#34 I like what you have to say about DN and TTGL, but what you said about them being two sides of the same coin doesn’t make sense. You explained how TTGL is simple-to-complex, but not how DN is complex-to-simple.

I love complex storylines, plot twists, character develpment, action scenes, and good animation as much as the next person. Especially if its a fast paced show or if its a tear jerker.

This show had none of these aspects aside from being fast paced (which didn’t really matter because it was INSANELY predictable) and tolerable animation.

Probably the best show I’ve seen so far is Code Geass (1+2), followed by Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Gungrave (in that order).

I’ve seen more movies than shows, so I’m no expert on the subject. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t obsessed with DBZ when I was 11 years old. So to get to my point, DBZ and TTGL are two sides of the same coin, which makes TTGL completely unoriginal. And like DBZ, it is the drivel of desperate anime creators and should only be shown to people who cannot tell the difference between pathetic absurdity and quality entertainment (i.e. 11-year old boys)

Grade: D-

TTGL is a simple to understand anime, yet the anime uses simple things to reach so many, again, DN proves to be the exact opposite, uses so many things to reach something so simple. Also TTGL is about breaking every limit that your humanity, law of physics, or even the universe has set to you, and critisize this anime for that is like critisizing DN for being far too complex, and trying to think every single word you say without messing up.

In conclusion, you can´t choose which of those two is the best anime, since they are seperate categories, but on their own category I can safely say that they are the best ones, but is up to taste of the viewer of either choosing complex-to-simple or simple-to-complex animes as their favorites

This show as mentioned is pretty fast paced and thats precisely what I didn’t like about it. I don’t have problems with fast paced shows, I’m quite a fan of Zetsubo sensei, but this show was just being a kaleidoscope of really bright flashing colors. The pace of things so to speak were there more for eye candy rather than trying to be inventive with the narrative, I think the colors used by the show along with how the battles looked would support this. Another beef I had with the show is that it went HOG WILD. I can see that the show is trying to be completely over the top but there is a difference between going over the top and going hog wild which this show just did, it went overboard with its elements whether it be sexual innuendos or the testosterone levels it was simply too much that it was obviously contrived. Case in point is the so called manliness of Kamina and well I can point to so much actions of him whether it be his incessant cockiness or his perversity as I said he was what the show was about in one character and that wasn’t a good thing. Again I’ll go to a comparison of Zetsubo Sensei which is a show that is too much, so much small details texts, jokes, criticisms, satire, etc. Yet, Zetsubo Sensei is a show that is too much but never feels like it was trying too hard to cram as much of everything it had but it never felt so contrived and just felt natural, hard to say why was but perhaps it was the frenetic cross-cutting style that though the show certainly was crammed never felt like it was forcing down all those details into as the editing was done fast enough to give you a glimpse of the detail. Enough of a glimpse to capture your interest and pay more attention to the surroundings, I often had to pause the show for a moment just because I wanted to see what the entire environment of the scene had in it. But with Gurren it just forces down all its absurdity into you.

Bunch of underground suckers that barely know eachother suddenly decide to become best friends, get some machines they instantly have names for and are able to combine, go on a journey with some half naked chick to defeat all. Kinda sounds like a 14 year old daydreaming at class?? Truly sorry but a story like that can kiss my ass.

And then I read somewhere that it’s supposed to be a lot better than Evangelion or Code Geass. I know tastes differ, but it makes my blood boil to hear that kind of bull.

Don’t you guys see? It’s this stupendous mash up of predictable and generic plot elements that also make this anime one of the most original animes I’ve ever seen.

While other anime writers try to come up with more emo characters in more unique and dramatically convoluted high school love triangles (Code gayass is a good example), the writers of Gurren Toppa No Lagan have the balls to run at light speed in the opposite direction. I’ve never thought such an extreme mash up of generic plot elements could form something so good.

brandon: Likewise.

Predictable? To a certain extent, but mostly I’m going to have to disagree. When I sat down and watched TTGL without any prior knowledge whatsoever, I didn’t expect Kamina to die like he did. I was totally shocked that they were so bold as to kill off the character that literally controlled the series up until that point. I was honestly depressed for the first time watching an anime. I’ve watched a lot of anime in my time and never before has a major character death hit me as hard as Kamina’s. I considered dropping the series at that point, but I continued and much to my great surprise, it worked without him. Not only that, it worked well — dare I say, better. Looking back, I don’t think it would have been as satisfying if he hadn’t died. Further, when Lordgenome was killed, did you sit there and go, “in a few episodes, I’m sure he’ll be cooperating with the Gurren Brigade! In fact, he’ll probably save them!”? Did you predict Viral piloting Gurren-Lagann alongside Simon after their rivalry throughout the first two-thirds of the series?

Really though, it’s not intended to be a twisting unpredictable story. The plot is GREAT. The whole fun of Gurren-Lagann is its flashiness and colorful animation and very memorable characters. I think you’re missing the point of the series.

Otherwise, nice work!

For me, the problem also with the pushing forward all the time was that everything just felt standard and predictable, and because of this most of the characters failed to connect to me. I’m not saying the show is bad, I just didn’t like it as much as others did.

Candidate for the best anime this decade alright.

I have to say this show is Overrated. Wonderful Animation but after that there really is nothing. It was NOOT an amazing story. Yes I loved that fact that the title really does sum up what the show is about seeing as they began underground and worked their way up to the universe but I watched and this show is easily forgotten. There were just so many things off about it…and I am a huge fain of Mech and Action but you don’t need a brain to enjoy this show. Not saying that there isn’t brainless Anime but like you said it was very predictable you knew they were going to win you knew there were going to be power-ups you know all these things. And some saying that this is a tribute to Mecha Anime…this is crap. This is on some Power Ranger type ish…I hated Raxepheon but as a Mecha Anime it was waay better than this.

Did anyone else notice how the Animation style changed…in the beginning it looked a lot like FLCL and then when Nia came I am reminded of Eureka. This show was bad…awesome Animation but that alone does not make it eligible for Best Anime Ever…there are soooo many shows that blow this out of the water…this is just a drop in the bucket. I am not saying I hated it but really it is so overrated. I think it should be given a 60/100.