Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

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Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
The logo of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
天元突破グレンラガン
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Mecha
TV anime
Director	Hiroyuki Imaishi
Studio	Gainax
Licensor	Aniplex Bandai Entertainment ADV Films
Network	TV Tokyo
Other networks: Sci Fi Channel[1]
Original run	April 1, 2007 – September 30, 2007
Episodes	27
Manga
Author	Gainax
Illustrator	Kotaro Mori
Publisher	MediaWorks
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Dengeki Comic Gao! (former) Dengeki Daioh
Original run	April 27, 2007 – ongoing
Volumes	2
Light novel
Author	Kurasumi Sunayama, Kazuki Nakashima
Illustrator	Hiroki Shinagawa
Publisher	Shogakukan
Demographic	Male
Published	August 17, 2007 – ongoing
Volumes	3
Game
Developer	Konami
Publisher	Konami
Platform	Nintendo DS
Released	October 25, 2007
Animated film: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Gurren Chapter
Director	Hiroyuki Imaishi
Studio	Gainax
Released	September 6, 2008

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン, Tengen Toppa Guren Ragan^?, lit. "Break-Through Heaven Gurren Lagann" or more loosely "Heaven Shattering Gurren Lagann") is a Japanese shōnen mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for twenty-seven episodes on Japan's TV Tokyo between April 1, 2007 and September 30, 2007. It is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, written by veteran playwright Kazuki Nakashima and has been in development since the participation of the famed animator in the Abenobashi mecha themed episodes by the same studio.

Licensing for a North American release of Gurren Lagann was announced by ADV Films at AnimeExpo 2007 on June 30, 2007; however, after an unexplained removal from ADV's catalog, Bandai Entertainment announced it held the license at New York Comic Con 2008.^[2] It was also announced for a UK release by ADV Films at AmeCon, and by ADV Films Germany for a summer 2008 release. Anime News Network reported that the Sci Fi Channel acquired the broadcasting rights of Gurren Lagann, and will begin airing the anime on July 28, 2008 as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block.^[1]

A manga adaptation started serialization in MediaWorks' Dengeki Comic Gao! on April 27, 2007, but switched over to MediaWorks' other manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on April 21, 2008 due to the former being discontinued on February 27, 2008. A series of light novels have also been created and are published by Shogakukan. A video game based on the series, for the Nintendo DS, was released in October 2007, bundled with a special episode of the anime series.^[3] An animated film version will premiere in Japanese theaters on September 6, 2008, and a second movie has been announced.^[4]

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Story 1.2 Principal characters 1.3 Terminology 1.3.1 Beastmen 1.3.2 Gunmen 1.4 Spiral theme 1.4.1 Spiral Energy 1.4.2 Anti-Spirals 1.4.3 Story structure and foreshadowing 2 Media 2.1 Anime 2.1.1 2channel incident 2.1.2 Music 2.2 Manga 2.3 Video games 2.4 Movies 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Plot

[edit] Story

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann takes place in a fictional future where human beings have been forced underground and thrive in isolated subterranean civilizations on Earth. These "villages" have no contact with the surface world nor other villages. Since frequent earthquakes damage infrastructure, the villages must constantly expand deeper into the earth — individuals designated to this task are known as "diggers".

Giha Village is the home of Simon, a fourteen year-old digger who was orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake. Respected by the village elder as the best of the diggers, but ostracized by his peers, he discovers a special drill key deep in the ground, and recruited by an eccentric fellow orphan named Kamina into his group, the "Gurren Brigade". Kamina dreams of the surface world, which he visited as a child with his father, but had to return home because he was too weak to survive.

After a failed attempt at reaching the surface, Kamina is jailed by the elder and Simon resumes digging, only to discover "a big face" deep in his tunnel. As he excitedly fetches Kamina to show him the discovery, he is caught by the village elder, but Kamina's punishment is interrupted by the ceiling of Giha Village collapsing, as an enormous robot falls into the cavern. A girl named Yoko appears and tries to fight it with a large rifle, but cannot do much. Simon takes Kamina and Yoko to the "big face" he found earlier and discovers that the small drill key can be used to activate the small robot, which he uses to end up destroying the intruder, and effectively break through to the surface.

On the surface, Simon and Kamina discover there are more large robots known as Gunmen, piloted by "Beastmen", that terrorize the surface dwellers during the day. Simon and Kamina help Yoko and her village destroy three more Gunmen and Kamina takes one for himself, naming it the Gurren. Eventually, Simon and Kamina decide that they will go on a journey to end the constant struggle between the Beastmen and humans, and are initially accompanied by Yoko and a mechanic from Yoko's village named Leeron, as they head out to find the Beastmen's Human Eradication Army headquarters, while dealing with various Beastmen warriors, including the vicious Viral.

Along the way, Simon and the others are joined by more humans, including the "Black Siblings", led by Kittan, and Rossiu, a strict young man from an underground village, forming the "Dai-Gurren Brigade", leading up to a major battle with the Human Eradication Army, which results in the death of Kamina, the arrival of Nia, the mysterious "daughter" of the Beastmen leader, Lord Genome, and the population of Earth's surface.

The second half of the series moves seven years into the future, where mankind has become prosperous, led by Simon and members of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. Though all seems well, after 1,000,000 humans populate the surface, a new catastrophe begins with the arrival of the Anti-Spirals, including Nia's sudden "transformation" into their messenger, and the threat of the moon literally falling onto the Earth. Simon, along with the reformed Brigade and former enemy, Viral, now lead the battle to defeat the Anti-Spirals and save the Earth.

[edit] Principal characters

Main articles: List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann primary characters, List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann secondary characters, and List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann antagonists

Simon (シモン, Shimon^?)

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara , Takayuki Sugo (epilogue)

Simon is a fourteen year-old digger from Jeeha village. Although he is initially looked down because of it, Simon excels at drilling through the underground, while the drill itself quickly becomes his trademark symbol. One day, he finds a mysterious drill-shaped item, which is later revealed to be the key for a head-shaped robot he also finds buried in the soil. With the help of the robot, Kamina, and Yoko, he fights off a Gunmen who broke into the village. While finishing the Gunmen off with a drill-like attack, they reach the surface world.

Kamina (カミナ, Kamina^?)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Kamina is a young man from Jeeha village who dreams of leaving the village and go to the surface, which he saw as a kid. He's very passionate about his goals, expressing his wishes through energetic speeches, which seems to affect all those who hear him. He convinces Simon to help him with his plan to drill through the roof of the village and get to the world above, but the plan failed and he was put in prison. He left the village shortly thereafter with the help of Simon and a young girl named Yoko, as a result of fighting a Gunmen, who broke into the village from the surface. His plans are rarely well thought-out, but for some strange reason or another, they seem to work most of the time.

Yoko Ritona (ヨーコ・リットナー, Yōko Rittonā^?)

Voiced by: Marina Inoue

Yoko is a girl from Giha's neighboring village of Ritona, who had been chasing the Gunmen which entered Jeeha village. She wields an extensive range of firearms and has previous experience fighting Gunmen. She uses her marksmanship from afar to assist Kamina and Simon, while they pilot their respective Gunmen.

Nia Teppelin (ニア・テッペリン, Nia Tepperin^?)

Voiced by: Yukari Fukui

Nia is a mysterious young girl found by Simon sleeping in a capsule in the middle of a dump site. She has had no prior contact with humans except her father. She is very curious, pure and innocent, because of growing up sheltered in a peaceful environment, away from all the battles occurring in the outside world. During her travels with the Dai-Gurren Brigade, she discovers the harsh realities of the world and has a very close relationship with Simon throughout the story.

[edit] Terminology

[edit] Beastmen

Beastmen are non-Spiral Beings, created and cloned by Lord Genome to fight by piloting Gunmen. The numerous animals on the planet are previously failed experiments, thus they lack the intelligence that Beastmen have. Beastmen and many other animals found on the planet cannot reproduce, and instead, multiply solely via cloning.

[edit] Gunmen

Main article: List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann mecha

Gunmen (ガンメン, Ganmen^?) are the type of mecha used in the series. The name itself means "face" and can be broken down into "gun" and "man" —- unsurprisingly, the mecha themselves are centered around faces. Gunmen sport a variety of weaponry: primitive models use large clubs or bare hands, while advanced units use solid or beam weapons. Gunmen powered by the "Spiral Energy" inherent in humans' DNA are more powerful than those piloted by Beastmen.

[edit] Spiral theme

The Spiral theme is especially prominent throughout the series. Not only is it the basis of strength for the main characters and mankind; but it is presented as a philosophy and way of life, and as a model of physics. Lord Genome notes that it is the natural order of the universe to coordinate itself into a spiral arrangement. Simon's spiral drill is often used as a motif to symbolize the Spiral theme throughout the series.

[edit] Spiral Energy

In the series' concept, Spiral Energy is the power of evolution, generated by beings capable of doing so, like humans and other DNA-based animals, whose spiral double helix molecular structure allows them to get stronger through the generations. Beastmen, because they do not reproduce naturally, cannot evolve, thus are unable to produce Spiral Energy. The amount of Spiral Energy produced by an individual may vary and is based not only on its own limitations, but also its immediate will to survive and persevere. Spiral Energy has both infinite potential and applications - it has been known to regenerate and grow new parts on machines to a galactic scale, and even create tunnels through space and time.

Spiral Energy is specifically stated to defy the conservation of energy, which in addition to explaining the creation of mass that is practically constant during battles, also carries the danger that if Spiral Energy is overused, it will cause the universe to collapse into a massive black hole. This event will be known as the Spiral Nemesis, and is the reason why the antagonistic Anti-Spirals are against the use of Spiral Energy.

[edit] Anti-Spirals

Eons before the story begins, a certain race evolved enough to expand and prosper across the stars through the use of their Spiral Energy. However, discovering this limitless evolution would one day lead to the destruction of the entire universe, an event they termed the "Spiral Nemesis", they abandoned the use of Spiral Energy and sealed their bodies on their home planet, ceasing to evolve, and calling themselves the Anti-Spirals. As the name implies, they also acted to repress other civilizations that used Spiral Energy, fearing that they could also become a threat to the universe if left unchecked. Since Spiral Energy comes from the will of its users, the Anti-Spirals tend to employ tactics specifically designed to induce fear, despair and hopelessness in their enemies. The Anti-Spirals also tend to spare their enemies if they surrender, but leave behind automated "defense" systems that will activate and attack a Spiral civilization if it grows too strong.

[edit] Story structure and foreshadowing

The theme of the spiral extends to the layout of events in the story as well. Most of the significant events in the story are preceded by a (generally) smaller instance of a similar event. In some cases, such events form lengthy cycles; with each new addition (or, "revolution") being more grandiose than the previous. Thus, the struggle of the spiral beings to "pierce the heavens" is, itself, characterized by a spiral. In the final episode, Simon notes that "With each revolution, we move forward a bit."

Instances of this technique are of varying length. While some serve primarily as brief warning regarding what is about to come to pass, others span the length of the series.

Examples include:

• Imposed ceilings on spiral population size; introduced in Adai Village and extends to the spiral population of the entire universe
• Capture of extremely significant Gunmen using Spiral Energy; beginning with Gurren and including taking control of the moon
• The sacrifices of prominent, heroic characters

[edit] Media

[edit] Anime

See also: List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann episodes

Produced by the animation studio Gainax and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. Gurren Lagann first aired in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 1, 2007 and the last episode first aired on September 30, 2007. The anime has twenty-seven episodes plus two specials, the first being the uncensored version of the sixth episode, and the second is episode 5.5, a bonus that came with the Nintendo DS' game. The anime received an Excellence Prize at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival,^[5] and its director received an individual award at the twelfth Animation Kobe Festival.^[6]

On December 11, 2007, a Gurren Lagann-based design submitted from Norway won The Daily Telegraph's contest to update the British Union Flag by incorporating the Welsh Dragon.^[7][8] In 2008, the anime received both "best television production" and "best character design" from the Tokyo International Anime Fair.^[9]

The English version had been previously licensed by ADV Films, but was later acquired by Bandai Entertainment. A subtitle-only version will be released in July 2008, and an official English dub for 2009. The show will premier on the Sci Fi Channel on July 28, 2008 as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block.^[1]

[edit] 2channel incident

Takami Akai, the producer of the series and a co-founder of Gainax, announced that he would resign his position effective episode five, which aired on April 29, 2007, over comments that he made regarding posts on the Japanese Internet forum 2channel. Akai and another Gainax employee, Keiko Mimori, made disparaging remarks about comments criticizing the animation style of the fourth episode of Gurren Lagann, which was completely directed by guest and friend Osamu Kobayashi. With regard to reading the fan criticisms, Akai stated that it was "like putting [his] face next to an anus and breathing deeply." Fans later became aware of his comments, and he announced his departure from the company he helped to found.^[10]

[edit] Music

Opening theme

"Sky Blue Days" (空色デイズ, Sorairo Deizu^?) by Shōko Nakagawa

(In episode fifteen, the "opening theme" is sung just at the end of the episode, just before the ending theme. From episode seventeen onwards, the opening featured the second verse of the same song. The final episode had no opening, although it did feature Sky Blue Days as an insert song.)

Ending themes

1. "Underground" by High Voltage (1–15)
2. "Happily ever after" by Shōko Nakagawa (16)
3. "Everyone's Peace" (みんなのピース, Minna no Pīsu^?) by Afromania (17–27)

[edit] Manga

The Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann manga, illustrated by Kotaro Mori, started serialization in the Japanese shōnen magazine Dengeki Comic Gao! on April 27, 2007, published by MediaWorks. The manga ended serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! on February 27, 2008 when the magazine was discontinued, but continued serialization in MediaWorks' other manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on April 21, 2008. The first bound volume was released on September 27, 2007, containing the first five chapters, and is published under MediaWorks' Dengeki Comics label; the second volume followed on March 27, 2008. The story of the manga follows the same plotline as the anime, however, there are several changes to the layout of events, and the addition of backstories that essentially fills in gaps from the anime, such as the relationship between Dayakka and Kiyoh.

[edit] Video games

An online video game was developed by Konami called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Chōzetsu Hakkutsu ONLINE (天元突破グレンラガン 超絶発掘ONLINE, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Chōzetsu Hakkutsu ONLINE^? literally "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Superior Excavation Online"). Beta testing had ended on April 16, 2007. The player takes up the role of a driller and drills for treasures in first person view. There is a shop to purchase drills—the shopkeeper is an original character named Asaki. The player can also collect digital trading cards. The game was canceled at the closed beta stage, as installing the game crashed Windows indefinitely. Konami even had to send out 500GB external hard drives to beta users so that they could back up files while reinstalling their broken operating systems.^[11][12]

A game for the Nintendo DS was released October 25, 2007, not only featuring the characters from the series, but also containing a special episode set in the early stages of the story as a pre-order bonus.

[edit] Movies

An animated movie entitled Movie Version Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Gurren Chapter (劇場版 天元突破グレンラガン 【紅蓮篇】, Gekijōban Tengen Toppa Guren Ragan [Guren Hen]^?), once again directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and written by Kazuki Nakashima, will be produced by Gainax and released on September 6, 2008 in Japanese theaters.^[13][14][15] The movie will be a compilation of the events of the first arc of the series (episodes one through fifteen) with some newly animated scenes. A second movie has been announced.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gurren Lagann's official website (Japanese)
• Gainax's Gurren Lagann website (Japanese)
• Gurren Lagann movie official website (Japanese)
• Konami's Gurren Lagann website (Japanese)
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

v • d • e Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Franchise Episodes Characters Simon · Nia Teppelin · Minor characters · Antagonists · Mecha