Story: You should already know it, I'll tell you what I think. Before I watched this show, when I heard the plot, face robots fighting, I thought this sounded utterly retarded, and very unappealing. But somehow, during Christmas, I was bored, downloaded GL, and my views took a quick 180 turn. The story was simply genius, only you had to see it personally for yourself. It started off rather small and humble, and as the anime progressed, the magnitude of the story started increasing, and it kept spiraling up until they were fighting to save and free the universe from the Anti-spiral. And it flowed smoothly. It wasn't all sudden and rushed, they built the story up until the end, and then finally unleashed it.
Art: The animation in Gurren Lagann was fuck-awesome all the way, be it battle animations, character animations, etc. It's drawn in quite a "rough", rugged form, which many may not truly appreciate, but it was what made Gurren Lagann stand out so much, because it allowed for crazy-ass facial expressions, explosions and fights to look really great. They also used a whole range of colours, making this show a wonderful visual experience. My only pet peeves were episode 4 (I almost dropped it because of the QUALITY animation) and that in a few cases the characters look over-simplified.
Sound: Know what? Throughout the show, the positive, inspirational music gave me the shivers whenever I heard it. It was that awesome. Tracks like Libera me from Hell, Omae no XXX de Ten wo Tsuke!, Sorario Days, they made the anime truly stand out in those instance of manliness and awesomeness. The VAs, especially Kamina's did a fantastic job into putting emotions behind their character's voices (Although Simon's pre-timeskip VA didn't quite have the manly vibe as he did later on).
Character: Yeah yeah, "they're so cliche"- FUCK YOU. True, the characters seem quite generic, but they often take their cliche and take it to the max, in a positive way. Also, if you look closely, the characters do not totally fit into their cliche, they always have something which defies it e.g. Simon, who was cowardly and pessimistic in the beginning, but did have rare instances where he showed true courage and determination, and he actually became the opposite of what he originally was, and not by a sudden whim (He actually spent 3 episodes going emo before he changed for the better), which made it all so more fitting and natural. The characters were also extremely enjoyable to watch, and likeable, especially Kamina, whose charisma, determinism and manliness made him so damn appealing. The only thing that felt out of place was that they don't focus much on the side characters until near the end, where their unforgettable sacrifices helped the advance the Gurren-Dan.
Enjoyment: Did I enjoy Gurren Lagann? Every fucking minute of minute, from the beginning to the end. I loved the awesome Ganmen fights, the crazy inspirational speeches Kamina gave, and especially the fucking epic final fight (Throwing galaxies around? How can you get more awesome than this?) I got those shivers every time there was a big fight, and I wanted to shout out and cheer the Gurren-Dan on, because it was THAT enjoyable. This anime simply makes you want to become a part of the goddamn action, and it was the only time I cried manly tears because a character died. I also enjoyed the gratituous fanservice that was abundant throughout the whole show, although I did sadface a bit when it was tuned down during the later episodes. This show is not for the tight-panted, uptight pricks who feel that logic and reason have to apply for everything, and it even declares it itself, " OVERCOME THE IMPOSSIBLE AND KICK REASON TO THE CURB". Forget higher thinking when watching this, just enjoy it as much as you can.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is currently my number one, favourite anime. It took manliness, determination, epicness and hot blood all the way to the max. It was so positive, optimistic and hopeful, it's like the cure to all things pessimistic (Ant-EVA much?) It is impossible not to enjoy all this GAR and epic awesomeness which is presented to frequently throughout the series. TTGL is simply a masterpiece, and whilst it is not perfect, it comes damn close of it, and it is one of the few animes which truly deserve the overall rating of 10. Don't believe me? Watch it yourself, I will guarantee you that you will enjoy it (But you'll probably go beyond and fucking love it).
