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Episode Summary

A seemingly desctructive interstellar war is errupting as it probably has been for some time. On the bridge of a certain warship, a frantic crew desperately tries to keep the systems online. An obvious hotshot member of the crew simply sneers, clutching a small object that looks like a drill. “Don’t lose your cool. C’mon… let’s show them just who they’re messing with!” The hotshot moves outside the ship (I’m not sure how he was breathing in space. Maybe it’s not in space, but at night?) and shouts “Gurren Lagann! Spin on!” Afterward the warship transforms into a giant robot. We are then left with the title screen.

After the energetic opening, we’re moved to a less energetic underground town, Jiiha Village, where a digger named Simon does a voice over to explain his situation. His job is to dig with a drill and expand the town, but he really does it because you can find treasures in there. He finds such a treasure, and it looks remarkably like the drill object that the hotshot guy on the battleship had. While he makes a necklace out of it, a group of girls comments on the fact that he’s a dirty loser.

While walking, he bumps into someone he knows. A guy named Kamina. Kamina tells him that the drill object looks good on him, as the drill is his soul. He then announces with exhuberance that his drill is a drill that will pierce the heavens. It quickly becomes obvious through antics that Kamina and his group, the Gurren-dan, dream of reaching the surface. It seems that others do not share their goals.

The Elder winds up locking Kamina in confinement after his failed attempt at getting to the surface, warning him that there’s nothing up there anyway. Kamina claims that he’s already seen it with his father, but is met with accusations of lying. They think his dad was crazy.

After an earthquake scares the townspeople, except for Kamina and Simon, into hiding, we get a feel for the situation in this town. They live in constant fear of earthquakes, because of cave-ins. Simon’s parents were both killed by an earthquake, and it seems that most of the people in the town are orphans of similar circumstances.

Simon seems to like digging enough that he digs for fun. On one such occasion, he finds another treasure glowing in a tunnel. He rushes off to find Kamina, and helps him escape from his confinement so that he can show him the “really huge face” that he found. They are caught by the elder, however, who gives Kamina a brutal lashing with the scabbard of the katana he carries around. Kamina takes it without flinching, even when hit in the face. The last hit of the lashing falls short when a big earthquake jostles everyone off of their feet. The town is flooded with light as a large object breaks through the ceiling of the town. The large object proves to be a monster.

After a huge display of bravado from Kamina, gunshots are heard hitting the monster. Upon looking up, Kamina and Simon see a woman sliding down a rope. She has a huge gun that she’s firing at the monster, and wears little clothing. After a fight and bickering between Kamina and the woman, Simon leads them to the “really huge face” that he found in the tunnel. They find out that the big face is some sort of vehicle, and that it seems to respond to the drill object that Simon found earlier. Simon uses the drill object as a key, and the big face sprouts arms and legs, and is immediately off. Kamina proves once again that he has a big mouth, and announced that Lagann, the big face which he just named, will destroy the monster. Through more antics and flailing around, they accidentally make the monster hit itself in the head. Then, through sheer chance, they discover that Lagann has a drill weapon. With this, Simon successfully defeats the big monster and flies it out of the town. They then realise that they themselves are out of the town. The woman identifies herself as Yoko, and the introduction is official.

After Lagann comes crashing down, Simon winds up with his face buried in Yoko’s chest. Not only does she not mind, but she pulls him back in when he gets up. It’s then shown that this is because she saw the other monsters behind them. It seems the surface world is infested with giant face-monsters.

Characters

Simon

Eurkos: Simon is the typical loser-kid-turns-hero. He’s shy and quiet, and is a perfect match for the accidentally-found mecha. I’m glad he’s not angsty or anything. He seems more innocent and open-minded than other protagonists, which will either make him fall farther when he does fall, or make him strong enough to not fall at all.

Calophi: It’s weird that Simon is a loser-kid, seeing as how without the job he does there would be no city expansion. He seems really young, though it could be that he has a growth thing going on and that’s why he was made a digger. He’s definitely innocent and a little skittish, but once he got the mecha started he was ready to rock, which was great. I hope he stays like this instead of becoming all angsty.

Kamina

Eurkos: Kamina acts like a guy who’s bark is worse than his bite. Something tells me that he’ll be able to back stuff up, though. He seems like he’s not afraid of anything, and fails to see the gravity of whatever situation he’s in. He also seems like a good person for Simon to be around. He’ll most likely back Simon up well.

Calophi: Kamina is full of testosterone and has a huge ego, but like Eurkos says I’m not all that sure that his statements about himself are as exaggerated as it seems. He’s a very fun-loving and optimistic sort of guy, and an older-brother type for Simon, which seems to be what Simon needs right now.

Yoko

Eurkos: Yoko is tough and smart, but still has her fair share of girlish-ness. She blushes and gets upset when Kamina calls her fatass, but then doesn’t seem to mind when Simon winds up buried in her chest. She and Kamina bickered for most of the episode, which leads me to think that they are similar people. She will also probably prove to be a good friend to Simon.

Calophi: “Doesn’t seem to mind” is putting it lightly - Yoko smiles up at Simon when he lands in her chest, and then squashes him there to protect him at the end of the episode. She’s a kick-ass sort of girl who dislikes being insulted but isn’t the type to beat someone up for an accident like other tomboy types. I liked the bickering between her and Kamina, and I’m thinking she’ll become an older sister type to Simon.

Storyline Thoughts

Eurkos: I’m a sucker for the post-apocalyptic stuff, which this seems to be. I’m already curious as to what happened to the planet, and why the big-face things are around. I also wanna know more about Lagann, and what his deal is. Knowing more about the war thing in the beginning and the transforming ship wouldn’t hurt, either.

Calophi: I’m actually not that curious about the storyline at all here. I enjoyed this show because it was, well, retarded. There is one point that I’m interested in though - why were these people underground? Did they go under while the planet was still thriving? Was the big-face-things the reason or some other thing that left the faces behind? Why did all the underground communities lose contact with each other?

Final Verdict

Eurkos: Not the top of my list, but not the bottom. Easily makes it into the 6-episode test. I very much hope, should it past the 6 test, that the ending isn’t bad. Gainax tends to not manage budget properly, and then flake out on the ending because of it. Here’s hoping they have it planned out.

Calophi: This is actually nearer to the bottom of my list. After watching so many series this season, I’ve been growing less and less interested in it. It still makes it into the 6 episode test of course, and as long as it stays as light and fun as it is now and doesn’t drive deep into angst, it’ll pass.