[DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO EITHER HAVEN’T SEEN IT OR ARE STILL WATCHING IT. A SPOILER-FREE TL;DR IS SEEN AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW.]
What does “peak fiction” look like to you? To my knowledge, “peak fiction” isn’t something that is perfect/flawless but rather a part of a memory that will never be forgotten and always has a lot of special features to offer. And let me tell you ladies, gentlemen and weeaboss, I’m here to express how I think Gurren Lagann is considered “peak fiction”. The battle robot anime that was never meant to be deep in the first place but ends up being so because why on earth not? Imaishi being Imaishi turning the impossible into the possible.
---
The story is portrayed as a journey to fight against the menace that are the beastmen, starting off with two men, “Simon” and “Kamina”, trapped in the underground. Kamina is the man of infinite stupidity who asserts his dominance against those who prove him wrong or stand in his way while Simon is a kind boy who has no real ambitions. One day, Simon discovers a strange object that turns out to be a power key to activate an ancient weapon, which the duo pilots Lagann. Together, Simon and Kamina use their new weapon to fly away with a surprise attack from the surface accompanied by Yoko Littner, a girl with a sniper rifle who wanders around the surface and Boota, a pig mole.
Now that the beastmen war has begun, the sky is blue and the grounds are plain dry just like a desert, Kamina has made his own league called “Team Gurren” by befriending wanderers to fight and take the robots called “gunmen”. They fight against Viral, a shark-type beastman who is very cocky and headstrong. Simon and Kamina struggle… until their mechs combine into the one, and only, “Gurren Lagann”. Both show their sheer power and become more kickass than ever. The team continues to have their membership built. They befriended Kittan, an egotistical jock who leads his sisters for hunting. They befriended Rossiu, a kind boy towards strangers and one of the people who worship gunmen as gods. “Team Gurren” is now “Team Dai-Gurren”.
---
Unfortunately… Kamina gets himself fatally injured, Simon reacts to that and has lost control of himself while interrupting a GODDAMN volcano. Kamina… is still alive? That’s right! Kamina punches Simon and tells him to man the hell up! Simon gains inspirations from Kamina and combines with him once again, finishing their target off! After that, Kamina dies… With that, Team Dai-Gurren cries and Simon almost loses his emotions, thinking that he “killed” his very own bro. Simon then slaughters more enemy gunmen with the help of Rossiu until he finds Nia, the former princess of a family that causes the beastmen war. With the team welcoming Nia, she develops an intense empathy towards Simon. Thanks to Nia, Simon then becomes a one-man army warrior and leads Team Dai-Gurren for his bro. Simon truly never loses his hope. Simon gives great speeches to his team. Simon still has his bro’s heart. Together, they will defeat the king that goes by the name of “Lordgenome”!
Before that, Viral asks Lordgenome about the history of the beastman war and was thinking if he could explore more about that. Lordgenome says that humans who fight are called “Spiral beings” and develop “Spiral energy” which is developed through human determination. Lordgenome has a motivation he was hiding from the humans. Lordgenome then gives Viral immortality; the kind of immortality that grants you the ability to seek love and develop Spiral power like the Spiral beings. Now, Gurren Lagann (with Simon, Rossiu and Nia) has finally come to take down Lordgenome. Lordgenome begins fighting with them. Lordgenome is so strong that he manages to heavily damage Gurren Lagann… until Simon decimates him with his core drill. Before Lordgenome falls, he mentions that ending the beastmen war is a mistake and explains why. Lordgenome… then falls. Team Dai-Gurren cheers for Simon and Simon is proud of his victory.
---
7 years later, the team built a city called “Kamina city”. Nia became Simon’s fiancé. Rossiu reactivates Lordgenome and asks him about what his true motivation was. Lordgenome explains that he was once a Spiral being who fights against the true menace called “the Anti-Spirals”. The Anti-Spirals use a fake moon to cause chaos and mayhem to Earth. I wonder where the real moon is. Anyways, speaking of Anti-Spirals, one of their unholy creations called “Muganns” came to terrorize Kamina city and to be honest? They are already terrifying both appearance-wise and behavior-wise. Nia becomes possessed by the Anti-Spiral. Simon puts them to the stop and saves the city… not… Once the Muganns are defeated, they develop fragments that explode. And because of that, the city is ruined, having the citizens blaming Simon for the crime he didn’t even commit.
Rossiu tries to control the people but he has no choice but to put Simon in jail. Simon asks Rossiu for another chance and then Rossiu accepts it. Simon, accompanied by Kinon, stops multiple Muganns grouped with a larger one. They finally destroyed them, although it feels like so much of a hassle. Simon goes back to jail and Rossiu says that Simon no longer shows value… poor bastard… Rossiu has activated the ship to protect citizens called “Arc-Gurren” and Lordgenome mentions that it activates a Spiral energy to keep it from being damaged. Simon and Viral are stuck in jail, with Anti-Spiral Nia appearing and mentioning that any method of saving humanity is “futile”. Yoko comes back from her job to teach students and interrupts Nia’s attack. Yoko then frees Simon and Viral from prison. Viral is now part of Team Dai-Gurren. Simon and Viral develop their dynamics with each other and they are on their way to stop the Muganns.
Simon and Viral combine Gurren Lagann with Arc-Gurren and become “Arc-Gurren Lagann”. Arc-Gurren Lagann is a stronger, bigger version of Gurren Lagann and has a strong punch that can get rid of the biggest Muganns (which actually happens). Simon and Viral go inside the fake moon and surprise surprise, they can use Giga Drill to stop it. Unfortunately, Nia appears again to interrupt. Simon explains to Nia their feelings to each other and Nia remembers. Nia then is forced to head back to the Anti-Spiral. Simon then immediately stops the fake moon and that fake moon is Lordgenome’s flagship, “Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren”. After the Earth is saved, Team Dai-Gurren heads back. Rossiu visits his former underground home and commits suicide there. That is until Simon comes and prevents Rossiu from doing so. Rossiu explains that he tries his best to protect the citizens but he fails to do so. Simon responded that Rossiu is better than what Rossiu thinks. Rossiu becomes happy again and continues to help his co.
Team Dai-Gurren used Spiral power to bring the real moon back and they did. Team Dai-Gurren is ready to fight against the Anti-Spiral. They travel to a dimension where they face more of Anti-Spiral’s creations; those being called “Ashtangas” and they are even scarier than the Muganns. Half of the team fight against those and… they die while saving the others from incoming attacks. Team Dai-Gurren is surrounded by space flood and they are about to drown to death. Simon and Viral then attempt to combine Arc-Gurren Lagann with Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren. However, that is hard to do since it requires a lot of effort. But don’t ya worry, Boota is always at your side. Boota always showed value to the team. Boota always had Spiral power from the beginning. Simon and Viral are almost ready. Kittan has no choice but to sacrifice himself to help his team. Kittan giga drills what’s stopping the team… and dies… Come on Simon! Show the Anti-Spirals what you got!
---
Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, fused with Arc-Gurren Lagann, has now become “Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann”! Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann has a lot of punches to pack and puts the Ashtangas to shame. Then there’s the Anti-Spiral, trapping the team with an ability named “Multiverse Labyrinth”. With that, everyone in Team Dai-Gurren is trapped with their dreams… Meanwhile, Nia is punished by the Anti-Spiral mostly because she showed feelings to Simon. Speaking of which, Simon is on a “trip” with a fake Kamina. Both are caught by the police later on. Suddenly, the real Kamina comes and gives back Simon the core drill. Simon then punches the fake Kamina. The real Kamina has always been the symbol of his very own team even after death. Simon gets his Spiral power back all thanks to Kamina and then frees the rest of his team. Team Dai-Gurren is back and rescues Nia. Team Dai-Gurren pushes their limits far beyond and become “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann”!
Before the final battle, Lordgenome apologizes to Nia about his actions. His reason for throwing Nia off is that Nia was the Anti-Spiral’s biggest victim since the very beginning. Now for the final battle… The Anti-Spiral is amazed with how that happened so he goes on to fight with its mech “Granzeboma”. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (shortened to “TTGL” as I go on) and Granzeboma fight! It was intense. The Anti-Spiral goes hard on TTGL while explaining that they were the savior of the universe by transitioning from originally being part of the Spiral race. Granzeboma then performs a final attack against TTGL and TTGL struggles to handle it. However, Lordgenome sacrifices himself to turn Granzeboma’s final attack into a boost for TTGL to power up. TTGL then clashes with Granzeboma and they both explode. Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann comes; Granzeboma strangles it. Arc-Gurren Lagann comes; Granzeboma strangles it. Gurren Lagann comes; Granzeboma strangles it. However, Viral throws Lagann and Lagann performs a final attack ON the Anti-Spiral.
The Anti-Spiral lost, finally admitting that humanity has never been very limited. The universe is saved. Later, Simon and Nia prepared their wedding. They kissed. Everyone cheered. That is until Nia passed away… and Simon didn’t even cry. Viral mentions that again, Nia was the Anti-Spiral victim from the very beginning. Simon is still happy since like Kamina, Nia is still always in his memory. And yeah, I know that the “Zero-to-Hero” thingy is generic and overused so instead, let’s have the show recycle the trope by giving Simon his own category “Zero-to-Hero-to-Zero”, where he goes back to his poorer self. Simon… just vibing while digging in a plain underground… while everyone else has their own enjoyment and life. Gurren Lagann can still move on without him.
---
tl;dr: STORY: 100% - A bold yet profound coming-of-age story with sheer epicness to behold. Doesn’t seem too special at first but when it hits, IT BLOWS. CHARACTERS: 100% - Simon is one of the most based Shounen-like protagonists ever. ART: 100% - Art is lit. Animation is lit. Character designs are it. Mecha designs are it. Whether it's sheer badassery or weird. Fight scenes are also amazing. SOUND: 100% - Superb voice acting, especially in the dub (thanks Yuri Lowenthal!) and a very addicting OST. Sorairo Days is stuck in my head.
---
And that does it. I apologize if this review looks long and clunky though. Judging from what I wrote, it felt more like a summary. Positive feedback and constructive criticism are always welcomed. That said, Gurren Lagann is an unforgettable masterpiece for even non-mecha standards. Yeah, I know some of you may not or don’t like it, and I completely understand. But for me, this is an awesome combination of style and substance. I swear, it’s downright poggers.
