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Gurren Lagann, known in Japan as lead=yes, is a Japanese mecha anime anime television series animated by Gainax and produced by TV Tokyo, Konami, Dentsu and Aniplex. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo and its affiliates between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi with series composition by veteran playwright Kazuki Nakashima. Gurren Lagann takes place in a fictional future where the Spiral King, Lordgenome, rules Earth and forces mankind to live in isolated subterranean villages. The plot focuses on two teenagers, Simon and Kamina, who live in a subterranean village and wish to go to the surface. Using a mecha known as Lagann, they reach the surface and start fighting alongside other humans against Lordgenome's forces before fighting the forces of their true enemy.
In North America, although initially announced to be licensed by ADV Films in 2007, the license was transferred to Bandai Entertainment in 2008 and then to Aniplex of America in 2013. In the United Kingdom, it was licensed by Manga Entertainment in 2007, then transferred to Beez Entertainment in 2008, and then to Anime Limited in 2013. The Sci Fi Channel acquired the broadcasting rights of Gurren Lagann and began airing it in July 2008, as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block. A manga adaptation was published by ASCII Media Works between 2007 and 2013, which Bandai Entertainment licensed and released in English in North America. A series of four was published by Shogakukan between 2007 and 2008. A Nintendo DS video game was released in October 2007, bundled with a special episode of the anime series. Two animated film versions were produced; the first premiered in Japanese theaters in September 2008, and the second premiered in April 2009.
Gurren Lagann has received several awards, including the 7th Tokyo Anime Awards, the 12th Animation Kobe and the Excellence Prize at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival.
As of 2021, alongside Imaishi's other works during his time in Gainax, the rights to the series are owned by Studio Trigger, which was formed by Imaishi in 2011.
Simon, a meek young digger Conscription to expand his home deeper underground, lives in Giha village with his best friend Kamina, an eccentric delinquent who is like an older brother figure to him and dreams of visiting the surface world. One day, Simon unearths a drill-shaped key called a Core Drill, and then finds a small Gunmen. Soon after, a giant Gunmen crashes through the ceiling and begins attacking the village. It is pursued by a woman named Yoko. Simon uses his Core Drill to activate the smaller Gunmen (which Kamina names Lagann) and its drilling-based abilities. He successfully uses it to destroy the more prominent Gunmen and break through the ceiling, allowing him and Kamina to reach the surface world.
Along the way, Kamina hijacks a Gunmen and names it Gurren, combining it with Lagann to form the mecha Gurren Lagann. Their actions inspire other humans to steal their own Gunmen and join Team Gurren, leading Kamina to rename it Team Dai-Gurren. Eventually, Team Dai-Gurren captures an enemy Gunmen fortress to use as their base of operations, but one of Lordgenome's four generals kills Kamina in the preceding battle, and Simon sinks into depression until he meets Nia, who is revealed to be Lordgenome's daughter.
Nia helps Simon come to terms with Kamina's death, and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren prompt him to become the team's leader, leading them and other teams of humans, who had captured other Gunmen and Gunmen fortresses, to Lordgenome's palace, which is revealed to be a gigantic Gunmen called Teppelin. In the final battle, Simon, Nia, and Rossiu pilot Gurren Lagann to fight Lordgenome, who fights them in a similar Gunmen called Lazengann. With Lazengann and Gurren damaged, Lordgenome fights Simon with his bare hands until Simon uses his Core Drill to defeat him for good.
Seven years later, mankind prospers on the surface, with Simon and the other members of Team Dai-Gurren serving as the world's government in their new capital Kamina City. When the human population reaches one million, an alien race called the Anti-Spirals emerges and uses Nia as their messenger because the Anti-Spirals created her. They have sent the Moon on a collision course with the Earth to wipe out the planet's life and prevent them from evolving to the extent they will risk destroying the universe in a cataclysmic event called the Spiral Nemesis.
Lordgenome is resurrected as a bio-computer and reveals that he was once part of an intergalactic army of warriors who failed to stop the Anti-Spirals and forced mankind underground to protect them. With help from Lordgenome and Viral, an old enemy of Simon who pilots Gurren, Simon, Gurren Lagann, and Team Dai-Gurren prevent the Moon's collision, in the process revealing it to be Lordgenome's flagship that the Anti-Spirals reprogrammed. Using it, they retrieve the real Moon from the pocket dimension the Anti-Spirals had hidden it in and go to their homeworld. They rescue Nia, and in a one-on-one Gunmen battle across the universe, Simon and Lagann destroy the Anti-Spirals. However, this causes Nia to fade away, as her existence is tied to that of the Anti-Spirals. With his life in battle finally over, Simon hands his Core Drill over to Gimmy and leaves his friends to wander the planet as a nameless vagrant, stating that his destiny was merely to "dig the tunnel to the future."
The epilogue takes place twenty years after the team defeats the Anti-Spirals. The surviving team members have retired and moved on with their lives. Simon watches over them as a squadron of Gurren Laganns flies through the night sky to join their Spiral brethren in the stars.
In contrast to other popular series, Imaishi decided to include drills as the robot's main weapons despite its impact on the suspension of disbelief. Imaishi also wanted the series to only have robots. The robots were made organic so that they would be easier to animate. Nevertheless, animating episode 15 was challenging to the staff due to the number of shots it required. Its animator Sushio called himself the "super animator" for his work. Deciding the design of the Gurren Lagann was complicated since it was the basis for the other mechas appearing in the story.
In the making of the series, the team wanted to focus more on the underground life and Simon's imprisonment but their ideas could not be used. In the eighth episode Kamina dies to provide Simon's character development and make him become the main character. Simon's development kept on going until the final arc when staff planned ideas to make him surpass Kamina. The ending was written to finalize Simon's growth and not leave signs of a sequel. The finale had the pre-planned tragic event of Nia's death which left several staff members saddened. While the staff acknowledged how people were not satisfied with the sad conclusion, they noted that there were still issues that made her survival difficult for the characters. Once the series ended, Yamaga had the idea of releasing a film that retells the events of the series to expand the audience.
According to Jason Green from Anime News Network, the anime was influenced by previous Gainax anime, particularly in the character development of the protagonist Simon, who goes through three stages in his character development during the three arcs of the series. Each of these stages in his development were influenced by protagonists from several previous Gainax anime: Shinji Ikari from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, Noriko Takaya from Gunbuster, and Ken Kubo from Otaku no Video. The handling of the characters and personalities were tributes to the boxing manga Ashita no Joe which the staff idolized.
As a result of the series airing in a child-friendly time slot, the staff members had problems with episode 6. Although that episode had a subplot involving peeking into the women's bath, the television stations believed it was suitable when reading the script. After seeing the finished episode, the station said that it could not be aired, and a revised version of the episode was produced.
The English version had been previously licensed by ADV Films, but was later acquired by Bandai Entertainment. A subtitle-only version was released in three volumes from July to September 2008, and an official English dub, with the episodes collected in three DVD sets, was released from November 18, 2008, to May 5, 2009. The show premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on July 28, 2008, as part of Sci Fi's Ani-Monday anime block, airing two episodes each week (and three the final week). The European distribution branch of Bandai, Beez Entertainment, distributed the series in the UK and Europe but has gone out of print since January 2012. In 2013, Anime Limited announced that they have the distribution license for Gurren Lagann on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK. In 2014, they released a limited Blu-ray Ultimate Edition on October 20, 2014, featuring the entire series, both film adaptations and the complete Parallel Works series, as well as a hardcover artbook. A standard edition Blu-ray containing the complete series was also released on the same day with the DVD release following later that year. The English version also aired on Animax across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia starting on May 22, 2009. It was broadcast in Italy on Rai 4 between September 24, 2009, and April 1, 2010. Aniplex of America re-released the series in a limited edition DVD box set on May 9, 2013. A Blu-ray Disc box set, which includes both the television series and the two film adaptations, was released on June 26, 2013. Adult Swim began airing the series in English as part of the Toonami block on August 16, 2014.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Character Song was released on July 25, 2007, by Aniplex, including by the main voice cast, with songs sung by Simon (Tetsuya Kakihara), Kamina (Katsuyuki Konishi), and Yoko (Marina Inoue), the latter of which is a playable song in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2. In addition, several music compilation albums have been released, most consisting of background music.
A spin-off manga entitled 天元突破グレンラガン −紅蓮学園篇− was serialized in Comp Ace between August 26, 2008, and January 26, 2009; a single tankōbon volume was released on March 26, 2009. The manga takes the characters from the original story and puts them in a school in a parallel world. In the manga, Simon attends Dai Guren Gakuen with his childhood friends Kamina and Yoko. Simon, who lives in a run down apartment building, wishes for a normal life, and meets the mysterious Nia one day when she trips down the stairs. She immediately takes a liking to Simon and declares him her husband. Kamina finds another "sister" in Nia, who shares his hot-blooded style. She enrolls in Dai-Gurren Academy, and all three must deal with the threat of students from Teppelin Academy, who wish to bring Nia back to her father, the principal.
Another spin-off manga titled Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 4-panel Kingdom: Yoko's Belly Button Chapter was published by Futabasha in 2008 as a compilation of various short stories.
Another spin-off manga titled Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Spiral Boy was published by Comp Ace from June 26, 2009, to January 26, 2010. In it, Simon lives in a domed city and works as a digger for a waste disposal unit. When he meets the mysterious Nia, this leads to him uncovering a conspiracy.
A game for the Nintendo DS was released October 25, 2007, not only featuring the characters from the series, but also containing a special episode set in the early stages of the story as a pre-order bonus. In June 2010, Gainax re-acquired the video game rights to the series from Konami, which allowed Banpresto to include it in the latest installment of its storied Super Robot Wars franchise, 2nd Super Robot Wars Z: Destruction Chapter, released in April 2011.
A Pachinko game based on the anime teased by Konami was later released in February 2016.
An iOS and Android Gurren Lagann videogame was released in English on October 12, 2023, and was shut down on January 10, 2026.
A second film, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the Movie: The Spiral Stone Chapter was released in Japanese theaters on April 25, 2009. It focuses on the second half of the series, contributing more new animation than the first film. The Japanese DVD for The Lights in the Sky are Stars was released on January 27, 2010. For both films, Shoko Nakagawa sang the theme songs: "The World Goes On" for Childhood's End and "Seed of Tears, Flower of Smiles" for The Lights in the Sky are Stars. Taku Iwasaki returned to compose the films' scores.
Aniplex of America distributed both films on DVD in regular and special editions. Childhood's End was released on July 1, 2010, while The Lights in the Sky are Stars was released on July 30, 2010. Aniplex of America released the films on Blu-ray Disc as part of the Gurren Lagann Blu-ray box set on June 26, 2013. Aniplex of America re-released the films in a separate Blu-ray Disc set on July 15, 2014.
For the series' 15th anniversary, it was announced that both films would be re-shown in theaters in Japan, Taiwan and the United States as both a 2D and 4D film, along with a new release on Ultra HD Blu-ray. At the 15th Anniversary panel at AnimeNYC, it was announced the North American screenings for Childhood's End would be held on January 16 and 17, 2024 with The Lights in the Sky Are Stars following on January 23 and 24; the films were available for viewing in the original subtitled Japanese or a newly recorded English dub.
Anime News Network gave Gurren Lagann a full 'A' rating, with reviewer Theron Martin describing it as "one of the liveliest series of the decade" and concluding that "Gainax's paean to boisterous, macho mecha action delivers in triumphant fashion." Anime News Network also gave the dubbed version of the first volume an 'A' rating. IGN gave the series a score of 9.7 out of 10, with reviewer Ramsey Isler describing it as "an inspiring story" and concluding that "overall it succeeds at being a great tale of the indomitable spirit of determined people." Anime World Order also gave the series a positive review, noting that it has become one of the most popular mecha anime on the Internet, which reviewer Clarissa Graffeo ascribes to its crossover appeal among various audiences who do not usually watch giant robot anime, by combining aspects from a number of different anime genres, including elements of the Super Robot, Real Robot, Shōnen, Shōjo, Seinen manga and Josei manga genres.
THEM Anime Reviews gave the anime a score of 4 out of 5 stars, with reviewer Tim Jones describing it as "Almost five-star material," and stating that it is "chuck full of action, comedy, Drama film, adventure, and Science fiction elements, managing to even entertain a person who couldn't care less about mecha in the process." UK Anime Network gave the first third of the series a score of 8/10, with reviewer Ross Liversidge noting that from episode 7 onwards, "the show's newfound edge makes it far more gripping," and concludes that it is a "high quality release" and "a fun, punchy series that stands out from the crowd." On the review website Mania.com, reviewer Chris Beveridge gave the first two-thirds of the series a full 'A' grade. He described the first third as "chaotic, magical and engaging," and then described the second third as captivating "with non-standard storytelling ideas for an anime series" and concluded that it was "fun, exciting, unpredictable and filled with the usual positive messages but done without any serious preaching."
Ian Wolf of Anime UK News stated, "when you look at the way that it was made as a whole, the story that was created, the characters that were portrayed, and the sheer scale of the entire project, it all combines into what is probably one of the greatest anime of all time." Guillermo Kurten of Comic Book Resources ( CBR) called it one of the "modern classics" of anime, praising the art style and animation, the action, the mechs, the cast of characters and their emotional relationships, the world-building with gradually rising stakes, the "over-the-top and light-hearted" tone, and for dealing with real-world issues. Michael Iacono of CBR also praised the anime's use of hip-hop, including "what might be the greatest hip-hop song in the genre" of anime and hip-hop.
Japanator named Gurren Lagann the fourth best anime of the 2000s, calling it "a flawless execution of storytelling". Android Authority ranked it the second best anime on Netflix. Paste Magazine ranked it among the top 50 anime of all time.
The success of Gurren Lagann led to the creation of Studio Trigger, founded by director Hiroyuki Imaishi. Gurren Laganns visual humor and style defined their work, and the studio is seen as a successor to Gainax. Mecha designer Shigeto Koyama, who did design work for Gurren Lagann, later worked on the concept design for Baymax in the 2014 Disney film Big Hero 6. Upon the film's release in Japan, comparisons were drawn to Gurren Lagann from Japanese audiences. Gurren Lagann is frequently referenced in the 2016 video game . Gurren Lagann was cited as an inspiration for the drill weaponry and narrative themes present in the 2018 game ZeroRanger. The French television show Wakfu also pays homage to Gurren Lagann. In League of Legends, Rumble's "Super Galaxy Rumble" skin, as well as many of the quotes with the skin, is based on the anime. In , one of Stan Marsh's catch phrases is from the anime.
In an April 2019 interview with Diego Molano, creator of Victor and Valentino, he said that the series is "one of my all-time favorite series to watch," and even puts it in the background when he draws or writes. He also called the series brilliant, as he always finds "new things to admire" and praises the storyboards of the show for being "incredibly energetic, expressive and appealing."
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