Review No. 3 - Mahou Sensei Negima!

WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS - JUST A COUPLE. MAYBE.

1. General Info

Mahou Sensei Negima! (Localized in the US as Negima! Magister Negi Magi!) is a Shounen / Harem / Comedy series written and drawn by Ken Akamatsu (a god among mangaka) that began on Feb 23 2003. So far there have been 263 chapters released, along with 2 anime series (Negima! and Negima!?), a few games, 2 Negima!? OVAs (Natsu and Haru, Summer and Spring respectively), another set of 3 OVAs titled "Ala Alba", and starting on September 17, a further new set of OVAs titled "Another World".Why they didnt just make a long-running shounen anime is beyond me, but whatever.

2. Plot Overview

Negima follows the story of Negi, a 10 year old graduate of magic school, who gets assigned as a teacher at Mahora Academy in Japan. He ends up being the English teacher of a class of 31 very strange and crazy girls, including (to name a few): a vampire, a robot, a ghost, a ninja, a mercenary and those are just the obvious examples.  Negi's main goal is to become a Magister Magi like his father, the legendary Thousand Master, who disappeared 10 years ago. Negi's other goal is to find said father. To do so, he enlists the help of the girls in his class by forming a Pactio (Probationary Wizarding Contract) with some of them.

The plot is separated into Arcs as follows:

1. Child Teacher Arc
2. Evangeline Arc
3. Kyoto Arc
4. Willhelm Arc
5. School Festival Arc
6. Magic World Arc

The School Festival and Magic World arcs are easily the longest, coming in at 96 chapters each so far.

Pactio

A Pactio is a contract between a mage and another person that gives the person magical powers in order to guard and assist the mage at all times. There are two kinds of Pactios - Probationary and Full. A probationary contract is formed when the mage and other person kiss inside a magic circle. The partner gains a Pactio Card that can be used to summon a personal artifact to help the mage out, as well as for telepathic communication and a way of summoning the partner to the Mage's side. A mage can have as many probational contracts as he/she wishes, but is only allowed 1 full pactio. We have yet to see a Full Contract.

Asuna's Pactio card.

3. Characters

Negi Springfield

Negi is a 10 year old mage from Wales. Being 10, he is quite naive about most things, but can be very serious and adult when he needs to be. He ALWAYS does everything to the extreme, never holding back on anything, no matter how draining it may be. He constantly has trouble placing his complete trust in his students when it comes to dangerous situations, and worries himself silly over their well-being.

 Negi in Chapter 1

To begin with, Negi only knows a handful of combat spells. As the manga progresses, he receives training in both magic (from Evangeline and Jack Rakan) and martial arts, learning Chinese Kenpo (from Ku Fei). HE also trains himself, learning how to efficiently delay spells, and combine them with his martial arts. After entering the Magic World, he is taught the dark arts of Magia Erebia; a dark magic that involves absorbing magical energies into the body to increase one's strength, speed and power. This ability, combined with his proficiency in magic and martial arts, makes Negi easily the strongest character in the protagonist group.

Negi in his Adult Form (Age Changing Pills)

Using Magia Erebia - Lightning form

Kotarou Inugami

Kotarou is a half-dog-demon, half-human boy, also aged 10, who is introduced in the Kyoto Arc. He starts out as an antagonist for Negi, but later enrols at Mahora Academy and becomes Negi's closest and most trusted friend. They are rivals and battle partners, and Kotarou seems to understand Negi's inner workings better than anyone else. Kotarou can be rash, and arrogant at times, but he knows who he isnt stronger than, and works hard to get stronger. One of Kotarou's key personality traits is that he will never injure a woman. This leads to some comedic situations in the School Festival Arc.

Kotarou at the time of his introduction

Kotarou has recently established his place as the second strongest protagonist after Negi. He trains as a Ninja with Kaede, and can both summon dog-demon spirits to aid him, and transform into a dog-demon himself.

Kotarou with Negi in their adult forms.

Asuna Kagurazaka - Seat 8

Asuna is a student at Mahora Academy in Negi's class. She is the first to learn of Negi's mage status, and his first partner through the Pactio system. Her artifact is Ensis Exorcizans, it can take the form of either a Harisen, or a BIG FUCKING SWORD. Asuna is very blunt and straight-forward, and initially is quite harsh to Negi, but over time she grows to care for him greatly as if he were her little brother. She always wants to be by his side to help protect him, no matter the situation.

Asuna is physically in fantastic condition, she is strong, fast and has high stamina. She also has the strange ability to cancel out any hostile magic performed on her. She gets trained in Kendo by Setsuna, and Survival and Kanka (the ability to combine magic and ki energies) by Evangeline.

Setsuna Sakurazaki - Seat 15

Setsuna is an expert of the Kyōto Shinmei-ryū style of swordplay, and is a childhood friend of Konoka Konoe. Initially she is not seen very much in the manga, serving as merely a background character. In the Kyoto Arc, however, she is established as a major supporting character, becoming the third person to form a pactio with Negi. Her artifact is the Sica Shishikushiro, which allows her to create and control up to 16 wakizashi blades.

Setsuna has a troubled past. She is half-demon of the bird tribe and was kicked out due to having pure white wings. She met Konoka at a very young age, but after they both nearly drowned, she submerged herself in her Kendo studies and drifted apart from Konoka. Nowadays they're back to having a very close relationship, though Setsuna finds herself often flustered at Konoka's feelings.

Setsuna's Pactio Card

Nodoka Miyazaki - Seat 27

Nodoka is a shy girl whose hair often covers her face. She very quickly develops a crush on Negi, and establishes her place as the girl who loves Negi the most. She is the second person to form a Pactio with Negi, although it is by accident. Her artifact is Diarium Ejus - a diary that shows the inner thoughts and feelings of any person whose name she calls using writing and illustrations. Nodoka is easily one of the most useful non-combat members of the Negi-Party, as she can use her artifact to predict enemy combat moves and plans.

Nodoka's Pactio Card

Evangeline Athanasia Katherine (Kitty) McDowell - Seat 25

Evangeline (Dark Evangel, Doll Master, Maga Nosferatu, etc) is a hundreds of years old, dark magic using, pure-blood, daywalker Vampire. She is the first main antagonist for Negi, and serves as a main support character for most of the manga. She trains Negi in magical combat, with his blood as the payment. She owns a place called Evangeline's Resort; a room where 1 hour in the real world is 1 day inside the resort. We have yet to see her true power, but it is hinted at that she is stronger than anyone else we have met in the manga. This has created the theory that Evangeline will be the "Final Boss" character.

 

When Evangeline was 10, she was turned into a Vampire, so she has had the body of a 10 year old for hundreds of years. However, she used her magic to make herself look adult. 15 years before the current story, she had a spell cast on her by the Thousand Master that prevented her from leaving Mahora Academy, as well as draining her powers.

Jack Rakan

Jack MOTHERFUCKING Rakan. He's a partner of the Thousand Master, and the one who trains Negi in the magic world. He is COMPLETELY BROKEN, making fun of almost every single Shounen trope in hilarius ways. He can summon MASSIVE BLADES with his artifact, can break dimensions by SHOUTING, LAUGHS after taking massive beatings, he even drew up a power level chart, giving Negi a power of 500, and himself a power of TWELVE THOUSAND!!!!

After taking a beating from Negi

 

 

^ HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE HELL!!?!?!?!?!

4. Manga's feel

The manga's art style, I think, is really good. The character's are drawn very consistently, with their appearances changing slightly over time, becoming more individual and recognisable. The facial expressions are fantastic, and hilarious at times. The backgrounds are actually there *cough*Kubo*cough*, and some of them are just exquisite.

The dialogue and characterization is top-notch. The comedy is funny, the serious is serious and the characters all stay in character all the time. The fight scenes are a lot better than those in Dragonball Z, or Bleach. They consist of more strategy than pure power, and any trash talking is either kept to a minimum, or used to explain what the hell just happened. Overall, the manga has an enjoyable feel not many others have.

5. Personal Thoughts and Recommendation

I personally believe that there is no better manga out there. If you love shounen or harem anime/manga, you will love this. If you've never read manga before, this is a great introduction to it. If you just want to kill time, read this! It's really that good! Ken Akamatsu is a genius! And whenever it says "Negima will be taking a break next week so the author can collect data" it means that Ken is actually collecting data!!!

I recommend this manga to everyone and anyone.

100 out of 10!!!

Review No. 2 - Bleach

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST DOES CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS.

So. Bleach. Tite Kubo's manga.  The manga started in August 2001, and the anime in October 2004. 40 volumes and 235 episodes so far. 3 full-length movies and a bunch of video games. A pretty successful franchise overall.

The story follows Ichigo Kurosaki, a human, who can see spirits. He meets Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami, and "borrows" her shinigami powers in order to fend off a Hollow (Evil spirit) that's attacking his family. He agrees to kill hollows for Rukia while she's recovering her powers, and while doing that we're introduced to Chad, Orihime, Ishida and Urahara. Eventually Rukia gets taken back to Soul Society (the shinigami home) accused of a crime. Ichigo and co travel to Namek to rescue her. Along the way Ichigo's power level increases to over 180,000, and when fighting against Byakuya, he finally ascends to Super Saiyan. He rescues Rukia, but then they're all attacked by Mexicans. Ichigo and co go to Mexico to beat the Mexicans and Ichigo's strength increases yet again, to Super Saiyan 2. More recently, Ichigo has beaten one of the chief Mexicans by transforming into a Super Saiyan 3.

Oh wait. That's Dragonball Z.

What I'm trying to say is that as Bleach has continued on, it has become very much like Dragonball Z... with swords. Hell, even the swords are DBZ-esque. Getsuga Tenshou? More like Kamehameha! The fights these days consist of:

Char1: Trash talk.
Char2: Trash talk
FIGHTING FOR A SECOND OR TWO
Char2: Trash talk
Char1: Trash talk
BEAM STRUGGLE!
TRANSFORMATION!
"Char1: Trash talk
ETC.

If I wanted to watch stuff like that, Id watch Dragonball Z. Now, dont get me wrong, EARLY Bleach is fantastic! Killing all the different kinds of hollows, Chad and Orihime being useful, Ishida and Ichigo's rivalry, Urahara being Urahara, all of that made for a very entertaining and different series. The Soul Society arc was also fantastic. The introduction of all the different Captains and Vice-Captains from the Gotei squads, all the different fighting styles, Ichigo's own powers (RESOLVE!!! XD), even the Aizen sub-plot was interesting. In my opinion, Kubo should've ended it at the end of the SS arc and started a new series. Recently the manga's devolved into ungodly long fights (longer than DBZ), crappy attempts at philosophy, and a distinct lack of any form of background. TITE KUBO! WHITE IS NOT A BACKGROUND!

A typical recent Manga page. 

(I'm serious. This is an actual full page)

A much earlier page. Ch 10.

(Woo! Intense Chad and Rukia!

The franchise does have one redeeming factor at the moment. The anime. The anime is a great rendition of the manga. Episodes 1 to 64 are all brilliant. The major fights, early, middle and end. Kenpachi, Byakuya, Grimmjow (All three rounds), all the Captain vs Espada fights, all brilliantly animated. The filler sections of the anime arent that great though. The Bount arc (read "Bullshit arc") and that filler arc right after the Grimmjow fight are both HORRIFIC examples of anime. Skip them. There is absolutely no point in subjecting one's self to that kind of torture. Recent filler hasnt been that bad though. A few oneshot episodes (including an interesting "prequel" episode set the day before episode 1), the Karakuri Rangers mini-arc, and the current filler arc are vast improvements on previous filler attempts. But enough about the story.

Characters

Ichigo -  Masakazu Morita, Johnny! Yong! Bosh!
Zanpakuto: Zangetsu
Bankai: Tensa Zangetsu
Abilities: Getsuga Tenshou, Vizard transformation.


Ichigo is the main character, and tends to be the strongest. He's arrogant, stubborn, and determined. Not really... interesting though.

Rukia Kuchiki - Fumiko Orikasa, Michelle Ruff (Yay!!!!)
Zanpakuto: Sode no Shirayuki
Bankai: None, yet. (Even though she's stronger than Renji)
Abilities: Those three dances. (Hakuren FTW), Kido Master



Rukia is the deuteragonist. She gives Ichigo her powers in the first episode, and serves as a mentor to him through the whole series.

Renji Abarai - Kentarō Itō, Wally Wingert
Zanpakuto: Zabimaru
Bankai: Hihiō Zabimaru
Abilities: Baboon Bone Cannon, Some kido

Renji, at the beginning, is AWESOME. Those sunglasses... Later on though, he (unfortunately) becomes one of the weaker characters, not really winning often. Having said that, he has quite a few moments of pure awesome throughout the show.

Orihime Inoue -  Yuki Matsuoka, Stephanie Sheh
Zanpakuto: None
Abilities: God-hax powers. "Kurosaki-kun"

 "Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun, Kurosaki-kun!"

Yes. That's Orihime in a nutshell. *groan*

Also: Breasts.

Uryu Ishida - Noriaki Sugiyama, Derek Stephen Prince
Abilities: Quincy powers. God-Tier ranged attacks.

Ishida is a Quincy, and hates shinigami. He's intelligent, cool, and collected and uses a variety of gadgets combined with his powers to be effective in a fight.

Hollow Ichigo - Same people as Ichigo
Same Abilites and Zanpakuto as Ichigo

Now this guy is a motherfucking BADASS. Sassy and insane, he is the REAL source of Ichigo's powers. He's also the most entertaining bit of the show.

 Well, that's Bleach in a nutshell. Now, despite anything I may have said in this review, I DO like Bleach quite a bit, It's entertaining and something to look forward to each week. I DO recommend it to anyone looking to get into anime, or someone looking for something to read. Whilst Tite Kubo does need to be slapped around the head a bit, he isnt as bad as SOME writers... *Cough*Kishimoto*Cough*.

Score: 8/10

Review No. 1 - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann!

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST DOES CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS.

Well, this is my first review, so I figured I'd start off with a bang. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (translated as "Heaven Piercing Gurren Lagann", yes, I know it's a bit pretentious.) is a 27 episode Shounen Mecha anime that ran in 2007. It was produced by Gainax studios, famous for Neon Genesis Evangelion, and won several awards. It's also got 2 movie adaptations: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann-hen, which cover the first and second halves of the series respectively.

Plot Outline: The plot of Gurren Lagann is separated into 2 halves. The first half introduces all the characters and details their struggle for freedom against the oppression of the Spiral King. It begins in Jeeha Village, an underground village where all the residents dig holes to expand their territory. Simon, the protagonist of the story, finds a 'core drill' and a small mecha buried one day. He, Kamina - his best friend and the leader of Team Gurren, and Yoko, a girl from the surface, use the mecha, christened 'Lagann' to break through the ceiling of the village and get to the surface - a barren land populated by the vicious Beastmen and their Gunmen - Giant mechas out to kill all humans on the surface. Throughout their adventures they meet up with many more characters; Leeron - a homosexual (and hilarious) mechanic, Dayakka - the leader of the Littner Village resistance group, Kittan, Kiyal, Kiyol and Kinon -  the Black Siblings (a group of beastmen hunters), Rossiu, Gimmy and Darry - 3 villagers from Adai Village, and many others, including Viral -  a Beastman who is a member of the Human Eradication Squad. Viral fights Simon and Kamina multiple times, and sees Kamina as his primary rival. A large group of other humans take Kamina's idea to steal Gunmen from the Beastmen and all come together to form Team Dai-Gurren. Around halfway through the first half, Team Dai-Gurren tries to take control of Dai-Gunzan, a mobile fortress Gunmen. Simon is distracted during the fight, and subsequently Kamina is killed after the battle. Simon falls into a depression until he meets Nia, the princess of Teppelin (the beastmen capital). Through clashes with the Spiral Kings four generals, Simon regains his confidence and becomes the new leader of Team Dai-Gurren, leading them to victory against the Spiral King in episode 15.

The second half is set 7 years after the first, and deals with their struggles against the Anti-Spirals - a race of beings against the rapid evolution of human society. Rossiu and Simon now lead the human population, and their civilisation has advanced rapidly. The old gunmen from the war with the Spiral King are locked away, and a new type of gunmen, The Grapearl Squadron (Mechas based off of Gurren Lagann). The surface population reaches 1 million people, and the Anti-Spirals launch an attack on the Earth to destroy the humans much like the Spiral King. They take control of Nia, turning her into the Anti-Spiral's messenger, set the moon on a decaying orbit to crash into the surface of the planet and take Nia to the far end of the universe. The population revolts out of fear, and Rossiu deems it necessary to blame someone for these events. He removes Simon from power and throws him in jail. Rossiu then uses the newly built spaceship "Arc-Gurren" to take a significant portion of the human population into space to try and avoid the destruction of the world. Unfortunately, he walks right into a trap (Cue Admiral Ackbar). Simon meets up with Viral in jail and, after being busted out by Yoko, joins forces with him to get back Gurren Lagann and defeat the Anti-Spiral fleet in orbit above the Earth. Combining Gurren Lagann with Arc-Gurren to form Arc-Gurren Lagann, Simon and Viral destroy the Anti-Spiral fleet and try to stop the moon from falling. Finding out from Lordgenome's head (which has been turned into a bio-computer) that the moon is actually his flagship -  the Cathedral Terra, Simon combines with it and morphs it into the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren. With this ship under their control, Team Dai-Gurren goes on its last mission - to destroy the Anti-Spirals and save Nia. Travelling to the far reaches of the universe using a Spiral Teleportation system, they get caught in a trap and dragged into an area of super-dense space. Kittan heroically sacrifices himself to destroy the field (MOST AWESOME SACRIFICE EVER) and Simon turns the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren into Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann, defeating the Anti-Spirals in the area. Team Dai-Gurren then teleports to where Nia is and confront THE Anti-Spiral. After breaking out of the Anti-Spiral's "MIND CRUSH!" thanks to the help of an old friend, the members of Team Dai-Gurren form TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN. A mecha the size of MULTIPLE GALAXIES and have an all out fight with the Anti-Spiral, eventually defeating it.

Characters:

Simon - Yuri Lowenthal (Eng),  Tetsuya Kakihara (Jap)

Simon (Shimon) is the main protagonist of the story. He is introduced as a 14 year old boy, who has a knack for digging holes with his drill. He is initially quite nervous and constantly looks to his best friend and "Aniki" (Bro) Kamina for support with most things. Throughout the course of the series, he grows into his role as Team Dai-Gurren's leader, becoming self-confident and powerful.
Post-Timeskip, he has become the leader of the Earth's human population, and his personality is much like Kamina's in many ways. At the end of the anime, Simon is nothing short of AWESOME. You cant help but want to be like him. Hell, HE cant help but want to be like him, given how often he says "Just who the hell do you think I am!?"

Kamina - Kyle Hebert (Eng),  Katsuyuki Konishi (Jap)


Kamina is a bit older than Simon, and is very confident in his own abilities. He constantly makes grand speeches about himself and Team Dai-Gurren and how awesome he claims them both to be. He pilots his own Mecha, called 'Gurren', but isnt much of a pilot in terms of skill. I personally think Kamina's one of the most awe-inspiring characters in any anime ever, his speeches are just god-tier. I mean just look at the guy, he's a friggin champion.
As he says often "Kick logic to the curb and do the impossible! That's the way Team Gurren rolls!"

Gurren Lagann

Gurren Lagann is the combined form of Gurren and Lagann (who would've guessed!). It runs on Spiral Power, an energy source stemming from FIGHTING SPIRIT (as Kamina puts it.). It's easily the most powerful mecha in the show, and the primary fighting form used by Simon. It can summon drills at any place on it's body, for example the super-powerful finishing move GIGA DRILL BREAKER.

Arc-Gurren Lagann

Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann

Yoko - Michelle Ruff (woo! Eng), Marina Inoue (Jap)


Yoko is, well, Eye-candy. Other than that, she's the best sniper around, and seems to be the only thing keeping Kamina grounded. She dislikes wearing lots of clothing as its 'restrictive'. Dont let her looks fool you though, she could kick your butt in a second. She serves as Kamina's love interest, and kisses him right before his final battle. In part 2, she disappears for a year where she becomes a school teacher. Upon hearing about Simon's arrest, however, she comes back and breaks him out of jail, rejoining Team Dai-Gurren. In the space battles, she shares an intimate moment with Kittan before he sacrifices himself, leading the fan community to label her kiss as a kiss-of-death, as the 2 characters she kisses both die right afterwards.

Nia - Hynden Walch (child), Bridget Hoffman (adult) (Both Eng), Yukari Fukui (Jap)


Nia is the princess of the Spiral Kingdom, although she is abandoned by her father, the Spiral King. Simon finds her in a capsule down a gorge, and quickly befriends her. She serves as Team Dai-Gurren's cook, although only Simon can stomach the food she makes. She plays a more major role in the second half of the story. Simon and Nia are now together, and Simon proposes to her early in the second half. She accepts, but shortly afterwards the Anti-Spirals take control of her body and mind and she becomes their messenger. After the defeat of the Anti-Spiral fleet above Earth, she is taken to the Anti-Spiral homeworld and scanned for information before Gurren Lagann gets there. She participates in the fight between Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and the Anti-Spiral, when she tells everyone that winning this fight would cause her to disappear forever, as she had become an Anti-Spiral lifeform. She spurs everyone on, and they win the fight. She and Simon finally get married, and minutes after their first onscreen kiss, she disappears, turning a wedding into a funeral. I must admit I teared up.

Kittan - Christopher Corey Smith (Eng), Kishō Taniyama (Jap)


Kittan is the leader of the Black Siblings. He's rash, overconfident, and always trying to be better than Kamina. He pilots the King Kittan gunman. After Kamina dies, he becomes the leader of Team Dai-Gurren until Simon gets back to normal. He is the leader of the Team Dai-Gurren's gunmen squad, giving them orders when Simon is busy fighting the big boss characters. In part 2, he's a part of the government system, but his character remains basically the same. When Team Dai-Gurren goes to fight the Anti-Spirals, he pilots the Space King Kittan. In order to get out of the super dense space created by the Death Spiral, Kittan goes out in the King Kittan with one of Simon's drills, and in the most awesome sacrifice ever, uses a "KING KITTAN GIGA DRILL BREAKER!!!!" to destroy the Death Spiral, then dies while laughing about how awesome he just was.

Viral - Sam Reigel (Eng), Nobuyuki Hiyama(Jap)

Viral is the commander of the Human Eradication Army. He pilots Enki, his personal Mecha, then Enkidu, then Enkidudu (yes, I lol'd too.). He is first introduced in episode 3, as a rival for Kamina and Simon. He initially gives them a good beating before they combine into Gurren Lagann for the first time. He ends up as a recurring villain character, who ends up getting defeated by Gurren Lagann every time they meet. At the end of Part 1, he is given an immortal body by Lordgenome so he can observe the battles to come, and be a storyteller for the Beastmen. In Part 2, he puts aside his old grudges and joins up with Simon and Team Dai-Gurren against the Anti-Spirals, becoming Gurren's pilot.

Lordgenome - Jamieson Price (Eng), Narushi Ikeda(Jap)

Lordgenome, better known as the Spiral King, is the primary antagonist of the first half of the series. He is more than 1000 years old, and is the very definition of raw power. He, like Simon, pilots a Spiral Powered mecha called Lazengann. It rivals even Gurren Lagann in power and speed, and can form its own drills. Although it may seem like Lordgenome is simply evil, this is not the case. He was the first Spiral Warrior of the humans to rise against the Anti-Spirals, 1000 years before the story begins. He was ultimately defeated, so to ensure the survival of the human race, he drives them underground and creates the Beastmen to keep them there.

Review: Well, I must say, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is one of, if not THE BEST anime out there. It completely defies all aspects of realism, and replaces it with PURE AWESOME. It has the right mix of fighting, mechas, comedy, romance, drama, character development, plot, everything! Even the music is leaking awesome! I highly recommend it to ANYONE. Anime fan or no.

Rating: 10/10! No question!