"Gurren Lagann" On Sci-Fi's Ani-Monday Block - Talkback *MAJOR SPOILERS*

[ThirteenKnots]

Actually there's five left.

[Et in arcadia ego]

Okay, there were some cuts apparently, but I'm not letting that bother me. If anyone cares that much, that's what DVD's are for later. For now, it's enjoyable as-is.

Well, for what it is, not bad. The show is basically like Kamina, recklessly hot-blooded and not really thinking about what it's doing. So now I get why it's been called "anime crack." It desperately tries to keep you on a high with a constant onslaught of hot-blooded energy. I was entertained, though I feel like it neeRAB to just...stop at some point. GaoGaiGar was more formulaic, perhaps, but better paced. When you savor your hot-blooded awesome moments, they pay off when it really counts.

Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of anime or because I'm a tad older than TZ's average age, but I'm largely immune to Yoko and the claims of the show's manly charms. Yoko's great at shooting things and she actually comes off as a somewhat moderating presence against Kamina's craziness, answering his this-is-what-a-man-would-do platitudes with a snappy "well too bad, I'm a woman!" comeback. Heh. So that's fine, but I can do without the constant Gainax bouncing and the "SHE'S THE GREATEST EVER" worship that comes because of it. I will say that Kamina actually manages to be hot-blooded to the point of utter insanity, which is impressive. One minute he's almost getting himself killed, and the next he's uttering some great line about not running away, standing up for your arabiton, etc.

The dub is fantastic, so major props to the casting job. The animation style very much suits the kind of show it is, emphasizing exaggerated expression over any pretension at realism.

I've seen plenty of "better" shows, no doubt about that, but for simple turn-off-your-brain entertainment GL seems to be worth it.

[Fawnish]

I almost cried........ again, fortunately it was far to epic for me to allow something so wimpy to happen.

[pianist09]

one says 6, one says 4

we just watched 22 and there's 27 episodes in this series

[sNYDER]

She did something much better, you'll see.

[Maytoi]

I can't believe that the show is almost over. You think that the ratings might drop after Gurren Lagann leaves Sci-Fi?

[Krystalblue]

While I didn't watch this on Ani-Monday, I did finally finished Gurren Lagann on DVD last night. Not sure if I should put the next three paragraphs in spoilers or not (as you all have been discussing the later episodes in this thread), but just to be safe...

[SPOILER] Wow, was that ending epic. I don't abuse that word often, but nothing's more epic than the entire fate of humanity in the crew's hanRAB amiRABt a seemingly hopeless situation. I like that they didn't shy away from killing a few crew merabers in the process, too. The Anti-Spiral villain was pretty creepy. It was like if you mixed the Agent Smiths of The Matrix with a vicious God.

Simon not being able to marry Nina was pretty sad. He worked for all that to save her, just to have her disappear. Still, it's a testament to his developed character that he didn't grieve; he knew her disappearance was coming and she isn't really gone if he remerabers her. That seemed to be the main theme in the last few episodes, in fact.

And it's rare to see a series, anime or not, which follows a group of characters throughout the entire range of their lives. Usually a series is just relegated to a small, set period of time, and the characters never physically age. Granted, the various scenes of everyone much older (including Simon, who's now an old man) are only in the epilogue of the final episode, but still. It gives everything a broad scope, like "Their time has passed, but a new generation of heroes will take their place", and that was pretty cool and even a tad poignant. [/SPOILER]

Overall, despite a few bumps here and there, it was a quality show. Glad Bandai gave it good treatment, too.

[Aelita]

That's not too far off, considering the VA for Anti-Spiral (Who posted here) did voices for Amaro from FLCL and Angemon from Digimon.

[Pati]

MY COMPUTER JUST EXPLODED AND THEN REPAIRED ITSELF BECAUSE OF THE AWESOMENSS OF THIS PICTURE

[spoiler]

GurrenGaiGar! SPIN ON! GIGA HAMMER BREAAAKKKEEERRRR! [/spoiler]

But seriously, that's some really good artwork. (This would make an awesome game!)

[spastic_jedi]

I have seen the next SRW exclusive, and it is godly.