A rumbling engine, a beastly design, a four door and not to mention, loads of fiery American KICKASS power just under 3 grand would have fetched you the iconic Ford Mustang in the late 1960’s Although, the first ever Mustang didn’t start out as a muscle car.
Built in 1964, the Mustang was the remodeled version of the Ford Falcon with light cosmetic changes on the chassis and a V8 under the hood, which made all the difference; The Ford Motor Compay, classified the automobile as a “youth-targeted car”. The product became an immediate success. The first year of production alone sold over 400,000 units, and made more than a billion dollars.
Coming to the facts, the Mustang in 1964 was offered in 4 variants, the highest being the 289 cubic inch V8 engine which delivered an INSANE amount of torque. The car was so iconic that many other car manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Dodge and Amc started to create their own versions of the mustang therefore creating a new segment known as the “The American Muscle cars”.
One cannot forget to mention a Shelby, while talking about muscle cars.The history of this car’s DNA pre-dates to Caroll Shelby,an automotive designer who took a 289 cubic inch V8 modified it by adding 35 more horsepower and put it back in a ’65 then, he added blue racing stripes. The rest was history, It was a birth of the legendary Shelby Cobra GT350. It was a race car for the street,The car actually competed in theSCCA production B-class and ended up winnig the championship for 3 consecutive years.
The 90’s was the begining of the fresh trends, pop culture and so was the new fox body design of the Mustang.The fox body chasis was modular and hence could be modifed in many ways.The car could be race machine, a drifter or even both.The vehicle came with a 232 cubic inch V8 engine which made 145 horsepower.
the modern day Mustang comes with two variants being the 3.7L 300Hp V6and the 5.0L coyote 435Hp V8 (2015v).During this model year,Left hand driving versions were expanded to the new export markets.The design is a little curvier,but the look is undeniably Mustang.The GT edition of the Mustang comes with a 460 hp engine, with an overall top speed of 250 kmph.
The Ford Mustang always sticks to its heritage; many people have heard of it and no matter how fast or how new, it’s always noticeable with its American muscle car symbol, the galloping mustang.
Today marks a new beginning for this blog, since it’s not just gonna be long essays on some topic but also long reviews on some of my favourite anime series. Most of you reading might not even watch anime but that’s exactly the reason why I’m doing this; to change your conception of anime and maybe even get you to try it one day. The series I’m going to be talking about today is Gintama.
The Amanto, aliens from outer space, have invaded Earth and taken over feudal Japan. As a result, a prohibition on swords has been established, and the samurai of Japan are treated with disregard as a consequence.
However one man, Gintoki Sakata, still possesses the heart of the samurai, although from his love of sweets and work as a “Yorozuya”, one might not expect it. Accompanying him in his jack-of-all-trades line of work are Shinpachi Shimura, a boy with glasses and a strong heart, Kagura with her umbrella and seemingly bottomless stomach, as well as Sadaharu, their oversized pet dog. Of course, these odd jobs are not always simple, as they frequently have run-ins with the Shinsengumi (the Police), ragtag rebels, and assassins, oftentimes leading to humorous but unfortunate consequences.
GinTama (meaning ‘Silver Soul’) is a MASTERPIECE and is rated insanely high for a reason. I’ll explain it a little more objectively rather than just “it’s great” for because most people judge whether something is a masterpiece via objectivity.
PLOT: 9/10
Sooo… yeah, this is actually hard. The story is essentially nonexistent, but is composed of a series of mini arcs that have no real connection to each other. You can’t call it a consistent storyline but it’s also not really episodic. A strange kind of hybrid, that still works somehow. Action, drama and most of all comedy, Gintama’s got them all. Also, because I can’t find a better place to do this, let me tell you a few things about the often overlooked setting. The pseudo-medieval, post war Japanese capital Edo with modern technology, invaded by a multitude of alien races called Amanto. Sounds utterly random right? Wrong. It is my firm believe that this setting is actually the backbone of Gintama. Why, you ask? Because it allows for the greatest number of possible scenarios, different people and places. You can have a samurai, a rebel leader, an alien and a penguin costume guy added to the cast and nobody bats an eye, because it still feels natural. NEVER forget the setting, it makes this anime what it is.
CHARACTERS: 10/10
Gintama has what I’d consider the best cast of characters in all of anime. Despite starting off slow having to introduce characters, this is the deciding factor that makes this anime awesome. Here we have some amazingly thought out characters and not just for comedy purposes, most of them have a backstory, even the vilest of antagonists are not just pure embodied malice. This is also what causes the anime to take time to get going, you have to get to know the characters. A naked random guy is very much different to a naked Isao Kondo. Almost all of them are likeable, memorable and most of all funny. We have no focus on development here, but such progression would do more harm than anything else. It takes time to get to know them and that process is very important, since the series is filled with running jokes regarding them. No one character feels like they were copied from some other show. There is someone for everyone to relate to.
SOUND/MUSIC: 9/10
There are a few very iconic and memorable tracks on the Gintama OST, that’s probably due to the fact that they are used so frequently but that doesn’t mean that I ever got sick of them. Audio is mostly bright and uplifting, fitting to the anime’s focus on comedy. This would be a seven or eight if it wasn’t for the seiyuus. These guys are BRILLIANT! Every voice fits its character and the voiceover job is amazing.
The Opening and Ending themes along with the characters themes are good as well.
ENJOYMENT: 1000000/10
Gintama has some of the best comedy I have seen (not just in anime). Even the name ‘Gintama’ in itself is a joke (it is one character off from meaning balls/testicles in japanese). The comedy is mostly slapstick in nature and just pure Laugh Out Loud. There are a lot of running jokes which never feel repetitive and will only make you laugh harder every time you hear them. Watch a random episode whenever you feel down and it brightens you up immediately. It is not just pure comedy but also has some serious arcs scattered around with some amazing fights and you would never wanna miss. Otherwise, this is a mostly comedic series and Gintama is the king of comedy in this town. Enjoyment is over the roof!
CONCLUSION: TL;DR, Gintama is a must watch for any fan of anime or anyone who enjoys comedy in general. Though you have to be patient for about sixty or so episodes till you get the push that you need to get hooked on this show, I say the time you invest is worth it. Also I suggest that this not be the first anime you watch since it parodies a lot of other shows which you need to have some context to understand. Gintama is without a doubt an anime MASTERPIECE second to none.
Thank you for spending your time reading this and have a nice day!!
The horrid 1800s, a time when practices such as dowry system, child marriage, slavery and sati were still prevalent. It was around this time the British Raj had introduced laws like Criminalisation of homosexuality (section 377). It was during this sacrilege; the Indian education system was ushered in. The one we follow even today. While almost every law of this time was abolished sooner or later,the education system continued to grow deeper into our conscience. Albeit, knowing that the British had designed the system for their personal growth, to boost their economy, to serve their throne, to empty the Indian land off its beauty, resources and power, we chose to forget it and continued to pursue their educational system. Even after 73years of independence, we could never really be independent. The only factor that stopped the tree from growing was the root itself. Our education system was anything but faulty. The education system enforced on definition than understanding. We were taught our fundamental rights but our duties were deliberately ignored. We were taught not to discriminate while our differences went unnoticed or at times supressed. We put every animal on the same track and expected it to run. Those that failed were disregarded. Those who succeeded, were rewarded with a life time of misery. A life they didn’t choose, but were forced to live. While the rest of the world found it excruciating to follow their own dreams, the students were asked to live someone else’s. While they called this way of life secure, what they failed to consider was, a deer is safe in a zoo, but it doesn’t belong there. There is a difference between security and confinement. We were confined. Like the animal loses its will to escape its prison over time,we lost the will to dream. Like the Shawshank prisoners, we were institutionalised to this way of life. Only the Andy Dufresne among us succeeded, who we all looked up to but fail to learn from. The almighty, gifted us all with a brain to think, to learn and to dream. The education system and the society it created, took away all of them from us. Memory became a synonym of intelligence, individuality was killed every day, those who successfully escaped were called magic or menace. Everybody here wanted to earn money, but not all were capable of doing it. Those who did, had learnt to dream, think and believe. Those who couldn’t, ended up blaming the rich for their failure. Thses weren’t the only problems this system had led to. Problems like sexual harassment, gender bias, discrimination and other transgressional activities were also indirectly connected to this system. Though the system might be having its own benefits, but over time even the sweetest of fruits, rot. The system has been present for over two centuries and will take at least a decade to be eradicated. In the meanwhile, we must learn to think, dream and above all BELEIVE.
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