The first time I saw snapshots of the mechas from this anime on Winterheim's website, I went WTF??? I mean the designs look weird, the characters were kinda cartoonish and everything was painted so garishly bright, they make the Village People look dull. I once told myself... no way in hell am I gonna like an anime such as this.

A year down the road, I'm eating my own words... and then some. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン) has got to be one of the most awesome-most anime I've watched in a long while. Maybe it's due to the huge bucketload of ultra-serious, holier than thou type of animes I've been watching earlier, which got kinda depressing after a while. Gurren Lagann is at the absolute other end of the spectrum of this trend. It's quirky, unpredictable and best of all... very UPLIFTING. It's one of those 'feel good' kinda anime. By the end of each episode, you feel so hyped up... you'll think you can accomplish anything... even toppling both UMNO and PKR and forming your own gov... calling it Republic of YokoMina...

And let's not forget about the action. OMG... they're EPIC. From the protagonist's humble beginnings as an illiterate who lived underground digging dirt, he eventually lead humanity to fight for their very existance, and during the final climatic battle, he piloted the titular Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann mecha, which is some 10 million light years in height!!! HOW MUCH BIGGER CAN YOU GET THAN THAT? Makes Gundam look like a microscopic gnat in comparison... lol.

Anyways, the only gripe I have with this series is that the writers practically killed off half the main characters by the end of the anime. And that is one huge death toll even by anime standards. But all is good, coz it still has a bitter sweet ending. It's over the top, yet still very much grounded if you think about the storyline. Sounds like an oxymoron... but it's not. You'll understand if your watch the anime yourself. Names like Kamina, Simon, Yoko and Kittan will stick to your mind like warm dodol...

Overall, this is one solid offering from Gainax.

Good stuff.