Simon from Gurren Lagann shares similarities with Simon Peter of the Way. YA RLY.
You can read about Saint Peter here. Shimon indeed.
So it’s not a surprise that on this rock (does the term Cathedral Terra make sense to you now?) Simon builds Kamina’s church? But before people jump to conclusion about Jesus, let’s talk about Simon Peter some more.
For many scholars Peter is one of the most interesting disciples Jesus had out of the original 12. Some of them consider Peter being the spokesperson for the 12, and at least in the New Testament he was a leader of the early Church. We see him most notably when he gave the sermon at Pentecost with the baptism of the three thousand.
But he was not that sort of a man as we could possibly imagine with the brand of Christianity as you and I experience today. Much like Gureen Lagann’s Simon, Peter fished and lived humbly as a fisherman off the Sea of Galilee. He was a little rush-headed and oddly shy at times. Unlike Simon he wasn’t really a great fisher either (as Simon was a driller). But like Simon, Peter had a brother who told him of the good news.
In contrast, Gurren Lagann’s Simon isn’t likely one who would jump to cut the ear off someone; decidedly he was much matured after 7 years since he parted with Kamina. The transformation is also seen with Simon Peter from his moment of denial with the reconfirmation with Christ after the resurrection.
Am I stepping out a little too far with this bit of analogy? Maybe, but far from it be Gainax’s bag of tricks to pull punches from Christian lore. There are quite a few of the superficialities that make sense once you connect the dots. Much of the Gurren-dan can be paralleled with Jesus’ disciples. The transformation of Kamina City under Rossiu’s rule and his eventual redemption may be a little bit out there, but talking with the evangelicals today that might resound a little louder with them.
But is Kamina Jesus? I don’t think I’ll go that far, especially because there are just too many key dissimilarities. But his death was much less meaningful than his resurrection, even if only in spirit.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Interesting relationships there. :3
I never thought about it that much before about Simon, but I have thought about
how Kamina’s speeches (as sermons) inspired people to hope and fight as a post idea a couple of weeks ago, but it’s been left on the backburner for the time being. :P
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Hmm, think I’ll drop this into the Blogiography of my forthcoming Paradise Lost vs. TTGL mashup.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Wouldn’t Kamina be more John the Baptist – ‘the one who came before’