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Simon (Gurren Lagann)
Encyclopedia
is the central protagonist of the anime
and manga
series, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. He begins the story as a short, unassuming and lonely young boy, but grows up to be a tall, commanding and well-loved young man. To many more, he is a legendary hero who overcomes impossible odds and great personal adversity for the good of mankind. Simon is the first character seen in the prologue of the anime series, and is the only character to appear in every episode of Gurren-Lagann.
word for , tying in with a theme for most of the main characters to have names based around location, direction, or distance. This implies a bit of irony, as Simon controls the Gurren-Lagann from on top of the Gurren inside the Lagann, while Kamina, who is named after the Japanese word for pilots it from underneath the Lagann inside the Gurren.
Though valued as one of the most skilled diggers in Giha Village, Simon is ignored by the adults and snubbed by the girls, who consider him disgusting because of his peculiar habits and odd smell. Lacking parental figures to help him mature, along with his fear of earthquakes, Simon is plagued by low self-esteem and has many cowardly tendencies. Even after his friendship with Kamina, he continues to act cowardly and doubts his own abilities. However, Kamina's inspirational speeches gives Simon just enough confidence to endure his fears and to accomplish something. Young Simon is also susceptible to bouts of intense determination, such as when he charged at the Gunzar (later, the Gurren) and the Enki.
In Part II, Simon is thrown into a maddening, pervasive depression
, driving him to be overly aggressive in combat toward his enemies. Although the entire Team Dai-Gurren is mired in low morale, Simon is particularly affected as he feels he is personally responsible for the tragedy that befell the entire team. His psychotic outbursts and pessimistic comments further isolate him among the Team, even as some members reach out to him. Simon's meeting with the mysterious Nia helps him come to a revelation about his own nature, leading to him putting aside all fears and doubts in favour of courage and confidence. He also manages to come up with his own original inspirational speeches, though some team members feel he needs some work.
As an adult in Part III, Simon acts no differently from his child self in Part II, though he is considerably lazier. He grows significantly, and stands taller than Kamina at a bit more than 6-feet. At this time, Simon wears stylish white oxford shoes and long pants, with a white collared shirt and an embroidered blue, red, and gold jacket, topped off with a red sash. Simon is quite shy with love, having gathered the courage to propose marriage to Nia seven years after Part II. He is also revealed to be excessively optimistic and naïve, allowing Rossiu to character assassinate
him and refusing to cease attempts to reconcile with Nia.
In Part IV, Simon has a change of wardrobe, wearing grey low-rise jeans
, a black neck brace and plastic black haramaki
, and donning a long, indigo trenchcoat with red accents, sporting the Team Dai-Gurren logo on the back. Part IV marks a significant and abrupt change in character for Simon; he no longer has a driving desire to better the world, but is satisfied to let human life lead its own course. Especially evident during the final battle, Simon's physique and hairstyle now more resemble Kamina's than his own. With his life having peaked in the final battle for the universe, Simon hands off all of his personal responsibilities to his friends, and leads a lonely but seemingly content low-profile life well into the epilogue.
At age seven, Simon's parents were killed before his eyes in a cave-in during an earthquake. The incident traumatized him and gave him a phobia for earthquakes. Simon then devoted his entire existence to his job, earning him the scorn from his peers. Only Kamina, the local gang leader and juvenile delinquent, reached out to Simon. Kamina "recruited" Simon into "Team Gurren" by dragging him along on outrageous schemes to escape Giha Village to the surface, which Kamina claims he had visited as a young boy. Though Simon was an outcast, he would always feel more comfortable around Kamina. In one instance, Kamina and the other members were trapped in a small hole caused by an earthquake; everyone was scared, but Kamina's pep talks to Simon motivates the digger to drill a tunnel out of the barricade. After this incident, Kamina and Simon grew so close that they could have been called brothers.
One day, during the digging of a new tunnel, Simon discovers a small drill-shaped object that periodically glows, an item known as the Core Drill. On the same day, he unearths a large "face" in the ground, and shows it to Yoko and Kamina after Giha Village is attacked by a large Gunmen. The face is revealed to be a miniature Gunmen, and the Core Drill Simon dug up is the key to starting it. With the aid of this mech, which Kamina names the "Lagann", Simon destroys the large Gunmen attacking Giha and rises to the surface world.
. However, for much of Part I, Simon is depicted as a sidekick
to Kamina, his very presence overshadowed by his much more charismatic friend. Although Simon forms a fast friendship with the similarly aged Rossiu, and is admired by Rossiu's wards Gimmy and Darry, he often goes unnoticed or ignored by older members, particularly his crush, Yoko. This treatment of Simon ultimately proves fatal for Kamina when Yoko, oblivious to Simon's feelings for her, confesses her affection for Kamina with a kiss in front of a bewildered Simon (though both Yoko and Kamina are unaware that Simon is watching). This upsets Simon and disrupts his ability to control the Lagann, forcing Kamina to supervise him. While Kamina is caught off guard, Divine General Thymilph surprises and fatally stabs Kamina, eventually killing him.
The guilt over Kamina's death reduces the morale for the Team Gurren, but it affects Simon to an extreme - mentally broken, bitter and depressed, his eyes evidencing extreme emotional indifference, becoming hostile to friend and foe alike. Few members have any faith in Simon's capacity as a leader, and a power struggle begins between Simon and Kittan, ending in Simon soullessly yielding his rank. His psychotic tendencies have an adverse effect on the Gurren-Lagann, leading to surge
s of spiral energy that disrupt the mech's basic functioning, causing it to fall apart. The Lagann rejects Simon, deeming him unfit to pilot it properly in his unstable state.
It is during this state Simon meets Nia, and the two immediately develop a strong friendship. Continually inspired and touched by her kindness and sincerity, Simon regains his composure to fight, renaming himself Simon the Digger. After this display, he is unanimously elected Team Gurren's new leader.
Upon defeating the Spiral King and putting an end to the war against the Beastmen, Simon becomes commander-in-chief of the city founded on Teppelin's remains, Kamina City, (named after Kamina ) and effectively the leader of humanity and of Earth. During the seven years since their victory, the city flourishes by his and the Team Gurren's efforts, bringing a long sought period of peace. However, just after proposing marriage to Nia and receiving her positive reply, the one millionth human child is born, triggering the Anti-Spiral Human Annihilation System. Nia, who is turned into the Anti-Spirals' messenger, reveals to the population the whole truth behind their intentions and the reason why they plan to wipe out mankind, triggering a revolt from the people of Kamina City against the government, who destroys Kamina's statue and asks for Simon's head. In a maneuver to calm down the angry mob, Simon is betrayed by his second-in-command, Rossiu, who removes him from power and holds a mock trial where Simon is sentenced to death.
Incarcerated in the Lincarne Prison until the day of his execution, he ends up meeting Viral, an old enemy of his, and after causing a commotion among the prisoners, both are sent to individual cells. During Simon's attempted escape, Nia appears before them and their ensuing conversation is interrupted by Yoko who broke into the prison in order to rescue him. Before leaving, Simon also sets Viral free and the trio encounters the rest of the reformed Team Gurren who is finished with their preparations to retaliate against the Anti-Spirals.
With Viral piloting the Gurren, Simon and his companions rush into space to protect the Arc-Gurren from a massive Anti-Spiral attack, forming the Arc-Gurren-Lagann in the process. After confronting Nia and making her briefly revert to her old self, Simon manages to convince her to let him stop the Human Annihilation System by taking control of the Cathedral Terra and keeping it from falling on Earth. Unfortunately, Nia is teleported back to the Anti-Spirals' homeworld, causing Simon to swear to rescue her. Leaving Rossiu at the command of Kamina City in his absence, Simon and the rest of Team Gurren take control of the Cathedral Terra, renamed the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, and launch themselves into deep space to recover Nia from the grasp of the Anti-Spirals.
Twenty years later, an elder Simon having only a staff tipped with a large drill and his loyal pet Boota by his side is seen in the outskirts of Kamina City. The epilogue reveals that the elder Simon is the opening narrator for all of the episodes in the series.
Simon's personality is also considerably different; while the Simon seen in the series was laid-back and non-confrontational, this Simon is much more bold and daring, ordering his ship to obliterate a task force of the despite being horribly outnumbered. At his side is an older version of Boota, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Rossiu's bureaucratic uniform, and the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren Simon commands appears to share some designs with the Dai-Gunzan.
. One of his most important abilities for much of the series is that, when Simon is driven to give his best during combat, his spiral power increases exponentially in an instant, while increasing the power of his mecha and his allies at the same time, something that was initially inspired by Kamina. By the end of the second film, Simon's spiral power is implied to be infinite. He can also create matter out of nothing (defying the law of mass-energy conservation), as he occasionally uses his spiral energy (created from his will alone) to create new and exponentially larger versions of his Gurren Lagann mecha later in the series, by which point he creates weapons larger than most galaxies
(or in the second Gurren Lagann film, weapons that are almost the size of a universe
). Later in the series, it shows him having powers on a multi-dimensional scale that can distort the spacetime continuum
, while the epilogue shows Simon having metaphysical
powers and compares him to a 'God
', implying that he may have acquired omnipotence
.
Early in the series with the Lagann and Gurren Lagann mecha, he can use his drill in various ways, ranging from projectiles and missiles to shields, water screws
and various melee applications. Some of these applications include the Lagann Impact which can combine with other machines by piercing them with its drills, the Giga Drill Break which forms a huge amount of spiral energy into an enormous drill or number of drills much bigger than the mecha itself (an ability he also learnt from Kamina), a durable energy shield which can deflect energy blasts even at short range, the ability to wield the sunglasses on the Gurren's chest as a melee weapon, a regenerative function which can restore accumulated damage, and the power to rip open a worm hole in space to travel great distances. Simon is the only character who uses the Giga Drill Break and lives, any other character in the series performs the move in self-sacrifice or near death. Later in the series, with the Arc-Gurren Lagann and Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann mecha, he has the ability to rip the fabric of space-time itself through sheer brute force, and sports an enormous array of missiles, beam weapons and shielding capabilities. The Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann can transverse to other dimensions and universes, has the manufacturing capabilities to create hundreds of Arc-Gurren Lagann sized mecha in a small period of time, is capable of both deflecting and destroying objects on a planetary scale with ease, and is equipped with thousands of cannons that appear from the threads of the mecha's drills, each capable of shooting a beam straight through the time-space continuum, used for hitting targets regardless of their locality and temporality
in the multiverse, being able to hit targets in the past, present and future.
In the final episode, Simon combines his own spiral energy with that of his comrades to create the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is more than a hundred times larger than the Milky Way
galaxy. The actual limit of the mecha's abilities is immeasurable, as it gains an infinite amount of power depending on the pilots' will to win; it fights the Anti-Spiral (a being depicted as omniscient
and omnipresent
on a multiversal scale) at forces powerful enough to create and destroy entire universes, being able to absorb the Anti-Spiral's Infinity Big Bang Storm (more powerful than the Big Bang
). The battle was so intense that it was shown to rip holes through various dimensions, showing that the power of each was on a God-like scale, furthered by the fact that they can alter the fundamental laws of reality, such as altering probability and creating matter larger than most galaxies out of thin air. According to the creators, Tengen Toppa also has the ability to create an entire Super Spiral Space universe within itself, allowing recognition to become reality. The epilogue also shows that Simon alone has the metaphysical ability to extend anyone's life and revive everyone back from the dead, but he refuses to do so in order to avoid a possible 'Spiral Nemesis'. In the epilogue, Yoko explains to Gimmy that he should stop viewing Simon as a 'God', implying that Simon may be omnipotent.
More powers and abilities are shown in the film Gurren Lagann: Spiral Stone Chapter. It shows Simon escaping from and absorbing the Multiverse Labyrinth of "infinite possibilities" created by the Anti-Spiral; Simon combines it with his own spiral energy and that of his comrades to create the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. After absorbing the Infinity Big Bang Storm, he combines that energy with his own spiral energy (and that of his comrades) to create the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which purely consists of spiral energy in the form of a faceless entity resembling both Simon and Kamina, and it is more than a hundred times larger than its preceding form. Its powerful Super Tengen Toppa Giga Drill Breaker is almost the size of a universe; when it collided with a similar and equal attack from the Anti-Spiral, it caused the entire universe the fight was held in to collapse on itself as a side-effect caused by the ripples from their drills. Following the defeat of the Super Tengen Toppa at the hands of the Anti-Spiral, Simon's spiral power is further emphasized, showing him surpassing the power level that the Super Tengen Toppa was previously at using only the smallest and weakest form of the Gurren Lagann, and then matching that same power level without any mecha at all. After the Anti-Spiral shatters the Super Tengen Toppa's Giga Drill, the latter is forced to downgrade to the smallest form of the Gurren Lagann; despite the infinitesimally smaller mecha, Simon manages to summon enough spiral power to destroy the Anti-Spiral's Giga Drill. In the end, the Anti-Spiral is defeated by Simon alone, without any mecha; Simon engages the Anti-Spiral in a fist fight, and he uses some of his own blood to create a drill powerful enough to defeat the Anti-Spiral.
s from several previous Gainax
anime: Shinji Ikari
from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
, Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster
, and Ken Kubo from Otaku no Video
.
In the first eight episodes, Simon's personality is similar to Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion in that he is a hesitant participant in the resistance movement
and is often terrified of battle. The next seven episodes then follows a coming of age
arc for Simon, as he recovers from depression
and reluctantly leads a revolution
. In the eleven-episode final arc, which begins after a time skip, Simon must deal with the consequences of his revolution, drawing parallels with Ken Kubo in Otaku no Video.
Simon's clothing in the first half of the series resembles the clothing worn by Ryu in the video game Breath of Fire 5: Dragon Quarter
.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. He begins the story as a short, unassuming and lonely young boy, but grows up to be a tall, commanding and well-loved young man. To many more, he is a legendary hero who overcomes impossible odds and great personal adversity for the good of mankind. Simon is the first character seen in the prologue of the anime series, and is the only character to appear in every episode of Gurren-Lagann.
Etymology
Simon's name comes from the JapaneseJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word for , tying in with a theme for most of the main characters to have names based around location, direction, or distance. This implies a bit of irony, as Simon controls the Gurren-Lagann from on top of the Gurren inside the Lagann, while Kamina, who is named after the Japanese word for pilots it from underneath the Lagann inside the Gurren.
Character description
As a boy, Simon is physically underdeveloped for his age (early teens), standing at around 5-feet tall. He wears a long sleeved blue and red jacket and brown shorts, topped with a pair of yellow and red goggles and brown work shoes. He has indigo hair and wide eyes with small pupils, and his iris color was eventually revealed to be an almost the same color as his hair. Simon also ties on shin guards and sports a cloth waistband, and the Core Drill hangs from a fastened leather string around his neck. Originally, Simon wore a dusty brown cloak, which eased his passage through the narrow tunnels of the underground, but this cloak was blown off by the wind during the initial escape from Giha Village.Though valued as one of the most skilled diggers in Giha Village, Simon is ignored by the adults and snubbed by the girls, who consider him disgusting because of his peculiar habits and odd smell. Lacking parental figures to help him mature, along with his fear of earthquakes, Simon is plagued by low self-esteem and has many cowardly tendencies. Even after his friendship with Kamina, he continues to act cowardly and doubts his own abilities. However, Kamina's inspirational speeches gives Simon just enough confidence to endure his fears and to accomplish something. Young Simon is also susceptible to bouts of intense determination, such as when he charged at the Gunzar (later, the Gurren) and the Enki.
In Part II, Simon is thrown into a maddening, pervasive depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, driving him to be overly aggressive in combat toward his enemies. Although the entire Team Dai-Gurren is mired in low morale, Simon is particularly affected as he feels he is personally responsible for the tragedy that befell the entire team. His psychotic outbursts and pessimistic comments further isolate him among the Team, even as some members reach out to him. Simon's meeting with the mysterious Nia helps him come to a revelation about his own nature, leading to him putting aside all fears and doubts in favour of courage and confidence. He also manages to come up with his own original inspirational speeches, though some team members feel he needs some work.
As an adult in Part III, Simon acts no differently from his child self in Part II, though he is considerably lazier. He grows significantly, and stands taller than Kamina at a bit more than 6-feet. At this time, Simon wears stylish white oxford shoes and long pants, with a white collared shirt and an embroidered blue, red, and gold jacket, topped off with a red sash. Simon is quite shy with love, having gathered the courage to propose marriage to Nia seven years after Part II. He is also revealed to be excessively optimistic and naïve, allowing Rossiu to character assassinate
Character assassination
Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person...
him and refusing to cease attempts to reconcile with Nia.
In Part IV, Simon has a change of wardrobe, wearing grey low-rise jeans
Low-rise jeans
Low-rise jeans, worn by both men and women, are jeans intended to sit low on, or below, the hips. They are also called lowcut jeans, hipsters, hip-huggers and lowriders. Usually they sit at least 8 centimetres lower than the belly button...
, a black neck brace and plastic black haramaki
Haramaki
Haramaki is a type chest armour worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan and their retainers.-Description:Haramaki were originally constructed with the same materials as the o-yoroi but designed for foot soldiers to use as opposed to the o-yoroi which was for mounted warfare...
, and donning a long, indigo trenchcoat with red accents, sporting the Team Dai-Gurren logo on the back. Part IV marks a significant and abrupt change in character for Simon; he no longer has a driving desire to better the world, but is satisfied to let human life lead its own course. Especially evident during the final battle, Simon's physique and hairstyle now more resemble Kamina's than his own. With his life having peaked in the final battle for the universe, Simon hands off all of his personal responsibilities to his friends, and leads a lonely but seemingly content low-profile life well into the epilogue.
History
Simon was born in Giha Village, one of many subterranean civilizations on Planet Earth in the far future. Unlike other villages, Giha Village had supplies of fresh water, animals (Pigmoles) for food and electric generators for light. In spite of this, there was an ever-present threat of cave-ins from earthquakes, so the village chief employs diggers from the energetic and maneuverable youth to create new routes for the city to expand. Simon became one of them, and quickly distinguishes himself as one of the best diggers.At age seven, Simon's parents were killed before his eyes in a cave-in during an earthquake. The incident traumatized him and gave him a phobia for earthquakes. Simon then devoted his entire existence to his job, earning him the scorn from his peers. Only Kamina, the local gang leader and juvenile delinquent, reached out to Simon. Kamina "recruited" Simon into "Team Gurren" by dragging him along on outrageous schemes to escape Giha Village to the surface, which Kamina claims he had visited as a young boy. Though Simon was an outcast, he would always feel more comfortable around Kamina. In one instance, Kamina and the other members were trapped in a small hole caused by an earthquake; everyone was scared, but Kamina's pep talks to Simon motivates the digger to drill a tunnel out of the barricade. After this incident, Kamina and Simon grew so close that they could have been called brothers.
One day, during the digging of a new tunnel, Simon discovers a small drill-shaped object that periodically glows, an item known as the Core Drill. On the same day, he unearths a large "face" in the ground, and shows it to Yoko and Kamina after Giha Village is attacked by a large Gunmen. The face is revealed to be a miniature Gunmen, and the Core Drill Simon dug up is the key to starting it. With the aid of this mech, which Kamina names the "Lagann", Simon destroys the large Gunmen attacking Giha and rises to the surface world.
Role
Most of the Team Gurren's early successes are directly because of Simon, particularly in the capture of the Gunzar (later, the Gurren) and entrapping the Dai-Gunzan in a desert sinkholeSinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
. However, for much of Part I, Simon is depicted as a sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
to Kamina, his very presence overshadowed by his much more charismatic friend. Although Simon forms a fast friendship with the similarly aged Rossiu, and is admired by Rossiu's wards Gimmy and Darry, he often goes unnoticed or ignored by older members, particularly his crush, Yoko. This treatment of Simon ultimately proves fatal for Kamina when Yoko, oblivious to Simon's feelings for her, confesses her affection for Kamina with a kiss in front of a bewildered Simon (though both Yoko and Kamina are unaware that Simon is watching). This upsets Simon and disrupts his ability to control the Lagann, forcing Kamina to supervise him. While Kamina is caught off guard, Divine General Thymilph surprises and fatally stabs Kamina, eventually killing him.
The guilt over Kamina's death reduces the morale for the Team Gurren, but it affects Simon to an extreme - mentally broken, bitter and depressed, his eyes evidencing extreme emotional indifference, becoming hostile to friend and foe alike. Few members have any faith in Simon's capacity as a leader, and a power struggle begins between Simon and Kittan, ending in Simon soullessly yielding his rank. His psychotic tendencies have an adverse effect on the Gurren-Lagann, leading to surge
Surge
Surge was a citrus soft drink first introduced in Norway, under the name Urge , by the Coca-Cola Company to compete with Pepsi's Mountain Dew.-History:...
s of spiral energy that disrupt the mech's basic functioning, causing it to fall apart. The Lagann rejects Simon, deeming him unfit to pilot it properly in his unstable state.
It is during this state Simon meets Nia, and the two immediately develop a strong friendship. Continually inspired and touched by her kindness and sincerity, Simon regains his composure to fight, renaming himself Simon the Digger. After this display, he is unanimously elected Team Gurren's new leader.
Upon defeating the Spiral King and putting an end to the war against the Beastmen, Simon becomes commander-in-chief of the city founded on Teppelin's remains, Kamina City, (named after Kamina ) and effectively the leader of humanity and of Earth. During the seven years since their victory, the city flourishes by his and the Team Gurren's efforts, bringing a long sought period of peace. However, just after proposing marriage to Nia and receiving her positive reply, the one millionth human child is born, triggering the Anti-Spiral Human Annihilation System. Nia, who is turned into the Anti-Spirals' messenger, reveals to the population the whole truth behind their intentions and the reason why they plan to wipe out mankind, triggering a revolt from the people of Kamina City against the government, who destroys Kamina's statue and asks for Simon's head. In a maneuver to calm down the angry mob, Simon is betrayed by his second-in-command, Rossiu, who removes him from power and holds a mock trial where Simon is sentenced to death.
Incarcerated in the Lincarne Prison until the day of his execution, he ends up meeting Viral, an old enemy of his, and after causing a commotion among the prisoners, both are sent to individual cells. During Simon's attempted escape, Nia appears before them and their ensuing conversation is interrupted by Yoko who broke into the prison in order to rescue him. Before leaving, Simon also sets Viral free and the trio encounters the rest of the reformed Team Gurren who is finished with their preparations to retaliate against the Anti-Spirals.
With Viral piloting the Gurren, Simon and his companions rush into space to protect the Arc-Gurren from a massive Anti-Spiral attack, forming the Arc-Gurren-Lagann in the process. After confronting Nia and making her briefly revert to her old self, Simon manages to convince her to let him stop the Human Annihilation System by taking control of the Cathedral Terra and keeping it from falling on Earth. Unfortunately, Nia is teleported back to the Anti-Spirals' homeworld, causing Simon to swear to rescue her. Leaving Rossiu at the command of Kamina City in his absence, Simon and the rest of Team Gurren take control of the Cathedral Terra, renamed the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, and launch themselves into deep space to recover Nia from the grasp of the Anti-Spirals.
Epilogue
After the final battle against the Anti-Spirals, Simon finally weds Nia, but the happiness of the event is cut short when her body disappears due to her Anti-Spiral nature. Simon is not surprised, however, as he and Nia knew what would happen beforehand. When Gimmy suggests he use Spiral Power to revive the dead and bring Nia and their allies back to life, Simon refuses, stating that "dead people are dead people." He then gives Lagann's Core Drill to Gimmy and leaves with his companion Boota.Twenty years later, an elder Simon having only a staff tipped with a large drill and his loyal pet Boota by his side is seen in the outskirts of Kamina City. The epilogue reveals that the elder Simon is the opening narrator for all of the episodes in the series.
Prologue
In the prologue to episode one of the anime series, a different version of Simon is featured than the one ultimately seen in the fourth story arc and epilogue. This character sports several cosmetic changes: his pants have waist-high cuffs and are held up by a felt belt with a Team Gurren shaped buckle. Instead of a plastic black waistband, this Simon wears the same cloth band of Kamina's, which is also seen around his neck. Simon's hair is considerably longer, covering his eyes. A metallic rattling can be heard whenever Simon takes a heavy step (a parallel to Captain Harlock) and the colours of the Dai-Gurren shades are different both on Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren's flag and Simon's trenchcoat.Simon's personality is also considerably different; while the Simon seen in the series was laid-back and non-confrontational, this Simon is much more bold and daring, ordering his ship to obliterate a task force of the despite being horribly outnumbered. At his side is an older version of Boota, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Rossiu's bureaucratic uniform, and the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren Simon commands appears to share some designs with the Dai-Gunzan.
Powers and abilities
By the end of the series, Simon becomes the most powerful Spiral warrior in the Gurren Lagann multiverseMultiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
. One of his most important abilities for much of the series is that, when Simon is driven to give his best during combat, his spiral power increases exponentially in an instant, while increasing the power of his mecha and his allies at the same time, something that was initially inspired by Kamina. By the end of the second film, Simon's spiral power is implied to be infinite. He can also create matter out of nothing (defying the law of mass-energy conservation), as he occasionally uses his spiral energy (created from his will alone) to create new and exponentially larger versions of his Gurren Lagann mecha later in the series, by which point he creates weapons larger than most galaxies
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
(or in the second Gurren Lagann film, weapons that are almost the size of a universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
). Later in the series, it shows him having powers on a multi-dimensional scale that can distort the spacetime continuum
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
, while the epilogue shows Simon having metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
powers and compares him to a 'God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
', implying that he may have acquired omnipotence
Omnipotence
Omnipotence is unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence to only the deity of whichever faith is being addressed...
.
Early in the series with the Lagann and Gurren Lagann mecha, he can use his drill in various ways, ranging from projectiles and missiles to shields, water screws
Archimedes' screw
The Archimedes' screw, also called the Archimedean screw or screwpump, is a machine historically used for transferring water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation ditches...
and various melee applications. Some of these applications include the Lagann Impact which can combine with other machines by piercing them with its drills, the Giga Drill Break which forms a huge amount of spiral energy into an enormous drill or number of drills much bigger than the mecha itself (an ability he also learnt from Kamina), a durable energy shield which can deflect energy blasts even at short range, the ability to wield the sunglasses on the Gurren's chest as a melee weapon, a regenerative function which can restore accumulated damage, and the power to rip open a worm hole in space to travel great distances. Simon is the only character who uses the Giga Drill Break and lives, any other character in the series performs the move in self-sacrifice or near death. Later in the series, with the Arc-Gurren Lagann and Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann mecha, he has the ability to rip the fabric of space-time itself through sheer brute force, and sports an enormous array of missiles, beam weapons and shielding capabilities. The Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann can transverse to other dimensions and universes, has the manufacturing capabilities to create hundreds of Arc-Gurren Lagann sized mecha in a small period of time, is capable of both deflecting and destroying objects on a planetary scale with ease, and is equipped with thousands of cannons that appear from the threads of the mecha's drills, each capable of shooting a beam straight through the time-space continuum, used for hitting targets regardless of their locality and temporality
Temporality
Temporality is a term often used in philosophy in talking about the way time is. The traditional mode of temporality is a linear procession of past, present, and future....
in the multiverse, being able to hit targets in the past, present and future.
In the final episode, Simon combines his own spiral energy with that of his comrades to create the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is more than a hundred times larger than the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
galaxy. The actual limit of the mecha's abilities is immeasurable, as it gains an infinite amount of power depending on the pilots' will to win; it fights the Anti-Spiral (a being depicted as omniscient
Omniscience
Omniscience omniscient point-of-view in writing) is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. In Latin, omnis means "all" and sciens means "knowing"...
and omnipresent
Omnipresence
Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present everywhere. According to eastern theism, God is present everywhere. Divine omnipresence is thus one of the divine attributes, although in western theism it has attracted less philosophical attention than such attributes as omnipotence,...
on a multiversal scale) at forces powerful enough to create and destroy entire universes, being able to absorb the Anti-Spiral's Infinity Big Bang Storm (more powerful than the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
). The battle was so intense that it was shown to rip holes through various dimensions, showing that the power of each was on a God-like scale, furthered by the fact that they can alter the fundamental laws of reality, such as altering probability and creating matter larger than most galaxies out of thin air. According to the creators, Tengen Toppa also has the ability to create an entire Super Spiral Space universe within itself, allowing recognition to become reality. The epilogue also shows that Simon alone has the metaphysical ability to extend anyone's life and revive everyone back from the dead, but he refuses to do so in order to avoid a possible 'Spiral Nemesis'. In the epilogue, Yoko explains to Gimmy that he should stop viewing Simon as a 'God', implying that Simon may be omnipotent.
More powers and abilities are shown in the film Gurren Lagann: Spiral Stone Chapter. It shows Simon escaping from and absorbing the Multiverse Labyrinth of "infinite possibilities" created by the Anti-Spiral; Simon combines it with his own spiral energy and that of his comrades to create the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. After absorbing the Infinity Big Bang Storm, he combines that energy with his own spiral energy (and that of his comrades) to create the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, which purely consists of spiral energy in the form of a faceless entity resembling both Simon and Kamina, and it is more than a hundred times larger than its preceding form. Its powerful Super Tengen Toppa Giga Drill Breaker is almost the size of a universe; when it collided with a similar and equal attack from the Anti-Spiral, it caused the entire universe the fight was held in to collapse on itself as a side-effect caused by the ripples from their drills. Following the defeat of the Super Tengen Toppa at the hands of the Anti-Spiral, Simon's spiral power is further emphasized, showing him surpassing the power level that the Super Tengen Toppa was previously at using only the smallest and weakest form of the Gurren Lagann, and then matching that same power level without any mecha at all. After the Anti-Spiral shatters the Super Tengen Toppa's Giga Drill, the latter is forced to downgrade to the smallest form of the Gurren Lagann; despite the infinitesimally smaller mecha, Simon manages to summon enough spiral power to destroy the Anti-Spiral's Giga Drill. In the end, the Anti-Spiral is defeated by Simon alone, without any mecha; Simon engages the Anti-Spiral in a fist fight, and he uses some of his own blood to create a drill powerful enough to defeat the Anti-Spiral.
Influences
Simon goes through three stages in his character development during the three arcs of the series. In some ways, each of these stages in his development were influenced by protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
s from several previous Gainax
Gainax
is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...
anime: Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...
from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
The franchise is an umbrella of Japanese media properties generally owned by the anime studio Gainax. It has grossed over 150 billion yen since 1995. The central works of the franchise feature an apocalyptic mecha action story which revolves around the efforts by the paramilitary organization...
, Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster
Gunbuster
Gunbuster, known in Japan as is a six episode anime OVA series created by Gainax in 1988. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the director of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The title is a combination of the titles of classic tennis anime Aim for the Ace!, whose plot inspired...
, and Ken Kubo from Otaku no Video
Otaku no Video
is a 1991 comedy anime spoofing the life and culture of otaku, individuals with obsessive interests in media, particularly anime and manga, as well as the history of Gainax, its creators. It is noted for its mix of conventional documentary film styles , with a more traditional anime storytelling...
.
In the first eight episodes, Simon's personality is similar to Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion in that he is a hesitant participant in the resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
and is often terrified of battle. The next seven episodes then follows a coming of age
Coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
arc for Simon, as he recovers from depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
and reluctantly leads a revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
. In the eleven-episode final arc, which begins after a time skip, Simon must deal with the consequences of his revolution, drawing parallels with Ken Kubo in Otaku no Video.
Simon's clothing in the first half of the series resembles the clothing worn by Ryu in the video game Breath of Fire 5: Dragon Quarter
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, known in Japan as , is a PlayStation 2 game originally released on November 14, 2002. It is the fifth role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series.-Gameplay:...
.