Transcending Space & Time: Simon/Nia (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
Title: Transcending Space & Time
Author: annwyd
Fandom: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Pairing: Simon/Nia
Wordcount: 10,287
Spoilers: Many. Big ones.
Author's Notes: As you may have noticed from the wordcount, this is huge. I've cut it down as far as I can. Sorry for the tl;dr! That'll teach me to try to summarize the main pairing in a super robot show about the power of love.
♥ go beyond the impossible
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the epic, heartwarming, badass tale of a boy who escapes from his underground village to the surface with the help of his loudly determined brother and a girl with a big gun. Once there, he frees humanity from the tyranny of the Helix King and his Beastmen while piloting a giant mechanical face, called a Gunman, then later goes on to save the world, all the while supported by his amazing and frequently crazy friends and loved ones. Also, he likes drills kind of a lot.
You've probably heard of it.
♥ believers
Simon is just Simon, or sometimes, Simon the Digger. He's a boy who lost his parents in a cave-in and has since then found family in Kamina, his brother in all but blood. Since coming to the surface with Kamina and Yoko, he's faced greater and greater challenges and excitements, but he's still at heart a simple person with simple needs--and more potential than most would guess.
Nia is a princess, or was, once. Now she's just herself: a kind but naive, sheltered but fiercely determined girl. At her new home with Team Dai-Gurren, she's going to learn a lot about other people and her own place in the world.
What happens when the two of them meet?
♥ what, exactly, is a human?
When our two subjects first meet, Simon is in a pretty dark place. It's raining when we come to the heroes and their struggle to deal with Kamina's death, and the previously bright colors of the show have been washed out. The entire atmosphere has changed. Crucially, Simon has rejected the main themes of the show. He goes about with haunted eyes, refusing to accept any help or sympathy from other people, obsessed only with taking revenge and becoming strong enough to deal with life on his own, struggling to be a false and broken Kamina instead of himself.
This doesn't really work out for him.
After his state of mind turns a battle into a disaster and sends him fleeing from the scene in an out-of-control Lagann, Simon comes to his senses alone in a dark place--which turns out to be full of sealed boxes. They look a lot like coffins. For lack of anything better to do in his miserable state--or perhaps out of a flicker of hope?--Simon approaches a newly-deposited box. And with his drill, he opens it.
And color returns to his world in the form of Nia.
As Simon stands there and gawks, Nia greets him and proceeds to enjoy the rain. That's right: she wakes up in unfamiliar settings, in a box, in a gloomy setting that was just moments earlier used to signify soul-crushing angst...and she enjoys it. In contrast to Simon at the moment, she loves life. The outside world in all its nuances is something new and wonderful to her.
She steps out into the rain, barefoot, and says, "It's so thick and cold and wet and gooey and squishy...it's wonderful!"
He stares at her: "Really? It is?"
She proceeds to start touching him (cue the blush), asking him why he looks and feels like her, what humans are, what people are. As they start talking--Nia in her innocent confusion, Simon in his fumbling awkwardness--a beam of light breaks through the clouds and illuminates them from above. The rain stops, and as they finally introduce themselves, the light pans across each of them in turn.
No, this show isn't subtle.
When a Gunman appears and Simon must fight to save Nia from it, he grabs her hand and runs. Then he finds himself once more trying to shoulder Kamina's burdens, once more trying to be the reckless, driven hero. Even as he tries, he's shaking in fear. Here's where things get really radical. Nia puts her sure hands on Simon's trembling ones, and she tells him that if he's scared, it's okay to run away. She doesn't know Kamina, and she doesn't know what Simon's trying to be. She only knows that they both want to survive and see each other be all right.
"You must not die, Simon," she tells him, suddenly sure of herself and what she's saying.
"I'm not scared," he says, still shaking.
"You must not lie, either," she chides, because Simon is pretty transparent, and Nia doesn't know any better but to point that out. She tells him, "Come. Let us escape--together," and this time she's the one who grabs his hand and runs. For the first time since Kamina's death, Simon lets someone help him. Tellingly, right afterwards, the rest of Team Dai-Gurren arrives to save them. See, Simon: it's okay to have faith in your friends.
The rescuers bring both Simon and Nia back to the Dai-Gurren, and we learn a little more about Nia. But their trials are far from over. Simon has accepted more help from the people around him, but he still hasn't gotten his fighting spirit back to pilot Lagann once more. And Adiane the Elegant has arrived to wipe out the "human scum."
Funny thing, though. Nia recognizes Adiane's voice. She knows her. Heedless of danger, she runs out to confront the attacker, her sweet innocence once more exchanged for fierce certainty. In doing so, she reveals that she is Lord Genome's daughter.
Despite this revelation, it's evident almost immediately that everyone associates Nia with Simon, as they quickly hand her off to him to "interrogate." Instead, they end up talking. Just talking, in a way it doesn't seem like Simon has talked with anybody since Kamina's death.
Nia being Nia--and already having that kind of connection to Simon--she gets right to the heart of his problems as she asks, "Why is it that you fight?" Simon admits to her that, really, he's only doing it because Kamina did. Now Nia does what no one else has yet: she simply asks who Kamina was. In giving Simon (and later, Yoko) the chance to just talk about him, she lets him start healing.
So Nia is the first to flat-out tell Simon: you are good enough as yourself. You don't have to be Kamina, and you shouldn't try. Her actual words are fumbling, insensitive, but they drive home a point Simon needed to hear. In turn, Yoko and Simon's reactions both teach Nia what grief is--and that human beings are more complicated and more worth knowing than even she had thought.
But soon enough, Adiane is attacking again, and this time Nia's commands won't stop her. She reveals to Nia that her father deliberately abandoned her. Suddenly, Nia's got some issues of her own to work out. Too bad that with Adiane bent on killing her, she won't get the time.
But Simon is shocked into action by seeing her hurt and in danger. Unable to get Lagann to work, he tries to run to Nia's rescue anyway. It's a step up: he finally has a reason to fight other than "to be like Kamina." Nia knows it, too. It may have been everyone else, in their working Gunman, who rescued her in the end, but she reminds him: he ran out to save her first.
"Simon," she says, "thank you."
By the next episode, things aren't looking any better for Simon. In fact, with his continued inability to fight, the rest of Team Dai-Gurren has decided to throw Lagann out with the trash if he doesn't shape up soon and "stand up on his own" again. Nia--already very attached to Simon--can't quite comprehend this. Nobody ever explained the ideas of pride and self-reliance to her, after all.
So when everyone else is pointedly ignoring Simon, hoping he'll come to his senses, Nia walks right in to see him huddled in a corner, making statues of Kamina with his drill. What does she tell him? That it's okay for him to grieve. Emboldened, he confesses the heart of his problem to her: he can't be like Kamina. She replies by telling him that the statues are really good, and she wants to stay and watch him make them.
In other words: she doesn't care that Simon can't be Kamina. Unlike everyone else around him--who are themselves upset at the loss of Kamina--she never knew Kamina in the first place. She doesn't have a basis for comparison. She just knows she likes Simon.
When Beastmen raid the Dai-Gurren, Nia takes another step forward, inspired by her time with Simon. She agrees to go meet with Guame the Steady...but insists that the Beastmen taking her don't harm Simon. Watching her leave, Simon calls out after her. Before she goes, she tells him, "You don't have to be Kamina. You're good as yourself." This time, she doesn't blurt it out, confused, in the midst of a tale of grief. She says it calmly and certainly.
But what Guame has to tell her is nothing good. He confirms Adiane's earlier pronouncement and adds to it that she was never more than a doll to amuse her father. And she's far from the first he's treated this way.
Meanwhile, Team Dai-Gurren is trapped in prison by Guame, busily angsting over how Kamina will not save them...when they notice Simon steadily digging his way out. Finally, given the opportunity to save everyone, with Nia's words fresh in his mind, he is able to summon inspiration from Kamina instead of a burden.
Trapped with Guame, Nia describes Simon as "the person who always protects" her. Already she has enough faith in him to say: "He would never lose to you!" This prompts Guame to call for Simon's immediate execution, which does not sit well with Nia. Even shackled and defenseless, she refuses to let harm come to Simon. With a gun to her head, for his sake, she refuses to back down. To Guame she says that she believes in Simon the way Simon believes in Kamina.
It's right then that Simon breaks through the floor and shatters her shackles with Lagann's drill. "Nia!" he says. "I came to save you!" Nia was the one who finally gave Simon the strength to fight again, on his own instead of laboring under Kamina's shadow.
Once again, she thanks him--and then she notices his hands clenched around the controls. "Simon, move your hands," she says, and she puts hers in their place. Together they bring Lagann back to combine with Gurren, and for the first time, Simon acknowledges Kamina's death but swears that he'll fight on regardless. He's not trying to be Kamina anymore--he knows that it's enough that Kamina lives on in his heart. And him? He's Simon the Digger--and now, protector of Nia.
As the battle ends, with Simon victorious, we see the controls of Lagann once again. Nia's hands are still on them--and now, Simon's hands are on hers. In a way, they fought this battle together. Nor was it only Simon who benefitted. Now Nia can begin confronting her own heartbreak. She returns to where she was abandoned to find all the others tossed aside by her father and give them proper burials.
When she is done, there's new hope to be had. Awkwardly, Simon gives her something he found while digging--a green gem, which she finds very beautiful. It's a strangely normal gesture of courtship amidst all this chaos, and both of them take joy in it. Finally, he gives her the same assurance she gave him. It doesn't matter what came before they met. The Nia she is right now is good enough for him, just as the Simon he is right now is good enough for her. After all this, he's finally good enough for himself, too--and so good enough to be the leader of Team Dai-Gurren.
♥ heading towards tomorrow
As Team Dai-Gurren reaches the sea and continues on their journey to the capital of Teppelin, Simon and Nia share a moment of joy over the simple beauty of the sea before them--a sight neither has ever seen before.
But things don't go so well for long--soon enough, they are under attack. As Simon and Rossiu fight in Gurren Lagann, the Dai-Gurren is pulled underwater. The crew panics--until Nia stops them with a calm, fierce proclamation: "It'll be okay. I'm sure Simon will come up with something."
And just then, the scene cuts to Simon, furious and terrified about what's going to happen to his friends...and he snaps. Suddenly, he has the will to fight back against Adiane. He does rescue everyone, giving them the chance to defeat Adiane.
With the immediate danger out of the way, Team Dai-Gurren continues on its way. Their progress is marked by a simple scene of Simon and Nia being cute at each other. Here, Simon blushes at Nia's new appearance, then reassures her that she looks fine, and they giggle awkwardly at each other. Then Nia declares to Simon her intention of working along with everyone else, so that she can be a useful member of the team. When Yoko scolds Simon for not eating enough, Nia decides that she'll be the ship's cook.
After the obligatory battle, the crew gathers to eat Nia's feast. One problem: she's a terrible chef. In fact, her cooking poisoned Rossiu. The rest of the crew looks pretty ill after just one bite.
Except for Simon, who has cleaned multiple plates and thinks it's delicious. Happy coincidence, or destiny? You decide.
After another epic battle, Team Dai-Gurren and their new reinforcements face another obstacle in the form of an energy barrier around Teppelin. The newcomers hurl themselves to their deaths against the barrier rather than wait to come up with a plan. The crew can't think of a way to stop them--
--until Nia finds the old projector and projects an image of herself out into the battlefield, where she politely asks everyone to wait for a moment. She assures them all that Simon will take down the barrier. She has faith in him, both as Simon himself and as Simon the Digger.
She's right: even as she's reassuring the troops, Simon digs his way up from under the enemy and defeats them. As Team Dai-Gurren gathers in the aftermath, Nia looks up with shining eyes: "You did it, didn't you? Simon."
Now all that's left to do is fight the massive Gunman that is Teppelin itself and take on Lord Genome, the Helix King. Yeah, that's nothing at all! Here Simon stalls: his drill can't penetrate Teppelin. Nia, however, doesn't seem worried about this. Still fiercely determined, she asks Simon a favor: she wants him to bring her to her father. Rossiu exclaims that this would be too difficult, but she remains unfazed. She knows Simon can do this for her. Watching this, Leeron agrees with Nia, adding: "Making a woman's earnest wish come true is the proof of a proper man."
At the most crucial hour of the human resistance, Simon and Nia's destinies are intertwined. In order to reach her father and settle her issues with him once and for all, Nia must rely on Simon. In order to prove that he's able to grow up and fulfill his potential, Simon must see that Nia achieves her goal. It's a strange reversal--surely, his need to free humanity from Lord Genome's control ought to be motivation enough. But no: suddenly, what matters is bringing Nia to her father. It's completely irrational, like so much of their relationship...but it gives him what he needs to fight for.
"Let's go, Nia!" he tells her. She jumps into his lap in Lagann and, smiling, thanks him. Just like that, the battle to confront Lord Genome and free humanity is their fight, together. When the fight starts up again, Simon and Team Dai-Gurren fight with renewed vigor, and they break through to Lord Genome's sanctuary.
Despite Nia's efforts to talk, it comes down to a battle against her father. As the fight intensifies, Simon is forced to separate in Lagann and fight the battle without Rossiu. He's not alone, though: now it's his and Nia's fight. Nia at his side, he declares that as long as his friends in Team Dai-Gurren believe in him, as long as he believes in them, as long as he believes in himself who Kamina believed in, he can still win. He and Nia fight together, with twin fierce expressions, combining their will to survive and win.
Then comes another fit of epicness, as Lord Genome beats up Lagann with his bare hands and feet, leaving Nia battered on the ground and Simon struggling to fight in a damaged Lagann. Simon's power seems to have faded. He's losing.
But Nia knows what to do.
"Simon! If believing in you becomes your strength, I will believe in you with all my heart! So, please win!"
So when Lord Genome grabs Simon to deal the finishing blow, Simon fights back. He takes his drill and he attacks one last time, speaking as he does: "I am Simon. Dai-Gurren Brigade's leader, Simon the Digger!"
Thanks to Nia's belief in him, Simon has enough belief in himself to win. As the smoke clears, he and Nia cling to each other, the victors of the battle. Even as Nia watches her father die, the last remnant of the life she knew before shattered, with Simon at her side, she declares that she will face tomorrow. In the aftermath, as they return to Team Dai-Gurren, Simon puts a hand on Nia's shoulder, and she puts her head on his shoulder, and together they look to the rising sun.
But there's a bigger fight waiting: before his death, Lord Genome warned Simon and Nia that something worse waited for when the human population hit one million. It takes seven years to get there, so let's skip forward.
♥ tell me the secrets of these hearts
Practically the first thing we see in this new, free world is Nia bringing Simon the lunch she made for him. He lights up at the sight of her. Clearly, some things haven't changed--or, at least, have only gotten better. When Nia visits and talks to Kiyoh and Kiyal, we find out that Simon has proposed to her. Neither sister is surprised; Kiyoh comments, "So Simon finally made his move, huh."
There's a brief flashback, and we see how Simon proposed.
"I think it's about time," he says. "It doesn't matter if you are a princess, or if we are part of Team Dai-Gurren. I just want to see as you do, hear as you do, laugh together...I thought it'd be nice if we could have a life like that. My eyes become yours and your ears become mine. I wonder if things like that would be nice."
Stated simply in Simon's plain way, here is the nature of their relationship: the two of them intertwined in person and destiny, shaping each other's lives and identities. It recalls all their moments together so far. And when he offers her a ring, set within it is a fragment of the green rock, the first gift he gave her.
Nia looks utterly smitten as he pops the question. But she still tells him, "Nope!" After all this time, she still hasn't quite gotten the hang of human idiom and metaphor, and she doesn't understand how two people can become one. But when Kiyoh explains to her that it's just a metaphor, and she needs to consider her true feelings, she hesitates, and we see that she's wearing the ring Simon offered her. She looks down at it, and everyone, including the viewers, knows what her feelings are.
As if we needed more evidence, here the scene returns to Simon. He's at the statue of Kamina, thinking about the last time he saw Yoko, shortly after its construction. Before she left, she told him, "Please take care of Nia, Commander-in-chief Simon." He may have a new title, but his destiny is still caught up with Nia.
He doesn't seem too upset about her rejection--he knows her too well. Right then, his cellphone rings, and it's Nia. Here's what she has to say:
"I'm not the same person as you. As a matter of fact, I'm a totally different person. But because we are different, I believe we can live together. Thank you...for this ring. I am very happy!"
And Simon cheers his success to the statue of Kamina.
Of course, it can't end that way; there needs to be more conflict. Sure enough, the population reaches one million, and a new enemy arrives on the scene. The Anti-Spirals come from another dimension to put an end to humanity. There's another twist: they intend for Nia to be their messenger. They take over her body and her mind, apparently wiping out her existing self and transforming her into a virtual vessel for their orders.
In her new form, she appears to the entirety of Kamina City to tell them that the Anti-Spirals have begun the extermination of humanity. The expression she wears is nothing like her usual, and her voice is flat and dull.
When the opening of the next episode talks about Simon, it says that he's been "betrayed by fate." A fair assessment, considering how much his fate is bound up with Nia's, and what just happened to her. As the council in charge of the city struggles to figure out what's going on, Simon contacts them in a rage. His first question isn't about the people of Kamina City, or the Anti-Spirals themselves. No, it's, "Where's Nia?" His first move after that is to rush to Nia's house looking for her.
She's not there. She's not answering her cellphone, either. Simon sits and looks at his own phone, dejected: "Nia, please come home."
When Gimmy and Darry come to demand that he return Gurren-Lagann, he doesn't tell them that the fate of humanity is at stake. He says, "I am looking for Nia; it's an emergency." In Lagann, he flies off to continue his search.
It doesn't seem to do much good. Finally, he stops at a fountain--and there, reflected in the water, he sees Nia but not Nia. "I've realized," she tells Simon, "that you and I can never coexist." Controlled by the Anti-Spirals, she denies everything she and Simon have come to stand for. The power of humanity is destructive and must be stopped; the eternal struggle of the human soul must be suppressed. The way people reach for their hopes and dreams is a poison.
It's a bit like how Simon denied himself after Kamina's death, only to be snapped out of it by Nia. But this time, the stakes are much higher, and it will take more than a fortuitous discovery and a few smiles to make things better.
"So please, open your eyes, Nia!" Simon cries. But it's not enough. She continues to deny her very self, claiming that not only is the Nia he knows gone forever, but she was never real anyway. Simon struggles to remind her of who she was, of the peculiar and confusing yet warm and kind Nia he knew and loved, but to no avail; she vanishes as he calls her name.
Simon continues trying to defend humanity, but even as he is arrested to provide a scapegoat for the scared and angry people, he can't stop thinking about Nia. The introduction to the next episode shows him in handcuffs: "Losing Nia, Simon is locked by handcuffs called 'despair.'"
Simon's trial goes forward, and the verdict is delivered: he will be executed. But even facing his own death sentence, Simon is quiet and still, musing over what Kamina would have done. Just as he thinks that, Nia appears in front of him, and his attention immediately snaps back. Too bad she's only there to talk about how the Anti-Spirals intend to inflict "absolute despair" upon humanity.
Or so she says. Even as she proclaims misery and doom upon Simon and everyone else, she reaches out to cradle Simon's face. In his shock, he notices something: she still wears the ring he gave her.
As she disappears (with him calling for her not to go), the Anti-Spirals attack again. Despite his condemned status, Simon is able to go and fight them; he's still humanity's best hope. He does well as always, and he aims his drill for the enemy base.
That's when a virtual screen unfolds in front of him with Nia's face on it, much to his shock. "Goodbye, Simon," she says, smiling unkindly. Where Nia always had faith in Simon before, this dark shadow sees no way for him to survive the ambush that now comes for him. Yet he does. In the aftermath of the battle, he does not think of the people has saved or the danger yet to come. Instead, he thinks of Nia's appearance and the cruel look on her face. "She is not the Nia I knew," he concludes. This devastates him more than anything. He goes back to his imprisonment and impending execution without protest.
In prison, Simon doesn't seem interested in making his escape. Even when he and Viral remain locked up as the city is evacuated, he stays calm, content with dying if it means others will live. He shows little emotion...
...until Nia appears again. Her whole purpose there, she says, is to let Simon know that despite all Rossiu's efforts, everyone is going to die. And yet...she still wears the ring. Even after another sermon about despair, Simon still calls for her not to go when she disappears.
♥ love that ought to survive
Freed by Yoko, Simon and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren, now plus Viral, take to space to stop the Moon from falling on Earth. Of course, as is the wont of big things in this show, the Moon turns out to be a giant Gunman in disguise. This means that to defeat it, Gurren-Lagann must combine with it. Sounds simple enough, but there's one problem.
Right before Simon attaches the drill, Nia appears, blocking it.
"Step aside, Nia!" Simon calls--reminding her that she is Nia, and she can defy her programming.
"I cannot do that. I am the Anti-Spirals' messenger," is her response. There is still no getting through to her; she still will not acknowledge herself as the Nia that Simon believes in. She tells him that if he wants to take the Moon, he will have to pierce her body with his drill (which totally isn't suggestive at all). Doing that will cause an explosion that destroys the control center of the Moon.
As Nia continues her speech about absolute despair and the need to crush humanity's hopes, Simon interrupts her with, "I wonder about that...Nia. To me, it seems like you're expecting something from us humans."
For the first time since her transformation, Nia's expression changes. Perhaps Simon is right. He continues boldly, listing the triumphs of the human spirit: "No matter how hopeless the situation, we stand up. We grow stronger as you put more obstacles in our way. That's why I'm here now. And you were hoping for that, am I right?"
Even through Nia's proclamations that she has changed forever, that there can be no going back to her former self, that she has no purpose now but the destruction of humanity, Simon has not given up his belief in her. He knows that inside her, somewhere, she still believes in him and everything he represents about humanity. That through everything she has said and done, the remnants of her true self have been guiding her to him and hoping he succeeds.
Still blocking the drill, she denies his claims. Specifically, she denies their relationship, their love, and the ties that bind them. "You and I are of completely separate dimensions. My past is entirely fictitious. Your words do not reach me."
"That's a lie," he says.
"That is the truth," she counters.
So this is what it all comes down to: the bright truth of their love against the dark nothingness the Anti-Spirals demand. And Simon has saved his best argument for last.
"Then...why do you wear that ring?"
Nia gasps; the ring gleams on her finger. She has no answer for him.
"That's your will," Simon says as Nia stares at the ring. He's right. Manifested by what has been the symbol of their love from the very beginning is what makes Nia Nia. Her ties to Simon: they are the part of her that the Anti-Spirals could not erase, and through them her heart and soul survived.
"I finally understand," he says. "The reason you kept appearing at crucial moments." When Simon was desperate to find her; when he had just been sentenced to death; when he was about to be ambushed by Anti-Spiral machines; when he was ready to die quietly in prison; and now, as he prepares to take on the Moon. Each time, she was there. She insists that it was only to create "absolute despair," but her words ring hollow now, and she sounds less ominously emotionless and more defensive.
"No," Simon says. "You might not have realized it yourself, but...when you appeared before me, you were seeking help."
Once again we see the images of Nia as she appeared before Simon at those times. This time, however, a new voice calls out--or rather, an old voice. It's Nia, really Nia: "Simon...I'm right here. Please, save me..."
Nia tries to deny herself once more, but Simon continues to remind her of everything they've been through and all that they have shared. Finally, he begs her once more to step aside...and then he drives the drill forward, into the Moon.
It works. With the Moon under his control, Simon transforms it and guides it back into orbit. In the aftermath, he emerges from Lagann and sees Nia standing there, next to the drill. He smiles. "Thank you, Nia," he says.
But when she speaks it is once again with the flat, computerized voice of her Anti-Spiral form. She tells Simon that despite what he has accomplished here, now that the Anti-Spirals' first plan to exterminate humanity has failed, they will go into full extermination mode. Humanity still has no chance, she claims.
Simon ignores her words of doom to focus on what matters most to him in all of this: "If we win, will you go back to your old self?"
Her response is not encouraging. "The possibility is extremely close to zero."
He is undaunted. "But it's not zero, right?" Once again, he grins. "In my case, that's as good as a hundred percent!"
This baffling logic and fierce determination is a classic example of the Simon Nia has always believed in--and, for a moment, it's enough. Nia's true self emerges, and in her own voice she asks, "Are you coming for me?"
"Yeah," he says. "Who do you think I am?"
The answer is implicit: she thinks he's Simon, just as he thinks she's Nia, and that gives them both the power to win this fight. As his words reach her, for the first time since her transformation, Nia blushes and smiles at him. Then she disappears, summoned back to the Anti-Spiral home dimension, leaving Simon more determined than ever to bring her back. As he and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren return to Earth, he gazes back up at the sky, thinking, "Wait for me, Nia."
♥ the lights in the sky are stars
But it's not that simple. The Anti-Spirals must be defeated, but they're now in another dimension, and no one has any idea how to get there. There are some clues, though. Leeron hints at one of them: "Love changes the universe," he says.
Yoko agrees; more than that, with her understanding of Simon, she takes it one step further. She puts aside the pressing concerns about the fate of humanity to simply point out that Nia is in the Anti-Spiral dimension. Because Nia is there, and because she and Simon love each other, they will be able to change the universe to go there. It's a little like the fight against Lord Genome: there are many things at stake, but for Simon, what gives him the strength to fight is Nia.
So it really shouldn't be a surprise when Simon discovers that Gurren-Lagann has a new ability: with fighting spirit and love, it can punch holes through reality and transport itself through space. There's more success in store, too. Lord Genome's reconstructed head has discovered the location of the Anti-Spirals' home planet. He knows for sure, because there's one recognizable object there: the ring Simon gave Nia. Through the symbol of their love, Team Dai-Gurren can take the fight to the Anti-Spirals.
As Simon prepares to leave, he doesn't talk about saving humanity or beating their enemies. No, instead he says, "I'll definitely bring Nia back." And with Nia's ring in their sights, they set out for the final battle.
"Focus on Nia," Simon is told. He closes his eyes and does so as they prepare to go, now in the gigantic Chouginga Gurren-Lagann.
Gimmy is dubious; he's not sure how they can travel so far simply on the basis of a ring and a feeling. Darry admits that she doesn't entirely understand it either, but she has a simple explanation for it: "Simon and Nia are connected by feelings that transcend time and space."
And with those feelings, Team Dai-Gurren breaks through space and time and enters the Anti-Spiral dimension.
The very first thing they see is a hologram of Nia's form projected into space, stretched out across planets and stars. The Anti-Spirals' analysis techniques are eating into her body, but when Simon calls her name from the bridge of Chouginga Gurren-Lagann, she still looks up and smiles. "You came for me!"
"Yeah," Simon says. "I promised you, didn't I?"
"Yes," she says, "I believed in you." We are given no confirmation of whether that belief was part of what allowed Simon to pierce the dimensions and bring Team Dai-Gurren here...but considering everything we've seen so far, it's hard not to come to that conclusion.
"I'll win and we'll go back home to Earth together," Simon promises her. And despite her awful situation, Nia looks positively joyful. Thus encouraged, Simon and the others set off to find and save the real Nia.
That's when the Anti-Spiral itself, the leader of all the Anti-Spirals, appears. It threatens to make Nia disappear for good, thus crushing humanity's last hope and removing their path to the Anti-Spiral homeworld once and for all. Simon may be thinking of that--or he might just be thinking of Nia herself when he says, "Like hell I'd let you do that!"
Team Dai-Gurren fight their way through multitudes of enemies, losing some of their valued members along the way. They go into battle knowing what will happen to them, but also that it needs to be done, and before they die, they have a few words for Simon.
"Don't make a waiting girl cry."
"You must save Nia!"
Through a last great sacrifice, the remaining members of Team Dai-Gurren make their way past an ocean of despair and confront the Anti-Spiral once more. It has an ugly surprise for them, especially Simon: the truth of the Spiral Nemesis. It shows Simon how Spiral power will eventually destroy the universe. Instinctively, Simon knows that it is true, and Lord Genome confirms it for the others.
But he adds that there is a truth beyond the Spiral Nemesis: "That is the fact that Nia is waiting for you."
Simon and Nia's love has brought Team Dai-Gurren this far. Now it can oppose the end of the universe for them. Realizing that everyone, but especially Nia, is counting on him to save the world, Simon lifts himself out of his fear and despair. He informs the Anti-Spiral that he will save both Nia and the universe--and in that moment, the two have exactly the same importance to him.
Her hologram hanging in space, Nia watches as Simon defeats everything the Anti-Spirals throw at him. As he clears the space around him and sees her once more, she smiles at him again--and then she disappears. The way is clear to the real Nia.
"I can see her," he says as he starts to open a path through space. She sees him, too, and she lifts her head and calls his name with joy.
But the Anti-Spiral has one last trick up its sleeve. It casts Team Dai-Gurren into a dream of a peaceful, insignificant life, trapping them in fantasy: the Alternate Space Labyrinth. It's not even a very good fantasy--the Kamina Simon meets there is weak and quick to beg for his life when in danger. Though the things that appear in this fantasy are appealing, they are unreal. Yoko will never marry Kittan; Simon will never live a carefree life with Kamina. Nowhere is Nia seen--she still belongs to the world of the real.
But all is not lost for Simon. The true Kamina in his heart emerges to inspire him, to remind him that he has the power to find what is real and break out of this prison. How will he do that? Why, by using his drill, the drill that exists in his heart and soul, to open a box...a box that looks exactly like the one he found Nia in. Nia herself is still too live and real to appear here, but she has enough of a place in Simon's heart to have some part in his freedom. It is through the two most important people in his life--Kamina and Nia--that Simon finds the strength to break free.
As Team Dai-Gurren escapes, the Anti-Spiral is extracting information from Nia's body--a pretty unpleasant experience. It is puzzled by her resistance: "Why do you go against us to such an extent? You are but a virtual life form inserted into a Spiral gene."
Her answer: "He will come. Definitely." It doesn't matter that someone is telling her she's no one. Simon loves her, and she loves him; that is enough to make her someone.
The Anti-Spiral decides that it's time to end her once and for all. But that's when her ring starts glowing. Determination on her face, she brings it around to bear on the Anti-Spiral. Sure enough, from that ring emerges Gurren-Lagann. "Simon!" Nia cries gladly.
When he emerges and turns to face her, all he says is, "Sorry for the wait, Nia!" It's enough.
He frees her from her Anti-Spiral chains, and then he catches her as she falls. "I've come, Nia. Just like I promised." And though they are still in the midst of battle, still ready to fight for the fate of humanity, her expression is one of pure joy and love. They cling to each other as they prepare to fight the Anti-Spiral at last. Together, they return to Lagann, just as they did in the fight against Lord Genome so long ago.
So Team Dai-Gurren together fights to defend the Earth and all they love. As they face the Anti-Spirals for the last time, Nia flickers, much like an Anti-Spiral machine being destroyed. Simon notices, and at first he is worried--one might even say horrified--but she looks back at him and smiles. Something passes between them--a silent understanding to which the audience is not yet privy. And then Nia reassures him that he should keep fighting...and he does.
With love and fighting spirit, Team Dai-Gurren finally defeat the Anti-Spirals...with Simon and Nia holding onto each other for dear life all the while.
"It's finally over, Nia," Simon says.
"Yeah," she says. "Let's go home."
And home they go, where it's onto something perhaps even more important than saving the universe: Simon and Nia's wedding. Finally, they kiss...but as she watches, Yoko notices something. Just like the Anti-Spiral machines before her, Nia is starting to flicker and fade away.
"I will never forget about you, Nia," Simon says. "Even if this universe is destroyed." As he speaks, he's smiling tenderly.
"You're such a fool," she tells him, but she's smiling too. "It won't be destroyed. That's why everyone worked so hard."
"Yeah," he says, "you're right."
Then, after all this time, she says what everyone already knew: "I love you, Simon."
"Yeah, me too," he says. "I love you."
Smiling and even laughing a little, she fades away in Simon's arms. Only the ring is left.
Yet Simon is still smiling. "It's okay," he says. "It's something Nia and I knew about." That moment they shared before the defeat of the Anti-Spirals comes clear now. They knew the sacrifice they were making. They accepted it then, and Simon shows no regret now.
"It's amazing she was about to hold out this long," Viral observes--but of course it's not amazing at all. Nia wanted to hold on until she could marry Simon, just as she'd said she would before all of this began. So she did.
As Simon walks away from the life he once led, Yoko calls out to him...and throws him the ring. He catches it, and with it he walks away, his journey complete.
♥ the end of this story
After the credits roll, the story isn't quite over yet. We flash forward twenty years to see how far humanity and the characters have progressed since then. But what of Simon?
Finally, we come to a familiar shot: the memorial to Kamina. But next to it is something new: another memorial, on a hill covered in flowers. It's obvious who this one is for, and the presence of the ring confirms it.
Soon enough, we meet Simon. Watching a young boy with a drill of his own, he muses, "I guess I'm no one." But there's no sadness in his voice or on his face when he says this. He may be no one now save the quiet and unassuming Simon the Digger, but he has his memories of being Simon, Kamina's brother, and Simon, Nia's husband, and nothing can take them away from him.
It could even be said that Nia's death says more about their relationship, and the love she and Simon share, than her survival would have. Simon saved the world for the sake of saving her. But when she chose to accept her death--when she told him, in that last battle, that he should keep fighting even though she was fading--he respected that decision. He could have brought her back anyway with Spiral power, but he loved her too much to deny her last wish. In the end, he saw her not just as something to save, but as someone to respect.
In a sense, Nia isn't really gone. Again and again we hear that those who have died remain in the hearts and souls of those who live on. After Kittan's sacrifice, Simon declares, "My companions' feelings have been etched upon this body." Confronting Kamina in the Alternate Space Labyrinth, he spells this out explicitly. "It's not a goodbye," he says as he prepares to return to reality, and he points to his heart. "We're together, right?"
Since Kamina is the only person in Simon's life who approaches Nia in importance, this is particularly meaningful. It goes a long way towards explaining why he seems at peace, even content, when we see him in the epilogue. It's bittersweet--only with Nia was he truly joyful--but not crushing. He has Boota at his side and Kamina and Nia in his heart. Thanks to Nia especially, his journey in life is finished, and it was a glorious one.
♥ parallel loves
Considering the role they play in the story, it really shouldn't be a surprise that there's a fair amount of material beyond the show itself that features Simon and Nia's relationship.
The Parallel Works videos have some examples, the first one being the best. In it, Nia is a captive princess, and Simon (along with Viral and Kamina) invades a castle to fight a monster and rescue her. She doesn't actually appear in the second Parallel Works video, but as Simon puts together the final Pachinko combo of Kamina that gives him the power he needs, her face shows up on the screen. In the third Parallel Works video, a surreal samurai tale, Simon and Nia don't actually meet--but as Simon fights, images of Nia flicker throughout before fading away.
The novels include more. Here we learn a little more about Nia's thoughts when she first saw Simon alone in that room on the Dai-Gurren, making statue after statue of Kamina. Seeing how he could feel so much for another person, it inspired her to believe in him. It also turns out that she's the one who asked him to make the big Kamina statue that we see later--thus linking the two most important people in Simon's life.
Here Simon has a motivation for proposing to Nia beyond simply his indisputable love for her, and one that rings true with the themes of the show. He does it in order to further grow and change into the person he must become. To be that person, Nia is the one he needs at his side. "He had no concern about the fact that Nia was the Helix King Lord Genome's daughter. She was herself. He needed her, and she needed him too. That should be all that mattered."
The "interview" in Nia's photobook is also quite telling about the pairing. Several of the answers Nia gives come back to Simon in the end.
Gurren Lagann also has two different alternate universes in a high school setting. The first is the drama CD. Nia is the school's board chairman, and Simon is in charge of maintenance. This means that she spends a lot of time ordering him around--but they both seem to respect each other and know each other fairly well.
The manga brings us back to romance. The moment they met, Nia decided that she and Simon were destined to be together, and by the end of the first chapter, she's describing herself as his wife. It's done as a parody, but they still kick ass when they "combine."
Considering the record so far, we can be sure that the more extra material Gainax releases for Gurren Lagann, the more different sides of Simon/Nia we'll see.
♥ better together
Simon and Nia's relationship symbolizes many things and epitomizes several themes of this series. But it's also more than that. It's a romance--and a relationship in general--that makes them both better in so many ways. It works, and it's ridiculously cute.
Probably the best description of this that I've seen is actually on a TVTropes page: Moe Couplet. There, they describe a relationship where two characters complement each other in the cutest and most endearing way possible, bringing out each other's better qualities in a way that often has overtones of romance without going all the way. Simon and Nia take this fully into romantic territory.
Let's think about their first meeting.
Imagine you're Simon in that situation. Think about having lost what mattered most to you just a week earlier, the person who drove you to become who you are. Think about losing your faith in life, losing your belief that it's all worth it, and still feeling the driving need to be a hero even though you have no idea how...
...and then opening a box and finding someone who takes the belief that it's all worth it as a matter of course. Someone who delights in the most ordinary of things in the darkest of times. Who is charmed by you just as you are, regardless of whether you're a hero or not. In fact, she doesn't even know what a hero is or why you should be one: she just knows that you're you, and that's enough. She looks into your eyes, and she smiles, and she wants you to be all right with all her heart.
Is it any wonder Simon believes in Nia?
And then there's Nia's feelings to consider here.
Imagine that you've never known anything except what little of the world your stern and inscrutable father gives you--lessons at a royal court, and being surrounded by people who look nothing like you and who rarely treat you as just a person. Imagine that when you finally try to press your father for more, he responds by putting you in a box and tossing you out. You don't know what's going to happen to you or where you are.
Then your prison opens, and the one who's responsible looks and sounds and feels more like you than anyone you've ever known before. He's your introduction to an amazing world of color and sensation and people. He answers your questions as innocently and openly as you ask them. And this boy who introduced you to the world, he's vulnerable and he's hurting, but he still wants to protect you.
Is it any wonder Nia believes in Simon?
The ways they work for each other don't just manifest in dramatic moments and deep thematic points, though. They also show up in the little things.
Nia's cooking is practically lethal, and yet Simon devours it happily. Pleasing coincidence? Sure, but in the bright world of Gurren Lagann, coincidences count for something. Even at the heart of a joke, we can still find quirky proof of Simon and Nia's connection.
Simon likes to work quietly; Nia, as evidenced by her photobook interview, likes to watch him while he does that, asking no more of him than to be there and be himself. This extends beyond pleasant moments, too. The two of them seem able to communicate with barely a word. In the last episode, they have very few lines together, yet the majority of important communication between them does not take place offscreen. It takes place in the looks and touches they exchange. With just a few words and glances as they approach the final battle, Simon and Nia understand what they are giving up and why they must do it, even though it is the most important decision they have ever made.
Simon and Nia are not a case of opposite personalities attracting, but rather of different personalities complementing. Both are good-natured and generally positive in their outlook; when one's hope and spirit falters, the other helps raise it once more. Simon is quiet and often pensive. Nia is a more bubbly sort, but not obtrusively so. She knows that there's nothing wrong with Simon being quiet and at times solitary. But if he starts to brood too much, she knows when to be there for him and what to say to bring him back into the world of life and light. On the flip side, Nia's airy cheer can also manifest as cluelessness, confusion, and uncertainty. Simon is more grounded, and he knows when to let Nia fly off in her own world--and love her all the more for the insights she brings back from it--and when to help her back down to earth.
Let's go from there to something rather more shallow for a moment, or so it seems: they look good together. But it's not that shallow--the way in which they look good together hints at the ways they work. Simon's design is done in primary colors, full of simple shapes and plain, down-to-earth imagery. Nia is much more ethereal, drawn in pastels and arising from more intricate shapes. She's the air spirit to his digger's heart. He's the earth to her starlight. They are both separate and inseparable, two people intertwined and all the better for it.
♥ themes and variations in fighting spirit
When Simon and Nia first meet, they are little more than shells. Simon has lost the most important person in his life--more than that, the man who defined his life. He has no idea where to turn or what to become. Nia has been cast out from the only life she ever knew and the only life she was ever intended to have. Unlike Simon, she puts on a cheerful front, but beneath that innocent joy she is equally empty.
By the middle of the series, the two of them together have become capable of defeating tyrants and freeing humanity. By the end of the series, their love is a force that can quite literally move universes.
This is no coincidence. It isn't even just the two of them being on similar journeys in life. Their destinies are intertwined and have been since they met. Because of Nia reaching out to him, Simon can accept himself as something more than a shadow of Kamina and reach his ultimate potential--and that potential is the protector and, in the end, true love of Nia. Because of Simon inspiring and supporting her, Nia is able to develop her own goals and dreams instead of breaking down from lack of identity and self-worth--and what she dreams of is a life with Simon.
They are an inextricable part of each other's identity--and they are not the only examples in the series. Kamina himself believed that he would have been nothing without Simon, and yet it is from him that Simon takes the first seeds of his own identity. The evolution of "Believe in me who believes in you" into "Believe in you who believes in you" is one of the key moments of the show. It is clear throughout that identity is something formed between people rather than within them.
Simon and Nia's last words to each other make this clear like no others.
"I will never forget about you, Nia. Even if this universe is destroyed."
"You're such a fool. It won't be destroyed. That's why everyone worked so hard."
In the end, Simon was the world-saver. It took him a long time to get there, but in the end he did--and what gave him the strength and the means to do it was Nia. His ultimate destiny wasn't so much to save the world as it was to save Nia.
"I love you, Simon."
As for Nia, she was a person who emerged into the world nearly devoid of a self, struggling to find a place for herself, confused by human emotions and connections. In the very end, though, she knew that she had found her place in the world. Seven years ago she didn't even know what people were. Now, thanks to Simon, she was able to say that she loved one of them.
How does this happen? What lets Nia and Simon shape each other's identities, and why do they emerge from this crucible so fierce and powerful? You could name a lot of reasons why they're good for each other, but there's one particular power underlying it all.
They believe in each other. It's not how someone might believe in heroes after seeing them perform grand feats. It's much less rational and more amazing than that. And more personal, too--belief in heroes inspires, and that's important enough, but Simon and Nia save each other with their belief.
Nia is quite upfront about her faith in Simon from the beginning. It's utterly irrational. When Guame has her captive, when Adiane overpowers Team Dai-Gurren, when the barrier goes up around Teppelin--there's no reason to believe that Simon will be able to save them. Each time, the stakes are higher, and each time, Nia keeps her belief in Simon.
What happens during the fight with Adiane is particularly telling. It's the second time she's expressed complete and irrational faith in Simon. This time, Yoko calls her out on it. And here's the thing: Nia admits that she has no logical reason to believe in Simon so. He has confided no secret in her that reassures her, has displayed no superhuman power to earn her amazement. From a rational point of view, it's kind of dumb. She and the rest of the crew are knee-deep in rising water; they have no idea how well the fight is going outside. But it's Simon, and so Nia believes wholeheartedly and without reserve that he can save them.
And he does. There is no logical causal connection between Nia's belief in Simon and Simon's success...but this is Gurren Lagann, where the strength of your heart matters far more than that of your logic.
Later in that very same episode, Nia's philosophy echoes through the other characters. In shock at Team Dai-Gurren's reckless plan, Adiane asks, "Are you humans really that stupid?" Yoko responds, "Unfortunately, we are that stupid." Their plan works.
Irrational beliefs, says this show, are what make people strong. In this setting, there can be little doubt that Simon's triumphs are intimately linked to Nia's faith in him.
What happens after the timeskip makes it even more clear. Where before Nia's belief saved Simon, now it's Simon's turn to save Nia with his faith. And he does so with the same nonsensical passion that she brought to him years ago. No logical argument brings Nia back to her humanity: only Simon's stubborn insistence that she is still in there, and, finally, his utter dismissal of logic in the face of his belief.
Just in case we haven't gotten it by now, the last arc hammers it home, as Simon and Nia's belief in and love for each other lets them transcend space and time to save humanity.
Yet there's a price for all this awesome. Through the power of love and fighting spirit, Nia goes back to her old self, but she doesn't stay. Knowing that if Simon saved her, it would risk the Spiral Nemesis, Nia accepts her death as the price for saving the universe.
This is not a new theme in Gurren Lagann. We have seen again and again that while human potential is amazing, it demands a cost. You can save the world if you love hard enough and fight fiercely enough, but you can't do it without paying a price. Simon and Nia accept this without bitterness as part of the nature of life. They have saved the world with their love, and that's happy ending enough.
Through all of this, it's clear Gurren Lagann isn't about the world of the real, but something even better. It's about the worlds in our hearts and souls, and the power we can find there. And of all things, Simon and Nia and their relationship exemplify that beautifully.
♥ why?
I'll admit it. Even before I watched the show, I smiled when I saw Nia's character design. I thought she looked cute together with Simon. If you'd given me a summary, I'd have known I would ship it. But I don't think I'd have known just how much I would adore it.
It's all in the details, and in the way they add up to form an amazing big picture. Simon and Nia are soulmates, and their love can save worlds. But the show doesn't just tell us that. We see it in every smile they share, every quiet moment they spend together, every conversation they have. From the start, we see them make each other better. Their story graduates from "fumbling teenage connection in times of peril" to "eternal true love" in gentle but powerful steps. It's not love but something at first sight, and from there it just keeps on growing.
It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for pairings where the characters are bound together by destiny. Simon and Nia are bound by something more powerful--the strength of their own hearts--and that winds up being even better. I also love pairings where the characters' relationship helps them both grow. Simon and Nia go beyond that: their relationship doesn't just help them both grow, it shapes them utterly.
But my love for Simon/Nia, like the pairing itself, is more than the sum of its parts. It's as irrational and intense as they are. Just thinking about them, knowing that someone somewhere could conceive of a love that perfect, makes me happy when I'm down. Cheesy? Yeah, but I think it suits them.
♥ beyond the text
For such a popular series, Gurren Lagann doesn't have a lot of fanworks by its English-speaking fandom. But there are a few I can recommend.
Possibly the best-known Gurren Lagann fanfiction is "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down," by csakuras. It's a chaptered story set in an alternate timeline where Simon and Nia never met until after the Anti-Spirals started attacking. It does a great job with its premise, and the characters are recognizable despite their differences and very interesting.
"Forms of Imprisonment" by experienced is a short but powerful Nia fanfiction set during her time as the Anti-Spiral Messenger.
lolalol draws some lovely fanart of Simon/Nia. My favorite is this image. This art by Ann606 is another I like.
There's a lot more fanart to be found on the Japanese side of fandom. Here is a list of sites I like:
AND OVER
A wild tulip
満月一丁目 (Mangetsu ichi choume)
AuroraVision
多宇研 (tauken)
Ligne
Last but not least, here are some thoughts from members of simon_nia on why they love the pairing.
Author: annwyd
Fandom: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Pairing: Simon/Nia
Wordcount: 10,287
Spoilers: Many. Big ones.
Author's Notes: As you may have noticed from the wordcount, this is huge. I've cut it down as far as I can. Sorry for the tl;dr! That'll teach me to try to summarize the main pairing in a super robot show about the power of love.
♥ go beyond the impossible
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the epic, heartwarming, badass tale of a boy who escapes from his underground village to the surface with the help of his loudly determined brother and a girl with a big gun. Once there, he frees humanity from the tyranny of the Helix King and his Beastmen while piloting a giant mechanical face, called a Gunman, then later goes on to save the world, all the while supported by his amazing and frequently crazy friends and loved ones. Also, he likes drills kind of a lot.
You've probably heard of it.
♥ believers
Simon is just Simon, or sometimes, Simon the Digger. He's a boy who lost his parents in a cave-in and has since then found family in Kamina, his brother in all but blood. Since coming to the surface with Kamina and Yoko, he's faced greater and greater challenges and excitements, but he's still at heart a simple person with simple needs--and more potential than most would guess.
Nia is a princess, or was, once. Now she's just herself: a kind but naive, sheltered but fiercely determined girl. At her new home with Team Dai-Gurren, she's going to learn a lot about other people and her own place in the world.
What happens when the two of them meet?
♥ what, exactly, is a human?
When our two subjects first meet, Simon is in a pretty dark place. It's raining when we come to the heroes and their struggle to deal with Kamina's death, and the previously bright colors of the show have been washed out. The entire atmosphere has changed. Crucially, Simon has rejected the main themes of the show. He goes about with haunted eyes, refusing to accept any help or sympathy from other people, obsessed only with taking revenge and becoming strong enough to deal with life on his own, struggling to be a false and broken Kamina instead of himself.
This doesn't really work out for him.
After his state of mind turns a battle into a disaster and sends him fleeing from the scene in an out-of-control Lagann, Simon comes to his senses alone in a dark place--which turns out to be full of sealed boxes. They look a lot like coffins. For lack of anything better to do in his miserable state--or perhaps out of a flicker of hope?--Simon approaches a newly-deposited box. And with his drill, he opens it.
And color returns to his world in the form of Nia.
As Simon stands there and gawks, Nia greets him and proceeds to enjoy the rain. That's right: she wakes up in unfamiliar settings, in a box, in a gloomy setting that was just moments earlier used to signify soul-crushing angst...and she enjoys it. In contrast to Simon at the moment, she loves life. The outside world in all its nuances is something new and wonderful to her.
She steps out into the rain, barefoot, and says, "It's so thick and cold and wet and gooey and squishy...it's wonderful!"
He stares at her: "Really? It is?"
She proceeds to start touching him (cue the blush), asking him why he looks and feels like her, what humans are, what people are. As they start talking--Nia in her innocent confusion, Simon in his fumbling awkwardness--a beam of light breaks through the clouds and illuminates them from above. The rain stops, and as they finally introduce themselves, the light pans across each of them in turn.
No, this show isn't subtle.
When a Gunman appears and Simon must fight to save Nia from it, he grabs her hand and runs. Then he finds himself once more trying to shoulder Kamina's burdens, once more trying to be the reckless, driven hero. Even as he tries, he's shaking in fear. Here's where things get really radical. Nia puts her sure hands on Simon's trembling ones, and she tells him that if he's scared, it's okay to run away. She doesn't know Kamina, and she doesn't know what Simon's trying to be. She only knows that they both want to survive and see each other be all right.
"You must not die, Simon," she tells him, suddenly sure of herself and what she's saying.
"I'm not scared," he says, still shaking.
"You must not lie, either," she chides, because Simon is pretty transparent, and Nia doesn't know any better but to point that out. She tells him, "Come. Let us escape--together," and this time she's the one who grabs his hand and runs. For the first time since Kamina's death, Simon lets someone help him. Tellingly, right afterwards, the rest of Team Dai-Gurren arrives to save them. See, Simon: it's okay to have faith in your friends.
The rescuers bring both Simon and Nia back to the Dai-Gurren, and we learn a little more about Nia. But their trials are far from over. Simon has accepted more help from the people around him, but he still hasn't gotten his fighting spirit back to pilot Lagann once more. And Adiane the Elegant has arrived to wipe out the "human scum."
Funny thing, though. Nia recognizes Adiane's voice. She knows her. Heedless of danger, she runs out to confront the attacker, her sweet innocence once more exchanged for fierce certainty. In doing so, she reveals that she is Lord Genome's daughter.
Despite this revelation, it's evident almost immediately that everyone associates Nia with Simon, as they quickly hand her off to him to "interrogate." Instead, they end up talking. Just talking, in a way it doesn't seem like Simon has talked with anybody since Kamina's death.
Nia being Nia--and already having that kind of connection to Simon--she gets right to the heart of his problems as she asks, "Why is it that you fight?" Simon admits to her that, really, he's only doing it because Kamina did. Now Nia does what no one else has yet: she simply asks who Kamina was. In giving Simon (and later, Yoko) the chance to just talk about him, she lets him start healing.
So Nia is the first to flat-out tell Simon: you are good enough as yourself. You don't have to be Kamina, and you shouldn't try. Her actual words are fumbling, insensitive, but they drive home a point Simon needed to hear. In turn, Yoko and Simon's reactions both teach Nia what grief is--and that human beings are more complicated and more worth knowing than even she had thought.
But soon enough, Adiane is attacking again, and this time Nia's commands won't stop her. She reveals to Nia that her father deliberately abandoned her. Suddenly, Nia's got some issues of her own to work out. Too bad that with Adiane bent on killing her, she won't get the time.
But Simon is shocked into action by seeing her hurt and in danger. Unable to get Lagann to work, he tries to run to Nia's rescue anyway. It's a step up: he finally has a reason to fight other than "to be like Kamina." Nia knows it, too. It may have been everyone else, in their working Gunman, who rescued her in the end, but she reminds him: he ran out to save her first.
"Simon," she says, "thank you."
By the next episode, things aren't looking any better for Simon. In fact, with his continued inability to fight, the rest of Team Dai-Gurren has decided to throw Lagann out with the trash if he doesn't shape up soon and "stand up on his own" again. Nia--already very attached to Simon--can't quite comprehend this. Nobody ever explained the ideas of pride and self-reliance to her, after all.
So when everyone else is pointedly ignoring Simon, hoping he'll come to his senses, Nia walks right in to see him huddled in a corner, making statues of Kamina with his drill. What does she tell him? That it's okay for him to grieve. Emboldened, he confesses the heart of his problem to her: he can't be like Kamina. She replies by telling him that the statues are really good, and she wants to stay and watch him make them.
In other words: she doesn't care that Simon can't be Kamina. Unlike everyone else around him--who are themselves upset at the loss of Kamina--she never knew Kamina in the first place. She doesn't have a basis for comparison. She just knows she likes Simon.
When Beastmen raid the Dai-Gurren, Nia takes another step forward, inspired by her time with Simon. She agrees to go meet with Guame the Steady...but insists that the Beastmen taking her don't harm Simon. Watching her leave, Simon calls out after her. Before she goes, she tells him, "You don't have to be Kamina. You're good as yourself." This time, she doesn't blurt it out, confused, in the midst of a tale of grief. She says it calmly and certainly.
But what Guame has to tell her is nothing good. He confirms Adiane's earlier pronouncement and adds to it that she was never more than a doll to amuse her father. And she's far from the first he's treated this way.
Meanwhile, Team Dai-Gurren is trapped in prison by Guame, busily angsting over how Kamina will not save them...when they notice Simon steadily digging his way out. Finally, given the opportunity to save everyone, with Nia's words fresh in his mind, he is able to summon inspiration from Kamina instead of a burden.
Trapped with Guame, Nia describes Simon as "the person who always protects" her. Already she has enough faith in him to say: "He would never lose to you!" This prompts Guame to call for Simon's immediate execution, which does not sit well with Nia. Even shackled and defenseless, she refuses to let harm come to Simon. With a gun to her head, for his sake, she refuses to back down. To Guame she says that she believes in Simon the way Simon believes in Kamina.
It's right then that Simon breaks through the floor and shatters her shackles with Lagann's drill. "Nia!" he says. "I came to save you!" Nia was the one who finally gave Simon the strength to fight again, on his own instead of laboring under Kamina's shadow.
Once again, she thanks him--and then she notices his hands clenched around the controls. "Simon, move your hands," she says, and she puts hers in their place. Together they bring Lagann back to combine with Gurren, and for the first time, Simon acknowledges Kamina's death but swears that he'll fight on regardless. He's not trying to be Kamina anymore--he knows that it's enough that Kamina lives on in his heart. And him? He's Simon the Digger--and now, protector of Nia.
As the battle ends, with Simon victorious, we see the controls of Lagann once again. Nia's hands are still on them--and now, Simon's hands are on hers. In a way, they fought this battle together. Nor was it only Simon who benefitted. Now Nia can begin confronting her own heartbreak. She returns to where she was abandoned to find all the others tossed aside by her father and give them proper burials.
When she is done, there's new hope to be had. Awkwardly, Simon gives her something he found while digging--a green gem, which she finds very beautiful. It's a strangely normal gesture of courtship amidst all this chaos, and both of them take joy in it. Finally, he gives her the same assurance she gave him. It doesn't matter what came before they met. The Nia she is right now is good enough for him, just as the Simon he is right now is good enough for her. After all this, he's finally good enough for himself, too--and so good enough to be the leader of Team Dai-Gurren.
♥ heading towards tomorrow
As Team Dai-Gurren reaches the sea and continues on their journey to the capital of Teppelin, Simon and Nia share a moment of joy over the simple beauty of the sea before them--a sight neither has ever seen before.
But things don't go so well for long--soon enough, they are under attack. As Simon and Rossiu fight in Gurren Lagann, the Dai-Gurren is pulled underwater. The crew panics--until Nia stops them with a calm, fierce proclamation: "It'll be okay. I'm sure Simon will come up with something."
And just then, the scene cuts to Simon, furious and terrified about what's going to happen to his friends...and he snaps. Suddenly, he has the will to fight back against Adiane. He does rescue everyone, giving them the chance to defeat Adiane.
With the immediate danger out of the way, Team Dai-Gurren continues on its way. Their progress is marked by a simple scene of Simon and Nia being cute at each other. Here, Simon blushes at Nia's new appearance, then reassures her that she looks fine, and they giggle awkwardly at each other. Then Nia declares to Simon her intention of working along with everyone else, so that she can be a useful member of the team. When Yoko scolds Simon for not eating enough, Nia decides that she'll be the ship's cook.
After the obligatory battle, the crew gathers to eat Nia's feast. One problem: she's a terrible chef. In fact, her cooking poisoned Rossiu. The rest of the crew looks pretty ill after just one bite.
Except for Simon, who has cleaned multiple plates and thinks it's delicious. Happy coincidence, or destiny? You decide.
After another epic battle, Team Dai-Gurren and their new reinforcements face another obstacle in the form of an energy barrier around Teppelin. The newcomers hurl themselves to their deaths against the barrier rather than wait to come up with a plan. The crew can't think of a way to stop them--
--until Nia finds the old projector and projects an image of herself out into the battlefield, where she politely asks everyone to wait for a moment. She assures them all that Simon will take down the barrier. She has faith in him, both as Simon himself and as Simon the Digger.
She's right: even as she's reassuring the troops, Simon digs his way up from under the enemy and defeats them. As Team Dai-Gurren gathers in the aftermath, Nia looks up with shining eyes: "You did it, didn't you? Simon."
Now all that's left to do is fight the massive Gunman that is Teppelin itself and take on Lord Genome, the Helix King. Yeah, that's nothing at all! Here Simon stalls: his drill can't penetrate Teppelin. Nia, however, doesn't seem worried about this. Still fiercely determined, she asks Simon a favor: she wants him to bring her to her father. Rossiu exclaims that this would be too difficult, but she remains unfazed. She knows Simon can do this for her. Watching this, Leeron agrees with Nia, adding: "Making a woman's earnest wish come true is the proof of a proper man."
At the most crucial hour of the human resistance, Simon and Nia's destinies are intertwined. In order to reach her father and settle her issues with him once and for all, Nia must rely on Simon. In order to prove that he's able to grow up and fulfill his potential, Simon must see that Nia achieves her goal. It's a strange reversal--surely, his need to free humanity from Lord Genome's control ought to be motivation enough. But no: suddenly, what matters is bringing Nia to her father. It's completely irrational, like so much of their relationship...but it gives him what he needs to fight for.
"Let's go, Nia!" he tells her. She jumps into his lap in Lagann and, smiling, thanks him. Just like that, the battle to confront Lord Genome and free humanity is their fight, together. When the fight starts up again, Simon and Team Dai-Gurren fight with renewed vigor, and they break through to Lord Genome's sanctuary.
Despite Nia's efforts to talk, it comes down to a battle against her father. As the fight intensifies, Simon is forced to separate in Lagann and fight the battle without Rossiu. He's not alone, though: now it's his and Nia's fight. Nia at his side, he declares that as long as his friends in Team Dai-Gurren believe in him, as long as he believes in them, as long as he believes in himself who Kamina believed in, he can still win. He and Nia fight together, with twin fierce expressions, combining their will to survive and win.
Then comes another fit of epicness, as Lord Genome beats up Lagann with his bare hands and feet, leaving Nia battered on the ground and Simon struggling to fight in a damaged Lagann. Simon's power seems to have faded. He's losing.
But Nia knows what to do.
"Simon! If believing in you becomes your strength, I will believe in you with all my heart! So, please win!"
So when Lord Genome grabs Simon to deal the finishing blow, Simon fights back. He takes his drill and he attacks one last time, speaking as he does: "I am Simon. Dai-Gurren Brigade's leader, Simon the Digger!"
Thanks to Nia's belief in him, Simon has enough belief in himself to win. As the smoke clears, he and Nia cling to each other, the victors of the battle. Even as Nia watches her father die, the last remnant of the life she knew before shattered, with Simon at her side, she declares that she will face tomorrow. In the aftermath, as they return to Team Dai-Gurren, Simon puts a hand on Nia's shoulder, and she puts her head on his shoulder, and together they look to the rising sun.
But there's a bigger fight waiting: before his death, Lord Genome warned Simon and Nia that something worse waited for when the human population hit one million. It takes seven years to get there, so let's skip forward.
♥ tell me the secrets of these hearts
Practically the first thing we see in this new, free world is Nia bringing Simon the lunch she made for him. He lights up at the sight of her. Clearly, some things haven't changed--or, at least, have only gotten better. When Nia visits and talks to Kiyoh and Kiyal, we find out that Simon has proposed to her. Neither sister is surprised; Kiyoh comments, "So Simon finally made his move, huh."
There's a brief flashback, and we see how Simon proposed.
"I think it's about time," he says. "It doesn't matter if you are a princess, or if we are part of Team Dai-Gurren. I just want to see as you do, hear as you do, laugh together...I thought it'd be nice if we could have a life like that. My eyes become yours and your ears become mine. I wonder if things like that would be nice."
Stated simply in Simon's plain way, here is the nature of their relationship: the two of them intertwined in person and destiny, shaping each other's lives and identities. It recalls all their moments together so far. And when he offers her a ring, set within it is a fragment of the green rock, the first gift he gave her.
Nia looks utterly smitten as he pops the question. But she still tells him, "Nope!" After all this time, she still hasn't quite gotten the hang of human idiom and metaphor, and she doesn't understand how two people can become one. But when Kiyoh explains to her that it's just a metaphor, and she needs to consider her true feelings, she hesitates, and we see that she's wearing the ring Simon offered her. She looks down at it, and everyone, including the viewers, knows what her feelings are.
As if we needed more evidence, here the scene returns to Simon. He's at the statue of Kamina, thinking about the last time he saw Yoko, shortly after its construction. Before she left, she told him, "Please take care of Nia, Commander-in-chief Simon." He may have a new title, but his destiny is still caught up with Nia.
He doesn't seem too upset about her rejection--he knows her too well. Right then, his cellphone rings, and it's Nia. Here's what she has to say:
"I'm not the same person as you. As a matter of fact, I'm a totally different person. But because we are different, I believe we can live together. Thank you...for this ring. I am very happy!"
And Simon cheers his success to the statue of Kamina.
Of course, it can't end that way; there needs to be more conflict. Sure enough, the population reaches one million, and a new enemy arrives on the scene. The Anti-Spirals come from another dimension to put an end to humanity. There's another twist: they intend for Nia to be their messenger. They take over her body and her mind, apparently wiping out her existing self and transforming her into a virtual vessel for their orders.
In her new form, she appears to the entirety of Kamina City to tell them that the Anti-Spirals have begun the extermination of humanity. The expression she wears is nothing like her usual, and her voice is flat and dull.
When the opening of the next episode talks about Simon, it says that he's been "betrayed by fate." A fair assessment, considering how much his fate is bound up with Nia's, and what just happened to her. As the council in charge of the city struggles to figure out what's going on, Simon contacts them in a rage. His first question isn't about the people of Kamina City, or the Anti-Spirals themselves. No, it's, "Where's Nia?" His first move after that is to rush to Nia's house looking for her.
She's not there. She's not answering her cellphone, either. Simon sits and looks at his own phone, dejected: "Nia, please come home."
When Gimmy and Darry come to demand that he return Gurren-Lagann, he doesn't tell them that the fate of humanity is at stake. He says, "I am looking for Nia; it's an emergency." In Lagann, he flies off to continue his search.
It doesn't seem to do much good. Finally, he stops at a fountain--and there, reflected in the water, he sees Nia but not Nia. "I've realized," she tells Simon, "that you and I can never coexist." Controlled by the Anti-Spirals, she denies everything she and Simon have come to stand for. The power of humanity is destructive and must be stopped; the eternal struggle of the human soul must be suppressed. The way people reach for their hopes and dreams is a poison.
It's a bit like how Simon denied himself after Kamina's death, only to be snapped out of it by Nia. But this time, the stakes are much higher, and it will take more than a fortuitous discovery and a few smiles to make things better.
"So please, open your eyes, Nia!" Simon cries. But it's not enough. She continues to deny her very self, claiming that not only is the Nia he knows gone forever, but she was never real anyway. Simon struggles to remind her of who she was, of the peculiar and confusing yet warm and kind Nia he knew and loved, but to no avail; she vanishes as he calls her name.
Simon continues trying to defend humanity, but even as he is arrested to provide a scapegoat for the scared and angry people, he can't stop thinking about Nia. The introduction to the next episode shows him in handcuffs: "Losing Nia, Simon is locked by handcuffs called 'despair.'"
Simon's trial goes forward, and the verdict is delivered: he will be executed. But even facing his own death sentence, Simon is quiet and still, musing over what Kamina would have done. Just as he thinks that, Nia appears in front of him, and his attention immediately snaps back. Too bad she's only there to talk about how the Anti-Spirals intend to inflict "absolute despair" upon humanity.
Or so she says. Even as she proclaims misery and doom upon Simon and everyone else, she reaches out to cradle Simon's face. In his shock, he notices something: she still wears the ring he gave her.
As she disappears (with him calling for her not to go), the Anti-Spirals attack again. Despite his condemned status, Simon is able to go and fight them; he's still humanity's best hope. He does well as always, and he aims his drill for the enemy base.
That's when a virtual screen unfolds in front of him with Nia's face on it, much to his shock. "Goodbye, Simon," she says, smiling unkindly. Where Nia always had faith in Simon before, this dark shadow sees no way for him to survive the ambush that now comes for him. Yet he does. In the aftermath of the battle, he does not think of the people has saved or the danger yet to come. Instead, he thinks of Nia's appearance and the cruel look on her face. "She is not the Nia I knew," he concludes. This devastates him more than anything. He goes back to his imprisonment and impending execution without protest.
In prison, Simon doesn't seem interested in making his escape. Even when he and Viral remain locked up as the city is evacuated, he stays calm, content with dying if it means others will live. He shows little emotion...
...until Nia appears again. Her whole purpose there, she says, is to let Simon know that despite all Rossiu's efforts, everyone is going to die. And yet...she still wears the ring. Even after another sermon about despair, Simon still calls for her not to go when she disappears.
♥ love that ought to survive
Freed by Yoko, Simon and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren, now plus Viral, take to space to stop the Moon from falling on Earth. Of course, as is the wont of big things in this show, the Moon turns out to be a giant Gunman in disguise. This means that to defeat it, Gurren-Lagann must combine with it. Sounds simple enough, but there's one problem.
Right before Simon attaches the drill, Nia appears, blocking it.
"Step aside, Nia!" Simon calls--reminding her that she is Nia, and she can defy her programming.
"I cannot do that. I am the Anti-Spirals' messenger," is her response. There is still no getting through to her; she still will not acknowledge herself as the Nia that Simon believes in. She tells him that if he wants to take the Moon, he will have to pierce her body with his drill (which totally isn't suggestive at all). Doing that will cause an explosion that destroys the control center of the Moon.
As Nia continues her speech about absolute despair and the need to crush humanity's hopes, Simon interrupts her with, "I wonder about that...Nia. To me, it seems like you're expecting something from us humans."
For the first time since her transformation, Nia's expression changes. Perhaps Simon is right. He continues boldly, listing the triumphs of the human spirit: "No matter how hopeless the situation, we stand up. We grow stronger as you put more obstacles in our way. That's why I'm here now. And you were hoping for that, am I right?"
Even through Nia's proclamations that she has changed forever, that there can be no going back to her former self, that she has no purpose now but the destruction of humanity, Simon has not given up his belief in her. He knows that inside her, somewhere, she still believes in him and everything he represents about humanity. That through everything she has said and done, the remnants of her true self have been guiding her to him and hoping he succeeds.
Still blocking the drill, she denies his claims. Specifically, she denies their relationship, their love, and the ties that bind them. "You and I are of completely separate dimensions. My past is entirely fictitious. Your words do not reach me."
"That's a lie," he says.
"That is the truth," she counters.
So this is what it all comes down to: the bright truth of their love against the dark nothingness the Anti-Spirals demand. And Simon has saved his best argument for last.
"Then...why do you wear that ring?"
Nia gasps; the ring gleams on her finger. She has no answer for him.
"That's your will," Simon says as Nia stares at the ring. He's right. Manifested by what has been the symbol of their love from the very beginning is what makes Nia Nia. Her ties to Simon: they are the part of her that the Anti-Spirals could not erase, and through them her heart and soul survived.
"I finally understand," he says. "The reason you kept appearing at crucial moments." When Simon was desperate to find her; when he had just been sentenced to death; when he was about to be ambushed by Anti-Spiral machines; when he was ready to die quietly in prison; and now, as he prepares to take on the Moon. Each time, she was there. She insists that it was only to create "absolute despair," but her words ring hollow now, and she sounds less ominously emotionless and more defensive.
"No," Simon says. "You might not have realized it yourself, but...when you appeared before me, you were seeking help."
Once again we see the images of Nia as she appeared before Simon at those times. This time, however, a new voice calls out--or rather, an old voice. It's Nia, really Nia: "Simon...I'm right here. Please, save me..."
Nia tries to deny herself once more, but Simon continues to remind her of everything they've been through and all that they have shared. Finally, he begs her once more to step aside...and then he drives the drill forward, into the Moon.
It works. With the Moon under his control, Simon transforms it and guides it back into orbit. In the aftermath, he emerges from Lagann and sees Nia standing there, next to the drill. He smiles. "Thank you, Nia," he says.
But when she speaks it is once again with the flat, computerized voice of her Anti-Spiral form. She tells Simon that despite what he has accomplished here, now that the Anti-Spirals' first plan to exterminate humanity has failed, they will go into full extermination mode. Humanity still has no chance, she claims.
Simon ignores her words of doom to focus on what matters most to him in all of this: "If we win, will you go back to your old self?"
Her response is not encouraging. "The possibility is extremely close to zero."
He is undaunted. "But it's not zero, right?" Once again, he grins. "In my case, that's as good as a hundred percent!"
This baffling logic and fierce determination is a classic example of the Simon Nia has always believed in--and, for a moment, it's enough. Nia's true self emerges, and in her own voice she asks, "Are you coming for me?"
"Yeah," he says. "Who do you think I am?"
The answer is implicit: she thinks he's Simon, just as he thinks she's Nia, and that gives them both the power to win this fight. As his words reach her, for the first time since her transformation, Nia blushes and smiles at him. Then she disappears, summoned back to the Anti-Spiral home dimension, leaving Simon more determined than ever to bring her back. As he and the rest of Team Dai-Gurren return to Earth, he gazes back up at the sky, thinking, "Wait for me, Nia."
♥ the lights in the sky are stars
But it's not that simple. The Anti-Spirals must be defeated, but they're now in another dimension, and no one has any idea how to get there. There are some clues, though. Leeron hints at one of them: "Love changes the universe," he says.
Yoko agrees; more than that, with her understanding of Simon, she takes it one step further. She puts aside the pressing concerns about the fate of humanity to simply point out that Nia is in the Anti-Spiral dimension. Because Nia is there, and because she and Simon love each other, they will be able to change the universe to go there. It's a little like the fight against Lord Genome: there are many things at stake, but for Simon, what gives him the strength to fight is Nia.
So it really shouldn't be a surprise when Simon discovers that Gurren-Lagann has a new ability: with fighting spirit and love, it can punch holes through reality and transport itself through space. There's more success in store, too. Lord Genome's reconstructed head has discovered the location of the Anti-Spirals' home planet. He knows for sure, because there's one recognizable object there: the ring Simon gave Nia. Through the symbol of their love, Team Dai-Gurren can take the fight to the Anti-Spirals.
As Simon prepares to leave, he doesn't talk about saving humanity or beating their enemies. No, instead he says, "I'll definitely bring Nia back." And with Nia's ring in their sights, they set out for the final battle.
"Focus on Nia," Simon is told. He closes his eyes and does so as they prepare to go, now in the gigantic Chouginga Gurren-Lagann.
Gimmy is dubious; he's not sure how they can travel so far simply on the basis of a ring and a feeling. Darry admits that she doesn't entirely understand it either, but she has a simple explanation for it: "Simon and Nia are connected by feelings that transcend time and space."
And with those feelings, Team Dai-Gurren breaks through space and time and enters the Anti-Spiral dimension.
The very first thing they see is a hologram of Nia's form projected into space, stretched out across planets and stars. The Anti-Spirals' analysis techniques are eating into her body, but when Simon calls her name from the bridge of Chouginga Gurren-Lagann, she still looks up and smiles. "You came for me!"
"Yeah," Simon says. "I promised you, didn't I?"
"Yes," she says, "I believed in you." We are given no confirmation of whether that belief was part of what allowed Simon to pierce the dimensions and bring Team Dai-Gurren here...but considering everything we've seen so far, it's hard not to come to that conclusion.
"I'll win and we'll go back home to Earth together," Simon promises her. And despite her awful situation, Nia looks positively joyful. Thus encouraged, Simon and the others set off to find and save the real Nia.
That's when the Anti-Spiral itself, the leader of all the Anti-Spirals, appears. It threatens to make Nia disappear for good, thus crushing humanity's last hope and removing their path to the Anti-Spiral homeworld once and for all. Simon may be thinking of that--or he might just be thinking of Nia herself when he says, "Like hell I'd let you do that!"
Team Dai-Gurren fight their way through multitudes of enemies, losing some of their valued members along the way. They go into battle knowing what will happen to them, but also that it needs to be done, and before they die, they have a few words for Simon.
"Don't make a waiting girl cry."
"You must save Nia!"
Through a last great sacrifice, the remaining members of Team Dai-Gurren make their way past an ocean of despair and confront the Anti-Spiral once more. It has an ugly surprise for them, especially Simon: the truth of the Spiral Nemesis. It shows Simon how Spiral power will eventually destroy the universe. Instinctively, Simon knows that it is true, and Lord Genome confirms it for the others.
But he adds that there is a truth beyond the Spiral Nemesis: "That is the fact that Nia is waiting for you."
Simon and Nia's love has brought Team Dai-Gurren this far. Now it can oppose the end of the universe for them. Realizing that everyone, but especially Nia, is counting on him to save the world, Simon lifts himself out of his fear and despair. He informs the Anti-Spiral that he will save both Nia and the universe--and in that moment, the two have exactly the same importance to him.
Her hologram hanging in space, Nia watches as Simon defeats everything the Anti-Spirals throw at him. As he clears the space around him and sees her once more, she smiles at him again--and then she disappears. The way is clear to the real Nia.
"I can see her," he says as he starts to open a path through space. She sees him, too, and she lifts her head and calls his name with joy.
But the Anti-Spiral has one last trick up its sleeve. It casts Team Dai-Gurren into a dream of a peaceful, insignificant life, trapping them in fantasy: the Alternate Space Labyrinth. It's not even a very good fantasy--the Kamina Simon meets there is weak and quick to beg for his life when in danger. Though the things that appear in this fantasy are appealing, they are unreal. Yoko will never marry Kittan; Simon will never live a carefree life with Kamina. Nowhere is Nia seen--she still belongs to the world of the real.
But all is not lost for Simon. The true Kamina in his heart emerges to inspire him, to remind him that he has the power to find what is real and break out of this prison. How will he do that? Why, by using his drill, the drill that exists in his heart and soul, to open a box...a box that looks exactly like the one he found Nia in. Nia herself is still too live and real to appear here, but she has enough of a place in Simon's heart to have some part in his freedom. It is through the two most important people in his life--Kamina and Nia--that Simon finds the strength to break free.
As Team Dai-Gurren escapes, the Anti-Spiral is extracting information from Nia's body--a pretty unpleasant experience. It is puzzled by her resistance: "Why do you go against us to such an extent? You are but a virtual life form inserted into a Spiral gene."
Her answer: "He will come. Definitely." It doesn't matter that someone is telling her she's no one. Simon loves her, and she loves him; that is enough to make her someone.
The Anti-Spiral decides that it's time to end her once and for all. But that's when her ring starts glowing. Determination on her face, she brings it around to bear on the Anti-Spiral. Sure enough, from that ring emerges Gurren-Lagann. "Simon!" Nia cries gladly.
When he emerges and turns to face her, all he says is, "Sorry for the wait, Nia!" It's enough.
He frees her from her Anti-Spiral chains, and then he catches her as she falls. "I've come, Nia. Just like I promised." And though they are still in the midst of battle, still ready to fight for the fate of humanity, her expression is one of pure joy and love. They cling to each other as they prepare to fight the Anti-Spiral at last. Together, they return to Lagann, just as they did in the fight against Lord Genome so long ago.
So Team Dai-Gurren together fights to defend the Earth and all they love. As they face the Anti-Spirals for the last time, Nia flickers, much like an Anti-Spiral machine being destroyed. Simon notices, and at first he is worried--one might even say horrified--but she looks back at him and smiles. Something passes between them--a silent understanding to which the audience is not yet privy. And then Nia reassures him that he should keep fighting...and he does.
With love and fighting spirit, Team Dai-Gurren finally defeat the Anti-Spirals...with Simon and Nia holding onto each other for dear life all the while.
"It's finally over, Nia," Simon says.
"Yeah," she says. "Let's go home."
And home they go, where it's onto something perhaps even more important than saving the universe: Simon and Nia's wedding. Finally, they kiss...but as she watches, Yoko notices something. Just like the Anti-Spiral machines before her, Nia is starting to flicker and fade away.
"I will never forget about you, Nia," Simon says. "Even if this universe is destroyed." As he speaks, he's smiling tenderly.
"You're such a fool," she tells him, but she's smiling too. "It won't be destroyed. That's why everyone worked so hard."
"Yeah," he says, "you're right."
Then, after all this time, she says what everyone already knew: "I love you, Simon."
"Yeah, me too," he says. "I love you."
Smiling and even laughing a little, she fades away in Simon's arms. Only the ring is left.
Yet Simon is still smiling. "It's okay," he says. "It's something Nia and I knew about." That moment they shared before the defeat of the Anti-Spirals comes clear now. They knew the sacrifice they were making. They accepted it then, and Simon shows no regret now.
"It's amazing she was about to hold out this long," Viral observes--but of course it's not amazing at all. Nia wanted to hold on until she could marry Simon, just as she'd said she would before all of this began. So she did.
As Simon walks away from the life he once led, Yoko calls out to him...and throws him the ring. He catches it, and with it he walks away, his journey complete.
♥ the end of this story
After the credits roll, the story isn't quite over yet. We flash forward twenty years to see how far humanity and the characters have progressed since then. But what of Simon?
Finally, we come to a familiar shot: the memorial to Kamina. But next to it is something new: another memorial, on a hill covered in flowers. It's obvious who this one is for, and the presence of the ring confirms it.
Soon enough, we meet Simon. Watching a young boy with a drill of his own, he muses, "I guess I'm no one." But there's no sadness in his voice or on his face when he says this. He may be no one now save the quiet and unassuming Simon the Digger, but he has his memories of being Simon, Kamina's brother, and Simon, Nia's husband, and nothing can take them away from him.
It could even be said that Nia's death says more about their relationship, and the love she and Simon share, than her survival would have. Simon saved the world for the sake of saving her. But when she chose to accept her death--when she told him, in that last battle, that he should keep fighting even though she was fading--he respected that decision. He could have brought her back anyway with Spiral power, but he loved her too much to deny her last wish. In the end, he saw her not just as something to save, but as someone to respect.
In a sense, Nia isn't really gone. Again and again we hear that those who have died remain in the hearts and souls of those who live on. After Kittan's sacrifice, Simon declares, "My companions' feelings have been etched upon this body." Confronting Kamina in the Alternate Space Labyrinth, he spells this out explicitly. "It's not a goodbye," he says as he prepares to return to reality, and he points to his heart. "We're together, right?"
Since Kamina is the only person in Simon's life who approaches Nia in importance, this is particularly meaningful. It goes a long way towards explaining why he seems at peace, even content, when we see him in the epilogue. It's bittersweet--only with Nia was he truly joyful--but not crushing. He has Boota at his side and Kamina and Nia in his heart. Thanks to Nia especially, his journey in life is finished, and it was a glorious one.
♥ parallel loves
Considering the role they play in the story, it really shouldn't be a surprise that there's a fair amount of material beyond the show itself that features Simon and Nia's relationship.
The Parallel Works videos have some examples, the first one being the best. In it, Nia is a captive princess, and Simon (along with Viral and Kamina) invades a castle to fight a monster and rescue her. She doesn't actually appear in the second Parallel Works video, but as Simon puts together the final Pachinko combo of Kamina that gives him the power he needs, her face shows up on the screen. In the third Parallel Works video, a surreal samurai tale, Simon and Nia don't actually meet--but as Simon fights, images of Nia flicker throughout before fading away.
The novels include more. Here we learn a little more about Nia's thoughts when she first saw Simon alone in that room on the Dai-Gurren, making statue after statue of Kamina. Seeing how he could feel so much for another person, it inspired her to believe in him. It also turns out that she's the one who asked him to make the big Kamina statue that we see later--thus linking the two most important people in Simon's life.
Here Simon has a motivation for proposing to Nia beyond simply his indisputable love for her, and one that rings true with the themes of the show. He does it in order to further grow and change into the person he must become. To be that person, Nia is the one he needs at his side. "He had no concern about the fact that Nia was the Helix King Lord Genome's daughter. She was herself. He needed her, and she needed him too. That should be all that mattered."
The "interview" in Nia's photobook is also quite telling about the pairing. Several of the answers Nia gives come back to Simon in the end.
Gurren Lagann also has two different alternate universes in a high school setting. The first is the drama CD. Nia is the school's board chairman, and Simon is in charge of maintenance. This means that she spends a lot of time ordering him around--but they both seem to respect each other and know each other fairly well.
The manga brings us back to romance. The moment they met, Nia decided that she and Simon were destined to be together, and by the end of the first chapter, she's describing herself as his wife. It's done as a parody, but they still kick ass when they "combine."
Considering the record so far, we can be sure that the more extra material Gainax releases for Gurren Lagann, the more different sides of Simon/Nia we'll see.
♥ better together
Simon and Nia's relationship symbolizes many things and epitomizes several themes of this series. But it's also more than that. It's a romance--and a relationship in general--that makes them both better in so many ways. It works, and it's ridiculously cute.
Probably the best description of this that I've seen is actually on a TVTropes page: Moe Couplet. There, they describe a relationship where two characters complement each other in the cutest and most endearing way possible, bringing out each other's better qualities in a way that often has overtones of romance without going all the way. Simon and Nia take this fully into romantic territory.
Let's think about their first meeting.
Imagine you're Simon in that situation. Think about having lost what mattered most to you just a week earlier, the person who drove you to become who you are. Think about losing your faith in life, losing your belief that it's all worth it, and still feeling the driving need to be a hero even though you have no idea how...
...and then opening a box and finding someone who takes the belief that it's all worth it as a matter of course. Someone who delights in the most ordinary of things in the darkest of times. Who is charmed by you just as you are, regardless of whether you're a hero or not. In fact, she doesn't even know what a hero is or why you should be one: she just knows that you're you, and that's enough. She looks into your eyes, and she smiles, and she wants you to be all right with all her heart.
Is it any wonder Simon believes in Nia?
And then there's Nia's feelings to consider here.
Imagine that you've never known anything except what little of the world your stern and inscrutable father gives you--lessons at a royal court, and being surrounded by people who look nothing like you and who rarely treat you as just a person. Imagine that when you finally try to press your father for more, he responds by putting you in a box and tossing you out. You don't know what's going to happen to you or where you are.
Then your prison opens, and the one who's responsible looks and sounds and feels more like you than anyone you've ever known before. He's your introduction to an amazing world of color and sensation and people. He answers your questions as innocently and openly as you ask them. And this boy who introduced you to the world, he's vulnerable and he's hurting, but he still wants to protect you.
Is it any wonder Nia believes in Simon?
The ways they work for each other don't just manifest in dramatic moments and deep thematic points, though. They also show up in the little things.
Nia's cooking is practically lethal, and yet Simon devours it happily. Pleasing coincidence? Sure, but in the bright world of Gurren Lagann, coincidences count for something. Even at the heart of a joke, we can still find quirky proof of Simon and Nia's connection.
Simon likes to work quietly; Nia, as evidenced by her photobook interview, likes to watch him while he does that, asking no more of him than to be there and be himself. This extends beyond pleasant moments, too. The two of them seem able to communicate with barely a word. In the last episode, they have very few lines together, yet the majority of important communication between them does not take place offscreen. It takes place in the looks and touches they exchange. With just a few words and glances as they approach the final battle, Simon and Nia understand what they are giving up and why they must do it, even though it is the most important decision they have ever made.
Simon and Nia are not a case of opposite personalities attracting, but rather of different personalities complementing. Both are good-natured and generally positive in their outlook; when one's hope and spirit falters, the other helps raise it once more. Simon is quiet and often pensive. Nia is a more bubbly sort, but not obtrusively so. She knows that there's nothing wrong with Simon being quiet and at times solitary. But if he starts to brood too much, she knows when to be there for him and what to say to bring him back into the world of life and light. On the flip side, Nia's airy cheer can also manifest as cluelessness, confusion, and uncertainty. Simon is more grounded, and he knows when to let Nia fly off in her own world--and love her all the more for the insights she brings back from it--and when to help her back down to earth.
Let's go from there to something rather more shallow for a moment, or so it seems: they look good together. But it's not that shallow--the way in which they look good together hints at the ways they work. Simon's design is done in primary colors, full of simple shapes and plain, down-to-earth imagery. Nia is much more ethereal, drawn in pastels and arising from more intricate shapes. She's the air spirit to his digger's heart. He's the earth to her starlight. They are both separate and inseparable, two people intertwined and all the better for it.
♥ themes and variations in fighting spirit
When Simon and Nia first meet, they are little more than shells. Simon has lost the most important person in his life--more than that, the man who defined his life. He has no idea where to turn or what to become. Nia has been cast out from the only life she ever knew and the only life she was ever intended to have. Unlike Simon, she puts on a cheerful front, but beneath that innocent joy she is equally empty.
By the middle of the series, the two of them together have become capable of defeating tyrants and freeing humanity. By the end of the series, their love is a force that can quite literally move universes.
This is no coincidence. It isn't even just the two of them being on similar journeys in life. Their destinies are intertwined and have been since they met. Because of Nia reaching out to him, Simon can accept himself as something more than a shadow of Kamina and reach his ultimate potential--and that potential is the protector and, in the end, true love of Nia. Because of Simon inspiring and supporting her, Nia is able to develop her own goals and dreams instead of breaking down from lack of identity and self-worth--and what she dreams of is a life with Simon.
They are an inextricable part of each other's identity--and they are not the only examples in the series. Kamina himself believed that he would have been nothing without Simon, and yet it is from him that Simon takes the first seeds of his own identity. The evolution of "Believe in me who believes in you" into "Believe in you who believes in you" is one of the key moments of the show. It is clear throughout that identity is something formed between people rather than within them.
Simon and Nia's last words to each other make this clear like no others.
"I will never forget about you, Nia. Even if this universe is destroyed."
"You're such a fool. It won't be destroyed. That's why everyone worked so hard."
In the end, Simon was the world-saver. It took him a long time to get there, but in the end he did--and what gave him the strength and the means to do it was Nia. His ultimate destiny wasn't so much to save the world as it was to save Nia.
"I love you, Simon."
As for Nia, she was a person who emerged into the world nearly devoid of a self, struggling to find a place for herself, confused by human emotions and connections. In the very end, though, she knew that she had found her place in the world. Seven years ago she didn't even know what people were. Now, thanks to Simon, she was able to say that she loved one of them.
How does this happen? What lets Nia and Simon shape each other's identities, and why do they emerge from this crucible so fierce and powerful? You could name a lot of reasons why they're good for each other, but there's one particular power underlying it all.
They believe in each other. It's not how someone might believe in heroes after seeing them perform grand feats. It's much less rational and more amazing than that. And more personal, too--belief in heroes inspires, and that's important enough, but Simon and Nia save each other with their belief.
Nia is quite upfront about her faith in Simon from the beginning. It's utterly irrational. When Guame has her captive, when Adiane overpowers Team Dai-Gurren, when the barrier goes up around Teppelin--there's no reason to believe that Simon will be able to save them. Each time, the stakes are higher, and each time, Nia keeps her belief in Simon.
What happens during the fight with Adiane is particularly telling. It's the second time she's expressed complete and irrational faith in Simon. This time, Yoko calls her out on it. And here's the thing: Nia admits that she has no logical reason to believe in Simon so. He has confided no secret in her that reassures her, has displayed no superhuman power to earn her amazement. From a rational point of view, it's kind of dumb. She and the rest of the crew are knee-deep in rising water; they have no idea how well the fight is going outside. But it's Simon, and so Nia believes wholeheartedly and without reserve that he can save them.
And he does. There is no logical causal connection between Nia's belief in Simon and Simon's success...but this is Gurren Lagann, where the strength of your heart matters far more than that of your logic.
Later in that very same episode, Nia's philosophy echoes through the other characters. In shock at Team Dai-Gurren's reckless plan, Adiane asks, "Are you humans really that stupid?" Yoko responds, "Unfortunately, we are that stupid." Their plan works.
Irrational beliefs, says this show, are what make people strong. In this setting, there can be little doubt that Simon's triumphs are intimately linked to Nia's faith in him.
What happens after the timeskip makes it even more clear. Where before Nia's belief saved Simon, now it's Simon's turn to save Nia with his faith. And he does so with the same nonsensical passion that she brought to him years ago. No logical argument brings Nia back to her humanity: only Simon's stubborn insistence that she is still in there, and, finally, his utter dismissal of logic in the face of his belief.
Just in case we haven't gotten it by now, the last arc hammers it home, as Simon and Nia's belief in and love for each other lets them transcend space and time to save humanity.
Yet there's a price for all this awesome. Through the power of love and fighting spirit, Nia goes back to her old self, but she doesn't stay. Knowing that if Simon saved her, it would risk the Spiral Nemesis, Nia accepts her death as the price for saving the universe.
This is not a new theme in Gurren Lagann. We have seen again and again that while human potential is amazing, it demands a cost. You can save the world if you love hard enough and fight fiercely enough, but you can't do it without paying a price. Simon and Nia accept this without bitterness as part of the nature of life. They have saved the world with their love, and that's happy ending enough.
Through all of this, it's clear Gurren Lagann isn't about the world of the real, but something even better. It's about the worlds in our hearts and souls, and the power we can find there. And of all things, Simon and Nia and their relationship exemplify that beautifully.
♥ why?
I'll admit it. Even before I watched the show, I smiled when I saw Nia's character design. I thought she looked cute together with Simon. If you'd given me a summary, I'd have known I would ship it. But I don't think I'd have known just how much I would adore it.
It's all in the details, and in the way they add up to form an amazing big picture. Simon and Nia are soulmates, and their love can save worlds. But the show doesn't just tell us that. We see it in every smile they share, every quiet moment they spend together, every conversation they have. From the start, we see them make each other better. Their story graduates from "fumbling teenage connection in times of peril" to "eternal true love" in gentle but powerful steps. It's not love but something at first sight, and from there it just keeps on growing.
It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for pairings where the characters are bound together by destiny. Simon and Nia are bound by something more powerful--the strength of their own hearts--and that winds up being even better. I also love pairings where the characters' relationship helps them both grow. Simon and Nia go beyond that: their relationship doesn't just help them both grow, it shapes them utterly.
But my love for Simon/Nia, like the pairing itself, is more than the sum of its parts. It's as irrational and intense as they are. Just thinking about them, knowing that someone somewhere could conceive of a love that perfect, makes me happy when I'm down. Cheesy? Yeah, but I think it suits them.
♥ beyond the text
For such a popular series, Gurren Lagann doesn't have a lot of fanworks by its English-speaking fandom. But there are a few I can recommend.
Possibly the best-known Gurren Lagann fanfiction is "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down," by csakuras. It's a chaptered story set in an alternate timeline where Simon and Nia never met until after the Anti-Spirals started attacking. It does a great job with its premise, and the characters are recognizable despite their differences and very interesting.
"Forms of Imprisonment" by experienced is a short but powerful Nia fanfiction set during her time as the Anti-Spiral Messenger.
lolalol draws some lovely fanart of Simon/Nia. My favorite is this image. This art by Ann606 is another I like.
There's a lot more fanart to be found on the Japanese side of fandom. Here is a list of sites I like:
AND OVER
A wild tulip
満月一丁目 (Mangetsu ichi choume)
AuroraVision
多宇研 (tauken)
Ligne
Last but not least, here are some thoughts from members of simon_nia on why they love the pairing.