First Impressions / Gurren Lagann

As far as recaps go, this is quite possibly one of the best I’ve ever seen. They got creative by using flashes of live-action writing to precede characters’ lines and accompanied it all with great music, so it was actually pretty fun to watch. The first half of the episode focused on Kamina, Yoko, and how Kamina died while the second half had more Simon and Nia leading up to what happened in last week’s episode.

Special ED

ED: 「happily ever after」 by 中川翔子 (Nakagawa Shouko)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

happily ever after is a song that has been used a few times already, but this is its first appearance as an actual ED. More interesting are all of the storyboard scenes that this ending sequence shows of events we’ve already seen. I just can’t get over how good some of them look (most of them could be made into wallpapers), and it’s interesting to see how they got translated into the episodes.

Preview:

Watch the Preview!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

The preview gives us one of the first glimpses of the Gurren Lagann world seven years after (not including magazine spoilers or the first episode), with Simon and Rossiu looking a lot more serious and mature. Nia appears to be sporting a ring now, most likely from Simon, and Boota doesn’t appear to have changed at all. I was actually most excited to see that Gimmy and Darry have grown up to become Gunmen pilots (mass-production models of the Gurren Lagann perhaps), and I hope they get to play a big part since they haven’t been very important to the story so far. And as expected, it seems that what the Helix King told Simon and company before he died might come to pass after all since they give us a shot of Nia staring up at the moon.

I really can’t wait to see next week’s episode which will have all of this along with the new ending song and at the very least a new opening animation sequence, if not a new opening song too.

50 Comments

  1. I completely agree with you on this. To be honest I wasn’t really looking forward to this recap episode but I was actually gladly surprised by how it was orchestred. And god, those artworks at the end are truly beautiful.

    ShiNN
    Reply

  4. I was kind of expecting that they would do something unique with the recap, considering the preview from last week. The new ED was pretty awesome, and I’m pretty sure everyone can’t wait for next week.

    totali
    Reply

  6. Hax, wicked, ftw & more obligatory comments.
    Can’t wait ’till ep 17 comes along and we can continue the story after the timeskip. 😀
    And for the record, the new ED is far superior to the old one. :p

    Ravage
    Reply

  22. storyboard nia has normal eyes =o

    they could so make such a great movie in the drawing style of that storyboard. rossiu and nia look awesome there.
    gurren lagann remake in 10 years perhaps? :p

    boo
    Reply

  25. this anime may follow the same idea of time jumps like dragon ball to dragon ball Z

    Some pop-ideas don’t know if it would occur

    Viral would play the almost the same role in Gurren Lagann ep17+ like Vegeta in dragon ball Z. As he rescue Simon
    Yoko’s status is MIA for some few episodes.
    Her future maybe, Yoko will grow old without even get married or having a child. Train teenagers to be GL pilots.

    arigatou
    Reply

  28. As expected from GAINAX they didn’t screw things up (well, they’re not GONZO after all) even when they want to put one of those crappy flashback episode, since this episode is list as an extra for the 26 regulars one, there wasn’t some character telling (lame style) the story from their point of view while eating or sumthing, it was smooth, a great recap, just a bit disappointed to have to wait one more week for the real meat. Still, I don’t think they’ll keep this ending, we are probably going to get a new ending and new opening for next week (well maybe the opening won’t show up rigt at episode 17). Nia looks odd, a 30 years body with a 10 years face… GATTAI ?

    Bogus
    Reply

  32. I believe Yoko left for unknown locations after the spiral king was defeated. I think she is going to show to save Simon at the most appropiate moment.

    episode 17+ spoiler!
    Show Spoiler ▼

    golthin
    Reply

  35. @golthin
    o rly? well i guess she prob just want to follow her father step and prevent humanity from wiping out?
    and i do think she is going to die before the anime end

    Rinkun
    Reply

  37. SOMEBODY QUICK!!set up the gambling pool’s. everything from /nia’s death

    ‘episode aproximate,of course”/ all the way to./charecter betrayals… place your bets

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  43. ToT I still miss Kamina. I wish there were more Kamina x Yoko. So sad. I want to see more of Yoko to~ Yay time jump! Everyone’s looking a lot better and mature! Rossiu o.o Nia’s eyes still sparkles lol

    Fuugetsu
    Reply

  44. Concept-art Nia is hot. And it’s interesting to see how much the final character design have evolved from the concept art. Seems like they were originally going for a more realistic and detailed look.

    Kroakie
    Reply

  45. After the events of Gurren Lagann, there’ll be a spin-off with Rossiu where he lives in a remote village. He has no clear memory and lives a peaceful life until a black Gear makes an emergency landing in his village; that Gear is known as Weltall and it shall be the host of the Slayer of God.

    Kamille
    Reply

  46. Um, guys? I think there’s at least one more timeskip.

    The Simon at the beginning of episode one looked quite a few years older than this most recent one.

    Maybe I’m wrong… but yeah, probably one more timeskip in my opinion.

    Nez
    Reply

  48. Yea, I’ve been thinking two jumps as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Ep1 scene occur in Ep26.

    Yoko will absolutely still be around. She has to be. They can’t phase out ALL the hotness @_@ what about the Black Kinsmen sisters too, eh? They’ll all be there in the giant space army, guaranteed. Can’t wait.

    Ron’s got his work cut out for him if he’s gotta make everything space worthy ^_^;

    DLazLong
    Reply

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