As long as the Japanese-style burning animation is mentioned, I think that most readers will not miss the name of "Tianyuan Breakthrough: Red Lotus Spiral Rock".
Even if you haven't seen this anime in its entirety, I'm sure you've heard the famous lines in this anime —
"My drill bit, but the drill bit that breaks through the sky!"
This "Tengen Breakthrough" is an original TV animation produced by GAINAX in 2007, and won the 11th Excellence Award of excellence in the Animation Department of the Media Art Festival of the Ministry of Culture of the Ministry of Education in the same year.
With a high score of 8.6 on the bangumi platform, he entered the ranks of the gods and ranked 24th in the animation rankings.
Although "Tianyuan Breakthrough" cannot be said to have completely sat firmly in the chair of "burning animation first", the statement that "burning can not burn Tianyuan" is also enjoyed by many viewers.
Why does "Tianyuan Breakthrough" get such praise?
Today, please join me in reviewing this legendary animation that "burned the sky"!
(This article is an in-depth review with plenty of spoilers.) ）
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The old evils of the industry who understand people's hearts
The primary reason for the success of "Tianyuan Breakthrough" is that it firmly grasps the excitement of the audience throughout the whole process.
Its staff is basically the golden generation of GAINAX: directors Yoyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Otsuka, and Atsushi Nishikori.
These old evils in the industry are really too understanding of people's hearts, and they know very well what the audience wants to see and put dishes on the plate.
Before the death of Kamina in episode 8, the plot of "Tianyuan Breakthrough" is definitely not brilliant, the rhythm is somewhat loose, and the east is a hammer and a stick.
However, in the first 7 episodes, the human brother nishikori put the super pleasing beautiful girl Yuko in front of the audience masters.
Healthy and fiery figure, long hair flowing like flames, powerful electromagnetic sniper rifle, slightly arrogant and petite nature... Brother Nishiki weaving can really play!
In the hot spring swimsuit back with the most mysterious rhythm of the plot, there was first a high-intensity "kill must die" bombing throughout the whole process, and the production team also moved out the heroines in the previous animation of GAINAX.
Among those waiter girls, you can see Ayapolis Asuka in "EVA", you can also see the method in "Leaping Peak", "Sister Lord", and Nonoli in "Leaping Peak 2"...
In case of indecision, put a beautiful girl in front of the audience masters, and if one is not enough, put a row!
Of course, the old victims know very well that this is not a long-term way, and after the 8th episode of the big brother Kamina,the plot enters an inflection point and begins to take the audience on a roller coaster.
The combat strength of the Great Red Lotus Regiment increased greatly with the success of the Battle of Dayan Mountain, and it had the basic conditions of being equal to the Spiral King's side.
Simon, however, was in a temporary slump because of the death of his eldest brother.
The production team arranged in time for a beautiful girl from heaven to come to Simon's side.
But it wasn't Nia's company that got Simon back on his feet, but his own traditional craft of digging holes.
In a time when everyone was desperate, only Simon was still pounding and pounding in front of the stone wall, drilling relentlessly, just as he had been underground.
The "little head" Snail also responded to his will again, and his spiral force was once again full.
Although he can't be the big brother, "Simon the Cave Digger" will also open the way for everyone in his own way.
Although the eldest brother is dead, his will will be with Simon.
Thinking through these two points, Simon successfully rose from decadence, defeated the enemy, rescued Nia, and As the second boss, Ke Tang also happily handed over the first chair of the Great Red Lotus Regiment to him.
This group of old evils in the industry who understand people's hearts firmly grasp the audience's cool points throughout the whole process: handsome and beautiful girls, the growth of teenagers, heroes to save the United States and super handsome humanoid robots.
It is simply the culmination of the romance of the house culture, and it is already very rare to be able to do this.
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Character-oriented stories
Everyone who watches "Tianyuan Breakthrough" may have a hard time imagining that the first and last episodes of this animation are actually from the same animation!
In Episode 1, humans are just moles living underground, and in episode 1, humans are already driving super robots and fighting with another super robot to fight the galaxy.
To achieve such a big leap forward, of course, it is inseparable from the core idealistic combat power of this work - spiral force.
This is the power of biological evolution, contained in spiral-like DNA and spiral-shaped milky way.
The universe will continue to expand as a result, and the life with spiral force has infinite possibilities for evolution, and in the later stages, Simon can even search the universe directly for Nia's ring, and then leap through time.
With the blessing of this idealistic power, how much the combat effectiveness can be expanded depends on how big the brain hole of the production team can expand.
Under such a combat expansion, the plot will inevitably have a certain all-unionism, no matter how strong the enemy is encountered, Simon only needs to grasp the joystick and pull the spiral force dial full to I drill.
If that's not enough, give the robot a doll and a color for the dial.
"Tianyuan Breakthrough" does not use characters to advance the story, but takes the characters as the core, and the plot is just providing a stage for these characters to shine.
After reading it, you may only remember a rough idea of their long journey, but you will certainly not forget those glittering characters.
Throughout the anime, you can't even find a nasty character.
The protagonist Fang is a first-class good man, Kamina's spirit is always with the Big Red Lotus Regiment, he has learned to believe that his Simon can always respond to the expectations of everyone, and the second boss Ke Tang understands the spiral force at the end of his life...
Even the villains are very hot-blooded: the orc Villaru has the integrity of a warrior, loyal, but is unwilling to defeat Simon by despicable means.
After his own independent thinking, he even dared to ask the Spiral King, "Are human beings really lowly?"
In the final parallel world dream, we see the most delicate side of this rough-faced warrior's heart - his most beautiful fantasy is actually to live an idyllic life with his wife and children.
Unfortunately, orcs have no reproductive ability, and such beauty is destined to be seen only in dreams.
Even so, after feeling the call of the Great Red Lotus Regiment, he still responded without hesitation and woke up from his dream.
Roger Norm, the Spiral King, starts out like an unreasonable tyrant, and it's not until he's drilled by Simon that we learn that he's imprisoning humans underground to protect them from the anti-Spirals.
Resurrected in the form of a living computer, the erudition and calmness he shows is really reassuring.
In the decisive battle, when he once again faced the powerful anti-spiral clan, he finally regained his glory and dignity as a warrior, and became a qualified father.
He discarded the crown in exchange for the approval of everyone on and off the screen.
"Simon, take it!" At this time, he is like the Zeppelin family in "JOJO".
Even the ultimate boss, the Anti-Spiral Clan, is guarding the universe in its own way.
The Spiral Wrath caused by infinite evolution will destroy the entire universe, and they will first seal their own evolution before sealing the other spiral races.
After being drilled by Simon, they simply told him to guard the universe and left without concern.
All the characters in "Tianyuan Breakthrough" are conscious. Maybe they believe in different things, maybe they choose a different path.
But they are all willing to fight for what they believe and choose, the last drop of blood, the last roar.
Surrounded by such a glittering group of characters, no matter how much unity, it will seem to take it for granted.
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The meaning of the spiral
In "Tianyuan Breakthrough", the image of "spiral" is carried out throughout.
It is the small core drill on Simon's chest, the soul of Simon, and Simon uses this small drill to drill into the ground, drill into the sky, and finally drill a big hole in the fate of the universe.
It is also the carrier of life's genetic material, the DNA double helix, which contains infinite evolutionary possibilities in heredity and variation.
It is also the shape of the entire macroscopic universe, and after the original big bang, it expanded infinitely in all directions.
The spiral is the expansion and enterprising force, the majestic vitality, and the infinite extension of the boundary.
However, in my opinion, the best thing about the image of the spiral does not stop there.
Have you ever heard of the theory of spiraling upwards, which comes from Marxism-Leninism and is a figurative metaphor for the development of things?
Engels said in The Dialectics of Nature: "The negation of development or negation caused by contradictions - the spiral form of development." ”
Lenin put it more concretely: "Development seems to repeat the stages of the past, but it repeats itself in another way, on a higher basis. ”
Things develop like climbing a spiral staircase, and we always feel as if we're walking back to the old place, but looking down, we know how far we've come.
This can also be seen everywhere in the "Tianyuan Breakthrough" with the "spiral" as the core image.
The most obvious is the robot's layers of nesting dolls. No matter how powerful the enemy is, it will eventually develop into a situation where two super robots wrestle.
However, at the beginning, Simon could only drive the Red Rock Snail and Villaru to fight inseparably, and finally Simon had already sat on the Tianyuan Breakthrough. Red Rock Spiral Rock, with the galaxy as the ring, and the anti-spiral clan to fight to the death.
His first and final kills are the same: Red Lotus throws the spiral rock out and drills the opponent.
However, the enemy at that time has become today's comrade-in-arms, and the comrade-in-arms at that time has become his soul behind him.
At the beginning of the snail rock, the drill bit can only break through an ordinary face, and the final spiral rock can already use the drill to hit through the anti-spiral family that can be called a god.
The same was true of Simon's two uprisings, the first time from the death of his eldest brother, he led the Great Red Lotus Regiment all the way to Tie Peilin and defeated the Spiral King.
The second time, he rose from his parting ways with Luo Xiu, and once again carried the banner of the Great Red Lotus Regiment and led them all the way to the other side of the universe.
Of course, the most moving "spiral" is the echo of the beginning and the end.
At first, Simon and Kamina came to the ground and looked up at the stars, thinking: The stars in the sky are shining like this!
Finally, the twilight Simon looked up at the same starry sky, but he exclaimed that "every light in the sky is a star".
At first, with a fiery heart, they crawled out of the ground and looked up at the sky, their hearts full of longing for the unseen scene.
Finally, he may have lost that freshness when he returned from the end of the universe, but he knew that there were countless spiral races like them on the sky full of stars, and his name was sung among the stars.
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The right path is vicissitudes
In fact, the time I came into contact with "Tianyuan Breakthrough" was very late, it had already appeared when I was in elementary school, but I didn't make it up until after I went to work.
Perhaps, because of this, what I see in this "burning animation" is not only the "burning" that breaks through the sky, but also the embers after the "burning out".
Think about it carefully, if "Tianyuan Breakthrough" is not so burning, what a sad story it would be.
Simon does break through the sky, but he bids farewell to Big Brother forever in the infinite parallel universe, and Nia disappears because of his righteousness.
The members of the Great Red Lotus Regiment who accompanied him all the way to the end also had many who were sleeping on the other side of the universe forever.
His younger brother, Rossio, parted ways with him and even threw him on death row.
In the end, the two did shake hands and make peace, but he also knew very well that he was really just "Simon digging holes".
He handed over all the rivers and mountains he had laid to this cautious ruler, and this time he wandered the rivers and lakes, leaving only his own legends.
Hanging on his chest was no longer his soul core drill, but a ring symbolizing the memories between him and Nia.
Youko's ending is also unsettling, and she and Simon miss it after all.
She couldn't wait for Simon to grow into a good man, and after Simon grew up, there were already other people around him.
In the end, she bid farewell to the two good men, Big Brother and Ke Tang, and after Nia disappeared, the ring rolled around to her feet, and she threw the ring back to Simon.
The rings came too late, and they were destined to become strangers who knew each other best.
Perhaps, the "core story" of this very classical tragedy behind "Tianyuan Breakthrough" is the most fundamental source of its "burning".
Putting aside the external settings of super robots and spiral forces, this is the story of a protagonist who pays all the price he can pay and changes the fate of the universe.
How can such a grand story not make the audience burn?