News
Gurren Lagann Design Wins Informal British Flag Poll
posted on by Egan Loo
Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: A design inspired by the Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann anime series has won an informal poll by the website of The Daily Telegraph newspaper for a redesign of the British flag. Ian Lucas, the Labour Party's member of the British Parliament from Wrexham, Wales, suggested in a November 27 legislative debate that the Union Jack flag be redesigned to include an element of the Welsh flag — specifically the Welsh dragon. (The Union Jack currently has elements from the English, Irish, and Scottish flags.) The Daily Telegraph's website began soliciting design suggestions from its readers, and held a informal online poll on twenty candidates it selected. Even after adjusting for "questionable voting patterns" in the last few days, a design (pictured right) with the skull icon from Gainax's Gurren-Lagann series won the poll with 55% percent of the votes.
According to the skull flag's designer "Anonymous of Norway," "[The design] represents shouting "UNION!" and joining together; kicking reason to the curb and doing the impossible; fighting the power, and piercing the heavens." (The wording of the quote, particularly "piercing the heavens," includes references to phrases in Gurren-Lagann.) The design is one of many submitted to the newspaper site after its call for reader design submissions was relayed to the Japanese 2channel and the international 4chan online bulletin board systems.
Another design (pictured above left) features the character Louise, of Noboru Yamaguchi and Eiji Usatsuka's Zero no Tsukaima light novel, manga, and anime franchise, riding the Welsh dragon. It currently places second in the poll with 11% of the votes. (Since the website's announcement of the winner, "Anonymous of Norway's" design has dropped slightly in the poll, and now has 52% of the votes.) Both designs tops the option of keeping the existing flag, which garners 8% of the votes. Trailing at 3% is a Japanese design (pictured right) featuring Ana Coppola, a fictional character that hails from Cornwall, England in Barasui's Strawberry Marshmallow manga and anime franchise. The website's poll is non-binding, and the Parliament has yet to act upon the flag redesign suggestion of Lucas.
Thank you to quikbeam1, Angieness, Gunnar René Øie, ty love, and apparently 1/7th of the British anime fandom for the news tips this past week.
