Tengan Toppen Gurren Lagann

The Drill that will Break through the Heavens Gurren Lagann- phew what an anime! I just finished this series and I must say that it was well done for packing it into 27 episodes. I won't give away the storyline so I will refrain from making spoilers.

Simon is a kid who lives in Jeeha Village and he digs holes all day. Humanity was driven to the underground by a race of beings known as Beastmen who use Gunmen to defeat any humans who make it to the surface. Kamina, Simon and Yoko all make it to the top and team up with forces from Littner village to set off and fight for the freedom of the human race to live on the surface of the Earth. They must defeat the Beast King who rules over the Beastmen.

The series starts off GREAT and everything is great until about episode 8. Don't get me wrong- TTGL was an excellent series, but the energy and charisma of the show died at episode 8 completely, then did another 180 turn in the other direction towards the end of the series. There many messages Gurren Lagann presents:

• The human race changes and evolves every minute and second of existence.


• Believing in yourself can make the impossible possible.


• Believing in yourself and your friends is the path to the future.

I normally don't like people like Kamina who are boastful, but under the circumstances they were all put it I would be one to rally behind him and adopt the philosophy of Team Gurren Lagann. You get to really like him a lot in this series and all of the characters grow on you- if the creator did that then they did a good job of making the series. Gurren Lagann is truly one of the better anime series I have seen within the past decade- and there have been few anime series (under 30 or so maybe) that have caught my love. To top it all off- all the massive explosions and ridiculous stuff that the team does (and the comedy) is just awesome.

I would go as far as to say that Gurren Lagann challenges my beliefs not about my religion, but about my morality and how "I operate". It's not a bad thing- all the underlying messages (and believe me, there are many more) are great messages. Gurren Lagann doesn't grasp onto hope, but the idea that even in despair a person can make a difference and change the outcome, even if probabilities are zero.


I heard about an OVA? would like to see that.