Gurren Lagann

Anime... It's what got me started down the career path I followed for the past 15 years, 20 years if you want to add the time I spent in school learning how to do what I did for a living. And in that time I've seen all sorts of anime go by from the original Macross to the Gundams and the Dougrams to the Escaflowne and to the Giant Robo and Evangelion and beyond. I hope you're seeing a pattern here because as you can clearly see they all involved giant robots. Oh, giant robots... What is it about you that tugs at my heart strings so? Alas, it's been pretty quiet on the giant robots front lately, at least on my anime radar anyway. I mean Evangelion was released back in 1996 for God sakes. And since then nothing, nada, zip. I'm sure the more astute devotees of anime will be able to point me out this or that and poopoo my lack of knowledge but the truth is nothing's really broken through like the way Evangelion did. Well, I suppose nothing will ever do anything close to what the buzz around Evangelion was like when it first hit the airwaves but I'm glad to report that finally, FINALLY, something has come close and its... Gurren Lagann.

If you haven't seen it either on DVD or on Scifi network, by all means buy it or better yet rent it from Netflix. You know what? Scratch that. Even if you saw it on scifi network, rent the DVD and watch it again in Japanese with subtitles like you're suppose to! :D

So what is it all about? Well... It's hard to explain because I could tell you the premise which is that the main character SIMON(that's read "see-mon" in Japanese) and his bro Kamina who at first are eking out a living in an underground village when one day Simon finds this weird spiral drill key and a robot which looks like it's just a bigger robot's head. Ok... Not really exciting is it? Well, that's the thing. The story is typical anime, some lame boy(that's Rick Hunter for you in Macross) is mentored by some older brother type.(that's what's his name from Macross that bites the dust half way through. Oh, did I mention the older bro type, Kamina, in Gurren Lagann bites it too? Oops~! Spoiler alert!) The lame boy eventually realizes he's not so lame any more after a traumatic event and wins the day and the girl, etc. etc. It also pretty much follows the "Monster of the week" formula as well. Beat this robot this week, beat that robot the next week, what ever. So why should you watch it? Because the way the material is handled is so OVER THE TOP it's just freakin' awesome, that's why.

I mean, everything from the animation style to the literally "everything is going to s**t, oh wait, some crazy thing just saved the day" moment to moment drama is just way way way over the top. I mean, I was sitting there watching it scratching my head at one point going "Are these guys for real?" because just when you'd think they couldn't possibly go there they... go there. I mean it's so painfully formulaic but so riveting to watch just to see how things will pan out as outlandishly as they are. I suppose one could say the same thing about Evangelion as well. At the end of the day, that show was pretty formulaic too. (Didn't it have someone dying in the middle too? It's been so long I forget. :p) But, something about the way the fine folks at Gainax executed Evangelion elevated it from all the other riff raff and the case is the same here. Gurren Lagann is made by, you guessed it, Gainax!

But whether it was made by Gainax or not is besides the point. It's... good. It's pretty recent, like 2007 and it's one of those rare anime shows which has in some way penetrated that strange wall we call pop culture. I mean I listen to someone recommend it on one of KCRW's talk shows. But don't take their or my word for it. See it for yourself and find out. This is definitely a thumbs up from me. Hopefully it'll be a thumbs up for you too. :D

Watch it here:

Gurren Lagann

btw, if you know what Dougram is, you get double thumbs up from me. ;)