Giha is a cozy little egalitarian village out in the middle of nowhere. Nestled underneath a vast arid desert this little hole in the ground Which by the way is a literal hole in the ground is the lifelong home of a community of diggers and Pigmole farmers whose lives are occupied with expanding the terrtiory raising livestock and living in fear that every single tremor they face could bring them one tremor closer to being crushed to death under a massive Earthquake. Most of the residents of this piece of prime real estate have resigned themselves to their fate like the young orphan Simon who finds comfort in the freedom and artistic expression that his prowess with the expansion drill offers him. But every peaceful community has that one noncomformist outlier and thats where Kamina comes in. Kamina is your proverbial big fish in a small pond He refuses to believe that the surface world is uninhabitable or that humans werent meant to dwell there and his frustration over the issue leads him to get into quite possibly more trouble than hes worth. Hes basically a Reddit conspiracy theorist and while Simon doesnt necessarily believe in the older boys insane ramblings but he does find a certain reprieve in the boys charisma and fortitude. One day he uncovers a tiny glowing drill and a giant robotic face while on his latest digging job and just as hes about to break Kamina out of jail to show it to him a new giant robot comes crashing down through their ceiling bringing a scantily clad babe with a long sniper rifle inviting the entire underground populace to witness their struggle. The girl who introduces herself as Yoko accompanies her new friends in digging up Simons giant head which turns out to be a small but formidable Mech suit that takes his tiny drill as an ignition key Squeezing into the cockpit with Yoko and Kamina Simon the digger defeats the intruder and bursts through the dirt ceiling to enjoy his first ever view of the outdoor sunlight But life on the surface is far more dangerous than it had seemed as Simon and his mutually adoptive big brother must face this bleak terrain with a few friends at their back and an entire organization of humanoid monsters in his path each of which piloting a mech of their own and each of which is dedicated to either stomping out the uprising humans or pushing them back into hiding from whence they came. Having made an enemy out of seemingly the entire world can Simon hope to overcome the trials and tribulations of the surface world or will its sacrifices become too much to bear? Ive reviewed quite a few Studio Gainax anime in my time and the word I seem to keep on coming back to is inconsistent. Well Im simultaneously pleased and horrified to say that Gurren Lagann blows right past that handy descriptor with a level of quality that I can only reasonably call bifreakingpolar. When Gurren Lagann looks good its top tier stuff with fastpaced action brilliantly integrated CG and a cool confident sense of style in its presentation and cinematography. Since these breathtaking turns take place during giant mech battles and allout space wars you could easily say that the money was spent where it needed to be spent. Having said that when its bad its hideous. Im not the first person to point out how ugly episode 4 looks compared to the better moments of the series and yeah that entire episode Mech content and all Is a noticeable blemish on the series. Gainax does sometimes have a penchant for outsorcing its work and that entire episode was directed by a different person from the rest of the series And the results probably played a huge part in him not being invited back. But it goes beyond just that episode. Throughout the series but particularly in the first third the budget saving tactics are embarrassingly obvious running the gamut between broken frame rates talking heads and key frames and I hate to say that even the giant mechs suffer from this from time to time. The animation gets better as the series goes on to the point when we reach the explosive galaxyhopping climax where I swear to God everything finally looks as perfect as the creators probably wanted it to since episode 1. It doesnt make up for all the shortcomings that came before it but you know what? The overall look and design of the series kind of does. I dont think I can name any other series that had this inspired of an aesthetic before. The look of each character speaks volumes about who they are and what theyre like and while this element isnt taken to the same kinds of extremes that it was in Utena they still look really cool. Remember what I said about Kiddy Grades side characters looking like they got taken out of a drunk artists notebook? Imagine that but with focus and a distinct sense of direction and youve got the characters from Gurren Lagann. The robots look awesome too just as diverse and interesting looking as the people who pilot them from a twofaced Optimus Prime with shades to a supporting mech that looks like a cross between Staryu and The Dancing Banana. The soundtrack is surprisingly diverse hitting unexpected genres as jazz and operatic/rap vocals mixed among much more common shounen orchestrations. All of it is loud and attention grabbing none of it is subtle or underplayed and yet its all used with consistent perfection. Id fall back on the old cliche that theres something for everyone here if it wasnt for the fact that I feel like most audiences would eat up the entire damn score. The jazzy funeral music is a nice somber listen but if I had to pick a favorite it would be the theme song of antagonist Viral which has to be one of the most pulse pounding fight songs Ive ever heard from that side of the ocean. The op and closing themes are disappointingly standard by comparison but theyre not bad by any means. The english dub on the other hand is not without its common complaints. The biggest one comes in the shape of Kyle Hebert in the role of Kamina and honestly I dont get the hate. Hes nowhere near as inspirationally insane as the Japanese actor but he holds his own adequately enough. Give the guy a break he had a tough act to follow. Its not like he sucked up the joint. Then again Yuri Lowenthal had a much tougher job as Simon and he nails it with flying colors. You can generally expect a character who ages through out the story to have lots of character development and he has no problem sticking with his character through the whiny early years and into the much deeper and more masculine adult years. Michelle Ruff gives a very subtle performance as Yoko and while she of course knows how to hit all the notes perfectly she also knows to keep a lot held back in order to complement the forces of personality that shes been paired with. Steve Blum playing an effeminate gay man is so so perfectly beautiful a thing. Johnny Yong Bosch does a good job as the pragmatic Rossiu Because of course he does But hes a bit overqualified and it feels like his talents were being underutilized. Maybe if hed been the one to play Kamina instead of Hebert this dub would be more popular? In any case Jamieson Price plays one of the main villains which you know damn well is a good sign and while I appreciate the fact that most actors here kept their roles past the time skip Nia didnt. Shes a very inquisitive character who doesnt know anything about human society and has millions of questions to ask about it which is why it was so perfect that they hired Hynden Walch the voice actor behind similar fishoutofwater Starfire from The Teen Titans and having her grow up into Bridget Hoffman was a stroke of genius. Theres a very large cast in this dub and while it never really gets bad its still nowhere compared to the original sub. If youre a dub fan this one is perfectly fine But otherwise Id have to recommend the original version based on the strength of Kamina alone. Before I go into anything else Id like to start by addressing the one thing everybody seems to agree with in regards to this series. Its something that critics and fans alike are quick to point out to degrees of pride and shame that would quite frankly surprise you. That fact is that Gurren Lagann is one of the stupidest anime ever made. There is nothing in it that makes sense from the basic mechanics of a drill being used to combine machines all the way to some game changing plot revelations in the final arcs there is not one solitary moment where it feels like the writers actually sat down to decide how the universe works except for the explanations so out there that they give serious cred to the age old excuse A wizard did it. Now Ive ripped apart plenty of anime for being stupid but in Gurren Laganns casem is it really such a bad thing? Well yes and no but to explain why well have to explore the positive and negative aspects of its brainlessness. All right whats good about Gurren Lagann being stupid? Well a lot of things really. Gurren Lagann subscribes to a binary that values belief over doubt and in support of this it openly and proudly embraces ignorance and stupidity as the ultimate solution to overcoming the impossible. The world it takes place in quickly begins to feel like a world where virtues such as strategy and reason are valued substantially less than masculinity courage and ballsout bravado and the reason it works so well is that for the most part its consistent enough in execution that it believably becomes the law of physics in this particular canon Which is all well and good but you could say something very similar about the first two seasons of RWBY which did nothing for me. On that note the difference between RWBY and Gurren Lagann can be summed up by examining a few key ideas my favorite of which is an idea RWBY had called The Forest of Forever Fall. Basically its a forest thats in perpetual autumn with leaves always flowing to the ground. Logically this makes about as much sense as hippos evolving to be covered with giant grapes like they did in Gurren Lagann but how is it used in the story? Well the Forest is used as a backdrop for the character development of Jean whos turn towards manliness thanks to the conquering of a few bullies has NOT been brought up since nor has the Forest and to my recollection neither have the bullies. What puts Gurren over RWBY is that while it had a lot of crazy ideas it never feels like it crowbarred them in just to waste your time. The grape hippos are livestock and meat nothing more. So whats bad about this show being stupid? For one thing it robs it of any substance or depth. Gurren Lagann is pure spectacle and if it wasnt for a few saving graces One of which Ill get to later I would honestly consider it the anime equivalent of a Michael Bay movie. Ive tried analyzing it and aside from its basic coherence to The Heros Journey story structure model the drill symbolism and genetic metaphors seem to be hinting at the message that you should be proud of your dick. The issue of overpopulation comes up a few times but its treated as bullshit at every turn. Beyond that the story is very simple and theres a lot of room for stupidity Up until the story arc directly following the time skip where our heroes have aged by seven years and established their own government. The story tries to be all serious and political here but the only feeling it elicits is a constant string of WTFs as it tries in vain to utilize concepts its not mature or intelligent enough to understand. Before I could even come to terms with the idea that this advanced futuristic society could have been erected by humans with little to no experience with aboveground architecture in only seven years not even bothering to explain where all the materials came from out of the vast wasteland they had to work with or how this team of fighters were somehow all suited and qualified to run a government in the first place I was forced to swallow the idea that a leader making one simple understandable honest mistake that anybody could have made that caused a ton of structural damage but no specified human loss could turn the public against him so quickly that he gets sentenced to death and they wind up falling back on the classic imagery of a dictators statue being pulled over. Thankfully this arc was mercifully short and Gainax decided to rush through it to get back to the stuff they were good at in the first place. So yeah the plot is stupid. The story is stupid. For better or worse everything is stupid stupid stupid. Well aside from the political missteps the character writing is anything but dumb and its easily the strongest element of the series. Gainax has always loved writing coming of age stories that showcase the growing pains of male characters and while Gurren Laganns not really their best show Simon the digger is probably the best character that theyve put through that formula. Im not gonna lie theres some Shinji in his early episodes but its not unwarranted Shinjiness. He goes through some shit that would make YOU emo for a few days too from seeing his crush hook up with his best friend to overhearing someone close to him emasculating him in conversation to Um Spoiler stuff. He starts off as a tagalong perfectly happy to be the sidekick of one of the most charismatic leaders in anime history Ive spoken about this at length in my Top Ten Siblings list but he idolized and idealized Kamina to the point that when it was time for HIM to step up he found himself unable to do so until something amazing happened. Ill spare you the spoilers but to paint it in broad terms Gurren Lagann fills out Simons character arc by taking one of my least favorite pieces of stock advice and making it work. I think Ive always hated that old mantra of Just be yourself because its dishonest The sad truth is that society does have expectations people do expect you to follow basic social norms and unless youre already the kind of person who fits themor breaks them in superficially appealing ways you do have to adapt to avoid being a lonely loser. Gurren Lagann takes that phrase from another angle Growing up doesnt mean becoming like the heroes and role models from your childhood it means breaking away from them and being the best YOU that you can be. You dont have to become your idealized icons to be a good person. you dont have to wind up with the pinup models you used to idealize when theres a down to earth sweet girl right under your nose. Stop trying to aim for your role models and become one yourself. Unfortunately as perfectly complex and fulfilling as Simons development is everyone else seems to exist in service to it which Im kinda okay with. This is HIS story and to that end I dont really think anybody was underutilized with the possible exception of Yoko Littner. She was a really cool and interesting character who was competent in a fight kind and generous and wasnt afraid to admit or pursue the things she wanted but as soon as the love triangle was resolved she basically got demoted to secondary character so a new main female character could enter the story One with a much more interesting backstory granted but one who would be fridged towards the end of the series due to some random bullshit that came out of nowhere and was completely unnecessary. adding emotional stakes to a story where the very existence of humanity was already on the line. Still for there to be even one complex female main character whos treated fairly and with respect in such a testosterone fueled dick fest let alone two of them is still pretty amazing in its own right. Every character in the cast has something to offer to it even if its not so evident right away. The stereotypical gay character is never painted as a predator but actually acts as the engineering genius of the group. The hot blooded cocky dude who acts as a rival for Simons leadership steps aside as soon as he knows he should and genuinely feels like he cares about everyone. Villains working under the Spiral King have their very own coworker dynamic and the political miniarc is almost saved by the emotional turmoil that the bureaucratic character goes through as he lays down the law. I guess its hard to feel sad watching side characters die when they barely had any lines up until that point And one of them has a wife and kid whos reactions are never shown which Im sure was an honest mistake by the writers But I still cared so much about the main cast that I felt every loss and in a cast this huge thats saying something. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is available from Aniplex of America which unfortunately means youll be dealing with a distinct level of scarcity from it. Its out of print and the dubbed version can cost you a pretty penny on Amazon which is why Im pleased to report that there are some pretty damn good deals available on Ebay where you can get the thinpack Brand New for between 20 and 30 dollars. It can also be found for streaming on both Crunchyroll and Netflix. A followup manga adaptation is available stateside from Bandai Entertainment but the light novel unfortunately is not. Two movies were released in 2008 and 2009 that retold the story with better pacing ARE available stateside from Aniplex but theyre just as obscenely expensive as the series can be and I hate to say it but Ebay isnt gonna help you with that one. When I realized that my 50th official review would be dropping in Studio Gainax month I knew that I had to review one of Gainaxs big three titles. I picked Gurren Lagann not only because its arguably their most popular and not only because I had the most to say about it but because its right in the middle Better than Evangelion but not quite as good as FLCL. It has its fair share of problems as Ive no doubt proven by now but what Gainax show doesnt? The way its able to work most of its worst aspects to its advantage suggests that there might actually be method to its madness and an intelligence lurking below its stupidity. Even if Im wrong about that its still one of the most fun passionate energetic and overthetop anime out there. It takes a lot of confidence to boldly champion the values of dumb machismo and it takes nothing but pure sincerity to back it up. I give Gurren Lagann an 8/10.