Episode 14

Well Met, Everyone is the 14th episode of the Gurren Lagann anime. It first aired on July 1st 2007.

Synopsis
One month has passed since the battle with Cytomander. Simon and Yoko pay one last visit to Kamina's burial site on the sixth day of the battle for Teppelin and Simon tells his "Bro" that although he can never be Kamina, he is going off to do things that only Simon the Digger can do. Promising to come back "when this is all over", he and Yoko board Gurren Lagann and return to Dai-Gurren, where the crew is hard at work repairing the newly-installed levisphere. Yoko exclaims that they need to win the battle soon, but Simon reassures Gimmy and Darry that he knows that they can win.

Within the castle of the Spiral King, Guame and Cytomander are also preparing for the assault. Reciting an ancient scripture, Lordgenome states that God created humans on the sixth day of creation. Guame recognizes the significance; there is no better time to crush the humans than the sixth day of their attack on Teppelin. Cytomander offers to let Dai-Gunten lead the charge, but when he leaves to prepare his flagship, Guame mutters about the comparatively young General's eagerness. The diminutive General of Earth admits surprise at the humans' persistent attempts to come to the surface and Lordgenome agrees, declaring that he forced humans underground to protect them, yet they continue to fight back with the power of the Spiral. Guame sneers that the humans' power will only bring about their destruction and the Spiral King explains that their ignorance to the threat is what allows them to fight. With a slight smirk on his lips, he declares their actions "pitiful".

Outside, the battle begins with Dai-Gunten approaching the grounded Dai-Gurren. Leeron and Leyte barely manage to activate the levisphere in time to avoid Dai-Gunten's first salvo of missiles, but Attenborough's return fire fails to hit any of Cytomander's flying soldiers. Dayakka orders the deployment of their own Gunmen (now equipped with flight engines of their own), including - to Kittan's shock - Kiyal and Kiyoh. With Gurren Lagann leading the charge, Kittan tells Simon to head for Dai-Gunten before combining his Gunman with Kiyal's and Kiyoh's own units to lead the charge against the bombers.

As both sides open fire, Kinon reports trouble: a legion of ground forces is approaching, led by Guame's Dai-Gundo. With Dai-Gurren getting pummeled from below, Simon orders the rest of Team Dai-Gurren to take out Guame's army while Gurren Lagann handles Cytomander's forces. Kittan protests, claiming that they should at least have some backup stay in the air, but Rossiu points out that splitting up will only decrease their chances of beating Guame's army. Seeing the logic behind it, Kittan leads the rest of the Gunmen back to Dai-Gurren, leaving Gurren Lagann alone against hundreds of enemies.

Cytomander laughs at the seemingly pathetic opposition, but Simon powers up Gurren Lagann, using hordes of tiny drills as missiles to quickly obliterate the Gunmen swarming towards him. Seeing his front line so quickly destroyed, the arrogant General seemingly cracks, cackling insanely and claiming the outcome "interesting". Rossiu warns Simon to pace himself, and Simon takes a short break - leaving the Adai villager to deal with a massive barrage of missiles from Dai-Gunten. As he hysterically manuevers through the hailstorm of explosions, Cytomander launches a particularly large projectile from his aircraft carrier, sending Gurren Lagann flying backwards through his own soldiers. With Simon's advice, Rossiu manages to turn the missile around, allowing it to hit the second one being launched from Dai-Gunten and disable them both.

With most of his artillery wasted, Cytomander challenges the heroes from his personal Gunman, Shuzack. Simon is more than ready to fight, but then four of Cytomander's soldiers trap Gurren Lagann's limbs, immobilizing it. As the cackling General approaches his helpless foe, Dai-Gurren opens fire, but Cytomander's air force forms a living shield in front of Dai-Gurren, blocking the Dai-Gun's artillery. With their Spiral Power depleted, their allies occupied, and Shuzack's stomach-mounted buzzsaw descending on them, it looks grim for Simon and Rossiu...

...but the Shuzack is suddenly pummeled by cannon fire! Angrily asking where his shield went, Cytomander is informed that the shots weren't from one ship. To everyone's shock, an entire force of Gunmen approach from the east, all flying the flag of Team Dai-Gurren. A man named Bachon explains that everyone around the planet witnessed the battle between Simon and Guame, which inspired them to steal Gunmen of their own and join the fight. These reinforcements start pounding away at Cytomander's battalion, while Team Dai-Gurren - not to be outdone - continues destroying all of Guame's ground units.

With the tide of battle turning against him, and Dai-Gunten taking serious damage, a nearly-manic Cytomander is forced to transform the Shuzack. Unfortunately for him, it’s too little, too late, because the Dai-Gurren proceeds to smack right into him and then crash into the Dai-Gunten, ripping it apart - Shuzack and Cytomander are incinerated in a ferocious explosion, killing the general. The fireball that was the Dai-Gunten falls right towards Guame's flagship, and the armadillo Beastman mocks Cytomander as a fool before the Dai-Gundo is engulfed in a massive explosion.

The humans cheer, and Simon prepares to move on Teppelin, but Kinon warns them that the battle isn't over yet. Sure enough, the Dai-Gundo emerges from the explosion, completely unharmed. As Dai-Gurren's crew wonders how they can damage it, the massive mobile fortress heads toward Teppelin, and to everyone’s shock, starts spinning under the capital, surrounding it in a pink and purple tornado of energy. As the human forces get close to it, they are blown around by enormous wind forces originating from the murderous merry-go-round. Leeron realizes that the Dai-Gundo combined with Teppelin to generate an energy wall, meaning that if they don’t stop the Dai-Gundo, they can’t get near the capital. Their new human allies, led by Bachon, start charging towards this energy wall and getting themselves destroyed, and the Dai-Gurren crew can’t do anything because the twister in front of them is preventing communication.

However, an image of Nia suddenly appears in front of everyone, and she yells for them to stop. Revealed to be using a projector on Dai-Gurren's deck, Nia introduces herself and explains the situation. She urges everyone to wait because she believes that Simon will stop the twister, as his drill is a drill that will pierce the heavens. As she says this, Kinon realizes that Gurren Lagann is nowhere to be seen.

In fact, Simon and Rossiu are underground, digging towards the Dai-Gundo. Emerging directly beneath the massive Dai-Gun, Gurren Lagann attempts to drill up through the Dai-Gundo, but only succeeds in lifting up the massive mecha. As Simon implores Gurren Lagann for more power, Guame orders the reverse thrusters to be fired, and Dai-Gundo slams into the ground with Gurren Lagann beneath it.

Yoko and the others are aghast, afraid that the Gurren Lagann was crushed, and Guame snidely commends the humans' bravery. As he gloats, however, his minions detect a whirring below them - not only is Simon still alive, he’s actually grateful; the impact allowed the tip of his drill to pierce through the bottom of the Dai-Gundo. Renewing his attack, Simon uses the drill to reverse the direction the Dai-Gundo is spinning in, also drilling through the Dai-Gundo, and impaling Guame through the chest. The ancient Beastman has only enough time to tell the Spiral King that "your humble servant Guame is still spinning" before the Dai-Gundo explodes, dispelling the wall around Teppelin.

Impressed by Simon's tactic, Kittan tells his teammates that it's time to level Teppelin. Unfortunately, he is interrupted by a massive tower falling from the sky. To everyone's shock, the capital begins shedding the towers covering its surface, but an ominous revelation leaves them almost speechless: as the towers plummet to the ground, they slowly reveal an enormous face...

Major Events

 * Kamina's gravesite is revealed for the first time - a cliff overlooking the volcanic area where he died, with his nodachi stabbed into the ground, and his father's cloak tightly wrapped around it.


 * Team Dai-Gurren finally makes it to Teppelin.


 * Dai-Gunten's levisphere has been installed in Dai-Gurren, enabling it to fly. The levisphere technology was also reverse-engineered to provide the other Gunmen of Team Dai-Gurren with flight engines as well.


 * It is revealed that Simon's first victory against Guame inspired humans all over the world to emulate Team Dai-Gurren, hijacking Gunmen and battling the Beastmen. A large group of such humans arrives at Teppelin to aid Team Dai-Gurren against Cytomander and Guame's forces.
 * Deaths of Cytomander and Guame.
 * Shuzack, Dai-Gunten, and Dai-Gundo are destroyed.


 * Teppelin is revealed to be a Gunman, the gargantuan Dekabutsu.

Pre-commercial
A determined-looking Nia, with Team Dai-Gurren's Gunmen (minus Gurren Lagann) in the background.

Post-commercial
Dramatic shot of Dai-Gunten and Dai-Gundo.

Trivia

 * The "ancient holy scripture" Lordgenome recites in the beginning of the episode is obviously the Bible of Christian doctrine. In its first chapter, God creates the universe in a week, with the first man being created on the sixth day.
 * Gurren Lagann references the animation of the Ideon Spam where it shoots missiles at all directions, which also happened on episode 14 of the Space Runaway Ideon anime.
 * The general of the friendly gunmen army, Bachon, is based on the Banchō (delinquent leader) character archetype, with his name being an anagram of the word, such characters are typically seen wearing a Japanese male school uniform with a ragged cap, sarashi wrapped around the belly and having a piece of straw in the mouth.