Gurren Lagann - Gurren Gakuen Hen First Impressions

I am a Gurren Lagann fanboy. No. I am better then that. I am a Gurren Lagann bitch. If Gurren Lagann came up to me and told me to suck it's dick, I would do it.

With that in mind, let me start off with Taikutsu Remedys' first ever review; chapter 1 of Gurren Lagann - Gurren Gakuen Hen; the first of presumably many spin offs Gainax is going to throw at us to milk all it can out of the Gurren Lagann franchise.

Gurren Lagann - Gurren Gakuen Hen is an alternate universe spinoff, where all the Gurren Lagann characters are now in a Japanese-esque high school setting. Also, as a touch of awesomeness, the actual school itself is the wonderfully phalic Dai Gurren, though he's sadly lost his vitality in this iteration of the GL universe.

The characters all make reappearences in typical high school achtypes that fit their original personalities; Kamina is the epic bastard he always is, Simon is the kid who just wants to be normal, Yoko is the hot childhood friend, Kittan is Kamina's oft ignored rival and Nia is the innocent daughter of the school principal.

So far, only one chapter has been translated into english, and as far as I know, only two chapters are available in Japan, so I can't really talk too much about it. Suffice to say however, the first chapter was entertaining shit.

Like it's source material, Gakuen Hen doesn't take itself seriously, and is an affectionate parody of both Gurren Lagann, and high school mangas in general. Admittably, a fair few jokes are tailored more for a Gurren Lagann audiance, though I would believe non GL fans (ie demonspawns and heretics) would still find it an enjoyeble read. Nontheless, having prior knowledge of GL is probably the best way to enjoy Gakuen Hen.

In conclusion, Gakuen Hen is still very young, and its too early to tell if it will crash and burn as a poorly planned attempt to milk the cash cow, or if it will blossom to an enjoyeble series in its own right. So far however, signs seem to be pointing to the latter, let's hope it travels that path.