Gurren Lagann — Ending Explained

Act one: Simon and Kamina escape the underground, form Team Gurren, and defeat Lordgenome's forces. Kamina dies in episode 8, which makes Simon the main character.

Act two: Simon falls into depression and meets Nia, Lordgenome's daughter. With help from his friends he recovers and takes on Kamina's role.

Finale: The true enemy, the Anti-Spirals, is revealed. Nia is taken over by the cold Messenger Nia and forced to fight Simon until he rescues her. Because her existence is tied to the Anti-Spirals, she fades away with them after they are defeated, but she keeps herself alive long enough to marry Simon. The staff planned the final arc so that Simon would surpass Kamina. In the end the series affirms that growth must be borne by those who inherit it.

Some viewers read the story as a straightforward shonen power fantasy about willpower. Others read the later arcs as a more nuanced meditation on whether unbounded evolution needs restraint. Kamina's death can be read as a loss that matures the show, or, by critics who prefer the early hype, as a point at which the tone shifted.