DISTANT FUTURE MONTH #1: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, by Hiroyuki Imaishi (2007)
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Type of Media: Animation
If you’re even slightly familiar with anime then you probably know the typical plot structure of anime shows aimed at boys like Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball Z, otherwise known as shonen anime. The plucky protagonist has a goal that requires increasingly greater feats of power to achieve, and the series centers around them getting stronger and bonding with their comrades as they clear the hurdles toward accomplishing that goal. It’s a formula that a lot of people find predictable, so they don’t bother watching.
Well I’m here to tell you that even though Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann follows that same formula, you should totally still watch it. Because Gurren Lagann takes the formula of getting stronger, cranks it up to 11, decides that isn’t good enough, screams “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?”, and then cranks it up to 12. It’s a show of ridiculous escalation that uses the typical shonen structure to create a celebration of humanity’s ability to progress.
In Gurren Lagann it’s the far-flung future and humanity lives underground, constantly working to survive and expand their meager communities. Our protagonists are Simon, a meek boy who digs tunnels with a handheld drill, and his role model Kamina, a big, brash, endlessly self-confident man who’s constantly butting up against authority. One day Simon unearths a pilotable robot shaped like a head along with a key that looks like a tiny drill, which thrusts Simon and Kamina into the surface world.
It turns out that there are humans living on the surface too, but they’re constantly attacked by giant mechs controlled by animal-human hybrid creatures, known as Beastmen. Teaming up with Yoko, a woman with a sniper rifle from a nearby village, Simon and Kamina use the robot head to fight back against the Beastmen and capture their mechs while working to unravel the mystery of where the Beastmen came from and why they hate humanity.
The stakes in Gurren Lagann raise very quickly, as does the power level of the cast. Every episode the robots get bigger, the enemies get stronger, and the action gets more ludicrous until the fights reach a galactic scale in the second season. However this isn’t just for the sake of spectacle, as the ability for humans to make so much progress so quickly is why they’re targeted by the powers that be in the first place. When the big bad guy explains why the Beastmen have been keeping humans underground for centuries, his reasoning makes total sense. By the end of the series it’s clear that the challenge of the human race isn’t to just attain power, but to control that power and wield it responsibly.
We’re lead on this journey by Simon, who over the course of the series develops into a leader under his mentor Kamina. Kamina’s message basically boils down to “believe in yourself”, but like everything else in the show it’s taken to an absurd level as he tells Simon and their crew “go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb” and “a true man never dies, even when he is killed!” While the characters aren’t necessarily deep, they are defined, and made memorable by their dialogue and their great art design. Every character, even minor ones that only get a few lines across the entire series, has a unique silhouette augmented by at least one distinctive visual garnish. Most notable would be Kamina’s pointed sunglasses, a design so popular it was incorporated into a new version of the British flag that won a reader poll on the Daily Telegraph.
Gurren Lagann manages to be inspiring and heartfelt while succeeding as a great action show. It isn’t for everyone, but if you grew up on Adult Swim’s anime fare, Toonami, or local broadcasts of DBZ you should definitely watch it.