Kamina

"JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!!"

- Kamina's catchphrase

Kamina is one of the main characters of the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He along with Simon come from Jeeha Village and is the founder of Team Gurren (later Team Dai-Gurren). He motivates Simon with his speeches and determination to try to make a hero out of him. With his hot-blooded attitude, he takes on everything and anything. During the first arc, Kamina died in battle by the hands of one of the Beastman Four Supreme Generals, Thlymph. Despite his tragic end, Kamina still plays an important role in the main character's lives, but mostly to Simon, to whom he acts as spiritual motivation to keep on fighting. In the end, Kamina's spirit, determination, and motivation finally succeeded in changing Simon into the great hero, leader, and saviour of humanity he is today thus finally fulfilling his dream of motivating Simon to believe in himself.

He is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi in the Japanese version and Kyle Hebert in the English version, the latter of whom also voices Gohan.

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

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 undetterable 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 solemned him 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, a future where children are free to look up to the sky 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 behaviour would insinuate.

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.

Similar Heroes

 * Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6)
 * Teresa (Claymore)
 * Bulat (Akame Ga Kill!)
 * Gai Tsutsugami (Guilty Crown)
 * Tetsuya Tsurugi (Great Mazinger)