Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (AKA Pierce the Heavens Gurren Lagann) is an epic anime from the people who brought you FLCL and Neon Genesis Evangelion. And I don't use epic like some l33t freak (like I usually use it). This anime DEFINES epic. Epic makes something sound so huge and awesome that it blows your mind. 'Blows your mind' being another overused term. But this story does it. The story, and sound, the characters, the ANIMATION. They pull off a feel so epic YOUR MIND IS LEFT A STEAMING PILE OF AWESOME! If this show was nuclear, it would give off EPIC like RADIOACTIVITY!!!
Some of you may have just gone CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT! I'll get to that, lol.
Anyways, although it could come off as a "Plot" anime, I'd give this a pretty firm "Emotional" label. This show doesn't exactly "mess with you" and work hard to get you feeling the characters. It just makes a great journey, and adds such epicness you can't comprehend it. What I realized was this: a lot of shows for kids like Power Rangers were on the right track; everything getting stronger and more powerful and better all the time is a good idea. It's just tough to pull off without being totally cheesy. No, this anime isn't much like Power Rangers, heh heh. But the main characters CONSTANTLY get stronger, find more power, and more courage to go on, every time seeming like there's nothing left. Which seems tiering and dull, but IT'S NOT! You've never seen that done right, unless you've seen this show.
This show starts with Simon's bland life drilling deeper and deeper below the surface, and his meeting with an interesting (but pwntastic) fellow named Kamina. Soon Yoko and the Ganmen (Mecha) known as Lagann show up, and the adventure builds from there. And it seems too not stop, getting BIGGER and MORE AMAZING! The QUOTES give the show SO MUCH POWER! From "Yours is the drill that will PIERCE THE HEAVENS" to the awesome move known as "GIGA DRILL BREAKER", you scream "YES!!!" with every statement!!! I don't really know how to describe how much more it is than what I've said.
I'll say the animation kills. The action scenes have a gritty powerful feel (reflected in the picture above). It feels like Grafitti and RAW POWER and the constant feel of EXPLODING ABUNDANT SUPER ENERGY just attacks your very soul with its EXTREME INSANITY!
...there I go again using dramatic phrases, lol. I would recommend NOT looking up backgrounds and pictures for this show unless you have finished most or all of it, since they can spoil it. Also, Yoko fan pics (the mildly clothed lady) can be abundant. I purposefully left out some pics I wanted badly, because they were slightly spoiling.
If you don't enjoy Mecha's very much, don't worry, they don't actually put much emphasis on it, more on the peopel inside, and its done very originally (very little resemblance to anything like Gundam and whatnot).
I guess it wont hurt to tell some of the actual plot, heh. Simon and Kamina meet up with Yoko, find a Ganmen, and meet up with more humans who were living underground, and form the Gurren Brigade. They fight to defeat the beastmen, and Lord Genome the Helix King. But that's really only the beginning...
Oh, and like most good anime, if you have a soul, it will make you cry... I cried 3+ times that I know of.
Sub vs Dub = Well, I watched it all in Japanese with subtitles. I then went and watched a small part in English, and almost died. It was a disgrace. I was sad even for the characters I did not like, who sounded ridiculously idiotic. A few voices were fine, and the mainest bad guy even had Amaro's voice (from FLC) which I like. Just suck it up and watch it in Japanese, since I dunno if its even all released in English yet. Also, if you have the option, go for Black Order fansubs. I got a complete set of episodes that had varying subtitle groups, and most of the other ones had more profanity and sucked major.
Content = Okay, we'll get straight to it. Yoko. Her outfit is pretty much a bikini top and tight shorts. There's nothing sexual in the show, nor any blatant nudity. But the outfits can push it. Most of the people don't have too much of a problem besides her, including the other main girl character (who is portrayed innocent and ignorant). Sometimes in action scenes and when moving in Ganmen (Mechs), there's some unnecessary movement... if you know what I mean. The language is pretty low, especially if you get a good subtitle group. One of the main phrases is "Who the hell do you think we are?" which you'll want to say after seeing the series ;) Violence is very mild, lotsa fighting but no blood. I would still call these a pretty decent series, though I'd put a 13+ label on it. Not so much bad, but more "improper".
Sound = ANOTHER GREAT SOUNDTRACK!!! Most anime does have a good soundtrack. Almost all have good theme songs. This is no exception. The theme is another just plain wonderful female j-pop song, and the two ending themes are nice medium rock j-pop tunes. The show itself has some good rap (weird, huh?), some mild techno, and epic sounding orchestrations. It even has some opera-style vocal work. Not only these, but tracks of combinations of these styles. There's one song for the most intense battles, which has rap-techno-orchestra-opera all in it, and it PULLS IT OFF. I'd recommend getting the two soundtracks. Sadly, the opening and endings aren't included. Oh, and there's a second opening, but its only on one episode in the middle.
Specials = I figured we needed this category for this review, since there are significant specials to know about. I'm including links to the specials on YouTube for your convenience. First is the OVA. Actually, there's two. (OVA means Original Video Animation.) One is an extended episode, which I think you'll get automatically anywhere you get the series. The other is a short side-story properly labeled episode 5.5, try to watch it between eps 5 and 6. Another special is the Gurren Lagann Parallel Works. It contains what are more like music videos to some of the show's songs. But most have some kind of story to them based off the series. I'll warn you now that video 5 (which was actually removed in the YouTube link below) has nudity. Then there's Viral's Sweet Dream, a really short one that's pretty funny. Lastly, there's a music video thing with Yoko that has LOTS of fanservice called S.t.a.r.S (that happens to be very catchy).
Category: Emotional
Length: 24 Episodes - 2 OVAs (Extended Episode, Episode 5.5) - 8 Specials (Gurren Lagann Parallel Works) - 1 Special (Viral's Sweet Dream) - etc.
Japanese Title: Tengen Toppa Guren Ragan
Year: 2007
Studio: Gainax
Opening Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YorRbV_Op9A (NOTE: There is one opening song, but 4 opening videos. Don't watch 2-4, they WILL spoil)
Ending Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4emHb-1MTQ
Ending Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kw7B6eLvDU
Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengen_Toppa_Gurren_Lagann
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6698
Stream (Jap/EngSub): http://www.animecrunch.com/episodes/tengen-toppa-gurren-lagann/
Download/Stream (English...): http://www.veoh.com/collection/glengdub1/watch/v16697417BER5dn7z
Download (Jap/EngSub): http://animestash.info/anime/show/1032 (RECOMENDED!!!)
Stream OVA 5.5 (Jap/EngSub): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKrciHnuOIc
Stream Parallel Works (No Dialog): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5D860D8107AAB0A4&v=kdZH3mT82vU
Viral's Sweet Dream (Jap/Eng Sub): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Myq0y9Fl2A
S.t.a.r.S featuring Yoko (No Dialog): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5RyKfgOYPI
OST 1 Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3QYJAHMR
OST 2 Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ger9yg54
Character Songs Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DLFL896Q
In Summary - Great anime! My second favorite ever! Overpowering greatness and emotion. If you are 13 or older, I'd recommend this to you. A little bit of inappropriate stuff, but not enough for me to say not to watch it. Check out this amazing power in a story!!! But please avoid the English dub, you lazy bum ;)
