Episode 15

I Will Head Towards Tomorrow is the 15th episode of the Gurren Lagann anime. It first aired on July 8, 2007.

Synopsis
The last of the Divine Generals have fallen and all that stands before the Great Gurren Brigade and victory, is the Imperial City Teppelin. However right before their eyes Teppelin collapses and reveals its true form, as a Gunmen of gigantic proportions. Nia request to go along with Simon, in the Gurren-Lagann, to confront her father Lord Genome. First they must penetrate the impregnable defense.

To get the Gurren Lagann past the massive hand of the Teppelin, the Dai-Gurren crashes into it, blasts a path through with its weapons, then launches it’s pointed front part with the Gurren Lagann riding on it. The combination of all this allows the Gurren Lagann to pass through the massive hand crash into the Spiral King’s tower, but it also leaves the Dai-Gurren in very bad condition. As Simon heads for the Spiral King, the rest of the crew ejects the main part of the Dai-Gurren with the bridge and explodes the other part, causing the destruction of Teppelin’s arm. Inside the tower, Simon’s first challenge comes in the form of Viral and the four-armed Enkidudu. Unfortunately for Viral, the Gurren Lagann’s first punch breaks the Enkidudu’s swords and the second drill-punch blows through it and knocks it across the room. What shocks Viral even more is that the Spiral King says that the power given to him isn’t the power to triumph over men. Beastmen in general are no match for a human with the spiral power, and Viral wasn’t given his body that won’t die for fighting. Instead, the Spiral King wants Viral to pass down the story of the Spiral King’s victory for all eternity as a storyteller.



Nia then gets out the Gurren Lagann to speak with her father, and she questions why he pushed humanity underground and killed those who came up above. However, the Spiral King declares that he’s the one protecting the world and is the guardian of the human race. He feels that the world he created is the only path of survival for humanity, and he can’t let them do as they please any longer, so he wants them to die for the sake of mankind. At the exact moment that he finishes saying this, a drill bursts from the ground aimed at Nia, and although the Gurren Lagann is able to deflect it, Nia goes flying off. The Spiral King then boards the Lazengann, which Rossiu recognizes is the same type as the Gurren Lagann. In the ensuing battle, the Lazengann clearly has an upper hand in both speed and power, so Simon uses the Giga Drill Break attack. However, the Lazengann catches the drill in its mouth and breaks it, and the Spiral King has no trouble breaking free and counterattacking. Having been beat all over the place and speared to the wall, Rossiu has lost faith in their ability to win, but Simon tells him not to give up and says that they as the Gurren Brigade kick reason through impossibility.

Simon then borrows a line from Kamina and asks Rossiu to believe in him because he feels that they can still fight. With his drill punch, the Gurren Lagann is able to then break one of the Lazengann’s arms, but the enemy Gunmen responds with a drill through the Gurren’s cockpit. It hits Rossiu’s shoulder, but he’s still able to pilot, so Simon proceeds to separate the Lagann from the Gurren. He attempts to drive the Lagann down into the Lazengann, but instead of letting the Lagann take over, the Spiral King blows up the Lazengann’s other arm. Simon, however, refuses to lose and cites how everyone believes in him. He feels that the Simon that Kamina believed in and that he himself believes in will definitely not lose to the Spiral King. Seeing the Lagann power up, the Spiral King decides to also use all his power and changes the Lazengann into one huge drill, but it is not enough to stop Nia and Simon’s fighting spirit from powering the Lagann’s drill through the Lazengann. Refusing to give up, the Spiral King gets out of his cockpit and starts beating up the Lagann with his own bare fists. Nia gets thrown out of the Lagann’s cockpit in the process, and she can only watch as the Spiral King throws punch after punch at an already battered Simon.

Even with Nia saying that she believes in him with all her strength, Simon still can’t seem to win against the Spiral King and lets the Lagann’s arms get broken off. As the Spiral King picks him up to finish him off, Simon grabs the small drill that activates the Lagann and slams it into the Spiral King’s chest. He then declares that he is Simon, the leader of the Great Gurren Brigade - Digger Simon. If the Spiral King is the wall that stands in his way, he’ll always pierce through with a hole. With that, Simon turns his drill into the Spiral King’s chest and creates a large explosion. Because he now has a gaping hole in his chest, the Spiral King decides to tell Simon one last thing: when the land fills with one million Apes (in other words, humans), the moon will become hell's messager, and eliminate the world of the Spiral. Simon doesn’t understand what this means, but the Spiral King just smiles and takes a fall backwards off the top of the tower. After seeing her father disappear and after saying goodbye to him, Nia declares that she’ll head towards tomorrow. The Teppelin then starts falling apart and the enemy Gunmen below stop moving. Simon’s allies all survived the battle, and they’re overjoyed when the Gurren Lagann returns. And thus, on the morning of the seventh day of the battle to capture Teppelin, the capital city fell.

Major events

 * Dai-Gurren's partial destruction
 * Lordgenome's first death
 * The End of the Beastman War Arc

Pre Commercial
Simon and Gurren Lagann

Post Commercial
Lordgenome and Lazengann

Trivia

 * During the battle of Teppelin, references to the Autobot and Decepticon insignias from Transformers appear as Gunmen, as well as a Gaiking for a few small portions of the scene. They are all on Lordgenome's side.
 * When Gurren Lagann passes through the hammer of Dekabutsu and crashes into the tower, Lordgenome makes a Star Wars reference, saying "The Spiral Power is strong within you".
 * While Viral is attacking Simon, he pilots Gurren Lagann to block all of Viral's attacks in a similar way as in the Matrix when Neo becomes the One and defeats Agent Smith.