SUNDAY FUNDAY KICKS ALL REASON TO THE CURB AND GOES BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE!!
So I finally finished watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
It is... quite possibly one of the BEST anime I have ever seen. Seriously. And I don't even LIKE the giant robot genre, but I guess that's half the point; there's a reason why Gurren Lagann is being called the Great Reconstruction of the Giant Robot Genre.
So my (spoiler-free) thoughts on the show: The animation, of course, is marvelous. Every perfectly bouncing boob and panty-shot is perfectly animated, thank you Gainax. The fight scenes, too, are gorgeous... I tend to blank out during fight scenes, but these ones were definitely choreographed well enough so that I wasn't bored. Then there's the music, too... I normally really hate the gratuitous Engrish that gets tossed into anime themes, but somehow I don't think that 'ROCK! ROCK! FIGHT THE POWAR!!' would have the same effect (on me, anyway) if it were in Japanese.
And now... for the story...
It is beautiful. It is brilliant. It is EPIC. The story takes about 8 or 9 episodes until it really gets rolling, which is a pretty long wait I know, but trust me, THE WAIT IS WORTH IT. In addition, I wouldn't say to skip over the opening episodes either... they might be a tad repetitive, but they're the ones that flesh out the characters so that later on we actually care about them. The emotional buildup is also a necessary part of the story... Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a show that will make you think it's going one way, but then changes all of a sudden... aggghk I don't want to give anything away. But. Yeah.
And then of course there is the relationship between main character Simon and his blood-brother Kamina. See, I normally wear my shipping goggles pretty tight, and am given to seeing slash pairings just about anywhere, but... I dunno, these guys are like, PURE, or something. And their relationship is a huge driving force of the story. A lot of the later half of the show gets pretty philosophical, as in the difference between right and wrong/making sacrifices to do the right thing/how do you know what you're fighting for is right? While the show leaves some of these questions open-ended, it definitely drives home that fighting to defend the ones you love (be it romantic love or familial love or brotherly love or whatever) has to be the right choice.
In addition, Simon's growth over the course of the story (due in part to Kamina's effect on him) is one of the best and most moving parts of the story.
Seriously. this:
becomes this:
So... that's Kamina and Simon. Let's talk about the ladies.
For one, I LOVE Yoko.
She is definitely a true Action Girl, without being too much of a tsundere. And even though she has become something of a sex symbol (due to her wardrobe choices), she's not... slutty. Compare her to, say, Silk Specter, another Action Chick but who spends a LOT of her time complaining about relationship woes... even though Yoko has reason to complain, she doesn't. In a she-wants-to-say-something-but-won't rather than a the-writers-don't-know-how-to-write-subtlety-in-emotions-and-therefore-are-going-to-ignore-it kind of way. ALSO. There is a time jump somewhere around... episode 15 or so, I think, in which there is a break in the fighting... several of the characters become sort of... lost, in that they don't really know what to do with themselves when they're not kicking ass. Not Yoko. She makes her own life, and does what she (apparently) always wanted to do instead of fighting: she becomes a teacher. So yeah, much love for Yoko.
THEN, on the other end of the spectrum, we have Nia.
OH, Nia Nia Nia. I... want to like this character, but I really just can't. In every way that Yoko is a strong female character, Nia is NOT. Her whole existence seems to be so that Simon can rescue her... over... and over... and over... seriously, lady! There's a war on! I can understand that when the character is first introduced, she is weak and naive, but that just means that there's room for character growth..! And yet, not once does she ever even TRY to fight. She just sits around giving speeches about how she believes in Simon and how he's going to rescue her. Ugh.
Lastly, in terms of ladies, we have (what I consider to be) the disappointment that is the Bachika sisters.
(Kinon, Kiyoh, and Kiyal; in that order. Not pictured: their brother Kittan)
When they are first introduced they are all tough warrior chicks, because (as Nia has failed to notice), there's a war going on and you need to be able to defend yourself. But that's all before the time skip. Afterwards, when the fighting resumes and all of our old allies are called to arms again, where are the Bachika sisters? (The Bachika brother, Kittan, is right at the forefront of everything... but I am ignoring him for right now since this is about the ladies) Okay, so during the time skip Kiyoh has become a mother... I can understand her not wanting to fight so that she can take care of her daughter. And Kinon, who never liked fighting, is helping the war effort in her own way, on the science front. But Kiyal? Sits around and DOES NOTHING EXCEPT LOOK WORRIED. Considering that the Bachika siblings were some of Simon and Kamina's first allies way back in the beginning of the show, it feels a little strange that only half of them are present for the big climactic fight scene in the end. And that of them, only one (Kittan, the brother) is actually fighting.
...anyway. I think that that's all I have to say about that. This show is DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING. Like, seriously. Right now. Go watch it.
DON'T BELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN ME, OR ME WHO BELIEVES IN YOU! BELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN YOURSELF!!
(...trust me, those words are sooo meaningful in-context)
It is... quite possibly one of the BEST anime I have ever seen. Seriously. And I don't even LIKE the giant robot genre, but I guess that's half the point; there's a reason why Gurren Lagann is being called the Great Reconstruction of the Giant Robot Genre.
So my (spoiler-free) thoughts on the show: The animation, of course, is marvelous. Every perfectly bouncing boob and panty-shot is perfectly animated, thank you Gainax. The fight scenes, too, are gorgeous... I tend to blank out during fight scenes, but these ones were definitely choreographed well enough so that I wasn't bored. Then there's the music, too... I normally really hate the gratuitous Engrish that gets tossed into anime themes, but somehow I don't think that 'ROCK! ROCK! FIGHT THE POWAR!!' would have the same effect (on me, anyway) if it were in Japanese.
And now... for the story...
It is beautiful. It is brilliant. It is EPIC. The story takes about 8 or 9 episodes until it really gets rolling, which is a pretty long wait I know, but trust me, THE WAIT IS WORTH IT. In addition, I wouldn't say to skip over the opening episodes either... they might be a tad repetitive, but they're the ones that flesh out the characters so that later on we actually care about them. The emotional buildup is also a necessary part of the story... Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a show that will make you think it's going one way, but then changes all of a sudden... aggghk I don't want to give anything away. But. Yeah.
And then of course there is the relationship between main character Simon and his blood-brother Kamina. See, I normally wear my shipping goggles pretty tight, and am given to seeing slash pairings just about anywhere, but... I dunno, these guys are like, PURE, or something. And their relationship is a huge driving force of the story. A lot of the later half of the show gets pretty philosophical, as in the difference between right and wrong/making sacrifices to do the right thing/how do you know what you're fighting for is right? While the show leaves some of these questions open-ended, it definitely drives home that fighting to defend the ones you love (be it romantic love or familial love or brotherly love or whatever) has to be the right choice.
In addition, Simon's growth over the course of the story (due in part to Kamina's effect on him) is one of the best and most moving parts of the story.
Seriously. this:
becomes this:
So... that's Kamina and Simon. Let's talk about the ladies.
For one, I LOVE Yoko.
She is definitely a true Action Girl, without being too much of a tsundere. And even though she has become something of a sex symbol (due to her wardrobe choices), she's not... slutty. Compare her to, say, Silk Specter, another Action Chick but who spends a LOT of her time complaining about relationship woes... even though Yoko has reason to complain, she doesn't. In a she-wants-to-say-something-but-won't rather than a the-writers-don't-know-how-to-write-subtlety-in-emotions-and-therefore-are-going-to-ignore-it kind of way. ALSO. There is a time jump somewhere around... episode 15 or so, I think, in which there is a break in the fighting... several of the characters become sort of... lost, in that they don't really know what to do with themselves when they're not kicking ass. Not Yoko. She makes her own life, and does what she (apparently) always wanted to do instead of fighting: she becomes a teacher. So yeah, much love for Yoko.
THEN, on the other end of the spectrum, we have Nia.
OH, Nia Nia Nia. I... want to like this character, but I really just can't. In every way that Yoko is a strong female character, Nia is NOT. Her whole existence seems to be so that Simon can rescue her... over... and over... and over... seriously, lady! There's a war on! I can understand that when the character is first introduced, she is weak and naive, but that just means that there's room for character growth..! And yet, not once does she ever even TRY to fight. She just sits around giving speeches about how she believes in Simon and how he's going to rescue her. Ugh.
Lastly, in terms of ladies, we have (what I consider to be) the disappointment that is the Bachika sisters.
(Kinon, Kiyoh, and Kiyal; in that order. Not pictured: their brother Kittan)
When they are first introduced they are all tough warrior chicks, because (as Nia has failed to notice), there's a war going on and you need to be able to defend yourself. But that's all before the time skip. Afterwards, when the fighting resumes and all of our old allies are called to arms again, where are the Bachika sisters? (The Bachika brother, Kittan, is right at the forefront of everything... but I am ignoring him for right now since this is about the ladies) Okay, so during the time skip Kiyoh has become a mother... I can understand her not wanting to fight so that she can take care of her daughter. And Kinon, who never liked fighting, is helping the war effort in her own way, on the science front. But Kiyal? Sits around and DOES NOTHING EXCEPT LOOK WORRIED. Considering that the Bachika siblings were some of Simon and Kamina's first allies way back in the beginning of the show, it feels a little strange that only half of them are present for the big climactic fight scene in the end. And that of them, only one (Kittan, the brother) is actually fighting.
...anyway. I think that that's all I have to say about that. This show is DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING. Like, seriously. Right now. Go watch it.
DON'T BELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN ME, OR ME WHO BELIEVES IN YOU! BELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN YOURSELF!!
(...trust me, those words are sooo meaningful in-context)