Forum - View topicSSSS.Gridman (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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SSSS.Gridman (TV) Genres: action, science fiction Themes: mecha Plot Summary: Yuta Hibiki awakens with amnesia and the ability see things that others cannot. He first encounters a Gridman in the reflection of his friend Rikka Takarada's computer and it tells him to "Remember his calling," but Yuta doesn't understand what this means. Later, in the distance, he sees an extremely large monster but it doesn't move. It's only when Yuta gets to school that the two sightings make sense: a monster attacks and the hero Yuta saw in the computer screen pulls him within the computer and transforms Yuta into a giant hero named Gridman. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 1
Not looking anything up beforehand, it took me to seeing the character designs to surmise this is likely a new Trigger show, and that seems to be the case. Which is good, I am a big Trigger fan. Knowing Trigger, it has to be weird, something noticiable like when Yuuta and Rikka are going back and forward with each other, which looks like a lot the space between their talking is skipped, making me think that the video skipped like it does occasionally in Crunchyroll, their poses also quickly changing, but I guess added a sense of frantic confusion to Yuuta, for what is probably normally to Rikka. It was a little overwhelming that it was uncomfortable, but I can see it as the point, and I can accept it as some weird. While some things seem reasonably not difficult to get a feeling for, I think some of the themes may be a bit hard to draw conclusions so far. For instance, there seemed to be quite a bit of detail put into the massive devastation that the Kaiju was causing, that it is mighty weird in context that things are so much back to normal, having me question its reality. Especially question if people killed in the attack are okay, notably a girl on the volleyball team quite clearly was in the path of a exploding fireball, which looking back lined up interestingly to a scene earlier in the episode where there was a lot of focus on a stray volleyball from that girl that hit the food. I know that there must be a connection there somewhere. |
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pharmboy23
Posts: 196 |
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Well, didn’t have to wait long for that answer, did we? The only bummer about the reveal is that they kind of gave it away in the opening. Otherwise, heh, some interesting misdirection in that first episode gave way to a straightforward but thoroughly entertaining second one. Since the volleyball girl shows up in the opening I wonder if there’s still more to be explored there, as the tone doesn’t match up at times between the banter and then the destruction. This is a fun as heck show though. It feels like there’s backstory still to come since the ending shows stuff that hasn’t been brought to light (I suspect it’s from the past... but who can say?) |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I must have not been paying attention to the OP, because I was kind of shocked at the reveal that the girl, Akane Shinjou, is pretty twisted in that she summoned that Kaiju for something as petty as what happened in the classroom, to kill them. It feels sad because I kind of liked her, and then showing she was also going to go after the teacher, revealing that she is messed up. It did look like the teacher is going through something, that he apologised for running into Yuuta the next day while he seemed to be in a better mood, so Akane is killing people for something not representative of them.
The characters have explained things as not quite feeling real, so I wonder if something is going to break someone really close to them disappears. Also, the samurai guy is great. |
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pharmboy23
Posts: 196 |
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Yeah, I liked her as well. I’m hoping for a redemption arc, but she’s pretty messed up and they’d probably have to walk back the deaths to cover that one...
The tell in the OP is pretty subtle, just a flash of her for a second and I thought ‘oh, she’s totally evil, isn’t she?’ based on her expression. I also watched the OP a couple times  .
Part of me does wonder if this is all simulation currently, but we’ll see... |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 3
There does seem to be a bit of a hint that Akane has had some sort of trauma, which she perhaps use for some justification, but clearly has some hypocrisy. She does not seem to show really any respect for the person she created, Anti, saying that he is just a kaiju after he showed some thought of whether he is a person, and she threw the food onto Anti that she was going to reward him with, after he lost the fight. It may only be coincidental, but I would like to connect it to what caused her to target the volleyball girls, in that they knocked the lunch out of her hands, while now she did it herself. There was a set of interesting new characters this time, and I am enjoying the style that mimics old shows where it is all miniatures and guys in suits. The episode also had me thinking about themes of communication, about phones connecting people, but the characters kind of failed to really think through and or accept the method that could remove miscommunication. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 4
Only true Trigger fans will catch the Inferno Cop reference in this episode. The monitor at the karaoke place had the video to the karaoke song of Die Hollen Polizei. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o45YLAa3Ir4 I feel like Akane became a stranger mystery, as despite apparently being unapproachable, she is actually popular. How she reacted, that she felt sick when someone mentioned the icon of the kaiju she likes. was also pretty extreme. I thought the part where Gridman and the weapons all froze like a computer, was pretty entertaining, and for a reason they can't all go at once. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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I think it was more because the dude was too close, and then started trying to get familiar with her. She seems to hate that - even Glasses-kun says she feels unapproachable . |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 493 |
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SSSS.Gridman has done a great job of just portraying Akane as a toxic little crapbag who flies under people's radar by being cute and unassuming. Her treatment of Anti is perfectly indicative of it: people are either useful tools for her, or just trash beyond the need for recognition. I'm curious where they'll take her. She's clearly a play on the otaku-type character, what with the massive room filled with Kaiju toys and bags of trash. I know the Evangelion comparisons are gauche with this show (there really isn't much to compare in the first place), but maybe she's meant to portray how miserable otaku life is? |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It is kind of like she assumes everyone is trash, and that is how they appear to her, when really they are not all that bad. She saw the volleyball characters thoughtless jocks who did not care about people in their way, but seemed genuinely sorry, and there seemed like a hint that more was going on behind the scenes of that one girl. She saw the teacher as someone who really had no manners, that he could not be bothered to apologize for running into her, but again it looks like he had something going on in his life at the time, as shown that he later did exactly what she wanted like the next day when he ran into someone., of course there is Anti, and then there was the guys at the party, that although they did seem a bit forward, I don't think we saw anything that pushed them into true sleezeball territory, minus the fact they did the group date with high school girls.
But Akane seems likely to take the teacher's actions personally, she is totally two face to Anti depending on how useful he is, and her disgust at the guys seem out of step, especially since she was the more fake one. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 5
The reality of the show has kind of been up for question for a while, how real their world may be, rather than it maybe even starting Hibiki woke up or something like that. It has been light on flashbacks to things before the show started, and we had the computer glitch thing earlier. So I am wondering if it is significant that from what we saw, everyone who took the train out of town, seemed to fall asleep before arriving at the destination. There are questions of what can be a relevant detail. Like what was the point of looking like Hibiki may have been hurt of the trail? It looked like Akane may have also been at risk her Kaiju this time that was starting forest fires, does she recognise this, or actually the case? |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 6
Before going into the plot, so Trigger stuff. There was Dtie Hollen Polizei, the Inferno Cop song which had it's karaoke video show up earlier, was a little into 5 minutes of the episode. Also, just noticed that Rikka's mother, Takaranda, has a single earring, which happens to look like an eye with a yellow iris, which shares a resemblance to the third eye of Midori from Space Patrol Luluco, which they both happen to share the same seiyu, as did Nonon before. So, not really a big surprise for this episode, paying enough attention should have revealed that something was wrong with their reality. The Sim City like allusions, was pretty fun to look at, Trigger often manages to do things by the likes of computer images that are particularly pixelated. The episode kind of made a joke about kaiju fans being annoyed if no Kaiju show up, but there was plenty to sink teeth into. There were no battles but both Anti and that new girl that showed up, are technically kaiju, and along with Akane, all three main characters had some interesting interaction. Wonder if Yuta will spread what he heard, that something has to be done with Akane, because all three could probably add something. Assuming that the new girl that showed up, a kaiju that did a date with Yuta, has a connection to the original Gridman series, or at least the predecessor she mentioned. She was a little creepy, but kind of sweet, with a mix of sadness like when she said she was treating Yuta because she had loads of money, which just seemed like a plastic bag filled with loose change, which really would not add up to much. Still a question of how real people are, especially compared to Akane, and what the nature of the real villain is up to. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 7
Okay, maybe what Yuta found out was a bit hard to believe. so it makes sense that it would be hard to just accept it. Yet, also good that the characters seem to have accepted things after seeing that there is no atmosphere, as well as Akane kind of coming right out in talking to Akane, with introducing Alexis to him. Actually made me laugh that the crazily designed Alexis just sort of showed up, sort of like when Luluco sees Over Justice for the first time, actually have an incredibly similar design and same voice. Chief Over Justice's evil brother! Meeting was cut from a kaiju made by Anti, allowed by Alexis, yet not Akane. It does seem to have become clearer that Alexis is using Akane, and is playing nice. Actually sort of disturbing that he be so nice, and then cut Anti's eye with a buzz saw, clearly enjoying it. So, has this Alexis helped twist Akane? Gridman seems to be his major target, but I wonder how much Akane may see that he does not really care about her. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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When some people see Trigger shows, they see animation awesomeness but I see some guy with a checkbook in one hand and a stopwatch in the other.
"Hold here for three seconds, here for four, here for three and here for five. Go back to the first one for five seconds and we'll save so much money. But of course still have the characters have a conversation while this is happening, what else should we do? We've already paid the actors." I can't see where the money is spent when I can't look away from the scenes they don't spend much money on. Such is life, such is Trigger. Still better... animated, is that the word?...realized than Kill la Kill but that's a mighty small.... and very static.... hill to climb. Good image stills though. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 12 (finale)
So, was that a fulfilling ending, or a bit disappointing? Well, it kind of felt like not every was said out loud. Akane did seem to finally make a decision to go back to her real world, surely some out of guilt for how she treated this one, but she did have to face things. The last scene even had a live action teenage girl, who was most likely the real Akane, which I guess adds credence to the difference of gods thing. The thing is that it was never outright said in the show why Akane decided to follow Alexis into making the world the series was set in, among the few pieces we have is a small clip that showed what must be the real Rikka trying to stop Akane going with Alexis. Theorise would probably have to be made a putting all of the pieces together. The ED seems to be implied as what the real world situation may have been, considering the uniforms, which I just noticed that apart from the characters it did have live action backgrounds One theory I think is a strong possibility is along the lines that indeed Akane and the real Rikka were friends, Akane was probably a big Kaiju fan girl, which may have not made her too popular with other people. Akane was kind of a saving grace for her. Although, the real Yuuta seems to have changed things a bit. Akane has clearly been seen as having a fondness for Yuuta, giving him food, smelling his bed, probably purposely putting him next to her, and yet putting Rikka, her friend, at the other end of the classroom. I think Akane might have grown a crush on Yuuta, which may have created a love triangle because Rikka may have also. Perhaps Rikka despite that, wanted to value the friendship and still keep Akane as her best friend, but it may have been learned that Yuuta liked Rikka more, and as a final straw Akane worked to create her own world, where she could get the things she always wanted. Chances are things worked well for a while, but as Akane started to give into temptation to keep changing the world she created, she started to even see the Yuuta as not a real person, that they were all toys. Although from a distance she could give the orders to get rid of Yuuta, a fake of the original that was her enemy, when she finally did it, the realization that they were not all toys after all hit her, and she saw herself as the rotten person she had become. In the end, if she wanted to beat that, she had to go back to face reality. And if one of the last shots of the ED is anything to go by, Rikka is still waiting for her. But hey, that is just a theory, an anime theory, thanks for reading. I think that it is fair to say that SSSS.Gridman managed to make itself a bit of a sensation, it was a pretty creative work, which us Trigger fans are always hoping from the studio. But it also did not rely on crazy animation, which had become a bit of a staple of the studio to be creative, at least not in the traditional way. I think it has already been said enough from some sources, that it is kind of crazily true to its roots as a tokusatsu series, where monster ideas and action pieces were made in a way that would facilitate the sort of limited live action that the genre lives in. Sure it did take advantage of ways by the fact it was animated, but has there ever been such an undertaking to purposely limit a giant robot show in this way? It is the kind of thing that gets words like stylish and retro put towards it in a good way. Probably the most cynical path would be to take how it ended as an everything was a dream sort of thing, but it was pretty clear that the world existed, and only expanded more in the end. At the same time, a big personal journey of one "real" person, should be enough to make it valuable. Because while Akane may not have been as nice as the heroes in the story, she would have even agreed in saying that she was trash, there was something strangely compelling about her character. Something about the flaws and insecurities, that can feel familiar, and that despite those things one should feel more confident in themselves. Oh, and I just read a really interesting way to read the name of this series, SSSS.Gridman. Instead refer to it as "4 S Gridman", which happens to sound a lot like "Force Gridman". I don't know, it kind of sounds cool. But now it is a goodbye to this show. Going for a rating, I give a rating of Very good (8/10), you probably should not miss it, and certainly worth discussion. |
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