When I say this is my favorite anime of all time, what do I mean by that? Some may say it is the show that makes you smile with glee. Others may say it is how memorable the moments in the show are. I would say that it is a whole combination of these things: resonance with your own human experience and how well executed the show explores the experience they are presenting (or rather the meaning they are trying to portray). To me, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a beautiful metaphor of what it means to push through your limits and how important the human fighting spirit is in life.
Needless to say, if you haven’t already, I urge you to give Gurren Lagann a try. Trust me, a random bozo on the internet who enjoys anime, that this show is a beautiful piece of work that represents how combined efforts/talent and inspirations become a great story that will stand the test of time. I will admit, this show when I initially finished it was at best a 7/10. I felt the show may be a little too simple for my liking and possibly felt a bit childish despite being pretty cool and epic. However, as time went by, I continuously had thoughts of what the show was trying to say with each episode of the show.
Then it hit me, this show quite literally tells you what it is set out to do and shows why each action leads to the outcomes portrayed in the show. It was almost like a web of details stringing together back to the main themes of the show: to keep trying and exceed the expectations of the universe. In line with my tendency to enjoy long video essays, I watched a lot of videos exploring the details behind Gurren Lagann. Some notable ones I can remember were the works by BestGuyEver’s “Best Anime Ever – Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann” and Caribou-kun’s “What Inspired Gurren Lagann”. These videos hammered in the point that the chaotic goofiness of Gurren Lagann was more than a bunch of funny decisions: each thing was an extension of the human experience and pushing the premise that the human fighting spirit has no bounds.
Anime Opening
The opening for Gurren Lagann was the thing that got me to watch this show in the first place. Dating back to when I was exploring English covers of Japanese openings I enjoyed back then, I came across a cover of Sorairo Days sung by Sam Luff and produced by Studio Yuraki. This cover was in short – an absolute banger. I would listen to this cover and the original all the time to give me motivation to push through my classes during university.
There’s definitely a trend in my playlist that shows that upbeat combined with motivating messages are something that gets me incredibly hyped (i.e. Core Pride by UVERworld, Road to Tomorrow: Going My Way! by Masaaki Endoh, etc.). Needless to say, Sorairo Days got me hooked on the show. Not only that, the song itself is a great symbol of the show’s message. On my backlog is a list of Japanese songs I want to write analysis on. The link to my Sorairo Days article will (hopefully) be added soon.
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