On one level I liked Gurren Lagann but on another level it seemed frequently stupid to me and not covering any ground that wasn’t covered in other anime (I think Martian Successor Nadesico) ten years before. But it was a real success for Gainax but the authors of article don’t mention it.
Most fiction doesn’t cover ground that hasn’t been covered elsewhere, just like ice skaters rarely come up with new tricks — it’s all about grade of execution for both. TTGL is mainly dumb when its characters are dumb, which is often because they literally grew up in Plato’s Cave.
Part of the fun of TTGL is that normally you'd stumble onto
"Our friends' hopes and dreams are etched into its body, transforming the infinite darkness into light!
Unmatched in Heaven and Earth, one machine equal to the gods!"
"SUPER GALAXY GURREN LAGANN!"
"We're gonna show you the power... of the human race."
and be like "ehh, that's kinda silly".
After 20+ episodes? Your brain is sufficiently gooey that you just go "wooow..."
One of the main things that make TTGL so special is showing what happens after a revolution. Things don't just get magically better, rebuilding can be even harder. Even SW sequels don't really show what actually happens after, it just spins up another war.
Yeah, that was Imaishi though who left to found Trigger - since then has directed Kill la Kill, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, some other great but lesser known stuff like Promare
