At last, we get a little explanation about GURREN LAGANN’s world. I was wondering if this was intended to be a post-Apocalyptic Earth or just a fantasy frontier. Now, there’s not much doubt that it’s the former. I suppose the Spiral King’s quick succession of taking control, putting everybody underground, breeding Beast Men and then, well, rampant insemination must’ve occurred sometime after he defeated the Mishima family in the final King of Iron First tournament (as I’m convinced he’s a TEKKEN fighter who’s gotten far ahead in the world.) With that new bit of information, this is even more clearly a MATRIX-style riff on Plato’s ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. The hordes of aroused-mecha pilots joining Team Dai Gurren in this episode even get inspired to act after watching flickering projections from down in those caves.
On another note, this has to be either the most “toyetic” or least “toyetic” show ever conceived. Forgive me for focusing on a merchandising angle, but any American child of the 90s is forever going to associate mecha with criminally over-priced POWER RANGERS toy sets. Good LORD those pieces of crap cost too much, and EVERYBODY wanted them for Christmas. So, I’m watching this show, and four or five (or twenty, in this case) mechas are introduced every episode. That’d seem great for a toy line… but then they’re all so weirdly shaped. And they keep changing into weirder shapes depending on the pilot’s self-esteem. I figure even Japanese parents wouldn’t be too keen on getting giant robots with giant boners for their kids… and now, there’s a whole fleet of them.
What else? I don’t know who exactly to credit here (who created this? Let me know) but Gainax is just endlessly inventive when it comes to these battles. We’ve had fights in the water, in the air and, now, in the ground. I’ve honestly never seen a bad guy get the hurt put on him like Guame did this time. Impaled, by a drill, from beneath. That's an awful way to cash out. There might as well have been a FATALITY banner flashing in the last frame, instead of the monstrous cliffhanger. And speaking of cliffhangers, where's the pay off for the last one? I was expecting this episode to start with Simon suffering from some unimaginably-awful explosive diarrhea. But now, Nia's dangerous cooking has been forgotten?
Anyway, watch this episode "How Are You, Everyone?" below, decide for yourself and read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.
