Gurren Lagann — BrandWiki

Gurren Lagann

type	tv series
director	Hiroyuki Imaishi
producer	Eiichi Kamagata Norio Yamakawa Naoki Sasada
writer	Kazuki Nakashima
music	Taku Iwasaki
studio	Gainax
network	TXN (TV Tokyo)
first	April 1, 2007
last	September 30, 2007
episodes	27
episode list	List of Gurren Lagann episodes

Gurren Lagann, known in Japan as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン), is a Japanese mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and produced by TV Tokyo, Konami Digital Entertainment, Dentsu and Aniplex. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi with series composition by veteran playwright Kazuki Nakashima. Gurren Lagann takes place in a future where the Spiral King, Lordgenome, rules Earth and forces mankind to live in isolated subterranean villages. The plot focuses on two teenagers, Simon and Kamina, who live in a subterranean village and wish to go to the surface. Using a mecha known as Lagann, they reach the surface and start fighting alongside other humans against Lordgenome's forces before fighting the forces of their true enemy.

In North America, although initially announced to be licensed by ADV Films in 2007, the license was transferred to Bandai Entertainment in 2008 and then to Aniplex of America in 2013. In the United Kingdom, it was licensed by Manga Entertainment in 2007, then transferred to

Plot

Story

Gurren Lagann takes place in a future where the Spiral King, Lordgenome, rules Earth and forces mankind to live in isolated subterranean villages without contact with the surface world or other villages. The few humans who escape to the surface are constantly threatened by his Beastmen, humanoid creatures that serve as Lordgenome's army who pilot mechas. Each mecha is called a "Gunmen" and has a body that resembles a face.[4][5]

Simon, a meek young digger conscripted to expand his home deeper underground, lives in Giha village with his best friend Kamina, an eccentric delinquent who is like an older brother figure to him and dreams of visiting the surface world. One day, Simon unearths a drill-shaped key called a Core Drill, and then finds a small Gunmen. Soon after, a giant Gunmen crashes through the ceiling and begins attacking the village. It is pursued by a woman named Yoko. Simon uses his Core Drill to activate the smaller Gunmen (which Kamina names Lagann) and its drilling-based abilities. He successfully uses it to destroy the more prominent Gunmen and break through the ceiling, allowing him and Kamina to reach the surface world.

Along the way, Kamina hijacks a Gunmen and names it Gurren, combining it with Lagann to form the mecha Gurren Lagann. Their actions inspire other humans to steal their own Gunmen and join Team Gurren, leading Kamina to rename it Team Dai-Gurren. Eventually, Team Dai-Gurren captures an enemy Gunmen fortress to use as their base of operations, but one of Lordgenome's four generals kills Kamina in the preceding battle, and Simon sinks into depression until he meets Nia, who is revealed to be Lordgenome's daughter.

Nia helps Simon come to terms with Kamina's death, and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren prompt him to become the team's leader, leading them and other teams of humans, who had captured other Gunmen and Gunmen fortresses, to Lordgenome's palace, which is revealed to be a gigantic Gunmen called Teppelin. In the final battle, Simon, Nia, and Rossiu pilot Gurren Lagann to fight Lordgenome, who fights them in a similar Gunmen called Lazengann. With Lazengann and Gurren damaged, Lordgenome fights Simon with his bare hands until Simon uses his Core Drill to defeat him for good.

Seven years later, mankind prospers on the surface, with Simon and the other members of Team Dai-Gurren serving as the world's government in their new capital Kamina City. When the human population reaches one million, an alien race called the Anti-Spirals emerges and uses Nia as their messenger because the Anti-Spirals created her. They have sent the Moon on a collision course with the Earth to wipe out the planet's life and prevent them from evolving to the extent they will risk destroying the universe in a cataclysmic event called the Spiral Nemesis.

Lordgenome is resurrected as a bio-computer and reveals that he was once part of an intergalactic army of warriors who failed to stop the Anti-Spirals and forced mankind underground to protect them. With help from Lordgenome and Viral, an old enemy of Simon who pilots Gurren, Simon, Gurren Lagann, and Team Dai-Gurren prevent the Moon's collision, in the process revealing it to be Lordgenome's flagship that the Anti-Spirals reprogrammed. Using it, they retrieve the real Moon from the pocket dimension the Anti-Spirals had hidden it in and go to their homeworld. They rescue Nia, and in a one-on-one Gunmen battle across the universe, Simon and Lagann destroy the Anti-Spirals. However, this causes Nia to fade away, as her existence is tied to that of the Anti-Spirals. With his life in battle finally over, Simon hands his Core Drill over to Gimmy and leaves his friends to wander the planet as a nameless vagrant, stating that his destiny was merely to "dig the tunnel to the future."

The epilogue takes place twenty years after the team defeats the Anti-Spirals. The surviving team members have retired and moved on with their lives. Simon watches over them as a squadron of Gurren Laganns flies through the night sky to join their Spiral brethren in the stars.

Main characters

Simon (シモン)
Simon is the main protagonist of Gurren Lagann. He is introduced as a fourteen-year-old digger from Giha village who many of his peers look down upon for his timid and weak character. He greatly admires Kamina, one of his few friends in the village, and refers to him as his brother despite them not being related by blood. His discovery of the Core Drill and the Gunmen Lagann set the events of the series in motion. Simon spends much of the first quarter of the series in Kamina's footsteps, but over time gradually acquires his own fighting spirit and determination, acting independently more often until his personality mirrors that of Kamina. Throughout the series, Simon primarily pilots Lagann (Japanese for "head/face"), which can produce drills from his body when reacting to Simon's Spiral energy. He can use this ability to combine with Kamina's Gunmen, Gurren, to form Gurren Lagann, and to take control of other Gunmen.
Kamina (カミナ)
Kamina is a rebellious youth from Giha village who dreams of leaving his underground home and going to the surface world, which he saw as a child. His passionate and confident personality serves as a foil for the more timid and weak-willed Simon, and serves to instill courage in Simon. He is known for wearing sunglasses and a tattered cape that belonged to his late father. He wields a nodachi he stole from the chief of Giha village and his catchphrase of "just who the hell do you think I/we am/are?!" becomes the battle cry of his group. Although he dies early on in the show, his actions are greatly influential, as he founds Team Gurren, later renaming it Team Dai-Gurren, and acts as its leader to combat Lordgenome and the beastmen. Early on in the series, Kamina hijacks a Gunmen he names Gurren (Japanese for "scarlet"), which he pilots while combined with Simon's Lagann to form Gurren Lagann.
Yoko Littner (ヨーコ・リットナー)
Yoko is a young woman from Littner, a village neighboring Giha, and is introduced as a member of a small resistance against the beastmen. She helps to introduce Simon and Kamina to the surface world, and becomes a member of Team Gurren soon after. She falls in love with Kamina early on the series, and thinks little of Simon until he begins showing signs of self-confidence. After Kamina's death, she tries to help Simon cope and forms a sisterly relationship with him. Instead of piloting a Gunmen, she wields a high-powered energy rifle and uses her marksmanship and wise counsel to aid her teammates.

Production

Gurren Lagann was first announced in July 2006 with Aniplex and Konami assisting Gainax in its making. Konami director Koichi Natsume suggested possibilities of the series getting multiple sequels.[6] The series was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, who was a fan of the mecha genre, having previously done animation work for Neon Genesis Evangelion, and ever since he started working he had wanted to work in a mecha series. After working on Re: Cutey Honey with Kazuki Nakashima, Imaishi appointed him as the writer, believing him to be the best choice. Imaishi was surprised with how much material Nakashima could condense into 27 episodes. Imaishi had finished writing the main storyline long before reaching the end which facilitated the staff in making the episodes.[7] According to Gainax president Hiroyuki Yamaga the series was in planning phases for a long time. Animation producer Yasuhiro Takeda used the time to research how the characters would live underground, although this aspect is used only briefly. Once the series started production, the team did not have much time to research materials.[8]

In contrast to other popular series, Imaishi decided to include drills as the robot's main weapons despite its impact on the suspension of disbelief.[7] Imaishi also wanted the series to only have robots. The robots were made organic so that they would be easier to animate.[8] Nevertheless, animating episode 15 was challenging to the staff due to the number of shots it required. Its animator Sushio called himself the "super animator" for his work. Deciding the design of the Gurren Lagann was complicated since it was the basis for the other mechas appearing in the story.

In the making of the series, the team wanted to focus more on the underground life and Simon's imprisonment but their ideas could not be used. In the eighth episode Kamina dies to provide Simon's character development and make him become the main character.[7] Simon's development kept on going until the final arc when staff planned ideas to make him surpass Kamina. The ending was written to finalize Simon's growth and not leave signs of a sequel. The finale had the pre-planned tragic event of Nia's death which left several staff members saddened. While the staff acknowledged how people were not satisfied with the sad conclusion, they noted that there were still issues that made her survival difficult for the characters.[9] Once the series ended, Yamaga had the idea of releasing a film that retells the events of the series to expand the audience.[8]

Influences

In an interview, the writer Kazuki Nakashima cites Ken Ishikawa, co-creator of Getter Robo, as one of Gurren Lagann's influences.[10] Gurren Lagann occasionally pays homage to Ishikawa's Getter Robo, particularly towards the end of the series, where the scale becomes absurd, with the robots steadily becoming bigger and bigger, much like Getter Robo and more specifically, the manga version of Getter Robo Go. The final enemy also bears a striking resemblance to La Gooth of Records of Nothingness, another work by Ishikawa.[11] Nakashima, however, wanted to conclude the story of Gurren Lagann in a more reasonable fashion than what Ishikawa usually does in his works.[10] The post-apocalyptic setting, and the role of the Dai-Gurren, was influenced by Combat Mecha Xabungle.[12]