Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gurren Lagann the Movie: Crimson Lotus Chapter
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RogueJedi86
 Posts: 501 |
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I think I can answer #2. Brian is at Anime Expo, and Bandai planned to debut the movie there, so that's probably how he saw it. I'd chalk up #1 and #3 to his simply being too busy with AX09(thus no Answerman column this week either). |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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That makes perfect sense. Thanks. |
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Ryusui
 Posts: 463 |
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No, it's not "Crimson Lotus Chapter". By that logic one of the most popular RPG franchises would be "True Goddess Cycle of Reincarnation" and the predecessor to GONZO's Romeo x Juliet would be "Cavern King". (Bonus points if you can figure out what I mean in both cases.)
Anyone who would think to translate the "Gurren" in "Gurren-hen" with this particular context really has no business trying to translate anything. (I suppose it helps the guy's case that "Gurren Lagann" is usually written in katakana instead of kanji, as per the subtitles of the two movies, but context, man, context...) Anyway, about the official U.S. title for the movie: http://www.anime-expo.org/2009/06/04/gainax-and-aniplex-presents-the-us-premier-of-gurren-lagann-the-movie-childhoods-end-at-anime-expo-2009/ That's right. "Childhood's End". Forget "Gurren Chapter" and "Lagann Chapter"...we're gettin' us an Arthur C. Clarke reference. :3 What, then, for the second half? "The City And The Stars"? "The Light Of Other Days"? "The Other Side Of The Sky"? The sky's the limit. ^_^ |
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kadian1364
 Posts: 60 Location: Indiana |
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Discussions of the true Title: Subtitle debates aside, I think Brian verbalized what irked me about the film, in that it's ~90% exact same footage as seen on TV, but without the benefit of time to develop its cast and minor, but important, plot points. It just comes off as a decidedly inferior version to the TV series. I think it even reinforces my point of view that I'm a huge fan of the original while Brian seemingly isn't, yet we come to similar opinions about the movie.
Unnecessary is a really good one word summary. |
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GoldenAvenger7
 Posts: 19 |
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This review is heavily biased as the reviewer seems to not even be an Gurren Lagann fan in the first place and like has been mentioned previously, has not seem many if any super robot TV shows.
Gurren Lagann was an anime made for and made by super robot anime fans. I personally loved the show and the movie. The men were men and the women were tough women who could hold their own while being easy on the eyes. Having seen 195+ anime tv shows/movies and most of them being super robot tv shows, you notice many throwbacks to old SR tv shows with Gurren Lagann. Most likely they have some kid doing this review who only has seen Naruto and Bleach...two shows with can arguably be considered worth watching, but shows i'll never watch even if you paid me. Ultimately, the Lagann movie is definitely worth watching with great characters, a great score, and def. some of the best animation i have seen from newer techniques. This review does not do the series or the movie justice. Watch them both and make up your mind then. Maybe after watching some shows like Gunbuster, Mazinger Z, and Giant Robo...just to name a few 
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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And a review by a "fan" of super robot shows wouldn't have been biased? "Bias" is a preconception about something (albeit usually in a predjudicial context), and just about anyone in this context has one, whether it is love, dislike or indifference to these types of shows. As a non-fan of super robot shows myself, and someone who could simply not get through the whole Gurren Lagann series on TV, I'm grateful for this review. If it had gotten a rave review by a super robot series fan instead, I might have been unfortunately led into believing it was something worth my time and I might have either wasted my time or my money seeking this movie out when it came out on DVD. Getting the opinions of fans of a particular genre is all well and good--for other fans of that genre-- but it is equally valuable to get the opinions of non-fans, especially when you are also a non-fan. Some shows can have mainstream crossover appeal, and it's good for the general public to know when those releases are about. This, seemingly, is not going to be one of those. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1846 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Shin Megami Tensei and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, of course. Similarly, the episode titles of CLAMP School Detectives and REC are all taken from the Japanese titles of well-known (non-Japanese) movies, which weren't necessarily direct translations or kana renditions. Ringo Shiina did a hard rock version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" as a B-side. The maxi-single track listing used the Japanese title "Kimi no Hitomi ni Koishiteru" even though she was singing in English. (Last two episodes of NHK's SONGS featured her. She sang a few songs in English, but the only listed titles and lyrics were in Japanese, for some reason.) Anyway, just recently finished watching the series on Animax. S(h)imon reminds me of Shiro from Honneamise (his uniform as supreme commander seems like a nod to the Royal Space Force's), as well as Shinji. I'd say the main characters are more fleshed out than those of the classic super robot shows Gurren Lagann pays tribute to. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Even if he was a huge fan of the television series, you can still hate the clip-show movies they make. Just because you're a fan of something doesn't mean you have to buy every last ounce of a company milking a good idea. I say this as a huge fan of RahXephon, having watched my box set all the way through at least four times (several more times in fansubs before that)... but the movie? Oh, don't get me started on the movie!  Any time you try to condense a long series into a two-hour-or-less movie, you've screwed over the series, unless you go for a 100% retelling, nothing-like-the-original version... in which case you may still piss fans off.
So yeah, stop ragging on the reviewer for giving you his honest opinion. At least he didn't call you a hormone-crazed fanboy for liking it (still irked at Casey for that). |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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In fact, this review is linked from the Anime Expo page. |
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Generic Member
Posts: 8 |
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I'm not sure I've ever been this outraged at a review before, and whether or not the reviewer was a fan was not the point.
As a huge fan of this series (It's potentially my favorite Anime series ever), I've found myself laughing, crying, and cheering for the characters in all their "simplicity" at every plot point no matter how many times I watch it. To me the metaphor presented by the show overall is deep, and the characters some of the easiest to understand and empathise with ever in anything. Watching this movie was pure fanservice to a fan like me, not only did it give me a fix of half of what I know and love in less than two hours, all the major plot points are there, AND the part it skims is arguably the only filler in the show, and the section of it which is most annoying to rewatch in the actual series, as it is really the only part where the core concept of extending the scale of the story is left to the side and remains relatively stationary. What's more there's pure fanservice in the form of the prologue at the start of the movie and the incredible revamp of some of the later fights in this first half of the series towards the end. When both movies are available, this will allow any fan of the show to sit down for the evening and take in the whole experience time and time again in just a single night. We know who the characters that it skims the introduction of are, and there's no need to waste our time explaining them every time. As far as the integrity of the main plot goes, it's there, make no mistake. I don't believe anything important was left as an insignificant element, and was honestly shocked at how well they managed to fit half of a show that already felt absolutely packed to the brim within this short time frame. So yeah - This is not unnecessary, this is pure fanservice to anyone who TRULY knows and loves the show and that review is a disgrace that considering. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4618 |
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And this is why rehash movies exist in the first place. People get so wrapped up in something being their favorite thing ever that they don't even care that a company just polishes a few things and asks for money. If anything, I'd say that several of the posts here have shown why it's always good to get the opinion of someone who isn't nuts about the source material. Otherwise the review would be gushing over something that didn't necessarily impress everyone. In my case, I can safely say that I would have been very angry if I read a review saying how great the movie was, paid to see it, and then found out it was a rehash of a show that I found to be entertaining, but not to be to my overall liking. If people don't mind that sort of thing, good for them, but for those that do a review like this is more than welcome. |
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Generic Member
Posts: 8 |
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The point is, he said it'll likely be nothing more than a bad rehash for fans. It's not. I struggled to find what was cut apart from a few episodes, which I as a fan of the show generally consider filler. That's my main point, he's assuming what fans would think.
By all means it's a movie meant for fans, if you're not one of them from the series then obviously you won't enjoy it. If you were a fan of the series though, you'll likely enjoy it just as much as the original version if not moreso for the actually very impressive changes towards the end. The reason I was angry with the review, is because it's telling fans that it's likely not worth their while. |
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RogueJedi86
Posts: 501 |
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That's what reviews do. If you can't accept that reviews can sometimes be negative, you should move on. Lower your fiendish fanboy-ness. I love the series, it's my #1 favorite series, and I still am okay with the review not recommending it. Like the recap episode in the anime itself, it would be redundant for fans who've seen everything that's being rehashed, and incomprehensible for people who never saw the series. Movies that rehash the entire series need to be enjoyable for non-fans since it's retelling the whole series, a prime time for a new fan to join in without having to see every episode of the series. For a sequel movie like "End of Evangelion", yeah I get why you have to see the series first. But for a strict retelling of the series(like the TTGL movies), you shouldn't have to see the series. |
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Generic Member
Posts: 8 |
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I'm fine with it not reccomending it to fans. Yes it's probably not better to show the movie to someone who hasn't seen the series yet. Overall, yes that does mean the movie perhaps shouldn't be rated too highly.
However, the story is still as wholesome as it is in the series for fans of it - The only part that's anywhere near as bad as the review episode in the series (Yes, that review episode is bad - this however isn't) is its coverage of episodes 4 through 6, which as I have been saying are pretty much filler themselves, in comparison to the rest of the series. Calling the movie bad for fans would be like calling the series itself bad for fans, because yes, it is MOSTLY the same thing, and any parts that have been abridged/cut have been done so pretty elegantly in my opinion, since I struggled to spot them and actually found myself surprised by how much they were covering, constantly thinking "How did they pack this in?". I watched it expecting a crappy rehash like you were saying, I got what I know and love with a great addition, since I didn't have to waste time watching filler, as much time watching all of that in general, and got a quite frankly excellent update to the final part of the story that the movie covers, which I guarantee is an absolute treat for any fans of it. In fact, skimming the review again I believe it completely neglects to mention the brand new animated footage that briefly starts and makes up the entire last segment of the movie, which I will vouch goes far and beyond anything covered in the equivalent section of the series. I'd also like to correct the review in saying that it condenses 15 episodes, because it in fact only covers I suppose the rough equivalent of 14, but that's not quite right either considering how the brand new section of the movie is structured, it's just the best I can put it really. Let me put it this way - Watching this movie is much less redundant than re-watching the show if you've seen it already. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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On the other hand, it is also less awesome, so if you ARE re-watching it, chances are you want the full experience. |
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