Just got back from the theater screening of the second Gurren Lagann movie
Originally posted Jan 24, 2024
It's cool that something I loved so much as a teenager holds up so immaculately 15 years later. "Gurren Lagann is the greatest anime ever made" isn't a particularly controversial statement. If one were to collate a list of anime worthy of being called that, I suspect Gurren Lagann easily makes the shortlist for most people. But the praise for it is so overwhelming it's easy to think that maybe it's overblown or hyperbole.
Then you watch Simon righteously declare his intent to never give into despair, never relent, and never lose faith in himself no matter what the universe may deign to bring down upon him and his loved ones. Afterward, he eats a giant drill and punches entropy in its stupid fucking face. And you realize, goddamn, it really was the best there ever was.
Sometimes it feels weird to declare a piece of commercial media uplifting. Like an admission that your life is so insignificant, so banal, that a cartoon could inspire you to be better. To keep living in spite of it all. Maybe that's the depression talking, the dark thoughts I've had lately that tell me I should stop.
I won't.