Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Gurren Lagann still seems to be a very popular show among anime fans and it's easy to see what got it hyped. The shows tactic, to overhelm you with it's blood pumping spectacle and "epic" tone, breaking the barriers of critical thought in the viewer, has been proven very sucessfull. However, beneath this aura TTGL is a very problematic show. But first to the good parts...

The show's presentation is indeed spectecular, sporting an excellent art direction, with saturated colors, memorable and unique designs for characters and mechas, good use of VFX and for the most part fluid and expressive animation. This is one of those shows, that can leave an impression, that of an epic quest of multiversal proportions, through the eyes of a teenager, within seconds through their art alone, in this case further solified by striking visual motivs (especially spirals) that are employed for it's whole run. Many scenes profit from Imashis clever visual ideas to storrytelling. There are some failures though. Some parts of the show were given a more lazy treatment, hoping to be overshadowed by the next bombastic fight scene. The soundworks do a pretty good job in supporting what is going on the the screen, and are essential to the shows effect. From this side TTGL is a highly engaging work of pop art. Under the hood however...

The story is a basic heroes journey married with cyclical exaggeration. It also is homage to everything mecha. I'm admittly not a expert on this genre, but I will try my best. The show consists of two parts, which each can be divided in two futher arcs. The first is a amusing robot adventure. The approach is almost episodic, mirroring classic shounen and kodomo adventures, while cutting the filler such shows would have. Basicly a boy finds a powerfull mech and, under guidance of his mentor, goes out fighting for his freedom in a postapocalyptic, yet lightly presented world. Problems are generally solved by fighting spirit, which in this setting a major physical force. Everything is presented rather humorous, providing silly fun. This part does already come with it's share problem. First, from eight episodes in the first arc, there are two stinkers: The infamous forth episode, which is just poorly done, and number six, which is a inappropiate dive into ecchi comedy. Apparently the japanese censors thought it was going too far, for what is essentially a kids show, too, and the broadcasted version was heavilly censored with recaps. This episode also first makes obvious, how chauvinistic the show is. Pretty much everything in the series boils down a glorification of masculine values, in this episode the quest for boobs. It is played for comedy, but like most comedy (and most of evrything else for that) in the series it is extremly vulgar and lacking any of the wit seen in other Gainax works like FLCL. Another problem would be the cast, which soonly grows unnecessarily large and consists nearly exclusivly of interchangeable one-note characters, that are not explored the least. The only real standout at this point is the iconic Kamina, who is both highly memorable and has an interesting twist to his otherwise stereotypical personality. This becomes an issue when, at the beginning of the second arc, the show starts trying to do character drama, but the cast cnnot support it and the whole thing, despite having more or less plausible motivations, turns out rather annoying. After this is resolved the show turns into series of big battles and here the show can shine. It's a bit videogamey but it works. The great boss battle against the tyrant of earth, who commands a magnificent screen presence, lets the dirst half end on a high note. If Gurren Lagann had been over here, I would have rated it a point higher. It has several weak parts and pacing in the beginning is a bit off, but it manages to capture the essence of teen fantaies and present them in a entertaining way. The „history of mecha“ approach and the silly but motivational messages add to it.

The second half takes place after a timeskip and is much worse. This anime is often hailed as a reconstruction of super robots, but I don't think it does thi very well. In „The Incredibles“, a much better reconstruction, the superhero genre actually first gets deconstructed: The protagonists heroics are shown to cause enormous amounts of collateral damage, making the goverment put a ban superheroes. During the course of the movie this gets a reconstruction, as is shown that heroic behaviour just somtimes is needed to save the day. TTGL takes a similar approach: The protagonists way to solve problem doesn't fit with the new times and cause lots collateral damage. His fighting spirit is not needed anymore, due to new technologies, which can fight the enemies more systematically and safer. When realizing that thene alien threat to big to be defeated they take actions to evade it, instead of going the old route of attacking them anyway. Seems like a good set-up for a deconstruction? Well, it turns out, that in this universe fighting spirit is really all that matters and that the governements was just to cowardly to fight a hopeless battle. That's it. It's like reconstructing the chivalry romance genre, by taking the famous fight of Don Quijote with the windmills, but have everything be like Don Quijote imagines it: The windmills are truly 40 giants and the knight is able to defeat them singlehandly by virtue of his bravery. It just ignores that the deconstruction happened in the first place, rendering the complete arc, which suffers even more from the afformentioned problems with drama, pointless.

From this point things escalate. Everything gets bgger and bigger, too big fo it's own good. The action looses all tension, things just happen somehow. The first arc took place on a imaginable scale. We knew by intuition what was possible and what and it was funny and awesome, when these rules were broken. Now there are no rules and everything is just random. The directional decision to go Star Wars prequel style with the battles and just throw as many explosions on the screen as possible certainly didn't help. Also the show starts feeling like cheap propaganda: For masculinity, power lust, progressivism, as well as stupid and reckless behavior. The ironic distance towards it's motivational messages is mostly gone, by turning it's values into metaphysics, justified by the unrealistic premises of it's setting. TTGL goes from silly to plain stupid. After reaching the maximum size the show concludes in a muddled, way, by forcing common heroes journey clichees on the story, when they don't fit with what we have seen before. Allthough still being kind of entertained I was fine with it beeing over. I could go into detail with things like the useless sol-sequence, or characters like Yoko and Leeron, but I won't. Despite having some good ideas and atmosphere, Gurren Lagann is a mess, trying things it cannot do, being unsure of it' direction between homage, comedy, de-/reconstruction, epic, drama, straight action, and allegory, and taking it's themes to questionable places.

Warning: This review will contain some strong language which would not be suitable for young children. Reader Discretion is advised.

Critic's Log - Earthdate: March 12, 2013. Review #39: Gurren Lagann

A year ago, I wrote my first review and posted it. That review was Cowboy Bebop. Soon after, I started writing, posting, and doing more reviews ever since. A year has passed and I plan on continuing this hobby of mine. This review I have now is for an anime that has broken through the surface with its badass style and strives to PIERCE THE HEAVENS! THAT ANIME IS GURREN LAGANN!

With that said, here's my review of Gurren Lagann! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?



In their closed-off underground village known as Jeeha Village, Kamina and Simon (pronounced "Shi-moan" in Japanese and "See-Moan" in the Dub) attempt to break out of the underground at the limits imposed by the village elder because Kamina is determined to make it to the surface. The attempt fails and Kamina is sent to the underground's stockade without food and Simon is let go because it was obviously not his idea. Yet all this will change, when Simon stumbles across a big metal face - just as the village's peace is broken by a violent intrusion. A gigantic Gu... You know what, I'm ending the little plot sypnosis right here and now, I'm going to tell you the more technical stuff and all the juicy bits too.

To be technical, Gurren Lagann is a Studio Gainax production and you can tell that they are shoving this anime at your face to the heavens and it works. The animation is badass and kicks ass when it can in ridiculous over-the-top proportions. It's so over the top that it's proportions of being over the top is over the heavens. Okay, spare me for just saying that. To make things easier to explain, the animation is really cool and it doesn't waste a second of the show's length, except for one particular portion of the series... and that is Episode 4: Does Having So Many Faces Make You Great? I don't know if it's just me or something... but the facial expressions are drastically different than the previous three episodes that came before it and this is the only episode that has this...Thank God.

I can honestly say this while trying hard not to piss off the fanbase for saying this but... I felt the facial expressions in that episode were terrible and this is quickly redeemed with the episodes that follow. putting personal nitpicks aside, The animation is vibrant, energetic, and in your face that you would not care if the animation had some quirks like...Episode 4 for an example. The animation will simply kick your ass and will make you cheer with indominable spirit after watching certain spectacles known as "moments". To put it simply, the animation is a blast and ridiculously entertaining.

The music by Taku Iwasaki contributes in all that "In your face" attitude that the show carries. The way the music is done in this show is astounding and definitely worth listening to with or without the show. There's some techno, hip-hop, rock, orchestra, and it even has a little jazz. The music will grab your attention and it succeeds full-front on that. Taku Iwasaki really struck all the chords right on Gurren Lagann and has had a pretty good resume ever since. He would later be the composers of such animes like Soul Eater, and Black Butler. Extra kudos goes to Iwasaki-san for combining Opera, piano, and Hip-hop all in one song during a particular moment in the show. I mean, Opera, with piano and hip-hop really don't mix too well. It just so happens that the impossible was made possible in this show. The opening is catchy and the closings are also great in the show. The soundtrack is great and pierces some unconventional barriers in one particular moment.

When it comes to voice acting, The Japanese cast is pretty damn good. Katsuyuki Konishi is terrific as Kamina, Tetsuya Kakihara is also terrific as Simon, Marina Inoue is pretty good as Yoko. Yukari Fukai is great as Nia, Mitsukia Saiga is also great as Rossiu, and Nobuyuki Hiyama is a blast to hear as Viral (pronounced "Vee-ral") The standout extras in the subbed version include Kisho Taniyama as Kittan, Masaya Onasaka as Leeron, Jouji Nakata as Magin, and Michiko Neya as Adiane (pronounced "A-dee-neigh"). On the English Dub side. Kyle Hebert is terrific as Kamina but he does lack the energetic manly passionate attitude that Kamina's seiyu nailed in just right. If there is someone that got the attitude right, it would be Yuri Lowenthal as Simon and he plays the role terrificly. Michelle Ruff is great as Yoko. Hynden Walch is... *Record Scratch* Wait... The voice of Starfire from Teen Titans? SHE'S ON HERE!? *Ahem* Hynden Walch is great as the younger Nia while Bridget Hoffman is also great playing the older Nia. Johnny Yong Bosch is also pretty damn good as Rossiu, and Sam Regal is alright as Viral and his performance is drastically different comparing Viral's Seiyu. I'll let you be the judge of who you like better. The standout extras in the dub are Jamieson Price as Lordgenome, Paul St. Peter as The village chief in the first episode and Thymilph, Derek Stephen Prince as Artenborough, and then of course there's Steve Blum

(Duhuhuhuh *shiver*) Yeah, Steve Blum... and he voices Leeron. I am not lying when I say this, his voice creeped me out when I first saw and heard this guy and my mind was blown at the time when I found out that Steve Blum voiced this flamboyant gentleman. I mean, he was the badass voice of Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop, Darcia from Wolf's Rain, and many other roles before and since. The guy is pretty damn talented and he sure made the character funny whether you were uncomfortable or bursting with laughter. The Japanese cast is great and so is the dub for what it is. Tony Oliver may have not made the English dub superior to the Japanese cast but he did do a superb job as the ADR director for this dub.

The characters themselves don't disappoint greatly. Kamina (in some way) is a badass and he's also damn hilarious when he gets some funny moments. When I watched this the first time, I actually found him to be a total douche, But that was because I was watching this dubbed in which Kamina's seiyu didn't really portray him as a douche all that much. But as time came by, I actually found him pretty cool. Simon is a character that's easy to latch on to. Yoko is obviously in the show for fanservice but that was intentional from the beginning but she has some good qualities in her character. Rossiu is an interesting case, and so is Viral. Nia is also an adorable character during the first half. Other characters that are great would have to be Lordgenome (because he's kinda cool) and Leeron (because he's really damn funny at times), and Kittan (Because he was a bit of a douche but got away of it for being a douche, he was also pretty cool too). Like I said, the characters don't disappoint greatly. The characters make the show extremely watchable.

Now that I've mentioned that Gurren Lagann has cool animation, a great soundtrack, A great Japanese cast, a solid dub, and extremely memorable characters. I have to address one thing about a certain factor in this anime and that would be the story. If you are to take the story seriously, you are screwed...WITH DRILLS! To be perfectly honest, the story is extremely dumb in epic proportions. Here's the catch! IT WAS INTENTIONAL! In a metaphorical sense, this show shouts out "FUCK LOGIC!" and it even plays the Deus Ex Machina card a few times. The use of cliches is also intentional as well. Hell! The fanservice is also intentional that even drills will get a hard-on. It even has EXPLOSIONS! That's right, Gurren Lagann has both fanservice and explosions and this anime could possibly put Michael Bay to shame. The premise and approach is extremely a bit silly and over-the-top but what this anime promises is that it will get guys to cheer on for the characters. Another strength to Gurren Lagann is its humor, this show has some really damn funny moments as well as funny one-liners.

Speaking of one-liners, this show does tend to get quoted quite often from people after they see the show, so expect someone to say "Just who the hell do you think I am?" at a convention or from one of your friends that has seen the show. Even with the story having a silly over-the-top approach and premise while being actually decent, what I find astounding about Gurren Lagann is that even with a ridiculous premise, the creative staff still found a way to make it extremely entertaining with an apparent passionate mindset of making the impossible possible. When it comes to the writing process, this would be one hell of an accomplishment for Kazuki Nakashima. I should also note that the director of the show Hiroyuki Imaishi had a bit of a interesting resume after I did a little research. Before he directed Gurren Lagann, he was the key animator for the movie The End of Evangelion, and the second and fifth episode of FLCL. Both Gainax works yes, but FLCL and Gurren Lagann were both extremely over-the-top in their premises and I guess Imaishi-san was a fitting director for this show. Now that I've said that, I should say one more thing before I start wrapping up this review. So, here goes! *ahem* If Rainbow Dash is 20% Cooler, then Gurren Lagann is 20% Epic, 20% Badass, 20% silly and 20% more cooler than Rainbow Dash. If Kamina were a pony, he would easily be the best pony out there. Also, I'm a Brony. and if you got a problem with it, JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?

Gurren Lagann was available from Bandai Entertainment until they went under. Unfortunately it went out of print. The manga written by Kazuki Nakashima and illustrated by Kotaro Muri was available by Bandai Entertainment and it was dropped because Bandai Entertainment went under. The manga is also out of print here. The light novel series written by Kurasumi Sunayama and illustrated in parts by Hiroko Shinagawa was never released stateside. A couple Gurren Lagann video games were also never released stateside. Last, but not least, there are two compilation movies of Gurren Lagann that have some moments and additions that were never in the series with the first movie called "Childhood's End" and the second being named "The Lights in the Sky are Stars" are available from Aniplex USA.

With all that said, Gurren Lagann is obviously a guy's anime, there's just a lot of elements that are very manly. Besides that, it has pumped-up energetic animation, A great soundtrack, A great Japanese cast, a solid English dub, extremely memorable characters, Kickass action scenes and EXPLOSIONS! and hilarious humor. Gentlemen, this is an anime to watch with your heart and not your mind, and certainly not your dick... Ladies, this is an anime to watch with your heart, not your mind, and definitely not your boobs.

I give Gurren Lagann a 9.8 out of 10, it is EXCELLENT!

Feel free to comment below, and believe in the you that believes in you!

There is a dozen reviews for this show, this number does say something. Then you look at the actual average rating and go all "sheesh, is it getting hot in here?". This show is all about upping the temperature in the room, if you let its flow take you, and you'll end up sweating and, most importantly, yelling with the heroes 'till the very end.

so. what makes a TTGL?

Animation & Art

it's chaotic, fast paced, sometimes a bit rough, but always extremely stylish. the views are great technically, the designs might seem silly, but at the same time they're quite unique (at least to me) with faces and teeth and raw grit all over the place. Kamina, who self-proclaims to be the pure incarnation of manliness, reflects well the attitude that we see in show's art as well - boobs are big, guns even bigger, and there's limitless growth of badass happening all the time. Style's idiosyncratic and quirky, but highly effective and technically great. This section nets a 9+ from me. (9+ is still a 9, though)

Sound

good stuff. dub was good, well known voices all over the place, but they do their job well (= scream very convincingly), and they are complemented with a great array of music (both bgm and op/ed tracks are good, for a change) and sound effects. Nothing to frown at. 9/10

Story

one of the great strengths of TTGL is the pacing - there's never a dull moment, and it doesn't just mean that they are constantly fighting a battle on the same scale, oh no. By watching TTGL you subscribe to a whole bunch of subplots and plot continuation, growth and even some twists along the way that leaves other shows in the dust - TTGL is not afraid to go beyond what is set out initially, and this creates a sense of greatness.

Of special note is also the setting and premises of the whole thing. While they are fully uncovered only in the second half of the show, they are fairly interesting, and even more interesting was the quite unusual beginnings of the show, what with humans living underground and beastmen riding mechas on the surface for some unknown reason. It all makes you wonder what the hell happened, and it's even funkier that, while not explicitly pursuing these questions of what the hell happened (focus is on, well, battling and screaming and being badass), the unfolding events do tell the viewer a compelling story. It's a great feat and a huge bonus point in my book.

It's not pure goodness, though. The show's ultimately a bit of a mixed bag, though, since it mixes comedic elements with some more serious stuff eventually, and it, well, these elements at a point start to appear conflicting. At the beginning, it's all badassery and raw desert power that pushes things forward, but the further we go, the more serious things get and either the comedic elements start to appear a bit out of place or it's the serious jazz that feels out of place because of not being explored as fully as a totally serious anime could do it. There are some very interesting, albeit not very original topics mixed in the story of TTGL and quite a bit of it is dealt with in a rather shallow manner. While badass is not required to really make a commitment to exploring these issues, their being there does make it seem like there's something missing here.

And, finally, it's, well, the process of badass. I've never been a big fan of "shouting your way to victory" method of battling, so, naturally, I did get a bit annoyed at some point, since there was practically nothing else winning battles after a certain point. Why did I say "after"? Because up to a point, while it was relatively low-scale, the battles felt more real and exciting because of seemingly various and numerous factors at play, not mere yelling for another powerup.

So the story is badass, it has to be, it is that kind of show, and it pushes badass to the max. In numeric scale, max for badass is 7/10. Not, haha, bad, eh?

Characters

No badass story can really be badass without equally badass characters. This is the core of TTGL, the sirens and the bozos. They're all quite foolish with their simple ways, yet they have an air of purity about them that makes TTGL's characters a very lovable bunch. But this purity, too, has its limits. By being onesided and working on simple motivations they do seem to be rationally quite shallow, even though they possess great stage presence and emotionality. One great upside of the show, though, is the character development in the sense that, just like with plot, this show is not afraid of changing its characters, and it does so mostly reasonably. People start out as kids, grow up, change, influence other characters etc. It's all very wonderful.

still, badass bozos and sexy wenches that both are lovable can net a grand total of, hmm, 7/10. Good stuff, fitting stuff for an anime like TTGL, but by no means exhaustive of what a character can be.

Value & Enjoyment

Numbers of reviews and votes speak for themselves. TTGL is a great shounen, and if you're not absolutely disgusted by the said type of shows, then it's an excellent choice. I certainly enjoyed this crazy ride, even though it wasn't the most impact I felt after a show. 9/10 value, 8/10 enjoyment.

This is it. The Ultimate Screaming and Shouting Animation. The loudest show I've ever watched. Gurren Laggan! Okay, that maybe true for the first eight episodes or so, but not for the rest. It's still noisy and loud, but with endurable levels.

However, don't be hasty to judge this. I tell you the first arc of this show is a complete mess of screams, nonsense, stupid plot, cartoon characters, and everything that could go wrong, but the show changes a LOT during its course. It's not a Trigun-level change of focus, but it's stil a lot. The second arc is a more typical and straightforward shounen, but without that much yelling, and the third and last arc feels almost like a Gundam mixed with Evangelion, even with betrayals, character development, and a very welcome time skip.

Art & Animation
Gurren Laggan is a very unique show in this department. It has flashy character designs, full of bright colors, weird vestments, acessories, and a very cartoon-like feel to most of them. They can be very detailed when up close, especially with the nice color combination they have, but sometimes are absurdly sketchy and lazy and amateur, like those mind-twisting scenes of Evangelion and Furi Kuri. This laziness is more common in the first crazy arc, and later it's fortunately left aside, giving the whole show a more serious and professional look. The setting is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, something quite common to japanese animation, like in Trigun, The Third, Sunabozu, etc. Ah, let's remind the fans that it's made by Gainax.

1. Ah, the old trick
   Gurren Laggan uses one of the oldest tricks we have in this department. It starts strong, with a great animation regardless of the moments of laziness mentioned above. However, as the show moves, we mostly have speed lines, static images spinned, guys opening their big big mouths and yelling, and other cheap animation tricks. Finally, when reaching the end the show abuses of flashy special effects and give an overall tune up on the animation quality. It's not as good as the start, but is enough to end the show with a good impression and make you forget the average animation work for most of the part. Surely, characters can be expressive, but that happens because of their cartoon-style art, not because of animation. Gundam 00 and Macross F were both released near this and they are light years ahead in terms of animation. Backgrounds also suffer the same problems. They are mostly wastelands in the first half, but not detailed enough for 2007's standard, and after the first episodes they become even more simple and uninspiring. Stars and space succeed in changing the mood, but don't change the quality.
   

Sound
This will certainly be influenced by the amount of tolerance you have with the constant yelling. The characters will always open their big mouths in 2-frame animations and spit the loudest talk you can imagine. It's not only yelling, it's about every speech being loud and irritating, especially during the first arc. Aside from that, however, the sound is superb. Background music is epic, fitting for the constant fights, powerups, stylish performances, and catching the exact mood of the show. Openings, endings, sound effects, and themes overall are also the best we could have for a show like this. It's sad to see such a great sound direction being spoiled by this choice of abusing of screams and yells. I know the show is mostly about "the one who scream their will shall win", but hell, they could keep normal dialogues out of this at least.

Story
Gurren Laggan has a tale of a young boy named Simon. He lives digging in his underground village, oblivious to anything outside it and only having fun with Kamina, his bro who dreams of reaching the surface, skies, and stars. Everything changes when a big-face robot falls from the ceiling and it's up to Simon to fight it with a small robot he found during his digging. A whole new world awaits the two dreamer brothers, and together with an inhabitant from another village, Yoko, they are about to change far more than just their lives.

1. Everything is about scale
   Gurren Laggan is about how louder one can scream, how big the robot can be, how strong the super power, how determined is the hero, how big is the gun. Everything that is bigger wins here, nothing else matters, except perhaps for the fact that the ultimate robot is born form a tiny head (Laggan). Impact and remarkable moments are plenty, but they are all very typical to what you see in shounens, only more exaggerated. We still have some nice surprises, but in the end, strategy, smart play, tricks, or anything with more finesse is nearly absent from the show.
   
   First Arc: Kamina and Yoko
   The first arc is a complete mess of nonsense. Don't expect anything here except Kamina yelling and lots and lots of Yoko's sexy poses and clever camera angles to show her ass or boobs. What we have here is simple: bizarre enemy appears, Kamina wants to fight, he never gives up, he is persistent, he screams every second, and magically things happen because of Simon's drill and they beat their enemies. It's a straightforward tale plagued by loud talks, screams, shouts, and with nothing ever making (or even trying to) any sense. Things just happen because the author think it'll look cool and people will say it's about a man's soul or something like that. But no, it's just kid's stuff with annoying characters all over it. To make this mess even worse, we have Simon as your Shinki Ikari, meaning he will always break and feel useless until Kamina shouts something at him and Laggan does its magic trick.
   
   Second Arc: Things Start to Make Sense
   
   After a fateful event at the end of the first arc, the show changes a lot. It starts to make sense, meaning we have a better explanation of things, the plot grows to be your common shounen stuff, but it still retains some of its shouts and focus on the "believe in yourself" mantra. Yoko moves out of the spotlight, changed by the castway princess, and thus you won't be seeing her boobs and tight shorts every two minutes. Not only that, but Simon's personality start to evolve and he becomes a far better character overall. The cast grows exponentially, but they don't harm this simple, yet fun part of the tale.

   Show Spoiler
   
   
   Last Arc: And Suddenly We Have a Superb Show
   
   Ah, what a time skip can do to a show. Suddenly everything becomes more mature, the cast becomes older, the setting gains complexity, betrayals, intrigues, revealed secrets, and other uncommon shounen elements are given enough space to shine, characters became more complex and multi-dimensional, etc. Hell, things change completely. It's not about to became the best thing ever, but in the end is a show that reminds a lot of Evangelion with mix of Gundam franchise, meaning we have incoming alien invasion, saving humanity stuff, big final fight, and internal conflicts between humans. All of this while still retaining the super robot flair and simultaneously moving all that stupid screaming and shouting to a secondary position.

   Show Spoiler
   
   
   The show loses about 50 dB after the first arc
   
   This is worth stating, because this made the show 400% more tolerable for me. Endure until episode 8 and the show has some nice turn of events and we have one of the loudest characters in anime history move out of screen. The show still depends on people screaming at each other faces, but at least it's not as abundant as in the first part.

   Show Spoiler
   
   

So, in the end the plot of the show is just a rehash of a typical shounen using super robot in the way. Protagonist is initially useless, reminding of a Shinji Ikari rip-off, find his new awesome power, fights one evil guy, learns about many other evil guys, fight them, earn powerups, find his love interest in the way, etc. Nothing new, but at least it doesn't have school environment, the pace is definetely superb, and we have an welcome change in the mid part.

Character
Well, surprisingly, we have a good deal of interesting characters. Most are not deep, realistic, or develop in an awesome way, but they have charisma like what shounens shows typically do. Simon is your average weak-willed shounen protagonist, starts as a stupid boy, always cowers in fear, don't care about others when his life is on the line, but whenever he manages to do something, he succeeds. He is obviously inspired in Shinji Ikari (also in a show by Gainax), so his mental breakdowns can get annoying, but he still proves to evolve a lot in the show to earn his points, growing to be a more determined person at the end.

1. Cartoon bunch
   The rest of the cast is a bunch of clear stereotypes. They have their charisma in their sexy style or comical frame, but aside of that they are very shallow and simple. Kamina is the personification of annoyance and the guy that never give up or flee. He is stupid, never think of anything, never cares about the other's opinions, yet he always succeed because of Simon and fans love him because he is stylish and uses a katana with glasses (yeah?). Yoko is there just for fanservice, hot chick with red hair, bikini, and big gun is obvious from start. She can get her points because at least she is not stupid and learn a thing or two during the show's sequence. Then we have the cute castway princess, a mascot pig, a gay mechanic, some kids, three fanservice girls, another guy that is all about shouting, and many many other lesser characters. The last arc gives us bigger changes to most of the cast, we even have characters that can think out of the typical shounen-screaming idea initially proposed by the show, but still they are not marvelous, just a bit more mature. All of them are basically cartoon versions of japanese stereotypes and they don't have enough timescreen to evolve. Even Kamina, Yoko, and Nia never grow out of their initial settings even though they are supposedly main characters as well.
   
   The Villains
   Not only the support is just a big bunch of cartoons, but the villains as well. They are your typical evil doer without reason, acting as tyrants just because, and always being funny when they face the heroes, only to suffer defeat after defeat. They won't last in your mind, so you can just remember them as animal-shaped foes with weird robots. In the last arc the new enemies make their stand, but they are just lifeless and uninspiring, serving their purpose to fight the heroes, but nothing else.
   
   Stylish Entry
   Ah, I give Simon and Gurren Laggan the second place in the most stylish and nicely timed entrances in anime. He always appears in the exact moment to save the day, with vibrant background music and never failing to what he needs to do. The first place in my list? Kira and his Freedom Gundam. It's just a flavor gimmick, but can surely impress and increase the addicting value of the show.
   

Value
Gurren Laggan is a very unique show. It's the definite super robot show and perhaps one of the only that doesn't feel far too childish or dumb. It's story is straightforward and simple, the cast is cartoonistic but charismatic, the pace is awesome, but the overall work is just average. Considering super robot (or magic robot) shows usually try to be serious and fail miserably, it's a nice plus for Gurren Laggan to take things as some kind of parody at the starting point. The scale the show takes, the use of a nice sound direction, the constant rush, and the big changes in the mid part make up for the terrible abuse of screams and yells, but even so it's hard to endure the first arc of the plot without being annoyed by so many loud talks. Sadly, perhaps because it's Gainax work, people seems to forget to have a critical look and is just lured by a name to label this show as things it is not. The artwork is lazy most of the first arc, backgrounds are simple, animation is just a bunch of tricks merged with lots of constant scream to hide them from you, voice-acting can't even be evaluated with the constant noise and exageration. But well... it's uniqueness is remarkable enough to make you forget all these after watching half a dozen episodes.

Enjoyment
This all depends on how loud a show needs to be to annoy you (see Sound section). If you can take Kamina at the first episodes, then you'll certainly enjoy this. If you can't, try to endure it for the first arc (like I did) and you'll see this show has more to it than screams and shouts. Anyone looking for a good shounen show that grows a lot on the way don't need to look any further. But if you expect a serious show from the start or deep characters, look for something else.

Comments
What's most remarkable about this show is not the show itself, but the absurd amount of hype created around it. Suddenly everyone who hated all mechas became fans of super robot shows, gigantic beams, and screams! But the fact is: when it was released we had Yoko (the hot gal in bikini) everywhere. Fan sites, forums, anime news, toys (even I bought one of her figures later!). Hell, it conquered the internet in an instant, maybe even quickier than what Haruhi Suzumiya did. Even the nameless image board of the internet was flooded with Yoko. Joining the hot chick with red hair was the guy called Kamina with his signature glasses and cape.

But that's what the hype was all about: these two characters. Aside from that I never learned a thing about the show from comments of its fans. With the hot girl with big gun I knew the show had the power to attract the standard horny otaku, and from the guy with glasses it was easy to understand the show had lots of shouts and impactful shounen stuff. What else? I couldn't find from the talk around the internet. I didn't know if it was a mecha show, super power shounen, ecchi, parody, Evangelion rip-off, etc. So I tried watching it. I failed two times, reaching episode 6 but never really lured by the loud screams, absurd focus on willpower and talks about never giving up, believing in yourself, and other typical shounen trash increased tenfold by the show's loud talks. Finally, more than three years later I managed to watch it past episode 6. I have to admit the show gets far more interesting and has lots of strong points, but it's certainly one of the most hyped shows I've seen together with Haruhi Suzumiya. Why it was hyped? Easy, easy. Look at the animation work! Gainax! There you have it, one of those companies that even if they shit people will revere it.

Why they put so many screams in the first arc? Man, if you watch episode 2 and immediately plays episode 19 you won't even manage to say the show is the same unless you watch the opening. I've never seen a show that changed this much in 27-episodes since Trigun. At least the change was for better, as the start made me label this show as a thing that I would never ever manage to watch. I hated it when it was released, it evoked anger inside me with all those screams, that nonsense talk about shounen trash multiplied by ten, powerups coming out of nowhere and never even giving an explanation about anything. It looked like an show for a kid to watch in the weekend and go with his friend to scream at one another "GURREN LAGGAN!! AAAAAAH!!".

But, suddenly, the show changed with a nice turn of events. I'm happy that I gave the show a third chance and managed to endure past the first arc. It grew to be far more likeable and more fitting to Gainax's pedigree. Why they didn't make it enjoyable and more serious form the start? I like the parody/tribute thing, but they could at least keep the loud screams limited to the fights, not to every single talk they had. Trigun had a drastic change mid-show, but it's comedy part was funny, not just stupid over-the-top yelling. Remove that and the show would be a lot better from start even with all the other nonsense around.

Anyway, I had to change most of the review. I was writing it as I watched and at about episode 10 my opinions started to change little by little, at episode 20 or so I had to complete change it. My thought was writing this review just as the anime does, screaming and yelling, perhaps even with CAPS LOCK, but well, in the end it deserves better and gained my respect. However, it's still quite an overrated show and I find it hard to see people revering it for all the nonsense it has and spiting on other shows when they have little elements that are complex to make sense.

After literally years of delay I decided to finally commit myself to watching this series. Gurren Lagann is a show summed up pretty well by the saying "If there's a will, there's a way".

Gurren Lagann is an interesting series in that you really shouldn't watch it with the reasoning part of your brain turned on. Why do you need reason when you have sheer willpower and loads of yelling? If something ridiculously powerful shows up on episode x, you can be sure that the series is going to trump itself in episode x+1; kind of like how in DBZ SS was all the rage and was enough to blow up planets and then SS2/SS3 came on top of it - but in the time frame of dozens of episodes rather than hundreds.

Shounen is definitely the correct categorization for this series. It's all about guys, guts, and a LOT of mech/battle/action. We're talking battles of galactic proportions (literally). If you're just looking for some old school action with lots of yelling then this is perfect. If you're looking for romance, significant character interactions, or slice of life this is definitely not for you.

Animation:
This took a little getting used to as the overall look of the series is a bit more comic-y than the majority of stuff that I typically watch. Colors are completely saturated and details can be a bit lacking at times. What took even longer to get used to was the random theme of faces. There are faces on mechs, faces on buildings, just faces everywhere. It might just be me, but the mechs here make the Arbalest from FMP look really beautiful (relatively). Again, many of the elements in this series will not find any logical grounding.

Overall character designs were okay. Clothes are a bit on the outlandish side (trying too hard to look cool?) but I guess that just highlights the fact that if they think they're cool then they must be, right? One complaint that I had was that 80% of the media for TTGL showcases Yoko, who turns out to be a much more minor character than the media would lead one to believe. Likewise, since Yoko is really the only "boing" character in the series, you should expect relatively minimal fan service as well.

Actionwise, I can't really complain about the general consensus of "epic". This epic is not epic in terms of animation as in Kara no Kyoukai nor epic in terms of choreography as in Kurokami; the epic here is just in sheer magnitude. Character attacks are interesting and with a enormous amount of attention given to attack effects and showcasing the after-effect damage. By the end of watching this, my definition of "anything goes" was completely rewritten.

Take my rating for this subcategory with a grain of salt as I was only able to find a streamed version of the series.

Sound:
This show is all about action, and the entire sound category reflects with ample amounts of rock . The rock OP and EDs were a perfect match for the series, even if the tunes didn't catch on with me. The rock BGMs as well as the instrumental score are good and memorable. I can tell that effects are also very high on the production side, even through the degraded sound of the online stream.

VAs definitely did their worth here. Simon's VA gives him a suitably wimpy voice whereas Kamina is fittingly brash and confident. Marina Inoue still takes the win for best voice here. Yoko shows a perfect mix of tomboyish confidence and girlish charm (referencing ep 8 ).

Story:
This is a really hard story for me to rate. On the one side, the actual plot progression is epic and a ever-accelerating roller coaster. On the other side, the rational side of me continually shouts that nothing makes sense (decision-wise, physics-wise, etc.). I'll conclude that if you shut down the left side of your brain, you will have an absolute blast with this story. If you think things through, it will only degrade your experience.

So let's tackle the first point. I have to give the director/story a lot of credit; every time I go "this can't possibly get more grand" they always find a way for it to. Their choice of violating the plot shield on certain characters was also very well done; it made sure that I was on my toes for the remainder of the show. Finally, the story integrates a lot of minor themes including a bit of politics and teamwork; but it does so without altering the almost brutal focus on the progressing storyline.

However, I have a lot of critiques for the series as well. In terms of plot progression, I felt that the "saved at the last moment" by a freak/unexpected force routine was just way overused; almost as badly abused as the walk in on the girl in the restroom routine in ecchi slice of life series. In terms of continuity, the story is really focused; so focused in fact that it doesn't bother to slow down to bother with details such as how a magic sphere can make something levitate or how willpower translates into pure energy or physical matter. This really hurt the believability in my mind, even given the unbelievably grand title of the series.

Character:
I'm not going to lie, I hate Simon. I've hated him since the beginning of the show and I still despise his guts at the end of the show. He is pretty much the only dynamic character in the series, and also pretty much the only wimp you'll encounter. The fact that he is the protagonist throughout the show pretty much implies that I'm going to be biased for the score in this section.

This is definitely a show in which you will fail to memorize the names of all the supporting characters, there are just way too many. Due to the plot-centric nature of the series, most of these supporting characters are given little if any background, and most of their interactions with Simon are superficial. Yes there are a few exceptions, the annoyingly Rossiu who is represented as a dogmatic rationalist (much more of the first modifier than the second) and Nia being the exceptions. But still the majority of the cast is pretty unimportant, and so don't really make a significant impact on the viewer; even when many of them end up sacrificed for the greater good.

And finally, relationships. This series repeats the practice of teasing that a relationship may be forming and then whisking it away right when it is almost tangible. If you're looking for anything guy->girl related you'd better not expect much here. While there's a lot of passion imbued in many of the characters (pretty much obligatory for Spiral), it's all static.

Value:
In the end, I still feel that this story will sit better with slightly younger audiences who have yet to study the details of quantum mechanics; or are at least less rationally inclined than me. This show was still enjoyable due to its pure scale but the lack of character depth kept me from being fully engaged, despite all the shouting and taunting of "Who do you think I am?"

Despite being too demanding with what I watch today, that still doesn’t mean I didn’t grow up watching dozens of super robot (SR) shows, which were at least described as silly. I still liked them for that time though. I mean, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM; I was too a kid once who liked them and was getting excited with what was going on in them. Yet as I was growing older I was gradually getting fed up with them since most were practically minor variations of one another, almost entirely episodic and had very little actual tactics or strategy in them. No wonder as soon as I watched Legend of Galactic Heroes I was thereafter even playing Frisbee with my SR CDs… Yes, I was collecting anime so many years ago, when CDs were still in peak. I even used floppy disks in my early years at work. But that’s a different story; my point is that I eventually got bored with the whole genre, besides a few specific Gundam and Macross seasons. This kept on until TTGL came to be and my interest in SR rekindled and I even found the mental stamina to go watch lots of retro mecha I had missed over the years. I didn’t enjoy any of them too much but the show managed to get me interested again and that is all that matters by the end of the day.

Although I usually don’t share the opinion of the majority, in this case I do agree that TTGL is currently the best pure SR anime ever made. And by “pure” I mean it is not to be compared with other mecha anime that have lots of extra philosophical or even religious allusions, such as Neon Genesis, Zegapain or Rahxephon. Those demand a lot more thinking from the viewer while TTGL is pure, almost mindless, entertainment like in the classic shows we all grew up with. At the same time it is not completely shallow either (that is why I have that “almost” word in the previous sentence) as there are several elements in the show that on a basic level do give food for the mind. It is partly a rebellion against oppressive authorities, partly an essay on how people need to sacrifice a few for the well-being of the many, partly about the loss of loved ones, partly about the reason for living and struggling for improvement, partly even about the meaning of life on a universal level. All the above are otherwise not exactly presented too serious and in the long run they are not even the meat of the show (which is good old mindless robot action). Yet they do help to give an extra pint of something more than just that and most people are actually very fond of that. It is a lot more interesting to have some tragedy and social criticism hidden in a ton of anecdotes because this way the show has an identity; in case the main audience agrees with the ideology it is even better. It is the same recipe that made other shows like Urusei Yatsura, One Piece and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei so famous.

Even without the extra, down to it TTGL is still at its core a classic SR show where the only thing that matters is willpower. It doesn’t matter how smart or cunning you are; you simply need to SHOUT, SCREAM AND YELL louder than your opponent and you automatically mend all the damage on the robot and create a bigger energy beam that defeats anything. This is the main grip which will define if you like it or not; you just need to get all excited with SCREAMING youths and then miracles happen. The people I know who don’t like the anime admit it is because it felt impossible to like screaming your lungs out as panacea to any problem.

A second requirement to like this show is to be fond of high idealism. Like in any shonen series, the protagonists want to be the best in the world. No, make that the best in the universe as they claim they even want to “Pierce the Heavens” with a super drill. So ok, there are oppressive forces along the way too but they are just obstacles in the way of accomplishing the whole piercing business. It is still about protecting the world and your loved ones from evil aliens but the ideals don’t stop to something so unselfish; such premises feel too boring and no longer sell today. All the characters do want to help their world but also never forget to have their own selfish agendas along the way, a thing that help you not to view them as robotic servants of some imposed political correct ideology. That is what makes American superheroes such as Batman and Spiderman more interesting than Superman or Captain America; they act upon selfish impulses and not just impersonal ideals. And anyway, the target audience is teenagers, of course and rebellious, selfish, political incorrect characters are cooler than some boring Superman variant.

A thing that TTGL does better than any other in its category is the feeling of empowerment. In most such shows a power up is mostly “supposed”. The heroes would get new uniforms or a new weapon, or a new robot and they seem to fight better with the current villain before it all becomes meaningless after a few episodes since the size of their robot or the choreography in battles is exactly the same. Yet this show does a much better job at fooling you there is progress, as the characters begin as a bunch of unarmed tunnel diggers and steadily turn to some sort of intergalactic superpower. Things keep growing in size and importance on almost every episode and again it prevents you from feeling bored to wait for the next development to take place in 20 episodes. But wait; I did say “fool you” didn’t I? Well yeah, it really still is just a trick by the end of the day as no matter how much the heroes progress in technology or manpower, they still use the exact same method of fighting: SCREAMING !!! It is still the exact same thing, they begin by throwing rocks and end by throwing galaxies; it’s just the size that changes. Not a bad thing as it still looks very cool but it sure doesn’t feel too convincing (not that it had to).

Another thing it does better is the use of its characters. Although all of them begin as stereotypes and act as such for most of the series, there are key events that change their role in the show. Someone may begin as a sidekick but later on he can become a lot more important, he can turn from enemy to ally or even the reverse, he can be killed, he can grow old and change perspective. Even the villains have motives that go far beyond being generic incarnations of evil. The cast if fluent in the way it acts throughout the show and for that reason far more interesting than static archetypes that are the same from first to last episode. They are also memorable as far as appearances and mannerisms go; I will never forget Simon, Kamina, Youko, or even their arch-nemesis the Anti-Spiral for their ideology. Not many shows can do that.

Furthermore, the production values are very good and keep you interested in watching further. Studio GAINAX has once again created a highly dynamic and fluent show, full of motion and vivid facial expressions, huge energy beams, and gigantic explosions, backed up by huge robots that change, shift, merge and battle in extremely cool ways. Backed up with lots of humorous scenes, subtle fan service, good voice acting and a catchy soundtrack, this show is extremely easy to appeal to most people. Even if you don’t like the story or the convenient SCREAMING panaceas, you will still get to enjoy the way everything is done. You also gotta love the guy siting on the director seat. Imaishi Hiroyuki has honored the industry with some of great titles, such as Kare Kano, Dead Leaves, RE Cutey Honey, and Panty & Stocking.

In all, I found TTGL to be the perfect example of how much more a SR show can be than just a Mazinger variant. I was entertained by it at almost every step of the way with its animation, fast pace, fluent roles of the characters, the humour, the action, the ideology behind the heroes and the villains. It is a worthy addition to the Hall of Fame of any top list for making the best of what it had and even messing with the mold at points. And don’t forget to check out Gunbuster in case you haven’t. It is practically the father of this anime and also a GAINAX show.