Anime Like Sket Dance And Gintama

1. Speaking Of Crossovers, Don't Forget About Alien Vs. Predator
2. Sket Dance Spirit Dance

Time for some fluff — this time I will talk something a little more fun, namely on the crossover episodes that Gintama and Sket Dance collaborated with each other. I mean, come on, we all love crossovers. Sure it may be one or two episodes, but who doesn’t love to see Luffy teaming up with Goku? Or the cast of Fairy Tail teaming up with Rave’s?

Gintama has a close working relationship with Sket Dance as far as crossovers are concerned. It makes sense why the two are closely associated. In addition to both having really similar premise and concepts (Yorozuya and SKET Brigade helping with various odd jobs), Sket Dance’s mangaka, Shinohara Kenta has worked as an assistant for Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama before. As a bonus, there are also characters in both shows who shared the same voice actor (Sugita for Gintoki and Usui, etc…). What they did was to have both series have a go at their respective crossovers; Sket Dance would have Gintama’s characters visiting their world and vice versa.

In Sket’s Dance version, it still seems fairly tame, despite the appearance of the trios from one of the craziest anime in existence. In Gintama’s version, everything that makes Gintama shine as a series filled the entire crossover episode — shitting on the Sket Dance’s cast, competitive to the point of pettiness and a hilarious parody on the One Piece X Toriko crossover to boot.

Speaking Of Crossovers, Don't Forget About Alien Vs. Predator

Despite the similar concepts, both shows are still vastly different, mostly in tone and execution. I find it interesting to compare the two, and the crossovers just made it even more obvious just how unique and creative a show like Gintama can be. That’s not to say Sket Dance is bad, it’s a good slice-of-life shounen show. But it stays safe — just like adolescent teens stuck within the construct of their school walls. It doesn’t traverse beyond the walls and challenge the unknown.

Gintama on the other hand, likes over-comitting to just about everything. Sure some of them don’t work, but when they work — it is one of the most unique, wacky and entertaining show you can find. Gintama is an energetic show, if nothing else, and while Sket Dance lacks that energy and spirit, it perfectly scratches the itch for an episodic comedy that is a little bit more tame and chill.

Their tropes are also interesting to look into. Sket Dance’s characters have items and accessories that really help distinguish them as characters (Bossun’s goggles, Usui’s laptop, etc…) while Gintama has characters where their entire gimmick is their lack of character (Shinpachi, etc…). Sket Dance adhered to the formula of the iconic shounen characters of old while Gintama literally made jokes out of the trope. However, Sket Dance also doesn’t try to go too crazy if it can, and stays within it’s anime confines, while Gintama sticks to what it does best — being self-aware.

Anime To Watch If You Like Gintama

All in all, I suppose the crossovers are fun, though Gintama’s way more entertaining than Sket Dance’s. Despite sharing similar ideas and concepts, both shows are just too different, and their crossovers reflect the very nature of the shows; Sket Dance’s simplicity and Gintama’s vigor. Again not to say Sket Dance is a bad show — there’s just no show quite like Gintama.In order to celebrate their latest milestone the Yorozuya are forced to do a collaboration with the gang from Sket Dance, even if their past collaborations really only came down to them ripping off other series with silly parodies.

However Gintoki presents his research on Sket Dance, that it’s a comedy series that revolves around three people doing odd jobs in a high school setting with some touching moments along the way, the setting being the only difference to . Leading him to the conclusion that they’re clearly trying to usurp them, they even now occupy their old time slot. But most of all the idea of a /Sket Dance crossover is just boring, so as the Sket Dan make their entrance they both agree that it’s for a battle to eliminate the weaker show. And after a few voice actor jokes about the roles played in each of the shows, the Sket Dan are kind of creeped out by them.

Regardless though Gintoki and Bossun lead their respective groups in this battle, heading to an island with the pizzaz that they need to destroy the other’s show, the Pizzaz-Pizzaz Fruit. The side effect however, is that the one who eats it will have their crotch turn into a hammer, which as Himeko shows is a clear case where the Yorozuya has the advantage, they can’t handle these kinds of jokes. Of course though only Gintoki and Bossun are hyped about this, and as they race Switch mentions Bossun’s complex about being a boring main character, something which he turns out to have in common with Gintoki, neither have any special characteristics, powers, or even goals. And it’s this conversation that defeats them.

Sket Dance Spirit Dance

After hearing all of this they just want to give up and while they were against each other before, the two main characters are now bound by the pain of being the leader and not doing a good job of it, attempting to limp away and get the others to follow them. However just as it looked as if the two became friends they spot the Pizzaz-Pizzaz fruit and start fighting over it, or at least until they spot an old carpenter whose hands won’t work but his crotch does, wishing that his crotch could become a hammer. So together they fill his request, and in the end the others see that despite everything their leaders still do a good job, at least until they find out that some of the fruits juice hit them.

At the end of the episode, the middle-aged man thanks the Yorozuya and Sket Dan for helping him while Gintoki and Bossun sulk side by side, facing the ocean sunset. Himeko reprimands them for sulking, assuming that their unhappiness is from not gaining any pizazz when Gintoki interrupts her, saying that it's not that. Bossun continues, explaining that when he threw the Pizazz- Pizazz Fruit into the man's face, some of the juice got into his and Gintoki's mouths. The Yorozuya and Sket Dan just turn around and walk away from their respective leader, not saying anything and leaving Gintoki and Bossun to mourn their crotches-turned-hammers by themselves.

After hearing all of this they just want to give up and while they were against each other before, the two main characters are now bound by the pain of being the leader and not doing a good job of it, attempting to limp away and get the others to follow them. However just as it looked as if the two became friends they spot the Pizzaz-Pizzaz fruit and start fighting over it, or at least until they spot an old carpenter whose hands won’t work but his crotch does, wishing that his crotch could become a hammer. So together they fill his request, and in the end the others see that despite everything their leaders still do a good job, at least until they find out that some of the fruits juice hit them.

At the end of the episode, the middle-aged man thanks the Yorozuya and Sket Dan for helping him while Gintoki and Bossun sulk side by side, facing the ocean sunset. Himeko reprimands them for sulking, assuming that their unhappiness is from not gaining any pizazz when Gintoki interrupts her, saying that it's not that. Bossun continues, explaining that when he threw the Pizazz- Pizazz Fruit into the man's face, some of the juice got into his and Gintoki's mouths. The Yorozuya and Sket Dan just turn around and walk away from their respective leader, not saying anything and leaving Gintoki and Bossun to mourn their crotches-turned-hammers by themselves.