Friday, September 2, 2016

FIF#19-Gurren Lagann


Simon has lived underground his whole life, drilling to expand his village and wondering where he belongs in the world.  His only friend is his “bro” Kamina, who dreams of traveling to the surface and seeing the sky.  Their world gets shaken up when a giant robot and a beautiful woman crash through the ceiling of their home.  Using a drill key and a small mecha of their own, Simon, Kamina and the beautiful sniper, Yoko, set out to explore the world above, discovering more giant robot Gunman, a slew of allies and tons of bad guys ready to kick their ass.  If Simon can find the inner strength, he can become the man Kamina hopes he will one day become.  And they’ll do it together with their powerful combined Gunman, the Gurren Lagann

Ok so…this is my…third (?) time trying to get a feel for this series.  I don’t get it.  Ever since this tittle was announced way back when, people have been touting as the best thing to happen to Anime in a really long time.  And it’s even got all of the things that would grab me in a series: Sword swinging protagonist, a bit of humor and a scantily clad hot chick with a really big gun.  On top of that, the animation and storytelling style seem like a marriage of Kill La Kill and Martian Successor Nadesico.  So why…WHY CAN I NOT GET INTO GURREN LAGANN??

It’s def a question that’s plagued me for a bit as you can tell.  Going back and watching the first couple of episodes though, it nags me more than ever cause…I do kind of like it.  Or rather I like it when Simon has his act together and gets into the battle.  I like it when Kamina can take it down a notch and actually show how bad ass he is.  And I like Yoko…basically at all times, man is she hot.  I guess what im getting at are there are times I genuinely felt involved this time.  I think it’s taking a bit of time to build up to the more standard sized giant robot Gunman that I know Gurren Lagann eventually becomes.  But the world building is pretty solid.  The underground home of Simon and Kamina isn’t around for very long but I liked the cave dweller feel.  There’s also an obvious difference between how mean spirited the underground folk are compared to Yoko and her surface dwelling (Resistance?) group.  It’s not a bad intro by any means.

I mention Kill La Kill and Nadesico for good reasons.  The Animation reminds me a bit of Studio Trigger and their big Anime hit with all of the energetic action and rapidly changing art styles to fit said action.  The story seems like a bit of a parody of the giant robot genre of anime, which is what Nadesico was at the end of the day (we’ll get to that series early next year if I plan right).  But, also like Nadesico and even Kill La Kill, Gurren Lagann has it’s share of dramatic moments; like when Simon and Kamina discover the eventual fates of their parents.  These beats are around but never hamper the spirit of fun introduced in the first couple of episodes. 

Now, the question is, with all this in mind, do I give Gurren Lagann another shot and try to get further than the first three or four episodes?  Im gonna go with a very strong, possibly.  It felt different watching the first two episodes this time, maybe somethings changed in me?  I don’t know but a ton of people really like this show and feel I owe it to myself to check it out.  So…yeah, I’ll try to fit this one into my Anime watching schedule.  Here’s hoping Simon doesn’t do the “get brave and strong at the end of an episode before returning to wimpy and scared the start of the next episode” too often.  That’ll drive me nuts and…not even the sexy Yoko could balance those kind of male lead issues. 

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