In GL, once Simon is "given" Nia - "the cute girl in a box" - he overcomes all his feelings of doubt & becomes an entirely different character entirely. For the entire second half of the series I don't remember one moment where Simon worries or doubts that he won't come out on top of any problems thrown at him.
This is actually something I kind of agree with.
Well the thing with Nia is that it's OK to seek out help sometimes. But yeah, Simon changes a lot during the last 4 episodes of the first arch.
The second arch motivates me more, because you see how this boy as a grown up is a really great person, while the transition from 11 to 12 doesn't feel as natural as it should.
Oh, and in episode 18 Simon is pretty shocked by everything.
Simon stops being himself at the end of episode 11 & becomes an entirely new & completely 2-Dimensional character for the rest of the show.
I don't know if this makes a lot of sense, but the fact that he wasn't 2-dimensional at the beginning makes him more interesting to me in the second half too.
You can argue about there being themes & subtext but it's all really shallow & without any real thought put into what it all means.
Hmm, I think there is more than it seems. An imdb user convinced me of that.
There is also some attention to detail (Simon's star shaped glasses are an hommage to Kittan).
But there's definitely heart put into the show. So I don't think I'd call it shallow.
Gunbuster meanwhile is a show where an artist is taking something mainstream & traditional - for anime at least - & transforms it into something more.
I really see them both as the same type of work, and see Gurren Lagann as the better executed one.
I am always open to be proven wrong though.
Noriko doesn't get a cute girl in a box. She overcomes everything because...there is no reason. Because arm-crossing. And I actually love that.
And doesn't Noriko change too much too? And doesn't she stop worrying about everything too? She's worried about Kazumi and motivates her like a badass (Simon-Rossiu).
Simon's reaction to Nia's death (which contrasts with his reaction to Kamina's death) and Noriko's reaction to the 14000 year timeskip(!).
Edit: And I want to add, I love both shows too.
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I don't want to hurt your feelings, but if you want to look at a medium as art, you have to start examining differently than which character did what in a more badass way. And how cool something looks.
That's definitely not how I look at art.
When you watch it for the first time it is indeed endearing, fun and exciting
It was on my second viewing that I appreciated it.
especially the losing of school friends while growing up is portrayed extremely well
I can also say that the loss of a loved one is portrayed extremely well in Gurren Lagann, unrequited love is portrayed well, and so on, and that still doesn't make it a masterpiece. The same would go for Gunbuster.
but something devoid of real meaning cannot lose substance over time
But what is this real meaning in Gunbuster?
Top wo nerae! Fight the power!
This is what these shows are (something beautiful actually). Traditional entertainment, but they are really good at what they are.
But what does Gunbuster do? I am really asking, I have changed my opinion on stuff often (example: Gurren Lagann).
Does it have symbolism, extremely well written characters (no..., although that wasn't the point), does it do something really special visualwise?
