I don’t suppose I have to worry about spoilers with an episode that already aired – 13 years ago. But if by some bizarre freak of circumstance you’re reading this without having watched TTGL, stop (if you ever plan to watch it, anyway).

Yeah, there was no way this was going to be a double-post.  Episode 8 was not just the most famous episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (as opposed to the most infamous, Episode 4), it was one of the most famous anime episodes of all-time.  I still remember the furore that exploded after it aired – and the irritation from people who got spoiled.  Even then most viewers did, because fansubs weren’t instantaneous like modern streams and the sheer volume of chatter around “Later, Buddy” was immense.  Imagine if social media back then had been anything like it is now…

It’s easy to say so with the benefit of hindsight, but Kamina had to die so that Gurren Lagann could live.  That is to say, it could have been a good rollicking action series with him around, but to be what Nakashima Kazuki had in mind for it – that dark and subtle coming of-age tale and global epic – Kamina had to go.  Not only was he standing in the way of everyone else’s development (most obviously – and especially – Simon’s) he simply wasn’t compatible with the sort of story this series eventually told.  Kamina was a riot of primary colors – TTGL was a story of very subtle shadings.

Of course Episode 7 tipped off that this was going to happen – again, it’s easy to say that now.  And when Kamina sucked face with Yoko before going off to battle, a veritable United Nations of death flags were flapping in the volcanic breeze.  That was the key moment of the episode in many ways, actually, because Simon witnessed it.  And while as an audience we could see that Yoko was falling for Kamina and saw Simon as a cute little brother, it wasn’t so easy for him to see that (or the event that proved it).  Since gunmen effectively run on male libido, that wasn’t exactly a recipe for success heading into battle with Dai-Gunzan.

Full respect for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – when a series can break the anime internet not just once but twice in its first two months on the air, you know it’s a cultural event.  The usual denial-fest was in full swing after this episode – some people just didn’t want to accept that Kamina was really gone, and you can’t blame them because he filled the role of traditional hero admirably.  I don’t remember harboring such doubts myself, though it’s been a long time.  It seems to me that this sort of felt right, terrible as that sounds.  It was just time, that’s all.

I think you have to give a lot of credit to Nakashima and Imaishi here, because planning this show out with the idea of killing off Kamina less than a third of the way through took serious balls.  I wasn’t reading A Song of Ice and Fire yet in 2007 so I had no idea about the whole Ned Stark thing (which of course also took a lot of balls), but I kind of take issue with the “false main character” charge that gets lobbed at TTGL over this (but was valid with ASoIaF).  Structurally speaking Simon was the protagonist from the very beginning, and I think any viewer paying close attention knew that.  TTGL was always Simon’s story – he was the one who was growing, changing.  Kamina’s main role, gloriously as he filled it, was as Simon’s cheerleader.

The ingenious part of this (and one of the reasons why Nakashima’s subsequent anime work has always disappointed me is because it was so ingenious) is the profound way Kamina’s death impacted not just Simon, but the entire story.  It’s more appropriate to discuss that when I get to later eps of course, but these eight episodes set up this sucker punch beautifully.  We can really feel just what Kamina meant to Simon, right up til the very end when it was Kamina’s encouragement (and punches) that got Simon through the fight with Dai-Gunzan.  The weight Simon has to carry now is that of Kamina’s belief, but it’s that belief that somewhat ironically makes him strong enough to bear it.

In sum, Episode 8 deserves its place in the pantheon of anime classics.  It was an earthquake in its day, and it remains one of the seminal moments of Gurren Lagann all these years later.  A great and emotionally powerful episode, heartbreaking and shocking, and the foundation for all the brilliant (and sometimes galling) developments TTGL would spin in its next nineteen episodes.