SSSS.Gridman

I have watched up until episode 5 and I am enjoying the anime so far good simple story.

Characters are a little boring at first, but more interesting characters appear to spice it up some.

Action scenes are very enjoyable, I admit I'm not a fan of CGI anime they chose for Gridman and the kaiju but in this anime it seems they actually made a solid effort and it shows.

Bottom line if you grew up in the 90s and watched Gridman or the american counter part Super Human Samurai Syber Squad (Which I did). Then this anime will feel you with nostalgic for sure and give ... you something new to walk away from as well so I suggest you watch it and see for yourself.

What in the world.....? A question that I've been asking myself ever since I started watching SSSS.Gridman. From the first, to the last episode. It has been a journey that I never expected, but am grateful to have undergone. Finally, after completing it though, I now have the answer to that question....

Because Trigger.

Please, do yourself a favor, and watch this anime.

On the surface, this anime looks like it's about giant mecha battles with Kaiju. Your standard run-of-the-mill Ultraman series type of thing. I can assure you that this cover is simply used to hide the true nature of the story. It is one that is ... slowly revealed in the most unnatural, yet fascinating way that I have ever seen. You will be puzzled as to what on earth is going on in this anime, and slightly put off by how unnatural everything seems. Yet, I can assure you, please do not drop this series. It will pay off, and it does so big time.

The art and sound are at a good quality. One fit for a series about mechs beating the living daylights out of kaiju while shouting out the name of the special move they used. It is very stylistic, which I personally liked.

The characters are all so mysterious. I wanted to know more about everyone, and the anime does deliver in on this. Plus, this one anime has two possible best girls of the season, all in one package! How could you not watch it?

Apart from that, the character designs were distinct and vivid. Each character seemed to have been created with much care. Perhaps the average viewer, upon watching this anime, might not notice it, but just take a look at all the fan art that has spawned from this anime, and you'll see how much artists love these characters.

Overall, it was a confusing, yet strangely compelling experience that I don't regret having. I have so many questions, yet I feel satisfied for some odd reason. It's truly hard to describe how this anime made me feel, since the mixture was unlike anything that I've experienced before. The only way to make you understand it, is for you to watch it yourself.

Now go. Go and enjoy watching SSSS.Gridman.

Thank you for reading this review, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

This is darn near impossible to review without spoiling, but challenges are fun. So, on it's surface, SSSS.Gridman is a giant robot vs kaiju of the week show. The combat scenes are done in a manner that accurately depicts what a fight like this would look like if you were filming men in rubber suits, and this was done for a very specific reason.

The villain in this show is my choice for villain of the year. They are deeply layered and interesting. The remaining cast, at least at first was really two dimensional at first. Gorgeous best friend next door. Nerdy buddy. Generic ... love interest for the villain. This, once again, was done for a very specific reason. However down the road, some of the rest of the cast grow into much deeper characters.

The setting of the show, is beautiful in it's emptiness and kaiju clouds in the background, which was done for a very specific reason.

Look, SSSS.Gridman on it's surface is a fun giant monster/mecha anime, but there is a lot going on under the surface here. This takes a fun show, and elevates it to brilliance. For you to totally know why, you'll have to give it a watch. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

P.S. If you're still mad at Trigger for the end of Darling and the Franxx, they redeem themselves here.

Now go watch this show!

Gridman was one of several anime this season that blew my expectations to smithereens. I'm not a huge mecha fan, so I was very skeptical at first, and didn't bother starting until halfway through the season. But damn was I impressed. It started out strong, and every episode kept getting better and better, up until the grand finale - one of the best final episodes I can remember. Here's some of the key points.

Plot - How many plot twists can an anime have without losing its impact? You could tell that the writers were having a blast working on this, as the entire storyline felt ... loose and free; nothing was forced, everything came naturally, and minor plot holes were shrugged off only to be patched by the next reveal. Every time a major plot twist happened it felt like it for sure would be the last, so every new event always came as a surprise.

Art - The style was pretty normal, with just a miniscule hint of shaft-y accents, and CGI for the kaiju that wasn't terrible and was appropriate for the circumstance. There was nothing to complain about, and I did like the subtle accentuation.

Sound - UNION is the hypest OP I've heard since OPM. The hook is so good, and the lyrics fit both the melody and the anime. Actually one of the best openings I can think of in terms of lyrical relevance. Others have also praised the voice acting, which I didn't really notice much but I think that was the point. I don't remember anything special about the actual soundtrack though.

Character - Really meh in this department.... which was disappointing because the story was so great. On the other hand, the story explains why there's not a whole lot of character development, and including more background would go against the plot. Knowing the reason, however, doesn't change the fact that the characters are weak.

Enjoyment - This very quickly became one of my favorites this season, and one that I was eagerly waiting for each week. That puts it in 8/10 territory, for me.

SSSS.Gridman is an anime modernization of the tokusatsu genre, in the same vein as shows like Ultraman and Super Sentai, and it manages to do this shockingly well. My personal experience with the genre is essentially just seeing a few episodes of Power Rangers as a kid, which I never really cared for, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I ended up enjoying this show. I picked up Gridman mostly because of Trigger being the studio behind this entry in the series and the teaser trailer they put out after it's announcement alongside Promare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGw4SmxkryU) which led me to believe this could ... be a slightly darker take on the genre with the same action and story elements. This assumption was partially true.

The story is solid, especially for it's genre as plot normally takes a back seat for dramatic action sequences, but I feel like Gridman does a respectable job of balancing story and action. There are some well thought out twists which you can probably predict well in advance if you are observant but are still satisfying, and much of the final few episodes is focused on character analysis and introspection. After the first two or three episodes my expectations for a mature super robot series were deflated since most of the beginning is a parade of monster fights with little bearing on the plot, so it was enjoyable to see the show shift its focus to plot and character development while still keeping up the one-fight-per-episode pace.

Gridman's art is generally quite good, most notably with inventive use of 3D CGI to replicate the old rubber suit fights which have been a staple of the genre since its very beginning. The fights themselves look fantastic with a lot of dynamic movement and flashy action sequences. Transformation sequences, of which there are quite a few, are a little long but they are suitably cool and it's awesome seeing Gridman and his various forms drawn out alongside the 3D models used for most of the fighting scenes. The character designs look fine and are nothing particularly interesting but consistently pretty high quality regardless of the scene. However, the mech and kaiju designs are all excellent and look really cool no matter what they're doing, and there's always a lot of emphasis on making their size seem massive and real against the backdrop of their environment. Background art is good across the board with lots of little details and looks really nice in quite a few shots throughout the show.

Sound design is really good. All the mech and kaiju noises fit perfectly and are exactly as loud and weighty as they should be, and the accompanying environment sounds during the fight scenes fit well. The music is also generally good, some tracks are awesome. The OP and ED are both real ear worms.

Characters were the weakest part of the entire show for me. Most of the cast are very flat and underdeveloped, and there's kind of an in-universe explanation as to why this is though it still makes for a weaker viewing experience, but the characters who are given ample screen time and exploration of their motives are actually really interesting and I would have loved to have more of the main cast fleshed out in the same ways. It's a shame that this show didn't have a longer run or dedicate a little more time to a lot of the major characters, but I'm also glad it's only 12 episodes because it doesn't overstay it's welcome or get padded out with pointless filler like many other Trigger shows have.

In all, I found myself having a lot of fun with Gridman. I never expected to get much enjoyment out of something in this genre because of previous experience with it, but this show is so well done that I couldn't help but smile when the good guys win and the major plot moments were meaningful to me, I'm even a little interested in checking out the rest of the franchise because of the way it was tied in with this series. It absolutely deserves a watch.

SSSS.Gridman is an ode of appreciation to the Gundam genre, but it extends to all things "those-trash-cartoons-that-rot-kids-brains". No spoilers in this review, and while I am a firm believer that spoilers do not ruin media, I think the logical steps the story takes you all the way to the end is a big part of why I appreciate this show so much. So TL;DR this is a show that is incredibly tasteful and chooses not to pander to the Gundam audience but teaches us how we may have been affected by this medium for the better.

Go watch it

I use the word "appreciate" a lot because ... SSSS.Gridman selects certain elements from Gundam shows and uses them as motifs or reminders, i.e. repeating certain animation sequences as a cost saving measure in Transformers or GI Joe. For other important elements SSSS.Gridman puts a lot of love and quality into i.e. the fighting sequences using realistic motion, possibly from reference footage. To which and how these decisions were made elevates SSSS.Gridman above other homages to 90s anime. Look at Pacific Rim for example, a movie I love mind you. The film has a love for Kaiju and Mech designs, but it also bashes on the medium's poor story telling with the attitude that the only thing that matters in Kaiju animes are big monsters fighting big robots. I think it's fair to be self aware about the stuff we loved in the past, but after watching SSSS.Gridman I realize this kind of attitude is dismissive of the idea that everything we experience and have experienced molds who we are as people. SSSS.Gridman might recognize the flaws from those cartoons past, but it also recognizes that the media we consume as children made the heroes we aspire to be now. And again no spoilers, but the ending enables the viewer to connect with their past and maybe see how those dumb cartoons shaped us to be the people we are.

One aspect I want to give big praise to is the sound experience I had with this show. First, the OP is amazing. OxT captures that 90s anime, childish, hyped up attitude while adding in modern OP elements. The song is extremely clean and I did not skip it a single time. Then comes the choice to not play background music. Some other animes rely on OST too much to invoke emotion, but SSSS.Gridman strips this back which forces the animators and character designers to invoke that emotion and the sound designers to use diegetic sounds. This creates less stress on the ears and allows you to interpret emotions and scenes for yourself.

SSSS.Gridman gave me a lot to think about about how my childhood experiences affected me now, and it tells its viewers to not be ashamed of their fandoms. For delivering such in interesting, simple, yet pensive message in a very tastefu, clean way, this show has won me over.

The overall opinion on Triggers first project of 2018, Darling in the Franxx, was bad. It was great in the beginning and slowly got worse until the end where it all crashed and burned. Overall I found Darling in the Franxx to be really good. The production was fantastic all the way through, the characters were great and the story was also really good until the halfway point. But it's hard to ignore that ending. Trigger really needed to shape up to not lose its reputation.

And in a way, SSSS.Gridman was the exact opposite of Franxx for me. Let me explain:

In the same way ... that I liked Franxxs beginning more than ending, I liked SSSS.Gridmans ending more than beginning. I haven't rewatched the episodes, so I don't know if there was information that could have been interesting after watching everything. But it felt like every episode was: A kaiju appears > The gang can't get to Gridman/They can't kill the Kaiju > They figure out a plan, and they kill the kaiju

Again, maybe I missed foreshadowing that could have been interesting. But I don't think you should write an episode of a show so that people who have already watched it think it's interesting. Cause if new people find that boring, no one will get to the ending.
Maybe that's just my opinion though.

But around episode 6, something happened. It instantly got more interesting. It was the episode where we are introduced to a new character (I won't say who for the sake of spoilers) who explain a little more about the antagonist. But it didn't feel like they explained it to the audience. More like the Protagonist needed information that she could give. And after that episode, the quality just flew up. The characters got a lot more development, especially the antagonist. The story got more interesting. It was pretty amazing.

And now everything is finished, and I haven't rated it higher than Franxx. Mainly because of the characters. I know I said that they got a lot of development in the second half, but not enough IMO. The more memorable characters were the antagonist, Akane, and one the of main characters, Rikka. They both had inner fears and insecurities. They did bad things, they did good things. They were very interesting. And even though the rest of the cast were fine, they weren't nearly as good as those two.


So at the end of the day, I liked this show less than Franxx. It wasn't bad, it wasnät even average. It just didn't beat the thing it tried to beat.

A solid 7/10

SSSS Gridman.
**spoiler free**
When i watched the first episode i felt that this anime will just be the typical giant robot vs kaiju,nothing else.After all the episodes were out i gave it a chance and oh was it worth.The animation of SSSS Gridman is amazing. The art style is beautiful and the colors are really nice.They use a cgi when there are battles witch gives you a nostalgic throwback to the 2005 era of mecha and in the same time they manage to fit it surprisingly well with the overall art style.The story at first glance may look generic and nothing to special but as the ... anime continuous the story gets better.The show has some good characters and some that they could have had a better development.
Overall SSSS Gridman is an amazing anime and i highly recommend it not only to the mecha fans but also to the ones who are not really interested on mechas.

SSSS. Gridman is a series that i did not expect anything for being a living reference to the tokusatsu genre, like Ultraman, it sequels, and the original live action Gridman serie. It left me with a bittersweet taste in my taste bud, but a little more sweeter than bitter.

The story centers on Yuta Hibiki, a first-year student with amnesia who lives in the fictional Japanese city of Tsutsujidai. One day, he meets the Hyper Agent Gridman on an old computer, who gave the boy a mission he must fulfill, just as he has to look for the meaning of those words and his memory loss. ... While that happen, the day reset by some reason and when someone die, they will not come back. In my opinion, it sound interesting, but it didn’t squeeze the reset as much as I wanted. It answered how the day is reseted and what would happen if those shadowing kaiyus were killed, but it could be used in a different way to give more character development to the protagonist. How? Killing more characters. Important characters. What I meant with the reset the day is that the fights of Gridman and the buildings destroyed during the fights disappear from the people’s memories and the buildings turn back as it was before the fights.

It reference attacks like: jump and do a karate chop in, mid of the air, to the kaiyu's neck or the shoulder, if it has one, or grab the kaiyu's neck then lift it while it rotate and throw it to somewhere. Also, huge explosions are common, after eliminating the kaiyu. The need of a secundary hero, as a copy of the main hero. Then the color design of the hero, being red, the most prominent of Gridman, then gray and blue. For Anti is the color purple as the prominent color of it design, then the gold and gray. But a really great reference to this genre of super hero in specific is the movements and reactions of some kaiyu is their limited movement and how it react and counterattack. It give the sense if the kaiyu was really a person wearing a costume of a monster. In the first episode, the kaiyu always has a neutral face and the mouth open, or when the kaiyu rotate the head to hit Gridman, it didn't has any expression but the same face.

Having as antagonist: a charismatic and human Akane Shinjo, although I can not say the same with Alexis Kerib, being a unilateral character as Gridman. About Akane Shinjo. Initially, she was a average antagonist, until she showed her human side, a depresses Akane Shinjo because everything she had done was in vain. Something that a person can empathize with it. While the protagonists: a forgettable Yuta Hibiki and Gridman, the friendly Rikka Takarada, and the most human of the group, Sho Itsumi. Why is he the most human? During the 12 chapters, he has done anything remarkable and he is aware of it, leaving him into a semi-depression because of his impotence. Something that we could not see much. Anti, an intermediate character who was mistreated by Akane Shinjo and Alexis Kerib, while Rikka Takarada and Samurai Calibur were the ones who took care of him. His move from antagonist to protagonist was not forced but great either, Anti was an antagonist because he wanted to be on the lookout for Akane Shinjo, he uses the argument of wanting to kill Gridman as an excuse to have a goal in his life, although close to the end he questions it, and then become a ally of Gridman.

The protagonist and the antagonist probably have a good or average designs, but they really don’t have a character development or just a little of character progression for some, like Sho Itsumi or Akane Shinjo. Yeah, she got one, near the end of the anime. We don’t know nothing about the protagonist, beside of their personalities, and a little bit of Yuta Hibiki’s past before his memory loss. The glasses guy said he was a nice guy. That’s it. How about the antagonist? Ha! None. We don’t even known how they got there. Or how Gridman and his comrades got there. Note, I haven’t watch the original source, so I don’t know anything about gridman serie beside this one. I think the only antagonist that I don’t really care of character development and progression are the kaiyus, except Anti, he is decent. They are just huge monsters with the only objective of destroying gridman.

Much like Planet With of last season, SSSS.Gridman is an emotionally driven show with big ol robots flying around in O.K. CG. And just like Planet With, Gridman is criminally underrated. I've never written a review here before, but I just wanted to give my 2 cents about how I felt. I'm not knowledgeable on the Tokusastu genre so I wasn't able to appreciate all the references packed into the series, but I still enjoyed the hell out of this show. If you are someone who appreciates art direction I highly recommend you watch this. There were so many interesting and well chosen shots that ... keep you invested and unable to look away. The first episode does a great job setting the tone and is full of fantastic still images. I remember looking at an image of a staircase closed for repairs thinking "why are these stairs mood". The direction in this show put a fat grin on my face the entire way through, episode 9 especially.

Most of the kaiju v Gridman battles are in semi-clunky CG models that somehow still feel awesome. They feel just like a Tokusatsu battle with humans fighting in giant monster costumes. I personally loved the CG fights but I can see how it could be off-putting to some.

Don't get me wrong, this show is definitely not all style with no substance, not making the amnesia trope feel annoying is testament enough to the writing. There were many tense moments where characters from opposite sides had to interact with each other, rather than groups fighting by proxy through kaiju vs. Gridman battles, and each moment was perfectly satisfying. But like I said I don't write reviews and don't care enough to put out my librarian glasses and spend 30 minutes writing a literary analysis.

SSSS.Gridman's mix of style, direction, and story make it an INCREDIBLY entertaining watch and I highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates good art in their anime.

Oh my God!

I will do this review as a Tokusatsu Fan, since this is inspired by the 90's Tokusatsu series: Denkou Choujin Gridman, it is the right thing to do.

Story: Great! It is not the classic episodic enemy kind of story. It is really complex in the background, with a clear inspiration of series like Evangelion (is Trigger... you know...).
The only bad points on the story is that only if you have seen the original 90's Gridman live action, you will be capable of understanding all the glory and implications of the end.
Story: 8

Art: Impressive, the designs are very good, the characters, the Kaijus, Gridman ... Itself. All of them are cool. The animation is really good with the usual Trigger Style that some people love and other ones hate. The battles can be a bit more dynamic but they are very good battles. And can we talk about the references? HOLY S$#T there are a lot of references. From other animes to Tokusatsu classic series. What a good time i have looking for all the references. And a good one for all you to know: Rikka's mother has the same face of Haruko from FLCL and THE SAME SEIYUU! What an amazing touch right there!
Art: 8

Sound: very good, the music is good, it feels out of place in some parts, and then you remember is Trigger (you know...trigger...gainax...Evangelion...) so in the end is quite an experience. In some parts i really began to expect a battle with beethoven music. The opening and ending are good, the opening specially made me feel like watching and old Tokusatsu series so it really achieve the objective.
Sound: 9

Character: This is the low point of the series, the characters lack with their personalities. At some point i stopped caring about the characters and just wait for the next amazing battle, Anti is by far the most interesting character of the series. And the only one i really cared to find out his true motivations.
Characters: 7

Enjoyment: If you are a Tokusatsu fan, this anime touch the line of the very very good anime. I enjoyed the battles a lot. To the point of watching the entire anime in less than half a day. So if you are fan of trigger or Tokusatsu this is a highly recommended series, every episode will let you with hunger of more. If not, it is still a good mecha vs kaiju style of anime for you to watch.
Enjoyment: 9

Overall: 8

Trigger's gayest anime to date is still not gay enough.

The parts of the show that interest me are often given a back seat to archetypes and themes already explored in other shows. Yuta is a precious boy and all but he really isn't all that interesting, his situation not withstanding.

Rikka often picks up the slack of the protagonist and her relationship with Akane is the absolute narrative crowning jewel of the show. I am almost starved for more interaction and information from them. While the romantic tension between them is there I wish it were less vague. There was a great opportunity to voice ... LGBT representation and Trigger merely gave a timid squeak. There are other characters who are super interesting, but in my opinion not all are quite utilized to their full potential. One stand out being the Kaiju with intelligence

I loved the heavy atmosphere of the toned down moments where the characters are allowed to shine, as well as the show's use of silence conversationally to emphasize certain moments for humor or drama.

The other draw is, of course, the massive kaiju mecha fights which are quite impressive and original for the Genre, using some impressive cg animation to invoke a guy in a rubber suit was both refreshing and nostalgic at the same time. The designs of them were all great, however, I wish the design of the Alien character had a less generic "trigger/gainax" look to him. it felt like he had no personality of his own.

For better or for worse there's pretty much no other show like this and despite its flaws I definitely think it's worth a shot.

SSSS Gridman is an interesting anime to review because it is really two different animes in one. One is good, one is... meh.

The first part of SSSS. Gridman is the typical mystery, romance, and slice of life. I find this to be great. The main character has amnesia and is a little goofy at first, but he will grow on you pretty quickly as a decent MC. His best friend is a typical best friend in these types of shows, forgettable, but at least he is not annoying.

The strength of this show is the female cast, particularly the main female girl, Rikka (the love ... interest) and the "enemy," Akane. Rikka is probably the best girl of the season, very strong female character who does her own thing and not your typical love interest girl who just goes along with whatever the MC wants/likes. Akane could make a run for best girl, though her being the bad guy is putting her at a disadvantage (not really a spoiler because it is stated so early on in the anime).

The mystery is how and why things happening the way they are instead of who is doing what. So far, the mystery is entertaining enough.

The downside to this anime is the action sequences which will remind viewers of the corny old school Power Ranger fights... at the end of each episode where the enemies grow exponentially and the good guys bring out some huge mechanized human looking thing. These fights are corny as hell and majority of the adults who watch this anime will cringe at these sequences. The good part is that they are a very small part of each episode and they do not overstay their welcome.

I enjoy watching this episode mostly for the interactions between each character and to figure out what is going on. If you can get by a 3-5 minute corny Power Rangers-esque fight each episode, I think you will find enjoyment out of this anime.

Godzilla represented the fears and destruction of nuclear weapons, so what if a lonely human created kaiju, then what do these human created kaiju represent for the one that created it?

SSSS.Gridman is something like a modern retelling of the 1993 Gridman the Hyper Agent tokusatsu series. SSSS.Gridman follows Yuta Hibiki voiced by Yuuya Hirose having woken up with amnesia but later on told by Gridman voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa on an old computer screen that he has a purpose, with his friends Rikka Takarada voiced by Yume Miyamoto, Akane Shinjou voiced by Reina Ueda and Shou Utsumi voiced by Souma Saitou to help him out, ... until the kaiju's appeared...

Some Spoilers Ahead...

Now LA really doesn't watch tokusatsu series but was mildly interested in Power Rangers at one point or another, but nonetheless the basic premise is nearly the same as it's 1993 counterpart, but where SSSS.Gridman is different is where one certain character just changes up the formula of what would be a typical "monster of the week" serial, that being Akane Shinjou.

SSSS.Gridman has two main plotlines that it goes throughout the anime, one of Yuta and how he is linked with Gridman, the other of Akane Shinjou herself. Yuta's story is mainly fixated on his amnesia and who he is which coupled with his friends interactions and the strange instances of the city and it's people "resetting" as it were to piece together why the kaiju appears and that answer comes in Akane Shinjou, see Akane Shinjou is shown VERY early on that she's not the typically nice genki girl, as she's the one creating the kaiju for her own personal reasonings, some for the mildest of indiscretions and tries killing them. The typical monster of the week plays out for the both Yuta and Akane with Akane closing in who Gridman really is and Yuta closing in as to the strange incidents being linked to Akane in the process. There is one chaos factor as it were and that is Anti voiced by Kenichi Suzumura, a kaiju made human having a vendetta against Gridman and something of a repeatable monster that Gridman and Yuta fights often within the anime and he later get major character development on it's existence as a human-kaiju.

Yuta's plotline IS interesting as it ties up loose ends as ti were, but the downsides are that Yuta is something of a doe-eyed main male protagonist with his amnesia NOT helping matters and he's a little bit dense but not too dense as it were which is probably helped with the Neon Genesis Junior Highschool Students (yes really that's their group name), 4 suited mysterious people who give Gridman different transformations and this being adapted from a tokusatsu series, YUP Gridman can combine with them. Anyways the Neon Genesis Junior Highschool Students are like the voice of reason to Yuta as well as Utsumi and Rikka in many ways and it's because of their involvement they make things interesting to say the least, not only because of Gridman's fancy new weapons but with the character interactions, LA's favourite Neon Genesis Junior Highschool Student being Borr voiced by Aoi Yuuki, for having the Macross Missile Massacre installment but also for her brash personality. With favourites, LA's favourite character would definitely be Rikka Takarada as her personality and involvement in the anime was just interesting compared to Yuta and Utsumi, though Utsumi was something of a audience surrogate, especially towards the tokusatsu fans.

Now for Akane, the MOST interesting character of the anime, with Akane able to create kaiju it embodies her desires and feelings as it were, she is something of a god as it were and the dynamic of her obsession with kaiju and making friends comes full circle for LA when it compares to Yuta's situation of being the "hero" that fights against the kaiju, as it were dispelling the negative emotions Akane creates with the kaiju in the city. For LA's interpretation, Akane WANTS to have friends as it were and she is already popular but with her being a god, is her being popular is fake due to how she orchestrated it all and she's creating kaiju not only because it's something she likes to do but to also get Rikka to truly be her friend in the process?, as both of them share a great deal of screentime together. There's also the notion of the "god complex" as her having a world all to herself, she one, can't handle the outliers and two, her personality leads herself into almost self-destructive state that she would rather destroy it all, not helped by Alexis Kerib voiced by Tetsu Inada the bigger bad as it were. Akane is a pretty complex and interesting character and bringing up that Akane is the Big Bad very early on was refreshing and different to say the least and what they do with her later on and thoroughly commit to this was executed excellently.

SSSS.Gridman's animation is impressive to say the least and from Trigger along with Tsuburaya Productions who does special effects on tokusatsu shows, this to be expected, with many of the kaiju battles being 3DCGI but used excellently well and the motions and choreography being somewhat intentional to harken back to the old tokusatsu series but still the level of animation was amazingly done. Character designs are vibrant and interesting looking, with standouts from Akane, Borr, Anti and Rikka to say a few. Trigger and Tsuburaya Productions did amazingly well to modernize a tokusatsu into anime format with detailed background work, character designs and those awesome CGI Gridman vs. kaiju fights were the icing on the cake. Expected Trigger but also major props to Tsuburaya Productions for making the CGI seamless to the traditional animation done with Trigger.

As for voice acting, well LA will commend Reina Ueda as she once again for LA has been typecasted but exceedly typecasted well as Akane, in voicing another "genki character with bloody steel"-type characters (the other one LA can remember is μ from Caligula) but seriously Reina Ueda easily earns LA's MVP award in terms of voicing acting as she went all out with this role. The rest of the voice cast were great as well, from Yume Miyamoto as Rikka who had some great emotional range, Kenichi Suzumura as Anti, sounding like a semi-hyped Accelerator most of the time and Hikaru Midorikawa as Gridman for the name attacking moments which SSSS.Gridman does OFTEN. What can LA say a great voice cast!

SSSS.Gridman gives us two spices as it were with either one pleasing, if you want to see kaiju fights then get your adrenaline pumped for that with it's amazingly done animation work done by Trigger and Tsuburaya Productions, but if you want intrigue, character development and interestingly drastic changes to the plot that accompanies the kaiju fights then that will satisfy you as well, SSSS.Gridman does have some weakness with both these plotlines converging of course, that of our main protagonist may not be a bit bland with Rikka and Utsumi taking up the slack but that's a small flaw to what is a great anime celebrating tokusatsu in all it's CGI glory.

Thank You Gridman and welcome to the Melancholy of Akane Shinjou

Two month or so ago back when the first episode of SSSS. Gridman came out, it was met with a mixed reaction and many people didn't continue the show. This is due to a huge chunk of present fanbase only tries to find context on surface material. In fact, a huge part of anime fans thinks any show with giant mechs fighting have no other theme or story other than cheap monster-a-week fights.

Everything that happens in the show is part of a meta-narrative. As the story progresses the narration slowly expands and by the end you'll view every incident of the story in a ... different angle. Although you'll probably be able to guess what the meta-narration is for by Episode 10,it still doesn't make the ending any less emotionally powerful.

The cast of the show is a perfectly balanced mixture of Goofy Side Characters and Emotionally driven protagonists. Something Hiroyuki Imaishi does in a lot of his works. It's hard to get into the characters without giving away spoilers so,I'll just point out my favorite two characters and their brilliant dynamic. Akane and Rikka are my two most favorite characters and their relationship has the best development in the entire show. Rikka had thousands of reason to turn her back on Akane but she didn't. She reached out to Akane and was genuinely able to get through.The most amazing thing is this brilliant character arc never played second fiddle to the show's actions.

Neon Genesis Evangelion's influence in the show is very evident.It's a mecha driven narrative with underlying themes of loneliness, isolation and escapism.In fact,the SSSS Gridman team is called Neon Genesis Junior High Students. This is the beauty of the show to be honest. This show is made by people whose passion for the shows that inspired them sips through each and every frame of the show.

Imma get this out first, SSSS.Gridman is not for everyone. To fully experience this masterpiece you at least have to watch some of the old Ultra series as this anime is a tribute to those incredible works in the past.
Story 10
I found myself very intrigued by the mysterious world of SSSS and this is the part that i love about Trigger. They reveal just little bit about the world each episodes to keep the audience engaged and they're really good at doing this. Every tiny details, every bits are all connected helping to build up the story then when the the twist hit, it feels ... really satisfying and not just for the sake of shock value. In addition, the pacing is excellent and i could see the time and effort they spent to make all the plots comes together.
The fights between Kaiju and Gridman are exhilarating as hell and every fights has its own depth and meaning, oR its just really cool to have Gridman overpowering them all with cool combinations of transformations.
Art 10
Trigger went all out on this masterpiece. The screenplay, the colorful world, the aesthetics, those damn sakuga, Im mean ComE ON Kaijus vs Giant Robots anime style. There were some uses of CG and its not half bad, also i think it fits perfectly. The amount of details of the world, the characters, the Kaiju and the Gridmans (different versions of him) makes for an "above average" of your typical highschool anime. The Kaijus each has unique styles, strengths, and abilities adapted to defeat Gridman. Trigger really is the king of Mechas.
Sound 10
Right from the get go, you can hear only the sounds, no music, just sounds and it gives me chills every times. I noticed that there were little uses of soundtrack (but it's fine cause those tracks are awsome) and just the sounds and it makes me very emerged in the world of SSSS, the humming of the mites, the noises during break times at school , the chorus in the background ... AnD that song they use in the final fight, uwe! the nostalgia
A little bit about the ending, perfect for the relationships between Rikka and Akane, outstanding
Character 9
I wont be able to talk about our characters too much without spoiling the entire anime but again Trigger has outdone themselves making me invested in these people. And the one who surprised me the most was Anti, thats all I have to say
Also, Rikka thicc thighs
Also Also, Akane panty hose
Enjoyment 10
I watched a lot of the Ultra series as a kid and SSSS G man is a like an anime style payoff to the late 90s series on how great they were back then. I was just excited as much as I was a kid watching this anime giving me chills whether I recall the feelings of similar moments being recreated with such love, care and creativity
Overall, I love SSSS. Gridman, and Trigger for their talented and dedicated staff. I just love them

As a massive Trigger fan, I was excited to watch their take on the tokusatsu genre. What I got was something else entirely, and I'm glad it subverted my expectations.

The story follows a boy named Yuta Hibiki, who shares an unknown link with an otherworldly entity named Gridman. Together, they must combat kaiju created by his classmate, Akane Shinjou (best girl, by far), who has a few secrets of her own. The series begins as a "monster-of-the-week" style tokusatsu show, paying homage to numerous other tokusatsu such as Dengoku Chojin Gridman and the Ultra series. Akane creates a kaiju brought to life by an alien ... named Alexis Kherib, Yuta and Gridman defeat it, rinse and repeat with some powerups and combination attacks along the way. Not until a little before the halfway point do things diverge.

The directorial style had heirs of Neon Genesis Evangelion (with some characters even borrowing the namesake), utilizing empty frames with overlapping dialogue. It added that sense of loneliness and existentialism that came with Evangelion, albeit to a lesser degree. Still, there was a presence of stillness; a bizarre addition to a tokusatsu show. It works well here, but takes away from the great animation style Trigger is known for.

SSSS.Gridman is more of a deconstruction of the tokusatsu genre rather than just being another entry, and was a highly engaging watch. The single season is only 12 episodes, making it easily digestible. I'd definitely recommend if you're either a fan of Trigger Studios or looking for a show that does things a bit differently.

SSSS. Gridman, what an adventure. I'll try to make this review as spoiler-free as possible.
From the show's relatively humble beginnings to it's grandiose end, it's was excellent all the way through.

SSSS.Gridman is an amusing blend of genres, putting one of the spotlights on the school life aspect of it's main cast but driving itself forward through both elements of Mecha and Kaijuu tokusatsu shows. It's the perfect transition to animation an original Henshin tokusatsu show could ever ask for.

Every episode littered with great cinematography, art and animation accompanied with high energy tracks that compliment the production.
It's filled to the brim with 2D sakuga and ... fluid CG animation which shows just how passionate the staff was about the whole show.
The atmosphere's carefully crafted by the proper use of soundracks and effects combined with the cinematography consisting of airless, sort of confined shots of the blistering summer heat and oppressive cloudy rains. It gives the show a sense of an identity that a lot of recent anime just can't seem to grasp.

The story is rather formulaic as it sticks to a Monster of The Week format but the archetypical structure of the format is broken down in a few places, making way for an actual overarching plot within the setup.
Every plot point the show setup was unveiled at a proper pacing, and while the characters lacked development outside of Akane, the underlying themes still got through and eventually culminated into it's fantastic ending which saw Akane finally facing herself instead of finding fault in everything else.

The entire roster is colorful and visually distinct, making them easy to remember, and potentially iconic - someday, down the line.
The development for Hibiki, Rikka and Utsumi did feel kind of miniscule in the grand scheme of things and they should've gotten more screen time addressing their personal characteristics but the main focus of the plot didn't really require much on that front so they can be given a pass.

Overall it's a great show that's totally worth everyone's time and attention.

I often want to call Darling in the Franxx disappointing, but that isn't entirely true. I suspected I might not like it quite early on. SSSS.Gridman had a lot of baggage to overcome. Unlike with Franxx, this was a solo project for Trigger. That boded well for me, but I still had a certain fear that the roots of the company would shine through and we'd end up with another mech-Gainax-wannabe. With both series, I went in not knowing anything except the studio information. And while Franxx was a struggle for me to sift through, SSSS.Gridman kept me binge-watching once it had finished airing. It ... was everything I never knew I wanted.

I think that what I really loved about this show is that it knew its predecessors. Often with shows like Franxx, Attack on Titan, or Sword Art Online, they try to brand themselves as very individual and erase the ancestor-like material. Gridman never pretended to be a hot, fresh take on the mech genre. It dutifully paid homage to the roots of mech pop culture. The art and sound were very impressive to me, and while it wasn't the new Evangelion, the atmosphere of it was extremely captivating. To me, it was like an 80s-90s experience but dressed up in a 2018 style. It was nostalgic and refreshing compared to more mass-produced trending shows.

I haven't written many reviews on anime, because I tend to find them ranging from unnecessary to obnoxious. Generally, there tends to be a massive discourse surrounding certain shows. Whether I agree or disagree, I don't value arguing about anime on the internet. Gridman isn't trying to be a massive statement though. That's why I am so thrilled to make my own statements about it.

I think it's okay that a lot of people weren't enthused with Gridman. Gridman isn't here to capture a massive wave of praise. What it does do, I believe it does well. For the 12 episodes I spent watching it, I was a kid again, experiencing science fiction shows for the first time. It is one of the purest watching experiences that I've had in a while. For people who don't value the same things as me or value them differently, this show was just another drop in the massive bucket of anime. But for me, it was a moment to reflect on what has never ceases to make me smile.

This is a surprisingly good series that starts simple but quickly becomes rich with character complexity and development. People who are not able to appreciate the creativity and care that went into the series are smoking something.

Gridman is not a simple monster of the week beat-em-up as it might appear based on the first few episodes. On first watching the first three episodes feel almost formulaic, but soon it becomes clear that there is far more to the story.

Aside from the character development, the standout aspect of this show is the cinematography and how it is used to effect visual storytelling. Nearly every shot is ... dripping with implication and meaning; characterization also benefits from this as the way characters are posed and frames speaks volumes without requiring a word of dialogue. It's clear that the creators of this show are masters of the craft and had a clear vision for what they wanted to create.

I have two recommendations. One, don't stop watching until at least the 4th episode as the series takes about this long to really get going.

Two, watch it a second time. There are many small but significant details hidden in plain sight that will make more sense and be appreciated more on a second viewing.