Gurren-Lagann - Episode 17 Discussion / Poll

[Keiran]

Just finished watching the ep, and i was really blasted away by it. The time skip was awesome and the characters even became more interesting. Rossiu is definitely a welcome change to the series. He definitely stands out among his happy-go-lucky peers.

But Kinon's colder change was a bit surprising and giving the stupid-twins a seat in the government did annoy me quite a bit.

[Midonin]

There, completely caught up. Kamina City looks to be a pretty impressive place. If I didn't know better, I'd say that it was Tokyo or NYC. Though Rossiu's determination to prevent 1,000,000 people was a little disturbing and almost hypocritical. I was shocked when he said Simon wasn't supposed to fight. Without Simon and Gurren-Lagann, where's the justice?

The new entity causing more problems than solving them and taking over Nia sort of reminded me of the still-unknown entity in Mai-Otome Zwei. I highly await seeing where the series goes from here. Especially if anything comes of that moon probe.

[bdragonomega]

Hahaha, nice episode. Anti-spiral eh? Seems interesting... they actually power up spiral power so the spiral entity will blow the anti-spiral entity into tiny lego blocks of doooom.


Maybe evil Nia is gonna power up Simon's drill and have him stab his powered up drill into her....

[edit]
Lol, i just noticed, but in the op where it shows Rossiu's gang.... doesn't it actually look like he started a "I Wear Glasses" Club with him being the leader and not wearing glasses, haha.

[Westlo]

I can't give this a ten since it's not in the same league as the other GL eps I gave a ten to but it still gets a well deserved 9. I must admit I thought it might slow down a tad after the time skip to set the scene but they really didn't. Love the new opening sequence and I'm glad they kept the same song.

Evil Nia is hot, can't wait for Yokos re-entrance and omg @ the spaceship in the op from the first scene in the anime.

Yay ost nearly out too!

[Guido]

Finally, the third arc has delivered.

Well-crafted storytelling that delved quite shocking surprises and bending of loyalties.

I have read Omni's review for it, and I quite agreed to much anything that he commented.

Spoiler:

I was frozen right from the moment that Rossiu strained friction with Simon's regarding their outlook on what's best for the planet.

I am worried and scared that actually Rossiu might become a potential antagonist into the storyline. He might not become or not a two-timer like Jin did to Sana on Innocent Venus, but it is scary his inquiry and longing for wisdom and earning the key to the mysteries of the world.

Nia surprised me the most, since none of us would have had expected she would become the spokeperson for the new enemy, and actually she or maybe her dark alter-ego playing an active role as part of the new enemy force bent to destroy mankind.

And I do see that Gurren-Lagann is borrowing a bit from Zegapain. Nia's skin bathed with digita, red carvings. Abyss and Sin had some carvings on their bodies.

Anti-Zegas were first and now we have Anti-Spirals.

Finally, Simon who walks his own paths and has quite adopted a few of Kaminas' traits.

If Kamina was to be still alive, he would not have himself restrain to stupid politic-shit. Instead, he would have had aim even higher. First, the surface and then head for the moon.
I have a feeling that what the 2nd OP displays, Simon would go that far than Kamina did.

And I know starting to theorize why did Helix King forced humanity beneath the ground.

Spoiler:

Just think about it! How was it possible for humanity to advance both in technology and as a civilization to short seven years only?

They have technology to design their own mecha, cars, and to even launch rockets to the moon. Dayakka said so himself, that before the fall of Teppelin none of them knew what the moon was about.

And Helix King said once too Nia, that he liked dolls and long to preserve them as long as they do not earn an understanding of their surroundings.

Finally, Rossiu who is day in and day out pestering that the secrets of the world must be exposed, but to what cost and extent he plans to fulfill that goal?

The Anti-Spirals addressed to the world that humanity entered the second stage of danger of the spiral .
I guess the Anti-Spirals meant the warning that the population above the surface should had never reached the millionth.

As long as humanity remained underground, it was safe.

The reason is obvious. As long as people is put on a permanent situation on which they have to worry about survival through the rest of their lives without thinking on anything else, then they won't pay attention or focus their minds in understanding or doubting their existence for greater things ahead.

I think that for that to happen Lord Genome kept the humans underground but splitted them into separated and isolated village, whose population would not exceed the maximum number.
For example, 50 humans per village and that's all.

But with the Helix King gone and the beastmen reduced to second-class creatures or an almost-extinct race, humanity has risen to the ground and thrived to earn more knowledge that was forbidden for them to learn and increased their numbers.

I think that the reason is obvious. The Anti-Spirals have come to destroy humanity, because humans have become self-aware of themselves and their surroundings and will sooner or later enter war amongst themselves for selfish things as domination, wealth, power, and wisdom. And those wars will threaten and endanger the whole ecosystem of the world.

[musashiken]

Originally Posted by Guido

And I know starting to theorize why did Helix King forced humanity beneath the ground.

Spoiler:

Just think about it! How was it possible for humanity to advance both in technology and as a civilization to short seven years only?

They have technology to design their own mecha, cars, and to even launch rockets to the moon. Dayakka said so himself, that before the fall of Teppelin none of them knew what the moon was about.

And Helix King said once too Nia, that he liked dolls and long to preserve them as long as they do not earn an understanding of their surroundings.

Finally, Rossiu who is day in and day out pestering that the secrets of the world must be exposed, but to what cost and extent he plans to fulfill that goal?

The Anti-Spirals addressed to the world that humanity entered the second stage of danger of the spiral .
I guess the Anti-Spirals meant the warning that the population above the surface should had never reached the millionth.

As long as humanity remained underground, it was safe.

The reason is obvious. As long as people is put on a permanent situation on which they have to worry about survival through the rest of their lives without thinking on anything else, then they won't pay attention or focus their minds in understanding or doubting their existence for greater things ahead.

I think that for that to happen Lord Genome kept the humans underground but splitted them into separated and isolated village, whose population would not exceed the maximum number.
For example, 50 humans per village and that's all.

But with the Helix King gone and the beastmen reduced to second-class creatures or an almost-extinct race, humanity has risen to the ground and thrived to earn more knowledge that was forbidden for them to learn and increased their numbers.

I think that the reason is obvious. The Anti-Spirals have come to destroy humanity, because humans have become self-aware of themselves and their surroundings and will sooner or later enter war amongst themselves for selfish things as domination, wealth, power, and wisdom. And those wars will threaten and endanger the whole ecosystem of the world.

Well,

Spoiler:

Is it really mankind's fault at all? We still don't know who's responsible for oppressing mankind and why. This issue made me think of Scrapped Princess where a bunch of Aliens punished mankind by caging them in a suspended piece of earth and limiting their technology. All this to save planet Earth from mankind's pollution.

Come to think of it, Gurren Lagann third arc seems a little similar to Scrapped Princess now in terms of plot. Especially if there are Aliens involved.

[Solus]

Man, when I saw 16 I was irritated, but 17 is too perfect, makes up for that junk

Spoiler:

It wasn't ever established what the total human population was, so I'd actually lean into the idea that there are more than 1 million humans total on the planet. The Helix King prophesied "1 million monkeys crawl on the surface" was the trigger, so it's possible that they were undetectable in the underground bunkers/cities. Otherwise you'd think that there would be more villages similar to Rossius where there was a population cap. Also, I like this idea cause Rossiu is being a high and mighty jerk about how the world should be run. If there are more than 1 million people total, his relocation project actually contributed to the Anti-Spiral extermination event. My fingers are crossed...

Nia as a sleeper agent is just to tragically perfect. Poor Simon is getting hammered in his personal circle of family. This is now officially my favorite series of the season. I can't wait to see how they tie in the last 10 episodes(unless there's more, I took this from anib) to the intro of episode 1, it'll be epic.

Simon needs to slap Rossiu down. Why have ministers and departments if you get bogged down in the details of government? Seems like a plot to keep Simon busy while he lays out his own agenda. Rossiu does seem to think that he knows better than Simon how the world should be run, and he's already been shown to be running operations that Simon wouldn't approve of. He's definitely going to be one of the major obstacles Simon is going to overcome before the series ends, whether as a misguided friend or a full blown antagonist.

This ones at musashiken:

Spoiler:

It is similar in plot devices, I'll agree to that until more details are forthcoming. The major difference is the focus of the oppression. Scrapped Princess is kind of a rebellion taking place through the history, taking thousands of years to overcome the oppression. Gurren-Lagann seems to be following the idea that 2 people obtaining the same power can lead in entirely different ways. Subtle differences, but they are there.

This series is like Dragon Ball on speed. Instead of 3 series and 500+ episodes we're getting huge leaps in plot and characters in the blink of an eye. Rock on!

[a hobbit]

I absolutely loved and despised this episode simultaneously. I'm glad we finally got to the time jump, with all the character's so different now. GAINAX did really well on showing how different people really are when there isn't one single goal uniting them (defeating the Helix King). I love the fact that there are more or less 3 factions now. At the same time I really do despise the new Rossiu, he's a very welcome change to the old Gurren Brigade, but he still pisses me off =P.

As for everyones' new looks, I like the new Gimmy and Darry, very awesome. Rossiu also looks quite snazzy himself. I also like Nia's long hair again. I must say though that Simon's new looks are my least favorite. For some reason he just seems too klutzy. I guess it's hard to explain, but I was hoping he'd look cooler in the future. Then again, he is neither GARlock nor gotten his cape yet =P

All I can say is I can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes, so much could still easily happen. I can only imagine how ridiculously GAR Simon and the rest of the Gurren Brigade are going to be, and how incredibly awesome and pumped up I'm going to get from this series. I'm already shaking with excitement ^^

[Midonin]

That raises a question I was wondering about. It was mentioned that the "Ancient Ganmen" were destroyed, and Gurren-Lagann is still around. But where's DaiGurren? I hope it's not rusting away in a junkyard somewhere. It's too cool for that kind of fate.

[Var]

Originally Posted by Midonin

That raises a question I was wondering about. It was mentioned that the "Ancient Ganmen" were destroyed, and Gurren-Lagann is still around. But where's DaiGurren? I hope it's not rusting away in a junkyard somewhere. It's too cool for that kind of fate.

It was probably studied extensively then left to rust in away in a junkyard somewhere.

[Archer]

According to Gainax, the Gunmen weren't really all destroyed; they are "underground" (figuratively) as part of an illegal sport.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Took me long enough to get around to this episode, but here I am finally:

I like how they handled the time gap with this episode by having each of the characters transition into the position most fit for them, Simon as President, Rossiu as advisor, Leeron as the head of the science department, Viral as the renegade he always was and Gimmy and Darry as enforcers (Darry lost the glazed over look on her face as she grew older, but I wonder if she still has the stuffed animal). The idea to rename the capital city Kamina City and to immortalize the hero in a statue kind of brought a tear to my eye, they couldn't have handled that part better if they tried. Kittan seems to also be in charge of the military and we even saw the mayor from Kamina and Simon's old city. The real shocker was the 3 sisters and my favourite Kinon becoming such a militant and cold person. That was unexpected. And who would have thought Kiyoh's baby would be the 1 millionth human, I guess that is fitting as well. The writers did there job very well this episode. I also like the Grapal squadron and how it's to the Gurren-Lagann as the Sizzler Black is to the Gunbuster. Now that the gateway to the Tron universe has been opened (seriously that Anti-Spiral weapon was surreal as anything I've seen in a mecha series, it didn't look like it belonged on this plain of existence with it's neon polygonal and vectral appearance) and Nia has become some sort of mouth piece for the Anti-Spiral's and everything that Simon has fought for appears to be in ruins with noone to blame but himself, what will happen next. Knowing Gurren-Lagann fireworks will fly and I really have no idea. It pays to keep unspoiled sometimes.

[kitten320]

A time skip? That was unexpected... they sure developed a lot in some mere 7 years 0_o
Like if they had never lived underground before...

Well Simon does look good.

[darkdarkdark]

I thought it was pretty interesting too. Seeing everyone all grown up. Very interesting indeed.