Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a Japanese shōnen anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It lasted for twenty-seven episodes and premiered on April 1, 2007 on Japan's TV Tokyo network. It is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, written by veteran playwright Kazuki Nakashima and has been in development since the participation of the famed animator in the Abenobashi mecha themed episodes by the same studio. A video game based on the series, for the Nintendo DS was released in October 2007 bundled with a special episode of the anime series, and a theatrical feature is currently in production. Licensing for a North American release of Gurren Lagann was announced by ADV Films at AnimeExpo 2007 on June 30, 2007.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann takes place in a fictional future where human beings have been forced underground and thrive in isolated subterranean civilizations on Earth. These "villages" have no contact with the surface world nor other villages. Since frequent earthquakes damage infrastructure, the villages must constantly expand deeper into the earth—individuals designated to this task are known as "diggers".
Giha Village is the home of Simon, a fourteen year old digger who was orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake. He is respected by the village elder as the best of the diggers, but is ostracized by his peers. After discovering a special drill key deep in the ground, he is recruited by an eccentric fellow orphan named Kamina into his group, The Gurren Brigade. Kamina dreams of the surface world, which he visited as a child with his father but had to return home because he was too weak to survive.
After a failed attempt at reaching the surface, Kamina is jailed by the elder and Simon resumes digging, only to discover "a big face" deep in his tunnel. As he excitedly fetches Kamina to show him the discovery, he is caught by the village elder, but Kamina's punishment is interrupted by the ceiling of Giha Village collapsing as an enormous robot falls into the cavern. A girl named Yoko appears and tries to fight the robot with a large rifle, but initially cannot do much. Simon takes Kamina and Yoko to the "big face" he found earlier and discovers that the small drill key can be used to activate the small robot, which he uses to end up destroying the much larger robot and effectively break through to the surface.
It is on the surface that Simon and Kamina discover that there are more large robots known as Gunmen piloted by "Beastmen" that terrorize the surface dwellers during the day. Simon and Kamina help Yoko and her village destroy three more Gunmen and Kamina takes one for himself, naming it Gurren. Eventually, Simon and Kamina decide that they will go on a journey to end the constant struggle between Beastmen and humans. Simon and Kamina are initially accompanied by Yoko and a mechanic from Yoko's village named Leeron as they head out to find the Beastmen's Human Eradication Army main head-quarters, while dealing with various Beastmen warriors, including the vicious Viral.
Along the way, Simon and the others are joined by more humans, including the "Black Siblings", led by Kittan, and Rossiu, a strict young man from an underground village, forming the "Team Dai-Gurren", leading up to a major battle with the Human Eradication Army. Then the arrival of Nia, the mysterious "daughter" of Beastman leader, Lord Genome, and the population of Earth's surface.
The second half of the series moves seven years into the future, where mankind has become prosperous and led by Simon and the other members of the Team Dai-Gurren. Though all seems well, after 1,000,000 people populate the surface, a new catastrophe begins with the arrival of the Anti-Spirals, including Nia's sudden "transformation" into the Anti-Spiral's messenger, and the threat of the moon literally falling onto the Earth. Simon, along with the reformed Team now lead the battle to defeat the Anti-Spirals and save Earth.
