50 Fun Facts About Gurren Lagann

In Gurren Lagann, which celestial body do the Anti-Spirals send on a collision course with Earth?

The Moon they send is a fake: it is the Spiral King's old flagship, reprogrammed by the Anti-Spirals. The real one had been hidden in a pocket dimension.

A Gurren Lagann-inspired design won a newspaper reader contest to redesign which country's flag?

Britain was debating whether to add the Welsh dragon to the Union Flag, so the Daily Telegraph invited reader designs. The anime-styled entry, sent from Norway, won with 55% of the vote.

Which tool did the director of Gurren Lagann choose as the giant robot's main weapon?

A drill is the show's emblem, and Lagann sprouts them whenever it reacts to Simon's fighting spirit. The director kept them even though he knew they strained belief.

In Gurren Lagann, Nia is revealed to be the abandoned daughter of which tyrant?

Lordgenome, known as the Spiral King, rules from a fortress that is itself a giant Gunmen. Simon finds Nia asleep in a capsule at a dump site.

Gurren Lagann mecha designer Shigeto Koyama later did concept design for which Disney character?

Baymax, the huggable robot of Big Hero 6, came partly from Koyama's concept work. Japanese audiences compared the 2014 film to the anime when it opened there.

Each Gunmen robot in Gurren Lagann is built with a body that resembles what?

A face stares out of every machine's torso, from the tiny Lagann to the Spiral King's whole palace, which is one gigantic Gunmen.

Which Japanese studio, famous for Neon Genesis Evangelion, animated the mecha series Gurren Lagann?

Gainax made the series in 2007, and its director had started there as an in-between animator on Evangelion. He later left to found a studio of his own.

Konami cancelled a Gurren Lagann online game in beta because installing it did what to players' PCs?

Crashed Windows for good is no exaggeration: Konami had to mail 500GB external hard drives to testers so they could back up files and reinstall their systems.

Instead of piloting a Gunmen, which weapon does Yoko Littner fight with in Gurren Lagann?

A rifle is Yoko's trademark, and she uses hers to disable the giant Gunmen that crashes into Simon's village at the start of the series.

Which Beastman rival of Kamina later pilots Gurren alongside Simon in Gurren Lagann?

Viral starts as a proud enemy officer whose mecha loses its helmet to the newly formed Gurren Lagann. By the epilogue he captains the flagship as an emissary for Earth.

What job does young Simon do in his underground village at the start of Gurren Lagann?

Digger suits him: Simon is mocked as timid, yet he is prized for his tunnelling, and it is on a dig that he unearths the tiny Gunmen Kamina names Lagann.

What kind of creature is Boota, the pet that rides on Simon's shoulder in Gurren Lagann?

A pig-mole from Simon's home village, Boota understands human speech and can tear off his own tail as emergency food for his friends.

In Gurren Lagann, the tattered cape Kamina wears into battle once belonged to whom?

His father had gone above ground years earlier, and Kamina finds the skeleton during a fight, buries it and takes the cloak. Simon ties a torn scrap of it around his arm.

The emblem of Team Dai-Gurren in Gurren Lagann is a flaming red skull wearing what?

Sunglasses modelled on Kamina's signature red pair top the skull, a tribute to the team's founder. After the time skip most members wear a plain five-pointed star instead.

At the start of Gurren Lagann, which place does the underground rebel Kamina dream of reaching?

The surface is where Kamina believes he once stood as a child beside the parent who walked on without him. His village chief jails him for trying to tunnel up to it.

Kamina dies in battle against which of the Spiral King's four Supreme Generals in Gurren Lagann?

Thymilph, a gorilla-featured warrior, is destroyed in the same fight by Gurren Lagann's finishing move. The victory wins the team its mobile fortress but costs it its founder.

In Gurren Lagann, Kamina City is built on the ruins of which former Beastmen capital?

Teppelin was the Spiral King's funnel-shaped fortress and a hibernating Gunmen in its own right. The new city's giant statue of Kamina is later destroyed in a revolt.

After the war against the Beastmen in Gurren Lagann, Yoko moves to a remote island to work as what?

A schoolteacher called Yomako is the quiet identity she adopts on Koreha Island to leave her warrior past behind. She later breaks Simon out of jail, and ends up the principal.

What happens to Nia moments after she marries Simon at the end of Gurren Lagann?

She fades away because her existence is tied to the Anti-Spirals, who have just been destroyed. All that remains of her is her wedding ring.

Which studio did Gurren Lagann's director co-found after leaving the company behind the series?

Trigger opened in 2011 and carried the same loud visual humour into Kill la Kill and Promare. It later acquired the rights to the series itself.

Which director of Gurren Lagann went on to make Kill la Kill, Promare and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners?

Hiroyuki Imaishi made his series-directing debut with the show and won an individual award for it at the Animation Kobe festival. His style is fast, frantic and punchy.

Which Japanese singer performed "Sorairo Days", the opening theme of the anime Gurren Lagann?

Shoko Nakagawa also sang one of the ending themes and the theme songs of both compilation films. The opening switches to its second verse from episode 17.

The names of the Spiral King's four generals in Gurren Lagann are each partly derived from what?

DNA bases hide in all four: Adiane contains adenine, Guame guanine and Cytomander cytosine. Each name's other half comes from an elemental spirit such as Undine or Gnome.

In Gurren Lagann, the Anti-Spirals strike once the human population above ground hits what figure?

One million is reached with the birth of a single baby, Anne, daughter of team members Dayakka and Kiyoh. Her arrival sets off the Human Extermination System.

Which Gurren Lagann character overthrows Simon and jails him after the seven-year time skip?

Rossiu makes Simon a scapegoat to calm an angry mob, then secretly regrets it. He later serves as the priest at Simon's wedding.

Which eldest of the Black Siblings dies destroying the Death Spiral Machine in Gurren Lagann?

Kittan steals a kiss from Yoko before his final charge, then awakens Spiral energy of his own to destroy the machine's core. A sword marks his memorial beside Kamina's grave.

Which flamboyant mechanic becomes the main technician of Team Dai-Gurren in Gurren Lagann?

Leeron repairs and scavenges every Gunmen the group captures, then runs the Science Bureau after the war. His team launches the rocket that confirms the Spiral King's prophecy.

What is the name of the underground village where Simon and Kamina grow up in Gurren Lagann?

Giha is ruled by a chief who jails Kamina for trying to break out through the roof. Simon breaks him out the same night to show off his find.

In the Japanese title Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the words Tengen Toppa are translated as what?

Heaven-Piercing was dropped for the English release, which is simply Gurren Lagann. The final robot of the series takes the full Japanese title as its name.

One critic traced the timid early Simon of Gurren Lagann to which Neon Genesis Evangelion pilot?

Shinji Ikari shaped the first of Simon's three stages, in the reading of Anime News Network's Jason Green. The later stages echo the heroes of Gunbuster and Otaku no Video.

Gurren Lagann writer Kazuki Nakashima cited the co-creator of which robot manga as an influence?

Getter Robo co-creator Ken Ishikawa inspired the finale's absurd escalation, with robots growing ever larger. Nakashima still wanted a tidier ending than Ishikawa usually wrote.

Which American cable network first aired Gurren Lagann in English, in its Ani-Monday anime block?

Sci Fi Channel ran two episodes every Monday from July 2008, with three in the final week. A subtitled DVD release had begun that same month.

A special bonus episode of Gurren Lagann came bundled with a game for which console?

Nintendo DS buyers who pre-ordered the 2007 game got episode 5.5, a side story set early in the plot. It is one of only two specials beyond the 27 broadcast episodes.

Which subtitle does the first Gurren Lagann compilation film carry in its English release?

Childhood's End retells the first fifteen episodes with about twenty minutes of new animation. It opened on only 11 screens in Japan.

Each episode title of the anime Gurren Lagann is taken from which kind of source?

A line a character speaks gives each episode its title, and the speaker changes with the story: Kamina supplies the first eight, with later ones from Nia and, for the last five, Simon.

Seven years after his defeat in Gurren Lagann, the Spiral King is brought back in what form?

A bio-computer grown from his recovered brain gives the new government access to his memories. He regains his old personality and ends up fighting for humanity.

After defeating the Anti-Spirals at the end of Gurren Lagann, what does Simon choose to do?

Wander the world is his choice: Simon hands the key to Lagann to a younger pilot and leaves his friends, with only his pet for company. The epilogue shows him as an old man.

The orphaned Simon begins Gurren Lagann with a fear of which kind of natural disaster?

Earthquakes haunt him from the first episode, and his parents had died in a cave-in. Kamina's friendship is what gives him the courage to act.

The creators of which American robot cartoon cited Gurren Lagann as an inspiration?

Transformers: Animated art director Derrick Wyatt said the team had been inspired by the anime ever since finishing most of season one. Its influence shows most in seasons two and three.

Which actor, also the English voice of Sasuke in Naruto, plays Simon in the Gurren Lagann dub?

Yuri Lowenthal voices Simon from timid boy to grown commander, while Tony Oliver plays the character as an old man. Lowenthal is also Suzaku in Code Geass.

Which Japanese broadcaster first aired Gurren Lagann, in a time slot considered child-friendly?

TV Tokyo and its affiliates ran all 27 episodes between April and September, and the network was also one of the show's producers.

Gurren Lagann producer Takami Akai quit over remarks about fan posts on which Japanese website?

2channel users had criticised the look of episode four, which was directed entirely by guest Osamu Kobayashi. Akai, a co-founder of the studio, stepped down after his scornful comments about those posts came to light.

TV stations rejected the sixth episode of Gurren Lagann over a subplot about peeking into what?

A women's bath scene had passed at script stage, but the finished episode was refused and a revised cut made. The uncensored version survives as one of the show's two specials.

In Gurren Lagann, what is the universe-ending cataclysm the Anti-Spirals fight to prevent called?

Spiral Nemesis is the fear that ever-evolving life will one day destroy the universe. To prevent it the Anti-Spirals froze their own evolution and set out to purge any life that kept evolving.

At the end of Gurren Lagann, Simon hands the key to Lagann on to which young pilot?

Gimmy was one of two orphan twins sent out of their overcrowded village as small children. In the epilogue he and his sister fly Gurren Lagann together.

Lacking Spiral energy, the Beastmen of Gurren Lagann must run their Gunmen on what?

Solar batteries are the price of the animal genes that hide Beastmen from the Anti-Spirals. The Spiral King bred them as soldiers who could not be detected.

Which composer of Soul Eater and Black Butler wrote the background music for Gurren Lagann?

Taku Iwasaki returned to score both compilation films, and a critic at CBR singled out the show's use of hip-hop as a high point for anime.

Which Gunmen does the Spiral King pilot in his final fight with Simon in Gurren Lagann?

Lazengann and Gurren are both wrecked in the duel, so the Spiral King fights on with his bare hands. Simon finally beats him with the small key that starts Lagann.

Kamina names his hijacked Gunmen Gurren in Gurren Lagann, using a Japanese word for which colour?

Scarlet is the meaning the name carries, and Kamina gives it to a machine he steals from a Beastman at Littner village. Docked with Simon's Lagann it becomes the title robot.

In Gurren Lagann, Kamina's team turns which captured land battleship into its mobile fortress?

Dai-Gunzan is renamed once the team seizes it, and village leader Dayakka becomes its captain. Kamina does not live to see it put to use.