Review - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

So I just finished my second watch of this one about 30 minutes ago. This is my SECOND favorite anime of all time!!! (See my profile and top 5 list here: MyAnimeList.Net - JacFalcon) When I first finished it, I said it was my second favorite, but I wasn't honestly sure, since most anime (even if you think it's "okay") gives you a huge hype from it (which a lot of movies, songs, stories do). But after the second watch I realized how truly amazing it was...

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 ;)

Review - Infinite Ryvius

I decided to do my first review on something I had a fresh watch of... in fact, I watched the whole series twice... in 5 days (FYI, very hard).

In general, I'm still debating how much I should tell about an anime in my reviews. I enjoy knowing nothing about an anime when I go into it, lol. But I know must people reading don't just wanna spend 7 hours watching a series to find out it wasn't something they liked. (Personally, I have enjoyed almost every series I have watched.)


So anyways, I'll give a plot rundown, then go into some specific aspects of the show.

Infinite Ryvius is the story of about 500 teenagers who get stuck on a spaceship... in space. Most of the adults are killed by a mysterious group. This causes the research ship (and training facility on-board) to plunge into a dangerous part of space known as the Gedult. The last of the Adults sacrifice their lives to save the students on board.

But that's only the first 2 episodes. From then on its changes in leaders to individual relationship problems. You wonder who will lead, and if they will make the right choices. You also follow many different individual characters as they try to figure out their place aboard the ship, along with their relationships with the other characters. Angry brothers, a dangerous past, selfish motives, choices of the past or future... all cause turmoil in the characters' lives. And you never find a character you agree with the whole time. everyone is so realistically portrayed.

Of course, there is some relief from the stress. There's the occasional comedy relief, and reoccurring characters such as Radan (Pillow Boy, who has nothing on but a pillow) and the girl always in the Dinosaur costume.

Prepare to have your emotions tweaked with and feel a strange sense of closeness to the characters. Because it is so realistic, it brings you into it. You feel the emotions of each character as the show goes on.

Now form the plot and characters, here's some other info.
=Sub vs Dub - I watched this anime in English (the main character has Lan from Megaman's voice). I did see about 5 min of it in Jap on YouTube. It's abotu the same, in my opinion. So whichever one you watch first, you are gonna prefer that one from then on (that's how it works, lol).

=Content - Okay, this is a pretty decent anime. Biggest problem is probably language, and even that's not too bad. It's got some Hells and some D*mns, and a few Bas****s. Nothing sexual. Not too violent (the only thing being the silhouette of a girl choking another girl). There's an outline of a girl in the theme song (explained at the end of the series) who appears naked, though has no features. The only other thing, is a small but plot significant mentioning of incest. My sister watched this show. It's fine. I would give it PG 13 because of language. (Oh, and I later remembered, there's 2 bits of fan service, where you get a quick view of a girl's panties... but it's not that bad. PANTSU!)

=Sound - Great soundtrack. I downloaded it right after I finished the show. Awesome opening, good ending. There are 2 main soundtracks, plus a remix album (called Soundtrack 3 for some reason, though the remixes aren't in the show). A lot of the tracks are quieter orchestrational pieces. But on contrast, there's a theme of Hip-Hop to the show. About 6 tracks have nice hip-hop beats.

=Specials - There are some bonus weird episodes on my DVD set (from Anime Legends). Some are weird storys of randomness and humor, and others are just general info from peopel like the voice actors. Weird.

=Adaptions - I recently purchased the Infinite Ryvius manga. It's two volumes, and not available to download online. It was 7.50 from rightstuf.com. It's the same story, but from the viepoint of Aoi (the main female character). Sadly, the content level is higher, as they had to put some TMI (too much information) in there... sigh... Still interesting.

Category: Emotional
Length: 26 Episodes - # Specials (Weird Bonuses on the DVD)
Japanese Title: Mugen No Ryvius
Year: 1999
Studio: Sunrise
Opening Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlg_uOqn0y4
Ending Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s4fB0rs9fc
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Ryvius
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=411
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718557665&v=feed&story_fbid=42036792665#/pages/Infinite-Ryvius/40769664354?ref=s

Download (Jap/EngSub): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/infinite-ryvius
OST (Soundtrack): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/infinite-ryvius
Stream (Jap/engSub): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=791CCC46217C8994
Purchase on DVD ($21): http://kcdvd.com/InfiniteRyvius.html

In summary, I would recommend this anime to almost anyone. It's not on my top sharing list, which would include FMA, FLCL, Trigun and Scrapped Princess, but after you have seen a few, or even if you haven't, this one is worth your time.

Categories?!?!?!

Okay! For a while I had said "There is twos of the kinds of anime!" Just like the way that statement was written, so is it's actual content: Silly.

I currently have decided on five kinds. Maybe I'll find more as I watch more, but the main point is the dominant trait and general effect the anime has on you. They fit distinctly in these categories. So lets begin.

=Plot
"OMG! Didn't see that coming!" This is pretty basic. You know some things, you want to know some others. You are glad that you found out some things you didn't even know you didn't know, lol. You pretty much are on an adventure with the character(s) to figure out What, Why, and other little questions. (If you like M Night Shyamalan movies, you'd probably be into this.)
-Fullmetal Alchemist - A series full of twists, where you at first merely want to know what's going to happen. But that is quickly de-prioritized when you get into story that dives deeper into conspiracy and the history of civilizations.
-Scrapped Princess - Starting off on another seemingly plain Medieval adventure, things quickly stop adding up, and you realize that your automatic assumptions of this adventure have been misconceived! It's already far beyond that!

=Emotional
"OH! Poor guy, what's he gonna do?" An interesting category I realized recently. A story that attempts to pull you in by giving you tons of the feelings of the characters. Sometimes just one, or stacking it upon you through multiple. These series can make you physically sick if you let yourself feel the full effect. Yet, you'll enjoy it all. Whether its happy or sad, its amazing to feel their emotions. You'll sit and ponder for a while afterwards too, and listen to the Soundtrack for something that revives the joys of the series.
-Eflen Lied - A story with characters in seemingly impossible to solve situations full of violent hatred and strange love, leaving you twisting and turning because of the worry of any outcome possible! Death brings good and bad, but so does life...
-Infinite Ryvius - You are thrust along with 500 teenagers into a bad situation: stranded in space. You feel everything from dozens of characters love and relational problems, to the problems of groups... to the group of 500 as a whole. Feeling every side of every argument, there's realistically no one to fully stand by for the whole show. The small bits of humor only makes it more realistic and gripping, and the drama only gets deeper.

=Comedy
"LOL! That was pretty ironic how that happened!" Pretty common! This element, like the others, exists in all at least a LITTLE bit. You laugh at jokes that make sense, and the sad/funny Irony the characters encounter. Also, this is most commonly paired with Romance anime.
-Ah! My Goddess - An amusing story of the guy who happens to be stuck with a beautiful goddess for life. Humor ensues from ignorance, jealousy, and downright crazy characters, and yet it brings wonderful joy to watch.
-Ranma ½ - Very old school. A great story of a the boy Ranma and his father who are cursed. When they fall in cold water, they become a girl and a Panda, and only hot water changes them back! The humor begins when Ranma's father betroths him to a girl... who doesn't know about his curse!

=Random
"WUT? That really makes no sense!" Some may argue this falls under comedy. And it is funny, but it is usually very distinct when an anime is trying for Sensible or Senseless humor. Still ironic, but in a slapstick style, as opposed to a realistic irony that a character suffers. Sometimes not intended to even be humorous.
-Bobobo Bobobobo - Random? Purely! This is about as random as I've seen or heard of. Tons of crazy zainy humor with a plot for nothing more as something to keep things moving. Crazy good, crazy funny, crazy craizee!
-FLCL (Furi Kuri, Fooly Cooly) - A strange story involving bizarre characters with a weird adventure! You not quite sure if anything matters, and assume it doesn't. However, it does! Sit and force yourself to stand the random, and by the end you'll be satisfied!

=Aesthetic
"AH! How appealing to my eyes and ears!" The thing is, I have never seen an anime series that is Aesthetic. However, almost every movie I've seen that isn't part of a series, has fallen under this Category! You watch and are amazed at he artwork, the battles, the adventure. Oh, and the music, too! Always with a plot, but a dominance of visual appeal.
-Howl's Moving Castle - A great adventure of magical magnitudes with... a mobile castle. Funny characters, amazing battles, interesting story. It really appeals to the mind so well!
-Steamboy - One of the least Aesthetic Anime movies I've seen. But it's still under that category. It's about a boy who's father and grandfather have developed a small orb which can power insane amounts of things through steam! With amazing gadgetry and great industrial age appeal, Steamboy also provide a significant amount of adventure, and an accurate look into many kinds of crazy people ;)

All anime I know of is dominated by one of those themes. They usually have ALL elements, but its great to know specifically what you're dealing with.

Oh, but a lot of people want to hear about:
=Romance
"OOO! They finally got together..." The problem is, I've never seen/heard of an anime Dominated by this category, and EVERY single one has had this in it. Most anime that seems dominated by this, is usually dominated at least a little more... by comedy. So I don't count it as one of the main 5. Common interest, love triangles, uncomfortable situations; it all sets up for the addition to the main plot.

That's it! I'll usually describe an anime with these a lot, so its best to know them. It will also help you find which anime you like better! These are nothing more than my experience, but as my Anime List shows, I do have a lot of that (and it grows nearly every day). I also hope to rate some Manga also!

Konbanwa!