I almost gave up on this after the first five seconds of the intro. Thank goodness I sat through the rest of the show, as Gurren-Lagann is practically guaranteed a spot in my top five this month.
Simon is a miserable orphan who drills tunnels for a living. He’s from an underground society that has never been exposed to the mythical “surface world” before. Kamina is a rebellious young man who has seen the surface when he was a toddler (though no one believes him) and desires to escape from this monotonous subterranean existence. One day a mighty earthquake shatters the ceiling and a massive demonic-looking machine lands inside the city and wreaks havoc. A “niceu-body” girl wielding an impossibly large sniper rifle arrives and distracts the machine, and teams up with Kamina and Simon, who are the only villagers willing to fight back against the invader. Simon leads them to a mysterious mechanical head he had unearthed earlier, and activates it with his drill pendant (which he also found in the course of drilling tunnels). The head sprouts tiny arms and legs (making it look absolutely absurd and hilarious), and the trio squeeze inside the brain cavity to do battle with the demon-machine. Eventually their fight takes them through the crust of the planet and into the sky, where they get their first look at the surface of the planet.
Now, that must surely sound like the plot of every other giant robot show, but Gurren Lagann manages to present a fresh take, full of details and characterization that create a wholly unique feel. Instead of brooding emo bishounen heroes we get an oddball assortment of primitive folk, and the mechs…well, at this point, we can’t really call this a giant robot show. The Lagann (Simon’s goofy head-mech) is simultaneously silly and nifty, as its chuckle-inducing form can bust out an array of moves that would put Inspect Gadget to shame. Gainax’s art & animation are amazing – the show is chock full of wild camera angles, exaggerated proportions and a larger-than life feel reminiscent of recent works like FLCL and Gunbuster II. I seriously need more Gurren-Lagann. NOW.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
o_O Why’d you almost give up after only five seconds?
Your Drill Shall Pierce The Heavens!
And that could be taken the wrong way!
Mostly because I didn’t like how goofy the mechs looked; I’m not a huge fan of sentai-style super robots. Thankfully though, the show actually plays this to its advantage, as it creates a lot of humorous scenarios.
That is one hella fugly mech…
But it’s adorable! Yes, I am using adorable to describe it. The facial expressions it makes is very charming.
GATTAI!
I was taken by suprise by this episode. I wasn’t expecting much to begin with, but man it blew me away. That introduction got me excited, and so far the follow-up episodes just keep getting better.
“Don’t believe in yourself, Believe in me-who believes in you,”
lmao that was so funny.
“Who the hell do you think we are!?!”
“All the lights in the sky are stars”
i almost stopped watching after the first 3 seconds too; because the opening made it look like some weird robot thing. But then i watched the whole series, and it was amazing!
totally on my top 5