Gurren Lagann Forum

See, these are the kind of tactics I’d expect Lust to use in FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. Laying out a rather obvious honey trap anybody smarter than the average bear would know well enough not to fall into it. Of course, even with Kamina gone, these knuckleheads definitely aren’t notable for being that sharp, so it isn’t surprising that’d they get tricked by such an obvious ploy. Actually, they might be even denser than I thought, because the ending of this episode reminds me a lot of DUMB & DUMBER. That is, even after they save all the babes, they go off to the next thing rather than stick around to party with them.

Now that we’re ten episodes into both of these series, I think I’m starting to prefer this over FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST. It balances the comedy and drama a much more even keel, rather than throwing me out with random bouts of superdeformity. For a while, I felt that FMA had more interesting concepts, but GL’s caught up. The whole revelation about Nia getting discarded with all her sisters on account on the Spiral King’s immortal boredom was intriguing. Out of all the stories about immortals, I’m surprised I’ve never run into that before.

This series is pulling a lot of interesting twists in general.  It’s interesting to see how self-confidence fueling and shaping the gunman has been playing out. Self-esteem’s one of those tricky things to represent tangibly in fiction - - it’s even tougher to harness action onto  - - so I applaud Gainax for finding a way to explore it here in a way that isn’t schmaltzy. Simon’s been doubting himself, his team’s been doubting him, and his worth as a digger’s been there all along. And for the record, I didn’t have any problem with him going through a bit of depression. I don’t think it was "emo." I don't get why people do. It’s called drama. Simon’s a character, not a plot instrument.

Anyway, watch this episode “Simon, Hands Off” below and decide for yourself,  then read my thoughts on the last episode here.     

  

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

Ah, one of the emotional high-points of the show. If you don't get a warm fuzzy feeling after watching this episode, something is surely wrong with your soul. One of my favorites. There are few anime that ever make me stand up. This episode can do that to me. Pride...shire pride in what we can do.
 
The song playing under that sequence is beautiful as well. Here are the translated lyrics to "Happily Ever After", which just makes the whole thing feel even warmer: 
 
Like how I've forgotten what I was like before I met you
If I can forget my memories of when you were around
How many will be all right? 
  
Inside of countless specks of stardust
The lights that are secretly, somewhere, watching over us
We are even now searching for them here 
 
Happiness has a tiny sorrow to it, wherein we always realize
For the first time that it was happiness once we part with it
I'm sure we can still make it even now, so
I have only one wish 
 
I wept only as many tears as breaths I took, and after that
What awaited me will continue forever from now on:
A world without you 
 
Wounds that can't heal and words we can't say even after a century
Having made those alone into our guideposts
We are even now living here 
 
Happiness has a tiny sorrow to it, wherein we always realize
For the first time that it was happiness once we part with it
I'm sure we can still make it even now, so
I have only one wish 
 
Happiness is a modest thing, wherein we always realize
For the first time that it was happiness once we part with it
Happiness is a precious thing, wherein we always realize
For the first time that it was happiness once we lose it
I'm sure we can still make it even now, so
I have only one wish
I'll chase after you through thick and thin    

2) Dude, no reference to Simon's manliness? Or how Kamina was the one with crippling low self-esteem all along? Dude.
 
3) Just give FMA to episode 19. Remember how the first 13 episodes covered about 28 episodes of context? Episode 14, FMA's pacing gets sorted out, and episode 19 will be the first sign of the badasery you can expect from this series.
 
4) Make sure you watch Guren-hen and Lagan-hen. Guren-hen's basically a recap of the first 11 episodes, but disregarding a bunch of episodes afterwards for an even more epic Simon Rebirth.
LAGAN-HEN, however, is insane, but only if you watch the original series first.

@FoxxFireArt: Do find either fansubs or buy the DVD's to this show though. I guarantee it...it's worth it (and I mostly stick to Funi as-well, but this series subbed is amazing).