"Gurren Lagann" on Hulu & YouTube Talkback (Spoilers)

Gurren Lagann is definitely more of a fanboy's show. Personally I didn't think it started getting really interesting until the time skip. Although I disagree about the fanservice. It's fairly moderate here. That said, I don't exactly avoid it like the plague.

If nothing else, it's a gorgeous looking show. Budding artists should take note of its excellent use of color and design work.
 
No, I mean if the price to be paid with overusing spiral energy is 'The universe will blow up' then the characters, indeed, all humanity has been given a power with godlike scope... Which isn't the least bit intresting to me and if it's not the case that using the spiral energy will destroy the universe... Then what IS the price?

And if the humans are fighting people who don't have this power then what powers do thier enemies have and what controls how powerful THEY can get and on and on it goes and the story devolves into a spitting match of which side can out asspull the other side. Which I don't find intresting.

Edit: Also, I'm sort of feeling like I'm always comming off as the curmudgeon who hates everything and isn't afraid to tell everyone why thier oppinion sucks and they should be ashamed of themselves for liking the things they do.

Disclaimer to the contrary.

Gurren Lagaan looks for all intents and purposes like something quality. I happen to hate it. By contrast, there's plenty of stuff out there that typically gets mixed reviews that I have loved, some of it, demonstrably bad in many MANY respects *cough* Glass Fleet *cough* and I'd be more than happy to stand up and defend any of them agains't all contenders.
 
Look, at the end of the day, if you're looking for a universe with concrete rules that make total sense-- or indeed, ANY sense-- this is the wrong show for you. I'd hurably submit that you're taking the whole thing too seriously.

Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with wanting a show that DOES hold up to being taken seriously, but again, if that's what you're after, GL ain't it. If you stick with it long enough, it does have redeeming qualities that make it a bit deeper than the sort of "manly fighting spirit > all!" thing you might expect out of the first episode, but if you seriously hate the show THAT much after one episode, you're unlikely to want to stick around long enough to appreciate those qualities, and that's fine. It's not the show for you. Great. We've established that. Move on.

I mean, I could head into a Spongebob Squarepants talkback and complain that it doesn't hold up when viewed as a character-driven drama, and I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd kind of be missing the point, wouldn't I? Spongebob clearly has elements that cause a great many people, even outside of its main demographic, to get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I confess to be entirely blind to what exactly those elements are, but I'm willing to take it on faith that they're there and leave it at that.
 
Yes, I am slightly aware that my liberal use of descriptive language can illicit that impression.

Mostly what I'm actually more guilty of is of not being able to resist a verbal sparing match when presented with one.

I acknowledge the obvious qualities of Gurren Lagaan and it actually saddens me ever so slightly that I hate it as much as I do, which is not very much but enough not to want to watch it. I guess I sort of hope someone will say something that will change my perspective of it enough for me to find a way to like it like what happened with Gundam 00 which, just like Gurren Lagaan, failed to hook me in episode one and showed no signs of improvement by episode 2 but after a bit of time and some consultation with people who's oppinions I respect who liked it a lot, I went back, this time to episode 4 and watched the whole thing as fast as I could get my hanRAB on it making not a complette 180 of oppinion, but certainly well beyond the critical 90 that was needed for me to watch it at all.

So I sort of hope the same thing will happen with Gurren Lagaan.
 
I wouldn't bet on it, considering the only super robot genre you like are subversions or light touches of it. This one's heavy on the tropes. Watch Monster instead.
 
You know, I certainly can understand how someone could dislike the show. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense and when you break it down, it's generally pretty simplistic. This show is closer to magical girl logic than Gundam. OK. I can see that criticism. That was my original problem with the show until I realized what it was trying to do.

But I've been turning the Kamina criticisms over in my head and I still don't get how he could be considered unlikeable. He's over the top and loud, yes, but a "prick"? Pretty sure I disagree there. I just don't see it.



YES. A lot of people don't realize this. Fans often say Simon became Kamina in the end, but that really isn't true. While I liked Kamina, he largely used his attitude to cover up his insecurities. And that's totally understandable. And because he was so showy and charismatic, people in the show tended to believe in him. But Simon is simply the better man. Even when Simon was shy and awkward as a kid, he still put his heart on his sleeve, and this is the one quality that carried over into adulthood. There isn't a phony bone in Simon's body. And unlike Kamina, he IS, as you said, reasonable. He's willing to let a logical mind, like Darry, calm him down when he gets too excited. And he fights because he genuinely believes in humanity and because he genuinely believes in...wait for it...THE POWER OF LOVE!
 
Some of those who didn't like Kamina were also quick to jump on the fact that his attitude is a cover. "See! See! He's a sham! What a jerk." He's only human, no matter how much anyone might look up to him, but he's just trying to help Simon, who he'd taken under wing, face up to and thrive in a crappy world. Swallowing your fear and staring death in the face for someone else's sake is far more "manly" and respectable than the senseless hot-bloodedness seen earlier. Sure, he went over-the-top about it, but that's part of Gurren Lagann's presentation.

--Romey
 
Absolutely. I don't think you can really question Kamina's good intentions. Everything he did was for well-meaning purposes. Haven't your parents ever put on an act to shield you from something bad when you were a child? That's how I saw Kamina--what he was doing, essentially, was a sort of "positive minRABet" psychology. Because if they dwelt on the negative all the time, and were super-serious, they probably wouldn't have got anything done.

I know one thing is for sure. I much prefer Kamina's well-meaning "act" over
Rossiu's "well-meaning" politics. Now he was generally a good guy as well. But if you want to gripe about unlikeable methoRAB, Rossiu's the only logical target in the show.
 
Well, it's like this.

Ya ever been at a party, there's lots of people there that you don't know, many of them that maybe you'd like to and you're actually striking up intresting conversation with the more attractive women present when sudden this 6 foot, 180 pound jock shows up, announces his present in tones that sound like the lowing of a bull being castrated and all of a sudden what used to be a sort of small intimate party suddenly explodes into a drunken, screaming, dancing like asses to horrible music that I hate and puking into the bushes College Kegger that I have absolutely no taste for.

Kamina is that 180 pound Jock to me. I HATE people like him, no matter what they're intentions, wether or not they wear a mask to hide thier insecurity, well, yeah EVERYONE wears a mask it's just the one he chooses to wear is one I loath and dispise, regardless of his motives for wearing it.

So yeah, that's why I inititally hated him.
 
People may say that Simon is the bette rman, and that may very well be true when you look it from a more reasonable viewpoint, but the fact still stanRAB that had Kamina not been the man he was, Simon would have never grown into the man he became, ya know?
 
Please, we all know the manliest man Kyle Hebert has ever played is Nefertari Cobra from One Piece.



Oh...my progress on the show? I'm busy, thus 'no haz wahtchid' since episode two.


Eventually, I swear...maybe...!
 
Absolutely. This goes for anybody. People are influenced by their peers and family. But if it was so easy to surpass an elder figure, our generation would be better people than the previous generation, and the one after ours better than us, etc,.

I really don't think anyone can say that is true. It takes a lot of work to outgrow someone who used to be better than you.
 
Your logic in this makes no sense, your really taking an anime like Gurren Lagann that far? xP Wow, I suggest you hop off if you can't have fun with it then.
 
No, see, that kind of reaction is entirely irrational, but because that is how Kamina is presented, instead of liking him, I hate him and when I hate a character who is clearly the protagonist, it gets me thinking about all the other stuff in the show that I don't like, like the blatant fanservice and the arse-pulling drill powers and all this other stuff that I'm supposed to think is awesome but that I think is durab because I hate Kamina.

Tower of Druaga has exactly the same kind of over the top opening except, I like the main character as he is very clearly deluded and the show goes on to take the piss of a whole load of video game and shonen tropes, and I love it! It's hilarious and over the top which is exactly what Gurren Lagaan was going for, but for me, it failed. Clearly it didn't for a lot of people, just for me and that whole post was only an attempt to explain presicely why the Kamina character failed to make me like the show.
 
Those who have finished the series may be interested to read this over at AnimeVice. It's reportedly some old Q&A from Gainax regarding the show back in 2007. There's a good deal there about Nia and her role in the story, among other tidbits.

Just to stress again though, there are spoilers aplenty so you really should not read this unless you've seen the entire show.

Here's one juicy big-picture tidbit:

Whew, that was close. I'm glad they continued developing it and decided to go for "epic," as it were.
 
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