Shiga Taka's assessment was indeed accurate.
The first episode of Gurren Lagann, purely based on its plot, was rather mediocre. It fell far short of Death Note and Lelouch in its ability to build anticipation for what was to come.
Death Note's first episode, where male lead Yagami Light obtains the Death Note and begins his frenzied crusade against criminals, aiming to become the god of a New World, exploded with excitement. The relatable premise and the emergence of an anti-hero protagonist immediately sent expectations soaring.
In Lelouch, the male lead had harbored a grand ambition since childhood: to destroy Britannia. The first episode's climax, where he gains the King's Power to command others, combined with this established goal, also sent expectations soaring.
In contrast, Gurren Lagann's male lead, Simon, and his brother Kamina only had one goal: to escape their underground village and reach the surface.
Even when Simon dug up the Knightmare Frame, the anticipation remained high. Especially after the enemy's Face appeared, the audience eagerly awaited the scene where the male lead would pilot the machine and battle the Face.
However, at the end of the first episode, the Male Lead, piloting his Knightmare Frame, carried Kamina and Yuko as they pushed through the enemy's Face and burst out of the village and onto the ground.
They successfully destroyed the enemy's Face, achieving their goal of leaving the village.
Although the three of them immediately encountered two more Faces upon reaching the ground, creating a sense of impending crisis for the audience, a crisis alone doesn't generate anticipation.
Ultimately, it felt like defeating one monster only to have two more appear.
The thrill of going from completely powerless to successfully defeating one monster is satisfying. But once you can defeat one, taking down two more doesn't increase that satisfaction.
What was the next goal?
Unknown.
What kind of story would unfold next?
The audience had no idea.
The feeling left by the entire first episode was that, if you removed the final scene of encountering two new Faces, it would already be a complete, self-contained story that could have ended right there.
For slice-of-life anime or those that tell one-episode stories linked by a main plot, like Kino's Journey, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, or Natsume's Book of Friends, this kind of narrative structure is perfectly normal and poses no issues.
However, Gurren Lagann is not that kind of anime; it's a battle series.
For a battle series to adopt such a structure naturally leads to a lack of anticipation for what's to come.
To its credit, the animation quality of Gurren Lagann was truly exceptional. Even if the plot offered little to look forward to, the sheer level of production value alone made it worth watching.
Furthermore, Lin Zhiyan had previously created two masterpieces, Death Note and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, which raised expectations that he might pull off some divine twists later on.
Because of this confidence in Lin Zhiyan, Gurren Lagann received a decent initial reception among viewers after its first episode aired.
However, as the series progressed and episode after episode aired, some viewers gradually began to lose patience.
This wasn't due to any deal-breaking flaws or a collapse in plot or animation quality.
In the original timeline of another universe, Gainax staff members were involved in a scandal where they verbally abused viewers, and the fourth episode of Gurren Lagann was marred by the "animation breakdown" incident.
After the first episode of Gurren Lagann aired, viewers complained on the 2channel forum. A female Gainax employee saw the comments and directly jumped into the argument, unleashing a torrent of vulgar insults like "disgusting otaku," "go die," and "eat shit."
What made it worse was that Gainax not only failed to fire the employee but actively defended her. When the scandal escalated, she was only given a warning, which deeply hurt the anime fandom.
Furthermore, in episodes four through six of Gurren Lagann, Supervising Director Imaishi Hiroyuki stepped back and allowed the storyboard and animation directors to exercise their creative freedom. However, the fourth episode's storyboard, direction, and Animation Director Osamu Kobayashi's distinct personal style, combined with a Key Animator originally assigned to female characters being hospitalized due to illness, led Kobayashi to personally take over the keyframe work for those cuts.
Due to various reasons, the fourth episode of Gurren Lagann ended up with a drastically different art style from the first three, giving a sense of collapse and sparking a wave of negative reviews online.
Combined with the earlier incident where Gainax staff clashed with viewers, some even suspected that the episode was deliberately made this way to disgust and retaliate against the audience.
Then came something even more absurd.
After the flood of negative reviews, Takamitsu Akai, the producer of Gurren Lagann, posted online: "I found this episode very interesting, and the President loved it too. I'm about to get beaten up, w, but not because of the animation quality. Newcomers shouldn't spout such pretentious nonsense..."
Regardless of the animation's actual quality, the official Gurren Lagann team had no shortage of ways to alienate viewers early on.
In the timeline Lin Zhiyan inhabits, the Gurren Lagann he produces is free of these issues. There's no staff-vs-viewer bickering, and the fourth episode's animation collapse never happened.
Still, many viewers found it too bland compared to Death Note and Lelouch. The episodes from the second to the seventh, in particular, were exceptionally dull.
The plot?
You could say there was barely any plot from the second to the seventh episode.
First, in episode two, the Male Lead, Kamina, and Yuko escape an enemy Face's attack while introducing their foes: the Beastmen, the beings who pilot these machines.
Next, the group arrives at Yuko's village, where Leeron, a transgender mechanic, makes his appearance.
The enemy attacks Yuko's village with a Face, but the Male Lead and Kamina defeat it. Kamina even successfully seizes a relatively large Face from the enemy, naming it "Gurren," while the Male Lead pilots his smaller Face, "Lagann."
At the end of episode two, Kamina discovers a skeleton outside Yuko's village is his father's, leaving him devastated.
Episode three introduces a more formidable enemy: Viral, the eastern branch commander of the Human Extermination Army. He engages the protagonists in a major battle.
Initially, Gurren and Lagann are no match for Viral. Later, the two Faces merge, their power surging dramatically. They snatch Viral's Face's helmet, defeat him, and force him to flee in disarray.
At the end of Episode 3, mechanic Leeron discovered data about the enemy's return point within the Gurren.
With the enemy's headquarters identified, the Male Lead, Kamina, Yuko, and Leeron embarked on their journey.
Episode 4 introduced new characters: the Beastman Hunter Kotang and the three sisters Koyu, Konon, and Koenru. The episode also focused on strengthening the Gurren Lagann's combined practice.
Under enemy pressure, the combined maneuvers became smoother. However, Kotang and the three sisters ultimately parted ways with the main group and did not join the Crimson Lotus Gang.
Episode 5 followed the group as they fell underground and entered a village that worshiped the Face as a "Face God." The village strictly controlled its population: when a new child was born and the number exceeded the limit, someone would be expelled to fend for themselves.
At the end of this episode, a boy named Lushu and two children, Kimi (female) and Dali (male), joined the main group and continued their journey with them.
In Episode 6, the group chased the enemy into a dense fog and encountered an enigmatic old man who led them to a suspicious hot spring inn. There, they reunited with the three sisters they had separated from earlier.
Just as the group was relaxing, they realized the so-called hot spring inn was actually the enemy's Face.
The enemy had captured all the women, claiming they would be sent to the Spiral King ruling the capital. However, the protagonist and his allies ultimately defeated them through their combined efforts.
At the end of the sixth episode, Viral, who had been defeated earlier, reappeared.
In the seventh episode, Gurren Lagann battled the Face piloted by Viral. Viral then mentioned "Kyoto," and the mobile fortress-type Face, Dai-Gan Mountain, made its debut.
Dai-Gan Mountain's power was immense, and it was piloted by Kimmilov the Raging Tides, one of the Spiral King's Four Heavenly Kings. Gurren Lagann's combined form stood no chance against it.
Later, Kotang, Yuko, and some villagers from their village arrived to the rescue, piloting Faces they had stolen from the enemy. The Male Lead also showed his cleverness, using his drill to send Dai-Gan Mountain tumbling down a cliff.
Having temporarily escaped the enemy, the group formed the Dai-Gurren Brigade.
Kamina, as their leader, declared they would seize the enemy's Dai-Gan Mountain for themselves.
At the end of the episode, fire rained down from the sky, and the earth burned.
Clearly, a major battle was imminent.
For several consecutive episodes, the production quality remained flawless. However, the plot felt increasingly disjointed and lacked suspense. Combined with other issues, this left some viewers who had enjoyed Death Note and Lelouch deeply disappointed, even leading to claims that "Lin Zhiyan had fallen from grace."
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