Gurren-Lagann - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Rag]

During episode 27, I had this unbelievable feeling that I never felt before in my entire life.

Ever since that day, three/four years ago, I have been hunting for an anime series can that topple that awesomeness . . . so far no good.

I love how people are still discovering this series because it is one of the best animes I have seen and shouldn't be overlooked. Glad you liked it my friend, now watch the movie(s) Guren-hen(okay with a few extra scenes) and Lagann-hen (The ending is epic as hell).

I want THAT scene as a signature, but then I would spoil it for others like how it was spoiled for me ;_;

[darkdarkdark]

Originally Posted by Rag

During episode 27, I had this unbelievable feeling that I never felt before in my entire life.

Ever since that day, three/four years ago, I have been hunting for an anime series can that topple that awesomeness . . . so far no good.

The feeling that you have just witnessed the most epic anime ever? Yes.

[GreatTeacherKen]

Originally Posted by Rag

During episode 27, I had this unbelievable feeling that I never felt before in my entire life.

Ever since that day, three/four years ago, I have been hunting for an anime series can that topple that awesomeness . . . so far no good.

If you want something as over the top and epic as TTGL, you can probably try other Super Robot type series like for example:

Getter Robo
Giant Robo (no relation to the above)
Gao Gai Gar
G Gundam
Gunbuster and its sequel Diebuster (also done by the same studio as TTGL, Gainax)
Mazinger Z and Shin Mazinger

All of the above except Shin Mazinger predate TTGL and as you can probably tell, most of them have the letter G in it.

They may not necessarily topple TTGL for you, but if you liked TTGL, you'll probably enjoy these too.

[Anon4life]

I'm in the ending denial fanclub, aka it ended at that final kiss. And I'd give that a 10/10 hands down. For the entire canon of TTGL, I'd give it 8/10 for it ending with the four lead characters: spontaneous particle annihilation, transition into becoming forever-alone-guy, again becoming world leader after giving up hope for and lying to most of humanity, and formation of a manly angular chin. You guys can guess which one.

These may seem like minor points, but I personally felt betrayed by the message of the show at the end, and it sorta emotionally felt like eating a hand grenade. Marrige is till death do us part, and even if you extend it to the afterlife, that isn't going to happen, when you're partner's existence has been erased. So the wedding was kinda fail

That aside, I found this show to be like a roller coaster. The best aspect of the series for me, was how into it I felt while watching it, and after it. Its one of those series that helps define you: you feel glad to be a fan of GL. I've haven't felt this way about any media since Fight Club. And the ability for the show to suck me into the characters lives was insane. You could feel the despair Simon had when his bro died, and when Nia came along, you could feel the healing. I've probably stated it before someone on this forum, but I describe myself when it comes to most film, very un-empathic. I didn't flinch through most supposedly sad movies (Titanic [bad example I know]). But wow did I feel estatic when Nia's auto-tuned voice turned back to normal.


I don't understand why people thought the ending was predictable. The only possible way you could have predicted the death of nia and the epilogue, IMO, is if you somehow realized that a character that represents the goodness of humanity going to hell (AS-world), coming back to earth, only to die again is a good ole' trope called a christ figure. And then you'd have to remember the dies again part. (the apostle peter's first name is Simon, so I guess it isn't terrible hidden, but what anime viewer thinks about the bible mid show?)

[kitten320]

Oh wow... I never left a full review here before? Well here it is now:

I know that I will get bashed most likely but hey! That's my opinion! And the more crazy fans will bash me, the more I'll hate it because my hate for the show had grown over this whole time because of how not understanding most of the fans are.
I have nothing againt series lovers, but crazy fans are the worst! Because they DON'T LISTEN!

Anyway I gave this series only 5 but before I mention negatives, I'll start with positives that allowed me to give this series 5 and not lower.

In comparison to many shounen out there, characters actually DIE here! Be you a good or a bad guy, you won't be saved like for example in Bleach. Series also have some unexpected deaths which will get you suprised.

Lots of action, constantly something is exploding and plot does not stop, it keeps moving. Once again Bleach will be an opposite example where fights lasted for years and barely moved a plot at all.

Lots of characters, some do have interesting and unique personalities.

A time skip with all grown up characters, you can see what happend to the characters later after they had won the war.


Now comes the time for minuses...
Despite having lots of action, it also most of the time has NO LOGIC what so ever! Things just happen out of nowhere with nothing to back up the outcome! A small robot suddenly transforms into a giantic space ship and so on, just how did it fit in there?! There is a lot more ridiculness like that! None of the actions have logic behind them (I mean the way fights go, not the reason to why fights happen in the first place), it just happens for the sake to happen and to provide something huge with huge explosions! If that's all you care about... well you will love it then.

The fact that there are lots of characters is also a minus because the biggest part of them has no personality at all, they are just stupid and plain, and know only how to press "FIRE!" button. How some of them managed to take big positions in councel and stuff is beyond me.

The famouse Kamina was a bad ass yet at the same time he did things without thinking and obviously payed the price for that, I guess that's a positive though.

The famouse Yoko... is there anything good about her except her looks? And she is freaking 14 at the beginning of the series! Yes she did have some nice and cool moments but most of the time she didn't do anything outstanding. Though in comparison to many, she actually had personality and brains which could think off far more useful things than just press "FIRE" button all the time so I guess she is not that bad.

The famouse time skip... also happened to be a minus... for one, characters and world had developed WAY TOO MUCH in such a short time! It is simply impossible! The plot did try to give explanation to such sudden change but it still does not fit right.

A lot of characters personalities had drasticly changed and there was never given a real explanation as to why that happened, at least not for everyone. Like for example one of 3 sisters who was all cheerful suddenly became all cold, why? I can't find logical explanation to such change myself.

Animation... No, not my cup. For one a lot of characters simply look ridiculous, their faces tend to get disordered and sometimes animation is simply rough! It doesn't happen always, but most of the time it just looked plain. The only well animated things were probably explosions and some details in Mechas.

Did I enjoy the series over all? Sorry, but no. There are some scenes I would like to re-watch but over all it is just a waste of time. How this series managed to get to the top is beyond me.

If creators tried to give at least some logic to how things were happening, it could have been good then.

However, if you just want to see mindlees explosiots without caring why it really happens, well I guess you'll love it then as many others did.

But if you want to see something with logic behind, to look at least a bit realistic... forget it, this series will never meet your expactations.

P.S. And don't give me a crap that Mecha never had logic. Just watch Code Geass or Full Metal Panic, space ships don't grow out of tiny robots! Even fricking TRANSFORMERS don't turn into huge space ships! Because they can't fit in them!

I totally can't understand how it became so popular! Even Haruhi's popularity makes more sence despite me giving it 3!

And just because you scream the loudest doesn't mean that you are the coolest. Kamina's death was a great example of that.

[Boduar]

The only thing IMO that may possibly come close to Gurren Laganns epicness in action scenes is probably Hellsing OVA's (at least anime wise).

[a pure heart]

a month ago if you talked about anime to me i would laugh and say wow your such a nerd, and walk away, i was bored one night and watched an episode of gurren lagann out of pure boredom, now im almost finished with that show and vampire rain and wolfs rain, and now i love anime and even am on this site, does that tell you something!? yea gurren lagann kicks ass! it got me into anime! so thank you gurren, im officialy nerdatized!!!!

[darkdarkdark]

Originally Posted by kitten320

Oh wow... I never left a full review here before? Well here it is now:

I know that I will get bashed most likely but hey! That's my opinion! And the more crazy fans will bash me, the more I'll hate it because my hate for the show had grown over this whole time because of how not understanding most of the fans are.
I have nothing againt series lovers, but crazy fans are the worst! Because they DON'T LISTEN!

Anyway I gave this series only 5 but before I mention negatives, I'll start with positives that allowed me to give this series 5 and not lower.

In comparison to many shounen out there, characters actually DIE here! Be you a good or a bad guy, you won't be saved like for example in Bleach. Series also have some unexpected deaths which will get you suprised.

Lots of action, constantly something is exploding and plot does not stop, it keeps moving. Once again Bleach will be an opposite example where fights lasted for years and barely moved a plot at all.

Lots of characters, some do have interesting and unique personalities.

A time skip with all grown up characters, you can see what happend to the characters later after they had won the war.


Now comes the time for minuses...
Despite having lots of action, it also most of the time has NO LOGIC what so ever! Things just happen out of nowhere with nothing to back up the outcome! A small robot suddenly transforms into a giantic space ship and so on, just how did it fit in there?! There is a lot more ridiculness like that! None of the actions have logic behind them (I mean the way fights go, not the reason to why fights happen in the first place), it just happens for the sake to happen and to provide something huge with huge explosions! If that's all you care about... well you will love it then.

The fact that there are lots of characters is also a minus because the biggest part of them has no personality at all, they are just stupid and plain, and know only how to press "FIRE!" button. How some of them managed to take big positions in councel and stuff is beyond me.

The famouse Kamina was a bad ass yet at the same time he did things without thinking and obviously payed the price for that, I guess that's a positive though.

The famouse Yoko... is there anything good about her except her looks? And she is freaking 14 at the beginning of the series! Yes she did have some nice and cool moments but most of the time she didn't do anything outstanding. Though in comparison to many, she actually had personality and brains which could think off far more useful things than just press "FIRE" button all the time so I guess she is not that bad.

The famouse time skip... also happened to be a minus... for one, characters and world had developed WAY TOO MUCH in such a short time! It is simply impossible! The plot did try to give explanation to such sudden change but it still does not fit right.

A lot of characters personalities had drasticly changed and there was never given a real explanation as to why that happened, at least not for everyone. Like for example one of 3 sisters who was all cheerful suddenly became all cold, why? I can't find logical explanation to such change myself.

Animation... No, not my cup. For one a lot of characters simply look ridiculous, their faces tend to get disordered and sometimes animation is simply rough! It doesn't happen always, but most of the time it just looked plain. The only well animated things were probably explosions and some details in Mechas.

Did I enjoy the series over all? Sorry, but no. There are some scenes I would like to re-watch but over all it is just a waste of time. How this series managed to get to the top is beyond me.

If creators tried to give at least some logic to how things were happening, it could have been good then.

However, if you just want to see mindlees explosiots without caring why it really happens, well I guess you'll love it then as many others did.

But if you want to see something with logic behind, to look at least a bit realistic... forget it, this series will never meet your expactations.

P.S. And don't give me a crap that Mecha never had logic. Just watch Code Geass or Full Metal Panic, space ships don't grow out of tiny robots! Even fricking TRANSFORMERS don't turn into huge space ships! Because they can't fit in them!

I totally can't understand how it became so popular! Even Haruhi's popularity makes more sence despite me giving it 3!

And just because you scream the loudest doesn't mean that you are the coolest. Kamina's death was a great example of that.

First of all, TTGL was not supposed to be logical at all, I think you kind of missed the point. The whole point of the show was to be kick ass and not have any logic attached. When I finished watching the anime, and I am sure many others as well, I felt a wave of sheer badass-ness (yes, I know it's not a word). Sure, Code Geass was a very logical show, as was death note. FMP had a more comedic feel to it, not very action oriented given the romance involved as well. All in all, I believe TTGL did something unique and was great! But your point of view is interesting as well. And also, what you said about kamina, it doesn't matter that he was the loudest nor the coolest because Kamina knew himself that he was nothing without Simon, his loud, cool persona is what Simon needed to excel.

[Cub-Sama]

I finally just finished watching this anime and I just had the biggest manly mindgasm of my life, I actually love this anime.

[grylsyjaeger]

Originally Posted by Cub-Sama

I finally just finished watching this anime and I just had the biggest manly mindgasm of my life, I actually love this anime.

I know right!?

Ore wa dare da omette yagaru!?

Words to live by right there.

[GreatTeacherKen]

Originally Posted by Cub-Sama

I finally just finished watching this anime and I just had the biggest manly mindgasm of my life, I actually love this anime.

Check the movies out if you haven't already, especially the second movie, Lagann-hen. The new final battle in that movie provides an even bigger manly mindgasm and makes the TV series version look tame.