Counting Down the 20 Coolest Characters in Anime - #6 Kamina, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

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

So here we are getting closer and closer to the end of this list. (sure has taken awhile hasn't it) But finally we're getting to the best, the cream of the crop. The characters that make every other character in anime looks like giant pansies. Okay, maybe not so extreme. But if theres one character on this list that puts nearly all others to shame it's none other than the mighty Kamina. I mean really, theres no way I could make a list like this without including this guy. He makes it on the pure basis that there is pretty much nobody as manly or badass as he is. Attitude like his is what makes Gurren Lagann one of the best shows around.

The guy has really worked his way up the ladder in terms of iconic anime characters and when I say he worked his way up I might as well be lying. Anime fans took to Kamina like few characters before him and he became an instant classic. He's extremely quotable, in fact pretty much everything that comes out of his mouth is hot-blooded awesomeness. Theres few other characters that actually get you ridiculously pumped when you watch their show. Let's put it like this; if I could have anyone give my team a pump up speech before a bug game, I'd want it to be Kamina. I don't think that theres a character more manly, more hot-blooded, or more inspirational than this guy. Of course, there may be a few challengers. During the series Kamina is the first to take up arms against the Spiral King, many times getting himself in trouble because of his rashness. However, he's really the only whose willing to step up and really fight them. Many times he ends up in trouble and he ends up relying on Simon to help bail them out. However, this is hardly a one man show. Simon and Kamina are a fierce team. At the beginning of the series Kamina is the inspirational force that drives Team Dai-Gurren. Hell, he even brings himself back from the dead at one point to help them win a battle. Kamina's belief of "kicking logic to the curb and doing the impossible" is the constant them throughout the series and it is the core foundation of Team Dai-Gurren's beliefs.

However, what really makes Kamina such a fascination character is how behind his big talking, he really just like anyone else during the situation. We find out later in the series that Kamina is actually a pretty weak character, that Simon was actually the driving force behind his success. It was Kamina's ability to motivate and inspire that enabled the team to accomplish everything that they did. Deep down, Kamina was scared, just like anyone else would be and yet he still talked brash and arrogant to his enemies because he knew deep down they'd win. He took the core beliefs of Team Dai-Gurren and took them to his grave. His role as a mentor to Simon and to the rest of the team cannot be understated. The ideas the a team's success is all down to one person is a lie. Kamina represents the desire to exceed one's preconceptions of their self and do the impossible. We all need that Kamina in our life, that person that will always believe in you no matter one. That person that gives you the strength to stand on you own two feet and give you the power to succeed on your own merits.

Putting Kamina on this list is a no brainer because he's simply just too awesome. He exemplifies that over the top, thinking outside the box action that happens in every episode of Gurren Lagann. It was really just an inevitability that Kamina would appear on this list and I think that anyone who watched Gurren Lagann will agree with me. For being unbelievably awesome, Kamina is #6.