For those of us who can't see the movie...
I found a review on this blog that gives a good overview of the whole movie. It also has some scans from the movie pamphlet that show the new mecha designs. Here's a rough translation for anyone who wants spoilers:
Dai-Gurren-dan
"Our fight starts after this!"
Father
"You never change. I look forward to meeting you, Simon."
It ended like this.
I didn't think that they would end it with Drill Master Simon and our fight starts after this!
What came first was "Lord Genome's past" using Yoshinari-san's Gurrepala (scheduled to be released later).
-In Father's shota era, he looks like Nia. No, seriously.
-Chouginga Razengan.
-And then he's beat up by Anti-Spiral-san, and oppresses humans.
It seemed like the infamous "Captain Garlock" was replaced by Lord Genome.
Only in terms of "straightforwardness," the movie prologue is easier to understand.
And then the point of view moves to Simon.
The first arc is basically mostly a summary.
However, naturally a lot of it was skipped.
When Simon excavates the Core Drill, he also excavates Lagann at the same time.
(In the TV version, after he digs up the Core Drill, he digs up Lagann a little while after that)
It felt like they showed what they had to show, and cut out what had to be cut.
The eyecatch that was inserted into the middle is very Gurren Lagann-like.
[Image] <- Movie eyecatch (from the pamphlet)
For the getting Gurren in episode 2, they had only the battle parts, but it was straightforward.
What they put the most focus on from the first arc was episode 1 (coming out to the surface), episode 3 (versus Viral), and episode 8 (later, buddy).
Episode 3 was tightly depicted, to an extent.
From there on, episodes 4-6 were cleared up with a Gurrepala flavor.
You could say it's a reminiscence or you could say it's Drill Master Simon.
With the BGM playing, the Black Siblings, Rossiu, Gimmy, and Darry only have lines of them introducing themselves inserted.
The rest is skipped and reasonably depicted.
However, there were a lot of new scenes around here.
Like a scene from the first OP of the TV version, or Yoko staying up all night studying (foreshadowing for Yomako-sensei).
While it felt daring, I had been hoping for "adding things they couldn't do in the TV version," so it made me feel happy.
And Aniki tilting his head going "Who are you?" toward Kittan riding King Kittan became a gag.
They had that in the TV version too, but the movie really does make you feel "Who are you?"
And then for episodes 7-8, it was basically the same.
The fight to the death with Thymilph, and goodbye Aniki.
Up to this point, it's been an hour.
And then with the second arc comes the real show.
Starting from here, the story is completely original.
The story of Simon gradually falling apart.
First, how Simon is broken after losing Aniki is arranged pretty effectively.
He spins his drill in his room, and his taking his feelings out on Rossiu is powered-up too.
And when he brings Nia back, Nia introduces herself on her own as "The Helix King Lord Genome's First Princess Nia."
Well, it's Nia so it is possible that she would say something like that.
And then Simon glares at Nia with a horrible look in his eyes, which was impressive.
Well, Nia goes to apologize to him later though.
Also, Fukui-san's performance as Nia felt like it was arranged quite a bit.
She must have strengthened her acting for Nia.
I also got the impression that they were emphasizing Nia's earnestness, even though they didn't have much time.
Like how she had a serious expression on her face as she tried to take in what Kittan was saying, or when she talked in Simon's room while he carved Kamina's statues.
Her words of encouragement toward Simon were more firm than in the TV version.
It properly gave the impression of Simon not having confidence in himself, and Nia deciding to believe in him.
And for the decisive battle, Adiane, Guame, and Cytomander all attack together!
It was like the Four Generals were all striking at once.
And as for Viral, he rides a new mecha. It's name is......
[Image]
Daiganzandu!
It takes Thymilph's Daiganzan = Dai-Gurren, and includes an Enkidu-ish arrangement, which makes for a lovely battleship!
As a matter of fact, the Four Generals' battleships all attack together!
On top of that, like in episode 11, Guame makes a live broadcast to show how they'll deal despair by blowing away the Dai-Gurren.
Within all of that, Nia finally finds out from Adiane that she was thrown away.
And hearing that, Simon stands up!
And Cyto-sama drags her up into the sky to try and execute her!
However, Simon used his drill to climb up.
Simon climbs up, with Aniki's last message of "Believe in you who believes in yourself!" in his heart.
But he is shaken off by Cyto-sama!
And then Lagann appears!
Getting into Lagann, Simon goes to save Nia!
Meanwhile, Viral comes down from Daiganzandu and attacks Rossiu's Gurren in Enkidu
He's really misunderstanding.
In the middle of the desperate situation, hearing Simon's comeback, Rossiu shakes off Viral with fighting spirit and gattai!
The other Gunmen do their best too!
Yoko-san also clashes with Adiane-sama in hand-to-hand combat!
Adiane tries to recover Thymilph's battleship, and Yoko tries to protect the battleship they acquired thanks to Kamina!
It's a fight over the battleship of the men they love!
But Adiane-sama repels Yoko's gun!
Yet Yoko drives away Adiane with quick wittedness and fighting spirit!
As for the Black Siblings, they become King Kittan Deluxe and drive away Guame!
Within the stage that has become more showy than the TV version thanks to Cyto-sama, Simon makes a speech!
And then he crushes Cyto-sama with a Giga Drill Break!
The remaining Guame and Adiane decide to combine the Four Generals' battleships together.
Guame's Daigando.
(The late) Cytomander's Daiganten.
Adiane's Daigankai.
And, Viral's (substitute) Daiganzandu combine!
[Image]
Dotenkaizan!
To be honest, I laughed.
The movie's original boss, Dotenkaizan, blasts a super-beam at Dai-Gurren.
But Gurren-Lagann's spiral barrier repels it!
And then everyone's Gunmen power gathers at Gurren-Lagann, and it fires "Giga Drill Break Dai-Gurren-dan Special!"
The Giga Drill Break that gathered the Gunmen power (Spiral Power) pierces through Guame and Adiane.
Goodbye, Four Generals.
Viral, who survives, swears to take revenge on humans.
And then Nia is welcomed into the group, and Simon is the new leader of the Dai-Gurren-dan.
Nia recieves a green gem from Simon in front of Aniki's grave.
That is something Simon found while digging before (the timing is different from the TV version).
And then Lord Genome laughs boldly.
Below him is hidden Razengan.
And that's about it.
The ED that has Simon and Boota walking in a design like the TV version's first ED is tasteful.
It's also tasteful how when Shoko-tan's singing of Tsuzuku Sekai rises in tension, Simon and Boota start running frantically.
But I can't deny that they skipped a lot of the "down" part up until Simon's revival.
In return, there were momentary robot battle scenes that exceeded the TV version in absurdity and coolness.
The appearance of a new mecha was a surprise, but that was a good movie boss mecha.
[Image]
By the way, Yoko rides a Gunmen too.
It's called "Yoko M Tank," but no matter how you look at it, it's "Yoko's personal Dayakkaiser." Really.
Yoko riding Dayakkaiser in the third and fourth arc of the TV version was fitting, so this arrangement makes me pretty happy.
Well, the hand-to-hand combat with Adiane was her main scene, and all it did was participate in the Final Dai-Gurren-dan Special at the end, but I guess we can look forward to seeing it in Lagann-hen.
Overall, the second arc section was small, so Simon didn't give too much of an impression.
So we should expect more of him in Lagann-hen.
The Dai-Gurren-dan was acknowledged all around the world for beating Guame.
But the movie version has an even greater crisis than the TV version, so it felt like the Dai-Gurren-dan's heroics were emphasized even more.
And when Simon becomes the Supreme Commander of the new government later, how he was shown climbing up Shuzack must leave an even greater impression.
Truthfully, I laughed when I saw a boy who looked like Guinble was watching the Dai-Gurren-dan VS Four Generals battle.
Because he looked like a Dai-Gurren-dan fan. He was probably like that in the third arc because he became disillusioned in the new government.
While it's good that they ended it with the height of Simon's revival, story-wise, they close it so that the incomplete parts make you anticipate the sequel.
Only Viral and Lord Genome are left. Also Anti-Spiral-san.
It looks like Simon and Nia's relationship will get the spotlight in Lagann-hen.
There was a surprising lack of depiction of their relationship, so I'm looking forward to it a little.
[Image]
Also here's the manga artist Mori-san's Simon/Nia picture.
The manga is still in before Nia's entrance, so this is nice fanservice. Simon looks manly too.
They gave us an alternate version of events in this movie, so I look forward to seeing how it's done in the manga.
I collected some more comments about the movie from 2ch in this post.
A TV special on the movie. There are snapshots of new scenes in 2:50-3:02.
Another promotional thing. You can hear some of the newly recorded dialogue. Simon and Nia's voices do sound more high-pitched compared to the TV series...
Dai-Gurren-dan
"Our fight starts after this!"
Father
"You never change. I look forward to meeting you, Simon."
It ended like this.
I didn't think that they would end it with Drill Master Simon and our fight starts after this!
What came first was "Lord Genome's past" using Yoshinari-san's Gurrepala (scheduled to be released later).
-In Father's shota era, he looks like Nia. No, seriously.
-Chouginga Razengan.
-And then he's beat up by Anti-Spiral-san, and oppresses humans.
It seemed like the infamous "Captain Garlock" was replaced by Lord Genome.
Only in terms of "straightforwardness," the movie prologue is easier to understand.
And then the point of view moves to Simon.
The first arc is basically mostly a summary.
However, naturally a lot of it was skipped.
When Simon excavates the Core Drill, he also excavates Lagann at the same time.
(In the TV version, after he digs up the Core Drill, he digs up Lagann a little while after that)
It felt like they showed what they had to show, and cut out what had to be cut.
The eyecatch that was inserted into the middle is very Gurren Lagann-like.
[Image] <- Movie eyecatch (from the pamphlet)
For the getting Gurren in episode 2, they had only the battle parts, but it was straightforward.
What they put the most focus on from the first arc was episode 1 (coming out to the surface), episode 3 (versus Viral), and episode 8 (later, buddy).
Episode 3 was tightly depicted, to an extent.
From there on, episodes 4-6 were cleared up with a Gurrepala flavor.
You could say it's a reminiscence or you could say it's Drill Master Simon.
With the BGM playing, the Black Siblings, Rossiu, Gimmy, and Darry only have lines of them introducing themselves inserted.
The rest is skipped and reasonably depicted.
However, there were a lot of new scenes around here.
Like a scene from the first OP of the TV version, or Yoko staying up all night studying (foreshadowing for Yomako-sensei).
While it felt daring, I had been hoping for "adding things they couldn't do in the TV version," so it made me feel happy.
And Aniki tilting his head going "Who are you?" toward Kittan riding King Kittan became a gag.
They had that in the TV version too, but the movie really does make you feel "Who are you?"
And then for episodes 7-8, it was basically the same.
The fight to the death with Thymilph, and goodbye Aniki.
Up to this point, it's been an hour.
And then with the second arc comes the real show.
Starting from here, the story is completely original.
The story of Simon gradually falling apart.
First, how Simon is broken after losing Aniki is arranged pretty effectively.
He spins his drill in his room, and his taking his feelings out on Rossiu is powered-up too.
And when he brings Nia back, Nia introduces herself on her own as "The Helix King Lord Genome's First Princess Nia."
Well, it's Nia so it is possible that she would say something like that.
And then Simon glares at Nia with a horrible look in his eyes, which was impressive.
Well, Nia goes to apologize to him later though.
Also, Fukui-san's performance as Nia felt like it was arranged quite a bit.
She must have strengthened her acting for Nia.
I also got the impression that they were emphasizing Nia's earnestness, even though they didn't have much time.
Like how she had a serious expression on her face as she tried to take in what Kittan was saying, or when she talked in Simon's room while he carved Kamina's statues.
Her words of encouragement toward Simon were more firm than in the TV version.
It properly gave the impression of Simon not having confidence in himself, and Nia deciding to believe in him.
And for the decisive battle, Adiane, Guame, and Cytomander all attack together!
It was like the Four Generals were all striking at once.
And as for Viral, he rides a new mecha. It's name is......
[Image]
Daiganzandu!
It takes Thymilph's Daiganzan = Dai-Gurren, and includes an Enkidu-ish arrangement, which makes for a lovely battleship!
As a matter of fact, the Four Generals' battleships all attack together!
On top of that, like in episode 11, Guame makes a live broadcast to show how they'll deal despair by blowing away the Dai-Gurren.
Within all of that, Nia finally finds out from Adiane that she was thrown away.
And hearing that, Simon stands up!
And Cyto-sama drags her up into the sky to try and execute her!
However, Simon used his drill to climb up.
Simon climbs up, with Aniki's last message of "Believe in you who believes in yourself!" in his heart.
But he is shaken off by Cyto-sama!
And then Lagann appears!
Getting into Lagann, Simon goes to save Nia!
Meanwhile, Viral comes down from Daiganzandu and attacks Rossiu's Gurren in Enkidu
He's really misunderstanding.
In the middle of the desperate situation, hearing Simon's comeback, Rossiu shakes off Viral with fighting spirit and gattai!
The other Gunmen do their best too!
Yoko-san also clashes with Adiane-sama in hand-to-hand combat!
Adiane tries to recover Thymilph's battleship, and Yoko tries to protect the battleship they acquired thanks to Kamina!
It's a fight over the battleship of the men they love!
But Adiane-sama repels Yoko's gun!
Yet Yoko drives away Adiane with quick wittedness and fighting spirit!
As for the Black Siblings, they become King Kittan Deluxe and drive away Guame!
Within the stage that has become more showy than the TV version thanks to Cyto-sama, Simon makes a speech!
And then he crushes Cyto-sama with a Giga Drill Break!
The remaining Guame and Adiane decide to combine the Four Generals' battleships together.
Guame's Daigando.
(The late) Cytomander's Daiganten.
Adiane's Daigankai.
And, Viral's (substitute) Daiganzandu combine!
[Image]
Dotenkaizan!
To be honest, I laughed.
The movie's original boss, Dotenkaizan, blasts a super-beam at Dai-Gurren.
But Gurren-Lagann's spiral barrier repels it!
And then everyone's Gunmen power gathers at Gurren-Lagann, and it fires "Giga Drill Break Dai-Gurren-dan Special!"
The Giga Drill Break that gathered the Gunmen power (Spiral Power) pierces through Guame and Adiane.
Goodbye, Four Generals.
Viral, who survives, swears to take revenge on humans.
And then Nia is welcomed into the group, and Simon is the new leader of the Dai-Gurren-dan.
Nia recieves a green gem from Simon in front of Aniki's grave.
That is something Simon found while digging before (the timing is different from the TV version).
And then Lord Genome laughs boldly.
Below him is hidden Razengan.
And that's about it.
The ED that has Simon and Boota walking in a design like the TV version's first ED is tasteful.
It's also tasteful how when Shoko-tan's singing of Tsuzuku Sekai rises in tension, Simon and Boota start running frantically.
But I can't deny that they skipped a lot of the "down" part up until Simon's revival.
In return, there were momentary robot battle scenes that exceeded the TV version in absurdity and coolness.
The appearance of a new mecha was a surprise, but that was a good movie boss mecha.
[Image]
By the way, Yoko rides a Gunmen too.
It's called "Yoko M Tank," but no matter how you look at it, it's "Yoko's personal Dayakkaiser." Really.
Yoko riding Dayakkaiser in the third and fourth arc of the TV version was fitting, so this arrangement makes me pretty happy.
Well, the hand-to-hand combat with Adiane was her main scene, and all it did was participate in the Final Dai-Gurren-dan Special at the end, but I guess we can look forward to seeing it in Lagann-hen.
Overall, the second arc section was small, so Simon didn't give too much of an impression.
So we should expect more of him in Lagann-hen.
The Dai-Gurren-dan was acknowledged all around the world for beating Guame.
But the movie version has an even greater crisis than the TV version, so it felt like the Dai-Gurren-dan's heroics were emphasized even more.
And when Simon becomes the Supreme Commander of the new government later, how he was shown climbing up Shuzack must leave an even greater impression.
Truthfully, I laughed when I saw a boy who looked like Guinble was watching the Dai-Gurren-dan VS Four Generals battle.
Because he looked like a Dai-Gurren-dan fan. He was probably like that in the third arc because he became disillusioned in the new government.
While it's good that they ended it with the height of Simon's revival, story-wise, they close it so that the incomplete parts make you anticipate the sequel.
Only Viral and Lord Genome are left. Also Anti-Spiral-san.
It looks like Simon and Nia's relationship will get the spotlight in Lagann-hen.
There was a surprising lack of depiction of their relationship, so I'm looking forward to it a little.
[Image]
Also here's the manga artist Mori-san's Simon/Nia picture.
The manga is still in before Nia's entrance, so this is nice fanservice. Simon looks manly too.
They gave us an alternate version of events in this movie, so I look forward to seeing how it's done in the manga.
I collected some more comments about the movie from 2ch in this post.
A TV special on the movie. There are snapshots of new scenes in 2:50-3:02.
Another promotional thing. You can hear some of the newly recorded dialogue. Simon and Nia's voices do sound more high-pitched compared to the TV series...