Weekly Review: Gurren Lagann
Plot / Story
The world is cruelly ruled by the spiral king known as Lordgenome. Its rule is absolute. Nobody challenges it. His army of gunmen spread across the world to keep the man crouched underground. Humanity was forced underground. They must live underground for fear of what might happen if they rise to the surface. They are plagued by lack of resources and deadly earthquakes. We begin our series by meeting Simon, an excavator in the town of Giha. He is not well liked by the other villagers, most describe him as smelly, but he is good at his job. He was born to be an excavator, he says later in the series that he can hear soil and rock, it tells him where the best place to dig is.
Simon’s parents died after a deadly earthquake, since then there has only been one person for him, Kamina. Kamina is a refractory young man from the village who dreams of the day when he will surface. He tells everyone that he saw the surface as a child with his father, and that he must get up to meet him. Of course, nobody believes him. One day, Simon discovers two peculiar things while digging. First he discovers a kind of small drill, then he discovers a face buried in the ground.
Simon decides that the best course of action is to go find his “brother”, Kamina. Help Kamina escape from containment, they put him there as punishment for trying to get out of the village and start leading him to the robotic face. It is at this moment that a huge robot breaks through the roof and lands in the center of the city. After realizing that this new intruder is an enemy, they also meet an ally. Yoko comes swinging to the rescue firing rounds from her rifle. Yoko is an elegant girl who is quite a master with her rifle. Simon then leads the two of them to the face buried in the dirt, to which they realize that it is a small robot, and the drill that Simon found is the key. They decide to use the robot to attack the enemy robot outside, and that’s when Kamina names the robotic head “Lagann”.
They manage to get the robot out of town. Yoko then tells them that those robots are called gunmen and that their sole purpose is to attack humans who end up on the surface. After dealing with two other gunmen, with the help of Yoko’s village, they finally manage to surface. They go to Yoko’s village with her because they are sure that the gunmen will return the next day. The next day’s battle features Kamina fascinated by enemy gunmen, so she decides to steal it. After apprehending the machine, he calls it “Gurren”.
The story starts from there. The two “brothers” join forces with many allies on their journey to dethrone the evil spiral king. Along the way they meet an annoying nemesis named Viral, and also discover that they have the ability to combine Gurren and Lagann. Kamina names the combination, very cleverly, “Gurren Lagann”. There the difficulties never stop, as they must face each of the spiral king’s four generals and eventually the spiral king himself. It is a magnificent journey, filled with joyous victories and devastating losses.
Of course, after the final battle with the spiral king, there are still quite a few episodes left, but I won’t spoil any of that!
Aftermath
As of this moment, a sequel is rumored to come out. Since the demand for a sequel is so popular, it is believed that one is brewing. Some say this is not true because of the way the story ends. Who knows!
Usually
I would recommend this anime series to anyone who likes action and comedy. The series will make you laugh with some of the comments, not to mention the subtle jokes and sexual jokes about governments. Of course, you will have quite a few emotional moments, but that adds to the incredible story. It’s a bit old school in the fact that they say their moves out loud and what they don’t, but it goes well with the characters and the style. Honestly, my girlfriend and I spent our third anniversary sitting up in bed watching this series, and we both love it. Give him a watch!
