Simon (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann) Images

Simon is the main protagonist of Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. Simon starts off as a short, shy and lonesome young boy, but develops into a powerful and loved hero. He acquired his legendary status after overcoming impossible odds and is considered the savior of mankind.

Simon starts off as a withdrawn boy and who finds comfort while digging tunnels to expand the underground village of Jeeha. He then finds Lagann and pilots it to fight his first Beastman. Despite his cowardliness, Simon showed that he has a natural gift for battle which was evident in his first Beastman encounter. It’s at this point that he struggles with the pressures of becoming brave and fighting with the team. Simon draws his courage from Kamina and people around him.

When Simon saw Yoko kiss Kamina, he showed his vulnerability to heartbreak. The thought was imprinted in his mind and affected his performance in the battle against Thymilph. Before Kamina’s death, he was able to inspire Simon to fight. When Kamina died, Simon went into an episode of deep depression and frustration blaming himself for his comrade’s death. This also affected his piloting skills. He sought to copy Kamina’s fortitude in battle but it proved to be too stressful for him causing his Spiral Energy to overwhelm the Lagann during a battle against enemy Gunmen. He temporarily recovered when he met Nia but soon spiraled back into depression when returning to the Dai-Gurren. Simon eventually triumphed over his depression with the help of Nia and the memory of Kamina’s courage.

When Simon and his crew were captured by Guame, Simon freed himself and the Dai-Gurren crew using his core drill to dig through bedrock. At that moment, Simon was reborn and pledged he’d never let fear overcome him. He musters the courage to use Kamina’s Giga Drill Breaker against Guame’s gunman.

When mankind settled on the surface, Simon became lazy and was bored with his life as a bureaucrat of Kamina city. Simon wished to return to the glory days of battle and showed this when he fought Viral in the prison showers. Simon and the Dai-Gurren crew attempted to save Nia by going into space and celebrated the thought of returning to the heat of battle. Through this struggle with the Anti-Spiral, Simon’s personality evolved into a mix of himself and Kamina. He borrowed the over the top boldness of Kamina but left out the pride and recklessness which ultimately caused Kamina’s death.
Simon goes through two stages of his life.

Simon as a child is 14 years old, has untamed, blue hair, a chubby face and stood at about 152cm. He has gentle but determined eyes and has a slight slouch when standing.
In the first episode, Simon had a brown cloak, brown shorts, brown boots and yellow goggles with red straps which were always covered in dirt. His abdomen was wrapped in bandages and he had a Core Drill hanging from his neck. When he reached the surface, his brown cloak was blown away. He then wore a dark blue jacket with red stripes on the sleeves and shoulders that had the logo of the Dai-Gurren crew on the back. Later, he wears a red cloth tied around his left bicep. This piece of cloth comes from the Kamina’s dead father’s cape.

At 21 years old, Simon’s appearance changes dramatically. He has a lean build, is 189cm tall and has defined muscles. He has a strong and more pronounced jaw and has a deeper voice.
He keeps his signature yellow and red goggles and the red cloth tied onto left arm. The difference now is that wears a black neck brace, blue, low-rise jeans, a black Haramaki on his abdomen and a knee length blue trench coat with the Dai-Gurren logo on the back.

During the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren transformation, his yellow goggles are turned into red glasses resembling that of Kamina’s except it looked like star with three points for each eye (probably a shout out to Kittan’s Star Gunman).

source: Zerochan; written by Bootan

Aliases

• シモン