Do you feel sad, depressed, unmotivated and feel like you can’t accomplish anything? Then you should watch the 2007 mecha anime “Gurren Lagann”.  

“Gurren Lagann” was made by the animation studio Gainax, the same animation studio that gave us “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, wanting to shift away from Evangelion’s depressing vibe and focus more on breaking limits, perseverance, and fighting against oppression.

Unfortunately, the anime suffers from the trope known as fanservice so it gets weird from time to time, mainly in the first half of the anime. But if you can get past the too much fan service then you’ll have a blast with this anime. 

“Gurren Lagann” is an anime about believing in yourself, growth, fighting against oppression, and rejecting your limits. The story follows Team Gurren which includes our protagonist, Simon, and his two friends Kamina and Yoko. “Kick logic out and do the impossible” that’s how Team Gurren rolls, according to Kamina.

The base premise is that Team Gurren fights for freedom against the oppression that keeps humanity in underground villages to prevent them from reaching the surface. Every time a human makes it to the surface, they get executed by the Beastmen with mechs who are under Lordgenome’s rule.

Simon first starts out as an insecure scared kid who just digs tunnels in the underground village known as Giha with his drill, but alongside him is Kamina who motivates him every time he feels down. 

Whenever Simon feels overwhelmed from what’s going on, Kamina tells him, “Don’t believe in yourself, believe in me! Believe in the Kamina who believes in you!” Or Kamina tells Simon, “Let’s see you grit those teeth” and punches him in the face as a wake up call.

Simon learns to face his fears and keep going no matter what comes at him, whether it be a loss or a tough situation he manages to pull through and believe in himself.

Joseph Morgan, a big “Gurren Lagann” fan said, “The reason I love ‘Gurren Lagann’ is because of how Simon never gives up and faces the impossible, and how his bro, Kamina, inspired him. If I’m being honest, Kamina inspired me too.”

One day while Simon is digging he finds a face and that face turns out to be a small mecha. Kamina names the mecha Lagann. Another mecha shows up from the underground village’s ceiling and with Kamina’s motivation Simon mustered up the courage to take it down. 

Later on Kamina gets his own mecha and names it Gurren named after team Gurren. Later Simon and Kamina combine their mechs to become Gurren Lagann. Gurren Lagann becomes a symbol of hope, evolution, humanity’s rebellion, and doing the impossible. 

Even later on the rest of humanity is inspired by Simon and Kamina, they steal mechs from the beast-men and join the fight against Lordgenome. Kamina later renames the team Dai-Gurren (dai meaning great in Japanese) to show the rebellion’s growth.

Another good part of “Gurren Lagann” comes from its soundtrack, specifically this one song, ‘Libera me from hell’. The song consists of being a hybrid of opera and ’80s-’90s rap like style. While opera is depicted with tragedy, the rap side is depicted with rebellion which makes the song an argument between both sides. The main chorus comes from the rap: “Do the impossible see the invisible ROW ROW fight the power! Touch the touchable  break the unbreakable ROW ROW fight the power!” 

The song plays during the final fight where Team Dai-Gurren is against their biggest threat yet, the anti-spiral. The last fight for freedom, the battle of evolution vs. the limitation of evolution. A battle of ideologies that decides the fate of the universe.

James Carey, another huge “Gurren Lagann” fan said, “I watched the show when I was a kid and didn’t think much of it then. A couple years later I was in a bad spot feeling down and decided to rewatch the series as it was one of my personal favorites. After I watched it again I felt better about myself and I now feel like I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it.”

If you ever feel down, unmotivated, and feel like you can’t accomplish anything then you should watch Simon and Kamina’s journey as they fight for humanity’s freedom! “Gurren Lagann” is currently streaming on Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, and Crunchyroll.

And remember, if you can’t believe in yourself then believe in the me that believes in you!