Positives: a neat and interesting concept about breaking free from Plato's cave and entering the surface world, wanting to conquer the entire realm until even the heaven's are reached (illustrated in the first episode of the show! Great bones! Negatives: Poor handling of an interesting concept, making it flat and boring for everyone who's paying attention.
I am not a big anime fan, I've seen enough to count on both hands, but I am a TV/movie fan. I've seen great shows done on Anime, such as Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, and Death Note. I understand the love behind those shows, for their rich character development and philosophy. But Guran Lagann lacks those qualities, despite being aimed at a mature audience (14+).
The elements: power fantasy, plain mech-fighting, a lack of stakes, and a lack of characterization. Power fantasy is a cheap trick in capturing an audience; it's done by most modern superhero movies and power rangers by a dozen-fold. For a show to stand out, it needs to offer more in its narrative, but instead of that GL relies on fights that have no weight to them, as the mechas are very fast despite all their weight, they're very easy to fix despite their complex alien structure, and they're very undefined in how one controls it. It seems the person who's most patient and angrily concentrating is the one able to win, not the smartest or strongest person. There really isn't much to even needing to control a mecha and to unlock its secret superweapons underneath. There is a lack of stakes because literally, until the episode I stopped watching, THE PROTAGONISTS WIN AT THE END OF EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, and barely learn anything! Not only is that boring but it's wrong, because that makes the supposedly intelligent alien super villains look weak and stupid against a race that just picked up their tech a month after they've been using it for years! What is there to root for? The show basically spoils any tension you have for them winning!
Also, characters (minor spoilers): All pretty weak. Simon is the main one, and he's basically just a digger boy who we have to feel sorry for just because he's an orphan and a loner, nothing else. Then there's his older brother-figure, Kamina, who I'm surprised didn't get killed fast enough for all the stupid decisions he makes. "Running is for cowards!" Is his catchphrase. He says it every time he's almost stomped by a giant robot. He had good ambition, but he was very impulsive, which wasn't addressed well enough, and at the end of an episode they cheaply kill someone he loves just to force us to root for him too (and it's never ever brought up again). I'm so surprised too he was the first human ever to think to control a mecha by forcing another guy out of one, to which I replied, "really? No one else thought about jumping into one? You guys weren't scared to do it, you just didn't think of it?" The final cheap trick character is the sex object known as Yoko. She wears skimpy, revealing clothing, and early in the show its used as a cheap trick to make dumb jokes and keep young boys' eyes on the screen. It's really dumb and, again, really cheap. There are other girls in the series just like that too. I only liked one character on the show: Rossiu, because he actually struggled with deep philosophical questions dealing with idol symbolism and whether or not the masses should be lied to and controlled in order for the group to be saved. The rest of the characters are forgettable.
The fights were ...meh. You can barely tell what's going on. And again, there's always a way the good guys won in the end. The dated animation is forgivable, as long as they could've out effort into constructing weighty fight scenes, which they didn't.
The comedy's not very good, and I know that's actually subjective, but there's just not a lot the show can go on. Sorry.
CONCLUSION: this show had a lot of potential, like bringing up questions of what is truth in a world based on lies, or how to truly peel away the surface. People talk about how this show deals with maturity or oppression, but it's really, really basic in how it shows that stuff. In fact, I'd wager it doesn't show how a real resistance movement plays out since an actual character doesn't die until eight episodes in. And they win every episode. It's more power rangers than it is Attack On Titan, which isn't bad but why not rate it for younger kids then? And again, the villains are weak; they're not memorable at all. If you want a good robot-fighting show...Power Rangers would be better. Want a good anime? AoT, OPM, Death Note, Sword Art Online Abridged, Baccano, etc etc. I don't usually write a review unless I feel the need to let people know how good or bad something is understated. Or overstated.
But hey, you might still enjoy it, so at least this show isn't the worst thing in the world.
I am not a big anime fan, I've seen enough to count on both hands, but I am a TV/movie fan. I've seen great shows done on Anime, such as Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, and Death Note. I understand the love behind those shows, for their rich character development and philosophy. But Guran Lagann lacks those qualities, despite being aimed at a mature audience (14+).
The elements: power fantasy, plain mech-fighting, a lack of stakes, and a lack of characterization. Power fantasy is a cheap trick in capturing an audience; it's done by most modern superhero movies and power rangers by a dozen-fold. For a show to stand out, it needs to offer more in its narrative, but instead of that GL relies on fights that have no weight to them, as the mechas are very fast despite all their weight, they're very easy to fix despite their complex alien structure, and they're very undefined in how one controls it. It seems the person who's most patient and angrily concentrating is the one able to win, not the smartest or strongest person. There really isn't much to even needing to control a mecha and to unlock its secret superweapons underneath. There is a lack of stakes because literally, until the episode I stopped watching, THE PROTAGONISTS WIN AT THE END OF EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, and barely learn anything! Not only is that boring but it's wrong, because that makes the supposedly intelligent alien super villains look weak and stupid against a race that just picked up their tech a month after they've been using it for years! What is there to root for? The show basically spoils any tension you have for them winning!
Also, characters (minor spoilers): All pretty weak. Simon is the main one, and he's basically just a digger boy who we have to feel sorry for just because he's an orphan and a loner, nothing else. Then there's his older brother-figure, Kamina, who I'm surprised didn't get killed fast enough for all the stupid decisions he makes. "Running is for cowards!" Is his catchphrase. He says it every time he's almost stomped by a giant robot. He had good ambition, but he was very impulsive, which wasn't addressed well enough, and at the end of an episode they cheaply kill someone he loves just to force us to root for him too (and it's never ever brought up again). I'm so surprised too he was the first human ever to think to control a mecha by forcing another guy out of one, to which I replied, "really? No one else thought about jumping into one? You guys weren't scared to do it, you just didn't think of it?" The final cheap trick character is the sex object known as Yoko. She wears skimpy, revealing clothing, and early in the show its used as a cheap trick to make dumb jokes and keep young boys' eyes on the screen. It's really dumb and, again, really cheap. There are other girls in the series just like that too. I only liked one character on the show: Rossiu, because he actually struggled with deep philosophical questions dealing with idol symbolism and whether or not the masses should be lied to and controlled in order for the group to be saved. The rest of the characters are forgettable.
The fights were ...meh. You can barely tell what's going on. And again, there's always a way the good guys won in the end. The dated animation is forgivable, as long as they could've out effort into constructing weighty fight scenes, which they didn't.
The comedy's not very good, and I know that's actually subjective, but there's just not a lot the show can go on. Sorry.
CONCLUSION: this show had a lot of potential, like bringing up questions of what is truth in a world based on lies, or how to truly peel away the surface. People talk about how this show deals with maturity or oppression, but it's really, really basic in how it shows that stuff. In fact, I'd wager it doesn't show how a real resistance movement plays out since an actual character doesn't die until eight episodes in. And they win every episode. It's more power rangers than it is Attack On Titan, which isn't bad but why not rate it for younger kids then? And again, the villains are weak; they're not memorable at all. If you want a good robot-fighting show...Power Rangers would be better. Want a good anime? AoT, OPM, Death Note, Sword Art Online Abridged, Baccano, etc etc. I don't usually write a review unless I feel the need to let people know how good or bad something is understated. Or overstated.
But hey, you might still enjoy it, so at least this show isn't the worst thing in the world.