Shortly after the Xbox One reveal show, MechaGamezilla hosted an afterparty wherein he welcomed the greatest console ever made into the world - with open arms. #XBOMINATION
Bushwhack FUN FACTS:
Alias: Buschton Thackery Root
Age: 27
Date of Bith: 1 February
Personality: Well-rounded
Interests: Clubbing, Softball
Bad Habits: Beating around the bush, forgetting to shave.
Looks A Bit Like: Stoppit
Loggerhead FUN FACTS:
Alias: Logan Hedley Root
Age: 30
Date of Bith: 25 December
Occupation: Lumbering Brute
Fears: Commitment
Looks A Bit Like: A Tree
Finally: http://dbmisadventure.tumblr.com/tagged/update18/chrono
From the beginning: http://dbmisadventure.tumblr.com/tagged/death%20by%20misadventure/chrono
Current update schedule: You’re funny, you are.
http://wtf.animeblogger.net/?p=140#more-140 Here’s a good article from 2007 about Kazuki Nakashima’s underrated writing in Gurren Lagann. Not a PERFECT article, no - initially I linked this on Twitter with the disclaimer of “the paragraph about FLCL is awful”, but Crobdan just pointed out some other silly parts to me, like the one about the 90s popularizing ‘dark themes’ in mecha (which is obviously wrong in a world where Zambot and Ideon exist). He also didn’t mention the Getter manga’s influence in particular, so the guy doesn’t understand anime/manga history that well.
But aside from these flaws, he understands the narrative and themes of Gurren Lagann very well. One thing he could have elaborated on is the focus on individuality - the robots with FACES vs the FACELESS anti-spiral mechs, the very important way in which individuality and spiral power are linked, and how individuality in the show is not portrayed as a “FUCK THE POLICE, DO WHAT YOU WANT” thing but as something you achieve by letting others influence you (Simon’s final philosophy being his very own unique melting pot of the views of Kamina, Nia and the Anti-Spiral along with his own personal outlook), or by mixing existing things in your own way. Note how the characters STEAL mechs from others only to fuse them together into their OWN mechs, and how the first thing Kamina did whenever they acquired a new mech was to give it a NAME. “GIVE ME BACK MY GANMEN” “Ganmen? What a crappy name… this is MY Gurren!” (episode 3). Coupled with his speech about ‘piercing the heavens with your drill, which is your >SOUL<’, it is clear that, in his own simple-minded manchild way, Kamina grasped the very core of the show’s themes, the barest simplest essence of “spiral power”, before any of the other protagonists.
This idea of individuality actually ties in brilliantly to the claims of Gurren Lagann’s plot pints being a shameless ripoff of other things - which is still arguable and perhaps subjective, I say, but it’s hard to deny that its execution - characterization, subtle delivery of themes through seemingly inconsequential dialogue and visual symbolism - is different from that of its influences. Getter Robo never quite did anything like Simon’s speech about “weaving together the will of the fallen and the wishes of those that follow into a double helix”. Say what you will about the story itself but the DELIVERY has more in common with FLCL than the shows that it is is normally compared with. And of course another often-forgotten influence is Osamu Dezaki - Imaishi and Nakashima set out to make a “manly anime like Ashita no Joe and Treasure Island”.
Why is this nearly 6 year old article relevant NOW? Because Kazuki Nakashima, the writer of Gurren Lagann, is back together with Imaishi, and he’ll be writing Kill-La-Kill - practically the new Gurren Lagann. I want to enforce that people should probably pay attention to KLK’s writing and not JUST the animation, music and surface-level ‘badassitude’. If the script DOES turn out similar to Gurren Lagann’s, I don’t want it to end up being so under-appreciated. Gurren might not have been “deep”, but man, was it CLEVER.
Image I drew for the latest MechaGamezilla episode.
Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr3nVu2Lz2g
This was the best line. Up to this point little King John had painted himself as a nice yet misunderstood leader but this was just a straight up threat.
And anybody else notice that Happyman is sporting a rad headband these days?
http://youtu.be/efjjmpOVzRg
I appreciate his little cloak and horrifying toothless maw.
