what the fuck do you think this is?
Categories: anime, gurren lagann
Tagged: gurren lagann
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I absolutely, unconditionally, vehemently know. It’s win. Pure win.
Let’s just say I’m wildly impressed by the 21 year old Yoko. A while ago, the director for Gurren Lagann remarked that Yoko will grow up a lot during the time slip and that she’s quickly becoming the staff’s favorite character. I can see why. She retains her brutal sexuality, but instead of the eyes wide open lass first seeing the world — that real world with Kamina and Simon — she’s turned into a crusader. Unlike Nia and Simon who were content on living as is, unlike Rossiu who wasn’t content with what he had, and unlike the rest of the Gurren Brigade who wanted to relive the glories of the past, only Yoko seems to have grasped how special it is to be on the surface and below the pulsing sun. She understands what’s truly important, and, with that, she has matured more than Simon, Rossiu, and the rest. The loss of Kamina had a direct and immediate impact on Simon, but the change to Yoko was more thorough and longer… it’s clear that she values life more than she once did.
But let’s not forget why we <3 Yoko in the first place (remember, she trounced Nia 2:1 in the earlier poll)… I guess after not seeing her around for a while and playing backseat to Nia for even longer, we forget that Kamina– Kamina!– was hitting on her. It’s Kamina! He has great taste. She must be awesome, right? She exudes sexuality… not just any… confident sexuality. It’s almost the polar opposite of Mikuru.
(Putting 2:1 in perspective, you’re talking about Washington, Kennedy, FDR-levels of popularity. No small feat.)
And, yes, I loved the scene where she gets her guns (and mojo) back… even if the Ganmen attacking and holding Maosha hostage beyond contrived. It’s definitely a solid chill moment, kinda like Rocky training for the Clubber Lang rematch, Arnold gearing up for the last bloodbath in Commando, and Theodon/Aragorn/et al riding out out of Helm’s Deep to be greeted by Gandalf and Eomer. But Yoko has much, much more appetizing melonpan.
Plus she’s kicking more ass than she did pre-time slip. It must be the Vespa. It has to be the Vespa. Giving a Gainax heroine who happens to like shota is like giving Mario the Tanooki suit. Don’t mess with them at that point.
It’s almost like she has a new reason to fight that surpassed her old reason to fight. Before, she fought to protect her town– noble enough– and to travel with Kamina and Simon, but now she’s fighting for the future of all humanity. It’s not like anyone asked her to do this. She wanted to do this and views it as her reason for being. It’s more of the anti-Shinji Ikari that makes Gurren Lagann so much damn fun. Good stuff.
(In other news, the Evangelion remakes drop in like a month, and I’m roughly 100 times more excited about the ending to Gurren Lagann than Eva‘s Rocky Balboa-ish comeback. I have argued that moving on and creating new franchises is almost always better than remaking old series. Gurren Lagann is another example. I just hope this doesn’t lead to Gainax remaking Gurren Lagann 15 years from now.)
Lastly on Yoko, she’s taken stylistic cues from Kamina. She looks the same, yet it’s almost like she’s got some Kamina DNA in her (I don’t mean that way; you guys are sick), especially with her sunglasses and her attitude. It’s good to have Yoko back. All-Woman-And-Then-Some Yoko is a vast upgrade over the Sulking Yoko that perpetuated through too much of the Nia arc (which seems like ages ago based on how fast Gurren Lagann is propelling).
In other news, Darry is turning into the Erin Andrews of Gurren Lagann where any event is greatly validated by her presence. I’m probably the first anime blogger who makes a joke only people who watch MLB telecasts on ESPN would even hope to understand. Duck! It’s a foul ball!
Of course, with all this Yoko fawning, I haven’t even touched upon the “we knew it was coming but still act surprised anyway” plot twist of Viral piloting Gurren. It makes a lot of sense that, in the beginning scene of episode 1, a beastman was there with Simon on the bridge of Arc Gurren Lagann. It makes even more sense considering that humanity and beastmen along probably can’t take on the Han Rasen by themselves, but by joining forces, they can. It makes bigger sense that with how Kamina/Viral/Simon lived and fought, Viral would inherit Kamina’s spot as Viral was Kamina’s accepted equal. Rossiu’s just a twerp.
(You know it’s a great episode when something like Simon and Viral joining forces to save Rossiu’s ass isn’t even the main attraction. And, yes, Rossiu is the greatest failure of a leader in human history. At least W hasn’t… yet… caused the extinction of mankind due to his paranoia… and at least Cornelius Oswald Fudge realized his folly…)
Finally, we leave off with Boota. Some things never change.
21 Responses to “what the fuck do you think this is?”
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[quote post=”1143″]She looks the same, yet it’s almost like she’s got some Kamina DNA in her (I don’t mean that way; you guys are sick)[/quote]
And this, is our blogger.
I’m confused on how you hype this show up so much on how much you love it and then on most of your lucky star posts you end up downplaying it quite a lot, yet you’ve blogged consistently on Lucky Star and only a few select eps of this series.
LoL, vague topic title btw.
I fucking agree! Awesome episode.
This is priority one! – Jason must write Yoko VS Mizuho, dr jack style post.
Surely i can’t be the only one to point out how overwelmingly gay the last two episodes have been? Maybe i’ve just been on /a too long, all the fanart getting to me.
THE UNION OF FATE
What a kick ass episode.
[quote post=”1143″]She looks the same, yet it’s almost like she’s got some Kamina DNA in her [/quote]
I feels that a lot of characters in this show inherit Kamina DNA by this point. But yeah, Yoko is the best of them all!
It’s great to see Yoko come back (and especially in such a spectacular manner). It is also amazing how much Gainax can do with just 26 eps. Compares to some show that have, like 51-65 eps but never really goes anywhere.
It’s interesting to see how Simon and gang will turns them self into Captain Harlock (and how kick ass they will become). My guess is that we’re in for another (minor) time slip before the series ends.
Just as you said, Jason, can’t wait to see how it all ends. :D
PS. And I can’t wait for Simon to gives Rossiu a good, hard bitch slap.
Hm… that didn’t sounds right is it?
Yeah. Yoko is pretty awesome. Nia, get back in the game! NOW. Well atleast Darry is there~ How many episodes are left of GL?
[quote post=”1143″]How many episodes are left of GL?[/quote]
5 more, I believe.
Ummm… What the fuck…
Baka-updates.com hasnt had a new episode in months…. still sitting at episode 13…. but apparently there is a time skip? Did the series get a name change, or is it somewhere else? I am greatly confused…
Wow, then I have one reason to watch Guren Lagan…
I stopped watching Gurren Lagann after it got licensed, but what I’d seen so far was completely awesome and exhilarating, and whenever you think the coolest parts are over, more coolness appears. And it looks like this continues through the episodes I haven’t seen and across the time slip. I’ve committed to buying the DVDs as soon as they appear.
Seriously, you need to ditch that Lucky Star banner and put up a Gurren Lagann banner in its place. Yoko’s glasses alone are about 10x more awesome than maid outfit clumsy Kagami and Tsukasa.
Twin docking still has its merits no matter what. Though a Yoko x Darry twin docking for the banner would be awsome.
@Saotome: The series is licensed, you aren’t going to find it through the usual channels. My friend is probably going to by the DVD’s when they come out, so it’ll be good to see it on a real TV in High Definition.
@Turambar: That’s Symmetrical Docking. See Yuusha-Oh Gaogaigar for a point of reference on where the term originated and then check http://www.Dra-Mata.com for how via a Super Robot Wars 4-Koma it eventually made it’s way into the popular usage it has now.
@Sixten: Seconded.
Teacher Yoko is fine. But I still think she’s a poor man’s Mizuho. If you want glasses and melonpan, Yomiko Readman wins by a notch.
yoko = yomiko + nancy as far as i’m concerned. why couldn’t i have had teachers like that?
I’m beginning to wonder if that really WAS Simon in the space battle part. What if it was a scene from the past, the LAST time they fought the Anti-Spirals?
I’ll have to watch the first episode again.
Hmmm. Okay, so either there’s been a lot of coincidences linking to the past, or that IS a flash forward. Still, this is Gainax. It wouldn’t be the first time they use the whole ‘Cyclical time’ thing, would it?
can some one please help me!?!? were can i find and get this again i havnt watched it sense baka-updates stoped listing it
[quote post=”1143″]can some one please help me!?!? were can i find and get this again i havnt watched it sense baka-updates stoped listing it[/quote]
Try searching for it at http://www.mininova.org, should be there subbed by [BSS-Anon]
TY so much
I agree I still take Mizuho by a slim margin, but yoko’s little “let him stand on his own,….good boy” with the pat on the head. Just terrific…. my eyes lite up like the kid’s did in the anime. Why couldn’t any of my teachers been that good looking… >_>