One of the recent treasures on Imgur was a gallery, posted by Imgurian AnOstrichBitMeOnce, of key moments in which cartoons and animated series got scarily self-aware.
Bart and Lisa wonder at their physiology, Gin Tama says what we’re all thinking, and old-school Cartoon Network reveals the lengths they go to to make animation.
Gintama has been breaking the fourth wall since the beginning of the series (and the manga does it first, of course). The characters regularly talk about being in an anime and how good/bad their ratings are and if something will possibly get the show cancelled. Heck, the main character reads JUMP magazine, which is where the manga appears. They also do parodies of other shows and anime all the time. That’s part of the fun and one of the reasons why it’s so great to watch, IMO.
Like lahutton said, putting Gintama there is super easy mode. This series doesn’t even bother putting fourth wall back up every time they break it.
@lahutton, you shouldn’t forget that main character does not only read the JUMP magazine, he helps the parody of his creator advance with the parody of his manga. On multiple occasions.
@3ergling – Yep. I’m (re)watching the anime from the beginning and just recently watched the first Gintaman episode. Honestly, for a series that can have so many super serious arcs in it, the humor is just so perfect and fits in. And many of the characters read assorted manga, not just JUMP, can’t forget that.
“Like lahutton said, putting Gintama there is super easy mode. This series doesn’t even bother putting fourth wall back up every time they break it.”
Heck, they barely acknowledge that the fourth wall even exists. It’s all one big happy universe of everything. :D