The Start of A new Era! ~ Gurren Lagann Episode 17

AND SO! We are back again after a recap episode (hopefully you have all seen it without too much difficulty in understanding). So what happens after the death of the Helix king? Life continues of course and though this time skip into the future would have been perfect for a season 2 I am more than happy to see it condensed into just one season ^_^. Call this the before and after phase for the whole series and an interesting concept might I add. Brief recap on what happens now. The helix king is dead: check, this means that there is no one left to stop humans from populating the surface of the world again and that is just what happens. Simon becomes the new “king” figure whereas Rossiu is now his second in command. The limit of life (1 million monkeys on the surface of the earth) is approaching and this is the time where Simon ponders over the last words from the helix king.

“Welcome back!”

In a Nutshell: Even after 7 years since the death of the helix king some questions still remain: why did he force humanity underground? And what exactly is spiral power? It is revealed that the old man was actually Nia’s servant (which was shocking to know to say the least ^.^). However, as said before the prophecy from the helix king cannot be ignored and here we are.
In the next scene we see Nia (looking stunning) paying a visit to Simon’s head office where he is busy signing papers and being constantly fed papers by Rossiu. Nia hands Simon a lunch box and apologizes to Rossiu that she forgot his. He recalls a certain incident then declines the offer anyway. Rossiu then leaves.

We then move onto Leeron reporting to Simon and his chiefs about a successful rocket launch into space. Kittan questions if there is really anyone on the moon but Rossiu tells him to be quiet. Simon thinks about the prophecy again and the 1 million life limit. He says that it is better to be safe than sorry. Besides they won’t lose out either if no one is on the moon. Rossiu asks Barinbou and Jougan about the population count but it seems that they haven’t been doing very well in that part. Rossiu scolds them a bit saying that this is a very important responsibility and that you should not take this fact lightly (because it concerns human lives). He requests that for permission to control that section and Simon agrees.

Next we are at a restaurant where Barinbou and Jougan are stuffing their faces. Dayakka is pondering over the 1 million life limit and especially his wife Kiyoh and their nearly due baby. Moving onto the household we see Kiyoh knitting whereas Kiyal is helping with house chores. The door rings and we see Nia behind the open door. Nia tells them that Simon proposed to her and we get the expected reaction. In a flashback we then see Simon and Nia looking out of the window where Simon talks to her about their current status, then their future together. But the response we got from Nia was most unexpected…

It seems that Nia misunderstood Simon’s proposal saying that 2 different persons cannot be the same (and I LOL’ed hard at this point hearing still how innocent Nia is XD). Kiyoh then tells her that the words are not important but the feeling that she gets from Simon. Upon hearing that Nia seems to have realized her mistake and is given a phone to call Simon with.

Next we see Simon at the statue of Kamina. He thinks back to when it was being constructed and him and Rossiu was admiring it. Back then we also see the departure of Yoko due to her free and wild spirit not being fit for governing over people. The last word she leaves with Simon is to take care of Nia. Back to reality, Simon sighs and doesn’t know what to do with his princess. He then gets a call and we hear a confession from Nia. Simon hangs up after and cheers! His happiness was cut short when Rossiu comes and reports to Simon of an anti government battle currently happening. Simon is then shown a clip where we see Viral’s gunmen. Upon seeing that Simon then says that he will head out on the Gurren lagann but Rossiu stops him. He tells Simon to leave this job to their defense squad while he is busy trying to be the leader. Simon then gives up in frustration knowing that Rossiu is right.

Moving onto the battle we see Viral fighting a losing fight with the Grapal squad. His Enkidu is soon taken out under heavy fire from Gimmy and Darry and he is captured. Put in hand shackles Gammy shows a live projection of Simon to Viral while Darry holds a gun to his back. Simon asks why Viral is still fighting and we hear a shocking reply. Viral was actually protecting those humans who want to stay underground but is forced to come to the service. Viral then accuses Simon’s action being same as what the helix king did. Rossiu then butts in and tells Viral that this is a law and turns off the projection. Viral tightens his fists in anger.

Simon is pissed at the fact that Rossiu was forcing humans to come to the surface against his orders. Rossiu comments that this is so that they are able to create an accurate population count to avoid any nasty and sudden surprises. Simon disagrees with his way of thinking and says that what if the limit has been past? Would it mean that they have to start eliminating people like what happened in his home village? Rossiu walks away and tells himself that Simon doesn’t know anything.

Rossiu returns to his own base where he is greeted by his subordinates (one of which is Kinon). They report that they are successful in creating a living computer where Rossiu feels that he is able to learn the secrets of the world with this. The guy tells him that he is the only one pulling this government together which is frustrating if others (Simon) take the credit. Rossiu says that it he isn’t alone and that he has the support of his team. Everyone then turns and salutes. A evil grin can then be seen on his face.

 

“ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWA!!”

That night we see Simon in his office looking outside. Boota then pops up and he says that he never changes. Simon then gets a call from Nia saying that Kiyoh just gave birth to a baby girl. However, bad news is also upon them as we see a counter indicating the 1 million life mark showing up somewhere. This activates a system which rips a dimension area in the sky and a giant mecha pops out, right in front of Boota’s eyes. The mecha lands and starts to blast its lasers causing destruction and alarming Simon. He hangs up.
Nia calls to him but the call has ended. She then looks at the moon which gets bigger in her vision and suddenly we get glowing red circuit marks on her body. She screams “NOOOOOOO!!!”. On the surface of the moon we are zoomed into the crust where we see the counter on the 1 millionth mark. Kiyal exits the hospital only to find Nia’s cell phone on the ground.

The alarm sounds in Rossui’s base and he orders the Grapal squad to head out. They are already at the scene and Darry comments on how she can’t see a face. This is the first mecha of its kind they have seen. None of their modern weapon works on the shield of this enemy and we see the squad diminishing in numbers. At the command centre, the sub chiefs wish they had their Gunmans but Rossiu’s spunky subordinate tells them that Gunmans have been scraped for these new models. Grapals are now the standard weapon based on the Gurren Lagann. Kinon then pipes up and says that Ganmens are inferior to the Gapal and therefore they are already obsolete. Kittan is worried about her sister’s attitude.

Back at the fight we see Gimmy and Darry trying their best to avoid the beams. However, Darry was almost shot down if it wasn’t for Simon’s intervention. Rossiu yells at Simon saying that it is dangerous for the commander to be out there and way he cannot understand his main role. Simon then yells at him for being a baka! And that his main priority is to protect the city and its people. Simon then uses his giga drill to absorb the laser beam fired from the enemy and charges this energy right back at it. The mecha fragments into tiny pieces for basic crystallized shapes (like building blocks) which scatters over the city and explodes on contact. The city is destroyed and Simon is in shock. Rossiu calls Simon reckless for charging into battle not knowing it’s abilities but his moan was cut short when we see a projection of Nia all over the place, still having those glowing circuit marks on her body.
In a message to the whole planet she tells the inhabitants that they, the anti spirals have detected that the planet has reached level 2 of the spiral’s danger meter. She then tells the inhabitants that mass eradication will now begin.

Thoughts: 1 word? “ZOMG!!!”

Gurren Lagann? This series never fails to surprise me 😀 Amazing, simply amazing…This series seriously has every criterion in check.
1) Action
2) Plot
3) Captivating story
4) Amazingly developed characters (and characters)
5) Mechas!
6) And most importantly…TWISTS, TURN TABLES! And generally mind raping experiences.

As I have said on previous occasions this year is all about mecha’s, yep love them or hate they these types of stories seem to deliver the most stunning and beautiful stories around. On par with code geass I am even going as far as to say that gurren lagan is this season’s code geass’. There is nothing more fulfilling to the soul than to just watch your favourite series unfold and never failing to give out surprises. The depth of this series and the time jump is just amazingly good. It adds a whole new layer to just your “standard” adventure series perspective. How many series can you name that could make such a flawless transition from past to future? Not many I should say.

Well onto the episode. Change is really something for the whole former Gurren Lagann crew. While Simon isn’t totally GARlock yet he is manly enough to handle a girl such as Nia (who is clueless by the way hehe ~ poor Simon getting rejected like that is just unfair XD). The one I am most worried about right now has to be Rossiu though. His intentions are unclear and you just get the feeling that he is trying to go against Simon or maybe even rebel against his rule if Simon continues to be “un-commander-like”. I have no idea what could have affected his attitude so much, even though 7 years ago acted serious and was a “worry wart” nowadays his attitude is just extreme to the max.
Speculations can be very well formulated left right and centre for his actions now and later on but deep down I do feel that he is still loyal to Simon. Perhaps we will have a case with what happened in the new Harry Potter book (which I will not spoil), and of course would be just heart breaking if the outcome proved to be similar. Heart pains as great as seeing lord kamina sama kicking the bucket all those episodes back.
Moving onto Viral, here we have a classic example of role change. Instead of being the destroyer we have the new protector like Viral. Is intentions are clear that he dislikes the action of the new government. He may not know that Rossiu is behind all of the matter but nonetheless he does not hesitate to blame the government for their forceful acts. And Simon seems to where he is directing his rage at. The “outlaw” type character viral has become fighting for justice and honour. Come on! Just bring Yoko into the scene and we will have the perfect partnership :D.

And finally Nia…The time bomb…first yuffie (princess from code geass) and now this…*sighs* The trend of having defenseless girls being the terminator is somewhat high nowadays O.O.
As I predicted quite well the 1 million life forms limit caused her to go into a sort of “system override” mode, and a new program starts inside her which can be considered as her dark side (dark Nia incoming!). Well I guess she will now be residing on the moon whilst sending in her mecha troops to eradicate the humans. Will she ever snap out of it? Or will Simon face another precious loss? The heart pains are coming back just thinking about it O.O

Preview: WTF Rossiu! Why is the helix king in your test tube!? :O

“Best screencap EVER!”