Gurren Lagann

Preface:

This was the third Mecha in a row that I have enjoyed(the other two being Code Geass and Eureka Seven) which is making me question my taste in genres but oh well. It was a good show and you should go watch it even if it is just to listen to the amazing OP, EDs and OST.

Basic Info

27 episodes

Made by Gainax

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Mecha, Sci-Fi

Plot (Spoiler Alert!)

The stage is set in a post apocalyptic Earth where humans have been forced to live underground because of creatures called beastmen which are animals with intellect and humanoid forms. They pilot these Mechas known as Gundam... excuse me, Gunmen and they terrorize any humans foolish enough to go up to the surface. Our MCs Simon and Kamina just so happen to be those fools. Kamina is the leader of Team Gurren which is a group of bros in the underground village of Giha. He aspires to follow in his dad’s footsteps to go up to the surface and to do so, he borrows the help of Simon the digger who is technically an orphan and is not really popular with girls since he stinks from digging all the time. One day, Simon was digging as usual and stumbles upon a Gunmen(Lagann) and a drill that acts as the key buried underground. This Mecha becomes the key for Team Gurren(Kamina and Simon) to get out of their village and rise up to the surface. Eventually, Kamina takes control of a Gunman(Gurren) for himself and together with Lagann, they fuse to become the super Mecha Gurren Lagann. They use this new found power to wage a war against the beastmen to fight for humanity’s freedom.

This is basically the plot for the first half of the show. A ton of goofy adventures and battles in a relatively slow pace. Each episode felt like it was its own story with its own baddies to defeat and takeaways which made me feel like I was watching a weekly show instead of following a single over arching plot. However, the tone of the show drastically changes after a time skip in the middle of the season. So even though this show is just one season of 27 episodes, I think it can be separated into two halves. Essentially, it is like Naruto and Shippuden put into one. 

I did not particularly enjoy the first half because Simon was being a whiny kid for most of it and if it weren’t for Kamina’s badass-ery and his constant deus-ex machinas to pull the team out of tough situations, I would’ve dropped it. But the second half weren’t just about the battles and it had a more mature tone which I really enjoyed. 

Overall, I think this plot has a thing for every Anime lover out there. Even if the show may not look all that interesting in the first few episodes, give it until about episode 8 and I think you’ll start to get why there is such a big fandom for this show.

Characters

This show is similar to Shounens in that it conveys messages such as; “Never give up!” Or “Believe in yourself!” Or “The possibility is endless!”. This is fine and gets you pumped up as a kid, but when you grow up, you start to cringe at these moments and lines. However, this was not the case with Gurren Lagann. Even though I was a full blown teenager watching this show, I felt myself getting pumped at these same messages. I tried to think of the reason for this difference and the conclusion I reached is that the characters and their emotions felt so real. A great example is Kamina. Even though he has that cool guy look and exterior, he is such a passionate dude inside that you can’t help but to get riled up by his lines and actions. I also think that because he keeps accomplishing crazy feats in the show, you start to build up trust and admiration towards the dude. I think he single handedly carried the entire first half of the show(maybe along with Yoko’s sexiness).

As for the other MC Simon, he starts off terrible. I didn’t know what I was expecting from a kid who had lost both his parents and had nothing but his ability to dig holes but boy was he getting on my nerves. He was that little brother who completely relied on his big bro Kamina for just about everything which doesn’t leave him with any character besides being a whiny child. But I guess we can’t expect everyone to be like Eren Yeager after losing their parents. He does develop quite a bit and by the end, I think he turned out to be nice character following in his brother’s footsteps which I really liked to see.

All the supporting cast didn’t really have much depth to them. They had that one character archetype and that was about it. You got your calm father type, the composed kid, the twins?, the yolo dude that just presses a button to fire the weapons, sexy lady, intellectual gay? person and a lot of wild and rowdy guys, like 60% of the cast consisted of the rowdy guys that like fighting. Even though most of them did not have many memorable scenes and stories behind them, they were pretty funny and before I knew it, I got attached to them. 

Overall, the characters felt like they were just tools for the comedy and narrative but each one of them had a unique design and everyone was likable. Some characters like the MCs and some of the baddies had some good development and adrenaline inducing speeches so I think the characters are definitely one of the strong parts for Gurren Lagann as it even gave me a new character to add to my top 10 favorite list. 

Kamina 4 life, Kamina is life.

Review

This is going to be my first ever review written just after finishing the show so it might be based on unpolished ideas and thoughts but at least it’s 100% genuine right?

Anyways, Gurren Lagann was a show that came out near the period when I first started watching Anime as a child. I didn’t really watch it, but it would be running in the background alongside shows like FMA Brotherhood on Animax. I’m not sure if its because of this, but the OP and ED2 felt so nostalgic and hype. The opening especially does a great job at hyping the viewers up for each episode and I just couldn’t skip it as it was an integral factor into getting me into the hyper vibe of this show. (I know I am using the word hype a lot but trust me, this show is super hype.)

This show is basically Shounens like DBZ and Naruto on steroids. It cuts out all the filler and useless conversations and just jumps straight into the action. Each episode really made me feel all giddy inside even though I could not really process what was going on half the time. Even though you can’t understand the power scaling especially in the second half of the show, (because they literally shoe-horned power ups in there without any logic) it didn’t matter because I felt the emotions and spirits of the characters and that really just made me accept everything(in a good way). All I am trying to say here is that the mechanics behind the action scenes don’t make much sense but you can feel the energy and it is just plain awesome.

The show is not without its flaws though. The pacing of this show felt all over the place. The first half had to set up our MCs and the world they live in so I understand that it takes time. But sometimes it felt too dragged out and some of the fights were sort of unnecessary in my opinion. Also, there is an unnecessary beach episode so beware of that. The second half was after a time skip and they introduced new enemies which I felt could have been given more of a backstory because I didn’t really know who the enemies were even after finishing the show. All I knew was that the characters themselves didn’t really go through new experiences but they kept on developing because the story required them to do so to fight the new enemies that I didn’t really understand too well. So what I am trying to get at here is that it felt a little rushed because there was a lot of potential to flesh out the story, at least much more than the first half at least.

But aside from this point, some qualms about some characters and the ending... this show was very fun to watch and I would definitely recommend this to any action lovers out there or just anyone who wants to get hyped in general.

Enjoyment level: 4.5/5 -You would have to be quite the cynic to not enjoy this show... that or you hate Mecha battles.

Overall score: 8.5/10 -The ending felt too quiet after all the hype actions scenes that led to it but if it weren’t for that I might have considered a 9 for the show, that’s how good (mostly) everything was.