but Saiki just wants to live a normal life. He dislikes his superpowers and does his best to hide them so he can live peacefully.

It doesn’t go well.

Similarities Between Gintama and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

  • Self-aware, 4th-wall-breaking comedy
  • Aloof, lazy, overpowered protagonists
  • Limited actual plot
  • Random, punny jokes

Differences Between Gintama and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

  • The Disastrous Life of Saiki K follows the world’s most powerful psychic that just wants to be left alone, but is instead plagued by random weirdos
  • Saiki K is often more slice of life whereas Gintama usually has a focus in many of the adventures
daily lives of high school boys anime

The Daily Lives of High School Boys

This is the tale of three boys that roam the halls of the all-boys school of Sanada North. Their lives are filled with nothing but giant robot drama and true love stories, at least in their imaginations.

In reality, these three boys are nothing special, but they try their best to pass the time.

Similarities Between Gintama and The Daily Lives of High School Boys

  • The random adventures of daily life is often the plot
  • Trio of main characters
  • Very random, but very good comedy
  • Minimal, if present overall plot

Differences Between Gintama and The Daily Lives of High School Boys

  • The Daily Lives of High School Boys is Gintama in real life with the dial turned down a few notches
  • The Daily Lives of High School Boys is set in the modern world with no fictional elements, not alien-occupied Edo Japan like Gintama
  • The main trio is not as defined in their individual personalities in The Daily Lives of High School Boys
  • The Daily Lives of High School Boys lacks any overall plot, it is all comedy
hinamatsuri anime

Hinamatsuri

One night, an object falls through space and time into the living room of dignified yakuza member Nitta. The object turns out to be a strange girl with psychic powers, but Nitta is reluctant to both take her in and to accept her offer to make use of those powers.

Respecting his decision to not use her as a tool, this girl, named Hina, decides to help him anyway as they begin their life together.

Similarities Between Gintama and Hinamatsuri

  • Random, over-the-top comedy
  • Scummy/lazy main characters
  • Minimal overall plot that it occasionally explores
  • Supernatural elements in a realistic world

Differences Between Gintama and Hinamatsuri

  • Hinamatsuri is about a yakuza who ends up taking care of an escaped psychic girl in a comedic, occasionally wholesome way
  • Hinamtasuri is more short stories that end with a joke rather than odd jobs that can go any sort of way like Gintama
grand blue anime

Grand Blue

Iori Kitahara is excited to travel to the seaside town of Izu for his first year of college. He moves into his uncle’s scuba shop, Grand Blue, but things don’t go according to plan.

Inside the shop is a bunch of naked and drunk upperclassman who get him drunk. After his cousin walks in, his college life starts to derail, but his work getting it back on track doesn’t go quite as planned either.

Similarities Between Gintama and Grand Blue

  • Random, eccentric, over-the-top comedy
  • Minimal, but present overall plot
  • Plot sits backseat to comedic smaller adventures

Differences Between Gintama and Grand Blue

  • Grand Blue is about a college diving club full of drunken college men, so comedy comes from drunken shenanigans and intense masculinity
  • Grand Blue is, actually, occasionally about going diving
  • Grand Blue sticks to the confines of reality, unlike Gintama
nichijou anime

Nichijou

Nichijou is about the daily lives of a trio of three friends who soon find their fate intertwined with a young genius, her robot maid, and talking cat. Needless to say, the normal does not ensue.

Similarities Between Gintama and Nichijou

  • Trio of main characters
  • Over-the-top, unexpected comedy
  • Comedy breaks the confines of the somewhat realistic setting
  • Minimal, if present overall plot

Differences Between Gintama and Nichijou

  • Nichijou follows a trio of schoolgirls
  • Nichijou is a slice of life comedy that thrives in its eccentric, weird events whereas Gintama is framed as the trio doing odd jobs in an alien-invaded world
  • Nichijou has no overall plot
Hanako with comical doe eyes, Olivia scheming, and Kasumi looking sweet in the Asobi Asobase anime

Asobi Asobase

One day, Olivia – blonde-haired, foreign-looking transfer student – lies to air-headed Hanako about her English skills. Despite her looks, she has actually lived in Japan almost all her life and can’t speak English very well, but succeeded in tricking Hanako.

This bit of mischief sparked a series of small games in the classroom between them, annoying the nearby deadpan Kasumi who hates games after being teased mercilessly by her older sister for always losing.

However, the mischief eventually draws all three of them into the Pastime Club, a club Hanako created just to goof off.

Similarities Between Gintama and Asobi Asobase

  • Trio of main characters
  • More eccentric than they look
  • Random, over-the-top comedy
  • Minimal if present overall plot

Differences Between Gintama and Asobi Asobase

  • Asobi Asobase is about three unpopular middle school girls that act like degenerates rather than three eccentric odd job-doers like in Gintama
  • Asobi Asobase has no overall plot
  • Asobi Aosbase is grounded in reality

For Fans of Comedy Through Parody

All six Osomatsu brothers from the Osomatsu-san anime jumping in the air

Osomatsu-san

In the Matsuno household, there are six identical siblings – the self-centered Osomatsu, the manly Karamatsu, the reasonable Choromatsu, the cynical Ichimatsu, the hyper Juushimatsu, and the cute Todomatsu.

Despite all being adults, they all live as NEETS. This is their journey of trying to become proper adults.

Similarities Between Gintama and Osomatsu-san

  • Both follow a large re-occurring cast
  • Both get much of their comedy through parodying other series
  • Eccentric characters are the star of the show

Differences Between Gintama and Osomatsu-san

  • Osomatsu lacks really any sort of overall plot as a slice of life comedy
  • Osomatsu’s main cast is really just one of the six brothers, each looking similar but with a different personality quirk
good luck girl anime

Good Luck Girl

Wealthy, beautiful, and athletic, Ichiko Sakura was born with all the luck in the world. Not only is she lucky, but those around her work hard to make sure her perfect life is never disturbed.

Opposite Sakura is Momiji, the god of poverty. She has been sent to humble Sakura and restore balance to the world. However, things will not be as easy as she believes.

Similarities Between Gintama and Good Luck Girl

  • Frequent, occasionally very weird humor
  • Both are series that love parodying other anime
  • Both series follow the pretty plotless going-ons in a town
  • Weird and eccentric characters all over town

Differences Between Gintama and Good Luck Girl

  • Good Luck Girl has a much higher energy to its comedy than the usually more subtle Gintama
  • Gintama highlights its main cast more while Good Luck Girl allows a larger array of characters to shine
  • Gintama is more aliens, Good Luck Girl is more deities
pop team epic anime

Pop Team Epic

Popuko is small and quick to anger. Pipiumi is tall and serene. Together these two high school girls swear like sailors and get up to all sorts of insane and meta activities.

Similarities Between Gintama and Pop Team Epic

  • Both enjoy parody comedy and 4th wall-breaking jokes
  • Fast-paced to the point of erratic at times
  • Often plotless skits

Differences Between Gintama and Pop Team Epic

  • Gintama does have a plot eventually, Pop Team Epic is really just parody skits
  • The main character in Pop Team Epic don’t have very distinct personalities
  • Pop Team Epic has short-form episodes, so it is about two minutes per episode

Do you have more anime recommendations like Gintama? Let fans know in the comments section below.

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