Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Parallel Works

Gurren Lagann Parallel Works 1 is not an easy series to describe. While it's easy to say that a good share of the episodes may be objectively or subjectively bad, this is often complicated by being wrapped in layers of symbolism or obscure messages that were unclear. Technically, everything here wouldn't really qualify as "anime", and is more along the lines of music videos. That said, with no way to actually tell apart what's really intended and what's supposed to be subverted, it gives the necessity that things be taken at face value if only for simplicity's sake. With all that said, the series was unfortunatelya smoldering wreck: regardless of when it took place in the overall series plot, a lot of this wasn't really subversive at all and seems to be here simply for obscurity's sake, and it almost feels like the characters were sold out just to make these. Only a very small handful of these are actually salvageable and tell (middlingly) impressive stories; the rest are devoted to nonsense such as (I kid you not): Gimi's penis swinging around, shots of a live-action desert with a figure running with no context, a vaguely historical-esque setup episode which accomplishes the uncanny valley in 2D animation somehow, and much worse. Please, save yourself the trouble and skip all of these. 1/10.