FIGHT DA POWAH!

(I’ll try to keep this as free from spoilers as possible)

Well, Gainax is at it again. Another super robot anime with crazy scale. Same old same old, right? Wrong. While it does retain the same initial “feeling” that shows such as Gunbuster or Diebuster do, it is by no means just a carbon copy or clone. however, we still have the thousands of physicists crying out in pain every time it airs. Calling this series “Epic” is an incredible understatement. Not only that, but I cant remember the last time, if ever, that I’ve enjoyed keeping up with a show this much.

The story starts out with our hero, Simon, digging in his underground village. Humans have been driven underground eeking out the most meager of existences for hundreds of years. He finds a glowing small drill, and does not really think much of it. His foster brother of sorts, Kamina, through various shenanigans of trying to escape the underground hole to the surface, pisses off the village elder and gets placed in a lock up. Of course, during this, Simon is further digging and finds a face in the ground, which of course turns out to be the main mecha in the show, Lagann.

Doesn’t look like much, but just wait.

Simon breaks Kamina out of the lockup to show him, they get caught and punished by the village elder. And of course during this, a gigantic mecha called a “ganmen” falls through the roof and totally starts fucking their shit up. Of course a new character, Yoko, comes with it and is trying to disable it with her big ass sniper rifle. All while scantily clad in a really hot bikini.

Hot.

To make a long plot introduction slightly less long, they use the small mecha Lagann to drill through the ganmen, and also the roof of the hole into the real world. It turns out all of humanity is being kept underground by a race of “beastmen” (fucking furies) lead by a human, Lord Genome. Of course, being the badass that he is, Kamina take it upon himself to form the Great Gurren Brigade and sets his sites on defeating lord genome and freeing the human race. Of course, things are not quite that simple, but I don’t want to spoil the entire show for you.

Aside from a few episodes in which an alternate animation team did the work, the animation is all very high quality. The fight scenes are especially impressive. It has a very fun defined style that really makes the pseudo reality and implementation of physics and science work. The ganmen all have their own unique looks, from the tiny Lagann, to Lord Genomes personal ganmen, to the giant boat like ganmen they run across. I believe I mentioned this before, but the scale of some of the mecha is absolutely incredible.

Lagann on the right. (and this is nothing)

As you can see, the main mecha of the show is at first absolutely dwarfed by some of the enemy ganmen they run into. With every new story arc of the show, there are new, and usually levels of power larger, ganmen that they fight. Without spoiling too much of the last arc, I will say that there are ganmen that make this look like an insignificant spec of sand on the beach.

The music is equally as impressive as the animation quality and style. Most of the songs were composed by the great Iwasaki Taku. From epic inspiring brass filled fanfares, to hard metal fight music, to an opera rap symphony of awesome, every song fits the situation perfectly, and half of it makes you want to rip your shirt off and go take over the world. The quality of work ranks up there with OSTs from Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, and other such great works. (I’m sure I’m missing plenty of good ones, too).

Fuck yes, you are the best explosion ever!

The story has plenty of twists and turns, albeit it is a little predictable and cliche at times. However, this is all easily overlooked due to the fact that its presentation is done so well, you are too busy screaming in shounen hotblood to care. Aside from one episode here, and a recap episode there, every episode matters. There is little if any at all filler to speak of, and the pacing is perfect. The drill Simon finds in the first episode brings about the main plot and reoccurring theme of the show “pierce the heavens with your drill”. Simon, quite literally at times, uses the drill to create a path for all of his cohorts to follow, no matter the cost.

Usually not this literal.

The characters are all well likeable, the antagonists seem nice and evil while still having a nice air of awesome around them. Even the gay mechanic sidekick is pretty awesome and fabulous at the same time. Be forewarned, there will be manly tears shed during this show, but they will be the most manly of tears ever thought possible.

How does it all stack up? Pretty damn well. It is easily one of my favorite shows of all time, if not absolute favorite. It is pretty much the “must see” series of last season if there ever was one. As I said, I cant remember ever having this much fun keeping up with the show. The wait for every episode keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering how could they POSSIBLY improve upon previous episodes? Which they always do. Somehow. Each story arc oozes more awesome and badass then the rest of the previous ones combined. If I was forced to give it a score, I would give it 92 dark diamonds out of a possible 100. But mere numbers alone can not describe the awesome that is this show. The only thing keeping it from a better score is the brief moments of poor animation quality, and a few minor character details that are questionable, but make for good conversation and discussion among your peers. I implore you, if you are still reading this please drop what you are doing and watch this show. By the time it is over, you will thank me, and probably be screaming ROA ROA FIGHT DA POWAH!