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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: The Magi on July 09, 2007, 04:29:23 am

Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: The Magi on July 09, 2007, 04:29:23 am
(http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1811/12219lv7.jpg)
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


I think that with the first major saga of this series coming to an end, it's about time that a thread is more than necessary! I'm not going to assume everybody knows what this undeniably great, yet possibly overrated show is about, so here's some info. Gurren-Lagann is a completely over the top mecha anime (deal with it!) from GAINAX, and if the mecha part isn't obvious by the image above perhaps it is time for a visit to the optometrist? It is 26 episodes long and seems to consist of several story "arcs" that each pays a sort of homage to a different period of mecha anime. The first several episodes have some superb animation quality, while after that the quality wavers up and down, which is okay I suppose. Recently, the show has been licensed by ADV films, which means it'll be harder to find any downloads if you haven't yet started to watch the series.

Media: Anyting unless listed otherwise contains spoilers!
Trailer (Spoiler-Free): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC_lSGooF1Y
OP (Video [Spoiler-Free]): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDNU01_B_U&mode=related&search=
Episode 1 (Part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YgCN5McEmM
Episode 1 (Part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmzABACn0E0
Kamina Vs Viral (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff4QlLbgz2Y
Another Scene with Viral (Gattai): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuG5kvvEljk
OP theme "Sora Iro days" and "Happily Ever After" (Bittorrent file, no spoilers obviously): http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Tengen%20Toppa%20Gurren%20Lagann%20OP%20Single%20-%20Sora%20iro%20Days%20%5BNakagawa%20Shouko%5D.zip.torrent

Misc
Official Site: http://www.gurren-lagann.net/
Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengen_Toppa_Gurren_Lagann
AniDB Entry: http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=4575

Overview:
This is the story of men fighting against their destiny, etc...</narrator> Instead of actually taking the time to type my own summary, here's the summary from AnimeNfo:

In the distant future, people build their homes and raise domestic animals in subterranean caverns. As a result, they live in fear of the occasional earthquake and cave-in, and have been for hundreds of years. Jeeha is one such village.

One day, a boy named Simon happens to find a small, shiny drill whilst digging to expand the village. At the same time, Kamina, a guy who believes that there is another land above the village, persuades a gangster to break through the ceiling in order to leave the cavern. Suddenly, an earthquake occurs and the ceiling collapses, followed by a big robot breaking through the ceiling.

Kamina is now sure that there is a world above them. Recklessly, he begins to fight against the robot. At that moment, another person appears from the land above. It is a girl by the name of Yoko. With a rifle in hand, she had been tracking the robot. However, all she could do was distract it. Then, Simon shows what he had found to Kamina and Yoko. It`s a mysterious robot whose head is also its body.

Screenshots:
(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2606/vlcsnap1054510gb2zj5.th.png) (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vlcsnap1054510gb2zj5.png)
You may be wondering why I only have one screenshot, that's because I'm lazy. Go see the shitty screen ratio'd media above!

So what we basically have here is a very strange show. It somewhat reminds me of Diebuster at times, but a lot of people also compare its bizarre occasional humor to Fooly Cooly (I wasn't really seeing this, and sometimes the humor felt generic?). Don't come into this show expecting another Evangelion, it's nothing like that. Currently, episode 15 just aired. It marks the end of the first major arc in the story, and was filled with a bunch of crazy action scenes and plenty of explosions. People who have seen it? What do you think of the series thus far? Do you agree with the direction it is taking? (If you happen to know what direction that is) and do you feel that the series is great, overrated, or maybe a little bit of both?

I'm looking at Gurren-Lagann as show to watch for the ride. People will eventually realize there's an actual story beneath all the burning justice, and it's turning out to be intriguing as well. It's not the greatest show ever made, but I'm beginning to have a better opinion of Gainax as a studio in general. Perhaps it's still far too early to pass any final judgments! My opinions aside, this show is worth the three episode test.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: WunderBread on July 09, 2007, 04:44:54 am
Ahhhh, Gurren Lagann. Honestly, the first time I saw some promo art and screenshots, I was turned off by the character designs, and the story didn't interest me. But one day I was bored and with no anime to watch, so I did the five episode test thing. (Yeah, I try five episodes, not three. :shrug: )

And, oh man, was I ever surprised. Not only is the anime filled with enough action to knock the socks off of many of the currently running series, it's also quite plot-driven (and humourous) to boot. I was seriously not expecting

Another crazy thing is that

I came to love all the wacky character designs: I now feel that I couldn't have had it any other way. It's not one of my favorites, but it certainly is extremely enjoyable, something I would recommend to anybody.

(P.S. Don't let episode four turn you off: it was guest directed by somebody else, so the animation style [and ][/and] is completely different from the rest of the series. The next episode returns to its former quality.)

EDIT: Woah, licensed by ADV already?! That was reallllly fast.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: ObviousDelirium on July 09, 2007, 05:38:20 am
Another crazy thing is that
Yes, I felt the same about her, she did come off as surprising!

Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to the next ep, seeing what things are going to be like.

Screenshots really don't do justice as to how good this series is, you really need to watch some episodes to see what it's really like.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Kaworu on July 09, 2007, 07:48:11 am
It's very fun, but that's really it. I may watch more episodes sometime.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: LORd on July 09, 2007, 08:17:02 am
I used to dislike this, but then I realized I should be watching it as a mecha parody and have come to thoroughly enjoy it. Its less mecha (and less comedic) elements are really well executed, though.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: The Magi on July 09, 2007, 08:58:12 am
It's very fun, but that's really it. I may watch more episodes sometime.
So far, it's almost the reason to watch the show. Most of the time, I prefer to watch something for an intriguing story or gorgeous animation, however Gurren-Lagann doesn't always have either of these. It's just so undeniably fun that it's easy to get caught up in the moment with an episode and think: "I don't know exactly what I watched, but it was....  :incred:"

Or you could go the opposite way and think it's retarded. Either way works!

Quote from: 'Jamcifer
I used to dislike this' date=' but then I realized I should be watching it as a mecha parody and have come to thoroughly enjoy it. Its less mecha (and less comedic) elements are really well executed, though.[/quote']
It's true. The show feels like it is a mix of parody and tribute to other periods of mecha anime. I'm not really a fan of the mecha genre myself, but I liked Diebuster and watched Geass recently. Aside from those and G-Gundam (Ridiculous premise), I never could keep up with anything in the genre. It was usually too boring to me.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Lord Kamina on July 09, 2007, 11:50:38 am
I hear you. I had wanted to make this thread but refrained from it because my credibility in anime matters is not great (I don't like cyborg lolis, after all)

(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/29585/gurrenlagann01rn6.jpg)

What Lagann has for itself is the UNPOSSIBLE amount of condensed MANLINESS.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Klean on July 09, 2007, 01:52:20 pm
Episode 15 was amazing. I love this show.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Cappuccino on July 09, 2007, 02:13:13 pm
I didn't know what to expect out of this series when I started watching it, and it's become my favourite show this season (in fact, out of the series I'm currently following, it's the only one that I feel compelled to download speedsubs of). Basically, it's damn fun, as Kaworu said. Often, I find myself smiling or laughing along at how simultaneously ridiculous and awesome a scene is.

One thing I've really loved about the latter episodes is the way they've handled the Dai-Gurren: .

I'm really looking forward to the major timeskip, which would hopefully be next episode now that this arc is over, but judging by the preview it's probably just a recap episode. Just in case anyone hasn't seen the timeskip scans yet, here they are (http://miezaru.donmai.us/post/show/126955). .

Episode 15 was amazing. I love this show.
Episode 15 didn't actually impress me as much as 13 and 14, but that was mainly because I was hoping for more exposition about humans and beastmen.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Lord Kamina on July 09, 2007, 02:45:58 pm
IMO It's pretty obvious Spiral King
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: WunderBread on July 09, 2007, 05:24:53 pm
What. Episode 14 and 15 already? Man, and I was putting off watching episode 13 just because I didn't have the next episodes. I suppose I didn't realize they came out because they didn't show up on Baka-Updates (and I've been using that handy-dandy Baka-Notifier to tell me when new episodes come out). New episodes ahoyyyyy!
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: The Magi on July 09, 2007, 07:02:20 pm
I'm really looking forward to the major timeskip, which would hopefully be next episode now that this arc is over, but judging by the preview it's probably just a recap episode. Just in case anyone hasn't seen the timeskip scans yet, here they are (http://miezaru.donmai.us/post/show/126955). .
Perhaps it's possible that Aside from that, Gainax has commented they would be willing to do multiple installments of this new franchise if Gurren Lagann did well enough to begin with.

Quote from: WunderBread
I suppose I didn't realize they came out because they didn't show up on Baka-Updates
You could check TokyoTosho every sunday or monday for the raws and new .ass files that are being released. It's probably the only anime tracker site I visit.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Cappuccino on July 10, 2007, 02:48:56 am
IMO It's pretty obvious Spiral King

Obviously, but
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: ObviousDelirium on July 10, 2007, 03:02:30 am
Obviously, but
But yeah, he probably should have answered a little more.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Lord Kamina on September 24, 2007, 02:29:42 am
BUMPING this topic.

We're now in episode 26 and the series continues as great as ever; no, better even.

I am thankful this new season has more Avatar, The Batman and Heroes, because I don't think I'll be too forgiving with new anime after watching what was probably the best anime I've ever seen.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: reko on September 24, 2007, 05:18:45 am
Are the latest eps subbed by any group? If yes, by whom.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Lord Kamina on September 24, 2007, 03:30:05 pm
BSS and some goons too.

Look in tokyotosho. In fact, since just about all of 4chan is in love with the series, the subs take but a few hours to be released (In watchable, non QC-ed quality)
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: The Magi on October 04, 2007, 05:21:08 am
Wow. The ending of this was really something. I think the action was a little hectic and hard to follow at times, but the whole way the ending was resolved worked generally well. I have some problems with it however.



The epilogue also seemed to work well, however I'm not sure what the animators were thinking when they were animating those last scenes. There were some very awkward moments. A good series all in all.

rami:
Not sure if you're reading this, but if you're also looking for earlier subs, go with Black Order, otherwise you'll most likely need to grab the raws and use subtitle files.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: LORd on October 04, 2007, 07:08:49 am
It is hilarious how EPIC Gurren-Lagann became during these last few episodes. Looks like Gainax really wanted to show everyone up with the MECHA SHOW TO TOP ALL MECHA SHOWS EVER.

The ending was very enjoyable, but I do have quite a few milor slighs with the plot resolution.

Not that I'm entirely comfortable with the series's aesop, either. No matter how I try, it always comes off as "the less thought and more blind faith you put into your actions, the better everything will go!" I am tempted to illustrate this notion with an unwanted teenage pregnancy.

Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: kael on October 04, 2007, 10:21:59 am
Anime of the Year 2007!

Not the best anime ever, but so excellent in almost every regard that I don't really see how anyone will be outdoing this one for a while.

Good animation, above average music, good voice acting, above average plot, good character development, and good pacing. An utterly ridiculous anime, but so ridiculous that you can't help but enjoy it.

I think I'm most impressed by the fact that they capped it off at 27 episodes and actually gave it a fairly sane ending.

And yeah, the series' whole 'moral' is kind of ridiculous. It's at least nice that it's upbeat.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Klean on October 04, 2007, 10:53:33 am
TTGL is fun and exciting to watch and that is what I look for in my anime. I tried and failed to articulate how I feel about it a few times so that is about all I will say.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Lord Kamina on October 07, 2007, 12:11:11 am
It is hilarious how EPIC Gurren-Lagann became during these last few episodes. Looks like Gainax really wanted to show everyone up with the MECHA SHOW TO TOP ALL MECHA SHOWS EVER.

The ending was very enjoyable, but I do have quite a few milor slighs with the plot resolution.

Not that I'm entirely comfortable with the series's aesop, either. No matter how I try, it always comes off as "the less thought and more blind faith you put into your actions, the better everything will go!" I am tempted to illustrate this notion with an unwanted teenage pregnancy.



Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Skie Fortress on October 07, 2007, 06:57:46 am
Wow, I can't believe I've ignored this show for so long. I decided to see just what all the hype was about on a whim today... and I'm amazed. Now I just have to watch the rest. Lots of catching up to do~
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: ObviousDelirium on October 07, 2007, 07:16:52 am
That was quite a great way to end it! I hope they'll eventually do something about , I'm pretty sure they're going to make at least one OVA at some point.
Title: Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann: A lesson in union and burning justice
Post by: Duckhugger on December 16, 2007, 09:32:56 am
I was horribly sick during the week long Thanksgiving break we get at the college I'm attending now. Spent all my time either in bed or on the computer... in that period of time I wound up watching the entire series via YouTube... part of me wishes I would have spent the time downloading the actual episodes... but still, even at YouTube quality it was pretty damn enjoyable to watch. I loved the character designs and the whole thing had a kind of feel as if it were a clever parody... yet at the same time completely sincere and serious in it's jest.

I didn't really notice the lower quality of the 4th episode until I read about it in reviews later. Maybe watching it on YouTube laid out sick had some kind of effect on my critical skills though. I notice the difference in that episode now... but still, it wasn't THAT bad, eh.