Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie 1: Gurren-hen

*A failed attempt to surpass the “unsurpassable”.*

“Men put their souls into their drills when breaking through!”

Some obvious advices/facts before we dive into the review.

1.
This is NOT a standalone movie thus having knowledge from the TV series is highly recommended and also beneficial to your mind.
2.
Do NOT compare the pacing of the TV series with the movie. One is called a TV series and the other is called a movie for a reason, k? Both the TV series and the movie are by the original director and script editor so they know what they are messing with.
... 3.
Do NOT expect to see a lot of new footages. Does this mean this is a “recap” of the TV series? Not exactly. There are enough plot differences in the battles for this movie to be considered an adaptation instead of a complete “recap”.
4.
Is the movie rushed? To a large extent, yes it is. There is simply too much material to cover in too little time. This is probably what most people are complaining about.
5.
Is it worth your time to watch this? Only if you can distinguish what to expect between a TV series and a movie.

The problem with trying to remake a masterpiece level of work (and that applies not only to anime) is that people will only be curious to see how the new work can surpass the previous work. Often people will have a pre-set level of expectation for these works and more often people will find themselves expecting too much and ended in disappointment. For example, after rating the original TV series 10/10, viewer X eagerly awaits the movie adaptation. But what can he really expect? That the movie worth 11/10? No, that is not possible. This is all thanks to something called human prejudice. Everyone who has seen the TV series first will consciously/unconsciously be comparing them. So please be mindful when watching the movie not to compare it bit by bit with the TV series. It is not fair for the movie.

Those of us who have seen Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (TTGL) will know what it means when I say the show as a whole defies the Laws of Physics. While there are plenty of examples for that type of shows, TTGL is by far the most outrageous, thus the term “epicness” is seen wherever TTGL appears. The story of TTGL is a prime example of the “underdog” battle. The main characters began with very little fighting chance but every time they seem to turn the impossible possible. And how do they do that? With a DRILL of course!

The movie has some great new battle scenes. Animation wise it is the same as the TV series (for those who like to compare the two). Most scenes were pretty consistent but lacking in details from time to time which is to be expected from the sketchy and cartoonish-looking animation. What truly makes TTGL “epic” though is that the scenes match well with the “mood” at that particular moment of the show. This is partially due to the great soundtracks and theme songs by Shoko Nakagawa. Overall those of us who are familiar with Gainax’s previous works will not be disappointed in TTGL.

Character wise, there was a slightly heavier emphasis on Yoko in this movie which is great for all Yoko lovers. Simon and Nia also have a decent character development throughout the movie. Unfortunately, because of time constrain, there was not much character building for the secondary characters like Rossiu and Kittan who ended up being quite hollow. Thus if all you ever care about is Kamina, Nia, Simon, and Yoko, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong for you. For the rest of us … brace ourselves for some disappointment here.

The following is targeted to those who have concerns with regard to the pacing of the movie. Ask yourself this, how long as it been from the end of the TV series to the airing of the movie. Answer: 11 month and 1 week (give or take a few days). Do you honestly expect to see tremendous differences (next to what it has presented already) given the time? Do you honestly expect to see a whole new story with the same awesomeness produced in 51 weeks? Given the time, though of course we can argue that they could have delayed the movie if things didn’t work out, I think it was a fairly decent job. Hopefully you will find it a good enjoyable watch too!

Gainax have turned their series into movies before with Gunbuster vs. Diebuster and more recently the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, now they've decided to give Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the same treatment. Unfortunately, the runtime doesn't allow for a sufficient amount of development and many elements have been lost along the way, though there are saving graces in the new material.

The original series is twenty-seven episodes long, or - minus the openings and endings - around about nine hours. Gurren-hen follows the events of the first thirteen episodes and so is just over two hours shorter than its source material. As you would expect, much ... of the development is glossed over and the story proceeds at a lightning pace. The story itself is more or less the same as in the series - much of humanity lives underground until Simon and his 'bro' Kamina break free, to find the surface inhabited by 'Beastmen' who pilot giant mechas - with a movie-original opening and ending that sets things up nicely for the sequel. The plot comes across as - unsurprisingly - very rushed; the characters are offered little development and during the middle act there is a ridiculous - but unfortunately necessary - montage to progress the story. Developmental issues pave the way for an adequate at best plot.

The animation isn't a huge step up from the series - if different at all - but the opening and the ending deliver some exciting new material. The ending, especially, is a welcomed feat. The new climax is both thrilling and well executed, and will have you eagerly awaiting the next installment. Corners have been cut, however, with the music. The score by Taku Iwasaki from the series returns with no new additions, which causes Gurren-hen - at times - to feel something along the lines of a movie-length recap; something you've already seen before. New inclusions to the soundtrack certainly wouldn't have gone amiss.

The main trio and the prime supporting cast return in Gurren-hen, though most have left their depth and development at home, particularly Rossiu and Kittan. Yoko fans are offered more excessive fan service and Simon - in the new sequences - is particularly prodigious. The lack of development to the cast is massively disappointing, however, and causes Gurren-hen to come across as rather disengaged and retrogressive.

Gurren-hen is an enjoyable movie, urged on by its source material, but is let down by lapses in development. The middle act could have benefited substantially from some new material, acting as a bridge between the beginning and the end, offering the supporting characters alternate introductions and addressing developmental issues, but instead the staff opt to rehash the series to a disjointed, disappointing effect. The new opening and ending sequences are both longer and far more engrossing than expected, however, which offer the movie some value. If you enjoyed the series, you'll get a kick out of the movie, but if you didn't, it's best to avoid Gurren-hen. If you're new to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the movie isn't worth your time, and may come across as completely incoherent, with many characters remaining a mystery; without motivation and depth, just empty shells.

Gainax is one shrewd animation studio.

With the reuse of 95% of the footage including the "infamous due to crap animation" episode 4 Gainax truly maximized their earnings. In addition to this, there are moments in the movie that felt diluted in contrast to the TV series. Maybe it's due to Gainax compressing half of the series to an almost 2 hour mark. Maybe it's poor directorship. I don't know. To be honest. The recap episode (ep. 16) owns the movie format. Then again. That was a recap.

On the bright side. There is the Spiral King intro and the climactic battle between Gurren Lagann and ... Dai-Gurren against the 3 generals and virals's new flagship which is essentially a slightly modified version of Dai-Gurren. There are also some very minor new scenes snuck somewhere in the middle portions as another consolation to the folks who paid money for this.

As a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fan, I have to say that I didn't regret getting this just for completion's sake. Unless you wouldn't lose anything in watching this then I would say to go for it. But if you have better ways to spend your cash (or your bandwidth), then set it aside.

My numerical rating (Story, Art, Sound, Character, Enjoyment, Overall) is a grade that sees the movie as standalone with knowledge of the series and not a comparison to the series.

8 - Very Good all around.

Hard to compact a season of 27 episodes down into a 6 episode run-time, but for what it's worth, it pulled it off well. I gave it an 8 as I feel that is realistically what it was worth, I wouldn't have given it anything lower than a 7.

But when compared to the anime series, it is (while there is a decent amount of new content), just simply falls miles short. Miles short and yet I'd still give it an 8.

I'm trying to give a score that is not relative. If this was relative to the anime series, it would ... have scored in the 5 - 7 region, probably more around 5. I guess that just demonstrates how good I thought the anime was. This was good, the series was better.

If you're looking into getting into Gurren Lagann, the anime series is the way to go.

yeah I know the score doesn't add up. How can one like so much yet give it such a low score? Well Gainax gave me a huge punch to the face when they decided to rehash almost every scene in the movie with scenes from the anime. The only part that was new was the last 20 minutes. Other than that it was all just a shortened version of the anime. Basically if you have already seen TTGL don't watch the whole movie. You're just wasting 2 hours. Only go for the last 20 minutes since that's all that's new. Hopefully the second movie ... deilvers on the new content.

I must say I didn't enjoy the movie as much as the anime. They took out too many episodes where you didn't even get to know some characters. It seemed to rush too fast and a battle that never happened in the anime. Overall, even though I've seen the anime, I was quite confused on what was going on. The movie was all over the place.

Gurren Lagann: Childhood's End, is the first Gurren Lagann movie and more or less acts as a recap and retelling of the first half of the plot from the anime combined into one. The movie, as mentioned, mainly serves as a retelling, putting all the major episode plots into a single story which amounts to just under two hours, while the minor elements are either not present or combined into a montage, with one exception by the end. However, depending on how one felt about the main series and their patience level, this can either come off as a blessing or a curse. Themes and ... other elements I mentioned in the main series won't be discussed here to avoid repetition.

Let's start with the good. As mentioned, the movie essentially compacts all of the major scenes of the anime's plot-relevant episodes. As such, if you want a trimmed down version of the main story which could be easily digestible in one sitting, instead of sitting through everything, this could be recommendable. There is also a slightly different ending, and this movie ends at approximately the halfway point of the series.

However, the movie has several unfortunate elements. The first is that as a product of several episodes combining, it needs to mix several plot elements, which require nearly whole episodes to be completely retained. This is pretty bad, as it means that you're essentially watching all the plot elements at once in near their full length runtime, just squished together. This also means important episodes, as well as heartmoving or funny episodes, tend to get skipped over or squished into a montage. In my honest opinion, the movie would be better off if they opted to rewrite the storyline to make the events follow a more compact narrative. As it stands, this is unfortunately just a very large and somewhat disengaging clip show of the series so far. You may be interested in the alternate ending, however. 3/10.

There's one thing I have to say before you start reading this. This is a "made-for-fans" movie. If you haven't seen the series before, you'll probably find it to be pretty hard to follow. And frankly, it loses out on a lot of the epicness you'd have gotten from the show. So before watching this movie, go watch the TV series. Trust me, no matter who you are or what anime you're into, you'll enjoy it.

Done?

K, let's move on.

And this isn't gonna be your standard review, cause this isn't a standard anime.

As I said, Gurren-Hen doesn't work if you haven't seen the show. Because for ... the most part, it's just a massive recap of the show. I honestly wasn't sure for the first half, if ANY new animation was going to appear. I'm pretty sure they just cut the tv series up into the important bits and blended them into a movie for the entire first half. Which, as someone who's seen Gurren Lagann before, but was watching it since it had been a while, was fine. Heck, that's sorta the purpose of this movie. But even they knew that squashing together 26 episodes into an hour and 50 minutes was impossible to pull off, and opted to squash half that amount, and come up with a completely different plot to help blend it together.

And they did it well. After the first 10ish epi's worth of content, something new was brought to the plate and it was welcome. So, I can recommend this movie to anyone who's looking for some more Gurren Lagann fun. You'll enjoy it. And as I said, if you haven't seen the series, it's tough to say. You'll probably enjoy it nonetheless, but I'm still telling you to watch the show first. Without the show, there are about 15-20 characters of whom you never really get introduced properly to.

In regards to all the other stuff people care about in reviews. Artwork was as Gurren Lagann's was, epic and awesome. And if you haven't seen the series yet, let me just say, Gurren Lagann's animation was EPIC! Epic enough to follow the story. Sound worked, they even brought back "Row Row Fight The Power" for a little just to tweak everyone's nostalgiac heart strings. Character development was lacking in some areas, but the characters themselves are as Gurren Lagann's were, and as such are accordingly awesome. And overall, I can say I enjoyed watching this movie. I enjoyed reliving Gurren Lagann in short form, and I enjoyed the plot twist to help wrap things up in time, as well as leave things as a cliffhanger for the next movie, which will likely wrap it up.

Because I enjoyed Gurren Lagann, I could enjoy Gurren-Hen very much. The laws of physics still mean nothing to this series, and that's all I care about.

Row row, fight the power. b ^_^ d

If you're expecting an original, stand alone movie, don't. That isn't what this is. Instead, this is a retelling of the first half of the series I came to love known as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Story: 7
What I liked about this movie was that it told the essentials about the story to progress the plot a lot faster. So for me, at least, it was a great way to rewatch the first half of the series condensed in 2 hours. However, since it was condensed so much, it assumes you've already watched the series first and that's why a first time viewer might feel the ... story is pacing too fast. My suggestion is to watch the series first and then watch this movie after a few months if you feel like watching the show all over again abridged into two 2 hour length movies.

Art: 8
The art and animation is the same as the series considering they used the same animation except for the introduction and final 15~ minutes of the movie where it had it's own movie ending to set up for the sequel. I personally loved the art and animation. Everything's so over the top and you can feel the badassness pouring out when Gurren and Lagann combine or use their special moves. What I'm trying to say is that the art style suits this movie very well.

Sound: 8
When I watched Gurren Lagann, I first watched it dubbed, and as such, came to love their english voice actors over their japanese actors. However, the delivery is still spot on. When it's series badass fighting time, the intensity of the voices reflect that. When it's an emotional scene, the impact is there. Even if you've watched the english dubbed version of the series, the original japanese dub is very good as well.

Character: 9
I love all the characters in Gurren Lagann, so this may be a bit biased, but it's my review. So deal with it. The characters range from: the manliest of men, in your face, badass Kamina; to the timid, self-pitying, yet maturing Simon; to the fan service, sniper wielding, cool Yoko; to even the cute and adorable pig-mole Boota. Gurren Lagann has a variety of characters and that makes the show that more enjoyable. Unfortunately, since this is the condensed version of the show, you don't get to see much of the side characters background. All you get is a montage of how they meet, but that's it. Still, even with just the few that I've mentioned, it's enough to carry this first half of the series.

Enjoyment: 8
I considered this a rewatch of the original series, so I wasn't expecting anything new. Still, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It didn't even feel like 2 hours since it was very fast paced. So that's always a good thing.

Overall: 8
This movie, which recounts the first half of the series, is a great movie if you feel like rewatching the show. But in order to enjoy this movie to the maximum, you must watch the sequel in order to grasp everything. Still, for what this movie does, which is to remind you about how amazingly badass it is, it does well.

Don't get me wrong here.

I fucking LOOOOVE Gurren Lagann! For the past 8 months, it's been my all-time favorite anime. Everything about TTGL is brilliant including the plot, characters, music, and art, which Gainax had done an excellent job of making sure all of these factors were amazing. However, beyond that, I love the themes about evolution and ambition, two values which hold up very high to me. This show inspired and uplifted me, made me think about my life in a different way and made me realize the goals and dreams I had deep within me, that's how powerful this show was to me! ... But, let's not beat around the bush, this is going to be a review on the first movie, NOT on the excellent anime.

This movie is much like a recap movie of the first 15 episodes of the main series. But, it's not a recap movie like e.g the first two Madoka Magica movies. No, the Gurren Lagann movies include new footage and information that wasn't spread out in the main show. I'm going to try to spoil as little as I can, but an example in this movie was that they explored Lorgenomes backstory and how the world of Gurren Lagann came to be. There are many other things like that which get explained here. I think this is a great thing to do because even as amazing as TTGL was, there were still some questions left unanswered that left some wide gaps.

The purpose of these two movies was I think to fill in those gaps like f.ex who was Lordgenome or how the world of TTGL was made while also recapping the most essential parts of the story, which I think these two movies succeeded excellently at. There were quite an alarming amount of things that I hadn't noticed or forgot about in the main series e.g how Yoko came from an underground village with Dayakka, that the whole show was post-apocalyptic or that Dai-Gurren ship was originally enemy property which the gang had invaded.

However, with all that being said, there's not much else to take home. What I disliked about this movie in particular in how rushed it felt. It felt like Gainax knew they couldn't pack in 16 episodes worth of material in a duration of just two small hours, but tried to anyways. It's not as though they only included the most essential moments and the new stuff. No, they also diverged from the main series for the reason to alter the story, which felt totally unnecessary. This was most clear towards the end, where they try to defeat the gunmen.

To conclude, this movie succeeded in adding new and interesting stuff but failed in trying to bring its own thing, instead of just being obedient and faithful to its original source. The result was a mediocre movie which I won't revisit any time soon. But, wait! Don't watch this before the main series please! Watch these two movies AFTER the main 28 episode series, then watch these two moves. I would also recommend giving a lot of time between watching the series and the movies because then it will be easier to contrast and compare the two. Speaking of two, I will now go on to review the other movie!

First 15 episodes but on cocaine.

Really solid recap movie that did a lot more than I expected. I watched up to the 15th episode, so going in I was well aware of the plot beats. The additional scenes that were added though really bring a lot of flare to the OG series. I will say that it’s highly recommended to watch the whole series before seeing this, at-least up to episode 15 so you get the plot.

Also wanna mention that watching this in a theater is an amazing experience and was surprisingly packed. Seeing this in 4DX is an absolute treat. Can’t wait for part ... 2!

This movie recaps the first half of the TV series, with 90% r use materials and 10% new. It is still very much enjoyable and epic as it is TTGL. However, since most of it was reused materials, the story has serious pacing issues and the storytelling is very choppy. I'd argue even the new materials at the end the movie is worse than the tv series. Due to the shorter runtime, all of the side character plus Nia were not well developed, if at all. They did a good job developing Simon, Kamina and Yoko's characters though.

Overall good movie. Not as great as the ... TV series for sure.

Art 9
Sound 10
Story 6
Character 7
Enjoyment 8

Overall 7

[Spoiler-free should-you-watch review for both movies]

I’ll be brief, because I absolutely love the Gurren Lagann series, and my review (which I haven’t written yet to date) would probably read something like “I don’t care who you are, stop what you’re doing and just watch it.”

These movies are are fundamentally a retelling of the same story. They are very good, but 90% or more of them are just reused parts of the show. There are some new sequences they added, and some changes in the plot, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend. However, I do *not* recommend the movies as an introduction to ... the story.

In short, these movies don’t have enough time to do many of the characters and plotlines justice. Instead, they work best as a second viewing, allowing you to fully appreciate the changes, and take in the fantastic newly animated portions. These movies are for *current* Gurren Lagann fans, not for *prospective* Gurren Lagann fans. I’ll admit, the show does have a bit of filler that the movies carefully prune, but even still, the series is the superior narrative experience, particularly for first-timers.

So watch the show, and in a year when you’re craving some drill action, watch the movies. You won’t be disappointed.

This review is intended for those who've seen the show, as is the movie itself.

All of the positives of Gurren-Hen are also positives of the 2007 show. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true.

A lot of stuff from the original that was important to character development and narrative structure was cut out from this version somewhat haphazardly. It was certainly not an exercise in good adaptation, unlike its 10/10 counterpart, Lagann-Hen.

Nevertheless, the movie has value, and I think it's a worthwhile watch for anyone who's seen the show. Despite my frustration for the way it was adapted, it still remains true that from ... spectacular animation to cathartic fights to timeless themes, many of the strengths of the show are still present. I can't give it anything less than a very positive score because of this.

Yes, it's worth watching. But it isn't anywhere near as valuable of an addition to the franchise as its sequel, much less a replacement for the first half of the show.

Gurren Lagann the Movie: Childhood's End (2008) is an entertaining and novel recap of the first 13 episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007). GLTMCE is an amazing showcase of animation ability, every scene within the film is stunning, and the animation sequences (while sometimes repetitive) are gorgeous. Scenes that didn't make sense in TTGL are removed and replaced with ones that better explain the lore of the series which is a welcome change. However this is all there is to GLTMCE, since the film covers 13 episodes worth of content in just over two hours the pacing feels off, and the viewer isn't able ... to connect to the characters or watch them interact and grow like they did in the original series. To add to this TTGL was always somewhat repetitive and this is further exacerbated by the condensed format which only focuses on those battle scenes that were the source of the repetitive nature.

If you're a huge fan of TTGL or this film is playing in theaters near you then it is definitely worth checking out. But if you haven't seen TTGL yet, or aren't a huge fan then there's no purpose in watching this film.

*Dub or sub* In this case it's best to go with the sub, the dub is pretty standard: mostly flat in its delivery and the screaming during fights can be pretty cringeworthy.

Gurren Lagann: So good I watched it twice.

When I booted up this movie I wasn't sure if it was going to be a shot for shot retelling or some kind of re-imagining. The opening sequence is all brand new, and foreshadows the story of the spiral king in a way the original series never did. But then what follows is basically a trimmed down version of the regular series without even any new animation, up until the ending which was a little different.

I was almost going to stop watching it when I realized how little new content there was. I had just finished watching the ... TV series so it's not like I needed a refresher on how the plot goes. I sat and watched the whole thing anyway. I realized, "hey I've seen this before," but also, "yeah this is still really good." It was like a recap episode that I actually wanted to watch.

For people new to the series I recommend watching the whole thing rather than this movie first, it skips over a lot of character introductions early on so it could have more time for the finale. It works better as a series than a single film, but if you've seen the show already and you want to watch it again but don't have 5 hours to watch all those episodes back to back then this would be perfect.

The ending as I mentioned is a little different. It has a lot of the bad guys who were picked off one-by-one in the series all team up and get defeated at the same time. It's another thing done for the sake of streamlining the plot and I think it contains the most original animation out of anything in the film, but it largely doesn't affect the way the story goes as a whole.

9/10 for still being great, but for not really needing to exist when the original show is still there

I went to the theatre to watch this without ever watching Gurren Lagann, and I am a fan. I have never watched the show before, but I felt like everything in the movie made sense, and it never really felt like anything was missing which is pretty impressive considering how many episodes of the show were covered. The soundtrack was really good, and the animation quality felt like it was really ahead of its time. I recommend this for people who don't have enough time to watch the entire series. I did not really care for all of the characters, but Simon and Kamina were ... good.