Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann – Episode 2

Last episode was an awesome start to what I’m hoping will become an awesome anime. This episode, undoubtedly seems to be a continuation of said awesomeness. Awesome.

        

     

 Introducing some more characters such as the entire village of Ritona, most importantly Lon, or Leeron (or even… Beautiful Quenn… ughh…), who happens to be the person who taught Yoko everything she knows about the surface… and also the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  I DON’T WANNA KNOW WHAT YOUR FINGERS CAN DO TO KAMINA! (Hell, see the fifth screenshot below for just one case of… creepiness). Mind, that is what makes him such an amazingly funny character.

      
      

 Later on in the episode we have the village that Simon and Kamina are now staying in with Yoko, Ritona, being attacked by another bunch of Ganmen. When an extremely massive one comes along, and seems to easily be able to knock anyone out, Kamina decides he’s going to steal it. Simon meanwhile, realises that the earthquakes caused by Ganmen are what killed his parents. Kamina doesn’t even know how to drive a Gamen but when he gets in it, thanks to some help from Simon, just as he said, he’d use his willpower to work the Ganmen.

     

      

Then when Kamina finally gets into the fight, with the 2 Ganmen that are left, and with a little help from Simon manages to defeat them (and since when was the Lagann  able to turn into a spiked cannonball?, seriously, does Kamina just wing this or what?).

 The episode has a pretty good ending and is as awesome as the first episode. Looking forward too reviewing episode 3 for you guys. Oh, and it seems we’ll be getting a visit from a new character too.

Lucky Star – Episode 2

No more food talk. Yet they stick with the random. Awesome.

      

     

 Today they finally start discussing more normal stuff, and actually start talking about manga a little more too. Not to mention some of the references to other animes they put in, they you should spot in this episode, and some of the screenshots (And in future episodes, obviously). For those who can’t be bothered searching/can’t remember, here’s what I can remember off the top of my head:

• Sgt. Frog plushies in the ”Yoofu Machine”, as Konata put it.
• Hare Hare Yukai on a DDR machine in the same arcade.
• Several times the Comptiq gets mentioned by Konata.
• Sia from Shuffle! appears on a fabric poster at one point.

 I’m sure there were more that I’ve forgotten. (Oh, and while not really a reference to another anime, look out for Akira’s assistant from Lucky Channel during the episode.)

     
     

 Since the references to other anime are picking up a little, it’s definitely getting funnier, but faster becoming a “You won’t get this unless you’ve seen the anime we’re making fun off” parody. Never heard of Sgt. Frog? You won’t recognize him? Never heard Hare Hare Yukai? You’ll not realize how awesome it is to hear it on a DDR machine on this. Never seen Shuffle!? You won’t notice Sia…. Well, these you will, but that’s because this subber mentioned them in the subs, just don’t expect that in later episodes.

      

      

 Of course, Akira spends the entire time in Lucky Channel pointing out her assistants flaws in acting, and basically just getting angry as usual. Her second best moment in the series so far happens in this episode too, when she hears her assistant say his line, and just drops the book and says “What is this?”. Freaking hilarious. It’s just the goddamn look on her face.

I’m looking forward to reviewing more episodes for you guys, as I really love watching this anime. The only other anime that uses Parody as the main idea of comedy that’s this good is Excel Saga. And that is REALLY saying something. KyoAni have got another special on their hands here.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – Episode 1

If there’s one type of anime I hate, it’s mecha-anime. So why the hell am I reviewing this? Because it’s absolutely freakign awesome. SO awesome it restored my faith in the entire mecha-anime genre.

      

      

Being made by Gainax, the guys behind FLCL and Neon Genesis Evangelion, I already knew, despite my lack of mecha-anime knowledge, that it would be decent. The music score is absolutely epic, while not being one of my favourites, I still love the opening to bits due to the brilliant opening video.

After that, the first episode opens with a guy on a massive spachship that’s being attacked, without knowing who this is, we see him boast and shout about the strength of them, then finally, the scene ends with one of the most awesome zoom outs ever, zooming across miles of metal onto the massive face of a huge robot.

      

      

 Continuing from there, we see Simon, a kid who’s job it is to dig, and dig, to make his underground village bigger, and bigger. He doesn’t dig for any special reason other than that he’s told to. When he stumbles upon a little treasure, he stops digging, and walks off, running into his ‘bro’, Camena. Camena tells Simon that they’ll now be trying to dig there way to thew surface, something that Camena said he’s seen when he was younger, but the Mayor keeps saying it doesn’t exist.

After a failed attempt, Camena is sent to jail, but, when during one of SImons late night digs, he comes across a huge metal face, he breaks Camena out. During the break out, they’re caught, and while the mayor is lecturing them, a huge crack appears in the cieling of the village. When a HUGE robot comes down, breaking apart the ceiling showing a beautiful sky, they’re all stunned. When it starts rampaging, it’s followed by a woman with a massive gun, who Camena starts flirting with.

     

 

When Simon finally gets Camena and the girl to the big face he found earlier, she tells them it’s the same as the big thing attacking them, though, Camena says it’s probably a god one. With it, they manag to defeat the massive robot, and finally shoot off onto the surface.

Seriously. I hated mecha-anime with a vengeance, but this has COMPLETELY restored my faith. I really can’t wai to see more. The only thing I don’t like is the ending theme, to be completely honest, and with this episodes ending, I really wanna know what happens next.

Episode 1 – Veoh

Lucky Star – Episode 1

First episode of a brand new anime, only to be greeted by 4 dancing girls in school uniforms (not to mention a whole bunch of other girls in cheerleader costumes later). Already getting five stars from me, that’s for sure. The opening, Motteke! Sailor Fuku is just brilliant too, right up there in my top three anime themes with Ready Steady Go from FMA, and Hare Hare Yukai from TMoHS.

     
      

The main characters so far are; The blue-haired, anime-obsessed MMORPG playing Konata, the pink haired, super-moe, Miyuki, the short-purple-haired innocent sister, Tsukasa and the long-purple-haired more aggressive sister, Kagami

But on with the actual show, and what this anime is about. Well, from what I got from this episode, they pretty much just discussed Konata’s obsession with Anime and MMORPGs, and how they eat certain food. I have no idea, don’t even try to ask me what the hell was going in.

It was all pretty pointless. In a good way.

      

      

From discussing how Konata hates the baseball season because if it goes over time it stops some prime-time anime, to whether you flip a green onion burger or not, it did seem to have a pretty good flair to it, I have to admit. The pointlessness gets annoying, and when they talk about the same thing for minutes on end, it is extremely annoying, but, you gotta let it off because its good points majorly outweigh the bad.

But then comes my favourite part, which actually has nothing to do with the main show. LUCKY CHANNELLLLL! Probably the cutest girl ever presents it, and she’s so cute what with the screaming and everything…. For a while at least. She ends up getting extremely angry for some random reason, and in this case, someone asking her how much she gets paid, leading onto her snapping from super-cute, to tired woman who wants her goddamn money.

      
      

Oh, and the ending music? They finish it by karaoke-ing other anime theme tunes. How epic is that? Episode 1s ending was the opening theme of Space Ironmen Kyodain.

Episode 1 – Veoh