Post by Skywalker on Jan 10, 2008 15:11:29 GMT -5
Length: 27 episodes
Original Airdates: 4/2007 - 9/2007
Demographic: Shounen
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Mecha, Sci-Fi, (Skywalker's opinion) Romance
Plot Synopsis
Giha Village is the home of Simon, a fourteen year old digger who was orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake. He is respected by the village elder as the best of the diggers, but is ostracized by his peers. After discovering a special drill key deep in the ground, he is recruited by an eccentric fellow orphan named Kamina into his group, the "Gurren Brigade". Kamina dreams of the surface world, which he visited as a child with his father but had to return home because he was too weak to survive.
After a failed attempt at reaching the surface, Kamina is jailed by the elder and Simon resumes digging, only to discover "a big face" deep in his tunnel. As he excitedly fetches Kamina to show him the discovery, he is caught by the village elder, but Kamina's punishment is interrupted by the ceiling of Giha Village collapsing as an enormous robot falls into the cavern. A girl named Yoko appears and tries to fight the robot with a large rifle, but initially cannot do much. Simon takes Kamina and Yoko to the "big face" he found earlier and discovers that the small drill key can be used to activate the small robot, which he uses to end up destroying the much larger robot and effectively break through to the surface.
(From Wikipedia)
Personal Opinion
... wow...
This show completely blew me away.
Gurren Lagann is great in almost every aspect. So I guess I'll start with the design.
It seems like as the show goes on... the scale of everything also increases, the mecha, the number of characters, and the challenges. Indeed the first episode is somewhat of a allegory to the rest of the show. People band together, fight using mecha, and overcome an oppressor. And just as you think that the scale of everything has reached it's limit... they repeat it again with everything even larger... indeed the first shot of TTGL is from the end of the series... and you get a hint of how large everything becomes.
As for the plot... yeah... we've seen it before... some unknown rises up and defeats "the man"... however... what makes it unique is the way that they accomplish this.
The characters are also well made... plenty of unique hot headed people with a soft side that we see on occasion. Simon is a great example of this. Early on, we see him completely idolizing Kamina and striving to become exactly like him. However as the story progresses... we start to see his own personality and traits starting to shine... especially when late comer Nia shows up.
What brings it all together are the shots and the soundtrack. Take for example this shot from the first episode
This is a great example of shots you can expect from Gurren Lagann. The soundtrack also adds to everything... making this show truly epic.
This is 100% a space opera that most people will enjoy
By about the midseason point it was already proving to be better than Eureka Seven... but by the end... it had completly blown it out of the water.
DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!!!!
4/4
Similar to...
- Eureka Seven
Had a large cast of unique characters, both take place in the future on a ravaged planet. Also both have mysterious aliens
- FLCL
Similar in craziness... although FLCL was more random, TTGL had insane moments in it as well
- Gundam SEED
in SEED and TTGL, the main mecha of the series seem to be able to do anything, and have great adaptability.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
Similarites appeared towards to end... so I won't spoil
Original Airdates: 4/2007 - 9/2007
Demographic: Shounen
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Mecha, Sci-Fi, (Skywalker's opinion) Romance
Plot Synopsis
Giha Village is the home of Simon, a fourteen year old digger who was orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake. He is respected by the village elder as the best of the diggers, but is ostracized by his peers. After discovering a special drill key deep in the ground, he is recruited by an eccentric fellow orphan named Kamina into his group, the "Gurren Brigade". Kamina dreams of the surface world, which he visited as a child with his father but had to return home because he was too weak to survive.
After a failed attempt at reaching the surface, Kamina is jailed by the elder and Simon resumes digging, only to discover "a big face" deep in his tunnel. As he excitedly fetches Kamina to show him the discovery, he is caught by the village elder, but Kamina's punishment is interrupted by the ceiling of Giha Village collapsing as an enormous robot falls into the cavern. A girl named Yoko appears and tries to fight the robot with a large rifle, but initially cannot do much. Simon takes Kamina and Yoko to the "big face" he found earlier and discovers that the small drill key can be used to activate the small robot, which he uses to end up destroying the much larger robot and effectively break through to the surface.
(From Wikipedia)
Personal Opinion
... wow...
This show completely blew me away.
Gurren Lagann is great in almost every aspect. So I guess I'll start with the design.
It seems like as the show goes on... the scale of everything also increases, the mecha, the number of characters, and the challenges. Indeed the first episode is somewhat of a allegory to the rest of the show. People band together, fight using mecha, and overcome an oppressor. And just as you think that the scale of everything has reached it's limit... they repeat it again with everything even larger... indeed the first shot of TTGL is from the end of the series... and you get a hint of how large everything becomes.
As for the plot... yeah... we've seen it before... some unknown rises up and defeats "the man"... however... what makes it unique is the way that they accomplish this.
The characters are also well made... plenty of unique hot headed people with a soft side that we see on occasion. Simon is a great example of this. Early on, we see him completely idolizing Kamina and striving to become exactly like him. However as the story progresses... we start to see his own personality and traits starting to shine... especially when late comer Nia shows up.
What brings it all together are the shots and the soundtrack. Take for example this shot from the first episode
This is a great example of shots you can expect from Gurren Lagann. The soundtrack also adds to everything... making this show truly epic.
This is 100% a space opera that most people will enjoy
By about the midseason point it was already proving to be better than Eureka Seven... but by the end... it had completly blown it out of the water.
DON'T MISS THIS SHOW!!!!
4/4
Similar to...
- Eureka Seven
Had a large cast of unique characters, both take place in the future on a ravaged planet. Also both have mysterious aliens
- FLCL
Similar in craziness... although FLCL was more random, TTGL had insane moments in it as well
- Gundam SEED
in SEED and TTGL, the main mecha of the series seem to be able to do anything, and have great adaptability.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
Similarites appeared towards to end... so I won't spoil