Anime

Giant Robots

For the longest time, I avoided the giant robot genre of anime.  I associated it with the side of anime fandom that I was trying to stay away from – the ones who dressed up as characters, wrote the ‘who would win in a fight’ things, etc.  Of course, I have since learned that that’s just the province of of annoying fans of anything in any genre, not specific to one type of show, or really even specific to just anime.  I’ve grown to love some giant robot shows – Big O for example.

What does this all lead up to?  I’ve been watching Gurren Lagann on the Sci-fi channel. It’s beyond terrific.

However, I really feel that the best part of this whole situation is that something as new and entertaining as Gurren is airing on Sci-fi.  For the longest time, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim has been the only mainstream place to view anime on TV here in North America.  They, of course, need to choose shows that will appeal to their intended audience.  That’s not a bad thing, it just limits what we get on TV.  Gurren Lagann would probably do just as well on CN, but the mere fact that it is on Sci-fi means another avenue for anime to pry its way into the general entertainment consciousness.  I know that there have been other anime shows on the channel, but since CN has had somewhat of a stranglehold on the popular shows of late, and seeing something as anticipated as Gurren Lagann make its way onto another channel (and thus another audience) is exciting to me.

I started writing this post a while ago, intending on writing a full review of the first few episodes of the show.  I never did get around to creating that part.  I’m still watching Gurren, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and pick it apart for a review.  The end of Toonami on Cartoon Network adds a little poignant note to this, but Sci-fi and IFC will still show anime sparsely, along with (I think) some of the Encore channels in my area.  I still don’t get the Funimation channel, which upsets me.  Also, they recently announced anime sections on both Hulu and Joost, which can only be a good thing for anime and its fans in North America.