Woo.
Just finished watching Gurren Lagann.
This anime goes into the 'must watch' list.
The word 'EPIC', just does not cut it when describing this anime.
Like I said in my previous post, writing a review on it is going to be difficult, mostly because of the way things happen in the story line.
However, I shall make an attempt anyway, so here we go!
The story starts in an underground village, Jeeha, where 'diggers', men and boys with large hand driven drills expand the village.
One of these boys, Simon, is destined for great things, little does he know.
His friend, Kamina, looks after him and is convinced there is another, better world up there beyond the rock.
Simon, while drilling one day, finds a small drill shaped object and on another occasion finds what he calls 'a giant face'.
One day there is an earthquake and a giant robot, which they later learn are called 'Gunman' falls through the ceiling and starts to destroy the village.
The village elder, who is a basically a bully, runs and hides, while Kamina faces the 'Gunman' alone, using only his wits and the sword that he taken from the village elder.
To his rescue comes a women, swinging down out of the sky. This is Yuoko.
While trying to escape from the 'Gunman', Simon takes them to the 'Giant Face' and they discover it is in fact a small robot, which Kamina calls 'Laggan'.
This is basically where the anime starts to take off.
As you can guess, our hero's survive their encounter with the Gunmen and escape.
In the following episodes they meet new friends who join them on their adventures.
Eventually, Kamina captures a 'Gunmen' and calls that 'Gurren' once it is repaired.
There are many characters who hook up with our hero's, too many to really name. They come and they go, some in fairly spectacular fashion.
Sometime after this, during a massive fight, Kamina decides to try combining 'Lagann' with 'Gurren'...... by ramming 'Lagann' it's drill form into the top of 'Gurren'.
This unexpectedly works and the sight of Kamina reaching up with Gurren's arms to adjust Lagann so that it looking the right way, is a sort of funny moment.
So, that is how 'Gurren Lagann' is born.
Eventually, the day is won, although depending on how you look at it, it's not that great a win.
Episode 16 is a 'compilation episode' or what we would call a 're-cap episode'.
Yes, it appears that Gurren Lagann was in fact meant to be two seasons, or that how it looks to me.
This episode is extremely well done, covering all of the important things that happen in the previous 15 episodes in such a way that you actually enjoy re-learning about things you have recently seen.
Episode 17 open with the caption '7 years later' and shows a thriving city.
In this 'season' of Gurren Lagann, old friends leave, saying they aren't cut out for jobs they have been asked to do, we find people have married, that other people are no longer the friends they once were, enemies become friends over time and that some have grown up to be very cute!
We are also introduced to the 'Anti-Spiral' an enemy who is determined to see humanity exterminated.
Of course our hero's aren't going to put up with that and set out to defeat them.
As per usual, there are more fights, with Gurren Lagann right in the middle of things.
Gurren Lagann manages to get bigger and more powerful with almost every fight and by the end of the proceedings we have robots inside robots inside robots..... which leads to..... VERY large robots!
Eventually it all ends and it's very bitter sweet.
After the first set of credits roll, there is a '20 years after' piece showing how everyone ends up, which ties up a lot loose ends, but left me wishing it could have been different.
All in all, this anime rates very highly with me, I'll probably rate it as an 8, quite possibly a NINE and those are few and far between on my MAL.
Yes, I have left out a LOT of stuff that I might have written about, but what to write without spoiling the storyline?
As it is, I wrote a lot more than I thought I would.
If you haven't seen TTGL, go watch it. NOW. Even if you hate Mecha.
I plan on watching MM! next.
