TTGL - a reason for fighting
So I finally got around to watching TTGL after a fun week of Hige standing over me with his whip ever since I mentioned that I’ve kinda, sorta [totally] been ignoring all of the internet hype about it when it first premiered and therefore, have been living under a rock. So the existence of this entry is due in large part to his aggressive pimping enthusiastic encouragement to give TTGL a try.
All fun poking at Hige aside, I’m glad I didn’t miss out on this series. Funny, fantastical, all the right proportions of giddy excitement for epic adventures and deep empathy for the depiction of private and universal human struggles, TTGL is a Win.
One of the things I love about TTGL is that it doesn’t bother trying to be subtle with its phallic symbols and sexual innuendos. It’s not afraid to bypass pretentious attempts at intelligence and Enlightenment while poking fun at itself. There’s this easy confidence to TTGL in the way indulges in simple humor while at the same time maneuvering a number of twisting philosophies about the ageless struggles of its people.
The storyline of TTGL is simple in its presentation, stripped of excessive colloquialism and frivolous plot holes. It is because of this simplicity that its other merits are brought to light in how TTGL can narrate with such clarity and artistic brilliance the relentless human desire to reach towards the heavens and the crippling anxiety of ever reaching that ultimate destination.
Kamina, as the self-deprecating ideal of super masculinity, was a surprisingly easy character to like and grow attached to. The determination to prove himself does not originate from his own insecurities, but from the need to protect and support those around him. So his lack of humility and common sense in battle do not come off as conceit or foolishness, but as an example of steadfast courage and perseverance in the face of great odds.
In one of the first battles against the Ganmen, Kamina finds himself in a dire situation while under assault and looks in front of him to see a skeleton on the ground, the very image of death itself. It is in this moment that he comes to learn what it means to look death in the face, to understand the gravity of war and survival and the weight and uncertainty of his own existence. TTGL’s ability to illustrate these moments of painful immediacy and confrontation and then to pull that all back, all the fear and severity threatening to spill over from the screen, and wrap it up in supernova explosions and rapturous victories is what makes the series so multifaceted as an epic viewing experience.
I have a lot of admiration for the producer of TTGL as it was easy to see that he put a lot of his own genuine emotions and ideals into Kamina as a character and cared about him a great deal to be able to effectively memorialize and maintain his presence throughout the rest of the series even after his death.
The relationship between Simon and Kamina is one of the most emotionally affective and gratifying portrayal of brotherhood and camaraderie that I’ve seen in any given anime. At the beginning of the series, Simon struggles to stand his ground during the early battles. He consistently butts heads with Kamina, who reprimands him for running away and asserts that a true man cannot do so in the heat of battle. For all of Kamina’s posturing and flamboyant speeches about manhood, fear and weakness isn’t something to be overcome and discarded, they’re things a person has to continuously grapple with in their personal struggle to evaluate and attain their dreams and ambitions. When Simon finally does battle, he fights for his brother. Not because of an ideal or an image that he idolizes, but because there’s a real person, flesh and bones, who needs him.
And that’s what you have to understand in all of this.
It’s not about idealism and it’s not about proving yourself, it’s about death and dying and what it means to be scared. And in the face of all of these paralyzing fears and worries, you come to understand what it means to truly fight for others, not yourself, but for another tangible human being who has put so many intangible hopes in you.
What it comes down to is this: You’re scared of dying, but you’re even more afraid of letting him die.
This is where Simon’s strength comes from. He puts more value into other people than in himself, but he doesn’t come off worse for his martyrdom because they in return reciprocate his trust and dedication and they come running when he needs them. This profound and faithfully blind act of give-and-take is a necessity, otherwise none of them will survive this war. And they’ve already lost so much in coming to the surface. The ability to stand at the edge of it all and put aside your own grievances and selfishness, to stand to lose a bit of yourself, in order to work together is what makes the drill that can break through the walls between humans.
there is nothing on the surface, no walls and no ceilings… it’s a good place for men
Thank you for reading. Hope your summer is going well.
June 21st, 20087:13 pm at
Of course, epic is the only word to describe TTGL. Thank god you didn’t pass up on it.
O__O I’m gonna squeal and scream like a fangirl about this, but oh hell. I sure wish I had a body pillow of Kamina. It still blows thinking about what happened to him, but I guess I would have to agree that it had to happen in order for Simon’s chara development. If you haven’t heard the OST, I suggest getting it! :]
June 21st, 20089:44 pm at
Hoshi: I prefer Kittan to Kamina. (all body pillows aside, mind you)
Itsubun:
Hmmmm, I don’t know. You’re probably right on the lack of idealism and focus on the tangible, but the “image” part sounds too much like “representation” - and that opens up a whole book of nonsensical pretension that isn’t related to TTGL at all: I don’t necessarily think we can ever act or think without ideology - outside of all and any discourses themselves - and we need the manifestation, concretization and representation of an ideology to serve as a more human and personal anchor. Is brotherhood brotherhood? Is that equation empirical? Or rather, is it something like “brotherhood consists of X, Y and Z.” X, Y and Z being some kinds of abstract notions that find themselves planted within this physical thing we call brotherhood. It’s hard to argue this because I agree - TTGL denotes brotherhood etc. - but does Simon fight for Kamina, or the ideas and personal stake that are invested within him? If you ask that question, it brings up a much broader issue: how and why do we perceive humans? - and that’s where I think that simplifying human relationships to simply “flesh and blood” doesn’t work - because it’s always within the discourse of this idealistic thing we love to deem “humanity”. [you still owe me some lovin' ;)]
June 21st, 200810:14 pm at
TTGL in all it’s philosophical chaos was the awesomest show of 2007. Glad you loved it. =D
June 22nd, 200812:25 am at
I actually haven’t seen this series either, only the first episode, but I’m planning on finishing it during the holidays.
June 22nd, 20084:37 am at
One of the things I love about [this post] is that it doesn’t bother trying to be subtle with its phallic symbols and sexual innuendos [in its screenshots]
I personally didn’t like Kamina as much as the next person, but I was really impressed by how his spirit managed to permeate the entire series even when he was no longer physically there. Guess it’s that ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER spirit of his that really wins me over, as opposed to his character embodying it.
June 22nd, 20085:07 am at
It’s striking that the Anti-Spirals are a surprisingly selfless bunch too, seemingly having sacrificed their bodies to prevent disaster. I’d be interested to know if you thought Simon’s final choice - freedom together with the risk of the universe’s destruction - was a good one.
June 22nd, 200810:59 am at
I once wrote that TTGL is like ‘a half naked man doing crotch thrusts shamelessly right in front of your face and you cannot help but like it’.
@IKnight
Haha. That actually applies to a lot of things in life like politics. The opposition will whine about the party in power not doing this or that. But are you willing to let the opposition be in charge and risk a ‘ bigger screw up’? Man that is one tough question you are asking.
June 22nd, 200812:27 pm at
@Hoshi: I’m glad I didn’t miss out on TTGL either! I’m going to try and google the OST. I love the OP, it kept playing in my head even after I finished the series.
@Lelangir: I’ll have you know, I DID read your entries… even if I haven’t commented on them yet! But I will! I’m just horrible with comments because… I’m lazy. LOL. But I’ll type up a nice, fat one for you on your Sketchbook entry or sumtin, idk.
@Ez: I’m glad it rocked so hard… even if I am a year behind everyone else in realizing this XD!
@blissmo: Oooh, I hope you’ll finish it and then write up an entry on it. I’ll be looking forward to that.
@issa-sa: The “drillz drillz drillz” never gets old. Every time TTGL slapped another phallic imagery in my face, I laughed my ass off all over again. I like Kamina as the inspirational older brother figure. But my favorite character is Simon for all of his shortcomings and fumbling optimism.
@IKnight: Hey IK! It’s been a while. I was planning to write up another TTGL entry later on and talk about the different spirals and the various philosophies that they spin out. I had originally planned to include HxC analysis in this entry, but I decided to leave it as more of a promotional/fan-raving post tribute to TTGL for having waited this long to watch it. I’ll be sure to keep your question in mind as a guideline for the next entry.
@The Sojourner: I read that line in your blog a while back… and then groaned [Urg!] and laughed while trying to shake the imagery out of my head. And then I imagined you being all fascinated by the crotch thrusts [like, "Ooooh" O 3 O] and laughed even harder!!! Hm… I don’t think IK’s question has an absolute answer. I think he means to present it to me in order to get me thinking and be productive enough about my ideas to write them down, which I will. Eventually.
June 24th, 20084:58 pm at
Yay, we finished watching TTGL in UCI anime club not too long ago =) Very unique series…sometimes it went a little overboard for me but it still had plenty of entertaining and emotional moments. The overall message of the series is great too =)
BTW, glad to see you’re still dedicated to your blog site here. I’ve been neglecting my blog during most of the school year but now that I’m on vacation I’ve been doing lots of overdue posts XD
June 25th, 200812:24 pm at
Good post! *joins the queue of aye-sayers*
“The ability to stand at the edge of it all and put aside your own grievances and selfishness, to stand to lose a bit of yourself, in order to work together is what makes the drill that can break through the walls between humans.”
I really liked this part, as it drew in more stark contrast what TTGL seemed to be to me - GAINAX taking responsibility for unleashing Neon Genesis Evangelion and thusly a million wangsty demons on the world. I can almost imagine, after the twenty-twelfth not-quite-as-good copy, the staff began to feel guilty for the monstrum they had unleashed, and decided to exorcise them. The drill that bores down the walls between humans in your thematic similie there made me think of AT fields weakening and people gettting closer to each other.
Was this intentional on your behalf? If so, nice one.
(The image of wangst as demons to be exorcised was stolen from a TV Tropes entry, by the way. Not mine.)
June 26th, 20081:24 pm at
A general ‘hai hai, itsubun-chaaan’ from me, but I’ll add this: Kamina embodied the irrepressible human spirit to live, and when Simon fought for him he was fighting for a wider underlying zeal we all have as living human-beings. It’s particularly suggestive of this when Kamina died - Simon didn’t just mourn the loss of his aniki, he completely shut down having lost his core spiritual guide. Kamina, for me, was something of a Jiminy Cricket type character for Simon… if Jiminy Cricket was the coolest motherfucker that ever lived, that is. I’d let him pierce my heavens any time.
Also: If you thought I cracked the whip hard on TTGL you’ve got a terrible shock coming with FLCL. *pulls out sub-machine gun.* GET TO IT, BIZNATCH.
June 27th, 20086:17 am at
It’s interesting to see Simon’s dedication as to why he fights compared to how King Genome and the Anti-Spirals do it, since they all are striving for the same goal, as IKnight noted. It’s a nice point that seems to be hidden under all of the attempts of awesomeness and epicness that overshadow it.