Gurren Lagann

It would figure that even a series that’s been lighter and more straightforward than most other anime I’ve seen would still have an entire episode devoted to deep philosophical metaphysics. You really can’t have mecha without it, can you? I do remember a lot of you lunatics telling me to keep my eyes peeled for spirals and their greater significance as I watched. To be honest, I was basically nodding and saying, “Yeah yeah…” Now that it’s fully revealed, the notion definitely has a point. Spirals popped up a lot in this show, and they do pop all the time in nature. This ain't just a bunch of nice-sounding hokey baloney.  

I don’t know what an anti-spiral would be though, especially since their TRON-bots have spirals in their designs. Perhaps they’re supposed to be squares? Is that what GURREN LAGANN has been about this whole time? A covert, but demented, case of geometry edu-tainment like you’d see on SQUARE ONE back in the day? Will Simon be fighting Math-Man next?

By the way, I totally called it about the Spiral King having humanity’s best intentions in mind. Man, I’m good! I’m just on fire with these predictions. The sad thing is, there’s definitely some truth to his philosophy on force being the best kind of persuasion. Also, it’s fitting that the guy would put up a half-hearted resistance against the indomitable will of spiral force (which is a fancier name for Kamina’s manly manliness, I suspect) because he'd grown indifferent. Give anybody 1000 a years of waiting and they’re probably not going to have too much invested in anything after a while - - be it their daughters or saving the world. 

Team Dai Gurren’s got a serious lack of understanding for the grieving process. They’re giving Simon crap about getting bent out of shape over his fiancé disappearing the same way they got on his case about missing Kamina. Sheesh… give the guy a week at least! Also, as much as Rossiu’s getting made to be the “mean old principal” in this, he’s really got a point with most of his policies. He's like the brocoli of Team Dai Gurren. Ugly and bad-tasting, sure, but still good for you.

Watch this episode, “I’ll Make You Tell the Truth of the World” below, decide for yourself and read my comments on the previous episode here.   

  

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of       HYBRID BASTARDS!  &       UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon       here  & here.

I don't quite know for how much longer Rossiu has a point with anything. I mean, any man of science will have some logic, but that'll be exhausted soon enough (although he seems more like a Dick Cheney character to me). 
 
This part of the show gets a tad preachy and meta, and some of it is hard to watch for me, but that's how this show operates, and for the better it seems. 
 
Out of everything in this show, I will say that the one thing that never sat quite right with me was the fact that Nia "just happened" to be born who she was to whom she was born to. It's just a bit too farfetched for me, even in the context of how ridiculous this show is. Don't know why, but I never really got over it. 
 
This set of episodes is a slow build, but I love 'em all the same.

@mediaright: 
The rule of Gurren Lagann: If nothing mind-blowingly awesome happens that episode, that's because they're taking a run-up for the next one. If nothing happens for two, three episodes running, then book yourself a room at the hospital so they can treat you for the preposterone overdose that will break your soul.
 
Now in general. The theme of spirals is only just starting.  Spiral Power (As it's called in the version I watched), is VERY comparable to the AT-fields of Evangelion. 
 
The AT-Field stands for Absolute Territory, but it can also be read as Absolute Terror. It takes its power from the line that MUST NOT BE CROSSED (shouting to reference the sheer force of this), and it is literally a barrier that prevents anyone from coming closer.
 
Spiral Power is the opposite. The power to bare your soul to the universe, forcing the universe to change after exposure to your soul.  So if the AT-field is the power of fear, Spiral Power is the force of indomitable spirit. While the AT-field takes its shape as hexagons (or octagons, I can't remember), Spiral Power is the Spiral. The Drill.  The show goes onto elaborate on this, and it is amazing just how much the Drill is a metaphor for life, as well as how this show is the complete spiritual opposite of Eva.
 
See, if Shinji Ikari had a Kamina, he would have been useless in an Eva, because the AT-field is your emotional wall. However, Spiral Power is the baring of your soul. The more open you are, the greater your Spiral Power. The more you shut people out, the greater your AT-field.
 
The second Rebuild movie touches on this, when Shinji Ikari drops all his walls in bares his entire soul into one task. It was the moment when the Evangelion fandom stopped taking the piss out of Shinji and he rose into the halls of the great badasses of anime.
 
So, yeah. The power of the wall, or the power of the drill.
 
Also, Anti-Spiral isn't a shape. It's a principle.

@Theresonlyone: "  I especially liked how everone had a stupidly long job title to show how conceited they had all become in 7 years."  Ha! Spot-on.

Wow...this was different.  I am sorry I gave up on this show before...wow talk about a change in tone.  Me like!  @Sam, that is an interesting take on the AT field...never thought about it that way before and will have to see more to see if I agree with it.  Of course I am one of the strange people who only use the original episodes...,