Kamina

Kamina (カミナ) is a young man from Giha Village and the founder of Team Dai-Gurren. A central character to the show, Kamina is the former leader of Team Dai Gurren. While dying in Episode 8, his legacy would live on through the whole show in Simon, making Kamina the driving force of the show.

=History=

Pre-series
As a child, Kamina's father managed to reach the surface. He wanted to take Kamina with him, but Kamina was too scared of the strange world awaiting him, so his dad left him, promising to meet up again later on. Years later, Kamina decided he was old enough and began to aim for the surface.

Beastman War arc
As his first act of notoriety, Kamina forms "Team Gurren" and convinces his "soul-brother," Simon, to help him with his plan to drill through the roof of the village and get to the world above. However, the plan fails. Kamina willingly takes the blame for disrupting the peace and is jailed by the village chief. At night, Simon breaks him out to show him an extraordinary artifact he unearthed, only to be interrupted by a large Gunmen that crashes through the village's ceiling. A young girl sharpshooter named "Yoko" descends from the surface and ends up joining Kamina and Simon as they pilot the newly unearthed Gunmen Kamina names "Lagann". Together, they defeat the invading Gunmen and reach the surface in the process. After the trio breaks through, they meet many enemies and friends as they continue forward. The once two-member "Team Gurren" expands to the size of an entire resistance force aiming to overthrow the Beastman Empire. Kamina leads this force and names it "Team Dai-Gurren". Kamina's largest battle involves the capture of one of the enemy’s moving fortresses belonging to one of the Four Divine Generals, Thymilph. The mission is a success, but not without cost. Heavily wounded (Thymilph not only stabbed him through the chest, almost tearing him in two, he also shoots a beam through him, causing severe blood loss), Kamina combines with Simon to form Gurren Lagann and defeats the Beastman General with his signature move: "Giga Drill Breaker." Kamina dies in the cockpit, leaving Simon with this: "Don't believe in the you who believes in me. Don't believe in the me who believes in you. Believe in the you who believes in yourself." These words are long remembered after his death, giving Simon the confidence to uphold his destiny as the "one whose drill will pierce the heavens." Kamina is buried in the battlefield where he died, his nodachi stabbed into the ground and his cloak tied to its sheath.

Anti-Spiral War arc
After the fall of the Beastman Empire, a new city is built from the ruins of the former capital, Teppelin, and is named "Kamina City." A huge statue of Kamina stands at the center of the city in his honor. However, the monument is destroyed after the citizens discover the truth about the Human Annihilation System and revolt against the government. Later, Simon, under the influence of the Anti-Spirals, witnesses visions of a false childhood where Kamina eggs Simon on to drill into banks and jewelry shops to steal valuables for him. He is shown groveling at the feet of Beastmen on top of a hill, begging for his life and urging Simon to do the same. Simon reaches for his Core Drill and finds it missing. Then the true Kamina appears, wearing his cloak and holding his nodachi, and asks Simon if he lost his Drill. Kamina then reminds Simon that his drill is his soul, that Kamina and his fallen comrades will live on in him, and that he is the one whose drill will pierce the heavens. Simon is reminded of what he is fighting for: for the sake of Nia and for the fate of the Spiral Universe. This breaks the Alternate Space Labyrinth, allowing Simon to reassemble Team Dai-Gurren and face the Anti-Spirals for the final time.

=Weapons= Kamina originally had a nodachi (his sword), that he had stolen from the Jiiha village chief. In episodes 2 and 3, Kamina used a pistol given to him by Yoko, and he also used her rifle to hunt animals. During his fight with Viral, he used his Nodachi, and a hidden arrow that he had picked up from an animal Viral shot, as well as some assistance from Simon and Yoko. Kamina's most valuable weapons were the Gurren and Gurren Lagann. Originally, Kamina couldn't pilot the Gurren as well as a Beastman, which put him at a disadvantage: Viral could easily beat him one on one until Gurren Lagann was formed. However, thanks to training with Simon, by episode 8, he had mastered the controls and was an ace pilot.

Skills
Expert physical fighter:As shown numerous times, Kamina's fighting skills are well above that of normal humans. He was able to fight Viral one on one with his Nodachi and while being injured, landed a blow on Viral. He also is shown to be a good fist fighter as his punch on Simon caused him to almost flip over in his seat.

Enhanced Endurance: What makes Kamina a deadly fighter is his stamina. Kamina has been shown to be able to take blows that would kill most people and continue fighting. After suffering wounds by Viral's two knives, he shrugged them off and fought Viral with his Gunman. The greatest example however, is when he was stabbed by Thymilph twice and managed to recover and kill him, however he succumbs to his wounds and dies shortly afterwards.

=Outfit= Kamina's outfit, although not complicated, is flashy and expresses his personality; he wore long dark blue pants tied with a belt, a traditional Japanese sarashi (a protective bandage on abdomen and forearms), sandals, and later took the cape from his father's grave marker. He usually wore a pair of flashy orange sunglasses. After his death, his cape was used to mark his grave. His glasses were smashed to pieces during Thymilph's assault. [|cap]

Etymology
Kamina's name comes from Kami meaning 'above' in Japanese. This references his desire to go to the surface. Kami is also Japanese for "God".

=Trivia=




 * Kamina's catch phrase, "Who the hell do you think I am?" has been said by many of the shows characters. Simon was the first to say it, followed by the other characters, including Kittan.
 * Despite dying in the 8th episode, Kamina is mentioned (whether directly or indirectly) in almost every episode of Gurren Lagann.
 * Of all of Kamina's dynamic actions, his famous "Towards-the-Heavens" pose (with him pointing his finger into the air) has become extremely popular; so much so that it has even been done by Simon, Nia, Kittan, and is the pose that Gurren-Lagann and King Kittan take when doing the Giga Drill Breaker.
 * Of all of Gurren-Lagann's characters, Kamina is considered the most popular, even after his death.
 * Gainax stated that "Kamina died a virgin," although they provided nothing else about the subject.
 * Kamina is also an expy of Sanson, a character from another Gainax anime called Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
 * In the movie adaption Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars, it is revealed that Simon himself carved the statue of Kamina in Kamina City.
 * Kamina bears resemblance to Teddy from Mother 1(aka Earthbound 0) in that they both weild swords, wear little on their top halves, die not long after they are introduced(in the Japanese version of Mother 1. Teddy is heavily wounded, but recovers in the english version) and both have the same iconic glasses. As a result of this, Teddy is portrayed as being very like Kamina in terms of personality in many, many Mother series fan works.


 * In the anime show Kampfer, one of the main characters named Akane imagines herself a dream-version of the show's main character, Natsuru. When she does, she imagines him, but he appears different, resembling Kamina greatly. Shortly after, she quotes Kamina by saying "My brother said to always believe in the me who believes in myself."
 * Kamina is usually at around the same level as Pikachu (from the Pokemon series) in terms of popularity, making him one of the best loved characters to be in an anime as a major character.
 * Kamina, or at least someone greatly resembling him makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 of a fellow Gainax series, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Simon, Nia, Yoko and Attenborough make cameos in the same scene.