We Will Survive By Any Means Necessary

Riots grip Kamina City. Crowds hold Simon responsible for the lunar catastrophe and topple the Kamina statue, and Rossiu escorts the shackled hero away, telling him the public now sees him the way an earlier generation saw Lordgenome. A trial must follow, he insists, because the nation lives under law. Rossiu adds that progress has always demanded a sacrifice, citing how Kamina's death forged stronger people, which enrages Simon. Before leaving him in a bare holding room, Rossiu pockets the Core Drill and remarks on the irony that the wellspring of Simon's strength triggered humanity's crisis. Simon, held back by guards, shouts that Rossiu grasps nothing of Kamina's heart and likens him to the priest of Adai.

Elsewhere, Kiyal vents to Dayakka in a hospital room about Rossiu and about how much her sister Kinon has changed. Leeron puzzles over how to contain the Mugann's explosive remains until Attenborough's idly spinning chair sparks an idea. A survey reaches Rossiu: thirty-six underground cities could ride out the impact, sheltering 640,000 people, which leaves 360,000 with nowhere to go. A discovery in the biocomputer's records then draws him beneath the government building to a hidden relic of Lordgenome's.

The trial ends in a death sentence. Kittan erupts, pointing out that Balinbow served as Simon's lawyer while Rossiu's own subordinate Kimbley prosecuted and Rossiu himself judged. Rossiu answers that responsibility must land on someone and only Simon qualifies. Amid the arguing, Nia materializes before Simon and reveals that the Anti-Spirals seek absolute despair for all spiral life. She offers no explanations, only a two-week deadline, and cups his face; Simon notices his engagement ring still on her finger before she vanishes through a portal.

Alarms then announce an enormous Mugann that obliterates Littner and turns toward the capital. Simon begs for the Gurren Lagann, offering to carry a bomb aboard as a guarantee against escape. Rossiu goes further, seating Kinon inside the Gurren beside explosives wired to a detonator on her belt; she volunteered, he explains, to make certain Simon comes back alive. While the mech engages the swarm, Rossiu broadcasts the death sentence citywide along with a sweeping evacuation plan built on the thirty-six shelters, promising the capital's residents passage aboard the space-going Arc-Gurren, and the streets cheer him.

Kinon spots that a green Mugann appears to command the rest, so Simon tunnels beneath the battlefield toward it. An apparition of Nia bids him farewell as another enemy knocks him back, and with the fleet circling he unleashes the Giga Drill Maximum. The blast annihilates the attackers but wrecks the Gurren Lagann, and the green controller survives. Gimmy and Darry arrive with the Grapearl squad's new tools, pairing a Spiral Bomber that destroys the creature with a Tornado Shield that keeps its fragments from raining down and detonating.

Afterward Simon concedes to Kinon that the Nia appearing to him is not the woman he knew. He surrenders the Core Drill, Rossiu declares the Gurren Lagann bound for the scrapyard, and a furious Kittan swings at Rossiu over the danger his sister faced, only for Kinon to slap her brother and defend her own choice. Simon is flown off to Lincarne Prison, where the occupant of his cell turns out to be Viral.

A court headed by Rossiu convicts Simon of war crimes and condemns him to death, with Balinbow as token defense and Kimbley prosecuting. Rossiu assumes temporary command of the government and takes possession of the Core Drill. Nia delivers the Anti-Spiral ultimatum of absolute despair and a two-week countdown.

The Grapearl squad debuts the Spiral Bomber and Tornado Shield against the Mugann, the Gurren Lagann is slated for scrapping, and Simon arrives at Lincarne Prison to find Viral waiting in his cell.

The Japanese title, Ikinokorun da Donna Shudan o Tsukatte mo, translates as the English broadcast title We Will Survive By Any Means Necessary. Japan first saw the episode on August 5, 2007, with the English airing following on October 13, 2008.

The installment sits between Episode 18 and Episode 20 and opens the story's post-timeskip prison stretch, setting up the Simon and Viral pairing that drives the next episodes.