A crucial structural element of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the friendship between protagonist Simon (pronounced SEE-moan, because this is Japanese) and Kamina. Viewers tend to latch onto Kamina because he’s loud and brash and wears cool sunglasses and repeatedly takes on challenges he’s ill-equipped to handle while shouting things like “Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible!”, but Simon is the show’s actual protagonist. It’s a bit of a trick to keep you interested in the early going, because Simon is initially timid and prone to inaction on his own – it takes a lot of work to make a Hamlet-like character sympathetic to most people, especially in an action genre, so Kamina’s loud tendency to get into trouble that Simon bails him out of is what gives the early section of the show its plot.

But this is also part of the emotion of the show. Another trick here is that while Kamina is as dumb as a sack of hammers, he’s also more emotionally aware and insightful than he lets on; one reveal is that Kamina is motivated by his total belief in Simon’s potential, after witnessing him holding onto a strict discipline in a total disaster that had everyone else panicking. He was so moved by this that he decided to act as Simon’s heart and soul until he’s ready to act on his own; we see this in practice right from his opening scenes, where he’s cheerleader for every action and scheme that Simon comes up with and (sometimes violently) tries to destroy his self-doubt.

One can especially see this in the inciting incident of the show, when Simon finds a pilotable robot head in a cave. When Simon is worried about where this will go, Kamina gives him characteristically Kamina-like advice: “Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in me! Believe in the Kamina that believes in you!” It’s just gibberish enough to be funny and just comprehensible enough to be moving, and their brotherly love forms the backbone of the series.