Then, suddenly, the anime flip turns upside down and becomes one of the most serious, gripping, and compelling sagas I ever witnessed.
See, Gurren Lagann isn't about the story really, even though it is an amazing one. Gurren Lagann is a strikingly deep and rich tale of a boy and his life. The anime progresses through the stages of boy and eventually manhood. It starts obnoxious and high octane because that's the life of a boy. By the time the protagonist and focus Simon is an adult, the anime has sobered up, and shows its true colours. This causes a great division in the fan base. There's those who obsess over the first half with its ridiculous action and humour and then forsake the grim, dark, and serious middle, and then go crazy over the truly insane finale. Then there's those who love the middle serious part, think the beginning is okay, and the finale unbelievably epic. I fall in the middle. The finale is of course my favorite, but I truly love both the beginning and the middle for what they both offer.
The story is of Simon and Kamina, two brothers who dig their way up to the surface of Earth to discover it is ruled by Beastmen who pilot mecha known as Gunmen. Kamina is the embodiment of Man while Simon is a timid and at times angsty teenager . They meet a band of humans, including Yoko, the 13 year old voluptuous sniper badass. I can't continue with the story without spoilers. After Episode 13, it cuts 7 years into the future, where all the characters mature and become different than their childish pasts. After this serious break, the anime's insanity returns and increases the stakes by about 52.8 billion lightyears (Those who saw the anime just chuckled)
Gurren Lagann takes every cliche trope there is and ramps it up to 11, in a way that it feels strangely new and enjoyable again. If I could describe this show in one word, it'd be "ridiculous", and I don't mean that in a bad way in the slightest. Yoko's beyond curved yet she has one of the most developed personalities of any female lead I've seen. Dai-Gurren's deck resembles a massive erect penis. It takes the idea that anime needs to escalate to new extremes. Gurren Lagann is the type of anime where the heroes must find an enemy, blow the CRAP out of it, and then move on to the bigger and badder villain. I don't consider this spoilers, but the anime just keeps escalating and climaxing to the point where the final enemy....is the Universe itself, with all of its stars and galaxies. That's about as big as you can get, and Gurren Lagann knows it. It shocks you and grabs your attention with nothing else other than its unique spirit and confidence. I makes you feel like a kid again, only to have you slowly mature.
The anime, hilarious and action filled as it is, hits the emotional notes rather strongly, specifically in the final episodes. As the stakes rise, so does the peril we see these characters get into. Despite the ridiculously awesome final fight, Gurren Lagann sweeps in with a conclusion that is an emotionally perfect end to the cast of characters whom we all end up cherishing. It's perfectly fitting with the theme of the anime, that this is the final stage in manhood, a bittersweet conclusion to all that we knew and loved. Gurren Lagann isn't for those soulless bastards who hate well made fun. The very premise makes no sense whatsoever, and the finale is one of the most nonsensical and mind boggling out there. This may scare away some, but please, just have ah eart and find enjoyment. There's a reason Gurren Lagann is a Bro Favorite.
Aside from the abomination that is Episode 4, Gurren Lagann is a tight rollercoaster from beginning to end, with an ending that will break the heart of anyone who watches it. It also contains some of the most beautiful and absolute good themes in any anime I have seen. It's a saga of heroism, triumph over the most impossible of obstacles, being who you are, and achieving that ultimate pursuit of happiness and entitlement.
To say Gurren Lagann's cast is massive is an understatement. Despite the ridiculous size of Team Gurren, nearly every characters is fleshed out, likable, and well developed. When I think of crap characters, I can only really think of one, Rossiu, whose bullshit ideology and epilogue force any viewer to hate him. No character fades out of the spotlight and everyone is constantly thrust back in. Fan favorites will include Kamina, who is still to this day one of the most iconic and beloved male protagonists of anime history, Yoko, whose mocking satire of fanservice is backed up by her excellent and subtle personality, Simon, whose overcoming of despair will inspire any viewer, and Kittan, whose Devil-may-care attitude makes him easy to root for and even easier to weep for as his ego is always tumbling down and rising up (My personal favourite)
Simon is a powerful protagonist to say the least. He begins as a lowly teenage digger, but through various hardships he is FORCED to become a manly leader, but even then he faces even greater challenges and the fear he is actually a failure. I can't go much into him or his older Kamina without going into heavy spoiler territory, so I won't. Their chemistry together is phenomenal, with Kamina's overly manly ego being the perfect balance to Simon, and stands as his idol throughout the series, bringing in family drama and conflict when Simon begins to diverge from his own worshiping of Kamina. Nia, Simon's love interest, is the single character who I can truly say is just an awful character. She is flat as a plank and really doesn't contribute anything until the finale, and even then just kinda stands aside. She's a Mary Sue at worst and a plank at best, which sucks because she's one of the primary characters.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
That's the only way I can describe Gurren Lagann's animation. I have a huge respect for hand drawn animation, and it is one of the reasons I have a strong prejudice towards newer anime. There's something special watching something drawn on PAPER by HAND, not drawn on a computer drawing software. Gurren Lagann was painstakingly hand drawn for the most part, and though it's not nearly as smooth as say Cowboy Bebop, it's still art on its own. The beginning's jagged, exaggerated, and angled animation fits with the angst and testosterone of the beginning. The middle is when the animation REALLY steps up, rivaling most anime today. HOWEVER, IT'S FUCKING FINALE! WOW! 40% of the entire anime's budget went into just the animation of the final 3 episodes. That's SOMETHING, and WOW does it show. Have I hyped the finale too much? Well it delivers, and more.
Now for soundtrack. Well, the OP's are killer, Libera Me From Hell is an audio orgasm, but nothing else really stands out and it all sounds rather generic.
TTGL is one of the few shows I have watched that had me wholly gripped and had my hype increasing steadily throughout. This is an anime one HAS to watch in one sitting to fully appreciate that feeling. By the end, it'll make a Man out of you too. Since Evangelion, Studio GAINAX seemed hellbent on creating that one perfect anime that was equally enjoyably fun and striking deep and philosophical. Evangelion sacrificed the former for its finale and being a little TOO direct and obnoxious with the symbolism, FLCL totally ditched the idea of a coherent and enjoyable plot but got the sublime imagery and philosophy perfectly. It seems finally with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann that they found that equal balance, with a plot based around its desired themes of maturity, perseverance, and manhood. It may be VERY stupid at some point (How the Hell does Team Gurren breathe in space?) but it's still one Hell of a roller-coaster. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a towering and roaring success a modern day classic, one that should be enjoyed through the ages by anyone and everyone willing to give their time to it.
