You guys, the OP changed! It now features Nia instead of Kamina, which is kind of good and bad. I forget that Kamina’s only been gone for one episode but I’m glad we’re all moving on and definitely not still upset about it! Speaking of Nia though, when we last left the gang, Nia had just dropped the bombshell that she is, in fact, Spiral King Lord Genome’s daughter and she had then proceeded to order Adiane the Elegant to back the fuck up or get smacked the fuck up. Since the last episode ended there, there was literally a 0% chance of Adiane actually backing off and sure enough, within moments of this episode, Adiane simply disregards the princess and intends to continue attacking – until she is reminded that all their transmissions are recorded. In the face of such a basic error, Adiane does, in fact, back off. This is good news for everyone because no one is in any shape to face another major threat, especially with Simon currently in maximum bitch mode.
Having secured their temporary safety, the crew of ingrates then begin to consider using Nia as a hostage – obligatory who-the-fuck-let-these-people-on-board? Kittan, being the morally and ethically upstanding human being that he is, decides that torture is the best way to proceed but only the next morning because as everyone knows, torture is best done at the start of the day. Oddly enough, back in the Beastman HQ, Adiane is in deep trouble because as it turns out, Nia has been disowned by Lord Genom0065. He is extremely unhappy with Adiane’s reluctance to annihilate his daughter, leaving us in no doubt about his status as ‘The Villain’. Viral asks Adiane for the chance to avenge the dead general, Tymilph, but she turns him down because she is a glory hog who never learned to share.
Back on the Dai-Gurren, everyone is at the mercy of Nia’s adorable-ness. Everyone, that is, except Kittan who is being a typical party-pooper and insisting on interrogating Nia while she is in the middle of dinner (what happened to doing it in the morning?) Nia is able to defeat him with the most basic trick in the book, the one that every kid has used at least once to drive their parents up the wall – the incessant ‘Why?’ game. Ultimately, Kittan gives up and goes to Simon as ‘team-leader’ (since when?!) and asks him to extract intel from Nia. Simon and Nia have a talk but Simon is majorly bummed out and it’s a really depressing conversation. Nia learns about Kamina and Roy, elsewhere, theorizes that Lagann is acting weird because Simon has lost the will to live. Well, he’s certainly acting that way but I don’t know if he’s entirely suicidal yet. Yoko joins in the conversation too, wanting to hear Simon talk about Kamina. For some reason, it’s oddly endearing; I haven’t forgotten that she’s hurting too even though she’s doing an infinitely better job of handling it than Simon is. He tells the story of how he met Kamina (it’s a story that Yoko has heard before, from Kamina himself, but she listens anyway). It was during an earthquake and they got caved in (this was the same earthquake Simon’s parents died in) and Kamine kept encouraging him to keep going forward. He ends his speech by stating that he has to become like Kamina so he can pick up his brother’s burden but Nia objects saying that she doesn’t get his obsession with Kamina. Well, she wouldn’t because she hasn’t met him, which Simon says too. Tempers do flare though because Yoko notes that it was the Beastmen’s fault that Kamina died and that Nia has no place talking about either Simon, Kamina or any of their feelings. It’s a tense moment but Simon tells Nia (after Yoko storms off in tears) that it isn’t her fault, which is true but also missing Yoko’s point a little – Nia was a little insistent on the matter, and oddly so all things considered.
Feels
Adiane shows up suddenly, and demands to see Nia. Nia volunteers to go over and Yoko agrees, though she insists that she still doesn’t trust Nia – a classic sign that she’s beginning to trust Nia. I might have spoken a bit too soon though; Yoko tells Nia that if she pulls any stunts she will shoot her and she means it. Anyway, Nia learns that she has been disowned and is shocked but Simon, overhearing this immediately realizes that she’s a grave danger and begs Lagann to work. A strange conversation follows though – Adiane prepares to execute Nia and Nia throws (really simplistic) moral philosophy back at her. Nia is basically innocence personified – she can’t really believe that the gang killed Thymilph but at the same time she asserts that they are reeling from the loss of Kamina. Meanwhile, Adiane has had enough amateur philosophy and decides to just off Nia. Simon, having no luck with Lagann, rush out to save her. It turns out he has back up though and suddenly even Kittan has some morals and shit. Meanwhile, Adiane proceeds to wipe the floor with the cannon fodder…er…rest of the gang.
The Dai-Gurren is working again and almost defeats Adiane on the spot but Viral turns up and saves her. Apparently, Viral is the Beastmen version of Kamina. Anyway, he convinces Adiane to retreat for the moment but Rossiu is there in Gurren to force the issue. They run off anyway and Nia is officially inducted into Team Dai-Gurren or whatever it is they’re calling themselves without Kamina. Viral gets viciously beaten up by Adiane for withdrawing from the battlefield which is kinda sad to see because Viral is actually kind of awesome. On a less awesome note, Simon’s meltdown continues despite Nia trying to cheer him up.