Anime Review: Gurren Laggan

Review Gurren LagganWritten by WarpshadowRating Excellent!

Many people have said that Gurren Laggan was great before I did and if you have heard or read their words let me just say that those people are very, very right.

Simon was a just a boy with the job of digging tunnels to expand his underground village. He had no parents but was not lonely since he had an older brother figure Kamina to look up to. One day he discovered a small drill and kept it as a personal token. The drill he discovered was in fact the key to a powerful but small mecha that Kamina named Lagann. When a robotic monster called a gunman fell into the village Simon fought it off but in the process reached the surface in what was only the opening curtain on the story of a man who will not only pierce the heavens but also change the universe with his drill.

At their core mecha shows are kind of dumb but that is part of the fun. In this I think the idea behind Gurren Lagann was to create a show that's even stupider than therefore even more fun. The idea worked. What makes this show special is that it makes no real attempt at genre subversion but manages to keep from feeling like a copy of another story. If you are looking for a straightforward mecha action show that lionizes courage and believing in yourself above all else then finding a better show than Gurren Lagann would be a difficult task.