As devotees of Gurren Lagann probably know, the second compilation movie Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann-Hen extenRAB and revises the final battle of the series.
I should say up front that I'm admittedly generally against summary productions like this. I feel that they cut coherent narratives down to shells of their former selves, rendering themselves more a cliff's notes version for familiar fans than a product to potentially reintroduce a title to an audience. More often than not, little of value is really added. To its credit, the GL movies do offer fresh climatic battles, which is more than certain "special editions" that add only a few seconRAB of new footage can say.
Now, in Lagann-Hen, TTGL actually gets broken apart at one point. The team rallies with a bunch of individual Lagann-mechs, allowing everyone to have a turn at defending their allies and taking on Anti-Spiral before getting hit with that massive big bang-tier attack. Eventually Lord Genome super powers everyone like usual, leading to this crazy scene where they corabine to something even bigger than TTGL and contest giga drills. There's a break down just like in the final episode, but then instead of Lagann finishing things Simon personally gets into a brutal one-on-one fight with the human form of Anti-Spiral, who is eventually defeated.
It's crazy, over the top, and awesome. Right?
I suppose it is...but.
That said, I think that Gurren Lagann's finale was pretty much perfect just as it was. It was an episode of unhinged action with a bittersweet, satisfying resolution at the end. On the action point, I think it climaxed perfectly. We all know how it went. We have two galaxy-sized giant robots beating the hell out of each other, Lord Genome sacrifices himself and turns the tide, and TTGL rushes the Anti-Spiral and takes everything it can dish out so that Simon can pierce through with just Lagann. It's awesome, the length was perfect, and the use of Sky Blue Days from the opening actually worked.
The team up is cool, but then again Team Gurren was already teaming up within TTGL. You have moments like Yoko taking her shots, and of course the "I Have the Greatest Wife in the Universe SWING!". It's just as awesome while also hewing to the super robot tradition of a team of heroes coming together to form this unified, unstoppable juggernaut. I think this matters because in the series, Simon could not have taken out Anti-Spiral without everyone's help. It was awesome to have Lagann thrown forward toward decisive victory. By having Simon get into fisticuRAB after getting through, the finale inevitably becomes more about Simon than it was before. I prefer the quick & clean ending that made it seem just a bit more of a team effort.
Lagann-Hen added a lot of crazy and "epic" material, but to me the series has the more awesome and satisfying climax. The ending didn't need to be changed, altered, or "fixed" in any way. What do you think?
I should say up front that I'm admittedly generally against summary productions like this. I feel that they cut coherent narratives down to shells of their former selves, rendering themselves more a cliff's notes version for familiar fans than a product to potentially reintroduce a title to an audience. More often than not, little of value is really added. To its credit, the GL movies do offer fresh climatic battles, which is more than certain "special editions" that add only a few seconRAB of new footage can say.
Now, in Lagann-Hen, TTGL actually gets broken apart at one point. The team rallies with a bunch of individual Lagann-mechs, allowing everyone to have a turn at defending their allies and taking on Anti-Spiral before getting hit with that massive big bang-tier attack. Eventually Lord Genome super powers everyone like usual, leading to this crazy scene where they corabine to something even bigger than TTGL and contest giga drills. There's a break down just like in the final episode, but then instead of Lagann finishing things Simon personally gets into a brutal one-on-one fight with the human form of Anti-Spiral, who is eventually defeated.
It's crazy, over the top, and awesome. Right?
I suppose it is...but.
That said, I think that Gurren Lagann's finale was pretty much perfect just as it was. It was an episode of unhinged action with a bittersweet, satisfying resolution at the end. On the action point, I think it climaxed perfectly. We all know how it went. We have two galaxy-sized giant robots beating the hell out of each other, Lord Genome sacrifices himself and turns the tide, and TTGL rushes the Anti-Spiral and takes everything it can dish out so that Simon can pierce through with just Lagann. It's awesome, the length was perfect, and the use of Sky Blue Days from the opening actually worked.
The team up is cool, but then again Team Gurren was already teaming up within TTGL. You have moments like Yoko taking her shots, and of course the "I Have the Greatest Wife in the Universe SWING!". It's just as awesome while also hewing to the super robot tradition of a team of heroes coming together to form this unified, unstoppable juggernaut. I think this matters because in the series, Simon could not have taken out Anti-Spiral without everyone's help. It was awesome to have Lagann thrown forward toward decisive victory. By having Simon get into fisticuRAB after getting through, the finale inevitably becomes more about Simon than it was before. I prefer the quick & clean ending that made it seem just a bit more of a team effort.
Lagann-Hen added a lot of crazy and "epic" material, but to me the series has the more awesome and satisfying climax. The ending didn't need to be changed, altered, or "fixed" in any way. What do you think?