First Impressions / Gurren Lagann

OP Sequence

OP: 「空色デイズ」 (Sorairo Days) by 中川翔子 (Nakagawa Shouko)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Summary:

It has been seven years since the fall of Teppelin, and the new human capital is called Kamina City. Though Lord Genome was defeated long ago and mankind came above ground, some mysteries remain about why he tried to force humanity underground and what the spiral power is. The one mystery they were able to solve was the true identity of old man Coco – he’s a beastman butler who takes care of Nia. They have been enjoying peace for seven years, but Lord Genome’s last words are slowly digging into their chests, and they pretend not to notice. On this particular day, Simon’s new job is as the commander-in-chief is giving him tons of paperwork to sign off on, including citizen complaints about taxes and the sewage. Rossiu considers these selfish things and comments on how the people have completely forgotten their underground lives, but Simon thinks that that’s okay. Nia then shows up at Simon’s office with a boxed lunch, giving Rossiu bad memories of her cooking, but luckily for him, she forgot his share.

Science Bureau Chief Leeron later reports the successful launch of a rocket into space towards the moon, but Legal Affairs Bureau Chief Kittan questions if there really is something on the moon. Simon is of course worried about the one million population warning that Lord Genome left, so he feels that they have to investigate. Rossiu then asks the People’s Bureau Chief Jougan about the population study, but they haven’t made much progress, so Rossiu gets permission from Simon to give orders to that bureau. Dayakka later is feeling down about the one million number, though his concern is more about his own child. His wife, Kiyoh, is near the end of her pregnancy and is currently living at home with the help of Kiyal when Nia pops in for a visit to tell the sisters about Simon proposing to her. Earlier, Simon had talked to her about seeing the same things, hearing the same sounds, and laughing the same way, and he had given her a ring to ask for her hand in marriage. Nia, however, had turned him down because she didn’t think that two people could become the same person. Hearing this, Kiyoh explains to Nia that what’s important is not the meaning of the words, but rather the feelings at the time. She then gives Nia a phone to call Simon and convey her feelings to him.

At that moment, Simon is staring up at the large Kamina monument thinking about back when it was still under construction. Back then, Yoko had left because she felt she wasn’t fit for government or politics, and the last thing she had told Simon was to protect Nia well. Simon now gets a phone call from Nia, and she tells him that she thinks they can live together since they’re different people. After she thanks him for the ring and says how happy she is, Simon hangs up and cheers to the statue. Rossiu, however, interrupts his celebration to report an attack by anti-government guerrillas in the south and shows Simon video of the Enkidu. Realizing that it’s Viral, Simon wants to go out on the Gurren Lagann, but Rossiu refuses to let him because Simon’s job to be the commander-in-chief of the new government. Instead, Viral has to face the Grapal corps that includes pilots Gimmy and Darry, and the Enkidu is quickly overwhelmed and brought down. Afterwards, Simon questions via hologram why Viral is going that far in opposing them, so Viral shows him the trail of humans that he’s protecting. These people want to live underground because they feel it is their home, and Viral is supporting them.

Simon is angry at Rossiu for not telling him about these people that they are bringing above ground by force, but Rossiu says that it’s for the sake of determining the population. He believes that if there are places that their eyes cannot see, then they cannot get an accurate count of the number of people, meaning that the one million mark could be passed right under their noses. Avoiding that is the duty of the government. Hearing this, Simon questions what Rossiu intends to do when they reach that number and if they’re going to kick people off the planet, an act that reminds him of the village Rossiu came from. Rossiu, however, feels that Simon doesn’t understand anything and returns to his own base of operations where his subordinate reports that the Spiral Power Laboratory has succeeded in starting the biocomputer. Rossiu feels that they can know the secrets of the world with this, and when his subordinate claims that Rossiu alone is holding up the government, Rossiu says that it’s not just him, but also all of those in the younger generation working for him. Everyone in the room then salutes him, causing Rossiu to smile a little.

That night, Simon gets a phone call from Nia telling him about Kiyoh giving birth to a baby girl. Unbeknownst to him, this marks the one millionth person on the planet, and a rift in the sky suddenly opens up to reveal a mecha that no one has seen before. It immediately starts destroying the city, so Simon hangs up the phone to deal with the situation. In front of the hospital, Nia notices the moon getting closer, and her body soon becomes covered in reddish markings. Kiyal exits the hospital looking for Nia a little later, but finds only her cell phone on the ground. Meanwhile, the Grapal corps has been sent out to combat the new threat, but their weapons can’t seem to damage it. At the command center, Kittan, Barinbou, and Jougan wish they had their Gunmen, but they are promptly informed by Kinon and Rossiu’s other subordinate that Gunmen are relics of the Helix King that have all been scrapped in this new age. The Grapals are mass production models specialized for combat based on research of the Gurren Lagann. They are, however, having a lot of trouble with the new enemy, and Darry would have gotten hit by a powerful beam if not for Simon arriving in the Gurren Lagann to save her.

Rossiu immediately tries to tell Simon how dangerous it is and how this isn’t his job, but Simon yells back that their number one job protecting the citizens and the town. Simon succeeds in using the Gurren Lagann’s drill to break through the enemy, but when it blows up, it breaks into tiny shapes that fall down and promptly explode on contact, covering the city in destruction. Right as a frustrated Rossiu is talking about how Simon recklessly attacked the enemy without knowing its true identity, Nia appears on all the video screens across the city. In a message to the people of the planet, she says that they, the Anti-Spirals, have determined that the people have reached the second stage of the spiral power’s danger level. Because of this, she announces that the humanity extermination system has been put into operation.

ED Sequence

ED: 「みんなのピース」 (Minna no Peace) byアフロマニア (afromania)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
The new opening sequence, which uses a different verse of Sorairo Days, had me giggling with glee and anticipation when I first saw it, much of it due to the appearance of dark Nia. The shot of someone who appears to be Kamina also made me wonder if he’ll be making some sort of a comeback this season. As for the new ED, the animation is done in a similar black and white style as the first one. Minna no Pace is a little easier on the ears than Underground and quite a bit more upbeat, so I started liking it immediately.

Preview:

After how incredible episode 15 was, I had my worries that this show wouldn’t be able to get up to being that good again. Boy was I wrong. In terms of story and adrenaline, this episode picked up right where we left off, and there’s a ton of new stuff to consider. Simon is actually the character I have the least to say about since little about him has changed in these seven years aside from physical appearance and maturity. Nia’s new role, on the other hand, surprised me quite a bit. I had originally agreed with the theory that she would die at the end of the last story arc, but when that didn’t happen, I assumed she was safe. Instead, Nia has become the face of the Anti-Spirals that have come to exterminate humanity. It’s not clear to me yet why she was chosen, but I suspect it might have something to do with how Lord Genome originally created her.

A bigger part of this episode is focused on Rossiu, who used to be a supporting character and has now become somewhat of an antagonist with his own group of supporters. Antagonist may be too strong a word, but I’m not sure if I should be more worried about the new enemy or about what Rossiu will do. At the very least, there will probably be a lot of friction between him and Simon from now on because of their conflicting approaches to doing things. It also appears that Rossiu has a biocomputer in the works, and in terms of knowing the secrets of the world, it would make sense if that computer were the preserved head and mind of Lord Genome like the preview and OP shot hint at.

And then there’s Viral who has become somewhat of a noble outlaw kind of character, which makes me think that he’ll be joining Simon in the near future (as opposed to being the final boss), especially if Rossiu turns against Simon at some point or if the situation becomes really dire. Yoko is another character who will probably show up again when the going gets really tough, but for now, it’s sad to see her in a minor role that’s basically gone from this episode. At least grown-up Darry made up for it a little. In any case, I see tons of potential in this story, and if they keep delivering these kinds of exciting episodes, then Gurren Lagann will easily remain my favorite show that’s currently airing. I eagerly await next week’s episode.

85 Comments

  5. watched the thing; nice episode quick summary:
    – Simon the supreme commander; Rosui next in command.
    – Rosui was trying to force all human to live on the surface so that they can do the count
    – Rosui now has his own followers. Kino included.
    – Kyon and Dayaaka is having a baby; and its number 1000000
    – Yoko left for a journey
    – Viral is protecting the human who want to go live underground. Rosui keeps this fact secret from Simon and force all human to live on the ground for weird reasons.
    – Simon propose to Nia, she rejected it because of the way Simon word his sentence lol. She call in later to accept the proposal
    – They are using new robot call Grapal instead of Gunmen. Rosui + co. took Grapal off the market now.
    – Rosui believe that Simon shouldn’t fight, he is the supreme commander and should sit back.
    – Anti-Spiral System activate once human population over ground reach 1 million. A machine was summon to the earth and began the attack. System inside Nia also was activated.
    – Darry, Gami + other new soldiers use Grapal to fight against machine which appear buy fail, they can’t even damage it. Kitan + co want to go out as well, but Kino said that Gunmen would be totally useless.
    – Simon came out with Gurren-Lagann against Rosui’s advice and defeat the machine. The machine broke into pieces and explode over the town killing people.
    – Rosui was angry about Simon fighting in the front line and the fact that he fight with unknown enemy and cause all these damage;
    – Before we can see further; Nia’s image was projected all over the town. Declaring the start of Anti-Spiral System.

    Next episode;
    – Rosui revive the spiral king to ask the secret of this world from him.
    – From the preview most likely Rosui will turn against Simon. What would Simon do!?

    Quina
    Reply

  6. I can’t help but think Roshu?–(forgot how to spell his name–haven’t really caught up with the series either) looks alike-yet-not to Wu Fei from Gundam Wing. Should I be shot for this?

    But yes, screenshots of Dark Nia made me snicker. Reminds me of the GFAQs’ running gag of Dark Nunnally (Code Geass).

    Illusionist
    Reply

  16. heck yeah!! can’t wait until sub… that would suck if nia died
    Don’t you hate it when they kill off a person that you like in the anime just like they did with kamina? I miss him =(

    popcorn101
    Reply

  25. @Gil:

    I think Viral is just trying to keep the aboveground human population below 1 million. As evil as he was, Lord Genome didn’t seem to be keeping the humans underground just for sh!ts and giggles. Whatever awakened in this episode is something I don’t think even he wanted to face, and I get the distinct feeling he told Viral enough that he feels the same.

    I think Evil Nia is a failsafe mechanism to “thin out their numbers.” We’re probably going to see her go genocidal on all the abovegrounders in the next few episodes.

    Simon’s going to have to go Zero/Euphemia on her, mark my words.

    quigonkenny
    Reply

  29. what the heck for all this yokoxsimon. btw, this episode is awesome and thrilling! i’m a little angry for rossiu to act of his own, but he gotta have a good reason for all of this. if not….

    cheesechan
    Reply

  30. That was so clear with Nia, still a bit shocking O_o
    So the end will be.. her and Simon dying? Could imagine that well, a perfect “live on” ending. And I’d expect that from Gainax, ohhhhh yes.

    mutio
    Reply

  33. Oh no, this is Gainax… I wouldn’t be too surprised if they killed off the moe blob but…

    Ugh, I really hope that it doesn’t turn out that Nia gets kidnapped or something disgustingly cliche (by the enemies against her own will; Simon rescues, blah blah) No love-conquers-all themes please.

    Sad Yoko. After Kamina, she’s been thrust into the back seat? Hopefully she’ll be a major player again. And what’s all this Yoko x Viral?

    Yuu
    Reply

  38. Sugeeee !!! What a great show we have here ! The characters new design rocks for the most part (well minus this KiyohXDayakka crap like GendouXRitsuko -ElcetraXNemo- syndrome, GAINAX must love old & ugly guys with young blondies, o.O). The Moon thread seems like a bunch of AI creatures that need to control populations of intelligent species like mankind to keep their superiority (making Nia as an host in the process ?). More Viral ! More Yoko ! More Evil Nia ! More Darry (damn cutie) ! Just like the way they used the remains of Dekabutsu to build their base !

    Bogus
    Reply

  40. I think it’ll be extreamlly gay if they somehow start to bring people back from the dead. I don’t care if it’s a clone or whatever, that just says to me that the writers are out of ideas and they have to bring back characters to make shit up for the rest of the story.

    Let the dead stay dead, and lets move on to new things.

    GP
    Reply

  41. GP is rite. After all, it is disrespectful to disturb people in their graves…even if it means reviving them. In other news, i have a feeling that dark nia is linked to why she/others were thrown out…or maybe im thiking too much. Bottom line is i don’t want her to die.

    klazyguy
    Reply

  43. kamina should stay dead…
    rosiu n simon will hav a short conflict.. simon will show him who’s boss!
    yoko? lol, she’s a minor character now.. she’s not even important to the story anyway.
    viral and simon teams up? YAY, i’m up for that idea!
    p/s oh i wish they’ll just fast forward to future simon, the 1 from episode 1. >_

    tay
    Reply

  47. @Yen Since you asked, all I can see is. She group up nicelly 🙂 I do hope Darry and others have a bigger role now, and it looks like this will be the case. Rossiu trying to take control/power would be a nice play on things.

    Yoko should show up again when she’s needed. With Nia going ebil, and Rossiu also looking like he’s going down that path to a degree. Simon needs someone to watch his back, heh, aka Yoko. Since she’s been here from ep1, no way she’ll just be cast off like people seem to think.

    GP
    Reply

  49. Why do all of Rossieu’s followers wear glasses? Hmmm.

    I love this new direction that Gurren Lagann’s taking. Simon vs. Rossieu, Nia going all Euphemia on the humans of the world, Viral a good guy, Darry and Gimmy mech pilots; this show continues to be full of win. Just one problem. Not enough Yoko!

    KaminaLives
    Reply

  50. Dude, why is everyone getting their panties in a bunch about what pairings are going to happen? Compared to the actual STORY, any sort of shipping implications are on the backburner for me ATM. Just let the events play out without fussing over who’s going to bone who or not, eh?

    Evil!Nia was kind of a shocker for me, if only because she was so sweet and innocent and now she’s gone and pulled a Euphie. :[ And while entertaining the thought of Kamina punching future Simon in the face is amusing as hell, I don’t think he may be coming back from the dead. Just a thought.

    … Rossiu why are you such an ASS now D:

    Kalle
    Reply

  55. Well with this i can see more similarities in :
    Grandia II (the evil god, sleeping inside moon)
    Transformers: armada (Cybertron’s moon being a huge and evil planet destructing robot)
    MaiHIME (Hime Star “clashing” with moon, and moon usage everywhere)
    and many others…

    also…. – doe we really know, that ENEMIES are all in the moon….? For all we know, maybe that is just a “small” enemy outpost – the universe is huge after all…i would somewhat except, that after ~3 or 4 eps of confrontation with “moon” a HUGE fleet of enemies appear XD

    AloneintheVoid
    Reply

  59. Anyone notice the Star vs. Flame (Gurren-dan) thing going on on Simon’s cape? During the whole episode, you see the star everywhere (and Kamina’s flame nowhere)–seems to represent the new gov’t. In the ED though, you see Simon first with the Star, and then at the very end with the Kamina Flame on his cape.

    I don’t think there’s any q. that Rossiu v. Simon is being set up, but it will be interesting to see if the Gurren-dan has a “reunion” of sorts… seems like Yoko is being set up of this one as well.

    Thoughts?

    yh
    Reply

  68. @Ori She was on the phone talking to simon about saying yes and all that, when the shit hit the fan and she went all ebil! Personally though, ebil Nia looks hawter than normal Nia. Guess it’s the eyes. 😛

    GP
    Reply

  69. OP speculations: Person next to Nia is her mother who lives on the moon, and is Queen of the Anti-Spirals? ALSO, who the @(*$^ is that next to Viral and underneath Helix King’s disembodied head? Can’t be Simon, looks evil. Part of the ‘evil’ montage. But there’s Boota. And Simon’s goggles. I’m so confused. Evil Nia, Evil Simon AND Evil Boota?

    My head is going to explode.

    DLazLong
    Reply

  71. Wow.. this is one of the best anime i’ve ever watch………

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Bluepanther
    Reply

  75. Lol, when i saw Dark Nia and the reddish markings on her I thought she was Dark Sakura from FSN Heaven’s feel. Anyway this anime is simply getting better and better can’t wait for more. Need Moar!

    shadowlancer
    Reply

  76. Just when I Rossiu character started to loosen up he becomes all strict again in 7 years. Dark Nia was definitely a shocker to me. Even though the show is kind of straight forward in a sense it still has a lot of twist and turns.

    NINDOX
    Reply

  78. predictions:

    Kittan will yell some more
    Yoko will be back to team up with Simon before long
    Rossiu will grow into more of an annoyance for the Gurren Society but he’ll come to see the light just before or even during the final battle of the series.
    Kamina will rot a little more in his grave but continue to be respected by those he never knew.
    Nia’s a wildcard, i don’t know what’ll happen with her, nor do i care, i really hate her hair.
    Gimmy or Darry will die to save the other towards the end.
    Leeron will creep someone out.
    Gurren and Lagann will make sweet Drill love and become one. …or has that already happened?

    anonymous rex
    Reply

  79. @DLazLong

    No, the person next to Nia in the OP is her EVIL self, not her mother. I think Evil Nia is like an agent of Anti-Spirals given to Helix King when he was still alive to “watch over the king’s progress of keeping human population under 1 million. Of course i doupt Nia herself or even Helix King knew about this.

    and The guy beside Viral and under Helix King’s head is a grown up Simon wearing the Gurren Brigade Cape. (he still has his goggle-flashlight thingy on his head)

    DarklynerZ
    Reply

  80. oh and speaking of theories, i believe that Viral will be the Co-pilot of gurren lagann. Lagann => spiral power => for humans => simon is pilot
    Gurren => originally a ganmen made for Beastmen => so viral should pilot it. (i hope)

    DarklynerZ
    Reply

  81. There´s the possibility for this show to get a sequel (It was contemplated since the beginning). If it´s true then I would like for Simon and Rossiu to remain as enemies or something like that. Maybe Simon fighting with the Galactic Empire by his own with the old Dai-Gurren-Dan, and Rossiu just defending the Earth and not wanting to really fight back.

    Other thing I wonder is who are Gimmy and Garry going to support. They lived with Rossiu in their village but time after they looked to be more affine with Simon. It would be great if one start supporting Simon and the other remain loyal to the Government.

    I´m starting to doubt for Nia to survive at the end. Hopefully she will but I don´t see it clear.

    (Sorry for the bad english)

    Coyote
    Reply

  82. From the way it looks, Kamina- Or, most probably, a clone of him- may reappear as Simon’s nemesis; The OP shows him with 1 arm and a symbol on his back, and that’s probably significant. Also, Gimmy and Darry- With their mass-produced Laganns seem to be joining Simon’s face-off against the Anti-Spirals…And is that the Teppelin? I’ve been thinking that the ship in episode 1 was actually the Teppelin- Or at least, the huge city-Ganmen. Seems like a very Ideon scene, though.

    On a side note…What made the Gurren-Lagann special? The Gurren was just another Beastman Ganmen, right? Wasn’t the Lagann, and the combined form, the powerful one? So, technically, won’t *any* ganmen with the Lagann attached be ridiculously powerful? Maybe that’s what Simon did in Episode 1- We don’t see the Gurren, but we certainly see the Teppelin as it’s ‘new body’. Mostly probably, the series will end with a massive space battle against the anti-Spirals…Where Simon goes ‘GAR-lock’ for the first time?

    Chan
    Reply

  83. hmmm about Viral helping the humans… he’s the sort of character to follow his own individual honor over anything else- thus why he chose to ignore the order to quickly off simon at the risk of being executed himself, and why he disliked simon’s idea of doing things because they are expected/you’re supposed to do them.

    i think he’s always trying to do the right thing, and forms his own ideas as to what the “right thing” is.

    if he doesn’t join simon at some point in time i’ll be dissapointed… either way though, i expect him to end up saving the humans with his immortality

    asomatous
    Reply

  85. This episode is like a second season like GaoGaiGar Final. Oh, and by the way, I really love Nia’s red mule closeup! I was drooling for more of her feet and for the rest of the girls’ feet and I think that this could be an example of my foot fetish.

    Shadowanime12
    Reply

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