I Will Never Forget This Minute, This Second

The Chouginga Dai-Gurren tears through space in pursuit of Nia, only to emerge before a colossal hologram of her and find itself sealed inside a miniature universe of the Anti-Spirals' making. Warships vast enough to dwarf even the Arc-Gurren Lagann disgorge swarms of smaller craft, so the combined Gurren and Grapearl wings sortie in upgraded machines that now rival the Arc-Gurren Lagann in scale. The enemy falls with suspicious ease, and Yoko voices what she senses from the battlefield: these opponents are too weak. Simon and Viral withdraw to fuse with the flagship, a lengthy process that leaves everyone else holding the line alone.

The order to regroup springs the trap. Anti-Spiral craft strike at once, and Zorthy is crushed in a giant hand before Iraak and Kidd can reach him. A spread of thirteen missiles follows; Dayakka has Attenborough loose the interceptors, which stop seven, while Yoko and Darry barely shoot down the remaining six. Completely surrounded, Iraak and Kidd spend their last moments transmitting a single request to Simon: never make Nia cry. Missiles then begin warping in beside the flagship itself. Yoko empties the Dayakkaiser's entire payload to stop one, Darry downs a second at the cost of much of her Grapearl, and Makken rams the third with the Mo-Shogun, trading himself for the ship. Sensing his loss, Leyte keeps working anyway and reports spiral power charged to 95 percent.

Gimmy rushes to shield the crippled Darry, refusing her plea to save himself even as his own machine is shredded, until Jorgun and Balinbow sweep in, gather both wrecked Grapearls, and hurl the pair toward the flagship with orders to protect each other. The twins then turn to face the horde and erase it in one final, self-consuming explosion. Seconds before the ship's transformation completes, a gravitational pull yanks it to port. The entire assault was bait: the Chouginga Dai-Gurren plunges into a gigantic ocean hanging in space, and its spiral power drains away to nothing.

The Ashtanga warships and the mass-produced Anti-Spiral craft make their first appearance, revealing the scale of the enemy's military.

Kidd, Zorthy, Iraak, Makken, Balinbow, and Jorgun all die in the ambush, and the Sea of Despair swallows the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, neutralizing its spiral power.

The Japanese title, Wasureru Mono ka Kono Ippun Ichibyō o, corresponds to the English broadcast title I Will Never Forget This Minute, This Second. Japan aired the episode on September 9, 2007; the English broadcast followed on November 3, 2008.

The eyecatches memorialize the casualties: the first shows the Team Dai-Gurren pilots fated to fall this episode, and the second shows their Space Gunmen, with Space Sawzorthn's eyes lighting up as the music plays.