It's really hard to go into great depth with the details in this anime without indulging in spoilers, so I will steer far clear from trying to deconstruct this anime and rather tell you how I feel about it and what you should expect going into it. Another point to pull is to mention that I'll be referring to "first half" and "second half" a lot in this review, because a lot of my opinion revolves around the differences between the two.
STORY: 6
A lot of interesting things go on in Gurren Lagann's story, lots of twists, interesting decisions, specific moments- but nothing really culminates into a whole well. While the ending is extremely impactful, it is more a testament to the character's improvements and their dynamics rather than the story surrounding them. It almost feels like you have real life human beings thrown into a world of cardboard cutouts, a cast of amazing well rounded people bouncing around façades of actual plot development just so they can improve themselves. You'll meet a group of characters with amazing expression and complicated backstories, but the way they meet is usually a complete coincidence without any real effort in tying the strings together except a lazily slapped "Oh uh, I guess they just stumble upon them in the desert".
The plot also feels like a straight line. There are a few bends, but no real complexity. This is somewhat relieved in the second half of the anime, where all of the character's interactions and what they've done up to that point culminate in what is for lack of better words, completely epic- but the first half being literally "stumble upon some characters, then shoot stuff" is extremely bland, boring, and drags on for way too long.
There's a lot of depth in Gurren Lagann, but not in the plot of the show. It all belongs to the characters and who they are.
ART: 8
Studio Gainax never seems to disappoint in the art department. And while to date, I think this is their least appealing anime in terms of art (ok, I'm not counting the budget-cut episodes of evangelion) it still completely blows my mind out of the ground and makes my eyes bleed. There is always something flashing, something spinning or blinking, the lines are very sharp and defined and there is explosions all over the screen for most of an episode's runtime. Despite all this, the downsides revolve around a lot of the anime falling into "good animation, generic setting"- while the world is set in a post apocalypse of sorts, the what I like to call "Dragonball Z Rock Desert" setting is rather boring most of the time and doesn't compliment the amazing art style well. This is amended in the second half however, and only then I can say that this anime is a true beauty to look at.
Oh, I almost completely forgot about the title cards. I want each one in a massive print hanging around my house. They're that good.
SOUND: 7
Lots of people say that this is the best soundtrack "of any anime, ever", But they only ever seem to bring up "Libera Me From Hell" and "Sora Iro Days"- which brings up the point that in my opinion, the soundtrack is completely hit or miss. When the music is good, it's absolutely amazing. Those two tracks mentioned above are some of the most inspiring, pumping up music I've heard in an anime- enough for me to say that they almost carry the entire 7 points on their backs alone. That's not to say the rest of the soundtrack is awful by any means, but it's completely forgettable and not really unique to any sort of style or taste. I could listen to a song (except the two mentioned above) from the OST in a cafe and not recognize it as a Gurren Lagann song, and I could listen to most of the songs and completely forget about them 5 minutes later. They're just really bland and while each one fits the mood for individual aspects of the show, I would never really go out of my way to listen to one except the two mentioned above.
Now the memorable songs from Gurren Lagann are so good that I would actually give this category a higher mark than 7- but the voiceacting still stands. And no matter what version I watched, I thought it was simply just passable. For every great voice, there is a weak one- Kamina's dominating strong voice is countered by the annoying shrill tones of Simon. Yoko's voice bounces all over the place and frequently goes from annoying to soothing, and the minor characters are hit and miss as well.
CHARACTER: 10
I've already touched upon the characters in the "story" section of this review, but dear god are they amazing. Each character has complex motives, an interesting backstory, and a deep interaction with each other character. Every character acts like you'd expect them to, but it comes off as a human expectation rather than just a bland soup of stock (soup? stock? get it?) characters. Each character has expectations, and their moods fluctuate in ways that few animes dare to tread- lasting several episodes based on recent events revolving around them and how they feel about them. Despite all this complexity, you don't need a manual or guide to each character as it is laid out simply and perfectly for you in a way that I cannot describe short of excellent. But the crowning achievement above all of this is the character progression. I literally cannot step into this category without spoilers, but the way the second half gathers up all the characters, what they have gone through and what they are now and bundles them up in a small space together to interact is beautiful and something I have never seen before.
ENJOYMENT: 7
While there were times where I was awestruck in how much fun I was having with TTGL (mainly in the second half), there was almost an equal amount of time where I spent kind of twiddling my thumbs waiting for the anime to hurry up. Mainly the first half seems to almost get TOO formulaic near the transition to the second half, to the point where it's completely predictable and doesn't leave any surprises or joy to be had. There was also a few episodes that seemed out of place (I'm looking at you, hotsprings and random animation drop episodes) but other than that I mostly had fun with Gurren Lagann.
OVERALL: 7
To sum up all I have ever thought of Gurren Lagann after watching the whole thing, the first half is a solid 6/10 and the second half is a complete masterpiece. That being said, the first half is essential in introducing us to the fleshed out cast of amazing characters and in a way that makes me resent the boring, predictable nature of it even more. If there were a way to inject information straight into your brain without having to watch the first half, I would definitely recommend a skip to the second half. But as it stands, the second half is not nearly as impactful unless you experience each character for long enough and truly get to know how they work and how they think.
I would definitely recommend TTGL. But I wouldn't hype it up for people like others did for me. The times I have recommended it I have only mentioned "I think you'll like it", not this impenetrable halo of ultimate fanboyism (I apologize for using that word) surrounding it.
