Anime Profile: Gurren Lagann

In the future, mankind has been reduced to living underground, establishing villages beneath the surface. Contact between other villages or the surface is non-existent, and because of constant earthquakes, the villages has to expand deeper underground. This is a task left to special people known as "diggers".

Simon is a 14 year-old digger, an orphaned boy who is employed by the elders of his underground village. When he rescues another orphan named Kamina, he discovers a special key that gives him access to a robot that enables him to reach the surface – which just happens to be inhabited by mutants bent on wiping out all of humanity!

However, with the help of a busty sharpshooter from another village named Yoko – not to mention stealing one of the mutants' battle machines, Simon not only stops them – but enables humanity to once again gain control of the surface. But no sooner than the humans establish themselves again that Team Dai-Gurren, Simon's group, has to defend them against a new threat!

Note: ADV Films lost the license to Gurren Lagann when it dropped in from their inventory in mid 2007 (and added it again in late 2007), and awarded it to Bandai Entertainment. Apparently Bandai Entertainment has released a new set that includes the dubs.

Gurren Lagann takes place in an alternate world, where its inhabitants are forced to live in underground, isolated civilizations, having no contact at all with the surface world or any other civilizations. Villages are forced to expand deeper underground due to the unstable geological activity. The ones assigned to this job are known as "Diggers."

The story begins in Jiha Village, which is home to a young boy named Simon. He is a digger at the age of 14, due to the death of his parents in an earthquake. Having a strong reputation, he is invited to join an elite group called the Gurren Brigade. He also meets a man named Kamina who constantly dreams of what the world on the surface is like. But as Simon and Kamina team up, fate will take a different turn, and peace will shatter after the discovery of a giant robot in a forbidden territory.

They are soon brought into a fierce battle for the surface of the planet and the very fate of humanity itself. With the help of the excavated robot, the Gurren Brigade faces off against the Beastmen, a fierce army hellbent on the eradication of mankind.