Gurren-Lagann Movie (Same themes and characters - all else different)

[Flame-X]

Just saw the movie in raw.

The opening prologue and the last 30 min of the movie was pretty epic stuff. Although there's I've been wondering in that prologue...

Spoiler for spoiler:

Why did Lord Genome attack his own people. Was he possessed by the anti-spiral leader? Maybe I'll find the answer when translations come out.

[Shiroth]

I was really surprised with the amount of new scenes in this, and i'm not talking about the last 30 minutes. Nearly all of the reviews from people who watched this in the cinema did say that it was basically the TV series with a different ending to those events, but boy were they wrong.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Clamp-X

Just saw the movie in raw.

The opening prologue and the last 30 min of the movie was pretty epic stuff. Although there's I've been wondering in that prologue...

Spoiler for spoiler:

Why did Lord Genome attack his own people. Was he possessed by the anti-spiral leader? Maybe I'll find the answer when translations come out.

Spoiler:

Do you remember when anti-spiral showed Simon what the future holds if the spiral power kept evolving? It would result in end of the universe?

Lord Genome was presented with the same truth.
Up till that point, Lord Genome's fate was almost identical to Simon, but this is where it diverged.
Unlike Simon, Lord Genome lost all hope by knowing the truth, and decided to stop that catastrophic future from happening.

This is why Lord Genome snapping Simon out of it when Simon was presented with the truth, by mentioning Nia, is so emotional... because he made that mistake once before.

[Samanosuke]

Just wondering, but does anyone know what's the DVD video size ? 853x480 or 720x480 , or something else ?

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

I was really surprised with the amount of new scenes in this, and i'm not talking about the last 30 minutes. Nearly all of the reviews from people who watched this in the cinema did say that it was basically the TV series with a different ending to those events, but boy were they wrong.

I dunno, that sounds like exactly what I watched today. The movie is pretty much the TV series with an alternate opening and ending sequence. Content-wise it's definitely a compilation movie as opposed to something "completely different" or whatever. The script and events are exactly what happens in the TV series, but with much faster pace. There are short new scenes inserted here and there to make the transitions smoother, but that's about it. I enjoyed the movie, and felt it covered the first half of the series pretty well without boring me, but aside from the alternate opening and ending events, it's really nothing "new" in terms of content.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by duckroll

I dunno, that sounds like exactly what I watched today. The movie is pretty much the TV series with an alternate opening and ending sequence. Content-wise it's definitely a compilation movie as opposed to something "completely different" or whatever. The script and events are exactly what happens in the TV series, but with much faster pace. There are short new scenes inserted here and there to make the transitions smoother, but that's about it. I enjoyed the movie, and felt it covered the first half of the series pretty well without boring me, but aside from the alternate opening and ending events, it's really nothing "new" in terms of content.

No i'm not saying that. These reviews i'm on about were saying that there were no new material apart from the beginning introduction and the last 30 minutes or so, where both you and i know that there's quite a lot of new scenes here and there within the film itself.

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

No i'm not saying that. These reviews i'm on about were saying that there were no new material apart from the beginning introduction and the last 30 minutes or so, with both you and i know that there's quite a lot of new scenes here and there within the film itself.

Are there any substantial scenes you can think of in the middle? Aside from the bunch of still frames and short 5 second scenes in the 4min montage that summarizes ep4-6, I can't really think of any new scenes in the middle that stood out to me at all. Just lots of clever editing with TV footage.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Are there any substantial scenes you can think of in the middle? Aside from the bunch of still frames and short 5 second scenes in the 4min montage that summarizes ep4-6, I can't really think of any new scenes in the middle that stood out to me at all. Just lots of clever editing with TV footage.

Well apart from the music like video scene which covered events from episodes 4, 5, and 6 --- we had a few new scenes which built up to the climax with Kamina, and after.

If i rewatch the movie again at the weekend (which i plan to do), i'll make a post mentioning them, though they are there.

[duckroll]

I don't really remember any new scenes aside from the montage scene we both mentioned, so if you can actually track the new scenes added that'll be helpful. I honestly haven't seen GL since it originally aired, so if the scenes look really similar to the TV ones I wouldn't be able to tell them apart honestly. So I don't really blame anyone else for saying that the only real new stuff are at the start and at the end because that's really what it seemed like to me.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by duckroll

I don't really remember any new scenes aside from the montage scene we both mentioned, so if you can actually track the new scenes added that'll be helpful. I honestly haven't seen GL since it originally aired, so if the scenes look really similar to the TV ones I wouldn't be able to tell them apart honestly. So I don't really blame anyone else for saying that the only real new stuff are at the start and at the end because that's really what it seemed like to me.

I'm not blaming anyone either, i was just letting people know. But yeah, will let you know about the new scenes when i rewatch it.

[Archer]

Originally Posted by Samanosuke

Just wondering, but does anyone know what's the DVD video size ? 853x480 or 720x480 , or something else ?

The DVD is anamorphic (16:9), so 853x480.

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by Archer

The DVD is anamorphic (16:9), so 853x480.

That's not really accurate. The resolution is 720x480 for all DVDs and that doesn't chance regardless of aspect ratio. It simply means that the 720x480 frame is stretched out to 16:9.

[TurinTurambar200]

Well, no matter how much of the same the movie was in comparison to the TV series, that 3 second itano circus was awesome.

[Samanosuke]

Originally Posted by duckroll

That's not really accurate. The resolution is 720x480 for all DVDs and that doesn't chance regardless of aspect ratio. It simply means that the 720x480 frame is stretched out to 16:9.

oh , I see. makes sense. thanks

[donoghu]

To me, the movie seems more like one in a trilogy.

Spoiler for What I think that might come:

Some told that it's about 1/2 of the serie into a remade movie with new shots and small changes in some events. But I'm quite sure it's more like 1/3 of the series. So if even there would be other movies, there how I could see it comes :
Movie 1 : Fight agains the 4 generals.
Movie 2 : Fight agains Spiral King. (
Movie 3 : Fight agains the "cube" things which I can't remember their names. (true end)
Since Movie 2 and 3 haven't been announced, it's still only my guess. Especialy with the end of the 1st movie. Uf they would have put a "to be continued", it wouldn't appear more like a trilogy to my eyes.

Just got one more thing to add...

- DAI-GUN DOTEN-KAINAAAAN!!!
- ULTIMATE HUNDRED MISSILES ATTACK!!!
- [...MISS...]
- Dai Gurren-dan Shoot!
- [...Critical hit!...]
- [...Dead...]

[ThEJeDI6911]

To the post above me.

Movie 2 is airing in Japan April 25, which is tomorrow =p.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdEX-Yq4lIE trailer just in case some have missed it.

[DragoonKain3]

Yeah, it looks like the movies are only a 2 parter.

As for movie 1, it really is pretty much the TV series. That said, I do much prefer the pacing of the movie, as I always thought that the Kamina arc was just way too drawn out in the TV series. I really didn't feel much for him because of this, but in the movie my eyes misted more than a couple of times because the impact was really there.

And yeah, them not cutting off Nia's hair gets plus points in my book lol.

[Ashlotte]

Ah now that was a good watch...Enjoyed the new stuff a great deal, but the old was just as fun as I remember it being.

Cant wait for Pt. 2....Need more Nia love.

[Heminga13]

Info on second movie rolling in. Someone's got a livejournal posting comments from 2ch.

*SPOILERS IN LINK BELOW*
http://csakuras.livejournal.com/498775.html
*SPOILERS IN LINK ABOVE*

[FruitsPunchSamurai]

Someone got to translating the review of the movie here

Spoiler for Translated movie summary:

[Prologue]

Lord Genome's defeat.
Generally, I was anticipating this, but they defeat him right in the beginning.
They cruise through it in terms of length and theme.
If you want to see Simon VS Lord Genome done properly, watch the TV version.
But in a good and bad way, Lord Genome ended up becaming a charming bearded old man.

[From Teppelin to Kamina City]

Right from the start there are new scenes with additions for the "7-year gap."
The story of how the Dai-Gurren Brigade, having defeated Lord Genome, build Kamina City.
It seems in the beginning they were using Gunmen from the beastmen army to do the work.
By the way, Enkidudu appears before you know it and is beaten up before you know it.

With those various things, seven years pass.
The exposition starts with Nia writing a letter to Kamina.
That was nice. Though it might be I'm just remembering the times they appeared together in alternate universes such as in school.
Nia knows that Yoko is a teacher too. Actually, it seems Nia is the only one she told about it.

Simon proposing to Nia is a new scene.
Of course, there's still the "No way," but it's different.
But rather than Simon and Nia, my eyes couldn't help but be drawn to Boota trying to eat a worm.
Boota, you're so cute.
Come to think of it, there was no Boota transformation scene.

Nia dreams of "planting flowers."
And "humans trying to go to the moon" is what activates the Humanity Annihilation System.
In the TV version it was "the human population reaching one million," but strangely that's been changed.
And Nia transforms into the Messenger in front of Simon's eyes.
In the TV version she transformed where Simon couldn't see her, but the Messenger's impression has been strengthened in the movie.
That also goes for the skirmishes with the Mugann.

Large parts of the 3rd arc have been cut.
The TV version also focused on Rossiu, Kittan, and Yoko, but in Lagann-hen Simon's mentality is much easier to understand.
Scenes like Kittan-tachi getting in a fight at a bar, Simon being tormented by the prisoners in prison, and the anger of the citizens toward the Dai-Gurren Brigade is easy to understand too.
"Feelings that were once turned toward Lord Genome and the beastmen army are now being turned onto Simon and the Dai-Gurren Brigade" being explained by Dayakka rather than Rossiu is also easy to understand.
By the way, Viral saving Simon from being tormented in prison was laughable.
Being attacked by Messenger Nia, calling her a Spiral Princess at the end...well, that's Viral for you.

Rinkarne prison was on a "solitary island" in the TV version, but in Lagann-hen it's "in the depths of the underground."
The composition of "Simon, who once pierced the heavens, is now being pushed back underground" was easy to understand.
Well, I liked the 3rd arc, but Lagann-hen's been made more easy to understand and it's nice.
Or rather, the 3rd arc itself had some parts that were dull. The skirmishes with the Mugann didn't work for releasing catharsis.
How they persistently kept the focus on "Simon's revival" was easy to understand.

The way Simon seemed to have completely given up was also nice.
Rossiu will surely be able to do something. There's nothing left for me to do.
It was interesting to see how that tied into Rossiu's attempted suicide.
How Kinon rather than Simon stopped Rossiu's suicide attempt was also good in the end.

Leaving things to Rossiu, Simon tries to seal away his Spiral power.
But Rossiu learns of the fact that he couldn't even save himself from Messenger Nia.
Reuniting with Yoko and the others, with Viral as a comrade, Simon heads to pierce the skies once more.

The "Arc Gurren-Lagann VS Cathedral Lazengann" that was revealed in news beforehand occurs after they defeat the KuuKyoMugann.
Arc Gurren-Lagann uses a drill too.
As Cathedral Lazengann tries to lay a punch on the Earth, Lord Genome hacks into it.
Everyone should see the scene where Lord Genome does the hacking. That made me laugh.

Well, the developments were fast.
Immediately after they defeat Cathedral Lazengann, they find the Anti-Spiral home planet using the ring, and begin planning the attack at once.
Rossiu attempts suicide inside Cathedral Terra (Chouginga Dai-Gurren) and is stopped by Kinon. But he stays behind.
And then it becomes Chouginga Gurren-Lagann and they go to attack.

[The one that surpasses Tengen Toppa]

In the end, only Kittan and Nia die this time.

First, Kittan dies.
In order to cross the ocean of the Spiral graveyard, King Kittan uses Giga Drill Break and he entrusts his spirit to Simon.
Because there would be no meaning unless he jeopardizes his life. After everything is settled, there is a shot of his sisters crying over his portrait and holding a memorial service along with a photo of King Kittan.
In the parallel universe, the "Who are you?" joke is used again.
Well, I'm sure Kamina does actually remember him though.

Conversely, Zoushi, Kidd, Ailac, Jorgun & Balinbow, and Makken don't die.
In the parallel universe, Zoushi, Kidd, and Ailac pick turnips, and Jorgun and Balinbow cradle children.
I don't remember Makken's, but I think he's included with Leite in the parent's day at school.
Well, killing them off had been called "disposing inferior stock," and there wasn't time for it anyway.
But it was nice.
I like those guys, and they were active in scenes up to the very end.

But I laughed at Anti-Spiral appearing from a crack in the dimension.

Anyway, the Dai-Gurren Brigade revives with Aniki Power.
The no-good Kamina in the parallel universe was made to be more annoying.

And having revived, the Dai-Gurren Brigade forms Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann.
Anti-Spiral also forms Granzeboma.
For a moment, its eyes were drills. So you're also a Spiral Race after all.
At first it looks like they were going to exchange blows like usual, but Anti-Spiral tells them "If you kill me, you will also kill that Irregular (Nia)!"
Simon-tachi are shocked.
And Anti-Spiral goes to defeat them thoroughly.

But they haven't given up!
Simon hasn't given up either!
Nia has own personal Gunmen and goes Tengen Toppa! I forgot its name but I think its the one in the Nia photobook (which I don't own).

Furthermore, Viral also pilots an Enki gone Tengen Toppa!
Yoko also pilots a Tengen Toppa Yoko W Tank (it's been enhanced so it evolves from M to W)!
Twin Bokkun, Kidnuckle, Ainzer, Sozoushi, Moushougun have all also gone Tengen Toppa!
Even Chouginga Dai-Gurren becomes "Tengen Toppa Chouginga Dai-Gurren."

Ahh, I see what they meant with "Toei Manga Matsuri" now.
Just going Tengen Toppa doesn't make it good!
Well, everyone played a role in the climax of Gurren-hen too, so it's the same of Lagann-hen.
The all-out war aspect is strong.

Anti-Spiral unleashes the Infinity Big Bang Storm.
Lazengann holds it back, and entrusts the energy to Simon.
And then the Tengen Toppa Gunmen all combine again.

And that is the Tengen Toppa that surpasses Tengen Toppa.
Super Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

A super-giant Gunmen that surpasses even Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann.
Or rather, is that even a Gunmen anymore?
It doesn't even look like a mecha anymore!
It's a body of green energy.

Not to be defeated, Anti-Spiral also increases in size.
Against the Giga Drill Break unleashed by Super Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, Super Anti-Spiral also unleashes a Giga Drill Break.
And then the matryoshka scene.

From Super Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann's drill comes Tengen Toppa's drill.
From Tengen Toppa's drill comes Chouginga's drill.
From Chouginga's drill comes Arc's drill.
And from Arc's drill comes Gurren-Lagann.
Viral does a Cannonball Attack.

In the end, thrown by Lagann, Simon comes to punch Anti-Spiral.
Anti-Spiral also challenges him with its own body.
Simon and Anti-Spiral exchange blows in the flesh.
This isn't even a robot anime anymore, is it?
Well, that's fine. That's Gurren Lagann after all.

And Anti-Spiral is defeated.
Now you must also protect this universe.....

[And to the end]

Nia entrusts her diary to Yoko.
And Simon and Nia have their wedding.
Nia disappears due to the defeat of the Anti-Spirals.
They knew it would happen, but she couldn't escape her fate.

But Simon is not god.
He has no intention of bringing back the dead.
Aniki, Kittan, and Nia live on inside Simon.

"We were happy," says Simon.
And he leaves along with Boota.

As Shokotan's "Seed of Tears, Flower of Smiles" plays, Simon as a boy and Boota gradually climb upward.
They gradually climb up like in Gurren-hen's ED, and at the end they find a single blooming flower.
Dropping his cape, Simon, who has now become a young man, and Boota continue climbing up.

Then twenty years after.
Simon continues digging holes.
Just as it was in the novel version, Simon makes his livelihood by digging wells for parched villages.
To the thankful residents, Simon says "Please grow some flowers."
On the radio, there is news that President Rossiu will hold a peace conference for the Spiral Races.

At the end, Simon watches the fleet heading to the peace conference with a boy he met.
They aren't leaving to fight. They're leaving to make friends.
All the lights in the heavens are stars.
Saying that, Simon and Boota look up at the sky.

End

[Thoughts]

So this is the final form of "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann."
Yes, it certainly does cut the unnecessary information from the TV version, and incorporates material from the manga, novels, and various alternate universe spin-offs.
Because they persistently stuck to telling just Simon's story, the story felt kind of refreshing.
Rather, they might have been holding back on the "stuffing everything in" state that was in Gurren-hen.

I didn't think they would expand things even beyond Tengen Toppa.
But that's Gurren Lagann. It can't be helped because it's Gurren Lagann.

In the end, I was even able to accept Nia disappearing.
I was able to understand why Simon accepted it in my heart.
But I think that's how it should be.

I can't forget the single "End" letter at the end.
Ahh, so it's really over.
Simon's story has ended there.
I think that's how it should be.
He got discouraged so many times, but he still broke through in the end.
And that's really enough.

Thank csakura from Live Journal for the translation.