Well, you wont ever finish or even watch a bit of gintama with that mindset sis XD and yes, i stalked your convo with jo. Cute. :p
i know it is very daunting. But do it this way - whenever you're bored as hell, watch an episode or two. And do not look at it as a 200+ episode anime. Think of it as 100s of 2 episode long anime. :p I mean, honestly speaking, Gintama DOES have an overarching storyline but serious arcs are few and far between. Its structure is like this - 10 episodes of pure comedic episodic slice of life-ish episode, one 3-4 episode long arc. Rinse and repeat. But BECAUSE it is comedy for the most part, it really does surprise you when you see it pull off action and shounen arcs with the brilliance only seen in shows like Fullmetal Alchemist.
Plus, strong female characters. Like, holy ♥♥♥♥. The main girl is a youngster but is much more powerful than the main character when it comes to pure brute strength.
The only problem with the show is that it has a large cast. And it takes 10-20 episodes to introduce them all. And it takes a little while for people like us who are accustomed to linear story arcs to get adjusted to its episodic nature.
BUT. If you can somehow look past that and make your way through it, you'll find that anime and fun derived from anime doesnt get much better than this.
