One thing that’s notable in re-watching Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann is how deliberate its narrative development is. That’s in part a function of it being two cours of course, and 27 eps (the only anime I can think off with that count) at that. But somehow, most modern sci-fi anime, even two-cour shows, seem to have less patience and less trust in the audience’s. I mean when you think about it TTGL basically took seven episodes to set up the start of the real story (and one could argue even at this point we haven’t reached the meat of it).
These two eps are reflective of that, though quite different to say the least. 12 is basically a beach episode and a Nia story, as she continues to stake her place in the series’ hierarchy. Adiane never seemed to represent as much of a threat as the other generals, at least to me, so this battle seems more about setting up the moment when she takes Nia hostage and Yoko picks up her rifle. By now Simon has recovered himself to the point where his will to fight isn’t in question, and while the dynamic when Rossiu is piloting Gurren is different than with Kamina (it’s clearly Simon who’s the head in more ways than one) the two of them have found a solid working relationship.
#13 is much the more interesting of the two for me, for several reasons. It probably places a distant second to Episode 4 as the most off-model visually (whether that’s a plus or minus depends on taste). With Yokoyama Akitoshi and Abe Shingo in-charge this ep has a very Bones-Sunrise pedigree, and it does play quite differently than most in the series. It also focuses on two of the most compelling characters in the cast, Yoko and Viral. After Simon himself (who has one of the most wide-ranging and complex main-character arcs in anime) these two have the most interesting and layered personal journeys in the series.
The big bad this time around is Cytomander, the last of the Four Great Generals to try his hand at putting down Team Dai-Gurren. There is a little subplot here around Nia being a terrible cook (which Rossiu learns to his great discomfort), but basically this is Simon and Yoko fighting together in Gurren-Lagann at last, and Viral beginning to question truths he’s been fed for his entire existence. It’s his sense of honor in battle that precipitates Cytomander losing, and asking the Spiral King to sentence him to death. Lordgenome doesn’t seem fond of underlings who show introspection, but Viral can’t help wondering who he is, and who these humans who seem so much more than the inferior pests he’s been educated to consider them to be really are.
Simon and Yoko, now – that’s very complicated. Yoko certainly never stopped caring for Simon (that’s what got Nia off on her cooking jig), but she saw him in a way that was quite different than how he saw her (and she Kamina). Now? Well, Simon is a different person – or at least, the person he was all along has started to emerge. But the longing he showed for Yoko seems now to be transferred to someone else, and he and Yoko seem like two gunmen passing in the night. Still, we have a very long way to go here, on the personal side as well as the plot side of the story.
