Shelf Life

Angels in the Outerspace

I can, however, recommend the next item on my list—the second volume of Gurren Lagann, which includes episodes 10 through 18. Seriously, this show just keeps getting better and better. When I first started watching this series, I appreciated it for its energy and gung-ho spirit. I dug all the optimism and all the fighting-for-a-cause mentality, and overall, I just thought it was a really fun show. By the time I finished this volume, I had completely changed my opinion about the show—for the better.

It may start out with just a humans vs. Beastmen storyline, with the rather simplistic goal of abolishing the enemy, but once they do so, the series takes a completely different spin. Instead of being the underdogs, the humans suddenly become the champions, but it comes at a great cost. There's something sinister that the humans weren't prepared to deal with, and it has to do with their power influx, their overpopulation, and their desire to play god. Almost everything they knew goes flying out the window, and now they're facing something they're completely unprepared for. Even the viewers get thrown for a huge loop, and it's a shocking, but nice, change of pace.

Gurren Lagann has been a really exciting journey so far. There's never been a single dull moment, and every time the series starts mellowing out, it throws a curve ball. From unexpected tragedies to plain old Plot Twists, it keeps itself from becoming predictable. Just as the Beastman of the Week routine started getting mildly dull, it resolved itself and veered in a completely different direction. Not only did it jump seven years into the future, but the second story arc is almost completely unrecognizable from the first. I really don't see how it's possible to become bored with this show. A fair warning though—the sixteenth episode is a recap, so unless you've somehow forgotten whatever it is you just saw, it's worth your time to skip past it.

So far, this series hasn't let me down at all. The characters have been really dynamic and fun to watch, and their complete shift from the first story arc to the second make them all the more exciting to watch. If you're looking for something new to fill your mind, Gurren Lagann is the way to go. It's wacky, it's intense, and it's got all the unpredictability that made me first fall in love with Gainax shows.[TOP]

Now, one of the things that has me super pumped about the next couple of months is all the re-releases and continuing releases of all the old Geneon stuff. Last week, I got to catch up with Geneon's bullet-pumping action adventure, Black Lagoon. Naturally, when I came across the first volume of Black Lagoon: Second Barrage, I was pretty thrilled. I think it's toned down a bit from the first season, but it's still a good way to pass some time.

The first three episodes on the disc follow a small storyline where two kids are going around killing people. They call themselves vampires, but really, they're just creepy Romanian kids with troubled pasts who dress up in EGL outfits. Now, just going around killing people isn't that big of a deal in the Black Lagoon realm of things, but once they start messing with the mafia, the natural order of the world starts crumbling. So, in comes our heroes, and matters are settled. Then another story starts, involving counterfeit money.

My only beef with this disc is that it doesn't spend enough time on the main characters. I think it's important to shed light on the situation at hand, and give some screen time to the bad guys, but we barely get to see Revy, Rock, and the others at all. They pop in for a few minutes near the end, but they don't factor into it that much. Now, this may not bother other viewers, but since my personal reason for liking this show so much is my enjoyment of the main characters, their lack of screen time bums me out a little.

Aside from that, it's still a very well put-together show. It's still got all the oomph that I like Black Lagoon for, and it creates some creepy villains. I've always been spooked by sinister kids in anime (at least this one didn't involve glowing butterflies), and these three episodes just cement my fervent fear of them. When they revealed for the first time just how interchangeable the two kids are, in their switching of gender roles, my jaw was agape and I wanted nothing to do with orphanages for quite some time.

In the end, Black Lagoon: Second Barrage will just as easily delight new fans as it will please old fans. The characters aren't as prominently featured as I would've liked, but I'm sure that may just be a personal preference. The action is still intense, and the pacing is still delightfully fast, so it's pretty hard not to have a great time.[TOP]