Anime Review - Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan

L-R: Kamina, Simon, Yoko

Its been a while since I've watched a feel good anime that feels like Power Rangers / super robot show. This anime has just done it ! Interesting plot, and good animations. After watching it, I feel the 'power', if you get what I mean.

Synopsis (from Wikipedia):

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann takes place in a fictional far future where human beings have been forced underground and thrive in isolated subterranean civilizations. These "villages" have no contact with the surface world nor other villages. Since frequent earthquakes damage infrastructure, the villages must constantly expand deeper into the earth — individuals designated to this task are known as "diggers".

Jiiha Village is the home of Simon, a fourteen year old digger who was orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake. He is respected by the village elder as the best of the diggers, but is ostracized by his peers. After discovering a special drill key deep in the ground, he is recruited by an eccentric fellow orphan named Kamina into his group, the "Gurren Brigade". Kamina dreams of the surface world, which he visited as a child with his father but had to return home because he was too weak to survive.

After a failed attempt at reaching the surface, Kamina is jailed by the elder and Simon resumes digging, only to discover "a big face" deep in his tunnel. As he excitedly fetches Kamina to show him the discovery, he is caught by the village elder, but Kamina's punishment is interrupted by the ceiling of Jiiha Village collapsing as an enormous robot falls into the cavern. A girl named Yoko appears and tries to fight the robot with a large rifle, but initially cannot do much. Simon takes Kamina and Yoko to the "big face" he found earlier and discovers that the small drill key can be used to activate the small robot which he uses to end up destroying the much larger robot and effectively break through to the surface.

It is on the surface that Simon and Kamina discover that there are more large robots known as Gunmen piloted by "Beastmen" that terrorize the surface dwellers during the day. Simon and Kamina help Yoko and her village destroy three more Gunmen and Kamina takes one for himself, naming it Gurren. Eventually, Simon and Kamina decide that they will go on a journey to end the constant struggle between Beastmen and humans. Simon and Kamina are initially accompanied by Yoko and a mechanic from Yoko's village named Leeron as they head out to find the Beastmen's Human Eradication Army main head-quarters, while dealing with various Beastmen warriors, including the vicious Viral.

Along the way, Simon and the others are joined by more humans, including the "Black Kinsmen", led by Kittan, and Rossiu, a strict young man from an underground village, forming the "Great Gurren Brigade", leading up to a major battle with the Human Eradication Army which results in the death of Kamina, the arrival of Nia, the mysterious "daughter" of Beastman leader Lord Genome, and the population of Earth's surface.

The second half of the series moves seven years into the future, where mankind has become prosperous and led by Rossiu, Simon and the other members of the Great Gurren Brigade. Though all seems well, after 1,000,000 people populate the surface, a new catastrophe begins with the arrival of the Anti-Spirals, including Nia's sudden "transformation" into an Anti-Spiral messenger, and the threat of the moon literally falling onto the Earth. Simon, along with the Great Gurren Brigade and former enemy Viral, now lead the battle to defeat the Anti-Spirals and save Earth.

The robot piloted by the main character, Simon.


The same robot after taking drugs :P. Its drill just keeps getting larger as the anime progresses.

One of the major battleships.

The main cast in their heroic pose.

Of course, there are some ecchi elements too.

Hordes of mechas join together in a big battle.

Somehow, the bad guys look very clumsy.

Links [da-anime] mp4, 55mb

Episode 01
Episode 02
Episode 03
Episode 04
Episode 05
Episode 06
Episode 07
Episode 08
Episode 09
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16
Episode 17
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27

Enjoy !

ps: If you like this anime series, check out Eureka Seven (links included). Its really awesome !

Eureka Seven