Anime 4107 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie 1 Gurren-hen Reviews Filter Check 2

Gainax have turned their series into movies before with Gunbuster vs. Diebuster and more recently the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, now they've decided to give Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the same treatment. Unfortunately, the runtime doesn't allow for a sufficient amount of development and many elements have been lost along the way, though there are saving graces in the new material.

The original series is twenty-seven episodes long, or - minus the openings and endings - around about nine hours. Gurren-hen follows the events of the first thirteen episodes and so is just over two hours shorter than its source material. As you would expect, much ... of the development is glossed over and the story proceeds at a lightning pace. The story itself is more or less the same as in the series - much of humanity lives underground until Simon and his 'bro' Kamina break free, to find the surface inhabited by 'Beastmen' who pilot giant mechas - with a movie-original opening and ending that sets things up nicely for the sequel. The plot comes across as - unsurprisingly - very rushed; the characters are offered little development and during the middle act there is a ridiculous - but unfortunately necessary - montage to progress the story. Developmental issues pave the way for an adequate at best plot.

The animation isn't a huge step up from the series - if different at all - but the opening and the ending deliver some exciting new material. The ending, especially, is a welcomed feat. The new climax is both thrilling and well executed, and will have you eagerly awaiting the next installment. Corners have been cut, however, with the music. The score by Taku Iwasaki from the series returns with no new additions, which causes Gurren-hen - at times - to feel something along the lines of a movie-length recap; something you've already seen before. New inclusions to the soundtrack certainly wouldn't have gone amiss.

The main trio and the prime supporting cast return in Gurren-hen, though most have left their depth and development at home, particularly Rossiu and Kittan. Yoko fans are offered more excessive fan service and Simon - in the new sequences - is particularly prodigious. The lack of development to the cast is massively disappointing, however, and causes Gurren-hen to come across as rather disengaged and retrogressive.

Gurren-hen is an enjoyable movie, urged on by its source material, but is let down by lapses in development. The middle act could have benefited substantially from some new material, acting as a bridge between the beginning and the end, offering the supporting characters alternate introductions and addressing developmental issues, but instead the staff opt to rehash the series to a disjointed, disappointing effect. The new opening and ending sequences are both longer and far more engrossing than expected, however, which offer the movie some value. If you enjoyed the series, you'll get a kick out of the movie, but if you didn't, it's best to avoid Gurren-hen. If you're new to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the movie isn't worth your time, and may come across as completely incoherent, with many characters remaining a mystery; without motivation and depth, just empty shells.

Gainax is one shrewd animation studio.

With the reuse of 95% of the footage including the "infamous due to crap animation" episode 4 Gainax truly maximized their earnings. In addition to this, there are moments in the movie that felt diluted in contrast to the TV series. Maybe it's due to Gainax compressing half of the series to an almost 2 hour mark. Maybe it's poor directorship. I don't know. To be honest. The recap episode (ep. 16) owns the movie format. Then again. That was a recap.

On the bright side. There is the Spiral King intro and the climactic battle between Gurren Lagann and ... Dai-Gurren against the 3 generals and virals's new flagship which is essentially a slightly modified version of Dai-Gurren. There are also some very minor new scenes snuck somewhere in the middle portions as another consolation to the folks who paid money for this.

As a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann fan, I have to say that I didn't regret getting this just for completion's sake. Unless you wouldn't lose anything in watching this then I would say to go for it. But if you have better ways to spend your cash (or your bandwidth), then set it aside.

My numerical rating (Story, Art, Sound, Character, Enjoyment, Overall) is a grade that sees the movie as standalone with knowledge of the series and not a comparison to the series.

yeah I know the score doesn't add up. How can one like so much yet give it such a low score? Well Gainax gave me a huge punch to the face when they decided to rehash almost every scene in the movie with scenes from the anime. The only part that was new was the last 20 minutes. Other than that it was all just a shortened version of the anime. Basically if you have already seen TTGL don't watch the whole movie. You're just wasting 2 hours. Only go for the last 20 minutes since that's all that's new. Hopefully the second movie ... deilvers on the new content.

Don't get me wrong here.

I fucking LOOOOVE Gurren Lagann! For the past 8 months, it's been my all-time favorite anime. Everything about TTGL is brilliant including the plot, characters, music, and art, which Gainax had done an excellent job of making sure all of these factors were amazing. However, beyond that, I love the themes about evolution and ambition, two values which hold up very high to me. This show inspired and uplifted me, made me think about my life in a different way and made me realize the goals and dreams I had deep within me, that's how powerful this show was to me! ... But, let's not beat around the bush, this is going to be a review on the first movie, NOT on the excellent anime.

This movie is much like a recap movie of the first 15 episodes of the main series. But, it's not a recap movie like e.g the first two Madoka Magica movies. No, the Gurren Lagann movies include new footage and information that wasn't spread out in the main show. I'm going to try to spoil as little as I can, but an example in this movie was that they explored Lorgenomes backstory and how the world of Gurren Lagann came to be. There are many other things like that which get explained here. I think this is a great thing to do because even as amazing as TTGL was, there were still some questions left unanswered that left some wide gaps.

The purpose of these two movies was I think to fill in those gaps like f.ex who was Lordgenome or how the world of TTGL was made while also recapping the most essential parts of the story, which I think these two movies succeeded excellently at. There were quite an alarming amount of things that I hadn't noticed or forgot about in the main series e.g how Yoko came from an underground village with Dayakka, that the whole show was post-apocalyptic or that Dai-Gurren ship was originally enemy property which the gang had invaded.

However, with all that being said, there's not much else to take home. What I disliked about this movie in particular in how rushed it felt. It felt like Gainax knew they couldn't pack in 16 episodes worth of material in a duration of just two small hours, but tried to anyways. It's not as though they only included the most essential moments and the new stuff. No, they also diverged from the main series for the reason to alter the story, which felt totally unnecessary. This was most clear towards the end, where they try to defeat the gunmen.

To conclude, this movie succeeded in adding new and interesting stuff but failed in trying to bring its own thing, instead of just being obedient and faithful to its original source. The result was a mediocre movie which I won't revisit any time soon. But, wait! Don't watch this before the main series please! Watch these two movies AFTER the main 28 episode series, then watch these two moves. I would also recommend giving a lot of time between watching the series and the movies because then it will be easier to contrast and compare the two. Speaking of two, I will now go on to review the other movie!

Gurren Lagann the Movie: Childhood's End (2008) is an entertaining and novel recap of the first 13 episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007). GLTMCE is an amazing showcase of animation ability, every scene within the film is stunning, and the animation sequences (while sometimes repetitive) are gorgeous. Scenes that didn't make sense in TTGL are removed and replaced with ones that better explain the lore of the series which is a welcome change. However this is all there is to GLTMCE, since the film covers 13 episodes worth of content in just over two hours the pacing feels off, and the viewer isn't able ... to connect to the characters or watch them interact and grow like they did in the original series. To add to this TTGL was always somewhat repetitive and this is further exacerbated by the condensed format which only focuses on those battle scenes that were the source of the repetitive nature.

If you're a huge fan of TTGL or this film is playing in theaters near you then it is definitely worth checking out. But if you haven't seen TTGL yet, or aren't a huge fan then there's no purpose in watching this film.

*Dub or sub* In this case it's best to go with the sub, the dub is pretty standard: mostly flat in its delivery and the screaming during fights can be pretty cringeworthy.