Shelf Life

Manly Spirit

The series starts out underground, in a dank little village where people have been living below the Earth's surface. In the spotlight is Simon, who's one of the drillers. One day, he finds a drillbit-shaped trinket during one of his digs. This is complemented later by a strange object that is seemingly just a very large head with a cockpit. Lo and behold, the two go hand in hand, allowing Simon to pilot the head. A bunch of events happen, but to fast-forward a bit, he ends up fighting a large mecha from the Earth's surface with the aid of some new and old friends. Eventually this transitions into a journey across the country to the headquarters of those large mecha, which are being piloted by Beastmen, intent upon destroying humanity.

It's a lot to chew on, but the story is actually very straightforward. It doesn't spend much time at all explaining things like why the Gunmen are able to function, what they're powered by, or how our heroes know how to pilot them, but it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that we've got a ragtag team of heroes who are trying to save the world, and they have the guts to do it. The exposition will possibly come later, but it's irrelevant for the time being. Right now, the series wants to have fun, and it does just that.

Gurren Lagann is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, who's leant his talents to works like FLCL and Dead Leaves, and it totally shows. He injects a lot of attitude into the show, giving it the kind of mad-cap energy that jolts like a punch to the face. It takes a lot of good timing to pull off lines like, “It just takes male energy!!!!!!!!” without seeming like the world's frilliest maribou-trimmed party, and he's just that much cooler for having done it.

Plus, kudos to the entire staff for coming up with amazing characters. Kamina is a crack-up and plays the part of the testo-head perfectly. His enthusiasm and determination are offset by the spunky Yoko and the amazingly fabulous mechanic, and together, they make up one cool team... along with Simon the Wimp. At this point, though, I'm totally a fan of these characters. If they just want to wander around the desert aimlessly for the next 20 episodes, I'm completely cool with it because they're inherently interesting. It's just an added bonus that the story comes packed with fun action elements.

I was afraid I'd dislike Gurren Lagann because of the almighty Hype Machine, but I'm glad it lived up to all the word-of-mouth. They storyline hasn't really flexed its muscles yet, but right now, it's doing a great job of entertaining, and that's all I can ask for. I'm definitely looking forward to the next volume.[TOP]

With the second volume, an even more serious side to the story is set up. The reason why the witches are so intent on recapturing all the fairies, besides harvesting their body parts for their spells, is because they're now fighting a war against the warlocks, the males who live on the other side of the mountain. It's a bit unclear why the warlocks can't just capture their own fairies instead of stealing the witches', but either way, they're out for powers that the fairies can bestow. Caught in the middle are the girls, especially Arusu, whose powerful lightning magic has made her a target for the warlocks.

Tweeny Witches is almost better than Harry Potter. Despite its weird title, the show has a surprising amount of depth. Between clashing ideologies about pacifism and warfare, and opinions about government authority, it gives viewers plenty to think about. The characters all have their own very unique set of beliefs, and it imbues them with an added dimensionality that elevates this show beyond a basic girls-with-magic free-for-all. It's surprisingly dark, too. Aside from Arusu's bubbly personality, much of everything else is very twisted. From the slightly grotesque character designs to the gloomy colors, this is very much a Burtonesque world worth exploring.

For viewers looking for something off the beaten magical girl path, Tweeny Witches is good for a look-see. It'll inspire you to think, and inspire you to really question the characters' actions, and it'll give your eyes a feast in the meantime. It's a shame the series isn't more well known, but that shouldn't stop anyone from checking it out.[TOP]