WMG / Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Meta Theories

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the Anti-Evangelion

Evangelion was such a successful deconstruction that it became the new standard, bringing despair as the root feeling for many mecha series. TTGL is Gainax's attempt to restore hope.

• Theming: NGE is a deconstruction, TTGL parodies and thrives on cliches as homages.
  • a.k.a Reconstruction. With NGE they tore it down and with TTGL they rebuilt it.
• Characters:
  • Shinji and Simon both pilot powerful emotion-bound mecha. The main mecha of each series, though several in both have the potential to have that emphasis.
  • Blue haired mentor: Misato and Kamina, who both act as surrogate family figures. Both had a glimpse at the another world ahead of many others and were abandoned by their fathers at this glimpse - Misato in Antarctica, and Kamina on the surface. Both pick up a trinket from their fathers - Misato the necklace, Kamina the cape.
  • Red haired hyper girl and rival/love interest: Asuka and Yoko, mostly earlier on. Yoko wanted to take Simon's spot in Lagann. Each was the most experienced fighter of the three children of each show in the beginning.
  • Creepy artificial daughter of the plotter: Rei/Nia. Lord Genome is a Gendo figure, but the plotter continues on after he is redeemed when it is revealed that Nia is also the creation of the Anti-Spirals. And guess what both of them try to do.
    • Nia is easily the most obvious of the Expies this WMG is about. They even look alike, especially after Yoko cuts Nia's hair.
    • Three Words: Giant Naked Rei Nia
  • Zen Survivor dark figure/father of a protagonist: Gendo and Lord Genome, both of whose goals are tied to their "hell": Gendo to continue abusing the power to revive the dead, Lord Genome to keep others from following his path.
• Similar plot points: The creation of the prototype (Gurren Lagann), and the copies being inferior. Heroic BSoD of the main character after the death/near death of a close friend. Splitting into alternate universes and coming back. The only difference is that Shinji ends up numb, broken and on the verge of suicide, while Simon snaps out of it, Takes A Level In Badass, and becomes even more awesome than Kamina.
  • Does the Instrumentality sequence at the end of End of Evangelion happen in reverse in episode 26 in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, where the spirit of Kamina rescues the characters bodily from the Anti-Spiral's illusory world?
  • The Anti-Spirals already created giant robots of their own to fight against... something (not sure what). They slowly realized that the more they fought, the faster they doomed themselves. They gave in to dispair and Instrumentalized themselves, becoming an all-powerful being that could bend the very fabric of reality.
    • They may be the very individuals who remained Instrumentalized as LCL.
• * Half the friggin' North American dub cast.
  • This can be explained as ADV having a sense of humor about this sort of deal; also, Gainax were not innocent of this crime ether. Nia's Japanese VA was the voice of Nono in Diebuster.
  • Alas, ADV Films' financial troubles and Bandai's opportunism have eliminated this point. Doesn't change who ADV was going to cast.
• In Kamina's "Don't believe..." speeches to Simon, the verb translated as "believe," which occurs three or four times in each, is shinjiru. If you weren't thinking of Shinji already, they don't want you to miss the parallel. (What? It's the WMG page.)
• All the parallel universes at the end allows for such possibly canon spin-offs as... everyone going to a high school together.
  • This one isn't a guess.
• Don't forget that they both have movies that retell the end of the series, and in doing so play up the associated trope (Mind Screw in The End of Evangelion and Crazy Is Cool in Lagann-hen.)
• short version: YES!
• Does this mean the Lighter and Softer parallel universe is the past of the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann universe?
• It would also add up to the "Gurren Lagann tells the story of the new testament/Kamina is Jesus/Simon is St. Peter" theory, as it would make the ammount of religious symbolism balance out
• Anti-evangelion can be this anime, want to see Anti-Gurren-Lagann?! See Bokurano...it's truly Anti-Gurren-Lagann

• I've often said that Neon Genesis is not a Deconstruction of Mecha anime. People say it is because of the collateral damage, the Eldritch Abomination nature of the Evas, and the exploration of the pilots psyches from having to fight and kill as children, but all of those have been explored in the Trope Makers of the Mecha genre (respectively, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Mobile Suit Gundam); if anything Eva is an Unbuilt Trope of Harem Genre tropes like Tsundere and Moe. Rather, both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann queer the Real/Super binary in opposite ways: Evangelion has the standard "monsters come to attack the city, so central command deploys one/only a few robot/s as a defense" setup with dark interpersonal conflict themes and realistic limits on the robots, while Gurren Lagann features huge battles with many mecha, and focuses on the fights of one ace pilot and his squad, but has the standard Super Robot themes of environmentalism and believing in yourself and the robots are limited only by the pilots' badassery.

Adding on to this, the series and Neon Genesis Evangelion take place in the same multiverse.

Or, to be more precise, the Lighter and Softer Alternate Universe seen in Episode 26. The over-all more normal and happier universe, combined with the existence of the Angels, could very well bring forth the likes of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The first Anti-Spiral war could've been set sometime between the 21st and 31st century. The Anti-Spirals may have had something similar to the Instrumentality happen to them, or even harness the Angels in order to gain a Hive Mind.

Gurren Lagann is a message to all of Japanese culture, "Be yourself".

Simon's choice of weapon, the villages, and the Anti-Spiral, are all a critique of Japanese culture. Japan doesn't value individualism; rather, they try to stifle it. They have a saying that goes something like "The nail that stands up gets hammered down" (can't remember the exact wording), used to tell kids to just be part of the faceless masses instead of standing tall as who they are, to fade into the background instead of making a difference, to stay in place instead of moving forwards. Sounds like the villages, right? Moving forwards is all Simon can do. A drill can't be used to build, to repair, or anything of the sort; all it can do is make a path. Simon can't just stay in the box society wants him to conform to, he has to push the boundaries and break out, to carve his own path into the future. He has to be himself, instead of crumbling like his society wants. He's symbolic of the need for individualism, and how it can propel a society to new heights.

Conversely, Kamina (and his father) is a warning against foolhardiness, and against trying to be someone you aren't. While you can't limit yourself to only be on the same level as the lowest common denominator, you can't just ignore all of society's mores, either. Similarly, you have to be yourself, or standing out is all for naught. Kamina tried to be someone he wasn't, and while it helped Simon to stand on his own too feet, it got him killed in the process. If you try to force yourself to be someone else, it doesn't matter how much of an individual or a faceless goon you are: it's not really you.

So, yet another of Gurren Lagann's many messages is clear: Don't throw your individualism away to conform to society, and don't change your personality just to stand out. Be yourself, you'll never truly live any other way. While that's liable to be met with a "Well, duh" over here, it could make a world of difference to someone in Japan. "Row row, fight da powah" indeed.

Gurren Lagann is an allegory...

For making a good work of fiction: if you rely on too many Plot Devices and Deus ex Machinas, the series won't be able to stand on its own. You won't be able to create any drama or tension, because everyone already knows the heroes are going to win no matter what. And if you can't create any tension, any excitement, your fanbase will just find it boring, and they'll just stop watching/reading/playing/whatever. That's what Spiral Nemesis is, the series Jumping the Shark to the point where it collapses on itself and everyone just gives up on it. In this case, AS would be an overbearing editor, and Simon would be an upcoming writer/animator/etc. While the editor may be too zealous in their desire to cut out "problematic" elements, you can't just ignore them and throw in everything you want to. You have to know what (or who) has to be cut to keep the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, or at least the interest of the fanbase. In this case, Kamina is a writer Simon looked up to, who refused to listen to the editors, and in the end lost all of his fans. Kittan is a character's final death, to tell the audience that actions have consequences now, and that the heroes will actually have to earn their victory. Nia is an element that the writer finds appealing, but reluctantly wrote out because he couldn't make the series work with her in it (a bit of a stretch, perhaps, but if she stayed alive, it would kinda defeat the purpose of trying to prevent the Spiral Nemesis by using Spiral Power sparingly instead of solving all your problems with it). Alternatively, Nia is a sign of the protagonist's Character Development over the series; compare Simon's reaction to Kamina's death (rendered useless for a few episodes as he wallows in despair, until ultimately discovering what Kamina had been trying to teach him all along) to his reaction to Nia's death (he knows beforehand that she's going to die, and instead of moping, makes the best of the time he has left with her). Passing the Core Drill along is a Sequel Hook, to allow the writer to continue the story if they so desire. The Distant Finale allows the writer to put the characters in new roles, without anyone questioning it (no one expects a character's life to remain exactly the same after a Time Skip), and makes it easier to give the series as a whole closure.

The entire series of Gurren-Lagann is one long love letter to the giant robot concept in general.

This one should, really, be obvious... but I figure it has to be written down.
The first fourth of the series (episodes 1-8) is almost literally a direct Expy of the 1960s super robot shows. Things like Mazinger Z and Getter Robo were incredibly formulaic and often disreguarded what few rules they invented if the show needed it. We can see this leaking through into the show via lovely examples like Kamina trying to combine their mecha in episode 3 (it works because... it just does), other mecha combinations not working in episode 4 (because... they just don't) and having many nonsensical plots in general (hello episode 6!). As if this wasn't enough, characterization tended to run rampant (Kamina's Flanderization into a Jerkass throughout episodes 4-6) and many episodes would run completely off-model (the QUALITY of episode 4, easily). As this story arc reached the end, we finally saw our '1960s-era main' of Kamina being phased out of the spotlight as Simon finally took the controls in episode 7 for the first time - and this arc ended with the death of Kamina in episode 8... the proverbial loss of innocence of the time.

The second fourth of the series (episodes 8-15) doesn't change much from the previous arc, but very much is more in line with the 1970s of giant robots. Plots are less episodic and feel more 'tied together' with a vague story arc, much like the later shows of the 1970s like Voltes, Combattler and Daimos. We also begin to get the hints of technobabble as things like 'Spiral Power' are mentioned in a hand-wave to how the mecha are powered - and our villains even begin to develop as characters. The latter is something that was almost completely ignored until shows like Voltes and Gundam premiered in the last three years of the 1970s. The ending of this story arc, of course, ends with the final battle with our villain... who, as it turns out, isn't completely evil either. The fact that Lord Genome comes off as a Well-Intentioned Extremist in his final fight is just proof that the show itself has evolved toward the deeper 1970s shows from the shallower 1960s anime.

Our third segment of the series (episodes 17-23ish) shows vast changes, however, as we hit the 1980s. As Gundam vastly changed the concept of giant robots with having armies of not-so-special robots, we see the Graparal show up for duty - an MP version of the Gurren-Lagann in general. And rather than having over-the-top weaponry, these MP units simply have pistols and guns that are simple to replicate and re-arm. Also tying in with the simple fact that mecha shows slowly moved to develop the characters more in the 1980s (thanks to the premier of the OVAs, allowing for shows to focus less on being Merchandise-Driven), the entire cast begin to grow as characters... getting actual development sometimes for the first time in the series. Compared to the first half of the series, this section of the show is almost a drastic shock - which is what the 1980s themselves were to the robot anime genre in general.

The final segment of the series (22ish through the end) is, of course, a love letter through to the modern day of giant robots. Things begin to get psychotic in scale and action (GaoGaiGar), a psychological slant slips into the series (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and the so-called horrible villains become simply a mass species of well intentioned extremists who took their deeds too far. The metaphor breaks down a little at this point - but only because the show itself has finally caught up to the era it's being made in.
Of course, that's just my personal theory on the show and themes within...

(Alternative, based on a theory seen elsewhere: the first fourth is Getter Robo/Mazinger etc. (i.e. the 1960s-70s) with the single combining Super Robot, the second is Gundam-esque/1980s with the mecha team/army on a Cool Ship, the third is Evangelion-esque/1990s with everything getting dark and angsty and things like civilian casualties/hatred of the heroes being prominent, and the finale is a distillation of all the best bits of 30+ years of mecha anime into one giant Moment of Awesome.)

• I agree Gurren Lagann is a love letter to the genre, but actually, you get the evolution of the genre quite wrong, since all elements you think were added in the eighties or nineties were present at the beginning. Mazinger Z and Getter Robo were pretty dark back then, they did not disregard their own rules, and technobabble were already present (Photon Energy and Getter rays). People DIED -often in horrible ways-, cities were destroyed -and they were not magically reconstructed in the next episode-, the heroes often were target of civilian hatred in many episodes, and the villains were of the Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds (Dr. Hell) or Well-Intentioned Extremist (King Gol) kind. And Getter Robo is, actually, a Cosmic Horror Story, with heroes are Axe-Crazy or Blood Knight. And then you have Zambot 3 high quote of mindscrewness... Super Robot Genre has always been pretty more complex than it is credited for.
• Huh... But wasn't it sorta declared canon by Gainax themselves?
  • I think it was.
  • It was a 2ch fan rumour, and probably a false one given how strongly Getter Robo influenced the last arc is. In fact, TTGL's four arcs could just as easily match up with Getter Robo's four arcs than any supposed "mecha trends."
• It fits perfectly with a little detail we can find in episode 17 - a song from Show Within a Show based on Simon's and Kamina's adventures. It sound suspiciously familiar to Mazinger Z -style opening.

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann is Gainax's response to Epicureanism.

Now, everything in the series makes sense. Spiral Power in special.

Gurren Lagann exists to figure out the limits of Rule of Cool.

Gainax, after getting out of the apocalypse of Neon Genesis Evangelion and gaining a new love for the Rule of Cool, wanted to see just how awesome something could possibly get. To find out, they required a universe that ran solely on the Rule of Cool, increased in orders of magnitude and included such Large Ham that even Vegeta would be dumbfounded at it. Spiral Nemesis is the theoretical limit to the Rule of Cool-going beyond would either result in the universe being destroyed or becoming so good it's BAD. Kamina became aware of the show and the reason it exists-then decided screw with the script so that the series doesn't end in the Spiral Nemesis and Simon wouldn't die. Originally Kamina wasn't killed off early, however this was changed by Kamina because had he survived, his inherent awesomeness would trigger the Spiral Nemesis. Thus, for the sake of the fiction he existed in, Kamina had to let himself be killed off early. It being an awesome death was a little something Kamina gave to himself.

There will be a reboot of TTGL in which Kamina lives...

Gainax's other Humongous Mecha series got one, so...

• Either that, or Nia lives. Or BOTH of them AND Kittan live.
• Would you settle for a fanfic?
  • The above link is quite broken. As was a little piece of my heart when I found out.
• Well, if we ever get an adaptation like that, I would expect a huge deconstruction. If you follow the chain of events in the show, Kamina's death actually allowed Simon to kill the Anti-Spiral.

The series has a Green Aesop.

Just phrased differently and, unlike most other things in the series, subtle (and yet still turned up to eleven). "Conserve resources or you'll destroy the Earth" is Anvillicious. "Conserve Spiral Energy or you'll destroy the Universe" is a theme of the end of the show.

• Missed the point. It's not that they'll conserve spiral energy, it's that they'll continue to become better and fight for Spiral Energy, but when the Spiral Nemesis comes, they'll fight that too.

Gainax intentionally applied their head-trippiness to the beginning of the series instead of the end.

Wanting to expand on their reputation for confusion, instead of a Gainax Ending, the studio made Gurren-Lagann with a Gainax Opening which is completely inexplicable in the context of the series. See the first three five seven entries on this page, all of which are about 30 seconds of animation.

• Besides, don't you find it curious that Studio Gainax, a studio that insists on doing confusing, cryptic, downer endings, did a simple, straightforward, and fairly happy ending?
  • No. The entire show was born out of them being exhausted with constant depression. The entire show is supposed to be different from their standard stuff.

Nia's death was intentional Fanon Discontinuity bait.

It seems difficult to believe that the creators would intentionally betray the themes of perseverance and determination in Gurren Lagann by having the ending simply be Team Dai-Gurren giving up and accepting a subpar reality. Nia's death doesn't make sense on several levels. But what if that's the point?

We aren't meant to simply accept this. This is a TEST- we're supposed to reject it, to create a better ending, because that's what Team Dai-Gurren would have done.

Plus, let's be honest- the next level of Serial Escalation at this point would absolutely be the fourth wall.