Gurren-Lagann Ep. 12: Yoko, Will You Do Me a Favor?

In Lordgenome’s throne room, Cytomander berates Guame for his humiliating defeat by the humans, but Guame shoots back that it’s easy to say that from the safety of the capital. Lordgenome asks where Adiane is, and is informed that they have been unable to contact her. Lordgenome calls up a map of the surrounding area, which shows that the Dai-Gurren is on a direct course for the capital. Noticing that they’ll have to cross a large body of water to get there, Guame comments that this is a perfect opportunity for Adiane to regain her honor. Meanwhile, the Dai-Gurren has arrived at the sea, the sight of which shocks many of the brigade members who have lived underground their whole lives. Kittan enlightens them on what exactly a ‘sea’ is and they begin trying to figure out exactly how they’re going to get across it. Their brainstorming session comes to a screeching halt, however, when the Black sisters arrive in their bathing suits, intent on taking advantage of the beach. Annoyed, Yoko reminds them that their priority is reaching the capital–they don’t have time to be playing around. Leeron interjects that this isn’t actually the case–he has a plan to upgrade the Dai-Gurren to allow them to get across the sea, but it’s going to take some time to implement. Thus, they actually have plenty of time to play around. That being all they needed to hear, the male members of the crew rush off to find their own bathing suits and then take to the beach. After a while, Yoko finally shows up, but to the chagrin of the men, her bathing suit actually shows less skin than her normal outfit. Their cries of disappointment are silenced, however, when Nia emerges in her own even less skimpy, but far more cute bathing suit. Over the course of the day, the brigade competes in many different beach competitions, such as volleyball, watermelon smashing, sand-castle building, and in each one Yoko is utterly out-classed by the surprisingly talented Nia, to her ever-growing annoyance. At the end of the afternoon, Nia brings Yoko a barbecued crab, which Yoko accidental drops. The men tease her for dropping Nia’s carefully prepared meal made just for her, finally pushing Yoko over the edge. Nia, who took no offense, offers to get her another, but Yoko simply thanks her, tells her she didn’t want anything anyway and storms off. Finally, Leeron announces that their preparations are complete. The brigade members climb back on board and Simon orders their course set for Teppelin. The Dai-Gurren runs into the sea, now sporting flippers and a large paddle. On the open sea, the brigade enjoys the fresh sea air and sun, but suddenly, they come under attack by dolphins with large torpedoes strapped to their backs. The Dai-Gunkai, commanded by Adiane closes in on the Dai-Gurren. Adiane informs Viral that she’ll be going out personally in her Sayrune while leaving him in command of the Dai-Gunkai. 

Unable to properly defend itself from underwater attacks, the Dai-Gurren takes a beating. Kittan tries to go out in his King Kittan, but quickly discovers that it hasn’t been adapted for underwater-use yet. Sayrune blasts through the water and quickly destroys Dai-Gurren’s lower bridge. Running out of options fast, Leeron decides to throw Gurren-Lagann into the water–hoping that its mending ability will be able to automatically waterproof it. Fortunately, Gurren-Lagann takes to the water well and attempts to engage Sayrune. Unfortunately, Sayrune proves to be incredibly fast underwater and runs circles around Gurren-Lagann. From the bridge of the Dai-Gunkai, Viral expresses regret that it won’t be him who will crush Gurren-Lagann and orders the Dai-Gunkai to close on the Dai-Gurren. The Dai-Gunkai slices off Dai-Gurren’s flippers and grabs ahold of it with its claws, dragging it underwater. The crew begins to panic, but Nia enters the bridge and tells them not to worry–Simon will do something about it. Annoyed, Yoko asks her what makes her so sure, causing Nia to smile and say that she just has a feeling. Meanwhile, Adiane taunts Simon, telling him that his friends are going to die. Simon defiantly tells her that they won’t die in a place like this and in a moment of passion causes Gurren-Lagann to sprout a large screw-like drill out of its head. Using it to propel Gurren-Lagann through the water, Gurren-Lagann out-paces Sayrune and slams itself into the bottom of Dai-Gurren where the lower bridge used to be. Proving even more powerful than the Dai-Gunkai, Gurren-Lagann successfully pushes the Dai-Gurren back to the surface. Adiane angrily declares that it isn’t over yet and jumps onto Dai-Gurren’s deck. Sayrune punches through the bridge and grabs Nia allowing Adiane to use her as a hostage to keep everyone back. The Dai-Gunkai surfaces nearby and aims its guns at the Dai-Gurren, but Adiane tells Viral to be patient, she knows just what to do with this hostage. Addressing the bridge crew, she tells them to aim their guns at Gurren-Lagann, which has just landed on the opposite side of the deck. Suddenly, Yoko pulls out her rifle, causing Adiane to scoff and tell her that that toy won’t work on Sayrune–unless of course she’s planning on killing Nia to remove her hostage. To the brigade’s horror, Yoko does actually take aim at Nia, who serenely closes her eyes. Yoko’s first shot grazes Nia’s hair. Adiane finds this morbidly amusing and asks where she’ll shoot next. Ignoring her crewmates, Yoko takes careful aim and fires a second shot, which blows right through Nia’s hair and slams into Sayrune’s shoulder, piercing the armor and rendering the arm useless. Sayrune is thrown off-balance, and Nia falls to the deck–but is caught at the last second by Old Coco. Attenborough aims Dai-Gurren’s guns at Sayrune, but Adiane reminds them that shooting her at this angle will put them in danger too and asks them if they’re really that stupid? Yoko matter-of-factly informs Adiane that, yes, they are. Attenborough unleashes hell, destroying Sayrune and Adiane, who with her last breath asks Thymilph to forgive her. Viral attempts to come to her rescue, but Gurren-Lagann launches at Dai-Gunkai and drills it right down the middle, destroying it. The resulting explosion causes a tidal wave which the Team Dai-Gurren rides to the opposite shore. Some distance away, Viral washes up along with the wreckage of the Dai-Gunkai and angrily curses Gurren-Lagann. Later on, Nia approaches Yoko and asks her if she would please cut her hair (which was more or less ruined by Yoko’s shots). Taken by surprise, Yoko complies and does what she can. She asks Nia why she closed her eyes back there and Nia tells her that she knows that Yoko is an expert with her rifle, so she believed in her. Surprised, Yoko thinks to herself that she’s been acting stupid lately. She shows Nia her new, short haircut, which Nia seems quite happy with.