Gurren Lagann Is Insane Fun

I recently finished Gurren Lagann, and I can honestly say there’s nothing else like it. This is a unique anime for many reasons. Needless to say, some major spoilers are ahead, so if you plan on watching this and want to be surprised, maybe check back in after you’ve watched it all.

The basic plot of Gurren Lagann revolves around a band of humans trying to fight beast-men, a frightening race that rules the world and wants to eradicate all the humans. When that storyline runs its course, our heroes have to fight against a cosmic danger known as the Anti-Spiral or else the Earth will be destroyed. It’s also a mecha anime, and so all the fighting takes place using giant robots. At the center of it all is Simon, a boy piloting the most important gunman in the world and the one who needs to grow up and learn to be the savior of the Earth.

The plot sounds simple enough, but the synopsis doesn’t do the show justice at all. The animation and humor in this show is one of a kind. For anyone familiar with a show like Kill la Kill, it’s the same animators behind it. Gurren Lagann is filled with bright colors, goofy and exaggerated shapes and character design, and vivid action sequences. The robots, or gunmen as they’re called, are basically giant faces with arms and legs. Physics are basically thrown out the window with some of these designs, and it’s so wonderfully absurd. All the wild elements make every second of this show a blast to experience. It’s fast moving, hard hitting, and stays with you long after you’ve finished watching.

Amazingly, the show never really stops. What I love is that it’s pretty much broken into two halves, one fighting the Spiral King and another fighting the Anti-Spiral. The Spiral King nonsense is crazy in itself with the giant mecha battles and insane explosions, but the Anti-Spiral arc hits you over the head immediately. The characters get aged up a few years, Earth is prospering, and, oh yeah, the moon is a giant robot about to crash into the planet since the human population has just reached one million. Totally normal, right? Wrong. The final battle with the Anti-Spiral involves all our main characters together in one giant gunman fighting the Anti-Spiral’s giant gunman in space. They literally pick up galaxies and solar systems and throw them at each other like frisbees. I’m not making this up. The stakes are so high, and the grand cosmic scale of it all makes for some incredible energy and imagery.

While we’re talking about imagery, the animation really is something spectacular here. The explosions aren’t always normal fiery-orange spectacles. Often they’ll be green, blue, and even rainbow in some cases. I also love the absurdity of the designs. The Spiral King, the leader of the beast-men, literally lives in a big spiral. In reality, that kind of structure would never hold up. It’s the same for a lot of the gunmen. A lot of them should be top heavy and unable to move effectively. The characters, as well, have wild designs. When they get hyped up and ready for battle, the lines get darker and sharper, the shapes more exaggerated, and it glues the viewer to the screen. It works so well for the comedic and intense elements in the show. I’ve never seen such a creative use of animation, and for that reason alone I’d recommend it.

The comedy is also pretty sharp. The characters banter back and forth and I genuinely laugh every episode. The absurdity of it all adds to the humor as well. The way our humans get out of sticky situations and overcome their problems are so zany that you can’t help but crack up. I mean, half the time the main gunmen, Gurren Lagann, saves the day by magically producing drills to fight. One episode, it looks like that’s the biggest drill that it can possibly make. The next episode? Surprise! It’s another even bigger drill! This is one of the funniest anime I’ve ever seen, hands down.

What makes the humor even better is that there are parts to this show that hit hard emotionally. Namely, the early death of Kamina, Simon’s “Big Bro” and mentor. He’s not exactly a warm and fuzzy character, but there’s something charming about him. He’s enthusiastic and optimistic, and it’s infectious to everyone watching. He immediately became my favorite character, and watching him go was devastating. It might be one of the saddest anime deaths that I’ve seen in some time.

I also think there are some important messages from the show. They’re common in many anime, like “believe in yourself,” and “never give up,” but the delivery is what helps it hit home. The characters are super obvious and will literally scream inspirational messages at each other, or just out loud to themselves. My favorite is Kamina’s message to Simon whenever the young boy gets down on himself. He says that he believes in Simon no matter what, and even if Simon doesn’t believe in himself, he should. “Believe in the me that believes in you.” I love this! It builds a bond between the two while also lifting up Simon. I’m also a huge fan of another Kamina catchphrase that becomes the catchphrase of Simon and the human fighters known as Team Gurren: “Just who the hell do you think I am!” It’s defiant, it’s badass, and it makes me want to yell at anyone who doubts me. There are times when things seem hopeless in Gurren Lagann, but they normally only last for one episode, and the tide is always turned against the bad guys. It’s nice to watch an action-packed, intense show that doesn’t depress you every episode.

Gurren Lagann is an experience. I describe it as chugging 57 cans of Monster energy drinks in a row. That may not sound appealing, but I promise you the show is. In the span of a long weekend, it became one of my favorite anime series of all time, so give it a shot. Believe in the me that believes in this show!