Tengen Toppa 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]

Kamina Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Simon Main

Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese

Littner, Yoko Main

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Teppelin, Nia Main

Fukui, Yukari Japanese

Viral Supporting

Hiyama, Nobuyuki Japanese

Bachika, Kittan Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Boota Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Lordgenome Supporting

Ikeda, Narushi Japanese

Littner, Leeron Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Adai, Rossiu Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Kamagata, Eiichi Producer

Takeda, Yasuhiro Producer

Akai, Takami Producer

Shiraishi, Naoko Producer, Production Manager

Reviews

Nov 6, 2024

09philj

Recommended

There’s an idea I’ve seen expressed in film criticism before which is the concept of being stupid in a clever way, to devise plotlines and characters and situations which are totally heightened and ludicrous and yet wield them with a sufficient deftness that they remain consistently engaging, and to do so with purpose, to have something meaningful to say with all that bombast. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the apotheosis of this. It is cranked up to eleventy-stupid and then some, ever escalating in scale and ridiculousness, throwing the rules of logic and reality by the wayside to gain access to new frontiers of big ... robots hitting each other. It’s big, it’s loud, and immensely silly. However, despite all this it is consistently engaging, and surprisingly moving, because all of that scale and raw insanity is focused in service of telling a deeply heartfelt story about the power of human spirit. This is a series with a thesis statement, and that is that not only do dudes rock, it is a moral imperative. Stagnation is unacceptable. People must drive on, full force, fighting for a better future for themselves and those they care about. The forces of stagnation will knock you down, and take things that are dear to you, and when that happens you get back up and keep going, fighting for love, and truth, and justice. If Gurren Lagann was a less sophisticated series it would stop about halfway through, as a simple coming of age story, of young people claiming their future, but it doesn’t. Growing up doesn’t mean you stop fighting. Instead bigger and bigger responsibilities will be placed on you, more complex ones that can’t simply be overcome with youthful vigour, but you cannot stop, not while you can still change things for the better. The series does not shy away from grief and tragedy and the toll they can take on people, but it respects death as an inevitability, and those who live on will always be shaped by their time with the deceased. There is a very positive view of masculinity in here, one that is not jealous or possessive, and rolls with the punches, and stands up for what’s right, but feels emotion very deeply because living a life repressed is not life lived to the fullest. The characters in a work with such unsubtle tendencies could have ended up as thin sketches, but they’re not, and indeed the series simply wouldn’t work if they were. With everything else so nuts you have to have an emotional core to hang on to, and the hopes of the characters is that core. The plot is unbelievable but they’re not, they have virtues and flaws that add up into people worth rooting for, and their joy and their pain mean something.

The animation that delivers all this is directed wonderfully. It’s all highly evocative, both in the moments of stillness and in the highly frenetic action scenes, and is exciting in all the best ways. Imaishi is a director with a great sense for motion, knowing exactly where animation can be skimped out on to ensure maximum impact where it’s needed. The designs for everything are striking and original and cool in a way that’s unashamedly maximalist. Robots that combine and get bigger and bigger rule, actually, and Gurren Lagann exploits this to its full potential. There’s a great soundtrack of suitably bombastic orchestral and pop rock pieces which, combined with everything else, helps tip those high points where the heroes find new reserves of strength over into punch-the-air triumphant.
The bottom line is that Gurren Lagann is anime doing the things that animation does best, and is far smarter than its reputation might suggest, but doesn’t let that get in the way of the joy of robots knocking twelve bells out of each other in ways not really seen before or since. It’s a really special series and well worth your time.

Woah, woah, fight the power!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 25, 2024

theD00mGuy

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Damn had potential but ending sure left a sour taste. Don't watch it if you see it in any satisfying ending list etc. Plotwise it doesn't really evolve and the epilogue was .....

The artstyle and music were pretty good but the fights themselves brought the experience down. The only good parts were the transformation and the ultimate attack. The rest of the fights it was like watching a cartoon in television. I tried not neatpicking as much as possible but after some point I just accepted I am not gonna enjoy most of the fights in this show, at least not in their entirety.

The character ... cast was pretty generic and they were too gimmicky too try and associate with. On first few episodes especially I felt like they were trying different gimmicks for each of the main characters. Some of the developments were forced too quickly and some others shouldn't exist in the first place.

Main reason I am putting this on mixed feelings is that I didn't despise this. It had potential and the designs and soundtrack really created some great moments. The thing is it's more of a dumb fun anime, where you have to close your brain and just enjoy but for some reason I just couldn't and was left dissapointed with the ending and the epilogue. The ending was pretty much generic and expected and the epilogue was unnecessarily cruel, it wasn't something that bad but it was on the negative side for no reason. (insert existentialism)

Overthought a show about mechs too much and now I don't even know how to rate this (placeholder). I would suggest this for some people and for others not. This is my first review and its for this fking show ffs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 16, 2024

clarkr

Not Recommended

If you consider yourself an anime fan, you'll probably like this. But if you're like me and think that 90% of anime produced is unwatchable garbage, this will probably bore you out of your mind—at least the first half will. The second half is a bit more engaging, but as a whole, this show is just a bunch of uninspired tropes. Not a single character is unique or interesting; they're all the most basic anime stereotypes imaginable. The plot is kinda interesting? But the show spends way too much time introducing me to characters I don't care about, which drags on the story to the ... point that I'm uninterested in what is happening, especially in the first half.

This is a Mecha show, so I assume that the appeal for most people watching this is the Mecha fights, but I found them unbelievably boring to watch. The choreography is practically nonexistent, and the end result of every battle is predictable after episode one. The animation is technically impressive, but the choreography isn't appealing or interesting to look at, and none of the characters are compelling enough for me to have any emotional stake in the outcome of any battle. Also, the fights just don't seem real. It doesn't feel like a giant robot is punching and shooting lasers; it instead feels like I'm watching someone play with action figures. There's no gravity or power behind anything happening. The only fight where this was done well (and the only fight in the show that I actually liked) was in episode 3, and it wasn’t even a Mecha fight.

At the end of the day, this is one of the most boring and generic anime I've ever seen. How far Gainax has fallen. You'll like this if you watch shows like "Reincarnated in another world with my girlfriend but I'm level 100000 and she's my pet" or some shit. Though I can't recommend it because of the gross fan service. Leave it to Japan to degrade and objectify women.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Gurren Lagann Episode 8 - Never Forget ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) windy - May 20, 2007	517 replies	by satchoff »» Oct 24, 2:21 PM
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