Gurren Lagann
a review by mirphy
a review by mirphy
I love to analyse media. It's one of my favourite pastimes; I love looking into particular details to see if they crop up again and feel so satisfied when I can make a connection that I figured out by myself. This does mean that I am very pedantic and will sometimes hyper-focus on particular ideas that just don't hold any scrutiny.
This does also mean that I often don't find much enjoyment in shounen, as the genre prioritises different things. This isn't really a bad thing, it's just a matter of taste, but I can't help but feel like most shounen series make me want more and not in a good way.
Gurren Lagann was different.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was always a series I saw being praised by everyone, shounen and seinen fans alike for many things. Even people whom I respect very much love this series. This was one I had to view. Yet, when I first viewed it, I still had that underwhelming feeling. Despite the amazing animation, despite the universe-creating escalation of events, something felt off. Years later, I've returned to the series to give it another viewing after honing my analytical skills. I am not close to perfect, but along with the help of a friend, here's what I think of Gurren Lagann:
I would argue that besides the message behind the series, the best part of Gurren Lagann is the plot. For the most part, it adheres to its own rules well, progresses finely between events, has enough plot twists and drama to keep it engaging and is overall enjoyable enough to keep you through to the end. However, that's not to say that it's perfect, far from it; there's many "hiccups" in the show where it feels like it just wants to get certain things over with to push the story to where the writers want it to go. Possibly the biggest example of this is with Simon, where he has his idol killed one episode, remains depressed for a few more and then a fairy girl gives a speech and he's okay now. I am glossing over details, I'll admit, but I don't think the scenes I'm not mentioning are enough to make his progression feel fully natural.
That's not to say I hate Simon's arc, though, it's good, iconic even. I don't think any other character can symbolise fighting against fate as well other than absolutely legendary characters such as Guts from Berserk or Sisyphus from certain interpretations of Greek Myth. However, I cannot say the same for other characters, which I'll get into later since there's other things I want to talk about.
Another big problem with the plot is filler; a problem entirely within the first half of the show. The 2nd half does drastically cut down on runtime and it does help the show in certain ways. Previously, we'd have a bathhouse episode here, an episode about hunting food there and a beach episode right in the middle of a very important part of the show. I'm not going to lecture you about how I dislike the fanservice-y episodes. Frankly, that's secondary to the fact that it takes up precious time in this show that should be dedicated to character moments and expanding the lore of the show. There's one in particular that I want to talk about that really gets on my nerves*. But, the series does seem to make a clear effort to improve on this, and it does, mostly.
Another massive point of contention I have is with Nia; by herself, she's a fine character but I can't help but feel like she's used simply as an easy way to push the plot forward. When Simon needs encouragement, she's there. When he needs to conveniently find out information, she's there, only made more apparent by the fact that she will randomly appear once she's been taken over by the Anti-Spiral. Not to mention that her and Simon only managed to meet by happenstance. But that pales in comparison to one major detail about Nia: the only reason why all of this happened is a coincidence. She just so happened to be born to the Spiral King and also happened to meet the savour of humanity out of trillions of planets in billions of galaxies whilst also being a ticking time-bomb that gathers information on humanity for the sole purpose of their destruction. The odds are astronomical. I get it, stories need to have some way to happen, but isn't there any way to make this feel less forced? This coincidence is directly admitted by the Anti-Spiral, who rule over the entire universe and it honestly just makes the series feel very contrived at parts in retrospect.
But, despite what I've complained about, it is mostly functional, and it did pull me through to the end, even at a time where I was consistently dropping similar series. However, I can't say that I'm satisfied with many other parts of the show.
One of the parts that I can praise, however, is the theming. Other people have gone into it in more depth than I will in this review so I'm going to direct you to an analysis by BestGuyEver who goes into thorough detail about what makes the theming so good. He's a mostly good analysist, though I do disagree with him on various things.
People like to claim that this show is a "shut your brain off and enjoy" deal, which I would disagree with partly, since the theming is rich enough to warrant closer examination and appreciation. However, I want to draw attention to other parts of the show and see if they are as good as they could've been.
There's a lot of characters I want to analyse more closely, since this is a heavily character-based story. To keep things positive, I'll mention the ones that I like first, beginning with:
The Spiral King is an incredibly entertaining antagonist that has more depth to him than you may first think. He didn't used to be the tyrant of Earth that he is in the first half of the series, he actually used to be exactly like Simon. He too tried to pierce the heavens and fight back against the Anti-Spiral, believing in humanitarian ideals above all. The problem is that he didn't win, his spirit was crushed and he lost that faith in humanity, believing the Anti-Spiral to be too great of a foe.
What makes him so compelling to me is the fact that he is what Simon could end up becoming. If Simon had failed in the end, it's entirely possible that he could've also ended up ruling over humanity, trying to protect them from the threat of the Anti-Spiral by subjugating them. It's a simple kind of character that we've seen before, but it's still effective. Though bringing him back wasn't a good idea, but at the same time, it doesn't really ruin his character.
Whilst I do have complaints with Kamina, his role in the story is well done. He is the initial leader of Team Gurren, but an imperfect one. He is good at inspiring his team but he's also a poor strategist; he is constantly letting his emotions get the better of him and that is ultimately what gets him killed. It works well for Simon's arc and he is memorable for that, you don't need to take it from me, just look at everyone who uses his iconic glasses.
However, something that a lot of people don't realise is that he doesn't really do much throughout the series. His incompetence is overblown to the point where, if you look at the story more closely, his poor decision making is absolutely crippling to his character, more so than it should be. Kamina makes some very poor decisions and at times you wonder why the cast looks up to him. Kamina doesn't have as much of an impact upon subsequent viewings than he should because of that.
This is pretty obvious since the show is primarily about him. I've mentioned that I dislike how his story progresses, but it still mostly works. It has to in order for this story as a whole to work. He speaks for himself, he is the heart of Gurren Lagann.
This is probably a deep cut for most of you since he only ever appears in 2 episodes, but I find Magin to be incredibly compelling for various reasons. First being his struggle, where he has to make the tough decisions to keep his village together. It's seen a lot throughout the series, but unlike Lordgenome, it's put through the lens of sympathy. It's best that he was the first one to do this as it makes you compare his struggle to the subsequent examples.
Secondly, I like him because of his relationship with Rossiu. Something that I don't think a lot of people realise is that Magin is to Rossiu what Kamina is to Simon. It's a small detail but it makes a lot of sense, both influence them on philosophical levels which lead to the both of them making the decisions they do later on in the series; Kamina pushed Simon to be a leader and push towards tomorrow, whilst Magin taught Rossiu to be ready for sacrifice for the good of humanity. What we see in the 2nd half of the show never would have happened if Kamina wasn't there for Simon, yes, but the same goes for Magin and Rossiu. He's a criminally overlooked character that I think should be mentioned way more.
Rossiu is arguably as important as Simon in this show. He holds the 2nd half of the show on his shoulders and it is mostly very compelling. Whilst Simon's own actions start coming back on him, Rossiu is the one to make the big decisions that push the story to where it needs to be. He's put under an incredible amount of strain and is pushed to his very limit, whilst not being allowed to show it to the rest of the world. This is something that he took from his mentor, as I've outlined previously and it makes his struggle very sympathetic.
However, Rossiu isn't a perfectly constructed character, for two reasons; the first one is because I don't like how his story ends. After Simon unlocks the power of Cathedral Terra, Rossiu undergoes a drastic change in direction for his character arc where he begins to feel very inferior to Simon after he seemingly didn't contribute much and I take an issue with this. Never before was it established that Rossiu felt inferior to Simon, it was always that he was a worthy companion and eventually equal to Simon as the series makes apparent, but never does the series calls attention to the fact that if it weren't for Rossiu making the decisions that he did, Arc-Gurren would've never made it into space and therefore, Arc-Gurren Lagann would've never been created and give Simon enough time to stop the moon from crashing into the planet. It feels very swept under the rug since they need to make it feel like Rossiu thinks he didn't contribute anything, which just isn't the case.
There's also the fact that the series doesn't really call attention to how important Rossiu is to the mech of Gurren Lagann. (*This is what I mentioned earlier about fanservice taking up too much screen time) In the bathhouse episode, whilst the gang (and honestly the writers as well) are too busy fussing over fanservice, Rossiu manages to pilot Gurren and take out a couple of goons before Kamina and Simon arrive to save the day. This is the first time in the series that someone other than our 2 main leads have piloted Gurren, that's a major deal considering it's what the show is named after. I wished that instead of the focus on the fanservice in this episode, we had a moment with Rossiu that showed him rising to the challenge of fighting, rather than just sitting back and letting things play out. It would've been a very good piece of build-up from the small child from a secluded village to usurping the current leader of the planet and making the hard decisions that were ultimately necessary for the survival of humanity in the 2nd half of the series.
There's also the fact that he feels replace by:
To begin with the positives, Viral does have a very good arc up until the time-skip. He is constantly trodden on throughout the series by his enemies and his allies. Yet, he is given a gift by Lordgenome, that of immortality, to bare witness to the enemy of the Spiral race. He's very sympathetic and I was looking forward to seeing him again in the 2nd half of the show.
However, problems arise when we do get to that 2nd half, where he decides to start fighting as a liberator for certain groups. Viral, the one who uses the term "man-ape" the most throughout the show, suddenly starts fighting for humans that wish to remain underground. He hated humans and whilst it's clear he's changed his mind, the series makes no effort to go into detail about why he had a switch in philosophy and this hurts the story quite badly as it also means his team-up with Simon doesn't really make much sense. It's clear that he still has beef with him even when they're in prison, so him deciding to put differences aside and work together to stop the Anti-Spiral feels forced. All this needed was more time and the series just doesn't give Viral that.
I also find it weird that Viral is the one to pilot Gurren at the end of the series despite the fact that he has his own mech and Rossiu has a greater connection with Gurren. I think it would make more sense if Viral had his mech kept in secret, like with all the other Gunmen, and then have Lagann combine with it during the fight against the moon and then bring both him and Rossiu along for the fight against the Anti-Spiral base. I mean, seriously, did we need to have Dayakka, a character with virtually no personality to come along for the final fight instead? I don't think so.
And about Dayakka:
This is one of Gurren Lagann's biggest flaws that I think even fans of the series could agree with: the cast besides the main contenders, Simon, Kamina, Rossiu, Viral, Yoko and Lordgenome, are incredibly weak and given almost 0 depth. This may not have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that the show tries to tug on our heartstrings by killing off a lot of these side characters in episode 24. These characters whom we don't know the name of and have barely even spoken before this point and this series is pulling these dramatic deaths out of nowhere. It's entirely undeserved and it only makes the parts with Arc-Gurren and Cathedral Terra worse as none of these characters even have anything resembling skill, besides Leeron.
As I've mentioned routinely, it feels like the series never wants to give more time to character moments, but never is this more egregious than with:
Kittan is an absolute nothing character. He has one good moment, with him taking out the generator in episode 25, but that's about it. He does pretty much nothing throughout the series and I feel like he was robbed a little bit. The last few episodes before his death make it out like he was trying to be like Kamina, but this falls flat since the series never tries to establish this beforehand. I think this could've worked very well if he was given more time in a leading position after the death of Kamina, but he proves himself to be as incompetent and not nearly as inspiring. This would make his death way more impactful and overall give him more presence in the story, whilst also giving more time for Simon's development at this point in the series to progress naturally.
But despite all I've complained about, none of these characters are my least favourite. They're simply disappointing, but besides maybe Viral, I wouldn't say any of them are genuinely poorly written. With the exception of:
I'm not going to talk about how she is sexualised. Other people have complained about that enough and that's not what you're here for, you're here for a critique of story and in terms of character writing, Yoko is consistently inconsistent.
I genuinely think the writers had no idea with what to do with her character. There's times where she seems supportive of Simon, like after Kamina's death, initially, where she tries to help Simon out of his guilt-ridden state and even defends him at one point. She explicitly shows that she thinks he has potential in episode 2 and clearly wants to help him grow. However, there's also constant times where Yoko just doesn't believe in Simon for some reason? This begins in episode 3 where she says that he isn't ready for fighting against the Beastmen which just sounds so out-of-left-field. What happened to that faith you had in Simon before? It made absolutely no sense.
Then it only gets worse when she says that Simon has had enough time grieving over his blood-brother dying and needs to get a grip, which feels so weird considering that there are certainly other people who could lead Team Dai-Gurren, such as Kittan or maybe Dayakka, but she focuses on Simon. This is made worse by the fact that in the previous episode, she tries to explain to Nia how guilty-ridden and depressed Simon is. It's so strange for her to constantly flip-flop like this.
Then there's how he character progresses in the 2nd half, where she becomes... a teacher? Yoko is a gunslinger and was very inconsistent with how much she cared about supporting other people, as I've outlined. It's not that I'm against her being a teacher, but this wasn't built up to at all and only made more confusing by the small section she had in the penultimate episode where it showed her being a thief, which contradicts her image as a teacher. Again, this isn't a bad idea but it's not developed upon at all.
Yoko feels like she's used as whatever the plot wants her to be. Do you want her to be a tsundere? We'll do that. Do you want her to be the fanservice girl? We'll do that. Do you want her to be kind and supportive? We'll do that also. These things need time and development to co-exist with each other, which is possible to write, but she's not given nearly enough time to have all these aspects of her character make sense together and the execution is honestly pretty bad as-is.
I've been pretty scathing in a lot of my critiques of this show so far, but buckle in because I'm not done yet. People say that this series is still fun if you shut your brain off and don't think about it too much. However, I think that you'd have to shut off a lot of your brain to enjoy even the surface levels elements.
Simply put, most fights in the series consist of a few things:
-Breaking down a shield
-Getting Simon to use his magical bullshit powers
-Just basically smashing your head against something until the other person has more brain damage than you do
There are very few times throughout the series where they actually try doing something more than this, and even fewer where the result is done through actual intelligent fighting. This is most apparent during the fights against Teppelin, the moon and against the planet heads in the last few episodes. Each of these fights are nearly exactly the same, they just have a bunch of goons fighting each other until someone does something big to break through a barrier. But on top of that, it feels like there's no progression to these fights, there's barely any co-ordination between troops and just feels like a child smashing their toys together.
There are exceptions, most notably being whenever Simon and Kamina have an equal, such as Viral near the beginning of the series, Lordgenome and the final fight with the Anti-Spiral. These are fights that Simon and Kamina can't just use overwhelming force to overcome and it works very well.
However, there's still a problem that rears its head even when we have great fights like this, and that's the fact that usually they only win because of overwhelming force and at times this manifests as Simon pulling out this insane new move that we didn't even think was possible. I understand why they do it, trying to raise the stakes continuously, but it always feels like the writers wrote themselves into a corner whenever it happens.
I know what people are going to say in response to a lot of my criticisms. "It's just a battle shounen", "you're thinking about it took deeply" - maybe you're right. I personally believe that we should hold media up to higher standards than we currently do as the anime community lets shows get away with a lot of stuff that they really shouldn't. But I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this. Have I missed any details? Do adaptations change anything, such as the manga or the movies? Let me know, because it's not like I wanted to hate Gurren Lagann. The series genuinely does do some things right and has glimpses of greatness, like with the theming, the animation and certain characters. But I don't think it holds up to a closer look.
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