Haruhi vs Gurren Lagann

Over at Derailed by Darry (or Anime on my Mind), Jason has been running a March Madness tournament with anime shows. Well it’s down to the final face-off and it’s a big one.

I had hoped both of these shows would make it to the finals and they did. I know who I’m voting for but for anyone that comes across this blog before voting I’d like to help your decision.

Fanservice and Moé Modes

For Haruhi we had the walking fanservice machine known as Mikuru who gave us combat-waitress from the future mode, meido mode, cowing mode, among many others.

For Gurren Lagann we had Yoko and Nia (both pre and post time skip) to look forward to. Whereas Mikuru had about as much backbone as a wet noodle both Yoko and Nia could be counted on in times of crisis.

Advantage Gurren Lagann.

Story and Action

I won’t dismiss Haruhi’s story as some might. Haruh’s search for uniqueness is something that many people won’t even allow themselves to think about. I commend Haruhi for going to the depths she does to try to find the unique be it aliens, ESPers, or time travelers. Action-wise there’s a bit – Yuki’s fight in particular.

Gurren Lagann also gets hit in the story department with people saying it’s shallow – okay it’s not Kino’s Journey-contemplating about life depth – but it’s story about drilling through expectations, what it means to have virtus which is where virtue comes from , and having optimism in the face of adversity is something I feel everyone needs to watch. Throw in the death of one of the greatest anime characters ever which not only is heart-breaking but also is necessary to Simon reaching as far as he did and battles that involve giant mechs that can fling whole galaxies by the end (which doesn’t feel absurd when you see it).

Advantage Gurren Lagann.

Cultural Phenomenon

Haruhi was everywhere and still is for the most part. A recent development in fandom has been called the Genderbending of Haruhi which might just be one of the most interesting concepts I’ve come across in anime. The thing is I think if everyone’s gender in Haruhi where switched then we could end up with a better show. It’s also spawned memes and been used in protests and it’s OP/ED has been parodied to death.

Gurren Lagann hasn’t seen this level, maybe because the fansubs where sometimes hard to come by, but it did bring us a very catchy insert song that mixed rap and opera and it’s trademark saying about piercing the heavens with a drill. And even though it’s ending is appropriate, it doesn’t stop up from wishing for an alternative ending.

Advantage Haruhi.

So I’ll vote for Gurren Lagann, for another take on this check out Jason’s analysis. And I’ll leave you with two election banners I created earlier (check my earlier post for more) which fit perfectly.