Review: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Edit: Oh, the TTGL movie came out a few days ago. I should go watch it. >_>
--
THIS JUST IN: IVY IS GETTING A GUITAR and teaching herself to play.
Maybe I can learn too...? There are two already skilled guitarists on my floor, but I don't know either of them too well. Or at all.
ANYWAY
Alright class, today we'll be reviewing "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann"-- I've seen it translated as Break through the Heavens, Pierce the Heavens, Heaven-shattering... you get the idea.
Gurren Lagann Spoilers Below, also tl;dr Alert.
Story: 5/10 Season 1, 9/10 Season 2
There is a sharp divide between seasons one and two, hence the divided score.
Season one begins with the interesting premise of having humans (most of them, anyway) living underground, in fear or ignorance of the surface world, which is ruled by creatures called Beastmen (creatures of varying degrees of animal-human combination. Might just look like a human with exaggerated fangs and claws, or could be a walking, talking fish) and their mechs, called "Ganmen".
*Note: "Ganmen" is treated in the show as a foreign word and left untranslated in subs/dubs, but it can mean "face". The Ganmen are all mechs which prominently feature large, stylized faces on their chest/stomach area instead of on their shoulders (though some might have an extra head on their shoulders-- but that's beside the point). Also, Gurren Lagann is a play on "Crimson Face", which accurately describes the mech of that name.*
Simon, the protagonist, and his idol/friend/stand-in brother Kamina dream of reaching the surface, and do so in episode 1 when Simon unearths a strange miniature Ganmen, which Kamina names Lagann, and a surface girl names Yoko falls into their village. From there the story become rather generic: Simon and co. travel across the surface, picking up party members (excuse vg terminology) for their "Gurren Brigade" and fighting beastmen. Kamina steals and converts a Ganmen and names it Gurren (hence Gurren Brigade), and it is discovered that Lagann has the power to combine with and/or control other Ganmen-- this makes it a valuable tool in battle, and leads to the titular combination mech "Gurren Lagann". After gathering enough people, the group decides to take down the 4 generals (whose names reference the 4 chemicals in DNA combined with western elemental animals, and whose mechs reference the 4 eastern heavenly animals) of the Beastmen, storm their capital, and defeat their creator, the Helix King Genome (if you didn't notice, DNA is a recurring theme). This is all done in a rather stereotypical fashion-- except for Kamina's DEATH in the middle of the season. Normally you don't kill off people you've been led to believe are main characters, Gainax! D:< But hey, you just like killing fun characters, don't you (cough*kaworu*cough)?
He is replaced by the very stereotypical box-girl, Nia-- more on her later, who lifts Simon out of his depression and later becomes a love interest for him.
tl;dr: Simon beats the Helix King and liberates the humans from their caves, but is left with a cryptic warning that "when a million monkeys swarm over the earth, the moon shall become a messenger of doom".
Season 2:
VTECH JUST KICKED IN, YO.
7 years have passed and Simon, ruler of the new human-beastman alliance surface civilization, finds the new peace shattered by an invasion of alien machines intent on wiping out humanity. This is triggered by the human population reaching 1 million-- Lord Genome's warning has come true, and the Moon is revealed to be an artificial satellite which will now come crashing to Earth (Majora's Mask?!) to destroy all "spiral life forms"-- i.e. beings which have DNA and can evolve. The whole invasion/moon system has been set up by beings called "Anti-Spirals", which apparently already conquered Earth and the rest of the universe in a previous war with all Spiral Beings. They claim-- throught their messenger, the sleeper agent Nia-- that Spirals will eventually destroy the universe, and must be destroyed if they become too numerous or aware of their "spiral power". Looking for a way to placate the panicked people, who blame Simon, Simon's friend Rossiu stages a coup d'état, giving himself the power to implement desperate refuge/escape measures. When it is realized that these methods would be futile though, Rossiu turns to Simon for aid and the Dai Gurren-dan is reformed, now with help from grown-up members who had previously been children and even Viral, a beastman who used to be their enemy. To defeat the Anti-Spirals and rescue Nia, Simon's group now literally does break through the heavens-- they go through time and space to an eventual climactic battle with The Anti-Spiral. Whole galaxies are tossed about as weapons, I kid you not. Though many die and the Anti-Spiral tries to force them into "Absolute Despair", the Spirals eventually win. Peace returns to the Earth. Simon and Nia get married, and Nia disappears: as an Anti-Spiral, she could not retain her existence for long after the defeat of The Anti-Spiral.
Years later, a universal alliance of Spiral Beings is formed. Rossiu leads the people on Earth, Viral represents them in Space, Yoko teaches the children of the new generation, and Simon quietly wanders the land.
The second season is waaaay more original than the first (not necessarily better, though... I kinda prefer the first season because there's less backstabbery and angst).
Art: 8/10
Intense, colorful, silly. Dramatic eye-catches between ad-breaks are awesome. Usually very smooth, but with glaring patches of stiffness and mouth motions which do not match the words (in Japanese, so it's not a translation issue).
Music: 9/10
ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH
Generally fun and active, like the show. Several tracks feature the same rap, but with different background instrumentation to change the mood. Ending song is meh, but I really like the opening. Interesting note: Op for seasons one and two is the same tune and almost the same words, but slightly altered to change the meaning. I love it when songs do this-- think of verse 1 compared with verse 2 of "Suteki Da Ne", if you are familiar with it.
Characters: 7/10
I didn't find Simon to be a really great protag, and he didn't really become awesome until season 2. Kamina was hilarious and a good character in general, but he dies. Yoko can be tsundere (but oddly enough, I liked her), and many other side characters just are too undeveloped or stereotypical. Rossiu was thoughtful, kind, and tried his best to be brave despite his fears in season 1-- a good character. In season 2 though, you hate him. Yes, he gets redeemed, yes, Simon even talks about how what he did was right in its own way, but seriously. Way to screw up a good character AGAIN, Gainax. Viral was an interesting one, though. His character change to "good guy" was a bit forced at first, but it ends up being developed well (or as well as any character gets developed in this).
Nia-- ugh. BORING and stereotypical mysterious girl-in-a-box (like Melfina from Outlaw Star or C.C. from Code Geass). Predictably, she has a dark past, is not-exactly human, and is at some point a tool for the enemy. Also, oh-so naive and kind and magically insightful. Bleh...
Overall: 8/10
Funny, very funny. It's the character problems (both how they are and what happens to them) which really bug me, otherwise a very good show. 27 eps; Season 1 = 15 episodes (one is just a recap), Season 2 = 12 episodes. A standard "short" anime length (like Princess Tutu or Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni).
--
THIS JUST IN: IVY IS GETTING A GUITAR and teaching herself to play.
Maybe I can learn too...? There are two already skilled guitarists on my floor, but I don't know either of them too well. Or at all.
ANYWAY
Alright class, today we'll be reviewing "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann"-- I've seen it translated as Break through the Heavens, Pierce the Heavens, Heaven-shattering... you get the idea.
Gurren Lagann Spoilers Below, also tl;dr Alert.
Story: 5/10 Season 1, 9/10 Season 2
There is a sharp divide between seasons one and two, hence the divided score.
Season one begins with the interesting premise of having humans (most of them, anyway) living underground, in fear or ignorance of the surface world, which is ruled by creatures called Beastmen (creatures of varying degrees of animal-human combination. Might just look like a human with exaggerated fangs and claws, or could be a walking, talking fish) and their mechs, called "Ganmen".
*Note: "Ganmen" is treated in the show as a foreign word and left untranslated in subs/dubs, but it can mean "face". The Ganmen are all mechs which prominently feature large, stylized faces on their chest/stomach area instead of on their shoulders (though some might have an extra head on their shoulders-- but that's beside the point). Also, Gurren Lagann is a play on "Crimson Face", which accurately describes the mech of that name.*
Simon, the protagonist, and his idol/friend/stand-in brother Kamina dream of reaching the surface, and do so in episode 1 when Simon unearths a strange miniature Ganmen, which Kamina names Lagann, and a surface girl names Yoko falls into their village. From there the story become rather generic: Simon and co. travel across the surface, picking up party members (excuse vg terminology) for their "Gurren Brigade" and fighting beastmen. Kamina steals and converts a Ganmen and names it Gurren (hence Gurren Brigade), and it is discovered that Lagann has the power to combine with and/or control other Ganmen-- this makes it a valuable tool in battle, and leads to the titular combination mech "Gurren Lagann". After gathering enough people, the group decides to take down the 4 generals (whose names reference the 4 chemicals in DNA combined with western elemental animals, and whose mechs reference the 4 eastern heavenly animals) of the Beastmen, storm their capital, and defeat their creator, the Helix King Genome (if you didn't notice, DNA is a recurring theme). This is all done in a rather stereotypical fashion-- except for Kamina's DEATH in the middle of the season. Normally you don't kill off people you've been led to believe are main characters, Gainax! D:< But hey, you just like killing fun characters, don't you (cough*kaworu*cough)?
He is replaced by the very stereotypical box-girl, Nia-- more on her later, who lifts Simon out of his depression and later becomes a love interest for him.
tl;dr: Simon beats the Helix King and liberates the humans from their caves, but is left with a cryptic warning that "when a million monkeys swarm over the earth, the moon shall become a messenger of doom".
Season 2:
VTECH JUST KICKED IN, YO.
7 years have passed and Simon, ruler of the new human-beastman alliance surface civilization, finds the new peace shattered by an invasion of alien machines intent on wiping out humanity. This is triggered by the human population reaching 1 million-- Lord Genome's warning has come true, and the Moon is revealed to be an artificial satellite which will now come crashing to Earth (Majora's Mask?!) to destroy all "spiral life forms"-- i.e. beings which have DNA and can evolve. The whole invasion/moon system has been set up by beings called "Anti-Spirals", which apparently already conquered Earth and the rest of the universe in a previous war with all Spiral Beings. They claim-- throught their messenger, the sleeper agent Nia-- that Spirals will eventually destroy the universe, and must be destroyed if they become too numerous or aware of their "spiral power". Looking for a way to placate the panicked people, who blame Simon, Simon's friend Rossiu stages a coup d'état, giving himself the power to implement desperate refuge/escape measures. When it is realized that these methods would be futile though, Rossiu turns to Simon for aid and the Dai Gurren-dan is reformed, now with help from grown-up members who had previously been children and even Viral, a beastman who used to be their enemy. To defeat the Anti-Spirals and rescue Nia, Simon's group now literally does break through the heavens-- they go through time and space to an eventual climactic battle with The Anti-Spiral. Whole galaxies are tossed about as weapons, I kid you not. Though many die and the Anti-Spiral tries to force them into "Absolute Despair", the Spirals eventually win. Peace returns to the Earth. Simon and Nia get married, and Nia disappears: as an Anti-Spiral, she could not retain her existence for long after the defeat of The Anti-Spiral.
Years later, a universal alliance of Spiral Beings is formed. Rossiu leads the people on Earth, Viral represents them in Space, Yoko teaches the children of the new generation, and Simon quietly wanders the land.
The second season is waaaay more original than the first (not necessarily better, though... I kinda prefer the first season because there's less backstabbery and angst).
Art: 8/10
Intense, colorful, silly. Dramatic eye-catches between ad-breaks are awesome. Usually very smooth, but with glaring patches of stiffness and mouth motions which do not match the words (in Japanese, so it's not a translation issue).
Music: 9/10
ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH
Generally fun and active, like the show. Several tracks feature the same rap, but with different background instrumentation to change the mood. Ending song is meh, but I really like the opening. Interesting note: Op for seasons one and two is the same tune and almost the same words, but slightly altered to change the meaning. I love it when songs do this-- think of verse 1 compared with verse 2 of "Suteki Da Ne", if you are familiar with it.
Characters: 7/10
I didn't find Simon to be a really great protag, and he didn't really become awesome until season 2. Kamina was hilarious and a good character in general, but he dies. Yoko can be tsundere (but oddly enough, I liked her), and many other side characters just are too undeveloped or stereotypical. Rossiu was thoughtful, kind, and tried his best to be brave despite his fears in season 1-- a good character. In season 2 though, you hate him. Yes, he gets redeemed, yes, Simon even talks about how what he did was right in its own way, but seriously. Way to screw up a good character AGAIN, Gainax. Viral was an interesting one, though. His character change to "good guy" was a bit forced at first, but it ends up being developed well (or as well as any character gets developed in this).
Nia-- ugh. BORING and stereotypical mysterious girl-in-a-box (like Melfina from Outlaw Star or C.C. from Code Geass). Predictably, she has a dark past, is not-exactly human, and is at some point a tool for the enemy. Also, oh-so naive and kind and magically insightful. Bleh...
Overall: 8/10
Funny, very funny. It's the character problems (both how they are and what happens to them) which really bug me, otherwise a very good show. 27 eps; Season 1 = 15 episodes (one is just a recap), Season 2 = 12 episodes. A standard "short" anime length (like Princess Tutu or Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni).