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10-07-2020, 05:50 PM | #151 |
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Join Date: Sep 2019
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Good to hear about your next choice. It’s one I’ve seen myself and I can share some opinions.
And just like I did with the Undead on KRD’s watch thread for Kamen Rider Blade, I’ll be explaining the Gridman references, based on information from TVTropes, the Ultraman Wiki and my experience of having watched 8/13s of the show on YouTube. Looking forward to it!
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10-08-2020, 02:19 PM | #152 |
fencer of gold
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Gridman hah? Just like the garo anime its a really good series even to those who aren't familiar with the original series, and I remember really enjoying it
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10-29-2020, 06:48 PM | #153 |
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Sooo I kinda ended up lying about SSSS.Gridman being next. With the recent announcement of "Godzilla: Singular Point" it reminded me of something I never bothered to check out a couple years back: The Netflix Godzilla anime films.
So! I spent all of today checking them out! Alot of people warned me not to(including some of the users on this board), but hey, I'm now the Toku Anime Guy of these parts, so I gotta, right? And lemme tell ya, it was an almost total waste of my time! Don't get me wrong, the movies are by no means the worst things I've ever seen or anything like that, but yeah, I can definitely see why these movies don't have many fans. For me personally though, it's not how every movie is mostly exposition with all the action only being at the very end. It's not that they're slow-paced. Its not even that I'm the type of Godzilla fan who only shows up to see Godzilla blow stuff up. I like a bunch of other movies and shows that are all like that! No, the main issue I had was the characters. I gave literally not a single damn about any of them! No one is likeable in these movies! They all spend alot of time praising the lead, Haruo, but there's nothing likeable or special about the guy! Like, yeah, he wants to kill Godzilla, but like... so does everyone else in these films? Not exactly a reason to treat him special. Heck, what little characterization there even is isn't even consistent. Alot of the "reveals" about certain characters being selfish, bad, or corrupt is done solely to create forced drama. Drama which I straight don't care about because I have no one to root for. It's not even like that's the point the movies are trying to make either; We are clearly meant to root for Haruo, but again, we're never given a good reason to do so. Speaking of that, I got a personal kick(in that I didn't like it) how the entire third movie spent trying really hard to say that the Death Cult is wrong and humans are better than what they claim... only for the last five minutes to come in and say "Actually no, they were totally right. End all of civilization for the greater good." Like, dude, even "Kill-Em-All" Tomino wouldn't go that far. I understand that these movies were written by the same guy who wrote Kamen Rider Gaim. Someone PLEASE tell me that show is atleast a bit better than this? By the way, if you're a fan of Mothra and/or King Ghidorah, well, let's just say their "involvement" in these films will most likely come across as an insult. In the end, I give the movies an overall score of 2/6. They aren't out and out horrible, but why watch them when you could watch... almost any other Godzilla movie? Hopefully Singular Point will end up alot better than these. The way they animated Godzilla's' Atomic Breath was cool though. So yeah, I'll start covering SSSS.Gridman either next week or the week after.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 12-11-2020 at 09:51 PM.. |
10-31-2020, 01:03 PM | #154 |
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I’m almost at the end of the OG Gridman (two more episodes), so this will be a good chance to rewatch this series.
Last edited by Androzani84; 10-31-2020 at 01:40 PM.. |
11-26-2020, 12:09 PM | #155 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,404
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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA!
I know I'm way late in starting this, but in my defense, Memory of Heroez is a surprisingly fun game that I highly recommend you all check out. (real life stuff like my job getting more hectic as we enter the holiday season also happened but that's clearly far less important and way less of an excuse i mean really how dare i) So without further ado, let's start covering... SSSS.Gridman is a rather unique production in that it serves as not only a soft reboot to the original Hyper Agent Gridman, but also its American counterpart, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. The show essentially combines elements of both in order to create something to appeal to both sides of the pacific. And full disclosure, while I do know a few scant details about Gridman due to internet osmosis, the one I am far more familiar with is Syber-Squad, and I even made sure to rewatch it in its entirety back when this anime was first announced. It's total 90s cheese, but I love it, and I recommend checking out the show on YouTube if you're curious. As such, I'll be sure to point out every reference this anime makes to Syber-Squad that I can. Unfortunately I can't do the same for Gridman, having never seen it. I'll probably also drop some comparisons here and there. Oh, and like always, I'll be specifically talking about the dub of this anime. Not only because I think it's really good, but due to one specific choice that the dub made that I really appreciate. But I'll go more into that in the future. With that, let's begin. Episode 1: Awakening Our story begins with Yuta, a boy who's lost his memory. Upon waking up, he begins to realize that there's alot of things that only he can see: Giant Kaiju standing at the borders of the city, a thick fog out of Silent Hill, and a mysterious entity known as Gridman who keeps telling Yuta that he needs to "remember his calling." Rikka, the girl who found Yuta passed out infront of her house, isn't buying any of it, and chalks what Yuta sees up to brain damage. She is atleast nice to enough to help him find his way to both the hospital and his home though, even if she is cryptic about what exactly her connection to Yuta is. cue squees from kamen rider die in the distance Back at school, Yuta meets a boy who he apparently recently became friends with named Sho, who is a huge nerd and fan of the Ultra Series. He also runs into Akane(the girl in the first screenshot). And it's at this point that we run into the first reference that pretty much anyone is sure to recognize: THE SANDWICH! This hybrid between a sandwich and a hotdog was invented by the Lunchlady(best character) from Syber-Squad, and is also the very thing that Tanker used as inspiration when designing Servo(US Gridman)'s' sword and shield weapon. Speaking of which, it becomes clear pretty quick who our main trio are meant to mirror: Yuta is the new Sam, Rikka is the new Syd, and Sho is the new Tanker. Granted, their personalities are way different, but the dynamic is there. Maybe the personalities match more in the original Gridman? Either way there's no new stand-ins for Amp or Lucky, unfortunately. One thing that I feel definitely makes this episode stand out, especially in terms of introductory episodes, is its atmosphere and general air of mystery. There's almost no music throughout the entire thing! The animation and the character's' manners of speech are more slow-paced, minor events(like the sandwich getting smashed) are played with the same sort of levity that a bullet going off would, and it just in general has a much more... I guess "grounded" would be the word? Sort of feel than most shows of this ilk tend to have. AND THEN THINGS KICK INTO HIGH GEAR I love how the Kaiji are in terms of both design and animation in this show; They're made to look like people in rubber suits! The action itself is even more slow-paced in order to mimic that of the sort of fights you'd see in say, Megazord battles or other giant monster fights from the early days of Toku. It's a great attention to detail that helps show that the people behind this project certainly cared about it. Oh, and the show makes sure to emphasize how one specific character in particular gets blown up by the Kaiju, but I'm sure that's not important. Overall it's a great first impression, and I got just as excited rewatching this episode as I had when I first saw it about a year ago. This is gonna be a fun ride.
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11-26-2020, 01:07 PM | #156 |
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Well, we’re onto this. I’ve been saving this list for a few months, so let’s talk about the Gridman elements in this episode for the crowd that aren’t in with that series.
* Yuta was treated at Inoue Hospital, which also made an appearance in the original Denkou Choujin Gridman as the workplace of Yuka Inoue's parents, hence its name. It was where Naoto Sho's brother, Daichi was being treated back in episode 1 until an attack by Gilarus caused all surgical instruments to go haywire. * Akane gives Yuta a Special Dog (a type of hot dog). This food appeared in episode 5 of the original series and was Ippei's inspiration for designing Barrier Shield. * The monsters repairing the city are based on Venora, the Kaiju from the “Showdown! Hero’s End” two-parter. * In Katakana, Ghoulghilas (グールギラス) can be rearranged into Gilarus (ギラルス Girarusu), the first Kaiju from the original series, with extra letters left. * And as a bonus, one of the comments on the video depicting Gridman compares him to Ultraman Orb’s Lightning Attacker Fusion Up form. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20200111205641 * When Utsumi says that "Yuta has been eaten by Junk", its the same dialogue said by Ippei when Naoto gets fused with Gridman in episode 1 of the original series. * When fighting Ghoulghilas, Gridman does the same flying kick motion as his live-action counterpart's Neo Superconductivity Kick. * The TV Network ECN made its cameo appearance. For those who watched the original series, that was the same TV Network that Naoto's dad Soichiro Sho worked at. * Several elements are lifted from the unproduced Gridman F concept * Yuta Hibiki, the new host of Gridman is also one in this scrapped series. Had Gridman F were given the greenlight, he would be assisted by Ippei Baba, who went to a different high school from Naoto Sho and Yuka Inoue after failing his entrance exam. * Alexis Kerib, the main villain from Makai World and leader of five monsters is reused as this anime's Big Bad. * Yuta's classmate Akane was meant to be Takeshi Todo's expy from the scrapped planning. * The show takes place in the high school of Tsutsujidai. The original planning, however, said that the high school is an industrial high school, whereas the anime counterpart is just a normal high school. * So the name of the shop that Rikka's mother operated is Junk Shop AYA? Well in the original series, Junk is obviously referring to the computer that Naoto and his friends made and the AYA suffix refers to INTERIOR SHOP Aya, Hiroshi Baba (Ippei's father)'s workplace. That aside, I also rewatched this recently and thought it was a pretty good start for a series. |
11-26-2020, 10:21 PM | #157 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,576
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A nice fun and mysterious start, it's a good way to hook people in with a nice mystery.
Also always nice to have all these fun trivia tidbits to look at. Speaking of Gridman I need to catch up before Episode 3 goes away. |
11-27-2020, 09:37 AM | #158 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,404
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Hope you enjoy watching the OG Gridman too!
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11-27-2020, 12:38 PM | #159 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,404
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Episode 2: Restoration This is the first time we get to see the show's opening sequence, and it's one that I really only grew to truly appreciate after having seen the entire show once already. It's designed in a way that, while it might not seem like much is happening in it, once you know the story in full, it serves as a summation of a majority of the events in the anime proper. I love it! I decided to screencap this moment in the OP in particular, because it's a shot that you really have no idea who's in it or what it signifies until you reach the final bits of the anime. Heck, this entire episode is chock full of foreshadowing, to the point that I won't dare give all of it away, and will try my best to only focus on the few moments that I find especially memorable or notable. But hey, if any of you wanna point out some specific instances in particular, go for it. Just be mindful of spoilers for the newbies. So what exactly is this episode about? A few things! But the biggest thing, atleast that I got out of it, was the idea of subverting and asking questions about many of the various tropes that we just sort of take for granted, especially in terms of classic Toku. Like how none of the civilians seem to acknowledge that an evil force is at work(this is especially notable me right now, seeing as I'm watching Kamen Rider Super-1 at the same time), how despite tons of collateral damage, everything is back to normal the next day, how the victims of the week are never acknowledged after their episode, as well as a small touch on how our heroes grow the nerve to rise above themselves and fight for the good of others. And it's all done in a way that you can tell it's not meant to be mocking the genre in any form, and is infact treating it with tons of respect. Major points! One mystery solved right away though is who exactly is behind the Kaiju attacks, although episode 1 wasn't exactly subtle about it. It's Akane, and her partner that lives inside of her computer monitor, Alexis. It's also here it's made clear who exactly Akane is a counterpart to; Malcolm from Syber-Squad. For those not in the know, Malcolm was an anti-social artist in the US show, who vented his frustrations by designing "Virus Monsters" (Kaiju) which were then brought to life by a sentient computer virus, Kilokahn(Alexis). And no joke, if Syber-Squad were even slightly more realistic, Akane is straight up what Malcom would be like; Someone willing to kill over petty inconveniences. No joke, for a majority of the show, if Malcolm hadn't met Kilokahn, the dude straight up would've brought a gun to school. Speaking of Kilokahn, I LOVE the extra step the dub took with Alexis here; Making the active decision to have his voice actor do a Tim Curry impression(he was the voice for Kilokahn), and they went even further with it in a later episode, but I'll be sure to point that out when it happens. Heck, Alexis' background that we see in later shots is the exact same one used for Kilokahn whenever he would talk to Malcolm. Nice touch there! Shifting gears a bit now, I wanna talk a little about the new character introduced: Samurai Calibur. This dude is awesome. Not only is he super cool all throughout the show, but the comedic timing on him getting his swords caught on door frames is hilarious to me. I suppose all the leaves now is the action bits, along with a couple other references to SSSS. One moment I especially wanna point out is how, when the Kaiju attack starts, and Yuta goes to rush off to help, Sho remarks "This is really out of character for you!" Which might be odd, given what the audience has seen about Yuta so far. This is the Primal Acceptor, a brace that Yuta can use to synchronize with Gridman whenever he's near JUNK. While not exact, it is very similar to the Samuraizer, which Sam would use to transform into Servo in Syber-Squad. And taking that one step further, when Calibur enters JUNK to give Gridman a new weapon to fight with, that is also directly out of SSSS, as Sam's' friends would need to enter the digital world in order to pilot Servo's' various armaments. Oh that classic Masami Obari sword pose. (That's a famous mecha designer, if you didn't know.) But yeah, overall, this episode continues what the first episode set up: A great balance between mystery, action, and character development. Oh, and before I totally forget to note it, Gridman simply saying "Yo." when he first shows up made me laugh way harder than what it should've. So this show has comedic timing going for it too!
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Last edited by DreamSword; 11-27-2020 at 02:24 PM.. |
11-27-2020, 01:24 PM | #160 |
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Yeah, Gridman had a similar antisocial loner making the monsters for petty reasons (case in point: he once reprogrammed a hairdryer to turn anyone using it into a punk purely because the girl he was crushing on was nice to people other than him). The main thing that sets him apart is that he had some moments wherein he’d reconsider his plans, only to go through them with brainwashing.
And today’s notes section. * Rikka theorises that Gridman was responsible for repairing the city. While the real cause turns out to be different, that’s exactly what happened in the old series, wherein Gridman would repair the damage following every battle with his Fixer Beam. * Something I missed last time, but Gridman’s blue colour scheme within Junk calls to mind the jumpsuit Naoto wore during the original series’ transformation stock footage. * Samurai Calibur is based off Gridman Sword, a weapon that was created by Compoid and Anosillus after saving the latter monster from Takeshi Todo's brainwashing. His Axe Mode is a throwback to the Gridman Sword's alternate mode, Thunder Axe. * His name is based off the Samurai Sword, the name for the Gridman Sword in Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. * Since the rest of his teammates references both Team Samurai and their Assist Weapons, Samurai・Calibur's name sounds similar to Sam Collins. * The actor voicing him in Japanese, Ryosuke Takahashi, is better known as the lead character Takuto Ando/Lio-Sazer in Chousei Kantai Sazer-X, a Tokusatsu series from 2006 by Konami and Toho Studios meant to cash in on the success of Super Sentai. It was the third in a trilogy after Chouseishin Gransazer and Genseishin Justirisers and included Gokaiger’s Gaku Shindo (Barizorg) and Kamen Rider OOO’s Ryosuke Miura (Ankh/Shingo) in supporting roles. * So how did Samurai become Gridman Calibur? He shouts the Access Code. In the original series, Gridman cannot exit Junk unless the trio enters the Access Code "GRIDMAN". In episode 31, entering the wrong code (GRIDOMAN) would be ineffective. * And Yuta does his predecessor’s pose and declaration of “Access Flash!” Comparison here. |
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