By god, THAT was f*cking awesome.
I just finished it. I just finished what a lot of people tout to be the best anime of the year. I just finished the juggernaut of an anime: I just finished Gurren-Lagann. It’s been a while since a series became so exciting sleep became out of the question, but Gurren-Lagann really drilled my otaku senses awake. *takes a deep breath*
Boy, it’s a hard series to describe. Aside from my brain turning to mush, words simply fail me. Someone told me that the only time my praise was as fiery and passionate for this series was when I waxed lyrical over the Ichigo 100% manga. This series just deserves it. I think it would even be safe to say that it has been the best mecha series to have come out this year (at least I think so).
I won’t pander to meticulously describing the series like I write my other posts, but to mince words, it is a collective bildungsroman. Bildungsroman is a literary term meaning one man’s journey to self discovery from youth to adulthood, and I have found that this series features all of Gurren-Lagann’s representative men and women’s journeys to find themselves and to obtain the freedom that everyone wished for.
It was redemptive, thought-provoking, and most definitely bittersweet. I haven’t used those words to describe an anime since Honey and Clover. Perhaps a lot of aspects of the series go beyond the realm of believability, but with regard (as I’ve mentioned before) to life and death it is quite realistic. People who die do not come back; they are not resurrected, yet they remain as memories to those people who give importance to them.
Particularly moving were some of the deaths of Gurren-Lagann’s crew. Sacrifices must be made so that success will happen, and I believe that the collective bildungsroman of the cast of Gurren-Lagann have done it and done it excellently. It’s not really the length of the life one lives that’s important; it’s how one lives that life.
The soundtrack, the seiyuu, and almost everything is amazing, scintillating and simply just f*cking awesome, so I suggest to those who haven’t viewed it to view it RIGHT NOW FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Gurren Lagann is a show that needs no introduction, aside from the just saying that it’s awesome. I can’t say that the emotional parts really got me in tears, but the overall GARness appealed to something fundamental and primitive deep inside my wussy otaku being - now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to hunt some mammoths…WITH A CHAIN SAW!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Gurren Lagann is GAR
RAWR RAWR
FIGHT THE POWA
October 26th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I really liked this show but decided to stop watching shortly after episode three or four~ish. It was really that good, huh?
October 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
@j.valdez
It starts picking up after episode 7. Then it’s just AWESOME all the way.
October 26th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Ohhh now im really tempted to download Gurren Lagann…again. Back then, only managed to watch the first episode T_T .
October 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Oh yes! That was quite an exciting show! Heck, exciting barely describes it. I’ve never watched a show that embodies the notion of “mecha porn” like this one…
It might be the best mecha show of the year (not that there is much competition) but it’s much more than that. What really made it stand out for me was its incredible energy and its great cast of characters.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
@afuro
I regretted the fact I did not watch it earlier. I am not joking.
@elvyse
We must not forget who should be the most complex villain character of the year: Viral. His characterization was simply a tour-de-force and among what made GL among the best series of all time.
@NovaJinx
Dude. Y E S
October 27th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Took you long enough :V
November 8th, 2007 at 9:23 am
love power saves the universe…..AS USUAL. *yawn*
November 11th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
hell yeah GL is the one… last time I was so spirited when I watched chrono crusade… damn I love Yoko.. scriptwriter is a bastard in the end… gimme more series ’bout YOKO and…. VIRAL… hehe