There were a few factors that compelled me to pick up this anime and start watching it:
1) Mad Friends - when you're part of a small anime club at uni, and a bunch of your friends are raving about something, they're either very asian and nerdy, or they're actually onto something big.
2) Gainax - haven't found anything by these guys yet that's disappointed me. 6 episodes of FLCL and a bunchload of EVA made me a happy chappy, so I thought Gurren Lagann would do the same.
And to no surprise, Gainax shows off an amazing anime once again.
You might think, "wow, just another mecha
...
anime." True, Gurren Lagann utlises giant mecha as the form of combat in the story. But it's not all about giant robots of good and evil beating the crap out of one another.
Story:
Unlike FLCL and EVA, Gurren Lagann is an anime that has a start and a finish to it, which is clear, concise, has it's twisted moments, but is really fun to follow.
The story starts off in the underground world of a young boy (how predicatable, right?), Simon, who's only job everyday is to dig dig dig, expand the underground village. His parents were victims some years ago to the frequent earthquakes that occur in the underground communities, but is harbored by Kamina, a fellow orphen, who claims himself and Simon to be brothers by nature (not by blood). Kamina has an ambition to reach the unknown surface world, but due to the underground fear of the surface, Kamina is prohibited and restrained by the village elder. Things take a sudden turn when Simon discovers a spiral 'key' and a giant 'face' deep underground, and a giant 'ganmen,' a large, powerful, destructive robot, comes crashing through the roof, along with Yoko, a soldier of the resistance against the surface forces. The spiral key Simon discovers, actually powers the giant 'face' he found underground, along with his positive emotions. The face robot dubbed "Lagann" by Kamina, manages to defeat the violent Ganmen, and powers through to the surface, exposing Simon and Kamina (along with Yoko) to the magnificence of the surface world for the first time.
By the 3rd episode, we've already discovered the fusion power of the Lagaan, as well as capturing a bunch of other Ganmen. By the 7th episode, we've got a final boss in mind, a bunch of team mates, a laughs coming out of your ears. Ganmen are actually piloted by Beastmen, who are created by Lord Genome, who has a motive to keep humans in limited numbers underground. What could be the reasoning behind that??
What's more with these robots, they seem to get....bigger. And bigger. Think russian dolls growing outward. Just prepare to laugh xD. The story definitely moves fast, as we see Simon overcome his boyish fears, the experience they all gain through fighting, and the realisation of the inner feelings we have for people we never thought we did.
Because the story manages to move so fast, the series is sort of split into two parts. Episodes 1-17 and 18-27 are different parts in time of the same story. That's right, they keep switching locations, and even time frames. Of course, you could probably guess already that the big bad Lord Genome is taken down by Simon and the like, but it seems trouble doesn't stop there =O! The second half of the series occurs seven years later, where our favourite characters are older and (hopefully) more mature, a great city has been built above the surface, and all Ganmen have been destroyed to maintain peace. But a new intergalactic invasion of earth becomes apparent when the population of humans breached 1 million inhabitants. Why must humans be exterminated? Where did Simon's love go? What will they do?
-> get bigger robots and head to outer space of course 8D!
Twists galore. But by the end of the series, you look back all the way to the start, thinking how far the story stretched. It covers a whole lifespan, and you see the growth and development of a boy, and how he helped the whole world around him follow suit. A resolved ending? Something like that.
Art:
You get to witness all of Gainax's robotic awesomeness within the fight scenes, and colours of the lanscape within the emotional parts of the series. The only thing holding back a perfect score, was the general simplicity of colouring given to those slower parts. While this is very suitable for the anime and much easier on production schedules, it just bumps out the last little oomph. Artwork is still far above a majority of other titles.
Sound:
I'm one of those people who like to experience English dubs as well as the Japanese original recordings of voices. Believe it or not, i'm very impressed a lot of the time with English dubs. This time around, this was the case.
Pulling back the 10, was the actual sountrack, however. Brilliant as it was, it was one of those soundtracks that I liked the more I listened to it, rather than getting a forceful surge of HOORAY the first time I heard it. Other than that, I love the music now xD.
Characters:
Despite the large lack of female characters in this series, each character is given their very own personality we all adapt to and enjoy. From the shy Simon, to the spunky Yoko, awesome Kamina (no other way to describe him), committed Viral and the seedy/howthef*ckcanyouthinklikethat??? nature of all the villians. Each character is well defined, cleverly portrayed and skillfully illustrated.
Another thing I really enjoyed in terms of characters, was Simon's character development over the entire series. Very few story's are able to stretch out a personality change successfully over a long period of time - usually the character just hits a defining point in their lives, and suddenly their mentality is different. Simon changes bit by bit, every event has a consequence on his attitude. Kinda like what Shinji-EVA fans would've liked to see. "Man the hell up and get on with it!!!!" You gotta watch this, then =).
Overall Enjoyment:
I'm very pleased to say, this is one of the most enjoyable anime series i've had the pleasure of watching. From storyline, to character development, to artwork, action scenes, twists around the corner, and just overall unpredictability of what happens next just compelled me to keep watching more. Of course, likable characters made this very easy.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is one of those "must see" things you have to watch. "I'll get around to watching it eventually" you might be saying. Get the first episode, watch it right NOW. You won't stop until you reach the end =).
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Nov 29, 2009
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
(Anime)
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There were a few factors that compelled me to pick up this anime and start watching it:
1) Mad Friends - when you're part of a small anime club at uni, and a bunch of your friends are raving about something, they're either very asian and nerdy, or they're actually onto something big. 2) Gainax - haven't found anything by these guys yet that's disappointed me. 6 episodes of FLCL and a bunchload of EVA made me a happy chappy, so I thought Gurren Lagann would do the same. And to no surprise, Gainax shows off an amazing anime once again. You might think, "wow, just another mecha ... |
