Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Difference between revisions

'''[[Late Arrival Spoiler]] Warning (PLEASE READ):''' <small> ''[[Gurren Lagann]]'' was ''wildly'' popular on the Internet during its original broadcast in Japan and the months following its end, and said popularity led to [[Troper Critical Mass]] (and the insanely longlong—and -- and detailed -- pagedetailed—page you are about to read). Most of the spoilers below are marked as such, but '''quite a few aren't'''. If you possess any interest in seeing the series for yourself without any spoilers, '''don't''' scroll down the page. Don't even '''Google''' the series name or check out the subpages. The only way to truly enjoy this show spoiler-free is to watch it using the links above! </small>

* [[Action Girl]]: Yoko. She starts out being [[Overshadowed by Awesome]] but things get better for her soon.

* [[Advantage Ball]]: Prevalent since, thanks to Spiral Energy, confidence is combat ability. Except for wild cards like the Mugann, the Ball is in the court of whoever is delivering a [[Badass Boast]] at the moment.

* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Not only are the heroes [[Determinator|Determinators]]s, as they would be in a bona fide [[Super Robot]] show, ''but they can also win literally on pure determination''.

* [[All Your Powers Combined]]: The Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: {{spoiler|Anti-Spiral Nia}} insists that she is a virtual lifeform with no emotional ties to her past. Simon counters with: "If that's really true, why are you still ''wearing that ring''?" This brings about the conclusion of the [["I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight]] and {{spoiler|Nia's}} transition from [[Manchurian Agent]] to [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]].

{{quote| '''Simon:''' You know [Yoko]'s fourteen, right?<br />

* [[Autobots Rock Out]]: Viral's [[Leitmotif]] is highly badass heavy metal.

* [[Badass Boast]]: The reputation of Team Gurren echoes far and wide across Giha village! When they talk about its badass leader, that paragon of indomitable spirit and masculinity... they're talkin' about THE MIGHTY KAMINA!!

{{quote| "I'm Simon. Dai-Gurren Birgade's Leader, Simon the Digger. If you become a wall that stands in our way, I'll tear open a hole and break through every time! That is...my drill!"}}

{{quote| '''Nia''': Even when trapped by karma's cycle,<br />

'''Yoko''': the dreams we left behind will open the door!<br />

'''Leeron''': Even if the universe stands in our way,<br />

'''Viral''': [[Hot-Blooded|our seething blood will determine what will be!]]<br />

'''Simon''': We'll break through time and space...<br />

'''All''': [[Screw Destiny|AND DEFY ALL WHO WOULD STOP US, TO GRAB HOLD OF OUR PATH!]]<br />

'''Simon''': '''[[Title Drop|TENGEN TOPPA, GURREN LAGANN!!!]]'''<br />

** {{spoiler|The Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann}} comes with one made of spiral power. {{spoiler|Justified in that said mecha looks like a giant glowing blue Kamina.}}

{{quote| "Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb!"<br />

{{quote| '''Kamina:''' A man's stomach knows no limit! Keep 'em on coming!}}

* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: The [[Trope Namer]] as shown by the first quote on that page. The Dai Gurren Brigade has no respect for laws even if they're physical laws.

* [[Big "Never!"]]: By the "final boss" himself in the English dub.

* [[BLAMNon Sequitur Episode]]: Even the most devoted [[Serious Business|spiral warriors]] in the fandom seem to aggree that episode four is just plain bad.

{{quote| '''Kamina''': Wait. That guy was in the show?<br />

{{quote| ''''Kamina:'''' "Hey, babe! Come here often?"}}

* [[Coming of Age Story]]

* [[Cool People Rebel Against Authority]]: At least until some of those cool people ''become'' the Authority after the timeskip, by then its decidely uncool. After that it depends on whether or not you think the Anti-Spiral was a larger authority.

* [[Cool Shades]]: Kamina's are the champion example -- butexample—but even the robots and '''Boota''' have them.

* [[Dare to Be Badass]]: Kamina's whole character is pretty much based around providing this sort of motivation to the other characters. Hell, this could be considered basically the entire message of the series, seeing as all the incredibly awesome stuff they accomplish is caused simply by daring to a [[Badass]].

{{quote| '''Kamina''': A true man never dies, even when he's killed!}}

** It can all be summed up by looking at the Dai Gurren. Hell that thing is this trope embodied.

* [[Eat the Dog]]: Boota serves ''his own tail'' to Simon and Kamina when they're too hungry to pilot their Gunmen with HOT BLOOD. It turns out, despite Simon's reluctance, it's actually delicious -- thoughdelicious—though it might be that he's just a {{spoiler|massive source of Spiral energy}}.

* [[Empathic Weapon]]: The Gunmen -- andGunmen—and especially Simon's Lagann -- areLagann—are powered by the fighting spirit of their pilots.

* [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]]: {{spoiler|Iraak's}} Tengen Toppa Gunman in [[The Movie]] is a robotic T. rex the size of a galaxy. Thank god for [[Spared Byby the Adaptation]]!

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: {{spoiler|Lordgenome}} to Simon of all people! In the films, you learn of his backstory and find that in many ways they were eerily similar to Simon's. After the {{spoiler|Anti-Spirals first invaded the earth ages ago, Genome, as a child of about Simon's age, decided to raise an army and fight back.}} He even had a [[Non-Human Sidekick|cute animal for a sidekick]] and a mini-Gunmen.

*** Gurren Lagann does a Jaw drop (with the top head) and blush (both heads) when the towel covering Yoko's chest flies away. That mecha is expressive as hell.

*** Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann itself is very simmilar with Persoenlichkeit from [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]].

* [[Fastball Special]]: Kamina chucks Lagann at two Gunmen (against Simon's will the first time), and it soon becomes a staple of their combat tactics.

** For all of two battles. After that, they tend to go with Giga Drill Breaks as [[Finishing Move|Finishing Moves]]s.

* [[Finishing Move]]! [[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|Giga! Drill! BREAK-AAAAAHHH!]]

* [[Four -Philosophy Ensemble]]: (Early episodes): Simon as Cynic, Kamina as Optimist, Yoko as Realist, Leeron as Apathetic.

** At the beginning of season 2 is was: Rossiu as Cynic, Kittan was Optimist, Simon was Realist and Viral is Apathetic, then it turned into Gimy as Cynic, Simon/Kittan as Optimist, Leeron/Yoko as Realist and Lordgenome as Apathetic. Maybe. Hard to say since everyone is pretty single-mindedly optimistic through sheer force of will at that point.

* [[Full-Circle Revolution]]: Once Lordgenome has been defeated and it's time to rebuild, it turns out the protagonists aren't very good statesmen: while the [[Idiot Hero|Idiot Heroes]]es are still as (un)reliable and (trying to be) helpful as usual, an [[Obstructive Bureaucracy]] is created in the shadow of Lordgenome's tyranny, and the only competent official in the bunch (Rossiu) is slowly growing into Spiral King 2.0.

* [[Gratuitous Japanese]]: The names of the mechs tend to be untranslated from Japanese (Mugann is better translated as Faceless, Chouginga as Super-Galaxy/Galactic, Tengen Toppa as Heaven Piercing, Lazengann as Spiral Face, etc.).

* [[Ham -to -Ham Combat]]: There may have been one or two brief scenes of thi-- OKthi—OK, can't do that with a straight face. Happens every two minutes, like clockwork.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Several -- allSeveral—all the others' completely eclipsed by {{spoiler|Kittan, whose death scene is a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] all in its own}}, and {{spoiler|Lordgenome, who tanks a Big Bang's worth of power.}}.

* [[His Quirk Lives On]]: {{spoiler|Later in the series, we have Simon adopting the cockiness, quirks and fashion sense of his [[Big Brother Mentor]], Kamina.}}

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: {{spoiler|Viral}} in episode 13 (he needs a little push, though)

* [[Hot Springs Episode]]: featuring [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|Lawyer Friendly Cameos]] from other famous Gainax characters -- incharacters—in [[Playboy Bunny]] costumes.

*** Haruko from ''[[FLCL]]'' is also spotted in that episode. As were Lal'C Mellk Mal and Nono from ''[[Diebuster]]'': [http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/andzuha/Tengen%20Toppa%20Gurren%20Lagann/kamina_019_animestockscom.jpg seen here behind Kamina]{{Dead link}}. Nadia shows up as well.

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: The Gunmen and Grapearls, which range from [[Mini-Mecha]] to extremely huge. At the end of the show, the {{spoiler|[[Title Drop|title mecha, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]can be measured in ''lightyears''.}}. See [http://i29.tinypic.com/2w56b8h.gif here] and [[mediaMedia:ttglTtgl.jpg|here]] for just how big the damn thing is. The second movie features the [[Up to Eleven|52.8 billion light years tall]] {{spoiler|Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (according to the offical guide book from GAINAX (仕事魂) and after transforming into a drill its length is multiplied 10 times)}}, which can be seen [http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7553/ohgodepic.jpg here]. That thing inside its head? That's {{spoiler|Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann}} . {{spoiler|The small dots are galaxies. And yes, the mecha DOES look like a huge Kamina. [[Incendiary Exponent|Made of fire]]}}. {{spoiler|[http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Zeldamaniac/SuperTengenToppaGurrenLagann.png THIS] picture gives a size comparison with the Granzeboma, which is smaller than the STTGL's foot!}} At this point, the only larger known mecha are [[Demonbane]], and ''possibly'' [[Getter Robo|the Getter Emperor]], both of which are ''ridiculous''.

* [[Icon of Rebellion]]: The Team Dai-Gurren symbol and flag.

* [["I Know You Are're in There Somewhere" Fight]]: Simon gives a particularly good one to {{spoiler|an Anti-Spiral-possessed Nia.}}

* [[Immortality]]:

** [[The Ageless]]: Lordgenome has this, as do his Four Generals. It's possible that all Beastmen have the same trait.

** [[Healing Factor]]: Viral is explicitly given an immortal body, but it's not clarified what this means; however, he demonstrates a [[Healing Factor]] at one point, and is the only character in the [[Distant Finale]] who still looks the same.

* [[Juggling Loaded Guns]]: When Kamina is first given a gun he pretends to know how to use it, even though he doesn't know what it actually is. At first he uses it as a hammer, and after narrowly missing shooting himself in the gonads he proceeds to hold it upside down. Well, he already held it upside down when using it as a hammer; but of course, it was pointing towards him then.

{{quote| {{spoiler|"BURN IN THE EVERLASTING HELLFIRE OF CREATION! BE UTTERLY ANNIHILATED! DOWN TO THE VERY LAST SCRAP! OF D! N! A!"}}}}

* [[Literal -Minded]]: Nia. Watch the first post-[[Time Skip]] episode in case of doubt.

* [[Living Forever Is Awesome]]: If the girls on his throne are any indiction, Lordgenome enjoyed eternal life. {{spoiler|In the [[Distant Finale]], Viral was making the most of it too.}}

** The camera explicitly tracks Kamina's gaze as he tries to chat up Yoko -- fromYoko—from the gun, to the boots, along the thighs, to the breasts.

* [[Monstrosity Equals Weakness]]: Averted. The most powerful gunmen tended to be really bizarre and monstrous, and the more animalistic beastmen, while minor characters for the most part, weren't portrayed as any less powerful than humanoids. For a series that flat out states that the human form has more spiral power than any other, that's a pretty surprising aversion.

** Also, the above-mentioned [[Sci Fi ChannelSyfy]] scheduling.

** And the Black sisters too.

** Gaume's televising his fight with Lagann and broadcasting it to humans everywhere. {{spoiler|He ends up getting his butt whupped by Simon, for all humans on Earth to see, who are thus inspired into Badassery and Hotbloodedness and turn up as [[The Cavalry]] in the penultimate battle for Teppelin}}.

* [[No Export for You|No Dub For You]]: The movies. Aniplex has [http://www.animenewsnetwork.comcc//news/2010-04-16/aniplex-america-sells-gurren-lagann-movie-dvds-in-july stated that while they are releasing the movies in the United States, they aren't going to dub them because they don't see a need to spend the money unless someone desires to show them on TV.] Looks like the ball is in [[Sy FySyfy]]'s court now for that.

* [[NoWon't SellWork On Me]]: Lordgenome effortlessly managing to block a Giga Drill Break.

* [[Not Brainwashed]]: {{spoiler|Nia}}, according to herself after she learns she's [[The Mole]]. {{spoiler|Simon [["I Know You Are're in There Somewhere" Fight|disagrees]]}}.

** Done intentionally, if That Other Wiki is to be believed.

* [[108]]: Pay very close attention, in episode 24, 13 minutes and 21 seconds into the episode, Gimmy says something to the effect of "108th unit destroyed!" after blowing up a few anti-spiral mooks. Then, that's when everything goes bad. Given the obviously Buddhism- (or Hinduism?) inspired ships, this was wholly intentional. If you really want to get into the symbolism here, what's 13 minutes in seconds? That's right, 780 seconds, plus the 21 seconds, and you get 801, which is ONE HUNDRED EIGHT BACKWARDS!!

** And the Anti-Spiral King.

** The Scale also only uses White and Green normally. When the Reading literally go off the scale, they also turn into a ''rainbow''.

* [[Rocket Punch]]: Subverted -- theSubverted—the one and only example is less "rocket" than it is "pull off my arm and throw it at you," and it is less "punch" than "the most epic [[Bright Slap]] in human history."

** A meta-example: Any time any question is asked about anything in this series, the first answer is always "[[A Wizard Did It|spiral energy]]." Even when--nowhen—no, ''especially'' when there's a better answer.

* [[Screw Destiny]]: The entire point of "We go [[Beyond the Impossible]]" basically. Just listen to their [[Rousing Speech|Rousing Speeches]]es during the last part of the series.

* [[Self-Made Man]]: Completely subverted with Kamina, who built himself up to team leader from nothing and yet relies on Simon for everything.

* [[Shout-Out]]: Aberrant Anti-Spiral units are called [[Mega Man X|irregulars]].

* [[Split Screen]]: Taken to [[Up to Eleven|splintered screens]] wrestling with each other's borders during arguments and [[Ham -to -Ham Combat]].

* [[Stripperiffic]]: Yoko, especially her outfit for the final arc. Not to mention ''Simon's'' waist cincher and posture collar. And Kamina never wore very much either.

{{quote| '''Viral:''' Why was I dreaming of ''Kamina!?'' Well, I guess I'm allowed to have sweet dr-NO, NO! NOT SWEET! NOT SWEET!}}

* [[Super Prototype]]: The Grapearl mecha are mass-produced versions of the Gurren Lagann. Of course, being [[Real Robot|Real Robots]]s based on a [[Super Robot]], they're inferior. Gimmy [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] this in one episode. Also, the Custom Gunmen of Lordgenome's Four Generals.

{{quote| '''Kittan''': "Damnit, let me finish talking!"}}

* [[Theme Naming]]: The Beastmen, their leaders, and a good chunk of the core group of Team Gurren.

** The final battle is basically one long contest of this, with the Anti-spirals losing HORRIBLY. Needless to say physics was found brutally murdered in a dark alley.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: Simon. Only in the universe of Gurren Lagann can something like ''[http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c262/Renkinjitsu/Misc/simonbeforeafter.jpg this]'' happen.

* [[Tropes Are Tools]]: The creators intentionally evoked the classic tropes of Mecha anime from 70s on, with each arc covering the different sets of tropes from eras in Mecha as noted above as a [[Shout-Out]]. Taking ques from Getter Robo (this one is worth mentioning the first, have you seen what they do in Shin Getter Robo - Sekai Saigo no Hi???) , Mazinger Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, Evangelion, as well as many more,the series was a love letter to all that was good and great about those tropes, as well as using the last arc to set up what they hope would become a new Trope for the future of the Mecha genre.

* [[Villain Opening Scene]]: In the Movie.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrtK78tlJA Parallel Works 2] -- a—a pachinko mecha. Seriously.

{{quote| {{spoiler|Viral}}: "It's no good! Our drill can't penetrate it!" [paraphrase]<br />

** And it's not just Attenborough. Before that there was Yoko's [[BFG]].

*** Deliberately invoked by the Anti-Spirals, as this is the only way to induce total despair, which in turn will destroy any trace of spiral power.

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