What Have I Watched?
So it’s been around a year since I’ve made a post for the site. Something like that. A blog that was largely just about anime for most of its life. That begs the question of what kinds of anime I’ve watched in that time. Clearly, you can get through a bunch in that amount of time. I didn’t watch as much as you may think, but I’d like to talk about the most impactful thing I saw in that time today!
There’s a ton of other series I’ve watched then I’d also like to highlight. Most of them very good! I’ll slowly be talking about all these over the coming weeks, I’m sure. Lots of fun stuff to come, I promise! But for today, let’s not wait long and talk about Gurren Lagann… that kind of worked. I tried to rhyme.
This Anime is Beautiful
This is one of the trickiest series I’ve probably tried to talk about on the blog. What a great one to come back for, right? The reason it’s so difficult to talk about isn’t because I can’t find the words to say about it. I have a ton. But really, very little I can say without spoiling the story. For that reason, this post won’t hold any punches about spoiling, but before that, if you know nothing about Gurren Lagann, go watch it.
It’s not often a series can stick with me so tightly. I watched it months ago as of writing this, and I randomly just think about it still. It’s amazing and can apparently even turn people that don’t like mecha onto it. Which is impressive when it is undeniable mecha to it’s core. It’s just mecha and a fairly simple plot executed really, really well. It is also a parody of that genre in a lot of ways at the start, so that probably helps, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less effective. Spoilers will start now, so go watch if you haven’t.
Gurren Lagann is good at a lot of things. At the end of it all, looking back, I realized that mostly everything Gurren Lagann had done was not all that different from other mecha series I’ve seen, though it was much earlier on. The general plot is pretty straightforward for the genre. Resistance group (largely made of children) has to get in the damn robot to save the world from aliens or some shit. It’s meant to be goofy for a while. That’s a big part of it, and never really stops.
What makes Gurren Lagann so amazing has nothing to do with the plot itself. You’ve seen it all before. Multiple times, probably. But Gurren Lagann has the characters and the stakes to make that plot better than ever before. It is executed masterfully and perfectly. The pacing is on point. Things are constantly moving forward. The foreshadowing is amazing. The plot feels so thoughtfully put together in every single aspect.
Some series can feel kind of thrown together. Many series focus on the arcs. It can often feel like only the first and last arcs actually mean anything, and the rest of the stuff in between could have been in any series. Gurren Lagann is pretty damn on the point at all times. Only like one episode I can think of doesn’t feel super, super important, but none are bad. Every episode does at least something that has a huge effect on the story as a whole, whether a character or plot point. Gurren Lagann just has so much care in it. The first episode is also perfect and deserves a post on its own.
Loss
Now I’ll talk about the elephant in the room and the thing that Gurren Lagann excelled at the most to me. The way that Gurren Lagann handles themes of death and loss and grief, and depression is masterful. It damn well might be the best depiction of death I’ve ever seen in a story. But I mean that in a specific way. I think depicting death and depicting the lasting effects death can have on people, while definitely linked, are two different things.
Death is hard for those who pass. They can suffer endlessly to that point, but the suffering lasts much longer on those who are left behind. While I’m sure there are other series that focus on the person who is dying better, I’ve never seen another story ever in my life that is so good and beautiful at reflecting how painful that loss is on those who are left behind, and Gurren Lagann does this really only over the course of like 17 episodes once shit hits the fan, with everything before building to that moment that smacks you in the face suddenly without warning, as death often is.
But what is so beautiful about it is the way it honors those who pass, while not allowing anyone to get trapped by it, at least not for long. I’ll stop being vague now and just assume you’ve seen or heard about it before. The episode where Kamina dies is so sudden. The death flags are there, sure, but I don’t think you really see it coming how fast and how sudden it happens. It’s tragic, it’s awful, it’s sad, it’s cruel. And it only happens at episode 8 of the anime. After I went back and checked that, I couldn’t believe it. The effect Kamina as a character and person has on everyone is so profound and so infinite, that I couldn’t believe he was only alive for a third of the series as a whole. That is shocking.
And that’s because the maturity the series has in dealing with his death. He died before his time, very quickly, giving nobody the time to truly grieve, Simon especially. He lost his bro that meant the world to him and so many other. Trying to fill the gap in the team, but also the gap in his heart, Simon slowly grew into a depression trying to be someone he wasn’t, slowly killing his sense of self in the process. These episodes following Kamina’s death are tragic. They’re so sad and gut wrenching for everyone, not because of Kamina’s death per se, but because of how everyone is dealing with their loss of him.
He was their motivator, he was their leader. He was always there to keep everyone going. He felt like the protagonist. He was. But he was taken too soon, and everyone has to learn to deal with that. It would have been so easy to switch to Simon and make him similar to Kamina. Because filling that gap and learning to be more like an amazing person would have been a logical conclusion, but Gurren Lagann understands that isn’t healthy. That the dead stay dead and you can never become or replace them. You can never be someone you aren’t.
Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?
Gurren Lagann instead chooses to show Simon’s spiral of depression as him losing who he is. He tries to become Kamina. The leader that would save everyone and solve everything, but he can’t. This is not a failing of Simon, however. You can’t be someone you aren’t, at least not effectively. Throughout the entire series, Simon is presented as someone who needs Kamina, and that’s why his passing is so devastating. Even for us, the viewer, we question whether Simon has what it takes, and that’s because Kamina just shines so brightly.
However, as Kamina says, Simon is his motivation as well. Kamina is an amazing character and his effect on people cannot be understated, but that’s exactly what he does. He says words, words that are largely empty without those around him to give them meaning. He chases what he believes in, and he believes in others, and they believe in him. Simon believes in the Kamina that believes in Simon after all. That’s only one step from believing in yourself.
Simon is strong, but he doesn’t know how to believe in himself at the beginning. Despite him doing so many amazing things, he sees himself as only able to do those things because Kamina is there for him, and while that is true to an extent, those who die are never truly gone. That only happens when you forget. Simon’s bro is dead. He’s gone. But’s he’s still on his back. He’s still in his heart. Kamina always lives on as a part of him. Simon learns that he is himself. He’s Simon the Digger, dammit. He’s not his bro and he never will be. And he doesn’t have to be. Simon can dig, and if he’s going to dig, he’s going to breach the heavens, even if he digs his own grave, he’ll keep going, and once he digs his way through, he’s won. Because that’s who the hell Simon is.
To understand the absolute profound effect this anime has had on people’s lives, you only need to look at the comments of YouTube videos with this scene I’m referencing. You’ll see countless people saying how this anime helped them through a tough time. Gave them something to believe in. Motivated them. Made them believe in themselves. This anime saved people’s lives in a very real way, and you only need to look at how people still discuss Gurren Lagann years later to see that. I saw Gurren Lagann when I was at a really rough point in my life too, and I can’t help but think that the reason it keeps sticking with me and continues to live rent-free in my head is because a part of it is always in my heart now, and that’s true of everyone who this series has managed to touch. You could say Kamina and Simon dug their way into our hearts as well.
Gurren Lagann is such a beautifully crafted series, and I’ve barely even talked about it. I’ve talked about but one aspect of all the many things it does perfectly, and how thoughtfully and beautifully the story is put together. Even removing all the profound, amazing things this anime does, it’s still just an amazing mecha series too with constantly escalating battles. It has something for everyone, and it’s something everyone should see, regardless of it you like mecha. It transcends that. Gurren Lagann is Gurren Lagann, after all, it isn’t going to try to be something it isn’t.
There will always be some people that think stories like these are pointless. They think they’re just entertainment. They’re just empty ways to waste some time. You should never listen to those people. Believe in yourself and know that it isn’t true. They’re the truly empty ones. Stories like these may not be able to create anything meaningful to them, but that’s because they don’t understand what their power is. They can ignite what’s already inside of you. Simon was always amazing. He was always himself. He just needed someone to remind him of that. We all need a little kick in the ass now and then to get going or keep going. To inspire us. To realize what we have inside. To rip that out of us. When someone tries to trample upon such a beautiful thing, and attempts to devalue all your struggles, and the person you are and always were, hit them with a “who the hell do you think I am?” Remind them that you’re you, I’m me, and that’s all any of us need to be.
