Your Drill Will Pierce the Heavens!
Lessons from one of the most inspiring stories ever told...
Before I begin, I need to get this out of the way. I don’t watch anime often (anymore… *cough*). I know the genre has some less-than savory connotations, and understandably so. Given its medium and the visual and cultural framework, it can come across as childish, naïve or just plain weird (My writing yesterday about my potential Peter Pan syndrome sure don’t help the cause, either). There are elements of the genre that definitely fit that description. But, it is also a genre filled with some of the greatest stories of our current generation. This is one of those stories.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, known in the states as simply “Gurren Lagann” was written by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. It was released in 2008. I’m not going to explain the entire story but I’ll give a synopsis. A boy (Simone) and his friend (Kamina) live in an underground city that has no knowledge of the world above them. Through a series of events, together with their surface-dwelling friend Yoko, they break through the “heavens” and enter the surface world, only to find themselves engaged in a war between Beastmen (who pilot machines called Gunmen) and humans. *SPOLER ALERT* They eventually become the leaders of the humans and defeat the evil king of the Beastmen, Lorgenome.
You don’t need to know any of that. If it sounds too much like a fairy tale or child’s story, that’s because it is. Just hang in there - I promise I’m going somewhere with this. You see, the details of the story aren’t that important - every story needs a vehicle in which to portray it’s message, build its characters and deliver its arc. It’s the message that makes a story great, and the message of this particular story is delivered through the relationship of it’s two main characters, Simone and Kamina.
In the beginning of the story, Simone is weak, small, shy and scared. He does what he is told, works all day drilling (that’s apparently all they do in an underground city) and lives a life of quiet desperation. Kamina is the complete opposite. He dreams of a world beyond what he sees, and insistently reminds Simone that together they are going to do incredible things. For the entire story this dynamic plays itself out, and with the constant encouragement of Kamina, we see Simone grow from a scared boy to the leader of the human race. And that’s only because of Kamina, who is, in my opinion, one of the greatest characters ever written.
Kamina represents what we would be if we never had any fear. Imagine a world in which you were never afraid of anything and went after everything you wanted with everything you had, always. That’s Kamina’s world. And he doesn’t just do it for himself. He loves his “brother” Simone and wants Simone to realize his fullest potential, and he encourages him to do that at every turn. It’s Kamina that pushes Simone to “break through the walls of heaven” and emerge into the surface world. It’s Kamina that shows Simone it’s possible to fight the Beastmen with their own Gunmen. It’s Kamina that teaches Simone that nothing is impossible when he joins two of the Gunmen together to create Gurren Lagann. It’s Kamina that shows Simone the way to save the world.
Eventually, Kamina gives his life for Simone in one of the most beautiful scenes in anime history. I won’t lie to you, I cried.. Kamina isn’t afraid to die because he knows that Simone will succeed in realizing their dream and saving the world. And after this Christ-like gesture of faith, Simone does just that. He saves the world, not because he believed in himself, but because he believed in the Kamina who believed in him.
That got me thinking about my own life. I don’t have the confidence of Kamina - I don’t think anyone does, really. But I do know what it feels like to believe in someone else when I can’t believe in myself. When I was first getting sober, I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t believe it was possible for me to stop drinking and taking drugs. But I was able to believe in the recovered addicts around me, who had years of steady sobriety, who told me that it was possible to stay sober if I lived one day at a time. I didn’t believe in myself, but I believed in them, and I did just that. I stayed. It was through them I saved the world. My world.
This doesn’t just apply to sobriety. It applies to all things in life, to everyone and everything. Think about the people in your life who have unwavering faith in you. Maybe it’s your best friend. Maybe it’s your mom. Maybe it’s your husband or wife. The people who see you for everything you are going to be when you can’t yet see it for yourself. I think this is what the religions refer to as “angels”. Without them, how would we be able to find the courage to live? How would we break through the walls to our own heaven? How would we save our own worlds?
You and I also have the opportunity every day to be someone else’s Kamina. To trust someone when they don’t deserve it, to have faith in someone when they don’t believe they can follow through. We often try to critique those closest to us for all the little things they do wrong or all of their shortcomings, when what we really need to do is smile and say, “Shut-up. I believe in you.” I imagine the world would be a much different place if we all had that much faith in each other.
I’m lucky. I have many Kamina’s in my life who inspire me to keep going, to keep pushing and to keep striving. I wouldn’t be here without them. I also have the opportunity to be the Kamina that other people need, especially for newcomers to sobriety. But I know that’s not the case for everyone. I know many of us feel alone. Many of us feel like we have no one who really understands and supports us. Many of us feel like giving up. I know because not long ago, that was me. If this is you, I only ask one thing: let me be your Kamina. Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in me. Believe in the me that believes in you.
One of the best anime’s out there, Kamina’s death scene really gets me :,)