What, Exactly, Is a Human?

Word of Thymilph's destruction troubles the Spiral King, Lordgenome, and Adiane the Elegant volunteers to crush Team Dai-Gurren personally. Aboard the seized fortress, morale has collapsed under the weight of Kamina's death. Rossiu drills in a Gunman while engine failure shuts the Dai-Gurren down, Kittan corners Simon and pins the blame for the tragedy on him, and Simon in turn snaps at Rossiu before offering a quick apology. Yoko, talking with Dayakka, buries her own grief where no one can see it.

While the team fends off a counterattack, Lagann separates from Gurren mid-battle and tumbles into a ravine, where Simon cannot get it running again. A passing Gunman then heaves something over the edge that looks like a coffin. Prying it open, Simon finds a living girl inside: Nia, who is astonished to lay eyes on another human being. When an enemy Gunman bears down on them, Simon resolves to buy her time to escape, but Kittan's arrival saves them both. Brought back to the brigade, Nia is pressed about her origins yet proves unable to answer. The questioning ends when Adiane opens her assault and the Gunmen scramble to respond. Recognizing the attacker's voice, Nia walks out before everyone and declares herself the daughter of the Spiral King.

Nia makes her debut, found abandoned in a sealed box and revealed by episode's end as Lordgenome's daughter. The remaining three of the Four Divine Generals, Adiane, Guame, and Cytomander, appear for the first time, as does the Spiral King himself. Kittan's accusation and Simon's outburst at Rossiu mark the depth of the team's fracture following Kamina's death.

Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, the episode first aired in Japan on May 27, 2007, with the English broadcast on September 8, 2008. Its title follows the second arc's convention of quoting Nia's dialogue, and the story begins the period in which Simon fights with reckless, grief-fueled anger.