Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

vonBerlichingen

I think it jumped the shark after Kamina died.

That's not what bugs me, though- not really. No, what bugs me is the fact that I can never state my honest opinion about this show without a small army of fans swarming out of nowhere to tell me that I'm wrong, that I'm a butthurt Kamina fanboy, that I didn't get it, and so forth.

Show me that you're better than that, IJBM.com. Let's have a genuinely civil and open-minded discussion of this show. 

Vorpy

Spoilertags or Blacktext please.

Forzare

I dunno, before episode eight, I thought TTGL was alright, but nothing special.  Starting with episode eight, I started to really get into it and love it.  I dunno what else there is to say.  It's ajust a matter of taste.

RocketDude

Eh, I watched G Gundam, and that was all the over-the-top Giant Robot action I ever needed.

All Nines

I didn't like Kamina, either, but I didn't feel like the show picked up after that, either. I dropped it on episode 12, when I realized that I didn't want to waste another five hours on it.

Gelzo

I think almost all of what made TTGL entertaining didn't go away after said event, and you're not even describing what made it feel to you like it jumped the shark. I know you don't want to hear this, but it really does seem like you're just butthurt that it happened.

MillerCross

Welp, for one, your def of jump the shark needs some work. Or at least, you need to go deeper and explain why did it jump the shark.

For another, I feel that the show is about Simon. I always knew that and I was here to see Simon grow out. As Kamina is his father figure, it is natural for him to be involved in his growth, but a father needs to stop being involved with his son for him to finally learn to be independent, so in order for Simon to grow, Kamina has to go at some point. 

If you feel the show became "Lolol grim dark" because Simon was depressed post-Kamina's death, I think it''s understandable, really. I mean, I had a similar reaction to Madoka when...Mami died

Anyway, I'm barely on episode 10 and so far the show has been better to me than any other anime I have watched with the exception of Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop. So...opinions, lol.

Forzare

I wouldn't even say it became grimdark. Simon was depressed for like... two episodes.

MillerCross

Three. But yeah, point. 

vonBerlichingen

Eh, I watched G Gundam, and that was all the over-the-top Giant Robot action I ever needed.

Agreed. G Gundam rules.

vandro

To me the whole series was good and entertaining, from start to finish, kamina's death was a pivotal plot point, but not something I found to be the deciding factor of why did I like the experience, the only complaint I have is the rossiu hatedom.

ClockworkUniverse

Isn't the whole point that it's not his story?

MillerCross

Like I said, Simon's story. Kamina had to go out at one point.

vandro

If I have to say a point where the series won me was around Simon beating the turtle(?) General.

MillerCross

Same episode, different moment. Where Yoko remembers Kamina's speech about Simon being the source of his strength. that was the moment I knew I was watching something I'd enjoy.

ClockworkUniverse

^That's definitely my favorite moment in the series.

vandro

ORE WA ORE DA! ANAHORI SHIMON DA!

MillerCross

it's also important to note that Simon was drilling his way out of certain death even though he was definetly depressed and suicidal just a couple episodes ago. That's the part that sold the moment for me.

^ ¿Porque hablas la lengua de satan? ._.

Gelzo

Dammit. The only languages besides English I know anything about are Japanese and Spanish, so now I can't play along without picking a side.

vandro

Es la linea del episodio.

Vivi

SATAN ist unser Erlöser. Jeder liebt Beelzebub.

Forzare

ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?

/obligatory

MillerCross

@Gelzo: UNETE A LOS ESPAÑOLES

@Vandro: Ya se. Era una mera broma

@Vivi: ¡Nazi!

Vivi

Ich spreche die Sprache der Götter!

Gelzo

Demo gringo desu.

Vorpy

The parts that bugged me about GL
● The establishing of the human cities and Rossiu's little bitchfit against Simon that I couldn't wrap my head around.
● The defying/modifying improbability thing the enemies were doing, just to hit them with missiles than modify it to the point where they are instantly killed, since modifying improbability seems an extremely potent power.
● Everything that happened in space, including the last episode where the drills are sucking entire universes into the vortex between the center.

The things I liked about GL:
● Having the loudest spokeperson elevate the person stronger than him into the strongest character in the entire story, and how even though he was mostly talk, he used talk to assure everyone did not die.
● Most of the enemies were visibly fearsome, and while some died very quickly, some did not, they always had enough screen time to elevate that defeating them was important to progress and they were not just random encounter evil things that must be defeated to continue (Diabolus ex Notos or whatever in Trope talk).
● The screaming super-hot attacks were very fun to watch, even the ones with stupid names.
● The scene at the end between the hero and his girl was heart breaking but beautiful at the same time and rang a lot of important things into my life and helped me get over a situation that was similar.

In general when they got into space and met the anti-spirals my interest began to plummet since I lost all of my SoDB after the "Do the impossible" events just made the action feel beyond saturated for me. Everything before that, the things that took place on earth were perfectly fine though, and made my heart wrench and pulse to every moment that occurred. I got to hear and look at the enemy generals, there was no elevating feel of overpowering elevation, where you could erase everything you ever hated with one punch, and things took effort and heart to accomplish, rather than the "I say it will happen so it will" attitude the last 3 or so episodes had.

I guess the incomprehensibility amazed a lot of people, but because I couldn't comprehend it, it became difficult for me to enjoy and eventually I couldn't enjoy the action at all.

The_Edge

Kamina's death is when shit gets really serious. Before this point, everything was dangerous but it was fun. Kamina's death marks the point in the series where an anime about a boy with a giant robot becomes an anime about a man with a giant robot.

Malkavian

My thing is that with GL, the writing is so tight that you never get super comfortable with the two characters that affect Simon the most. Kamina and Simon's relationship is brought to full detail and you feel a certainty there and BAM! Goodbye Kamina. Then you get Nia, who I'm not going to spoil but I'll just say what happens with her hit home a lot more than with Kamina.

Counterclock

I think the lessons that are verbally spoken in TTGL aren't very good, but the mood it sets up is alright.

Malkavian

I don't think the lessons are supposed to be taken literally. I think what TTGL is actually preaching is 'Have faith in yourself, don't give into defeat, and grit those goddamn teeth.'

MadassAlex

Sorry, you're saying that "punching things so hard they hit nothing and break it" isn't a core tenant of TTGL's philosophical underpinning? I find that extremely hard to believe.