123-532: Gurren Lagann , known in Japan as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ( Japanese : 天元突破グレンラガン , Hepburn : Tengen Toppa Guren Ragan , lit. "Heaven-Piercing Gurren Lagann") , is a Japanese mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami . It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by veteran playwright Kazuki Nakashima . Gurren Lagann takes place in
246-595: A Gunmen and names it Gurren, combining it with Lagann to form the mecha Gurren Lagann. Their actions inspire other humans to steal their own Gunmen and join Team Gurren, leading Kamina to rename it Team Dai-Gurren. Eventually, Team Dai-Gurren captures an enemy Gunmen fortress to use as their base of operations, but one of Lordgenome's four generals kills Kamina in the preceding battle. Rossiu, a boy from another village, takes over as Gurren's pilot, but Kamina's death causes Simon to sink into depression until he meets Nia, who
369-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
492-572: A child-friendly time slot, the staff members had problems with episode 6. Although that episode had a subplot involving peeking into the women's bath, the television stations believed it was suitable when reading the script. After seeing the finished episode, the station said that it could not be aired, and a revised version of the episode was produced. Produced by the animation studio Gainax and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi , Gurren Lagann aired in Japan on TXN stations between April 1 and September 30, 2007. The anime has 27 episodes plus two specials,
615-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
738-566: A fictional future where the Spiral King, Lordgenome, rules Earth and forces mankind to live in isolated subterranean villages. The plot focuses on two teenagers, Simon and Kamina, who live in a subterranean village and wish to go to the surface. Using a mecha known as Lagann, they reach the surface and start fighting alongside other humans against Lordgenome's forces before fighting the forces of their true enemy. In North America, although initially announced to be licensed by ADV Films in 2007,
861-464: A film that retells the events of the series to expand the audience. In an interview, the writer Kazuki Nakashima cites Ken Ishikawa , co-creator of Getter Robo , as one of Gurren Lagann ' s influences. Gurren Lagann occasionally pays homage to Ishikawa's Getter Robo , particularly towards the end of the series, where the scale becomes absurd, with the robots steadily becoming bigger and bigger, much like Getter Robo and more specifically,
984-522: A future where the Spiral King, Lordgenome, rules Earth and forces mankind to live in isolated subterranean villages which have no contact with the surface world or other villages and are under constant threat from earthquakes. Selected villagers called diggers are conscripted to expand their homes deeper underground. Simon, a meek young digger living in Giha village who is ostracized by his peers, finds solace in his best friend Kamina, an eccentric delinquent who
1107-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1230-438: A humorous spectacle that any anime connoisseur can appreciate." It is one of several science fiction anime to receive a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Anime News Network gave Gurren Lagann a full 'A' rating, with reviewer Theron Martin describing it as "one of the liveliest series of the decade" and concluding that "Gainax's paean to boisterous, macho mecha action delivers in triumphant fashion." Anime News Network also gave
1353-652: A limited theatrical release on 11 screens, and grossed ¥150 million ( $ 1.88 million ) at the Japanese box office. The film had its first official English release at the Viz Pictures cinema in San Francisco, California on September 8, 2009. A second film, Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars ( 劇場版 天元突破グレンラガン 螺巌篇 , Gekijōban Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann Lagann-hen , Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
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#17327979884421476-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1599-647: A new generation of pilots has been tasked with preventing the Spiral Nemesis and ensuring the universe's safety. Other races from across the galaxy who contacted Earth after being freed from the Anti-Spirals have joined forces with President Rossiu of Kamina City and created the Galactic Spiral Peace Conference. Yoko, now as Miss Yomako, has become the principal of the small school she taught at during her seven year absence from
1722-555: A political debate over whether the British Union Flag should be updated by incorporating the Welsh Dragon , The Daily Telegraph newspaper held a contest for readers to submit their designs and have other readers vote for the winning design. On December 11, 2007, a Gurren Lagann -based design submitted from Norway won the contest, winning by a wide margin of 55% of the votes. Gurren Lagann has had an influence on
1845-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
1968-422: A single tankōbon volume was released on March 26, 2009. The manga takes the characters from the original story and puts them in a school in a parallel world. In the manga, Simon attends Dai-Gurren Academy ( ダイグレン学園 , Dai Guren Gakuen ) with his childhood friends Kamina and Yoko. Simon, who lives in a run down apartment building, wishes for a normal life, and meets the mysterious Nia one day when she trips down
2091-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
2214-668: A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan under the name SPE Music Publishing, the company received capital investment from Sony Music Entertainment Japan in January 1997, changing its name to SPE Visual Works. After becoming a joint venture between SPEJ and SMEJ, it inherited Sony Music Group video productions, excluding SMEJ artists' music videos, in January 1998. Aniplex held their first Aniplex Online Fest on July 4–5, 2020, to celebrate its anime projects, panels with staff and cast members, and musical performances. Sally Amaki of 22/7 (Nanabun no Nijūni) served as emcee for
2337-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2460-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of
2583-457: Is "Underground" by High Voltage. "Happily Ever After" by Shoko Nakagawa was used in episode 16. "Minna no Peace" ( みんなのピース , Minna no Pīsu , "Everyone's Peace") by Afromania was used for episodes 17 to 27. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Character Song was released on July 25, 2007, by Aniplex , including image songs by the main voice cast, with songs sung by Tetsuya Kakihara (Simon), Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina), and Marina Inoue (Yoko),
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#17327979884422706-455: Is "chuck full of action , comedy, drama , adventure , and sci-fi elements, managing to even entertain a person who couldn't care less about mecha in the process." UK Anime Network gave the first third of the series a score of 8/10, with reviewer Ross Liversidge noting that from episode 7 onwards, "the show's newfound edge makes it far more gripping," and concludes that it is a "high quality release" and "a fun, punchy series that stands out from
2829-485: Is "one of my all-time favorite series to watch," and even puts it in the background when he draws or writes. He also called the series brilliant, as he always finds "new things to admire" and praises the storyboards of the show for being "incredibly energetic, expressive and appealing." The Gurren Lagann anime series received an Excellence Prize at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2007. Its director Hiroyuki Imaishi received an individual award for "Personal Best" at
2952-872: Is a Japanese entertainment company founded in September 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan , a subsidiary of the Sony Group . The company focuses on planning, producing, and distributing anime series, both its own and those based on licensed intellectual properties (IPs). It also engages in related multimedia initiatives. Aniplex's operations include the development and distribution of theatrical films , video games , and merchandise associated with its media franchises . It releases home media , produces original soundtracks , and organizes events such as musicals , stage performances, and live promotions. The company also manages copyrights and licensing agreements. Through Aniplex Online , its e-commerce platform,
3075-470: Is a shop to purchase drills—the shopkeeper is an original character named Asaki. The player can also collect digital trading cards. The game was canceled at the closed beta stage, as installing the game crashed Windows indefinitely. Konami even had to send out 500GB external hard drives to beta users so that they could back up files while reinstalling their operating systems. A game for the Nintendo DS
3198-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
3321-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
3444-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
3567-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
3690-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
3813-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
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3936-474: Is frequently referenced in the 2016 video game Kirby: Planet Robobot . The French television show Wakfu also pays homage to Gurren Lagann . In League of Legends , Rumble's "Super Galaxy Rumble" skin, as well as many of the quotes with the skin, is based on the anime. In South Park: The Fractured but Whole , one of Stan Marsh's catch phrases is from the anime. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )
4059-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
4182-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
4305-423: Is like an older brother figure to him. Kamina encourages Simon to join his gang, Team Gurren, to help him achieve his dream of visiting the surface world. One day, Simon unearths a drill-shaped key called a Core Drill, followed by a small mecha resembling a face called a Gunmen. Soon after, a giant Gunmen crashes through the ceiling and begins attacking the village, followed by a girl named Yoko who attempts to repel
4428-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4551-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
4674-454: Is revealed to be Lordgenome's daughter. Team Dai-Gurren is initially distrustful of her, but allow her to join them after it becomes apparent that Lordgenome abandoned her, like many before her. Nia helps Simon come to terms with Kamina's death, and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren prompt him to take on the role of the team's leader, leading them and other teams of humans, who had captured other Gunmen and Gunmen fortresses, to Lordgenome's palace, which
4797-534: Is revealed to be a gigantic Gunmen called the Teppelin and launches armies of other Gunmen. The human forces engage them while Simon, Nia, and Rossiu pilot Gurren Lagann against Lordgenome, who fights them in a similar Gunmen called Lazengann. With both Lazengann and Gurren damaged, Lordgenome fights Simon in Lagann with his bare hands, and emerges victorious until Simon uses his Core Drill to defeat him for good. Over
4920-665: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as
5043-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
Gurren Lagann - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-412: Is tied to that of the Anti-Spirals. With his life in battle finally over, Simon hands his Core Drill over to Gimmy and leaves his friends to wander the planet as a nameless vagrant, stating that his destiny was merely to "dig the tunnel to the future", not to travel down it himself. The epilogue is set twenty years after the team's victory over the Anti-Spirals. With most of Team Dai-Gurren having retired,
5289-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
5412-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
5535-542: The Transformers franchise, with the creators of Transformers Animated citing it as an inspiration. The art director and lead character designer Derrick Wyatt stated that, while he "hadn't seen Gurren Lagann until after" they "had finished most of the first season of TFA ," he confirmed that the creators have "definitely been inspired" by it ever since, particularly during the second and third seasons of Transformers Animated . The success of Gurren Lagann led to
5658-563: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered
5781-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
5904-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
6027-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
6150-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
6273-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
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#17327979884426396-508: The 12th Animation Kobe Festival that same year for his work on the series. In 2008, during the 7th annual Tokyo Anime Awards held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair , Gurren Lagann won the "Best Television Production" award. In addition, the "Best Character Design" award was given to the character designer Atsushi Nishigori for his work on the anime. The series was also nominated for the 39th Seiun Awards in
6519-656: The April 2008 issue when the magazine was discontinued, but continued serialization in ASCII Media Works ' manga magazine Dengeki Daioh with the June 2008 issue and continued until the July 2013 issue. Ten tankōbon volumes were published between September 27, 2007, and June 27, 2013, in Japan under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint. Bandai Entertainment licensed the manga and released an English translation of
6642-609: The Best Media category in 2008. Japanator named Gurren Lagann the fourth best anime of the 2000s, calling it "a flawless execution of storytelling". Android Authority ranked it the second best anime on Netflix . Paste Magazine ranked it among the top 40 anime of all time. Influences from and references to Gurren Lagann can be found in popular culture ranging from Japanese anime and video games, to American comics and animation , as well as politics in Europe . During
6765-476: The DVD was released on April 22, 2009. The film is a compilation of the events of the first arc of the series (episodes one through fifteen) with around 20 minutes of newly animated scenes. In conjunction with the release of the film, Gainax released a series of music videos entitled Gurren Lagann Parallel Works , which contains alternative stories of Gurren Lagann set to songs from the original soundtrack. The film had
6888-509: The Gunmen. Simon uses his Core Drill to activate the smaller Gunmen, which Kamina names Lagann, and its drilling-based abilities. He successfully uses it to destroy the larger Gunmen and break through the ceiling, allowing him and Kamina to reach the surface world. Yoko tells Simon and Kamina that humans on the surface face daily attacks from Gunmen, with their pilots being Beastmen, humanoid creatures that serve as Lordgenome's army. Kamina hijacks
7011-583: The Internet, which reviewer Clarissa Graffeo ascribes to its crossover appeal among various audiences who do not usually watch giant robot anime, by combining aspects from a number of different anime genres, including elements of the Super Robot , Real Robot , Shōnen , Shōjo , Seinen and Josei genres. THEM Anime Reviews gave the anime a score of 4 out of 5 stars, with reviewer Tim Jones describing it as "Almost five-star material," and stating that it
7134-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
7257-473: The Moon's collision, in the process revealing it to be Lordgenome's flagship that the Anti-Spirals reprogrammed. Using it, they retrieve the real Moon from the pocket dimension the Anti-Spirals had hidden it in and go to their homeworld. They rescue Nia, and in a one-on-one Gunmen battle across the universe, Simon and Lagann destroy the Anti-Spirals. However, this causes Nia to fade away into nothing, as her existence
7380-594: The Movie: The Spiral Stone Chapter ) was released in Japanese theaters on April 25, 2009. It focuses on the second half of the series, contributing more new animation than the first film. The Japanese DVD for The Lights in the Sky are Stars was released on January 27, 2010. For both films, Shoko Nakagawa sang the theme songs: "Tsuzuku Sekai" ( 続く世界 , "The World Goes On") for Childhood's End and "Namida no Tane, Egao no Hana" ( 涙の種、笑顔の花 , "Seed of Tears, Flower of Smiles") for The Lights in
7503-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
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#17327979884427626-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
7749-531: The Sky Are Stars following on January 23 and 24; the films were available for viewing in the original subtitled Japanese or a newly-recorded English dub. Gurren Lagann received widespread critical acclaim since its release. The show currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews, with the critic consensus reading, "This subterranean romp blazes on the screen with brilliant animation, charismatic characters, and subversive writing – making for
7872-498: The Sky are Stars . Taku Iwasaki returned to compose the films' scores. Aniplex of America distributed both films on DVD in regular and special editions. Childhood's End was released on July 1, 2010, while The Lights in the Sky are Stars was released on July 30, 2010. Aniplex of America released the films on Blu-ray Disc as part of the Gurren Lagann Blu-ray box set on June 26, 2013. Aniplex of America re-released
7995-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
8118-405: The animation style of the fourth episode of Gurren Lagann , which was completely directed by guest and friend Osamu Kobayashi . With regard to reading the fan criticisms, Akai stated that it was "like putting [his] face next to an anus and breathing deeply." Fans later became aware of his comments, and he announced his departure from the company he helped found. As a result of the series airing in
8241-567: The anime teased by Konami was later released in February 2016. An animated film entitled Gurren Lagann the Movie: Childhood's End ( 劇場版 天元突破グレンラガン 紅蓮篇 , Gekijōban Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Gurren-hen , Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Crimson Lotus Chapter ) , once again directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi , and written by Kazuki Nakashima , was produced by Gainax and released on September 6, 2008, in Japanese theaters and
8364-481: The character development of the protagonist Simon, who goes through three stages in his character development during the three arcs of the series. Each of these stages in his development were influenced by protagonists from several previous Gainax anime: Shinji Ikari from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise , Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster , and Ken Kubo from Otaku no Video . The animation on
8487-570: The company sells products directly to consumers. Aniplex operates globally but has two regional headquarters: Aniplex America based in Santa Monica , California , US, while Aniplex China is based in Shanghai . It co-owns Crunchyroll, LLC with its sister company, Sony Pictures , which operates a direct-to-consumer (DTC) anime streaming service with 120 million registered users as of 2022. Having been established in September 1995 as
8610-465: The creation of Studio Trigger , founded by director Hiroyuki Imaishi . Gurren Lagann ' s visual humor and style defined their work, and the studio is seen as a successor to Gainax. Mecha designer Shigeto Koyama, who did design work for Gurren Lagann , later worked on the concept design for Baymax in the 2014 Disney film Big Hero 6 . Upon the film's release in Japan, comparisons were drawn to Gurren Lagann from Japanese audiences. Gurren Lagann
8733-497: The crowd." On the review website Mania.com, reviewer Chris Beveridge gave the first two-thirds of the series a full 'A' grade. He described the first third as "chaotic, magical and engaging," and then described the second third as captivating "with non-standard storytelling ideas for an anime series" and concluded that it was "fun, exciting, unpredictable and filled with the usual positive messages but done without any serious preaching." Ian Wolf of Anime UK News stated, "when you look at
8856-672: The distribution license for Gurren Lagann on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK. In 2014, they released a limited Blu-ray Ultimate Edition on October 20, 2014, featuring the entire series, both film adaptations and the complete Parallel Works series, as well as a hardcover artbook. A standard edition Blu-ray containing the complete series was also released on the same day with the DVD release following later that year. The English version also aired on Animax across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia starting on May 22, 2009. It
8979-405: The dubbed version of the first volume an 'A' rating. IGN gave the series a score of 9.7 out of 10, with reviewer Ramsey Isler describing it as "an inspiring story" and concluding that "overall it succeeds at being a great tale of the indomitable spirit of determined people." Anime World Order also gave the series a positive review, noting that it has become one of the most popular mecha anime on
9102-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
9225-572: The films in a separate Blu-ray Disc set on July 15, 2014. For the series' 15th anniversary, it was announced that both films would be re-shown in theaters in Japan, Taiwan and the United States as both a 2D and 4D film , along with a new release on Ultra HD Blu-ray . At the 15th Anniversary panel at AnimeNYC, it was announced the North American screenings for Childhood's End would be held on January 16 and 17, 2024 with The Lights in
9348-490: The final battle. Simon, still living as Simon the Digger, watches over them as a squadron of Gurren Laganns flies through the night sky to join their Spiral brethren in the stars. Gurren Lagann was first announced in July 2006 with Aniplex and Konami assisting Gainax in its making. Konami director Koichi Natsume suggested possibilities of the series getting multiple sequels. The series was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi , who
9471-474: The first being the uncensored version of the sixth episode, and the second is episode 5.5, a bonus that came with the Nintendo DS game. The English version had been previously licensed by ADV Films , but was later acquired by Bandai Entertainment . A subtitle-only version was released in three volumes from July to September 2008, and an official English dub , with the episodes collected in three DVD sets,
9594-572: The first six volumes in North America. The manga follows the same basic story as the anime, although there are some changes to the order of events, and the addition of character backstories that had been cut from the anime, such as the relationship between Dayakka and Kiyoh. A spin-off manga entitled Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Gurren Gakuen-hen ( 天元突破グレンラガン −紅蓮学園篇− ) was serialized in Comp Ace between August 26, 2008, and January 26, 2009;
9717-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure
9840-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
9963-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,
10086-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
10209-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
10332-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
10455-565: The latter of which is a playable song in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 . In addition, several music compilation albums have been released, most consisting of background music . The Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann manga , illustrated by Kotaro Mori, started serialization in the June 2007 issue of MediaWorks' magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! . The manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! with
10578-499: The license was transferred to Bandai Entertainment in 2008 and then to Aniplex of America in 2013. In the United Kingdom, it was licensed by Manga Entertainment in 2007, then transferred to Beez Entertainment in 2008, and then to Anime Limited in 2013. The Sci Fi Channel acquired the broadcasting rights of Gurren Lagann and began airing it in July 2008, as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block. A manga adaptation
10701-510: The main storyline long before reaching the end which facilitated the staff in making the episodes. According to Gainax president Hiroyuki Yamaga the series was in planning phases for a long time. Animation producer Yasuhiro Takeda used the time to research how the characters would live underground, although this aspect is used only briefly. Once the series started production, the team did not have much time to research materials. In contrast to other popular series, Imaishi decided to include drills as
10824-421: The manga version of Getter Robo Go . The final enemy also bears a striking resemblance to La Gooth of Records of Nothingness , another work by Ishikawa. Nakashima, however, wanted to conclude the story of Gurren Lagann in a more reasonable fashion than what Ishikawa usually does in his works. According to Jason Green from Anime News Network , the anime was influenced by previous Gainax anime, particularly in
10947-451: The next seven years, mankind prospers on the surface world, with Simon and the other members of Team Dai-Gurren serving as the world's government in their new capital of Kamina City. When the human population reaches one million people, an alien race called the Anti-Spirals emerges and uses Nia to announce their intentions. They have sent the Moon on a collision course with the Earth to wipe out
11070-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
11193-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
11316-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
11439-484: The planet's life and prevent them from evolving to the extent they will risk destroying the universe in a cataclysmic event called the Spiral Nemesis. It is revealed that Lordgenome, who was resurrected as a bio-computer, was once part of an intergalactic army of warriors who failed to stop the Anti-Spirals and forced mankind underground to protect them. With help from Lordgenome and Viral, an old enemy of Simon who pilots Gurren, Simon, Gurren Lagann and Team Dai-Gurren prevent
11562-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
11685-477: The robot's main weapons despite its impact on the suspension of disbelief . Imaishi also wanted the series to only have robots. The robots were made organic so that they would be easier to animate. Nevertheless, animating episode 15 was challenging to the staff due to the number of shots it required. Its animator Sushio called himself the "super animator" for his work. Deciding the design of the Gurren Lagann
11808-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
11931-533: The second premiered in April 2009. Gurren Lagann has received several awards, including the 7th Tokyo Anime Awards , the 12th Animation Kobe and the Excellence Prize at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival . As of 2021, alongside Imaishi's other works during his time in Gainax, the rights to the series are owned by Studio Trigger , which was formed by Imaishi in 2011. Gurren Lagann takes place in
12054-456: The show pays special tribute to the animation and character designs of Yoshinori Kanada . Takami Akai , an animation producer of the series and a co-founder of Gainax , announced that he would resign his position effective episode five, which aired on April 29, 2007, over comments that he made regarding posts on the Japanese textboard 2channel . Akai and another Gainax employee, Keiko Mimori, made disparaging remarks about comments criticizing
12177-411: The show's main background music. Four theme songs are used for the episodes; one opening theme and three ending themes. The opening theme is "Sorairo Days" ( 空色デイズ , Sorairo Deizu , lit. "Sky-Blue Days") by Shoko Nakagawa . Starting from episode 17, the second verse and chorus was used, as compared to the first verse and chorus used in the previous episodes. For episodes 1 through 15 the ending theme
12300-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
12423-701: The stairs. She immediately takes a liking to Simon and declares him her husband. Kamina finds another "sister" in Nia, who shares his hot-blooded style. She enrolls in Dai-Gurren Academy, and all three must deal with the threat of students from Teppelin Academy, who wish to bring Nia back to her father, the principal. Another spin-off manga titled Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 4-koma Kingdom: Yoko no Oheso-hen ( 天元突破グレンラガン4コマKINGDOM ヨーコのおヘソ編 , Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 4-panel Kingdom: Yoko's Belly Button Chapter )
12546-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
12669-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
12792-586: The team. One of her students, Nakim, has become a representative of the galaxy in the Grapearl Squadron. Gimmy and Darry have used Simon's Core Drill to become the new pilots of Gurren Lagann. Viral has become the captain of the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren and an emissary for Earth. Nia's memorial and her engagement ring are shown to have been placed next to the graves of Kamina and the members of Team Dai-Gurren who sacrificed themselves in
12915-592: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Aniplex Aniplex, Inc. (株式会社アニプレックス, Kabushiki-gaisha Anipurekkusu )
13038-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
13161-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
13284-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
13407-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
13530-442: The way that it was made as a whole, the story that was created, the characters that were portrayed, and the sheer scale of the entire project, it all combines into what is probably one of the greatest anime of all time." Guillermo Kurten of Comic Book Resources ( CBR ) called it one of the "modern classics" of anime, praising the art style and animation, the action, the mechs, the cast of characters and their emotional relationships,
13653-403: The world-building with gradually rising stakes, the "over-the-top and light-hearted" tone, and for dealing with real-world issues. Michael Iacono of CBR also praised the anime's use of hip hop music , including "what might be the greatest hip-hop song in the genre" of anime in hip hop . In an April 2019 interview with Diego Molano, creator of Victor & Valentino , he said that the series
13776-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
13899-428: Was a fan of the mecha genre, having previously done animation work for Neon Genesis Evangelion , and ever since he started working he had wanted to work in a mecha series. After working on Re: Cutey Honey with Kazuki Nakashima , Imaishi appointed him as the writer, believing him to be the best choice. Imaishi was surprised with how much material Nakashima could condense into 27 episodes. Imaishi had finished writing
14022-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
14145-533: Was broadcast in Italy on Rai 4 between September 24, 2009, and April 1, 2010. Aniplex of America re-released the series in a limited edition DVD box set on May 9, 2013. A Blu-ray Disc box set, which includes both the television series and the two film adaptations, was released on June 26, 2013. Adult Swim began airing the series in English as part of the Toonami block on August 16, 2014. Taku Iwasaki composed
14268-463: Was complicated since it was the basis for the other mechas appearing in the story. In the making of the series, the team wanted to focus more on the underground life and Simon 's imprisonment but their ideas could not be used. In the eighth episode Kamina dies to provide Simon's character development and make him become the main character. Simon's development kept on going until the final arc when staff planned ideas to make him surpass Kamina. The ending
14391-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
14514-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
14637-496: Was published by ASCII Media Works between 2007 and 2013, which Bandai Entertainment licensed and released in English in North America. A series of four light novels was published by Shogakukan between 2007 and 2008. A Nintendo DS video game was released in October 2007, bundled with a special episode of the anime series. Two animated film versions were produced; the first premiered in Japanese theaters in September 2008, and
14760-423: Was published by Futabasha in 2008 as a compilation of various short stories. An online video game was developed by Konami called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Chōzetsu Hakkutsu ONLINE ( 天元突破グレンラガン 超絶発掘ONLINE , literally "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Superior Excavation Online") . Beta testing had ended on April 16, 2007. The player takes up the role of a driller and drills for treasures in first person view. There
14883-472: Was released October 25, 2007, not only featuring the characters from the series, but also containing a special episode set in the early stages of the story as a pre-order bonus. In June 2010, Gainax re-acquired the video game rights to the series from Konami, which allowed Banpresto to include it in the latest installment of its storied Super Robot Wars franchise, 2nd Super Robot Wars Z: Destruction Chapter , released in April 2011. A Pachislot game based on
15006-482: Was released from November 18, 2008, to May 5, 2009. The show premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on July 28, 2008, as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block, airing two episodes each week (and three the final week). The European distribution branch of Bandai, Beez Entertainment, distributed the series in the UK and Europe but has gone out of print since January 2012. In 2013, Anime Limited announced that they have
15129-406: Was written to finalize Simon's growth and not leave signs of a sequel. The finale had the pre-planned tragic event of Nia's death which left several staff members saddened. While the staff acknowledged how people were not satisfied with the sad conclusion, they noted that there were still issues that made her survival difficult for the characters. Once the series ended, Yamaga had the idea of releasing
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