Forum - View topicDig For Fire: The Roots of Gurren Lagann
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Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Pen-Pen is not useless!
And I'll forever think of Kamina as Comic Party's Taishi with a sword. No amount of previous Gainax character combinations will get me to think otherwise. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7416 Location: Maine |
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Wow, you really knocked this article out of the park, Jason! Can I make a request for a monthly feature covering other anime?
Emerje |
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Thanks, Emerje! This article was a lot of fun to write, and it definitely won't be the last you see of my byline. And of course, I heartily encourage you to pick up Protoculture Addicts, where you can read features like this in every issue...including two by myself in the newest issue. 
Ha! I didn't even think of that, but you're totally right! Of course, as is clear by the article, when I was watching Gurren Lagann, I kind of had GAINAX on the brain. 
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Brack
 Posts: 292 Location: UK |
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This feels like a horrible over simplification of Gurren Lagann's origins and influences, and gives the impression that GAINAX are only influenced by their own works.
For instance, how can you discuss the origins of the actual Gurren Lagann mecha and fail to bring up Gaiking? |
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Oronae
Posts: 165 |
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I'm suprised at the choices of characters that you felt went into creating Kamina. I always felt he was much closer in nature to Nadia's Sanson in style.
Edit: I was also kind of disappointed that the article only really went into the influences within GAINAX's own works. I was rather interested in hearing what you felt it borrowed from within the Mecha Genre as a whole. |
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jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Thanks for reading, Brack. As to why it doesn't expand beyond GAINAX's borders, it's just a matter of the scope of this specific article, as I said in the second paragraph: "This feature attempts to answer that question by tracing Gurren Lagann’s roots in the GAINAX canon, offering GAINAX diehards a glimpse of what the show has in store while giving new fans an overview of the connections to the many classics in the studio's vast catalog." Exploring all of the show's influences would make for an interesting read too, but that wasn't what this specific article was looking to do. |
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Ryomanagare
Posts: 71 |
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Only thing that could have made this article more awesome would be if you included outside Gainax influences.
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Periodeia
 Posts: 28 |
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I'd also have to add that I am surprised that there was no mention of Nia, the show's heroine. She is just as important to Simon's character development as Kamina and has a larger role in the story than Yoko.
And while Boota is a mascot character, he never really struck me as comic relief, at least compared to King and Pen-Pen. 
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Wow
I just happened to watch the first dvd I've had laying around for a month & couldn't get DEAD LEAVES out of my head. Down to the drill. And every time Kamina opened his mouth, I developed an intense desire to go re-watch the Loveless extras where Soubi keeps voicing his plans on Ritsuka's virginity. And I was reminded of Gai/Martian Successor & all those characters (Gai also lasted about as long, right?) |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Clearly Pen Pen is not useless. He is the glue that holds together the cast of Neon Genesis Evangelion with his pragmatic, yet energetic philosophies and rich, textured soliloquies on the complexities of Japanese society's social mores, business practices, and colorful history.
Why, I would dare posit that Pen Pen, being of sound mind and body, is perhaps the true main protagonist of Evangelion, a hero among heroes at the precipice of a brutal apocalypse, yet his soothing nature allows us all to reflect further on the eccentricities of our lives that, while sometimes painful, make it all worthwhile in the long run. Also, beer-drinking penguin. Boota, in comparison, is a far less complicated and interesting character. |
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zanarkand princess
 Posts: 1484 |
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I really liked this article. But I must also ask why nia isn't talked about but I think I have an idea. Her effect on simon is much more subtle. Also a lot of people including myself don't really think of her when they think of gurren laggan. She isn't a person that represents the spirit of the series and even now after the series has been completed in japan when the show is brought up you always see that picture of simon, kamina and yoko regardless of the minor impact they have after the whole thing is said and done and the time skip. Nia isn't as appealing as the heroine as yoko would be and at first glance you would think she was. Actually after a point I started to think that the creators wanted to have a redo of everything and take some things back and change some things. I'm probably wrong though they seem to be happy with it but it's always what I think when I see advertisements and official art especially when they say that they want to be working on it for a long time.
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Greg Aubry
 Posts: 224 Location: Detroit, MI |
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Not bad at all, old friend. I'm not surprised that Pen Pen has his defenders, however.
Last edited by Greg Aubry on Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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I don't really understand how it came about that the ganmen (original: ガンメン, from 顔面, "face") mechas came to be name "gunmen" in the English version. It looks to me like sloppy translation work. Is that it, or does someone have a better explanation -- say, that that was the official Gainax transliteration?
Oh sure, he has a fan club. They call themselves the Pen Pals. 
- abunai |
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Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
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Ba-dum-CHING! It's nice to see someone looking at the characters of Gurren Lagann from an in-GAINAX point of view without falling into the miry trench of "durr hurr, Simon is GAINAX's apology for the agony that was Shinji, hurr hurr hurr". THANK YOU. But no mention of the fabulous Sanson when talking about Kamina? For shame. |
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abynormal
 Posts: 427 Location: Louisiana |
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Usually the producer has to sign off on any changes in the translation, so yeah, it probably was done with Gainax's consent. Perhaps someone thought "Gunman" made more sense to English ears than "Ganmen?" Not everyone watches Anime for a Japanese lesson, and it is airing on a network better known for Star Trek and Stargate SG1 than anime. |
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