ARTICLE BY MICHELLE PINEDO 

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, was honestly a surprise hit when it was released via fan subs, no one could of anticipated the popularity of the series revolving around Giant mechs, a girl who carries around a sniper gun with large breasts and wears very revealing clothes, and follows around 2 main characters Simon a young timid boy who loves to drill and his “Aniki” big brother Kamina, a very powerful dreamer who believes in his friends and most of all Simon.

The series spanned 27 episodes and an ova that was split into two halves, Gurren-hen and Lagann-hen which is also how the movie is split, and at Anime Expo both movies were shown fully subbed but only the first movie was available for purchase at the time, so buying my copy day 1 and waiting till day 3 to watch it with other Gurren fans was the best way to do it, funny thing was the first movie was being played right after the Trigun: Badland Rumble movie,  so if it wasn’t for being media I would of completely missed out on it as the line for the movie was actually way longer than the line for the Trigun movie probably because Tengen Toppa was announced since way before Day 1.

The movie of course takes place following the first 13 episodes of the series as Simon and Kamina live underground doing digging day in and out expanding the whole they live in. Simon loves to dig and continues to do so until he finds a strange drill core and a weird robot, Kamina on the other hand wants out since his father told him stories of the outside world, eventually as the two try to escape they are caught and all hell breaks loose as a mysterious creature attacks the underground village and a gorgeous girl whose breast jiggle with every shot from her rifle appears, helping the two out until Simon returns to the robot and uses the drill core to awaken it dubbing it Gurren. From that point on Kamina, Yoko and Simon being their adventure and Kamina’s adventurous side takes over as he hijacks his own mech and dubs it Lagann, eventually the two unite their manly souls to create Gurren Lagann a fusion of both robots with Kamina’s trademark sunglasses. Humans are fearful of the Spiral King and his minions and lay low, but the journeys and spirit of the trio give strength and courage to a group of people who join them in the battle versus the Spiral King and his minions in the most epic battles but not all battles can be won without any casualties eventually the team will change drastically, but with gain comes loss, with loss comes gain and finally the battle vs the Spiral king comes.

After the movie Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina’s Japanese voice actor) hosted the Gurren Lagann cosplay but after 3 bottles of water, and sitting first through Trigun: Badlands Rumble then  Gurren Lagann The Movie: Childhood's End and still one more movie to sit through being Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars, I went to the bathroom so I missed the cosplay contest and made it back as the final movie of the night started with more cheering.

Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars is the final arc of the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann series taking place 7 years after the first arc. Times have changed and Humans have regained the surface completely changing the world for the better. Team Gurren has taken a role in improving life for all other humans by becoming prominent teachers or leaders in the improved world, as Simon and Nia are a happy couple..but the spiral king warned when humans reached a certain peak danger would come, and it becomes true as the anti spirals attack the humans and Team Dai-Gurren. Simon is blamed for the problems and is stripped of Gurren, Nia is kidnapped while Rossiu tries to deal with the conflict. In the end Simon ignores all orders and follows what he believes is right and fights the anti-spiral in order to save Nia, at whatever cost. The former Dai-Gurren team joins Simon in the ultimate battle versus the anti spirals which includes throwing planets and galaxies at each other, no mech battle other than Gurren Lagann can ever say that.

Overall both movies are beyond enjoyable, Simon and Kamina are characters everyone can relate to with a sexy girl everyone loves to watch. It gives something for everyone including Mecha fans and Mech battles that goes way beyond laser shooting.

Gurren Lagann The Movie: Childhood's End was released July, 1^st 2010 on DVD and special edition including postcards, and the Parallel Works which are similar to music videos and video clips. Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars will be available July 31^st, also on DVD and Special Edition including Parallel Works vol. 2.