[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: first impressions
It’s not often that we see a new GAINAX show but even I have to admit that it’s not always necessarily as good as it sounds - now that there’s a ‘new generation’ of staff there now it hardly seems the same studio any more. That said, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is an absolute blast.
Apparently the director was also the one behind Dead Leaves, which may explain the frantic energy behind TTGL (sorry, the title is one hell of a mouthful and a pain to type out in full). In some ways it reminds me of FLCL with its youthful and manic vibe; there’s no deep and meaningful stuff under the surface here though. Instead TTGL is pure, unbridled fun: right from the opening scene that looks like it was born from spare storyboards left over from Top o Nirae! 2, it already shows the ‘hard work and guts’ mantra. Instead of aiming for the stars however, our hero Simon has less lofty ambitions: reaching the surface!
The series is actually set underground, in a village in which Simon works as a driller, burrowing through the earth like a human mole. The first scene with its dramatic explosions is presumably some time in the future, because Simon and the other central characters are stuck underground in constant fear of earthquakes and the like. In the mother of all in-jokes Simon winds up as the pilot of a mecha that is to save his friends from giant hideous monsters.
I know it smacks of GAINAX flogging that old idea to death but TTGL really feels different from their earlier series. Firstly there the pacing, which feels like you’ve necked an entire box of Pro Plus with a bowl of sugar for afters; secondly I was having too much fun to care that the characters are (possibly intentionally) derivative. Kamina, who adopts Simon as his kid brother, is macho to the point of being a hazard to himself while Yoko is the definitive Gainax fanservice character. That’s right people, the (in)famous Gainax Bounce is alive and well!
Therein lies the main potential problem with this show: the presumably deliberate recycling of ideas for comic effect, as well as the nauseatingly over-the-top speed at which the events play out, could prove to be too much to handle; I suspect that it’s the kind of thing that I couldn’t sit down and watch too much in one sitting. For short, bright and outrageous entertainment that never stops to draw breath (and doesn’t give the viewer chance to draw breath either) though, TTGL is an absolute winner.
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