If you've been following anime at all since April, then Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann needs no introduction. The latest effort from studio Gainax has turned out to be one of the biggest action shows to come out of Japan in years, and not only has it turned the Giant Robot genre of anime upside-down, but in many cases it has renewed Gainax's ailing reputation. We won't talk about some of their most recent pre-Gurren work (Especially not Kono Minikukumo Utsukushii Sekai. We will not), but it's safe to say that coming into this year, the studio that had brought us classics from Gunbuster to Evangelion to FLCL had apparently passed its glory days.
Well, to be fair, that's still true, but Gurren-Lagann proves that they've still got it in them.
Gurren-Lagann is probably not only the best show to come out of the spring 2007 anime season, but many would say for the whole year - and then some, depending on who you're talking to. I have only two ways to describe the show itself.
1. Completely fucking ridiculous
2. Totally fucking awesome
Without swearing, it just doesn't convey the levels this show went to. There's something almost transcendent about the show, something that not even the fuck word can really grasp. Gurren-Lagann is hot-blooded chest-pounding testosterone-overflowing action, has great characters and amazing animation, and gives us one of the most epic and satisfying story arcs of any series in a long time.
And it's all because of the drill.
In short, Gurren-Lagann is set in a world where humanity is relegated to caves while Beastmen in giant mecha (referred to as Ganmen (顔面) which also means "face" - the robots appear as giant faces with arms and legs) rule the surface. Simon, a tunnel-driller from an underground village, and Kamina, a manly-man of single-minded determination, decide to break out from their life underground. Simon finds a face as he's drilling one day, and conveniently so, because it's only hours later when a beastman's Ganmen crashes through the roof of their cave. Simon and Kamina fight it off with the aid of Yoko, a scantily-clad fanservice machine with a big jiggly bust and a big powerful gun, and they find themselves on the surface. Adventures ensue and so on.
Basically, in a long series of increasingly ridiculous giant robot fights, we're taught the valuable lessons that you should always believe in yourself, should never stop fighting no matter how insurmountable the odds, and that if you have enough Fighting Spirit (気合), or rather, if you shout loudly and dramatically enough, you can beat any foe and overcome any challenge. (気合 not only means fighting spirit, it's also the shouting in Japanese martial arts. I'm not making this up, fighting spirit = shouting as loud as you can, and Kamina, Viral, Simon, Kittan and others will not let you forget that.)
I won't go into full detail because just summarizing the series would require a blog entry of its own. Like I said, the span of the story is epic. This would be a good time to mention that the following story contains spoilers. Like, more or less the whole thing.
Gurren-Lagann is constructed entirely and closely around the motif of the spiral, most notably embodied as a drill. There are drills and spirals all over the damn place, and that's not even discussing its subtler presences. Almost all of the thematic, structural, and plot-related elements relate in the series directly back to the spiral. The drill is depicted as a primary tool and weapon: Simon begins the story a driller, digging tunnels underground, and the various incarnations of the robot Gurren-Lagann use drills as their primary weapons, and are powered by a small drill-key that Simon finds. As we find out later in the series, the key to Simon's and indeed all of the characters' power is Spiral Energy, an energy inherent in DNA-based lifeforms, or basically, a harnessable (presumably by shouting loudly enough) Life Force brought about by our own spiral-shaped DNA (I would point out that DNA is a helix and not a spiral, but the word rasen (螺旋) that the show uses can mean both spiral and helix, as well as screw - thereby encompassing the drill as well).
So the spiral is a physical object which shapes the earth, becomes a weapon, and lives Inside Each and Every One of Us. How very reaffirming.
Taken a little more metaphorically, we see Simon drilling tunnels through solid Earth at the beginning of the show. He has no idea where he's going, but he turns and turns his hand-drill and drives onward, digging a tunnel through solid rock, searching for treasure and extending his village. The drill, as a spiral, breaks through anything in its path, point-down, and as "Spiral beings," Simon and the characters in the series do the same. As the series progresses, the odds they face grow more and more insurmountable, but they never stop drilling, and always manage to pierce their barriers, and the ones after that, and the ones after that.
So the spiral and the drill are symbols of perseverance, breaking through obstacles and driving onwards. How cute!
Well, I never accused Gurren-Lagann of being particularly deep. Indeed, the content of the story is, well, nothing too special. The first half of the series, episodes 1-15, are far more story-driven than the latter. They focus mainly on relationships, especially that of Simon to Kamina. Kamina is a born hero, basically, and doesn't really have much development. Remember when I called him single-minded? That's about the nicest way I can say "one-dimensional." He shouts the loudest of anyone, has faith in the power of manlymanhood, fights against any stupid odds and never gives up. And that doesn't change. The modifier is Simon's growth as a character - first as Kamina's dependent weakling sidekick who goes through all of the usual struggles - too scared to fight, wants to give up, doesn't believe in himself. Kamina's leadership is an example for Simon and indeed all of humanity, who flock to follow him.
Until he dies - which was absolutely inevitable, really. Like Obi-Wan and Yoda, like Dumbledore, the mentor in a heroic epic has to die so that the hero can make his own way. If Kamina lives, Simon's journey means nothing. But once Kamina dies, Simon has to find strength in himself, not from his hero - he has to become his own Hero. It's fairly standard as far as a Heroic Epic goes, not to mention the Coming of Age elements that Gainax loves so well.
This is not to say that the robot fights and action sequences in 1-15 aren't astonishing, because they are. But the focus is still on developing the story. At this point, Gurren-Lagann is just a very good giant robot show, but it hasn't earned its real marks yet.
Starting in Episode 17, after a 7-year time jump, the story jumps to the backseat and the action gets cranked up to "balls-to-the-fucking-wall" awesome. This is where things get really ridiculous. Simon is already a hero, basically, and doesn't really change or mature at all across the second arc. He's already become Kamina's successor, and any "development" is really just him finishing the last spurts of filling in those shoes and then bursting out of them by going way, way beyond. They've already told the story; part 2 is about a setup for some retarded/awesome fight sequences.
Allow me to illustrate the manner of appreciation for Gurren-Lagann's two phases.
Part 1: Man, I can't believe this/that happened. Oh man, that fight was pretty cool. Oh hell no, check out those drills. I'm just glad Simon isn't a whiny bitch anymore.
Part 2: HOLY WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST OH MY GOD WAS THAT - THEY'RE GOING TO FIGHT THE WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID- OH GOD THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM DID THEY REALLY JUST OH FUCK THIS IS RIDICULOUS
Not to say there isn't story in the second part. Seeing the characters in whole new environments and roles, especially Rossiu's evolution into a hard-nosed but well-intentioned, er, dictator, are quite interesting and set the tone for really intriguing character interaction. But that's a bonus, mere dressing around the edge of a show about giant robots are fighting the moon and punching gigantic aliens clear out of the space-time continuum.
While the growth and pace are a little uneven (Gurren-Lagann was supposed to be a 52-episode series, cut down to 26; it was also supposed to be more free-form episodic until they started getting into the story and really liking what they had come up with; the second part develops a lot faster and a lot more than the first did), you can still see the Spiral at work in its most important role.
For all the after-school-special metaphors and hamfisted visual motifs (which isn't to say that they're not effective despite their simiplicity) in the content of the show, where the spiral really comes into play is in its form, behind the scenes of the story. It shapes and informs the structure, growth and development of the story from beginning to end. The enemies get bigger and bigger, and so do the robots, and when you think it can't possibly get any bigger, it does - and does again. And again. As our hero and his robot grow and grow, spiraling out of control, the show grows to literally epic proportions. I'll break down exactly how in Part 2.
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