Simon (Gurren Lagann)

Simon
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann character
File:Simon (Gurren Lagann).jpg Simon the Digger
Created by	Kazuki Nakashima
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Digger Starship commander (Prologue) Team Dai-Gurren Leader Supreme Commander (Part III) Wandering Sage (Epilogue)

Simon (シモン, Shimon) is the central protagonist of the anime and manga series, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. He begins the story as a short, unassuming and lonely young boy, but grows up to be a tall, commanding and well-loved young man. To many more, he is a legendary hero who overcame impossible odds and great personal adversity for the good of mankind. Simon is the first character seen in the prologue of the anime series, and is the only character to appear in every episode of Gurren-Lagann.

Etymology

Simon's name comes from the Japanese word for "below" (下, shimo), tying in with a theme for most of the main characters to have names based around location, direction, or distance. This implies a bit of irony, as Simon controls the Gurren-Lagann from on top of the Gurren inside the Lagann, while Kamina, who is named after the Japanese word for "above" (上, kami) pilots it from underneath the Lagann inside the Gurren. The kanji for shimo and kami are nearly identical, except kami is vertically flipped.

Character Description

As a boy, Simon is physically underdeveloped for his age, standing at little more than 4-feet tall. He wears a short sleeved blue vest and short brown pants, topped with a pair of red goggles and brown work shoes. He has deep blue hair and wide eyes with small pupils, and his iris colour was eventually revealed to be an almost black dark blue. Simon also ties on shin splits and sports a cloth waistband, and the Core Drill hangs from a fastened leather string around his neck. Originally, Simon wore a dusty brown cloak, which eased his passage through the narrow tunnels of the underground, but this cloak was blown off by the wind during the initial escape from Giha Village.

Though valued as one of the most skilled diggers in Giha Village, Simon is ignored by the adults and snubbed by the girls, who consider him disgusting because of his peculiar habits and odd smell. Lacking parental figures to help him mature, along with his fear of earthquakes, Simon is plagued by low self-esteem and has many cowardly tendencies. Even after his friendship with Kamina, he continues to act cowardly and doubts his own abilities. However, Kamina's inspirational speeches gives Simon just enough confidence to endure his fears and to accomplish something. Young Simon is also susceptible to bouts of intense determination, such as when he charged at the Gunzar (later, the Gurren) and the Enki.

In Part II, Simon is thrown into a maddening, pervasive depression, driving him to be overly aggressive in combat toward his enemies. Although the entire Team Dai-Gurren is buoyed in low morale, Simon is particularly affected as he feels he is personally responsible for the tragedy that befell the entire team. His psychotic outbursts and pessimistic comments further isolate him among the Team, even as some members reach out to him. Simon's meeting with the mysterious Nia helps him come to a revelation about his own nature, leading to him putting aside all fears and doubts in favour of courage and confidence. He also manages to come up with his own original inspirational speeches, though some team members feel he needs some work

As an adult in Part III, Simon acts no differently from his child self in Part II, though he is considerably lazier. He grows significantly, and stands taller than Kamina at a bit more than 6-feet. At this time, Simon wears stylish white oxford shoes and long pants, with a white collared shirt and an embroidered blue, red, and gold vest, topped off with a red sash. Simon is quite shy with love, having gathered the courage to propose marriage to Nia seven years after Part II. He is also revealed to be excessively optimistic and näive, allowing Rossiu to character assassinate him and refusing to cease attempts to reconcile with Nia.

In Part IV, Simon has a change of wardrobe, wearing grey low-rise jeans, a black neck brace and plastic black haramaki, and donning a long, navy blue trenchcoat with gold studs, sporting the Team Dai-Gurren logo on the back. Part IV marks a significant and abrupt change in character for Simon; he no longer has a driving desire to better the world, but is satisfied to let human life lead its own course. Simon hands off all of his personal responsibilities to his friends, and leads a lonely but seemingly content low-profile life well into the epilogue.

History

Simon was born in Giha Village, one of many subterranean civilizations on Planet Earth in the far future. Unlike other villages, Giha Village had supplies of fresh water, animals (Molepigs) for food and electric generators for light. In spite of this, there was an ever-present threat of cave-ins from earthquakes, so the village chief employs diggers from the energetic and maneuverable youth to create new routes for the city to expand. Simon became one of them, and quickly distinguishes himself as one of the best diggers.

At age seven, Simon's parents were killed before his eyes in a cave-in during an earthquake. The incident traumatized him and gave him a phobia for earthquakes. Simon then devoted his entire existence to his job, earning him the scorn from his peers. Only Kamina, the local gang leader and juvenile delinquent, reached out to Simon. Kamina "recruited" Simon into the "Gurren Brigade" by dragging him along on outrageous schemes to escape Giha Village to the surface, which Kamina claims he had visited as a young boy. Though Simon was an outcast, he would always feel more comfortable around Kamina. In one instance, Kamina and the other members were trapped in a small hole caused by an earthquake; everyone was scared, but Kamina's pep talks to Simon motivates the digger to drill a tunnel out of the barricade. After this incident, Kamina and Simon grew so close that they could have been called brothers.

One day, during the digging of a new tunnel, Simon discovers a small drill-shaped object that periodically glows, an item known as the Core Drill. On the same day, he unearths a large "face" in the ground, and shows it to Yoko and Kamina after Giha Village is attacked by a large Gunmen. The face is revealed to be a miniature Gunmen, and the Core Drill Simon dug up is the key to starting it. With the aid of this mech, which Kamina names the "Lagann", Simon destroys the large Gunmen attacking Giha and rises to the surface world.

Role

Most of the Gurren Brigade's early successes are directly because of Simon, particularly in the capture of the Gunzar (later, the Gurren) and entrapping the Dai-Gunzan in a desert sinkhole. However, for much of Part I, Simon is depicted as a sidekick to Kamina, his very presence overshadowed by his much more charismatic friend. Although Simon forms a fast friendship with the similarly aged Rossiu, and is admired by Rossiu's wards Gimmy and Darry, he often goes unnoticed or ignored by older members, particularly his crush, Yoko. This treatment of Simon ultimately proves fatal for Kamina when Yoko, oblivious to Simon's feelings for her, confesses her affection for Kamina with a kiss in front of a bewildered Simon (though both Yoko and Kamina are unaware that Simon is watching). This upsets Simon and disrupts his ability to control the Lagann, forcing Kamina to supervise him. While Kamina is caught off guard, Divine General Thymilph surprises and stabs Kamina, ultimately killing him.

The guilt over Kamina's death reduces the morale for the Gurren Brigade, but it affects Simon to an extreme - mentally broken, bitter and depressed, he becomes hostile to friend and foe alike. Few members have any faith in Simon's capacity as a leader, and a power struggle begins between Simon and Kittan, ending in Simon soullessly yielding his rank. His psychotic tendencies have an adverse affect on the Gurren-Lagann, leading to surges of spiral energy that disrupt the mech's basic functioning, causing it to fall apart. The Lagann rejects Simon, deeming him unfit to pilot it properly in his unstable state.

It is during this state Simon meets Nia, and the two immediately develop a strong friendship. Continually inspired and touched by her kindness and sincerity, Simon regains his composure to fight, renaming himself Simon the Driller. After this display, he is unanimously elected the Gurren Brigade's new leader.

Upon defeating the Spiral King and putting an end to the war against the Beastmen, Simon becomes commander-in-chief of the city founded on Teppelin's remains, Kamina City, (named after Kamina ) and effectively the leader of humanity and of Earth. During the seven years since their victory, the city flourishes by his and the Gurren Brigade's efforts, bringing a long sought period of peace. However, just after proposing marriage to Nia and receiving her positive reply, the one millionth human child is born, triggering the Anti-Spiral Human Annihilation System. Nia, who is turned into the Anti-Spirals' messenger, reveals to the population the whole truth behind their intentions and the reason why they plan to wipe out mankind, triggering a revolt from the people of Kamina City against the government, who destroys Kamina's statue and asks for Simon's head. In a maneuver to calm down the angry mob, Simon is betrayed by his second-in-command, Rossiu, who removes him from power and holds a mock trial where Simon is sentenced to death.

Incarcerated in the Rinkane Jail until the day of his execution, he ends up meeting Viral, an old enemy of his, and after causing a commotion among the prisoners, both are sent to individual cells. During Simon's attempted escape, Nia appears before them and their ensuing conversation is interrupted by Yoko who broke into the prison in order to rescue him. Before leaving, Simon also sets Viral free and the trio encounters the rest of the reformed Gurren Brigade who is finished with their preparations to retaliate against the Anti-Spirals.

With Viral piloting the Gurren, Simon and his companions rush into space to protect the Arc-Gurren from a massive Anti-Spiral attack, forming the Arc-Gurren-Lagann in the process. After confronting Nia and making her briefly revert to her old self, Simon manages to convince her to let him stop the Human Annihilation System by taking control of the Cathedral Terra and keeping it from falling on Earth. Unfortunately, Nia is teleported back to the Anti-Spirals' homeworld, causing Simon to swear to rescue her. Leaving Rossiu at the command of Kamina City in his absence, Simon and the rest of the Gurren Brigade take control of the Cathedral Terra, renamed the Chouginga Dai-Gurren, and launch themselves into deep space to recover Nia from the grasp of the Anti-Spirals.

Epilogue

After the final battle against the Anti-Spirals, Simon finally weds Nia, but the happiness of the event is cut short when her body disappears due to her Anti-Spiral nature. Simon is not surprised, however, as he and Nia knew what would happen beforehand. When Gimmy suggest he use Spiral Power to revive the dead and bring Nia and their allies back to life, Simon refuses, stating that "dead people are dead people." He then leaves the Lagann's Core Drill to Gimmy and wanders the world alone.

Twenty years later, an elder Simon having only a staff tipped with a large drill and his loyal pet Boota by his side is seen in the outskirts of Kamina City. The epilogue reveals that the elder Simon is the opening narrator for all of the episodes in the series.

Prologue

In the prologue to episode one of the anime series, a different version of Simon is featured than the one ultimately seen in the fourth story arc and epilogue. This character sports several cosmetic changes: his pants have waist-high cuffs and are held up by a felt belt with a Team Gurren shaped buckle. Instead of a plastic black waistband, this Simon wears the same cloth band of Kamina's, which is also seen around his neck. Simon's hair is considerably longer, covering his eyes. A metallic rattling can be heard whenever Simon takes a heavy step (a parallel to Captain Harlock) and the colours of the Dai-Gurren shades are different both on Chōginga Dai-Gurren's flag and Simon's trenchcoat.

Simon's personality is also considerably different; while the Simon seen in the series was laid-back and non-confrontational, this Simon is much more bold and daring, ordering his outnumbered ship to obliterate a task force of the Great Dimensional Government (次元大幕府, Jigan Dai Bakufu) despite being horribly outnumbered. At his side is an older version of Boota, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of Rossiu's bureaucratic uniform, and the Chōginga Dai-Gurren Simon commands appears to have share some designs with the Dai-Gunzan.

Influences

Simon goes through three stages in his character development during the three arcs of the series. In some ways, 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.

In the first eight episodes, Simon's personality is similar to Shinji Ikari in Evangelion in that he is a hesitant participant in the resistance movement and is often terrified of battle. The next seven episodes then follows a coming of age arc for Simon, as he recovers from depression and reluctantly leads a revolution. In the final arc, which begins after a time skip, Simon must deal with the consequences of his revolution, drawing parallels with Ken Kubo in Otaku no Video.