Intro sequence has been updated and adds a couple new scenes.
Simon is deeply depressed and fights recklessly, trying to be like Kamina, but ends up being more of an asshole. During one fight, the Lagann sputters and ceases functioning due to the imbalance in Simon’s heart, and lands in a junkheap. Simon finds a naive but energetic girl in a trash crate, and brings her back to the Daiganzan after narrowly escaping an equine Ganmen. When Adiane (another of the four generals) attacks to avenge Thymilph, we find out that the girl is Nia, daughter of the Spiral King. This causes Adiane to retreat and report her findings to the Spiral King. It turns out he ordered her disposal in the first place, and Adiane returns to the Daiganzan to eliminate Nia and the humans. The men of the Gurren-dan are fired up by Nia’s defense of the the humans though, and take down Adiane (though she escapes with the help of Viral, whom she despises as a failure). Simon is even more in a funk afterward, since he was inable to help due to Lagann’s inoperable state. Nia does notice and appreciate his efforts though. I’m sure a little bit of TLC from Nia will have Simon’s drill operating at full strength again.
Nia sure ain’t no Kamina, though she does take his place in the intro. In light of the new events, the question was raised of why Nia and the Spiral King are both human. At least, I think the Spiral King is human…not sure if he has a tail hidden under those clothes. He sort of looks like Jet Black from Bebop, actually. And why does he want to eliminate humans so badly? My suspicion is that the planet was populated by a highly advanced civilization of humans, but became barren due to some sort of apocalypse (caused by the Spiral King?), and pre-apocalypse the Spiral King was some sort of obsessive genetic researcher who endeavored to create the ultimate race of beastmen hybrids. In this sense, he is a bit like Hitler I suppose, who advocated the genetic superiority of blond-haired/blue-eyed folk, yet was not one himself. I still wonder how defeating a crazy scientist eventually leads to space battles though. Might there be some sort of otherworldly third-party that controls the Spiral King? Or does Simon just become so badass that the planet becomes to small for him, and he sets his sights on conquering the galaxy by force? I suppose with Gainax, even the most implausible plot twists are possible. Strangely enough, Simon’s drill-key opens a container locked by the Spiral King. Apparently the Spiral King forgot to write DO NOT COPY on his original key.
Also of interest is the DNA-theme in the generals’ names, as noted at Random Curiosity. Hopefully Nyoron’s subs will update their romanizations to reflect this nifty detail. I suppose Helix King would certainly be a more appropriate name in line with the rest of his crew, but it for some reason Spiral King sounds a bit more menacing. And why is there no baddie that corresponds to Uracil?
This post was written by...
Ender – who has written 219 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the original founders, and the first to attempt a coups d'état.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I find it extremely interesting how you were able to come to the conclusion that the spiral king is pure human. Even better that you know what he looks like lol. Did you read the manga or something? …because thus far they’ve only shown one or two shots of him in the anime (and neither were very good and one was an extreme close up). At this point i was just kind of assuming that he was a beastman sort of the way Viral is and doesn’t look ‘much’ like one.
nia says the only other human she’s seen is her father, who is the helix king.
The series isn’t as funny as it used to be anymore. Nia has an insanly irritating voice. I want Simon to get bad ass with a quickness.