[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 9
Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve had a load of other stuff to attend to but now I can start on my viewing backlog again. Initially I was worried about how TTGL would fare after the (in)famous episode #8 but it turns out my fears were unfounded.
Make no mistake, the loss of Kamina had me wiping away a manly tear and swallowing a lump in my throat the size of Peterborough; in the dully coloured, rain-soaked aftermath we see the Gurren Brigade adjusting and getting on with the business of living. There are some great scenes in which we see how the Brigade has made the Beastmen’s ship habitable, and the crew go about their daily duties, such as the mundane act of peeling potatoes. Sorry, that just seemed all the more noteworthy in a show that never usually finds time for the mundane and everyday.
Interestingly Rossiu is in the pilot’s seat now and all things considered is doing a fine job. Sadly the same thing cannot be said of Simon. While he could have moped and wallowed in self pity, the legacy of his adoptive brother extends beyond the others picking up the cheesy battle dialogue (the cry of “May your entrails taste the fresh air!” from one of the other guys would make the great man proud). He’s angry but vents it: not entirely expected but perfectly understandable. He’s trying and failing to get his head around things, which gives some great character-driven moments where he confronts his comrades and generally makes for some excellent drama. Gainax are still the masters of teenage angst it seems, and it’s still great to watch.
Needless to say Simon has lost faith in pretty much everything. He desparately needs to find something - or someone - worth fighting for, and the reason comes from an very unexpected (isn’t it always?) source. Now, my first impressions of Nia were roughly “A moe character! Noes!” but by the end of the episode I understood her interesting origins and realised that she isn’t going to sit around talking in a high, childlike voice and behaving like the helpless damsel in distress. Thank heavens.
Quite why she was boxed up and discarded, apparently by the Beastmen, given who she is, not to mention why she looks so human, I don’t know. Actually, the whole opening scene featuring the Spiral King and his minions throws up fundamental questions about the Gurren Lagann universe, so I don’t think that the series has shot itself in the foot after all. On reflection, this episode was not only a fascinating one but it avoided the pitfalls it could so easily have slipped into.
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