Now Viewing: tengen_toppa_gurren-lagannTag type: General Tag Covers the whole series. In Japanese, the series title is written as 天元突破グレンラガン, which translates to Pierce the Heavens Gurren Lagann. The North American localization shortens the title to Gurren Lagann. It is a very popular super robot action adventure anime directed by Imaishi_Hiroyuki and written by playwright Nakashima Kazuki who had previously collaborated with Imaishi on Re:Cutey Honey. Both men share a love of the mecha genre and Getter Robo. For Imaishi, ever since he became an animator he wanted to make a mecha series. The characters were designed by Nishigori_Atsushi and the mechs were designed by You_Yoshinari and Imaitoonz. It was animated by Gainax and aired from April 1, 2007 to September 30, 2007. The series has been adapted into a manga and it will be adapted into a stage play as well called Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann Engeki-hen that will include scenes that did not make it into the TV series. It is notable for being a reconstruction of the Super Robot mecha genre, its often quoted hot-blooded speeches, and increasingly over the top action with the mechs the cast use, getting bigger and more powerful with each battle. It also features a genre blending soundtrack composed by Iwasaki Taku with the opera/rap fusion Libera Me from Hell being one of the more well known pieces of music. Much of the lyrical music, except Nakagawa Shouko's songs and the opera portion of Libera Me from Hell, is in English as well. Its distinctive and lens flare-filled eyecatches are frequently parodied. It extensively features drills and the series is thematically built around the concept of a spiral. The movie Lagann-hen features one of the largest mechs in any mecha series ever, only rivaled by a Demonbane prequel novel which has the biggest mecha ever and the Getter Emperor from Getter Robo. The mechs themselves are notably life-like and very expressive with many of them having identifiable facial features. This was done by the animators as a way to make them easier to animate. Sunglasses are all over the place in the series, even on mechs where they also function as weapons and on the hero's pet Boota. It is set in the distant future. Earth is a barren planet ruled by the tyrannical Lordgenome with humans being forced to live underground. Simon and his best friend Kamina live in an underground village. Simon is a timid young boy who discovers a drill-shaped key and a small mech that resembles a human head one day while digging through rock. Kamina is a firebrand who frequently clashes with the village elder and insists that there's a world above ground and wants to venture to the outside world, while the village elder denies this. Kamina is soon vindicated when a massive beast like mech, crashes through the surface followed by Yoko Littner. Simon, Kamina, and Yoko team up to take down the giant mech with Simon piloting the new found mech (which Kamina dubs Lagann), and Simon and Kamina experience the outside world for the first time. But the heroes have little time to rest after their victory over the giant mech. Simon and Kamina learn from Yoko that the humans above surface are being hunted by Lordgenome and his beastmen army in an attempt to force them underground. Kamina soon hijacks another mech and combines that mech with Simon's Lagann, forming the Gurren-Lagann. Kamina, with his charisma, becomes the leader of the humans above surface forming a group known as the Gurren Brigade and launches an ongoing war with Lordgenome and his Beastmen. Simon is somewhat reluctant to participate in this adventure, only being convinced to fight due to his devotion to Kamina, but the adventures with the Gurren Brigade become a life changing experience for the timid boy. It also has been adapted into manga and has received two anime movie adaptations with one adapting the first half of the original TV series and the other adapting the second half. Both movies, particularly the second, feature new footage. The original TV series notably spent 40% of the animation budget on the climactic last five episodes of the series and episode 15 featured 22,000 frames of animation. The series made its debut in Super Robot Wars in Super Robot Wars Z 2. Hakai hen adapts the first half of the series and has the cast appropriately (since Getter Robo is a major influence on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), interacting with the Getter Robo cast. The second Super Robot Wars Z 2 game Reborn the World adapts the second half of the series. Its inclusion in the games was made possible by Evangelion and Top wo Nerae! creator Anno Hideaki calling the games' director Takenobu Terada and asking if there was any room for the series in the games' roster. Gainax also reused some ideas from the comic Gunbuster Next Generation for this series. Although the series homages the mecha genre in general, the series has quite a few thematic and plot similarities to Getter Robo, an influence that main writer Nakashima has acknowledged. He cited Getter Robo as one of the biggest inspirations on this series and he is a big fan of Getter Robo creator Ishikawa Ken's work and was responsible for compiling the various Getter Robo manga arcs, which were released over a period of several decades, into the Getter Robo Saga collection. The series won an Excellence Prize at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival. Imaishi Hiroyuki won a award for Personal Best at the 12th animation Kobe Festival in 2008. Character Designer Nishigori Atsushi won an award for Best Character Design at the Tokyo International Anime Fair. The series has been cited as an influence by the creators of Transformers Animated who credit it as an inspiration on the second and third seasons of said series. This series is notably the last Gainax work that long time Gainax board member Akai Takami was involved with. He stepped down from the Gainax after he insulted the users of the image board 2ch in response to the controversy over episode 4. While the DVD release of the series is generally the same as the original broadcast, episode 6 of the DVD release is notably different from the original broadcast. The DVD version of the episode has new animation and much more innuendo and fanservice; this uncut version was considered to be too racy to show on TV and the original broadcast version of episode 6 ended up being a half recap episode. Many of the cast and crew members who worked on this series would reunite to work on the 2013 Trigger anime Kill La Kill. Cast: Main Characters: Simon Nia_Teppelin Kamina Yoko_Littner/Yomako Rossiu Gurren Brigade: Boota Kittan Leeron Dayakka Barinbo Old_Coco Attenborough_Cortitch Darry_Adai Gimmy Balinbow Jogan Makken Leite_Jokin Tetsukan Gabal_Docker Kiyoh Kinon Cybela_Kuto Zoushi_Kanai Ailac_Coega Kiyal Lordgenome and Beastmen: Lordgenome Adiane Thymilph Guame Viral Cytomander Other: Tsuuma Memusu Anti-Spiral Bathhouse_Bunnygirls Giha_Village_Chief Mechs: Lagann Gurren Gurren-Lagann Arc_Gurren-Lagann Tengen_Toppa_Gurren-Lagann_(mecha) King_Kittan Enki_(ttgl) Enkidu Enkidudu Dai-Gurren Lazengann Grand_zamboa Movie only Mecha: Do-Tai-Kai-Zan Tengen_Toppa_Solvernia Tengen_Toppa_Enkidulga Tengen_Toppa_Yoko_W_Tank Tengen_Toppa_Dai-Gurren Chou_Tengen_Toppa_Gurren-Lagann Spinoffs: Pieces_of_Sweet_Stars Tengen_Toppa_Gurren_Lagann:_Parallel_Works Movies: Tengen_Toppa_Gurren-lagann:_Gurren-hen Tengen_Toppa_Gurren-Lagann:_Lagann-hen Crossover Apperances: Super_Robot_Wars_Z2 Notable Fan Work: Double_K Other Wiki Information Last updated: 01/16/15 8:56 AM by jojosstand This entry is not locked and you can edit it as you see fit. |
     
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