< Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann/Trivia


  • Homage
    • Nia's awakening scene was a homage to Outlaw Star's scene when Melfina was found.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! made a card who must be a tribute/homage to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, I present you the Drill Warrior
    • In Kid Icarus: Uprising, there's a weapon called the Drill Arm. It looks exactly like an arm sized Core Drill.
  • Meaningful Name: Both Gurren and Lagann. "Guren" means "Crimson" (or "Crimson Lotus") and "Ragan" (Lagann's romanized form) means "Rock Face".
    • Furthermore, the word "Lagan" (not translated) can mean "wreckage or goods at the bottom of the sea", which, if "bottom of the sea" is replaced by "under ground", is where Lagann was actually discovered by Simon.
      • This could also be how Kamina came up with the name in the first place...

Lordgenome: EVA-unit 01 Advanced activating. Time to get some exercise.
Simon: You just said that so I didn't have to point it out, didn't you?

      • The fact that the Lazengann massacred anything standing in its way in Parallel Works 8 without wielding any weapons (except for the obligatory drills) only helps to confirm this.
        • The fact that the berserking Lazengann changed from greenish colors to reddish colors just like EVA-01 in Rebuild of Evangelion only helps.
      • Also, the hidden teeth on Lazengann's abdomen may be referencing the Eva units being organic under their armor...
      • Lordgenome himself being this blended with Master Asia. Originally humanity's greatest champion, he became its worst enemy upon realizing their impact on the world. While never a mentor to The Hero, he was his predecessor and pilots the dark, scary counterpart to his robot, and is just as powerful with or without it in combat. They also hung some lampshades on the source material.
    • Nia does not just have decorative eyes and the same voice as Nono, but is her dark parallel. She awakens to her destiny to gain sci-fi tights, Flight, the ability to warp, and controls swarms of mindless robots... except as a Manchurian Agent with the exact opposite goal. Underneath it all, they both just wish they were ordinary girls.
    • Gunbuster's shortlived comic sequel, Next GENERATION, was full of epic concepts even for Gainax. Among them were the heroes traveling to a space between dimensions to battle God using a giant robot of infinite power. It looks like Gainax waited til it was financially stable and the trends regained freshness to bring back those ideas. They finally got to animate some of them for Diebuster and Gurren Lagann.
    • In episode 11 of GaoGaiGar, take a look at what a particular robot's wielding as part of its signature attack. Coincidence? I think NOT.
      • Even more noteworthy about that particular robot is that he's voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, the voice of Kamina!
      • Arc Gurren Lagann's power up sequence and head design are drawn from GGG's titular mecha.
    • Similarily to Arc GL above, Great Galaxy/Chouginga Gurren Lagann's visual design is based off Mazinger Mazinkaiser mixed with Diebuster. It does the Gunbuster/Gainax pose upon emerging on the screen.
    • Yoko flies around on a yellow scooter and fights Humongous Mecha with ridiculously undersized weapons. She hangs with a Cute Shotaro Boy who has the power to combine with a robot with a face on it's stomach, in order to be preposterously awesome. They protect the world from an alien race bent on destruction. Sounds vaguely familiar.
    • Does nobody seem to note the references to Star Wars? Especially in the Time Skip.
      • One such reference is Lordgenome speaking to Simon not long before they get ready to fight.

Lordgenome: "The Spiral is strong with you..."

    • And then an internal reference, in Lagann-hen, where the Anti-Spiral's Gran Zamboa literally beats the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann to death on the ground, ripping and maiming the suit in a method very reminiscent of Evangelion Unit 01's horrific destruction of Unit 03. This show loves shouting out at its parent company.
    • SpongeBob SquarePants... In my Gurren Lagann? It's more likely than you think... (seriously, that can't be coincidental...)
      • It's Gainax. Of course it's not coincidental.
    • Continuing with the Evangelion-references, the planes that drop bombs during the fight against the Dai-Gun Doten Kaizan look very similar to the plane used by NERV to carry the EVA-02 to Japan, and by SEELE to deploy the MP EVAs.
      • Coincidentally enough, the one that Simon equips to Gurren-Lagann to let it fly bears a certain similarity to Stealth Gao I from GaoGaiGar...
    • The team behind the show cited Getter Robo as their main source of inspiration.
      • If you're familiar with both, the parallels are easy to see in a lot of core concepts. Getter Rays and Spiral Energy, save for Spiral Energy being self generated and following the will of the user and Getter Rays coming from space and having their own will, though you can increase your Getter Ray output through will power, are exactly the same down to the color. Both of them.
      • There's also the motives of the villains through the series. The Beastmen army follow exactly like the Dinosaur Empire and 100 Demon Empire, "Kill all humans because the planet belongs to us." Then when the plot decides to be a bit more serious, though no less insane, humans are using an energy source that will cause them to consume the universe and the villains are the last stand for the survival of existence. There's even a timeskip separating the two types. The big difference is that Lordgenome was privy to the second part villains and Emperor Gore just hated humans and the Getter, at least at first.
      • Then there are small bits here and there. Horrible creatures from beyond space doing something to the moon, combining with a celestial body to form an even bigger robot, drills in general as well as flying into enemies really fast drill first, absorbing other machinery because that's what the robot does, growing to the point that a planet hitting it just crumbles like a dirt clod, growing to universal proportions so you can punch a god in the face, robots that contain or can generate the necessary energy to start a big bang, and probably a dozen other things I haven't even thought of.
      • Rising up in space with crossed arms to look awesome is Gunbuster, though that itself is a Getter G reference. Rising up out of the ocean with crossed arms to look awesome is straight Getter G.
      • Take the first scene from Neo vs Shin getter where the Dinosaur Empire does their speech against Musashi. The similarity to the situation that humanity is in with Gurren Lagann is amusing.
      • This actually goes all the way to parts of the art style. That "hot blooded yelling and the art getting all pencil scratchy while something insane happens/is about to happen/just happened" is just like Ken Ishikawa's art style for the same kind of events. Compare Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann powering up after Lordgenome gives them energy to Shin Getter Robo powering up and firing the first Stoner Sunshine.
      • Not to mention the most obvious parallel to fans of both works, namely that the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is essentially a friendlier version of The Getter Emperor.
    • Didn't anyone else think that Kamina's dad looked like Captain Harlock (or just about every single one of Leiji Matsumoto's lead character heroes)? Heck the entire series is probably a shoutout to Leiji Matsumoto's take on manliness.
    • Simon manages to block Viral's attacks in episode 15 exactly like Neo blocked Smith's attacks right after becoming the One.
    • The way in which Yoko equips herself in episode 21 is similar to Ash in Evil Dead 2.
    • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann bears an uncanny resemblance to Persoenlichkeit and the Anti-Spirals' motivation is similar to that of the Einsts. Even the area where the final battle takes place looks similar to the Einst pocket universe.
    • Speaking of Super Robot Wars shoutouts, a large part of Parallel Works 8 (which isn't really "parallel" at all and serves as Lordgenome's Start of Darkness) seems to shout out to the concept of SRW, as a lot of the Spiral Army mechs look like GL-ized versions of various famous mecha - a Mazinger Z, several Gundams, a Gaiking, an Arbalest and many others are clearly visible in the big "pan-back" around 1:00 and you can spot other shoutouts when Genome slaughters his teammates. The "aliens attack, various robots team up to fight invaders" plot is even boilerplate SRW. So the implication is that Lordgenome lead a Super Robot War and then became the villain of such... and then won.
      • Nevermind other Shout Outs, You can even see the Alternate Gurren Lagann from Parallel Works 6 beside Lazengan right at the beginning of the pan.
    • In Parallel Works 2-5, Kiyal and Darry are best friends as schoolgirls but enemies in their Magical Girl alter egos, essentially the same plot as Pretty Sammy.
    • Does Leyte remind anyone else of Rakshata?
    • The bombs that Cytomander's minions drop on the Dai-Gurren in episode 13 are Bullet Bills.
    • The plot as a whole appears to be partly based on The Epic of Gilgamesh (Viral's mech is even called Enkidu!), and possibly The Bible.
      • Viral's name is even romanized as "Biraru", which can also be read as "Bilal", the name of a person who controled Enki. The Epic of Gilgamesh is also known as the Nikopol Trilogy, thus being the namesake of Viral's theme.
      • More like a reference to Enki Bilal, author of the Nikopol Trilogy, a dystopian sci-fi BD.
    • Each Arc in Gurren Lagann is a Shout Out to the various eras of Mecha. The first arc is the original exploration, villain of the day, and heroic sacrifice tropes of the original 70s Super Mecha genre. The Second Arc is a shout out to the late 70s and 80s style of Real-Type Mecha where War and character development is the more prevalent trope, along with the conflicting ideas of realistic fighting and hotblooded one-man army actions like the earlier arc. The third arc is a take on the 90s psychological and more political trope-filled mecha anime, that doesn't actually involve that much fighting externally in giant robots, but internally as characters. The last arc, however, is Gainax's attempt to define the current style of Mecha in the new millennium, with some of the previous tropes put together, added in with "The Power of Love", as well as over the top characters saying anything is possible, no matter the odds, if you're willing to fight for it in big Mechas.
    • Episode 14 features a three-fer: Gurren Lagann's drill missile attack isn't strictly drawn from Macross, but it's virtually identical to one of the signature attacks of Ideon. After that, we get a more traditional Itano Circus when Rossiu dodges the missiles, and after that the giant hologram Nia is possibly a parody of Macross: Do You Remember Love?
    • Episode 6 features appearances by several very familar-looking Bunny Girls [1]
    • The attack of the giant missiles in episode 25 is a reference to the battle in Sector Z in Star Fox 64.
    • The pilot suits used by Gimmy and Darry bear striking resemblance to the ones from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    • What's that, Attenborough? A giant naked woman in space?
    • Note the overall theme of spirals, humanity's tendency to break its boundaries, and the Arc Words relating to a "drill that will pierce the heavens". Now go look at any classical picture of the Tower of Babel. Hmm...
      • The Parallel Works Video 8 clearly shows this as being the main architectural design of the Spirals during the war against the Anti-Spirals.
    • The show's episode titling conventions may or may not be an intended shout out to After War Gundam X, which uses the same naming rules.
      • To explain a bit better: The Episode Titles are actually the most epic lines spoken by certain characters in the episode. One of those waited until the end of the episode before giving us the title: "I accept your dying wish!"
    • Space King Kittan's destruction looks very, VERY similar to the destruction of Bommer's Dark Dive Bomber in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's episode 21.
    • Kamina's line "Great men don't die, even when they're killed" might be a tribute to Carl Sagan's "To live in the hearts we leave behind, is to never die."
    • The Ark-Gurren-Lagann's design seems to be based on several mecha, including Gunbuster, EVA-01 and Linebarrel.
    • In Episode 2, there's a "Blink And You'll Miss It" reference to Dragonball Z. When the two green Gunmen are stretching out before combat, it looks very similar to the Fusion-dance from DBZ. Especially with the powerful flash of light when they hold their hands together. In Dragonball, they'd fuse and thus create a flash of light to save animation-money. Here, the light is created by the Gunzan crashing to the ground behind them.
    • Judging by the length of Kamina's katana in episode 3, during his on-foot fight with Viral, one can argue that the sword may be a homage to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, one of the most famous villains in Final Fantasy history, known for wielding a 3-4 meters long katana. Sometimes even in one hand. The rest of the time, Kamina's katana is only regular length.
      • Kamina's katana constantly changing size may also be a Shout-Out to Bleach, more specifically the Zanpakutou (Soul Slayers). They are regular katanas that change size depending on the user's Reiatsu (Spirit Pressure AKA Badass-ness), which Spiral Energy itself it pretty similar to.
      • The overly long Katana Drawing scene is pretty simmilar with the drawing of Final Kaiser Blade of Mazinkaiser
    • Lordgenome after the Time-Skip is a blatant reference to Zordon from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
      • Possibly Mimir of Norse mythology, as well. To elaborate, Mimir was a defeated god in the Aesir-Vanir War, who had his head cut off and preserved by the winning side and made into a slave-adviser.
    • The design of the Grapearl looks like a mix between the Arbalest, the GM and the Strike Dagger. Then again, it isn't surprising that it's similar in design to several Mass-Produced Real Robots, considering its own status in the series.
    • Continuing with the Neon Genesis Evangelion references, there's a Pre-Time Skip episode that features the explosion of a Ganmen that looks very similar to the cross-shaped explosions that are prevalent in Eva.
    • So, Gurren Lagann has a V crest shaped Sunglasses and a detachable wings that it gains as a sort of Mid-Season Upgrade that it can throw as a boomerang. This sounds rather simmilar to Scrander Boomerang and Great Boomerang
      • The Lagann itself bears striking resemblance to the Pilder from Mazinsaga, being a sort of small detachable pilotted object that controls the object it latched into(in Mazinsaga's case the titular Machine).
      • The "shield" Viral uses that just unfolds on Enki's arm may be intended to be an upgraded Genesic Protect Shade, or maybe just an upgraded, physical version of the Protect Wall, both from GaoGaiGar FINAL.
    • Probably coincidental or due to Woolseyism, but in Sengoku Rance, Rance does say that his hyper weapon will pierce the heavens!
  • Giga Drill Break's has tons of shout outs to Great Mazinger's Thunder Break. Both are Finishing Move(in the latter's case, most of the time making it the first proper Finisher in Super Robot shows), and a kind of signature move of a big brother figure{invented by Kamina, and Tetsuya is Koji's adpotive older brother) have practically same line and simmilar name(compare : Hissatsu ! Giga Drill Break for Giga Drill Break and Hissatsu Power ! Thunder Break for Thunder Break) and same pose(raise hand/point to the sky, and direct it to the target).
  • Fan Nickname: Tengen Toppa Lagann's name is never mentioned, not even in text. Fans just stuck the name because it is the most plausible.
  • Small, but the outfacing part of Yoko's scope has a three scope combination that look just like the eyes of the Scopedogs.
  • The Arc-Gurren is essentially the mecha equivalent of biblical Ark Noah used to gather two of every animal with his loved ones and escape the floods God rained down upon the world for 40 days & nights. Here, Rossiu does the same, gathering animals and attempting to rescue the entire planet's population on a space colony ark before the moon plummets into the Earth.
  • Transformers Animated production staff drew inspiration from Gurren Lagann for plot material. There are two noteworthy references to Lagann- a villian named the Headmaster who pilots a Mini-Mecha that screws into the top of a robot to take control of it that can also transform into a functional robot on its own, and Dirt Boss, a forklift that transforms into a pudgy robot head with stumpy limbs, much like Lagann's proportions. In the case of Dirt Boss, the show was going to lead up to a plot line where the Decepticon would create Devastator, using Scrapper, Mixmaster, and the other four Construction namesakes of G1 as the body components, but this has been carried over to the comics after a sudden cancellation. It's almost obvious that Dirt Boss will be the head component, once again a shout-out to the combination used to form the Gurren Lagann.
  • Nia ending up naked in the finale is a stark equivalent of Rei's lengthy state of undress throughout the End Of Evangelion- even down to the hair color.
  • Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei pays tribute to the moment Simon slams a punch into Rossiu's cheek in Episode 23, with Nozomu being the victim. It even copies the exact same frame-by-frame animations... until Nozomu unexpectedly crashes into a fence headfirst. It Makes Sense in Context- CLAMP, the studio collective who produced this anime, did much of the cleanup animation work on Gurren Lagann.
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  1. ↑ from left to right: Rei, Mahoro, Nono, Asuka, Lal'C.
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