Kamina

Kamina is the deuteragonist of the first arc of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime.

Kamina was a young man from Jeeha Village, the founder and first leader of Team Gurren.

Appearance
Kamina is tall and well built, and prides himself on being "manly and tough." He has short, blue, spiky hair and is frequently seen wearing his trademark red sunglasses that cover his red eyes. His skin is tan, and he has blue-ish tattoos along both of his arms which extend to his shoulders and his upper back.

Kamina's outfit, although not complicated, is flashy and expresses his personality; he wears long, dark-brown pants with two red rings on the bottom, a double-grommet belt tied around his waist, a traditional Japanese sarashi (a protective bandage on the abdomen and forearms), sandals, and he later started wearing his father's red and orange cape, which he then added the Team Dai-Gurren logo to. He also usually donned a pair of flashy, red, triangular sunglasses that were smashed to pieces during Thymilph's assault. After his death, his sword was stuck in the ground with his cape tied to it in order to mark his grave.

Personality
At first glance, Kamina is boisterous, hotheaded and arrogant. He demands recognition and seems hungry for greatness, illustrated in his tendency to call himself "the Mighty Kamina" and his signature catchphrase, "Just who the Hell do you think I am?!" He is an undeterred idealist, often to the point of ignorance; Yoko has described him as "a man of unlimited stupidity." Kamina is also very perverted, declaring that the urge to stare at beautiful women is the definition of a man.

However, Kamina is also extremely determined and never lets anything keep him down for long. Even discovering that his father was dead only made him solemn for a night or two (visibly at least). He is also devoted to defending and supporting his friends and loved ones, fighting with all his strength to protect them. In turn, he is very charismatic in the heat of battle, able to inspire even the timid Simon to accomplish great feats and almost single-handedly set the foundations for Team Dai-Gurren.

Despite his often brazen and practically insane actions, Kamina is fairly insightful, as his bombast and seemingly blind confidence usually mask his true intelligence in planning and combat. He even personally admits that his bravado and fearlessness is mostly a device he uses to hide his own worries and to support others, and that he thinks people like Simon are the real heroes. He has stated that his drive in the war against the Beastmen was not started for personal glory or vengeance, but a desire to give future generations a world without fear. Despite his often moronic actions, he does have some level of common sense, pointing out that fleeing from Dai-Gunzan would leave them wide open to attack. All this confirms that Kamina has a much more complicated personality than his usual behavior would insinuate.

Ability
Kamina originally had a nodachi (his sword), that he had stolen from the Jeeha village chief. In Episode 2, Kamina used a pistol given to him by Yoko, and in Episode 3, he used her rifle to hunt animals. During his fight with Viral, he used his Nodachi, and a hidden arrow that he had picked up from an animal Viral shot, as well as some assistance from Simon and Yoko. Kamina's most valuable weapons were the Gurren and Gurren Lagann. Originally, Kamina couldn't pilot the Gurren as well as a Beastman, which put him at a disadvantage: Viral could easily beat him one on one until Gurren Lagann was formed. However, thanks to training with Simon, by Episode 8, he had mastered the controls and was an ace pilot.

Skills

 * Expert Physical Fighter: As shown a number of times, Kamina's fighting skills are well above those of normal humans. He was able to fight Viral one on one with his Nodachi and, while injured, landed a blow on Viral. He also is shown to be a good fist fighter: one of his punches caused Simon to almost flip over in his seat.


 * Quick Learner: Although not very obvious, Kamina is shown to be a quick learner. By Episode 3, wherein he begins using ranged weapons, Kamina's accuracy impresses even Yoko, an extremely skilled sharpshooter. Having stolen his nodachi from the village chief in the first episode, he was able to use it rather well, pushing even Viral, an expert in combat (being a beastman and a well trained soldier). By his last episode, he had also become a very skilled gunman pilot, able to rival Viral in his piloting skills, despite having only used Gunmen for a short time.


 * Mastermind: Kamina, though masked by his hot blooded personality, is a good tactician, contributing to his ability as a leader. His battles often involve a development of new fighting style, unpredictable and well planned moves. He is able to see his opponents' weak points, or the most effective way to beat them - such as hijacking Dai-Gunzan and the Gunzar on the field (which later became Dai-Gurren and Gurrenrespectively) rather than fighting them, and taking note of the field condition when fighting against Dai-Gunzan for the first time. Compared to the way the Brigade fights after his death, battles during his leadership involved more complex planning.


 * Endurance and Reflexes: Kamina's skill in a fight relies heavily on his stamina. Kamina has been shown to be able to take blows that would kill most people and continue fighting. The greatest example of this is shown when he is stabbed twice by Thymilph, yet manages to recover for a bit and kill him first. This extreme endurance isn't enough to defy death entirely, however: he succumbs to his wounds and dies soon afterwards. Kamina is shown to have great reflexes, at one point dodging an arrow Viral shot at him.


 * Fighting Spirit: His 'fighting spirit' is an extremely powerful force in the show. His charisma and bravado inspire his teammates to perform at the top of their ability, and allow him to support the under-confident Simon when his willpower flags. It is also stated that Kamina was killed by Thymilph's first assault, implying that his fighting spirit allowed him to stay alive long enough to ensure the success of the mission and essentially avenge himself.
 * Spiral Power: In Episode 7, Kamina was able to regenerate Gurren Lagann's damaged leg using Spiral Power. At the end of his final battle in Episode 8, he used the Giga Drill Break to kill Thymilph and destroy his Byakou.

Trivia

 * Kamina's catch phrase, "Just who the hell do you think I am?" (Ore wo dare da to omotte yagaru?) has been said by many of the show's characters. Simon was the first to start saying it, followed by Kittan, and eventually every single protagonist present during the final battle.
 * The first 8 episodes are titled by a line Kamina says within the episode with a font that looks like a carving. He narrates the episode previews for episodes 2 to 7.
 * Despite dying in the eighth episode, Kamina is mentioned (whether directly or indirectly) in almost every episode of Gurren Lagann.
 * Of all of Kamina's dynamic actions, his famous "Towards-the-Heavens" pose (with him pointing his finger to the sky) has become extremely popular; so much so that it has even been done by Simon, Nia, Kittan, and by Gurren Lagann and King Kittan when doing the Giga Drill Break.
 * Of all of Gurren-Lagann's characters, Kamina is considered by far to be the most popular, even after his death.
 * Kamina's parents official names are Joe and Wenny.
 * Kamina is also an expy of Sanson, a character from another Gainax anime called Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
 * In the movie adaption Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars, it is revealed that Simon himself carved the statue of Kamina in Kamina City.
 * Kamina, or at least someone greatly resembling him makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 of a fellow Gainax series, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. Simon, Viral, Nia, Yoko and Attenborough make cameos in the same scene.
 * Also, Mahibi Moji from the anime adaptation of Medaka Box, which was also produced by Gainax, greatly resembles Kamina, and is also voiced by the same voice actor. Furthermore, his hair color is dark red in the manga, while it has been changed to blue (like Kamina's) in the anime.
 * While Kamina and Nia never meet in the official series, they get along quite well in the Otoko series. Furthermore, he is the only person besides Simon who enjoys her cooking.
 * If anything, Kamina gets into even more trouble in Super Robot Wars Z2: Hakai-Hen: Arm-Wrestling Kallen Kozuki over the fact that they both have Mechs named Gurren, trying to get Zero's helmet from a cat to force Zero into owing him a favor (and dragging the entire gang plus Kouji Kabuto (Mazinger Z) into a fight with the Black Knights), and other shenanigans.
 * Staff have stated that the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is actually a reincarnated Kamina.