[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 3
Whoa! I’ll try not to turn this post into a wide-eyed rave but honestly this was the best episode so far. Gurren Lagann takes its ‘excess all areas’ approach and ups the ante to parody the old super robot thing to mindblowing effect. Most viewers will be tunng in for that awesome action sequence in the second half but this episode has much more to offer, not least the background to Yoko’s village and some character development on Simon’s part.
I really enjoyed listening to Simon explain the situation with Kamina’s old man, which makes him out to be quite sensitive and switched-on in terms of recognising his elder brother’s feelings. Being the token fanservice character whose wardrobe leaves a little to be desired and nothing to the imagination, Yoko ought to irritate the hell out of me. Except she doesn’t. In fact, her character is pretty darned cool in that she is as fully-developed personality-wise as well as physically. Her very forcefully-delivered words of encouragement to Simon turned the tide of battle and proved that she is as much a central character as Simon, Kamina and Lon. Except Lon does annoy me. “Hey, let’s put an androgenous, drag queen character in for the hell of it!” Not such a good move in my book. I did enjoy the hunting trip though, since it gives that story of how the villagers came to the surface and also features a great knife-fight between Viral and Kamina. If anyone can explain what the hell the animators were on when they designed this sort of creature, I’ll be most grateful! This is just the sort of zany details that make the show what it is for me.
Speaking of the battle, well, what can I say? Drawn-out, Shounen Jump-style combat scenes with cliched dialogue isn’t my thing but those who dig that sort of stuff will be in their absolute element here. Even I found myself drawn in and carried along for the ride as the oversized robots clashed - Viral is a great adversary and Kamina is a bottomless mine of cheesy and brilliant one-liners. Like many aspects of Gurren Lagann it’s all been done before but that is beside the point. My exam revision timetable NEEDS to be punctuated by blasts of no-holds-barred entertainment such as this.
So, the third instalment takes our heroes through a multicoloured storm of action and onwards towards a new setting and another battle with Viral and the Beastmen. Like Kamina himself, it’s a larger than life ball of energy with a small brain but a big heart.
Posted on May 20th, 2008 @ 6:33 am
i liked this anime and kind of wish thay would have a 3rd season of a new genoration of pilots but i dout thay will so i can only wish
anyway i liked it alot and it had meny funny and serious parts to it solong amego peace out my bros