It’s never a good sign when a series starts an episode with 5 minutes of recap, much less when it’s only the 6th episode.  There’d be another chunk in the middle, too, which leads one to believe that Gainax was already falling behind on production at this point (certainly not unheard of for them).  It’s a odd mix, this episode – it’s not a recap episode per se, but 40% of it is recap.  The rest of it is among the most Gainax-y material of the series – in the sense of harkening to their really wacky side (in the Abenoboashi/Gunbuster mold).

This was also Gurren-Lagann’s pass at an onsen episode, of course, though in the end that mostly consisted of Kamina and Simon running around naked with mole-pigs and drills over their bits and pieces.  And the hot spring turned out to be a gunmen (a wolf this time) in disguise.  It’s a pretty lightweight venture on the whole, but we do catch some glimpses of Rossiu’s essential nature here – cautious, suspicious, clever and resourceful.  That makes him a marked contrast to both Simon and especially Kamina of course – and that’s a theme that would go on to become one of the central pillars of TTGL.

Really, though, #7 is TTGL’s “This is the first day of the rest of your life” episode.  This is the effective beginning of the series in many important ways – when, looking back, so many of the story’s building blocks were layered into place.   And damn if it wasn’t full of foreshadowing too.  I don’t remember if there was a lot of speculation based on that, but watching it again it’s easy to see that what would happen in Episode 8 was tipped off by what happened in this one.

What I realize now (to be honest I don’t remember if I realized it then) was that Kamina had to be removed from the scene for both the narrative itself and the major characters to move forward.  He’s both a limited and limiting presence – he lifted Simon up out of a hole in the ground but forever blocks him from standing on his own two feet.  His strategic sense (if we can call it that) is so limited as to be almost nonexistent – let’s face it, “never retreat” is not the core philosophy of a warrior with any common sense.  In order for everyone and everything to grow, Kamina had to be out of the picture – but we’ll talk more about that next time…

For the first time here, we have mention of a “Spiral King” – something that will be hugely important going forward.  And we get a sense of the true scope of the enemy humanity is facing here in the Dai-Gunzan, and its pilot General Thymilph (one of a supposed “Four Great Generals”.  These are not just some cosplay fanatics wandering the planes in armored suits – this is a superpower intent on keeping humanity down (literally).  Still, for all his sheer size, Thymilph makes less of an impression than Viral – who continues to be an oddly magnetic and commanding figure in his brief appearances (Hiyama Nobuyuki has a lot to do with that).

It’s notable here than it’s only Simon’s common – and battle – sense that keeps Gurrenn-Lagann’s story from ending right here.  There are simply times when a head-on battle makes no sense, but Kamina by his very nature has no Plan B – he takes pride in it.  It’s Simon who sees a way out of the Dai-Gunzan conundrum, and who executes it.  That’s why it rankles so much that Yoko only shows concern for how close Kamina came to death, when Simon was fighting right beside him the entire time (and ending up saving both their asses).

Well – there’s a reason things have to be that way I suppose.  And it’s one of the most notable features of Gurren-Lagann that its primary colors, bombastic start is only a teaser for the real series – which as I said really starts with this ep (and the one that follows).  These events serve a narrative purpose, and on first viewing it would have been impossible to guess where TTGL and Nakashima Katsuki intended to take the story from here.  As GAR as these early eps are, that’s the real genius of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.