Ah, Gurren Lagann. Even for those who don't like giant robots beating each other up, they find enjoyment in the excitement of Gurren Lagann. I'm going to break up the review into two sections, pre-timeskip and post-timeskip. If you haven't seen it already, there is a big tone shift before and after the timeskip, both with their merits and faults. So:
The first half of Gurren Lagann consists of nonsensical fun with a cast of characters scrapping together robots to fight the onslaught of beastmen. You have your standard male boy who doesn't know his left from his fight, Simon; an annoying or inspiring male figure, Kamina; and vast array of underdeveloped side characters that nobody really remembers outside of Simon and the gay guy.
There's a lot of grounded, fun combat that makes you think, "That's obscenely stupid yet so awesome!". The main characters play off their strengths and weakness very well, and even despite the bare-bones, near MoTW plot it never ceases to be entertaining. Very simple, brainless fun that feels like watching Die Hard on Christmas.
After the defeat of Lord-Genome, there is a timeskip of around ~6 years, and somehow humanity has created this sprawling metropolis. This half of Gurren Lagann is vastly different from the first half. In fact, I'd argue it was so different that it provides it's own counterargument of the themes from the first half. If the first half's overarching message was to push aside your fear and follow your emotions, the second half's overarching message is to stop and think before acting.
A large part of the post-timeskip show, is the political battle between Simon and Rossiu. Simon represents the relentless development of humanity, while Rossiu represents the doubt that this development is entirely beneficial. This part of the show is, frankly, really boring. The previous 16 episodes were filled with fun action, yelling characters, and loud music, but now Imaishi has decided to throw real robot tropes from shows such as Gundam into the mix with it's fair share of ideal clashing and political struggles. You now have mass produced Gurren Laganns, anti-heroes, and infighting.
Luckily, this arc ends with Simon getting his teeth knocked in, Simon learning his lesson about being abrasively reckless, and an awesome battle in space, signalling a return to the fun nature of pre-timeskip Gurren Lagann. However, it did leave a few things behind. There are no more grounded battles between robots, it's mostly Simon one-shotting everything in sight; and Simon flanderized into your generic mecha MC. Frankly, anyone who's familiar with the mecha genre has seen the fights in the space arc of Gurren Lagann hundreds of times already, so they grow dull very fast. However, Simon's sacrifice saves the entire show and helps leave the viewer (me) with a good taste in their mouths even with the weird, "I will blatantly set myself up to lose" final antagonist.
Overall, it's a really fun show to watch. A great OST, likeable characters, and easy to understand storyline. It's a great introduction into the mecha genre, and you can take what you enjoyed from the show and look at other mecha greats such as Gundam or GaoGaiGar
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