let’s go, my friends
Categories: anime, gurren lagann
Tagged: gurren lagann
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A hero beyond heroes. A mecha beyond mecha. An epic beyond epics. Gurren Lagann.
Contrary to what some other people are saying, no, this episode is not a Gainax mindfuck. I’m not watching this going, “Mmm… I have clue why they are doing this.” Gurren Lagann‘s ultimate move may have been dodging the dreaded Gainax ending curse. Of course, it needed a limitness supply of awesome spiral energy to undo the curse, but nonetheless.
I guess a quick recap. For people who may have been born after 1996, Gainax had a series called Evangelion. For many reasons, it is an important stepping stone in the evolution of anime and anime genres, but Gainax crapped out at the end, having run out of budget. Instead of a real ending, they tossed out scribbles and lots of creative nonsense. For many, it is a topic of endless debate. For others, it was a stain spot on an otherwise legendary series. It was an ending not deserving of the show.
The next series that Gainax worked on, Kare Kano, blew open some major doors for the typical school days romance genre. Watching it back then, well, it was a great show that sucked you in… up until episode 19 when they ran out of source material and started making up crap as they went along. They turned a cheery, funny romantic comedy into something heavier and more brooding than One Tree Hill. Another ending not deserving of the show.
After Kare Kano was Mahoromatic… honestly… there wasn’t anything they could do since the manga ended that way, but we got the Cowboy Bebop ending. Great for Cowboy Bebop; awful for a harem comedy featuring a retired combat meido. The corpse pile, rightly or wrongly, for Gainax endings just keeps growing.
For Gurren Lagann, the past few episodes have been terrific. Following AoMM’s Spiral Plot Progression Theorem (buried in that post, if you can make it past the Darry x Yoko fanservice), everything has been amped up and logical. This episode is really no exception. The anti-spirals realized that they can’t match up mono v. mono against Chouginga Gurren Lagann, so they cheat.
Feeding people their fantasies (or at least a comfortable life minus spiral energy) and pretending its real to keep their real selves occupied? It’s been used many, many times before. From Ban’s jagan in Getbackers to Stargate SG-1 (the episode where the natives don’t want visitors from the Stargate and starve their prey this way… I watch too much sci-fi… but you probably know this already) to Star Trek. And I think I’ll use that… Star Trek used it famously in two places, the Gurren Lagann 26 seems to combine the two concepts. In one episode of TNG, Riker gets trapped by an alien that makes it think he is living his ideal life in a Holodeckish fantasy to keep him from leaving that planet. He eventually finds a flaw in the fantasy presented and breaks free. In the movie Generations, Kirk gets trapped in the temporal rift, leaving the ideal life. Picard eventually goes there to fetch him for the final battle. This episode is very similar, with the anti-spirals trapping what’s left of the Gurren Brigade with the ghost of Kamina playing the Picard role.
I can accept Memory Kamina since that’s how Riker breaks his bonds, and it’s fitting that Kamina has such an overpowering impression on Simon that Simon feeds off of that and uses that remembered strength to break free. It also reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie with Luke Perry, not the WB series with SMG) where Dracula is about to bite into Buffy and asks, “I have defeated all the other vampire slayers. What makes you so different?” Then Buffy pulls out hair spray and uses it to light him on fire. “My fashion sense!” Kinda like that. What makes Simon different from all the Spiral Knights (Lord Genome included) different is that Simon had Kamina. Out of all the variables that the anti-spirals could have anticipated, they forgot the Kamina.
In that respect, the appropriate way to finish off the final boss is to use their trump card, and that’s where Memory Kamina comes in. As great as the other members of the Gurren Brigade are, they wouldn’t be where they are without him… and we’re reminded of that once again.
Let’s Go, My Friends
Gotta love how right this scene is. They’re at the place where they had their moment, and Kamina’s showing her what’s she’s really capable of. Even if I think she can do better than Kittan. They’re also quiet, like there’s a silent understanding between them. Very fitting. Now if I can get a nice HQ image of Yoko in her wedding dress, don’t think I’ll be making a first wives club 3.0… or wait is it 4.0 post…
The most interesting fantasy has to be Viral’s. It reminds me of all the hardened warriors in ancient lore (or at least in recent movies like Gladiator and 300) where their idyllic dream is to go back to their wife and child… only the call of battle keeps them from it.
(The most boring was Darry and Gimmy challenging Azuma and Kanmuri in the Monaco Cup. Now that’s a series that was running on the fumes at the end.)
Also makes a lot of sense that Boota is the one with Simon at the beginning of episode one. Though it does imply that everyone else is dead. Yoko… no! Darry… no! This is gonna be tragic.
Wait, Nia is the new Green Lantern? Seriously, it’s a twist on the old damsel-in-distress if the damsel can summon the fire breathing dragon to save her.
And, yes, Chouginga Gurren Lagann is awesome. Didn’t need to be said, but I’m saying it anyway.
33 Responses to “let’s go, my friends”
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Partly I agree with you. Gurren Lagaan is simply amazing, when it comes to animation an detail.
But the storyline only had one thing that suprised me, which now makes more sense and that was the death of Kamina. Yoko finding a new love, Kittan dying, most of the crew dying was written out quite fast.
And how do you beat an overwhelming fysical power? beat it with mind tricks. Then it´s easy.
And the anti-spirals thought that would be enough. Don´t think they forgot about Kamina or such, but for this they thought giving Simoun Kamina back would be good enough. Given Kamina acts more like Simoun than Kamina well it would have ended anyway…
I do want to see more of Viral´s dream. As you said it was the most intresting and for me the only one who really mattered.
It´s going to be kinda nice to see the show end, since it was so dull, got great, went back to dull and now is a mix of greatness and dullnes.
With this episode, Gurren Lagann is now officially the anti-Evangelion.
You only have to look at how characters in GL deals with Anti-Spirals mind fucks to see this. If this were Eva (or other shows) we would have surely see a lot of characters break down, lost them self in the fantasy, etc. and having the next 3 or more episodes spent on nothing more than each character’s monologue telling the audiences how depressed or insecure they are (a la Eva).
Not so with GL casts, as we have seen. Simon and every characters in GL is the complete opposite of Evangelion. They have so much confident, so much energy and power that nothing can hurt or dampening they spirit.
It looks like Gainax have finally surpass they former creation. Just like how Eva unleashed Ikari Shinji (and the trend of sissy protagonist) a pond us, Gurren Lagann have unleash Kamina and Simon, a lead characters that have infinite confident and energy, onto the world. And after having stuck with Shinji and his clones for almost 10 years, I’m more then delighted to welcome the change. May they be as many Gurren Lagann ‘inspires’ anime as Eva! :)
PS. Did anyone know what is Japanese reaction to GL? I know that most anime bloggers love it, but what is it like in Japan? Is it big? I really hope it’s a hit. This show deserves that much.
An interesing thing about the short sequence with Viral is the fact that beastmen can’t breed (remember Lord Genome’s little conversation with him before he was given ‘immortality’?). It seems that even a hardened warrior like Viral yearns peace at the end of the day.
Another interesting thing about the short sequence with Viral is the fact that his wife isn’t Adiane, but someone who looks suspiciously like Zelda.
Those who know the “link” between Zelda and Viral would know what Gainax was referencing. :P
Episode 27 will probably rip a giant hole in my heart.
That, or the universe implodes from awesome.
We should just have an agreement to all run out of our homes screaming it’s the end of the world after 27. Would be interesting to see the news that night.
This was a terrific episode. I had shills going down my spine almost the whole time.
Only bad thing was that crap with Nia and the ring…
@SH
That would be so awesome!
lol @ mikuru & yuki
[quote comment=”153409″]An interesing thing about the short sequence with Viral is the fact that beastmen can’t breed (remember Lord Genome’s little conversation with him before he was given ‘immortality’?). It seems that even a hardened warrior like Viral yearns peace at the end of the day.[/quote]
I caught this as well but after turning it over with my younger sister we remembered that beastmen also don’t have spiral power so the appearance of Viral’s drill seems to imply that he has gained the ability to have spiral power and thus maybe the chance to have children.
It’s not terribly surprising, once you think about it. At first, it was implied that Viral and all beastmen were merely castaways, species created for the sole purpose of being eventually killed in combat. Yet as can be seen, with the advent of a new crisis, there was a growing need for both beastmen and humans to cooperate, hence Viral joining Simon. With this, there was probably a similar occurrence between him and Boota, the sequence of absorbing/developing spiral power and “evolving” in a sense. I doubt that we would ever figure out if Viral could have a family, but I suppose one should not overlook the many strengths of spiral power that come from overcoming the odds.
Technically, the Gainax Tradition of running out of money started in one of their first series….Gunbuster. They didn’t *want* to make it in black and white, they just had no money for color. :P Was also the reason much of the last episode of Gunbuster was stills.
Anyhow, back to Gurren Lagann…I for one, am glad that they got the introspection over and done with *now*, before the last episode. That leaves plenty of room for the action the ending of this series deserves.
I have a new theory about the first scene of the first episode…it’s an *epilogue* to the Anti-Spiral bit. Other, completely unrelated aliens, are taking offense at these lowly humans. Boota sure as heck seemed a lot older in the flash-forward.
For anyone that wants it, I cleaned up a higher quality but lower resolution version of that first picture (which is the most epic thing ever). It’s taken over every avatar and background I can possibly change.
http://img211.imageshack.us/my.....annjb1.png
Actually, the Gunbuster finale was in B&W not because they ran out of budget but simply because they wanted it that way for artistic purposes.
Sorry but I read Kare Kano and it does drops the comedy and turn serious, I believe the failure of Kare Kano is they follow the manga EXACTLY right up to were it ends but as the Manga goes over with the School Festival and beyond the Anime just ends, reason why Gainax did not created a original ending seems to been the fear of the Mangaka of Anno making it too adult.
Also Kare Kano was the first time Gainax was doing something that did not come from then, it Kare Kano is more of a example of why animating ongoing manga is usually a bad idea.
Gainax is still capable of finishing decent animes despite your examples. You could have at least talked about the others like Abenobashi, FLCL, Gunbuster 2 and even Konomini, He is my Master and Ebichu… of course there’s no denying that it’s the more prominent ones with the crappy endings.
Anyway, there’s still one more episode and one last chance for Gainax to pull a crap one, so don’t hold your breaths yet.
Hold on! Did you mention CP?
[quote comment=”153410″]Another interesting thing about the short sequence with Viral is the fact that his wife isn’t Adiane, but someone who looks suspiciously like Zelda.
Those who know the “link” between Zelda and Viral would know what Gainax was referencing. :P[/quote]
THAT’S where I’ve heard Viral’s grunt before!
Oh, Gainax!
Wow, how bad is it that when I saw the scene where Simon brings the beams of light representing his friends into a spiral about him, I couldn’t help but think:
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”
Pretty bad I think.
Also, for some reason, I found Viral’s dream the most touching. It just seemed to shed so much light on the inner heart of a guy who, for the majority of the series has been all about the bad-assitude and the fight. Not to mention his wife was unbelievably hot. We need her, Darry, Yoko, and Nia to get up close an personal, in a very bad way.
[quote comment=”153427″]Also, for some reason, I found Viral’s dream the most touching. It just seemed to shed so much light on the inner heart of a guy who, for the majority of the series has been all about the bad-assitude and the fight. Not to mention his wife was unbelievably hot. We need her, Darry, Yoko, and Nia to get up close an personal, in a very bad way.[/quote]
Henceforth, we await the next First Wives Club. Or a derailing. Whichever one comes first.
[quote comment=”153410″]Another interesting thing about the short sequence with Viral is the fact that his wife isn’t Adiane, but someone who looks suspiciously like Zelda.
Those who know the “link” between Zelda and Viral would know what Gainax was referencing. :P[/quote]
[quote comment=”153425″]THAT’S where I’ve heard Viral’s grunt before!
Oh, Gainax![/quote]
Which character is Zelda? Wait, you don’t mean that Zelda… **looks up Viral’s seiyuu…** Oh… Holy shite… Okay, Gainax just won anime.
And speaking of Viral’s dream (since everyone is doing it), the whole dream sequence portion of the episode, but specifically Viral’s portion, reminded me a hell of a lot of an old Alan Moore Superman comic story called “For the Man Who Has Everything,” which was adapted into an episode of Justice League Unlimited at one point.
Without getting into too much detail, here’s the premise: Bad guy uses weird alien plant to force Superman into a catatonic state where lives in a dream based on his “heart’s desire,” so he’s out of the way for bad guy’s bid to take over the universe. Superman is able to realize something is wrong after a while, and his subconscious eventually turns the dream to a nightmare. His “Kamina” is Batman, who bodily pulls the space plant off of Superman while Wonder Woman keeps the bad guy busy, only to get attacked by the plant himself and dropped into his own “happy dream.” Supes and bad guy fight. Batman gets better. Bad guy eventually gets an ironic punishment.
What Viral’s dream reminded me of so much was the start of Superman’s dream (especially in the animated version), as Supes has an idyllically happy life with a wife and a kid (two in the comic) on a never-got-blowed-up Krypton. The similar themes of living happily in situations that could never happen (Krypton blew up, Viral can’t reproduce) and then having to leave to return to the real world are shown in both in an incredibly touching way. Well, right up until Viral’s bloodthirsty sharp-toothed grin, at least…
Definitely an awesome episode that gives me hope for GAINAX’s future shows. Probably the first anime to do an animal -> human (type creature) transformation right as far as I’ve seen.
Offtopic, Lucky Star mod (also has Rena, Solid Snake, FFVII AC Cloud and pre-timeskip Simon in the video) for GTA SA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRUVH0jeHcM
That gives a completely new meaning to killer lolis
Just watched the DVD version of episode 6 (the disappointing onsen ep) and it seems like Gainax petty much remade the entire episode… there’s a least 18 minutes worth of new animation/voice acting, including some epic Kamina moments and Yoko emo facial contortion.
[spoilers]Sadly, there’s more of Simon’s ass than Yoko’s cleavage in this episode…[/spoilers]
Ah, well there goes the spoilers.
Xeifa: I was about to mention the DVD version of Episode 6 as well, but tsk tsk, you beat me to it.
I’ll probably catch the DVD version when my dvds arrive. I wonder if they did anything to episode 4 in the DVD?…
in b4 Gurenn Lagann vs. Nodos power rankings
I can’t believe you used Star Trek analogy yet didn’t mention The Inner Light, THE ST:TNG episode that had the most parallels with this episode of Gurren-Lagann.
You forgot to metion FLCL.
Which is, for complete lack of a better term, a complete mindfuck.
A little off-topic, but since you mentioned School Days: can we get a reaction from you about the final ep of School Days? You know, what with the
boxcutterkitchen knives action.>> You know, what with the boxcutter kitchen knives action.
There’s a moral in there somewhere… Once you wipe off the blood that is.
>> Henceforth, we await the next First Wives Club. Or a derailing. Whichever one comes first.
Seconded!
with this, Gurren Lagann will spawn a new generation of otakus. no longer sad and depress like shinji. xD
The song that plays as Simon collects the remaining Dai-Gurren Dan is entitled ” ‘Libera Me’ from hell”, appropriate, given that the lyrics, translated, go “Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that fearful day, when the heavens and the earth are moved, when you will come to judge the world with fire. I am made to tremble and I fear, because of the judgment that will come, and also the coming wrath. That day, day of wrath, calamity, and misery, day of great and exceeding bitterness. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”
As said before, in terms of Kare Kano, the change in feeling was just reflecting how the manga was. And the show stopped right before one of the more powerful moments of the manga, or at least one of the most emotional. In a good way.