[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 8
This is worth a double-post.
After episode #7 I didn’t think this show’s recovery in quality could continue. This one however was even better: it portrays a very unexpected and significant event in the story, and in great style too. If you haven’t watched this far yet, go see it before reading any further - SERIOUSLY. I really don’t want to ruin it for you.
Even without the shocking ending, it was a decidedly above-average offering that gives plenty of character interaction and action: the battle with the Beastmen picks up where the last one left off with entire armies of ganmen clashing. There’s drama, explosions, tension and, ultimately, tragedy.
Simon’s moment of self-doubt, brought on by the events in the episode’s first half, threaten to scupper the operation entirely. While it’s easy to criticise him as not ‘acting like a man’ or whatever, remember that he’s still learning what it takes to be a man: he’s been denied any sort of role model until his adventures on the surface but the final assault that Kamina and Simon make together is downright EPIC. Pulling victory from the jaws of defeat is no small thing, and it’s on a suitably grand scale here: an uber-macho Gunbuster almost.
You have to admit though, writing a major character out of a series when it’s only a third of the way through is about as unexpected as it gets (see why I warned you now?). Utterly, utterly, shocking! I was surprised at myself for being surprised though - the warnings were filtered down last time that Kamina makes a habit of dicing with death; it would appear that even I became convinced of his apparent invincibility. He’s Kamina: the shirtless, shades-wearing Master of All that is Cool and Awesome! He can’t die! Alas, being the ultimate in manliness, he was just a man.
For all this, it’s somehow fitting that he went out this way: grinning, fearless, regretting nothing - his final thoughts were for those of his friends as he made his exit is characteristically grand style. How the series will go now, I won’t even hazard a guess: it’s proved to be way too unpredictable. Can Simon and Yoko carry on without such a determined powerhouse of energy? Who will now take the place as the beating heart of the Gurren Lagann? The way in which these questions are addressed will decide whether this series winds up as Gainax’s greatest triumph since FLCL, or a spectacular disaster. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out from here on in because I don’t know how they can follow this episode without things feeling like a let-down or just plain odd.
May he rest in peace, the man who lived as a fool but died as a hero.
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