There’s always going to be that one (or handful of) anime that everybody just seem to worship, and that all your friends tell you that you NEED to watch, because it’s going to blow your mind.
And it does blow... but not really in the way you'd expect...
For me, that anime is TTGL. The way this was described to me by a couple of friends made it sound like the best thing ever; it had mecha, great humor, awesome story & action, beautiful women and everything else you could ever wish for in a series. But in the end, I still can’t see what’s so good about this show, or why people idolize it.
Story: (3 / 10)
The story, is pretty dull, to be honest. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, nor is it innovative in any respect. A couple of friends find a giant robot and go on to defeat the evil leader. Sure, there are some twists here and there to keep you going “wat”, but in the end it’s your standard “hero single-handedly defeats the enemy against all odds”.
But then, halfway through, when you think “Oh, this is it, it’s finally over” they pull a time-skip out of nowhere, and you now have a somewhat different story... To be honest, I thought the second part was slightly better (atleast in terms of story), since it’s more about the intrigue and drama between characters, and the political games and whatnot, as opposed to the over-the-top battles against evil.
That is, until the end, where they pull some more twists out of their sleeves, and yet again you’re left saying “wat”.
Art: (7 / 10)
Admittedly, even if I didn’t really like the rest of the series, I can’t say that it was ugly. In fact, the art was probably the best part of it, for me. Most scenes are pretty good quality, with smooth animations, and well detailed characters. However, there are some scenes that change the artstyle into something more... hard to describe... It makes it look a bit more “gritty”, so to speak, though yet again, I wouldn’t call it ugly.
Sound: (5 / 10)
As I’ve said before, I’m not one to usually take note of background music, and the few times it was prominent enough I was probably too baffled or annoyed to actually care enough.
As for the voice actor’s, I personally watched the dub for this show (so this factors into the score a bit), and it was one of the most annoying experiences I’ve ever had.
I just can’t stand Simon’s voice, and his constant shouting “Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro!”. I can’t really remember any other VA that really stood out either, but I would highly recommend anyone who wants to watch this to do so with subs.
Character: (4 / 10)
The characters were pretty mediocre, in my opinion. I didn’t feel like there was much character development at all (looking at you here, Simon), nor did I ever really care for any character all that much. To be honest, I found most of the characters either stupid or just simply annoying, and since this (atleast the latter) didn’t really change as the show went on, it really ruined the show (further) for me.
Enjoyment: (2 / 10)
This show is a constant mess of over-the-top action scenes, manly screams, fanservice, and bad comedy. Evidently, a lot of people are going to find this show absolutely amazing and hilarious, but in my case.. well, I guess I just couldn’t handle all the epicness.
Still, if you like all of this stuff, or enjoyed any previous similar works by Gainax (FLCL) you’ll most likely love this as well, but if you’re looking for something atleast a bit serious, then this is not for you... at all.
