Seven years have passed since the events of episode 15, and humanity has advanced to futuristic levels in terms of technology, although their population is considerably smaller than present-day earth-- just shy of 1 million humans. The episode opens in Kamina City, the capitol of the human world. Things have been peaceful thanks to Simon's government, in which he is Supreme Commander. Most of the Dai Gurren-dan now have roles in the government, except for Yoko, who declined. Some of the appointments work well-- Leeron as head of the science bureau, for example --but others fall by the wayside, like the population study bureau, which we see Rossiu take control of.
Dayakka and Kiyoh have married and she's pregnant, about ready to give birth. Nia pops into their home and tells Kiyoh and Kinon about Simon, who proposed to her earlier that day. She refused, confused about the way he phrased the proposal and thinking that he wanted to make them into "one person," and she thought that two people couldn't be one person. Kiyoh tells Nia to worry about her feelings and not the exact words and gives her a phone to call Simon with.
Simon, meanwhile, is talking to a giant statue of Kamina, and cheers after his phone call with Nia. Rossiu calls him with information that the "terrorist" Viral and his small band of remaining beastmen are attacking. Simon wants to go out in the Gurren-Lagann and fight Viral, but Rossiu tells him not to, because it's Simon's job to helm the government, not fight. Viral instead fights the Grapal forces, led in part by teenage Gimmy and Darry, now mech virtuosos. Viral is captured. Simon questions Viral and learns that Viral was actually attempting to protect humans-- humans that wanted to remain underground but were being forced to the surface.
Simon angrily confronts Rossiu about these forced moves, and Rossiu says that it's so that they can determine the population. He fears that if they can't keep tabs on everyone then they'll reach the 1 million mark without realizing it. Simon asks Rossiu if they'll just kick people off the planet when they get near a million, recalling memories of Rossiu's underground village in episode 5. Rossiu says that Simon doesn't understand anything and storms off to his own office, where his staff-- loyal only to him, it's said --is opening up a bio-supercomputer to learn the secrets of the world.
Later, Nia calls Simon to tell him that Kiyoh has had a baby girl…who they don't realize is the 1 millionth human. A mech appears in the sky and begins attacking, and Simon hangs up to go deal with it. Nia watches the moon seem to grow closer and suddenly begins to transform, strange electronic-looking markings appearing on her body. The Grapal ganmen forces are sent out but fail against the new mech, and the old forces of the government-- Kittan, Dayakkal, etc. --bemoan the destruction of their ganmen, "relics" of the Spiral King's era. Only the Gurren-Lagann remains intact, and Simon flies it out just in time to save Darry from an attack.
Rossiu chastises Simon for going out but Simon declares that protecting the people is part of his job and attacks the mech. He succeeds in destroying the enemy, which then explodes, taking a significant chunk of the city with it. A frustrated Rossiu continues yelling at Simon while a dark, monotone Nia appears on all screens, everywhere, announcing that the Anti-Spirals' Human Extermination System has been activated.
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325 points
