This is the tale of a man who continues to look for his own path,
...even while being betrayed by fate.
It has been seven years since Teppelin's fall.
Human civilization has evolved at an astonishing rate.
As Lordgenome predicted, the instant that the one millionth human was born,
...an unknown destructive weapon suddenly appeared.
The declaration of war against humanity came from an unexpected person.
Attention, humans of Earth.
We, the Anti-Spiral races, have determined that humanity...
...has achieved Spiral Power danger level two.
We hereby activate the Humanity Annihilation System.
Is that Nia?
Episode 18: You Will Tell Me The Secrets of This World
I say again...
The Humanity Annihilation System has been activated.
What the hell is our little princess talking about?
Hurry, pinpoint the transmission origin!
It's no use! It's using an encryption I've never seen before!
Find a way!
Rossiu! Where's Nia?!
That's what I'd like to know!
She's not answering her cell, either.
Is it really Nia that's saying all that crazy stuff?!
It shut off...
Yeah, that's right! Trust your friendly New Government Council!
How could something wipe out the whole human race?
Huh? What's that? Reimburse you for your burnt-out house?
You stupid bastard! Gurren Lagann was fighting to protect the city!
What's going on? It's chaos in here!
Where have you been, Dayakka?!
My apologies for calling you in, Provisions Bureau Chief Dayakka.
That's okay, there's nothing a new father can do right now.
What are all these calls about?
The citizens are nervous about that declaration of war.
Speaking to executives of the New Government, core Team Gurren members,
...will go far in alleviating the worries of the general public.
That is Chief Advisor Rossiu's thinking on the matter.
I'm getting more gripes about smashed houses than nervous citizens.
Everybody's real attached to their new lifestyles.
- Listen, we tough! - Quit bitching and let us do job!
Where is he?
Considering how to deal with the situation.
Please leave all of that to the Chief Advisor.
In other words, keep us old-timers busy fielding the complaint calls.
Sounds like something that smartass Rossiu would come up with.
It's a success. We've activated the bio-computer.
Very well. Good work. Now, everyone leave the room.
No one is allowed in until I give authorization.
Very good, sir.
Now, then. This time, you will tell me. Tell me all this world's secrets.
Wake up, Lordgenome.
Nia, are you here?!
Old Coco?
Have you seen Nia?
Well met. This is Nia. I can't come to the phone right now.
When I said "I can't come to the phone" just now, I CAN, I'm just not near mine.
And when I do come home, I prefer to use the home phone than my cell phone.
Nia, please come home...
We finally found you, Supreme commander Simon!
Where do you think you're going?
Out of my way, Gimmy!
Gurren Lagann has been ordered back to base.
Besides, all combat has been prohibited except by Grapearls.
You two were no match for that thing!
We could have beaten it by ourselves!
I'm searching for Nia! This is an emergency! Stand aside!
I won't!
That's an order from the supreme commander!
Gunmen dispatches fall under Chief Advisor Rossiu's purview.
Not even the supreme commander is allowed to ignore the rules.
You little...
The citizens are worried.
Gurren Lagann is no ordinary Gunmen.
It's a symbol of the retaking of the surface. A symbol of strength.
If people see it flying around, they might worry that another big battle is coming.
That isn't something you would do, Simon.
You sure can make a persuasive case these days, Darry.
You win. Take Gurren back with you. I'll go in Lagann.
I won't draw any attention in this, right?
Commander Simon!
Gimmy, don't bother. Nobody can stop him when he gets like that.
I swear... I wish he'd hurry up and realize that the times have changed.
Maybe he doesn't WANT them to change.
That's just thinking of himself.
Well, well.
Hi, Leyte. Makken.
Simon?
So, I guess she didn't come here, either.
I'm sorry we couldn't be of more help.
That's okay, I just came on the off chance she was here.
Simon, is everything okay?
They saw the broadcast on TV?
Nia's transmission.
Yeah.
Don't you worry!
No matter what happens, we'll come up with something!
I don't know what this Humanity Annihilation System thing is,
...but it's nothing to worry about!
YOU'RE the one we're worried about.
He looks pretty depressed.
Shame he's not a mecha... THAT, we could fix.
Nia, where are you?
Was that really you, Nia?
Nia!
#Encodergasm Presents Gurren Lagann
Where am I?
It has been seven years since your death.
No, it wasn't YOU that died.
Lordgenome's knowledge and memories are preserved as data.
We didn't go as far as reproducing his personality, as well.
So, you would dig up a coffin and drag out the corpse inside, eh?
You have an odd notion of fun.
We had to because you died without telling us anything.
This time, you can't get away.
Now, tell me. What are Spiral Power and the Anti-Spiral?
What do they have to do with humanity?!
I've been looking everywhere! Where have you been?
A place unknown to you.
Because I have learned.
L-Learned what?
That you and I are completely incompatible.
The Spiral Nemesis will bring about this universe's destruction.
We Anti-Spirals exist to prevent that event.
D-Do you have a fever or something? I understand you even less than usual.
Simon, the Core Drill you carry is the very symbol of the Spiral Nemesis.
Its power, the power of the Spiral, will destroy the universe.
Spiral Power is the power of evolution.
Lifeforms that carry helical DNA, galaxies that take spiral shape,
...they are amplified to infinite levels by Spiral Power, which magnifies everything.
That is the underpinning of this universe.
However, there arose a group who feared that power.
That group is the Anti-Spiral races.
My original body, Lordgenome, was once a Spiral Warrior...
...who fought the Anti-Spirals in order to protect the galaxy.
Spiral Warrior?
Lazengann, the gigantic Teppelin, even the Gunmen,
...were originally weapons to fight the Anti-Spirals.
Wait, are you telling me that Lagann was also a...
Exactly.
It was one of our most powerful weapons.
It's a Core machine that is activated by Spiral Power,
...one which can control whatever mecha it combines with.
Who would have imagined that something sealed away underground...
...would be discovered by humans.
The hand of fate at work again.
But why?
If you were one of these Spiral Warriors, why would you subjugate humanity?
Why force us underground?
We had lost.
The Spiral races were left with no choice but to flee to their various homeworlds.
Earth is one such world.
After the Anti-Spirals conquered the galaxy,
...they installed Spiral lifeform annihilation devices...
...on any world where they detected a Spiral lifeform signature.
When the above-ground lifeform population exceeds a set limit,
...the device detects this, then activates.
And that's why you drove all humanity underground?
Think what you will of me, but I was trying to preserve humanity as a species.
I did this by maintaining a bare minimum population underground.
Why didn't you just come out and tell us this?!
Why did you use force to subjugate us?!
It wouldn't have worked.
Foolish lifeforms that are driven by the Spiral instinct...
...blindly strive to reach the heavens.
Words and reason alone are insufficient to curb that drive.
The only thing that can... is fear.
And even so, you rebelled against me.
Even as a thousand years of boredom weighed down on me,
...my will was strong enough to keep the Spiral instinct bottled up.
And yet, your rebellion broke my control and made my blood boil.
That is the terror of the power of the Spiral.
Not even Lordgenome was able to curb his instinct to fight.
That's crazy! I won't accept that!
How could my and my Bro's fight be the result of that?
It has been seven years since you came to the surface.
How far has human civilization advanced in a mere seven years?
Don't you find the speed somewhat suspicious?
That is the potential of Spiral lifeforms.
Having passed one million, human numbers and civilization will advance explosively.
They will become a power that will be a threat to our own.
And so, we will destroy you before that can happen.
That's what the Humanity Annihilation System is?
That mecha earlier?
No matter what comes, we have Gurren Lagann! We'll beat them!
So please! Snap out of it, Nia!
That isn't possible.
I am the messenger of the Anti-Spirals.
A virtual lifeform that lay hidden in helical genetic code,
...awakened when the Spiral Lifeform Annihilation System was activated.
Please, Nia! I'm begging you! Talk to me in words I can understand!
You never talked using words like that, remember?
When you talked, it was rambling and incomprehensible...
But it was warm, and sweet, and...
Aw, I can't explain it, but you know what I mean, right?
You didn't used to be like this!
What you see now is the real me.
Please, Lordgenome, you have to tell me! What is the Humanity Annihilation System?!
What does it do to annihilate humanity?
In three weeks' time, the moon will leave its orbit and impact the Earth
And that will be the end of it.
T-The moon?
Word of this can't get out to the populace!
There'll be a huge panic in seconds!
Lordgenome, this is top secret. Discuss it with no one but me.
Rossiu! This is where you've been?!
Don't enter without permission!
Dumbass! Who cares about that?!
The moon probe Gunmen has been destroyed!
That ain't the half of it! Check out the TV! The TV!
Why, that's...
It's been running live on TV for a few minutes now.
She says the moon is gonna fall.
Impossible!
The little princess said it plain as day!
It's hard to believe, but after what happened to the moon probe, who knows?
Can we believe her, Rossiu?
We were driven underground because of some war...
...between the Spiral and Anti-Spiral races.
It's just like Lordgenome predicted.
The moon will become Hell's messenger.
It's coming down on top of us!
I was too late... My worst fears are coming true.
What the hell is this?
I've seen this guy before somewhere.
I'll explain later. Let's go to the Defense Planning Room.
It's ironic that the human whose genes contained the Anti-Spiral factor...
...would be born as Lordgenome's daughter.
However, now that is has activated and I have become an Anti-Spiral,
...I can never be made human again.
Nia!
Nia, where are you going?!
Nia!
Hey! What's going on?!
Mugann have appeared again.
- Mugann? - That machine from earlier.
That type has been codenamed Mugann.
Move it, Gimmy, Darry!
Commander!
Simon! If you attack it and aren't careful, it'll cause another big explosion!
We need a plan!
I'll come up with something while I'm fighting!
This is what I was talking about!
Leeron, have you found an effective means of attacking it?
This is data we got from Gimmy and Darry.
It looks like a powerful energy field is erected around the body.
That energy barrier neutralizes our attacks.
Then we just need to hit it with more power than it can handle!
We can't do that. You saw that huge explosion, right?
A Mugann is essentially comprised entirely of explosives.
When the energy field goes down and it stops functioning,
...the entire body converts into energy in a split second.
Its molecular structure is that unstable?
That would make spatial tranferrence easier, don't you think?
What the hell are those two talking about?
Don't look at me.
Out of the way!
Oops!
Don't say "oops," you bastard!
Don't you think you've done enough damage?!
Normal attacks aren't effective... When it's destroyed, it goes up in a huge blast...
What are we supposed to do?!
Quit that whining. Our first order of business is to halt their advance!
Simon!
Simon, wait a minute!
At least draw it out of the city first!
We can't wait!
Gimmy! Darry! Shoot down the fragments!
All of them!
- Roger that! - Roger!
One down, one to go!
- Simon! - Thanks!
And that's how it's done.
Now I get it! We just need to detonate them before they get to the city!
I knew Simon could do it!
Assuming they only come at us in pairs.
What's wrong?
If they appear in larger numbers, that won't be a viable method.
Besides... It'll have the opposite effect on the populace.
What's going on?
Dumb bastard! Is trashing stuff all you're good for?!
It's all your fault! Get away from us!
The moon's gonna fall on us! What were you thinking?!
Go away! It's your fault they're attacking us!
I can't believe it...
He should have listened...
This is...
This is what my fighting has caused?
Remain calm, everyone! Please listen to your government!
- Look, guns! - They're gonna shoot us!
No, you're wrong! We have no intention of...
Stop that. No guns.
- Are you trying to kill us?! - Get them before they get us!
Chief Advisor! Are you all right?
It's not serious. I'm fine, Kinon.
An injury is an injury. You should get it treated.
I certainly hope that this doesn't spread.
It will. Human impulses catch fire and spread in the blink of an eye.
Just like they did when we defeated Lordgenome.
But in this case, those impulses are directed somewhere else.
Chief Advisor Rossiu...
Someone must be made to take responsibility.
That is how a government functions.
The Anti-Spiral...
Who in the world are they?
Nia...
What's all the ruckus, Rossiu?
Supreme Commander Simon. I hereby place you under arrest.
To Be Continued...
Next Time
The million apes pray in unison, asking for three things.
Prosperity, happiness, and... No, now it's simply for survival.
Next time on Gurren Lagann,
We Will Survive, By Any Means Necessary
..."We Will Survive, By Any Means Necessary".