So rare does an anime of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's caliber come around, an anime that leaves you on the edge of your seat dying to know what happens next. My journey with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was a long journey full of emotions. Let me start this review by explaining my reasoning behind my ratings.
Story-9/10
The story behind Gurren Lagann is the classic story of a boy's coming-of-age, dealing with endless trials and ultimately saving the world. The reason I gave this cliched story a 9 is because of the way that GAINAX portrayed it. Each moment is flawlessly executed, never boring you and always gripping your heart's emotions whether that be happiness, sadness, laughter, joy, anxiety, or hate.This cliched and rusted story was formed into a shining drill capable of piercing through the heavens.
Art-9/10
The art style in this anime is a very beautiful style that will leave you gasping and rewinding a scene simply to see it again. However, at times the art can be mildly confusing but even this confusion fits in extremely well with the anime and it is a very brief confusion. I cannot express how beautiful some scenes in Gurren Lagann are. In Gurren Lagann pictures aren't worth a thousand words. They're worth even more.
Sound-10/10
The music in Gurren Lagann is mixed in with the art and the story masterfully well. The songs will generate the perfect tone for a scene, and will leave you in awe or get you so pumped up you'll feel ready to take on the world. Even if you don't watch the anime, you need to get it's soundtrack, it's so amazing. Admittedly, some of the English lyrics in the songs don't make sense, but the melody itself will rock you.
Character-10/10
This is where Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann truly shines. The characters are, like the storyline, cliched archetypes but they have so much emotion in them that they don't feel like a cliche at all. Unlike many anime out there, the character development in Gurren Lagann is huge and will leave you endeared to each character. Every character is dynamic and has good points and bad points as well as separate motivations for each one's drive. Each character feels real to you, and bad guys aren't bad guys simply because they feel like it. The characters in Gurren Lagann are ones that you will enjoy for sure.
Enjoyment-10/10
Going back to my introduction sentence, "So rare does an anime of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's caliber come around, an anime that leaves you at the edge of your seat dying to know what happens next." it is clear that I enjoyed Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. There is a reason why it is number 1 anime on myanimelist.net, and that is because countless people have enjoyed it and been in awe because of it. My enjoyment of this series is based on everything I've written about, all my explanations of my ratings. Enjoyment is highly subjective however, so it is best if you watch it yourself.
Overall-10/10
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is packed with action, tears, laughter, sadness, and many other emotions. The story line, art, sound and characters are all amazing and very well done. However, what makes this series a 10/10 is the messages that it sends. Hope for the human race and hope for advancing forwards bit by bit. TTGL also delves heavily into the ideas of evolution and into religion as well. Truely an amazing anime from GAINAX.
Conclusion
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a must watch anime that is practically guaranteed for people of all ages to enjoy. There is more than enough action to keep kids happy, and many ideas that will keep adults intrigued. And lastly, an anime like this is, once again, a very rare thing indeed. I am constantly drifting from anime to anime, discouraged by what I see, constantly searching for one of those rare special anime that will blow me away. Not only did Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann blow me away, it blew me into another dimension. Very few anime can do something like that.
