More Gurren-Lagann crap!

[revanad]

I just read an amazing article on meaning and symbolism in Gurren-Lagann and I have to say... I'm impressed. I definitely had a feeling it was great on some level beyond just "OH MY GOD THIS IS AWESOME" but I'm not much of one for doing that type of analysis on fictional works. The article reveals a lot of things that, having read it, I can definitely see for myself in the show. For one thing, how the theme of spirals (DRILLS!) is woven into the story on numerous levels... even the plot itself has something of a spiral shape, going very clearly from smaller to larger, while the message of the show starts big and vague but becomes very focused by the end. It discusses the message of hope for humanity and how the show directly opposes that message to the pessimistic views of many modern science fiction works. It discusses the Hero's Journey of the main character, and how the show breaks away from the common adherence to that form and does its own thing. Other neat things include how the show incorporates every generation of mecha anime that precede it, starting with the 70's giant robot and progressing to 90's Eva-style mechs and enemies and beyond while not replacing the old style each time.

I've summarized some of the cool things the article reveals about the show without spoiling too much, so if you have any interest and intention of watching the show at any point I'd suggest not reading the article until you've watched it... but the article's here: Meaningful Symbols, Optimistic Messages, and the Hero’s Journey: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Analysis

Also, yes! I found a version of "Libera me" from hell without most of the rap! (Not that the version with the rap is that bad actually, I just wanted one with mostly the instrumental/operatic parts)