Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new anime review! As I said in my Kill La Kill review this something new I plan on doing, and I have a bunch more planned in the next week or so. I also said that I would be reviewing a couple of Trigger shows, just to get ready for the Kill La Kill video-game coming out soon, and here is the next one. OK, I know what some of you may be thinking, and yes I know this show came out way before Kill La Kill, but I didn’t finish watching this show until recently, which is why I am reviewing this one just now (also I just found out, Trigger didn’t officially produce this show, but since many of the people who worked on this became a part of Trigger, I’m still considering like a Trigger show). But anyway after watching Kill La Kill I had heard many people mention this show, and how great it was so I decided why not check it out and see if its worth the hype? So did it? Heck yes it did! Oh and there will be some major spoilers here when it comes to the first 15 episodes, and some minor ones relating to the rest because if you’ve seen the show you know that in order to talk about the series as a whole talking about certain events is pretty much unavoidable.
Taking place in the future, the people of Earth are forced to live underground villages, not allowed to go up to the surface. In order to expand their homes, people called diggers go deeper underground to do this job, and in one particular village, there is one young digger named, Simon. He’s a very meek, and very unpopular kid in the village, nonetheless he was one of the best diggers in the village, and he does find some solace with an older brother type figure named, Kamina, who is a bit of a rebellious trouble maker. He yearns to one day get out of this filthy hole, and head up to the surface like his father did, and hopefully reunite with him. He also tries to convince Simon of joining his own little group, Team Gurren, in order to make that possible. One day though, Simon finds a small drill shaped key while digging, and soon after a mecha that looks like a face called a Gunmen. Not too long after making this discovery, an even bigger Gunmen crashes from above into the village fighting a young woman named Yoko. Simon then use the aforementioned small drill to activate the the little Gunmen, and after a little getting used too, is able to help defeat the big Gunmen, and head up to the surface with Kamina, and Yoko who is revealed to be part of a resistance fighting back against the Gunmen controlled by creatures named Beastmen on the surface. They get their orders from Lordgenome, the Spiral King, who is responsible for forcing the human race underground. Simon then combines his own mecha with one of the Beastmen’s to form an even bigger mecha they then call Gurren Lagann. So they then head on a quest to go and stop Lordgenome at his palace, along with tech expert, Leeron, some other kids from another village, Rossiu, Darry, and Gimmy, and more people they inspire with their actions. Together they form a group know as Team Dai-Gurren, and they are ready to help save the Earth, and fight Lordgenome, and his four Generals! So that was basically a pretty basic summary about episodes 1-7, and the show is 27 episodes long. You’re probably wondering wait what happens in the other episodes? Well now is when we will get into huge spoiler territory, so if you haven’t seen the show, read this review another time, but if you already have seen it or don’t care about spoilers well read on then!
So for the first couple of episodes I was really enjoying the show. I thought the world building was very cool, the characters were likable, and fun, the humor was consistently funny, the tone was a little more grounded than Kill La Kill, and the story was alright even if pacing wise, it was a little inconsistent. Nonetheless I was finding it to be a very good show that I would put on par with Kill La Kill… that is until episode 7 happened. Let’s just say just when you think the story is going to go a certain way, something happens that really turns things upside down for these characters. I am course talking about Kamina’s death which was quite a shock considering how big of a character he was, but also he was the best one so seeing him die like that was also very sad. Weirdly enough though, it got me more invested in the show because I wanted to see how these characters would deal with the fallout, and this is when the story got more interesting, the characters became more developed, and the pacing improved greatly. Also similar to Kill La Kill, this show goes in a direction that I was not expecting. I mean that in that I thought the show was just gonna be about heading to the Spiral King’s fortress to take him down, but that’s really only the first 15 episodes of the series. After Lordgenome is defeated by Team Dai Gurren a time jump of 7 years occurs in the next episode with mankind coming back to the surface, building a brand new civilization. But once the one millionth human is born, an alien race called the Anti-Spirals emerge to prevent this life from evolving by eradicating them, and once again it is up to Team Dai Gurren to stop them. Of course there are other important events that happen here like Simon does something bad that kind of gets him in trouble, which help the add more conflict, and even some more stakes to the proceedings. It is here when the show truly got amazing, and I starting getting more invested in the plot, and the characters, and it all leads to one heck of finale which was awesome, surprising, and extremely satisfying in a bittersweet kind of way. I also really liked the worldbuilding on display as this Earth is presented in a way that’s different from other dystopian Sci-Fi fantasies before, and after it and I really liked the whole concepts of Spiral power, and the Anti Spirals as they were quite fascinating and actually brought up some interesting ideas. There is also some messages that are very prominent throughout that I actually thought were very effective, like believing in yourself and evolve and improve as a person, and how the power of human spirit can overcome any obstacle not matter how tough the odds may be so you could create a fate of your own. So yeah story wise, I’d say this is one of those shows that just kept getting better, and better with each passing episode.
Now animation, and giant mechs have been proven many times to go hand in hand with one another and this show right here is no exception. Just like many of the shows this team would go on to produce this simply cannot be done in live-action, only the power of animation can truly capture this. In my opinion I think this show is a little better visually than Kill La Kill. I thought the movements were a lot more consistently smoother here, and the backgrounds were more interesting as they do a good job really showcasing the barren desert Earth has become, the huge size of the Spiral King’s Teppelin, the vastness of the home of the Anti Spiral, and more. As for the character designs, I like how each one of them is different from the other not only making it easy to distinguish them form each other, but it also captures the personality of each of them really well, and they are pretty creative, and unique as well. Speaking of creative, and unique lets talk about the big highlights of the series, which are the giant Mecha battles between Gurren Lagann, and the bad guys. Now this is where that fast paced energy, and style are in full effect because one the action starts it is relentless, brutal and a joy to watch. There is a lot of creativity put into these sequences as they show off how powerful Spiral Power can be, and I love how ridiculously awesome the transformation scenes are as they keep getting bigger with each fight. Makes sense considering how using spiral power helps these guys to evolve, and awaken their true power, and just like the character designs the different Mechs here are all different, and unique in their design to make each one stand out from the crowd. Oh, and if you are a fan of giant explosions, than this is your show right here, as there are a number of epic eruptions that will make you stare in awe (I would like to see Michael Bay try topping this). Seriously the fights here make stuff like Pacific Rim look boring in comparison (don’t get me wrong, I still love the action in that movie anyway). The soundtrack I quite dug as well with many memorable tunes like the inspirational opening song, “Sorairo Days”, the rock heavy ending themes, “Underground”, and “Minna No Peace”, as well as the “Row Row Fight the Power” song that is played throughout the last couple of episodes which was a bit jarring at first but I started taking a liking to its mix of hip hop, and operatics.
Now lets go into more detail on the characters themselves, and just like the story they got better as the show went on. This is especially true of our protagonist Simon, who I thought was an okay main character at first if not anything spectacular. That’s mainly because of how much he gets overshadowed by Kamina, and his larger than life personality. But once tragedy strikes he became a much more interesting character as he learns to not try to live in the shadow of Kamina, and make his own identity which I really liked (he also has an adorable molerat named Boota as a bonus). As for Kamina himself he does leave a huge impact on the series even if he is only around for a couple of episodes, and while he might not be the sharpest knife in the kitchen, and he is very stubborn he more than makes up for that with his fun, energetic personality, and his flawed, but noble willingness to do what is right, and take on any challenge no matter how impossible it may seem (got a lot of Kaito Momota from Danganronpa V3 vibes from him, and that’s a good thing). His relationship with Simon serves as a the heart of the series, and it is a very nice mentor-mentee relationship, and his impact on the story, and characters is felt all the way to the end. He also has a romance with Yoko who is a good strong female character who thinks things rationally, and only uses violence when necessary, while also being very aggressive, and competitive towards others sometimes. There’s also Nia, the abandoned daughter of the Spiral King who becomes a love interest to Simon, and while she is very naive, she is also very kind, and adorable, and she always tries to reason with people before anything else. They grow a very sweet relationship with one another, making it even more sad when she turns out to be an artificial being made by the Anti-Spiral, and she becomes a messenger for them in the second part of the series. Kamina’s replacement for helping pilot Gurren Lagann with Simon, Rossiu, also gets a lot of development as he starts to question everything he’s known in his village, and decides to go on this journey with these strangers he meets. It kind of seems he is going to be the bad guy in the second part, but all he wants to do is protect the people of Earth in the best way possible, and he does feel bad when something bad does happen to them or his friends, and I found him to be one of the more compelling characters here. Other side characters also leave a big impact like the genderless tech expert Leeron who has the funniest moments (and also doesn’t age at all over the course of the series), the twins Gimmy, and Darry who are both adorable as kids, and become the next generation of pilots, Dyakka, the chief of Littner village, and a good friend of yoko’s, 4 orphaned teens named Kittan, Kiyoh, Kinon, and Kiyal who hunt Beastmen known as the Black Siblings with the former getting the most development, and the other members of Team Dai Gurren who may not get a whole lot of screentime, but manage to be worthy additions to the cast either way. Then we have the villains like Lordgenome who is actually a lot more complex of a character then he seems. He may act like a villain, and he does doe horrible things but the reason why he is doing this is actually one of necessity to keep the human race alive more then anything else, and he does get something of a redemption arc when he is somewhat brought back to life but only as a head without his evil personality. One of the loyal Beatmen, known as Viral is also just as complex as he yearns to learn more about humans, and why think they way they do, and he too gets a satisfying redemption arc. The 4 Generals are pretty much just one note big bads for Team Gurren to fight off with some getting hints of an interesting past (such as the tortoise, Guame) while the Anti Spiral is again an interesting entity as its real motivation is a little more than just eradicate all humans for the hell of it. For a cast of characters this huge, and to utilize almost all of them very well is no easy feat, and this series succeeded in spades.
In the end, Gurren Lagann is a phenomenal action series that absolutely deserves the high praise it has gotten. It is quite impressive how great the show kept getting as it went along which is not that common to see in most series. Just like the work some of the people who worked on this would later make, this show is brimming with style, but packs a big punch of substance to go along with it. Consistent pacing, epic action, compelling characters, investing story, great messages, gorgeous visual, it just has it all. This is probably among the best anime’s I’ve seen, and up there as one of the best animated series I’ve seen in general. If your a fan of anime, and Mecha battles of course you should check this out, but heck even if your not there is still a lot of things for you to enjoy, and appreciate here as it is a show that pierces through the Heavens like a drill. So with all of that said if there are any anime’s you would like to recommend to me to watch, and review just say it in the comments, and be on the lookout for my review of Trigger’s Little Witch Academia which we will be coming very soon.
Rating: A
Leave your thoughts down below in the comments, and see you guys later!
Review Time 