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A recent discussion on old anime with my father lead me to rewatch a show called "Tengen Toppa Guren Lagan" and I was reminded about how much this show rocks and how much it influanced me as a kid; so here is more words than I wrote for my actual essay writing homework this week about why.

Tengen toppa Guren Lagan is a fascinating show, especially in the way it contrasts with studio Geinax's other giant robot show that's actually about the human condition, Neon Genissis Evangelion. The creative director of Gurren lagan, Hiroyuki Imaishi, was an in between animator for Evangelion, and you can see in his later works that he definitely had his own thoughts and opinions about that show while he was helping make it.

One of the first differences you might notice between the shows is the difference in animation and consistency. Where Evangelion is the product of a multimillion-dollar animation studio being bent to the singular creative will of one man, Gurren lagan is an animation showcase; almost every episode having a different director and often several animators putting their own unique stamp on the show. If you have even a little bit of an eye for animation you can clearly see where the animators change in between scenes, and yet under Imaishi’s guidance the effect is appealing rather than jarring.

Evangelion is a meditation on depression, the human condition, warfare and every other ugly thing humanity sees when it looks in the mirror. It is thought provoking; I have lost count of how many essays and video essays and forum discussions I have seen debating the nuances and philosophies of this show. And while those aspects of it do appeal to the cynical English major part of my soul there is something far more viscerally satisfying about how Gurren Lagan foregoes nuance and subtext in favor of grabbing nihilism by the throat and saying “Just who the hell do you think I am?! If the future is dark, I will break the vault of the heavens to shine light down upon it!”. While evangelion ends on the very nuanced and thoughtful take that the future is built of individuals, and we must each decide for ourselves what the future holds for us and whether we even want to form connections with others, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan punches the physical manifestation of pessimism in the fucking face with the indomitable human spirit represented by the only thing it should be represented by, a giant kick-ass robot.

This is not to say that people don't die in Gurren Lagann, or that there are not sad moments. But where evangelion treats these moments of grief and loss as valid arguments against human connection Guren Lagan says it is because people die that you must connect with them! Only you can remember who they were and what they meant to you, and by taking the embers of their flame and adding it to your own, you honor them in a way that nothing can diminish. The nature of humanity is progress it says, and to be human is to contribute to that progress even if you die, even if it kills you before you can see the results of that progress. Not because it will all have been worth it in the end, not because the light at the end of the tunnel will validate all the suffering you have endured, but because the act of striving for a better future has value in and of itself. Tengen Toppa Guren Lagan looks you in the eyes and says "Fuck pessimism and sadness and tradgedy, the moment you grab onto hope with both hands a better tomorrow is not just possible, it is inevitable".

Watching evangelion under the covers as a kid made me sad for a week. Watching Guran Lagan as a kid helped light a fire in my soul that will brun till the day I die.

TLDR: Media that insists depression and pessimism are cool and interesting are boring, dumb, and cringe and hope is based.

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I drew this while watching @ohnoitstbskyen stream Elden ring yesterday!

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Happy Valentine's day ya'll (Based on the chocolate randomizer order)

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F/GO and Human connection

What I really love about F/GO is that under all the flashy Noble Phantasms and nigh incomprehensible lore and "plot" it's really a story about the power of human connection. Hell, your "special protagonist superpower" is being able to get along with and understand pretty much everyone.

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Hassan ending Guda

I don't know why but I had the morbid Idea that First Hassan would be the one to end Guda's life. Like, Guda's end won't be pretty, they'll be bloody and broken and still trying to fight because *they just can't ever stop*at that point death would be a mercy, and who knows the mercy of death better then the old man of the mountain?

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I seek a cozy/cute witch VN, please aid me in this quest

Grabs you by the shoulders. I will, personally, tumblr user verse "versegm" segm, recommend visual novels to you. Just give me what you're looking for I'm SURE I can find something you'll like, if not something I have personally played then something that has been on my itchio backlog for years, and if not something in either categories then I KNOW homies will have your back. You want long epics? You want short one-hour long stories? You want fantasy? High school settings? Romance? Horror? Romance-horror? I've got it for you champ. You just need to ask.

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Morgan’s story is probably not written as an a parallel to being an unappreciated oldest child, but with how hard it hit me there it’s kinda hard to think it wasn’t

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Kinda glad na is only getting LB6 summer in two years, if I had to see Morgan, Bargest and Castoria free and having fun right after finishing LB6 that might actually break me