However, it is in episode 4 that the series hits its first climax, with Noriko launching for the first time in the prototype "Gunbuster" robot. The first three episodes have already established the tensions between the three girls and their coach, while the first half of episode 4 establishes Noriko's dejection over being "benched" during the battle raging outside. Suddenly, the girl transforms her grief over Smith's death and her ensuing space phobia into an intense hatred for the "space monsters" that killed the boy she loved, and jumps in Gunbuster to face off against the army of enemies.

Here director Hideaki Anno (Evangelion, Nadia) shows a firm understanding of what makes a good crescendo in music, and translates that knowledge into animation. His instruments are the characters, their interactions, the art itself, the cinematography, and of course, the background music. For the crescendo to work, these things must be present in some form throughout the earlier part of the series, but we mustn't notice them as a coherent whole. They must creep up on us, until we eventually realize that we have come to the culmination of everything the series has presented thus far.

With only six episodes to tell its grand, time-bending story, Gunbuster only achieves two (arguably three) climaxes of this sort, but with its 27-episode span, Gurren Lagann has time to pull off a number of mini-crescendos. Most notably, the one at the end of episode 8, in which Kamina pushes Simon to put his all into a battle for the first time, has all the trappings of a Gunbuster climax. Simon's slow growth as a pilot and a young man is moved along concurrently with a romantic subplot between Kamina and Yoko, and in the final moments of the scene, it all comes together as Kamina gives Simon the push he needs before tragically dying, thereby crushing both Simon's morale and Yoko's hopes for the future.

However, there is another very important type of crescendo that Gainax uses in both shows, one whose scope is far grander than that of the mini-crescendos leading into each little climax. What gives both series such an uplifting, empowering tone is a sense of constant, steady crescendo throughout the show. In both Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann, Gainax achieves this through the steady magnification of scale, moving the size of the robots and ships up until they become powerful enough to toy with such unthinkable tools as the galaxies themselves.

In Gunbuster, Anno and his team achieve this effect through an accelerated sense of time, as relativity's effects send the characters far into the future every time they warp across the universe. Every time that they return to Earth, technology has continued its inevitable march forward, and the girls find spaceships that have grown to multiple orders greater than the size of the ship they served on. In fact, humanity even progresses so far that they are capable of compressing Jupiter itself into an unthinkably massive, galaxy-smashing bomb.

In Gurren Lagann, on the other hand, Gainax uses hidden enemy technology to move the scale forward, as Team Gurren finds larger and larger weapons for it to use against the Beastmen — and later the Anti-Spirals. Granted, Gunbuster more directly speaks to the unending power of humanity to advance, reaching higher and higher heights through our ingenuity and determination, but Gurren Lagann argues — just as solidly — for the human desire to survive, and our ability to do absolutely anything to ensure that survival. (Naturally, both shows share both themes in some form.)

In the end, that is what has made both Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann so incredibly popular for their respective eras. Both bring us along for a powerful, steady crescendo, as we watch the characters — indeed humankind itself — rise further and further into the heavens. Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann are all about triumph, and their ability to pull us along for every triumph, from the large-scale battles for the universe to the most basic of emotions, is what makes them as "musically" beautiful as they are simply entertaining.

I've waited a long time for an anime like this. I remember being a hot-blooded teenager, thrilling over Dragon Ball Z, Ronin Warriors and, yes, even Sailor Moon. When a character wanted something, they yelled louder, lights appeared from nowhere, and they achieved the impossible. It’s that moment in anime when willpower and desire are personified, and every hair on your arm stands up on end. If it weren’t for the visual barrage of colorful characters and hypnotic robot battles, Gurren Lagann’s predictability and formula would murder its potential. But it’s almost too good to dismiss as another kids show overloaded with toy company fodder.

From there, the formula is set in place. Just as good as it is bad, you cannot shake off Gurren Lagann’s almost cop-out ability to drill through every obstacle imaginable the same way every time. Whenever there is a chance of emotional development and a deep meaning, a bigger robot appears and the human’s flagship mecha, Gurren Lagann, makes an even bigger drill, penetrates the enemy robot, and pounds its way to a lightshow of victory.

Gainax’s distinctive choppy animation style that they embraced during FLCL adds a level of spunk and pep that compliments the chromatically intense visuals. Staying on the visuals, the eyecatches are some of the... catchiest I’ve seen since Cowboy Bebop, in that they stand out with a raw and colorful style on their own. The fights are way over-the-top and can easily lead to an epileptic breakdown without proper lighting or medication on hand. Lagann’s animators use old-school cell-paint techniques, which are severely lacking these days in anime; I’m getting tired of bland and depthless 3D rendered backgrounds. And because this is a Gainax anime, no drill-to-penis innuendo is too low nor too overt; in fact very little is spared. Yoko provides the essential “Gainax-bounce” and her fiery brassiere top becomes a character on its own.

Take the fan gushing with a grain of salt: Kamina’s unlimited “fighting spirit” becomes obnoxious quicker than expected. The over-the-top ego drills on your nerves, but it all leads up to the more fascinating and challenging second part of the series. Without any spoilers, I will say this about the second season: think Watchmen or Squadron Supreme, when the righteous make the wrong choices for the right reasons.

Bang Zoom delivers a fantastic dub. Steve Blum goes way off-character to play Leeron, the effeminate tech-head. A-lister Kyle Hebert does a great performance as Kamina, bringing full bravado and macho suave to the all-around badass Kamina. This cast was very carefully put together, and the precision of voice director Tony Oliver paid off fantastically. For more details, check out our podcast episode that Evan recorded at the New York Anime Festival – still jealous over that, Minto!

But suspension of disbelief set aside, Gurren Lagann is worth it – without a doubt. This wasn’t the smartest anime, nor the deepest, but it never tried to be. It just tried to be a good ride with robots – and even a bitter, jaded fan like me couldn't help but fall head-over-heels for it.

great.

• Karl "Uncle Yo" Custer: Tekkon Kinkreet (Studio 4°C)
• Mitchell "MitchyD" Dyer: Gurren Lagann (Gainax)
• "Ink": Welcome to the NHK (Gonzo)
• Maxwell "Pigeonflu" McGee: Gurren Lagann (Gainax)
• Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Madhouse)
• "Yumeka": Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Sunrise)