Gurren Lagann

There’s an idea I’ve seen expressed in film criticism before which is the concept of being stupid in a clever way, to devise plotlines and characters and situations which are totally heightened and ludicrous and yet wield them with a sufficient deftness that they remain consistently engaging, and to do so with purpose, to have something meaningful to say with all that bombast. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the apotheosis of this. It is cranked up to eleventy-stupid and then some, ever escalating in scale and ridiculousness, throwing the rules of logic and reality by the wayside to gain access to new frontiers of big robots hitting each other. It’s big, it’s loud, and immensely silly. However, despite all this it is consistently engaging, and surprisingly moving, because all of that scale and raw insanity is focused in service of telling a deeply heartfelt story about the power of human spirit. This is a series with a thesis statement, and that is that not only do dudes rock, it is a moral imperative. Stagnation is unacceptable. People must drive on, full force, fighting for a better future for themselves and those they care about. The forces of stagnation will knock you down, and take things that are dear to you, and when that happens you get back up and keep going, fighting for love, and truth, and justice. If Gurren Lagann was a less sophisticated series it would stop about halfway through, as a simple coming of age story, of young people claiming their future, but it doesn’t. Growing up doesn’t mean you stop fighting. Instead bigger and bigger responsibilities will be placed on you, more complex ones that can’t simply be overcome with youthful vigour, but you cannot stop, not while you can still change things for the better. The series does not shy away from grief and tragedy and the toll they can take on people, but it respects death as an inevitability, and those who live on will always be shaped by their time with the deceased. There is a very positive view of masculinity in here, one that is not jealous or possessive, and rolls with the punches, and stands up for what’s right, but feels emotion very deeply because living a life repressed is not life lived to the fullest. The characters in a work with such unsubtle tendencies could have ended up as thin sketches, but they’re not, and indeed the series simply wouldn’t work if they were. With everything else so nuts you have to have an emotional core to hang on to, and the hopes of the characters is that core. The plot is unbelievable but they’re not, they have virtues and flaws that add up into people worth rooting for, and their joy and their pain mean something.

The animation that delivers all this is directed wonderfully. It’s all highly evocative, both in the moments of stillness and in the highly frenetic action scenes, and is exciting in all the best ways. Imaishi is a director with a great sense for motion, knowing exactly where animation can be skimped out on to ensure maximum impact where it’s needed. The designs for everything are striking and original and cool in a way that’s unashamedly maximalist. Robots that combine and get bigger and bigger rule, actually, and Gurren Lagann exploits this to its full potential. There’s a great soundtrack of suitably bombastic orchestral and pop rock pieces which, combined with everything else, helps tip those high points where the heroes find new reserves of strength over into punch-the-air triumphant.
The bottom line is that Gurren Lagann is anime doing the things that animation does best, and is far smarter than its reputation might suggest, but doesn’t let that get in the way of the joy of robots knocking twelve bells out of each other in ways not really seen before or since. It’s a really special series and well worth your time.

Woah, woah, fight the power!