The word dull is honestly the best word to describe the story of SSSS Girdman. While it wasn't actually awful by any means it just so dull and at times uninteresting to follow. The series basically follows your classic monster of the week formula where set kaiju comes in to cause trouble in the city then they get defeated by Girdman and the series goes back to the status quo. Rinse and repeat.
Along with the show's monster/kaiju of the week formula, the series uses a certain plot device that I have grown to dislike over the years and that is Amnesia. If you don't know what Amnesia is then is basically a person who has no memory thanks to a certain event that caused him to lose memories and they essentially walking husks on screen until set character of set series gets they memory back. It is a plot device that essentially takes a big shit of the plot for set show as set show is literally forced to follow every amnesiac plot device possible and it's honestly tedious to watch.
SSSS Gridman is no different to this and as a result, the series was a chore to watch as we just see this our amnesia protagonist defeat Kanju left and right without a second thought.
When the show finally stops being this generic monster of the week in the last couples the series is being a boring God story with our main antagonist Akame and no surprise it's generic.
Finally, you can tell that Trigger was holding back/ I understand Trigger wanted to play itself after the disaster that was Darling in the Franxx but unfortunately there is a huge difference between playing itself and simply holding back for no reason and it really shows.
If there's any silver lining to SSSS Girdman to speak of it was the show is simply a fun throwback to not only the mecha anime genre from the past but the Tokusatsu genre as a whole. While I personally cannot get into the Tokusatsu genre myself, I will admit it genre has its appeal and anyone who is a fan of the Tokusatsu genre would probably have a good time with SSSS Girdman. It's such a shame the narrative isn't all that good to back it up.
The characters in SSSS Girdman were easily the weakest part of SSSS Girdman. They aren't terrible but they don't stand out all that much outside of a certain character trait for the most part.
Yuuta is your typical mecha/high school boy shounen protagonist that we all have seen before. Thanks to his amnesia in the narrative, he has no real personality to speak off. He doesn't grow as a character all that much and just simply a bore to watch. Even more boring than Katsuhira from Kiznaver.
Rikka started off as a decent character at first but she sadly devolved into a meme as the series progressed.
Shou is just there. He doesn't offer much to the story other to be a semi-useless sidekick for Yuuta.
The only slightly decent main character in the show is Akane as she has a decent motivation of killing all the Girdman. I really enjoyed how after she had peeled her cute face as she turned into a proper psycho. She was the most entertaining thing about this mediocre series.
The rest of the characters are just there. They not terrible but they not memorable as well.
Compared to the unpolished Trigger+ Cloverworks that was Darling in the Franxx the visuals in SSSS were pretty appealing for the most part.
The characters deigns are very distant and pretty to look at thanks to the beautiful smooth colour palette that was used to colour each character, Kanj and Gridman mecha itself which was nicely designed. The background scenery was well drawn as it had a lot of detail.
The animation was pretty solid for what it was however at the time it got a bit choppy in certain fights least it's not as bad as Franxx second half although the CGI itself could have been a lot better as it was janky at times.
The soundtrack is alright for what it is but not that memorable.
The opening and ending themes were decent but nothing too special.
As for sub vs dub well, this was a tricky one because I only saw the last 2 episodes subbed as I mainly watched this show dubbed and it was great and it manages to surpass the sub which was already pretty good on its own. The voice actors really did an excellent job with the roles they were given as it was well acted and nicely directed.
I really wanted to like SSSS Girdman I really do, but the series was ultimately average at best and underwhelming at worst. The story is for the most part boring, the characters are as interesting as eating eggs with no salt and the show overall lacked energy. The only things that were good about this show were the visuals, soundtrack and the English dub everything else is mediocre at best.
Unless you're into the Tokusatsu genre I cannot recommend this show to people especially who are Trigger fans such as myself.
You're honestly better watching Planet With or King of Braves series over this.
Better luck next time Trigger.
