List of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann antagonists

This article contains a list of antagonists from the Japanese anime series "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann".

Beastmen Kingdom

Beastmen are a "species" of humanoids that act as the primary antagonists for Parts I and II of the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann. They are the product of an ideal blending of human and animal genes, intentionally flawed parahuman hybrids with a human intelligence and form but great diversity in size, shape, and limbs. Their animal features can be almost anything: marine, amphibian, mammal, bird, or sometimes an entirely unrecognizable type of animal. Lordgenome originally engineered the Beastmen as soldiers against the Anti-Spirals, because the substitution of animal genes distorted the shape of human spiral DNA and rendered them invisible to detection. However, doing so came at the cost of evolutionary potential, for Beastmen lack Spiral Energy and thus cannot pilot Gunmen without the use of solar-powered batteries. Furthermore, their bodies deteriorate at an accelerated rate and their cell lines weaken overtime, thus forcing Lordgenome to deep freeze unborn specimens who are in a constant state of regeneration.

Following the extinction of the Spiral Warriors at the hands of the Anti-Spirals, Lordgenome retreated to Earth and recommissioned his Beastmen to act as population control. Piloting towering Gunmen, the Beastmen patrolled the planet's surface and used their superior technology to kill any human who trespassed above ground, preventing the human population from ever growing large enough to be detected by the Anti-Spirals. Lordgenome divided his forces into the four branches of the "Human Eradication Army", each lead by one of his four "Supreme Generals", responsible for monitoring a distinct cardinal direction of the planet's surface.

After Lordgenome's death, the Beastmen armies were disbanded and all Gunmen were scrapped. Many Beastmen living within Teppelin itself survived its collapse, and were persuaded by Nia Teppelin to accept peace with the human victors and were integrated into Kamina City's society without prejudice. On the outskirts of civilization, liberated Beastmen warlords continued to wage campaigns against human settlements, so battles between the New Government and Beastmen erupted over time. Seven years following the Battle of Teppelin, few if any of these resistance forces remained, most having been eliminated by Guraparl Squadrons.

Viral

Thymilph

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = Thymilph
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Crasher
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Kiyoyuki Yanada (Japanese)
Paul St. Peter (English)
age = Unknown
gender = Male
species = Gorilla Beastmen
occupation = General
aux1 = Lordgenome (king) Viral (subordinate) Adiane (friend)
aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Byakou Dai-Gunzan
aux2 name = GunmenNihongo|Thymilph the Crasher|チミルフ|Chimirufu is the first of the Spiral King's Four Supreme Generals introduced in the story, representing the classical element of fire. He is Viral's initial superior officer and the commander of the Human Eradication Army Eastern Branch, which he monitors from the deck of the land battleship, the Dai-Gunzan. He is good friends with Adiane, though Guame insinuates a closer relationship. He is a skilled tactician and proud warrior, and was ultimately killed when Kamina and Simon destroyed his personal Gunmen, the Byakou, with the Giga Drill Break.

Thymilph appears as a stoud but large, well-built imposing armored warrior with gorilla features. He is impressively strong, almost always seen as in the company of a large iron hammer he presumably uses in close-quarter combat. A seasoned and confident war veteran, Thymilph has a high respect for caution and shrewdness, but like Viral, possesses a warrior's code of honor. Guame implies that Thymilph was idolized by many Beastmen throughout the Beastmen Empire.

Thymilph's name is based on the DNA chemical thymine and the elemental Sylph. His Gunmen, Byakou, is based on the mythical White Tiger, Byakko.

Adiane

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = Adiane
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Elegant
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Michiko Neya (Japanese) Megan Hollingshead (English)
age = Unknown
gender = Female
species = Scorpion/Snake Beastmen
occupation = General
aux1 = Lordgenome (king) Thymilph (friend)
Viral (subordinate)

aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Sayrune Dai-Gunkai
aux2 name = GunmenNihongo|Adiane the Elegant|アディーネ|Adīne is the second of the Spiral King's Four Supreme Generals, and the only female general among their number. She is good friends with her fellow General, Thymilph, though Guame jokes that they had a closer relationship. She implies this friendship was strong because both Guame and General Cytomander treat her as an inferior because of her gender, while Thymilph respected her as a warrior. After Thymilph's death, Adiane is stunned and vows revenge, volunteering to attack the Team Dai-Gurren when given the opportunity by Lordgenome. Though she refused his aid as she blamed him for Thymilph's death, Aidane recruits Viral after he saved her from being crushedby the Dai-Gurren after a attempt to execute Nia once she learns Lordgenome abandoned her. But because of her boasting and staking of her pride on the task, Adiane refuses to return to Teppelin until she destroys Team Dai-Gurren, using the sea to her adventage when the Dai-Gurren crosses it on its way to Teppelin.

Having Viral pilot her Dai-Gunkai to drag the Da-Gurren into the cold depths, Aidiane engages in personal combat with the Gurren-Lagann in her Sayrune to ensure no interference. But the plan fails and Aidene attempts to take Nia hostage until Yoko disables the Sayrune's shoulder, leaving it opened to close-range fire from the Dai-Gurren's artillery cannons and killing Aidene instantly in the explosion. (the circumstances of her death are noticeably similar to the defeat of the Angel, Gaghiel, in the anime version of Neon Genesis Evangelion).

Adiane looks almost completely human, though she has a long, thick scorpion tail and a snake eye. She wears an eyepatch over her left eye and dresses in a loose fitting dress and heels. She is intensely hot and impulsive, often letting her anger get the better of her and land her in sticky situations or taking out her frustrations out on Viral. Despite this impetuous disposition, she is extremely skilled, and is able to battle five powerful Gunmen at once outside of her natural element of water.

Adiane's name is based on the DNA chemical adenine and the elemental Undine. Her Gunmen, Sayrune, is based on the mythical Azure Dragon, Seiryū.

Cytomander

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = Cytomander
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Swift
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Akio Suyama (Japanese) Steve Staley (English)
age = 800+
gender = Male
species = Peacock Beastmen
occupation = General
aux1 = Lordgenome (king) Viral (subordinate) Guame (comrade)
aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Shuzack Dai-Gunten
aux2 name = GunmenNihongo|Cytomander the Swift|シトマンドラ|Shitomandora is one of the Spiral King's Four Supreme Generals and the commander of Teppelin's aerial forces and owner of the flying battleship, the Dai-Gunten. After Adiane's death, Cytomander personally goes after Team Dai-Gurren in the Dai-Gunten, forced to retreat after his battleship suffer massive damaged. A month after that, on the 6th day of Team Dai-Gurren's assault on Tepplin, a maddened Cytomander leads a two-pronged attack with Guame in the Dai-Gundo, only to lose his life when his Gunman Shuzack is rammed by the Dai-Gurren as it sinks the Dai-Gunten.

Cytomander's name is based on the DNA chemical cytosine and the elemental Salamander. His Gunmen, Shuzack, is based on the mythical Vermilion Bird, Suzaku.

Guame

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = Guame
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Steady
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Kiyoshi Kawakubo (Japanese) Doug Stone (English)
age = 1,000+ [Gainax (2007). "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann" anime, Episode 18. Lordgenome is seen with Guame on Cathedral Terra from a millennium in the past.]
gender = Male
species = Armadillo Beastmen
occupation = General
aux1 = Lordgenome (king/friend) Anti-Spiral (enemy)
aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Gember Dai-Gundō
aux2 name = GunmenNihongo|Guame the Immoveable|グァーム|Gwāmu is one of the Spiral King's Four Supreme Generals, who specialises in ground combat. His appearance is like that of a crocodile and armadillo and the oldest of the four generals, revealed in the parallel works to be originally a animal-like figure seen by Lordgenome's side as a parallel to Boota, living as long as or almost as long as the Spiral King has. In episode nine, he, along with the two other generals, reported the death of Thymilph to the Spiral King. He gives off the impression of one with a perverted mind and showed why when he made snide comments about the relationship between Thymilph and Adiane. Guame appears to merely respect the Spiral King, unlike the other Beastmen, who worship him as a god. When questioned by Cytomander after he boldy asked the king to let him go after Team Dai-Gurren, Guame explains his relation to King of being ages old (he later referred to Cytomander as a "pup of two-hundred-years age", implying that he is significantly older than Cytomander, enough for 200 years to seem like nothing). Suceeding in capturing the Dai-Gurren's crew, Guame had Nia brough to him and reveals to her the truth he though on why she was abandoned while vainly offering to spare her life if she accepts to be leader of the "Beauty Village" where the Spiral King gets his consorts from. But Nia refused and Guame was forced to retreat when Team Dai-Gurren escaped.

A month after that, on the 6th day of Team Dai-Gurren's assault on Tepplin, Guame joins Cytomander in a two-pronged attack with both their battleships. After the Dai-Gunten is sunk, Guame uses Teppelin's power supply to have the Dai-Gundo create a massive tornado, in order to destroy Team Dai-Gurren and their reinforcements, but his plans are ruined when the Gurren-Lagann tunnels underneath the fortress to impale it with its drill, running Guame through in the process as the Dai-Gundo explodes.

Guame's name is based on the DNA chemical guanine and the elemental Gnome. His Gunmen, Genber, is based on the mythical Black Tortoise, Genbu.

Lordgenome

Hanrasen Tribe

Nihongo|The Hanrasen Tribe|反螺旋族|Hanrasen Zoku, literally "Anti Spiral Tribe", also known as the Nihongo|Anti-Spirals|アンチ-スパイラル|Anchi-Supairaru, are a mysterious group of beings that battled the Spiral Warriors in the past, defeating them and forcing Lordgenome to accept their demands, leaving a Anti-Spiral factor within a human's genetic code that would activate once Earth reaches Spiral Energy Level 2, with the total human population at one million, converting the host into a Anti-Spiral that would carry out the mission to kill all life on Earth to prevent Spiral Nemesis. When it occurs, Nia becomes their messenger, executing the "Human Extermination System", which is soon revealed to be the moon itself, spiraling out of its orbit to collide with the planet and kill all life upon it.

After Simon stopped the collision by activating the moon, revealing the gigantic battleship Cathedral Terra, Nia, who had recovered part of her former self stated that the battle was far from over, as mankind, having survived the Extermination System, was fated to now face the true might of the Anti-Spiral. After gaining possession of the Cathedral Terra and renaming it to the Chouginga Dai-Gurren, Team Dai-Gurren used its systems to pinpoint Nia's whereabouts by using Simon's deep connection with her. However, before their arrival, the Anti-Spiral set a decoy signal between the 10th and 11th dimensions to lure them into a trap.

Nia

For most of the third arc, Nia serves as the messenger from the Anti-Spirals to the humans, during the Earth's Human Extermination System. After the Anti-Spiral data awakens within her and converts her into a Anti-Spiral lifeform, she becomes an emotionless and serious person, the exact opposite of how Nia was beforehand.

After becoming a messenger on the birth of the 1 millionth human, she possesses the power to travel between spatial dimensions, jump between positions instantly and intercept most methods of communication. She appears before Simon several times over the course of the arc, to remind him that his efforts against the Human Extermination System are useless. As the messenger, she wears a dark skin-tight suit, covered with a green line pattern resembling something like a circuit board, and the previously red irises of her eyes have become black.

It is later revealed that her appearances before Simon were in fact Nia urging Simon to save her from the Anti-Spiral persona, that she had become possessed with. Later, in the center of the "moon", Simon speaks to her and finally gives her the strength to return to her former cheerful self. However, she is transported back to the Anti-Spiral homeworld, and her rescue attempt begins the fourth and final arc.

Anti-Spiral

Infobox animanga character
color = #CC3300
name = The Anti-Spiral
series = Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann


caption = The Unseen
creator = Kazuki Nakashima
voiced by = Takaya Kamikawa (Japanese) Dave Mallow (English)
age = 1,000+
gender = Undetermined
species = Anti-Spiral
occupation = god
aux1 = Lordgenome (nemesis) Nia Teppelin (messenger)
aux1 name = Relationships
aux2 = Kantai Grand Zamboa
aux2 name = MachineThe Nihongo|Anti-Spiral|アンチスパイラル|Anchi-Supairaru is the ultimate villain of "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann", and the central antagonistic presence for the final two story arcs. He first appears as a disembodied voice in episode twenty four, but is formally introduced in episode twenty six. His physical form is a chaos of arbitrary human concepts fluctuating on a black silhouette, with cartoonish gestures and exaggerated expressions.

Anti-Spiral is both the leader and collective mental manifestation of a (self-proclaimed) former spiral alien [Gainax (2007). "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann" anime, Episode 27. "We were once spiral beings".] race referred to only as the "Anti-Spiral Tribe". The highly advanced technology of the Anti-Spirals bequeath onto him extensive, almost supernatural powers, which manifest in the form of red energy. With these abilities he is able to manipulate physical and chemical laws (going as far as altering probablility), which he does regularly both offensively and as a form of intimidation. The Anti-Spiral is the nemesis of Lordgenome, being responsible for Lordgenome's madness after explaining the nature of Spiral Nemesis to him.

Beyond what is known of the Anti-Spirals, little is known of the Anti-Spiral personally. He has the mannerisms of a scientist [Gainax (2007). "Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann" anime, Episode 26. "It wouldn't be appropriate to do an incomplete analysis".] suggesting he had a hand in both the creation of Anti-Spiral technology and the decision to undergo the millennia-long battle against the Milky Way's spiral beings. The Anti-Spiral is very proud and holds deep contempt for spiral beings, specifically Simon; it frustrates him that, across all of time, the spiral beings resist limiting their populations and continue to defy the resolution of his race.

The Anti-Spiral is "killed" in episode twenty seven by Simon and Nia in Lagann. He never relinquishes his belief that the Anti-Spirals were correct in restricting spiral energy, but charges Simon with the responsibility of protecting the universe now that his people have been bested. With his destruction, the "super spiral space" collapses and Team Dai-Gurren is returned to the physical world.

References