Gurren Lagann is a modern day epic poem about a boy named Simon who grows from a boy into man. Still, I wonder if Gurren Lagann can be called the anti Evangelion considering that TTGL is positive while Eva is pessimistic?

GAP wrote:Gurren Lagann is a modern day epic poem about a boy named Simon who grows from a boy into man. Still, I wonder if Gurren Lagann can be called the anti Evangelion considering that TTGL is positive while Eva is pessimistic?

Neither of those is really true, though. If anything TTGL has a bit of a downer ending (Simon kinda gets a raw deal there, and we never see a solution to the spiral energy issue) while Eva is explicitly hopeful. The real "anti-Eva" would probably be the super robot shows that inspired it.

That said, TTGL is most certainly a response to Eva, in that it embraces the tropes NGE subverted or called into question and pushes them over the top. But even so the conversation between the two is more complex than it might appear at first glance.

I don't think I would call it the anti-Eva, no-- I don't feel that it's enough of an antithesis to call it that.

Bagheera wrote:Neither of those is really true, though. If anything TTGL has a bit of a downer ending (Simon kinda gets a raw deal there, and we never see a solution to the spiral energy issue) while Eva is explicitly hopeful. The real "anti-Eva" would probably be the super robot shows that inspired it.

That said, TTGL is most certainly a response to Eva, in that it embraces the tropes NGE subverted or called into question and pushes them over the top. But even so the conversation between the two is more complex than it might appear at first glance.

Are you sure? Because it seems that way to most people considerignt hat Gurren Lagann is all about pushing forward and stuff.

Bagheera wrote:If anything TTGL has a bit of a downer ending

As does GaoGaiGar, another show that sometimes gets touted as "anti-Evangelion" (and which I agree it largely is). Of course, in its case an unproduced follow-up season would have in all likelihood fixed the situation and returned the series to its characteristic triumphalism.

If TTGL is the Anti-Evangelion, then what is FLCL?

Bagheera wrote:Neither of those is really true, though. If anything TTGL has a bit of a downer ending (Simon kinda gets a raw deal there, and we never see a solution to the spiral energy issue) while Eva is explicitly hopeful.

Wouldn't that still make them anti?

GAP wrote:Are you sure? Because it seems that way to most people considerignt hat Gurren Lagann is all about pushing forward and stuff.

Yes, it is - but so is Evangelion.

Honestly, I don't see why you guys think the ending of TTGL is in any way down-beat. There's still a future story to be told, sure; but there is a determination to find a way to beat the spiral nemesis, and the fact that it is necessary has been known for a long time. What's required is an approach to it which is not regressive as the anti-spiral's was, and the team seem well placed to deliver that. Simon's retirement is fitting as the resolution of his personal (though expected, accepted and understood) tragedy (the disappearance of Nia).

pwhodges wrote:Simon's retirement is fitting as the resolution of his personal (though expected, accepted and understood) tragedy (the disappearance of Nia).

Fitting for sure, though I personally disliked the apparent implications he lost contact with the rest of the crew. (They were his comrades for so long, and that's all?) At least Movie 2 had Simon doing something sweet in Nia's memory post-credits.

Passing the torch onward to the future, etc, was perfect at least.

Maybe if Shinji had a big bro besides him, things could have been better.

Maybe Touji could have taken that role if that stupid angel hadn't done for his future as a pilot.

I said this in the past too but i really wanted to see Touji as a pilot and a main character in the series. I think the story could develop in a different, surprising way.

He wouldn't be Shinji's ''Kamiya'' but he could come close.

Eva asks, "Who am I?"

Gurren asks, "Who the hell do you think I am!?"

Sums up the different approaches pretty nicely! I wouldn't call Gurren Lagann an "anti-Eva," but it does scoff at some of the tropes Eva used, much like FLCL did.

Bagheera wrote:That said, TTGL is most certainly a response to Eva, in that it embraces the tropes NGE subverted or called into question and pushes them over the top. But even so the conversation between the two is more complex than it might appear at first glance.

You know, I feel like the end of 2.0 and the fallout from that are responses to TTGL and to the people who wanted Shinji to act like Kamina, pierce the heavens and all that jazz. It shows why the the context for that kind of behavior is very important and why Eva is not one of the universes were you should be trying it.

So Eva and TTGL are not so different after all?