Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Gurren Lagann)

Simon and Kamina were born and raised in a deep, underground village, hidden from the fabled surface. Kamina is a free-spirited loose cannon bent on making a name for himself, while Simon is a timid young boy with no real aspirations. One day while excavating the earth, Simon stumbles upon a mysterious object that turns out to be the ignition key to an ancient artifact of war, which the duo dubs Lagann. Using their new weapon, Simon and Kamina fend off a surprise attack from the surface with the help of Yoko Littner, a hot-blooded redhead wielding a massive gun who wanders the world above.

In the aftermath of the battle, the sky is now in plain view, prompting Simon and Kamina to set off on a journey alongside Yoko to explore the wastelands of the surface. Soon, they join the fight against the "Beastmen," humanoid creatures that terrorize the remnants of humanity in powerful robots called "Gunmen." Although they face some challenges and setbacks, the trio bravely fights these new enemies alongside other survivors to reclaim the surface, while slowly unraveling a galaxy-sized mystery.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Gurren Lagann received widespread critical acclaim since its release. The series received an Excellence Prize at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival. Its director Hiroyuki Imaishi received an individual award for "Personal Best" at the 12th Animation Kobe Festival that same year for his work on the series.

In 2008, during the 7th annual Tokyo Anime Awards held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, Gurren Lagann won the "Best Television Production" award. In addition, the "Best Character Design" award was given to the character designer Atsushi Nishigori for his work on the anime.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Side story:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Mitee Mono wa Miteen da!!, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Ore no Gurren wa Pikka-Pika!!
Alternative version:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie 1: Gurren-hen, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie 2: Lagann-hen
Alternative setting:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Parallel Works, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Parallel Works 2
Spin-off:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie Zenyasai: Viral no Amai Yume
Character:	Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Kirameki★Yoko Box - Pieces of Sweet Stars

Nakata, Jouji
Japanese

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Staff

Kamagata, Eiichi

Producer

Takeda, Yasuhiro

Producer

Akai, Takami

Producer

Shiraishi, Naoko

Producer, Production Manager

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Opening Theme

"Sorairo Days (空色デイズ)" by Shoko Nakagawa (eps 1-14, 16-26)

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Ending Theme

	1: "UNDERGROUND" by HIGH VOLTAGE (eps 1-15)
	2: "happily ever after" by Shoko Nakagawa (eps 16)
	3: "Minna no Peace (みんなのピース)" by Afromania (eps 17-27)

Reviews

Jul 27, 2012

FrancAguiar

Recommended

There was a time.
When men were men. They were screaming like crazy speeches, faced the impossible, and said things that made no sense, but that even so we did say "EPIC".
There was a time.
A time of captains Harlock, a master time Asia, a time of Domons.
Logic was not important. The strategy was not important. If you believe in the impossible, impossible would be nothing in front of you.

The time is gone
A wave of animes that have to be "realistic", "philosophical", "adults" around us. Are good? Are. Meet your purpose? Meet.
However, however ... I miss something.
Characters idiots who laugh in the face of death, and not ...

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Jun 19, 2008

slpless

Mixed Feelings

Gainax is easily one of the most well known anime studio, especially with titles like, Neon Genesis Evangelion, KareKano, and Wings of Honneamise. However, as of late many fans claim that the quality of Gainax has dropped down significantly and that their golden age is over, well that was until Gurren Lagann. Without a doubt Gurren Lagann took both Japanese and western fandom by storm. This coupled with the fact that there was very little hype before hand thus, making the extreme popularity even more impressive. For me what was more impressive was the fact that people that normally don’t like ... this sort of thing (ie prefer more serious, dramatic works) enjoy it immensely. This was what drove me to watch Gurren Lagann and write this review afterwards.

Gurren Lagann reminds me of another Gainax title, Gunbuster especially the last third. GaoGaiGar was another anime as both GaoGaiGar and Gunbuster are unabashedly over-the-top and cheesy. Not only that, it thrives in its cheesiness and over-the-top nature. Also, one cannot claim that Gurren Lagann half-asses anything, it does everything with the same vigor and intensity. At the same time this is what makes or breaks Gurren Lagann for most viewers. Its cheesiness or over-the-top nature will strike a chord in you or (as some people put it) appeal to something more primal inside else you’ll end up like me, facepalming. This is something I cannot understand for the life of me. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Gurren Lagann can be seen as a throw back to super robots/”manly” series of the seventies a direct contrast to the proliferation of so called “sissy” anime as of late. However, it fails to achieve any more than that, a mindless, over-the-top mecha/action series. Now whether or not that’s a bad thing is up to you.

The story and structure was distinctly shounen thus, suffering from a high degree of predictability. First, you have a powerful opponent yet against all odds the protagonists defeat them. Then another more powerful opponent pops up and yet again against all odds the protagonists defeat them, usually by some kind of power up. Keep on repeating till there are no more enemies left. Many of the characters are also the embodiment of your typical shounen protagonist, energetic idiots that keep running forward destroying every obstacle in their way. This was accomplished with very little thought when it comes to probability, strategy, and even logic. It keeps on this monotonous path until the time skip.

Here the cheesiness and its shounen nature are reduced significantly. The characters and setting are also different and quite interesting. However, at the same time I can see the characters mature/grow in that manner. I was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events and for a fleeting moment thought that Gurren Lagann would redeem itself in my eyes. Sadly it was nothing more than that, a fleeting moment, as it went back to its same old self, magnified 10 times, a few episodes later. It is ironic that for the overall review of Gurren Lagann, I lowered the score due to the fact that’s it was out of place. Consistency is very important in my books. If they had kept with the same seriousness until the end, then it would have rated Gurren Lagann higher.

If my favorite part was after the time skip then my least favorite part would the very beginning, the first arc (ep 1-8). This arc was easily the silliest and dumbest of Gurren Lagann. I can easily see why so many people dropped it during this arc. Not only was it stupid but slow. It took forever for me to get through these episodes as I couldn’t watch more than one episode at a time. If I had to rate this arc alone it would probably get 3 out of 10. Thankfully, after all the mandatory character introductions it starts to really move. By the 2nd arc (ep 9-16) the episodes seamlessly blended together as the overall flow/pacing was much better. Also, idiotic filler such as the onsen episode were gone and the stupidity in the name of comedy was reduced a little bit. Yes, I still find it stupid and over-the-top but at least it had a fast pace and somewhat enjoyable, because of this I could watch multiple episodes in one sitting. This arc would get a 6 or 7 out of 10 and the 3rd arc would be a 5 out of 10.

As for the characters, I mentioned that most of crew are energetic idiots and Kamina was the worst one of them all, as well as being the shallowest (character-wise) of the main characters. All he had was “guts” and confidence that was completely baseless. He said it himself, Simon was the one that saved him countless times, and it was Simon that had the ability, not Kamina. However, not all of characters are like this (shallow I mean), in fact there was a decent amount of characterization and those characters were quite interesting in their own right. Yoko was an awesome side character that was far more than a fanservice character, Simon developed quite nicely throughout the series, Viral was an incredibly sympathetic beastman, etc. I could go on but I think you get the idea. Perhaps this is why I really enjoyed the episodes after the time skip, as there was a lot of focus on the characters themselves and not on the next battle. Sadly, Gurren Lagann didn’t focus enough on the characters. This brings me to my next point, the ending and the epilogue.

The ending just didn’t feel right considering the overall tone and feel of the series. Interestingly enough, I actually thought the epilogue hurt the ending. This is considering how much I love epilogues. Spoilerish comments hidden…
In particular, Simon being a wanderer and Nia dying are two things I didn’t expect. Nia dying really didn’t make much sense to me and even if there is logic behind it, it still doesn’t feel right considering the series. While I can accept that, what Simon did feels really forced. He’s saying he’s tired/done fighting and left everything to the new generation. I can understand the idea they’re trying to get across. With him leaving everything to the new generation at such an early age, albeit forced, reinforces the idea. If it ended right there then it would be a perfectly good ending. However, with the epilogue I was forced to take his decision more literal. He’s only around 20 years old and he’s already done everything he can in his life!? While I don’t see him leading epic space battles, I don’t see him being a wanderer either. Perhaps a mentor to reinforce the idea of the child surpassing the parent.

Since this is an action series, animation is of considerable importance. Gurren Lagann thankfully delivers, and features well animated giant robot action. However, as I stated above I put a lot into consistency and quite often there was be a dip in art/animation after an explosive episode. For example, there was some noticeable weakness in the art in episode 9, which was after the huge battle in episode 8. In general, there were some fluctuations in terms of art/animation throughout the series. As for the art it was unique, but fits with its extreme shounen and silly feel. The only thing that bothers me about the art was the slight lack of detail. However, I really can’t complain too much about the art.

Gurren Lagann was over-the-top, silly, and corny mecha anime. However, it did it with so much gusto it can be seen as a plus for some. This is why I think some people that normally like serious/dramatic/intelligent anime also enjoy this. For me it was simply too silly, too corny, too much. Its blatant shounen nature didn’t help either. Thankfully, the characters fared a bit better as not all of them were overly energetic idiots. Those characters received quite a bit of characterization and are fairly likeable. This was what saved Gurren Lagann from being dropped again. Sadly they didn’t spend nearly enough time on those characters and moments like the dream sequence in ep 26 are far and few in-between. In the end it all boils down to whether or not one can accept its over-the-top and extremely corny nature.

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Jan 15, 2019

Flexstyle

Not Recommended

TTGL is one of most overrated anime I’ve ever watched. It’s literally a Fairy Tail version of a Mecha, filled with: corny childish speeches, deus ex machinas and power of friendship.

The show never attempts to explain anything e.g. mechas joining together because it falls back on its premise of “kick logic out of the wall Simon!!1!”

70% of the characters are one dimensional and irrelevant to the story. Simon is a generic beta crybaby that turns into a Kamina clone. Kamina is your typical, confident, never-give up aniki (big brother), Yoko has no character and is just there for boobs fanservice. The first half ...

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