Gurren Lagann - Closing thoughts

Published
by
Stripey
on June 26, 2008
in Series Reviews
. 11 Comments

Simon is GAR. Not because he can summon all those ridiculous amount of Spiral power almost instantaneously by willpower alone but he was man enough to live with a choice that I wouldn’t have the testicular fortitude to make.

Frankly, the first ‘GAR’ shouldn’t be unfamiliar to the Singaporean who’ve gone through the army or military folks. From the final 600 meters of the Standard obstacle course (SOC) to that final assault up that knoll-objective, I remember how many hot-blooded 19 yr olds give their all and more. The pain, while magnified by fatigue, was numbed by an intoxicating spirit (being intoxicated helps too) to see the end of the exercise. There was no magical manifestations of giant drills to obliterate our instructors our enemies. Even after overcoming our challenges with sweat, pain and sometime blood, there was the still unglamourous trek down the hill and back to the logistic nightmare that is the aftermath of every training. No, Dai Gurren Dan’s bursts of GAR doesn’t impress. In fact, I think it’s kind of irresponsible that they propagate the idea that anything is achievable with a spurt of burning passion when really the key to most successes is enduring persistence (I admire their audacity to challenge the impossible though.) But respect I have for Simon and he’s the ONLY character I would ascribe GAR to.

Simon embodies the True Gar as described in my previous post, although this was manifested only in the final episode when we realised the terrible, terrible loss he’s incurred for the sake of mankind. The choice to do the right thing while sacrificing self or love ones is the kind of GAR I seldom see in RL. Surprisingly, the next GAR-est character would have been Rossiu if only he hadn’t attempted to kill himself. Living with the consequence of your choices is an aspect of GARness. Rossiu was admirable in that he managed some sound decisions in impossible circumstances even though he still lacked sensibilities that needs to be balanced by the good use of both the heart and head.

GAR aside, TTGL is surely Gainax at its finest. I love the pace (although the speed did nerf the emotional impact of most deaths) and the dialogue (would be repeating some of these gems to my descendents, if any). This has also got to be the MOST EPIC series I’ve seen, at least in terms of scope. Okay, it’s got way over the top towards the end with hurling planets and frisbee-ing galaxies. Still the tale of TTGL goes beyond GRAND. On the lighter side of things, I was derailed by Darry myself. Man, anime girls all grow up fabulous don’t they? I suppose it’d be appropriate now to list my 5 reasons for watching TTGL (character version).

Reason #5 - Rossiu: The Anti-Spiral arc really filled out his character and made the show even more interesting to pursue.

Reason #4 - Darry: We need more lolicious pink hair mecha pilots!

Reason #3 - Simon: While he didn’t have the showmanship of Kamina, he’s definitely surpassed his Aniki in GAR, I’d say even before ep 8.

Reason #2 - Nia: She remained much loved even after she lost her lolicious form.

Reason #1 - Yoko: Sensei! One who has her priorities right. And yes, that body has to be testament to the power of evolution (spiral energy).

Overall, a great ride. Not Mai-HiME great but earned a very respectable 9 on myanimelist grading. Wouldn’t be getting the DVDs though. :P

The unsustainable charm of being tsundere

Published
by
Stripey
on June 26, 2008
in Da Capo II
. 8 Comments

My wish came true (albeit one year late). Asakura Yume is a tsundere imouto of the finest class. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a well-crafted tsundere - one with a good basis for being thus and subsequently GROWING out of it. Yes, a good tsundere character is in my humble opinion one that doesn’t stay tsundere.

Tsundereness is but a starting point. Its true charm lies in its promise of character development. One of my greatest anime pleasure is to see a tsundere bishoujo grow out of her insecurity and dishonesty to embrace her love. That is probably why I was so disappointed with the start of Zero no Tsukaima 2, where the relationship of Saito and Louise suffered a forced reset to maintain Louise’s tsundere trait. (That happened in Shana 2 to a lesser extent. Although the development of Yuuji and Shana’s relationship is nothing short of phenomenal in season 2.) Yume, on the other hand, was thoroughly lovely to behold as she grew out of her doubt and self-denial to build that wonderful relationship with her nii-san.

It’s a dichotomy I know. For some, to mature bishoujos out of their tsundereness is to lose that very charm they represent. But for the few who see tsundere as a process rather than a destination, this growth is the very reason why bishoujo tsundereness is worth our love.

Here’s to more Asakura Yumes.

Why you should watch Gurren Lagann - Reason #2

Published
by
Stripey
on June 21, 2008
in Now watching
. 9 Comments

The 2nd reason to be watching Gurren Lagann just appeared. *Currently at ep 9* Wondering if she would supercede Reason #1 anytime soon.

Gurren Lagann pit-stop ~ 8 eps of Kamina

Published
by
Stripey
on June 20, 2008
in Now watching
. 8 Comments

8 eps into Gurren Lagann, I finally realised why I found Kamina so oddly familar - He was how I played my AD&D Fighter more than 10 years ago. I trash-talked a lot to my enemies only instead of a burning soul I spewed a lot about justice/righteousness. I carried a HUGE sword and flung my cape around a lot. However, instead of being an inspiration, my party members rolled their eyes a great deal and my dungeon master always palm-faced. Welcome to a 14 yr old’s idea of GAR.

Now don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed Kamina’s role in GL and know he’s the central figure in driving the plot and an inspiration to the desolated humans of the TTGL universe. But his brutish recklessness on the battlefield did not impress. It’s not GAR, it’s irresponsible as Simon and later Yoko pointed out. My AD&D party was like Gurren Dan. We bulldozed our way through the traps, enemies, dungeons, citadels and the underworld. We tsked tsked every encounter causing great bereavement to our beloved DM as we massacred his minions. Until we met with our first defeat against his pet, the Balrog. 5 epic adventurers against the bane of Gandalf and we lost half the party in 5 combat rounds. We fled but not in shame, finally grasping the full meaning of “Discretion is the better part of valor”. Kamina would have died OVER 9000 times in that battle.

GAR, for this tanuki, is not about the hotness of the heart or the hardness of the head. Instead it is the mind that is the truest component of GAR. A mindless charge into enemies ranks is not GAR even at the expense of one’s life (especially when little is achieved). That is sheer stupidity. A GAR character must also always be a thinking person. He weights carefully the choices but chooses a painful path that reaps the GREATEST good and walks it resolutely in spite of the torment. Note that the GAR-est characters I admire are not those that can endure personal or bodily pain but the pain bore by their love ones for them as they steer the world towards greater good.

Kamina wouldn’t have lasted 10 days in the RL (in the army he would have been blanket-partied and relegated to clerical roles for endangering missions) but interestingly he was inspirational in TTGL. I suppose their world needed a audacious dreamer to fuel their meagre hope. Nevertheless, at the end of ep 8, Kamina was more than a man he ever was though still not GAR by tanuki standards. Simon, on the other hand, has a mind capable of GAR and shows plenty of promise to become a REAL man. I look forward to that transformation.

PS: The GAR-est character so far in TTGL has to be Boota. Just try slicing a good chunk of your left butt-cheek to save your comrades and you’d realise how darn GAR he is.

The unique flavour of anime

Published
by
Stripey
on June 17, 2008
in Random Rants
. 15 Comments

Why anime?

I’m often challenged when I staunchly choose this medium of storytelling over the vast offering of alternative visual entertainment in this hedonistic age. Why indeed? After all, I enjoy a great deal of American TV, Japanese/Korean/Hong Kong (less on the Taiwanese though) dramas/romances/martial arts and the occasional British humour. But I’d always return to my first love, anime. After some soul-searching (for a profoundly long 30 seconds), I believe here are be some factors why anime remains irreplacable for this tanuki.

Anime is diverse

Horror, harem, drama, romance, harem, mecha, sentai, sports, ninjas, you name it, anime has it. And that’s only touching on the genre. There’s a whole slew of other offerings like animation style, fetishes and storytelling mode etc which anime can boast of great diversity in.

Continue reading ‘The unique flavour of anime’