Well for once, a character not named in the episode is named in the credits, namely, she’s known as Anosillus II, with the original Anosillus being a monster from the OG Gridman who was associated with music (he lived with the “computer world” of a synthesiser) and had elasticity powers. He didn’t look human, but he did have a humanoid female (specified in the original episode to be a Compoid, an inhabitant of the Computer World) partner who seemingly had something of a romance with him. Make your own conclusions.

I’ll also add that originally, the character would've been Anosillus III (since an evil knockoff of Anosillus had appeared in a later episode), before it was changed to Anosillus Jr. to make the relationship more explicit and then finally to the current name because “Jr” is more associated with male children.

And talking of music, two recognisable theme songs can be heard. The first being that Rikka listens to Die Hollen Polizei, the theme song to the director’s (and indeed, the studio’s) first anime series, Inferno Cop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzJ0dcj3W-8

And later, the sad piano music Anosillus II plays to wake up Yuta is the theme song to the original Gridman the Hyper Agent, known as Yume no Hero (or as it became known batter as thanks to memes, Baby Dan Dan). The group that performed this show’s theme song Union did their own cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmh1P74y9So

Inferno Cop, the show where Trigger said, "Let's make our own Adult Swim show!". :lolol

I was aware of the second one, but the other two are neat! Thanks!

The show does such a great job of balancing Akane's gleeful sociopathy with moments of visceral justification for her desire for violent retribution against society -- Utsumi is such a patronizing fandom gatekeeping dude here! He even does the Well You're A Cute Girl So I Assumed You Didn't Know Anything bit!!! Show Anti a picture of Utsumi next!!!

(I actually really loved how Akane was with him, how quickly she's like It's Not Like Every Dude Is Into Kaiju, So Why Is It Weird That A Girl Is. She's so comfortable in her fandom, and instantly disarming around Utsumi's reflexive buffoonery and regrettable peacocking. She's really connecting with him, only partially to then leverage that connection to get what she wants.)

Neat! Thanks!

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 7 - “SCHEME”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman07a.png

You know it’s gonna be a fun date episode when the girl’s dad shows up.

Very much a Setting The Table episode, both literally with the aforementioned date, and figuratively with the continued unfurling of Music Note’s warnings and exposition from last episode – which takes a weirdly long time to get everyone onboard, considering all of the insanity they’ve already experienced – leaving this one feeling delightfully chaotic but sort of narratively a little too open-ended.

I did enjoy all of the Akane/Yuta stuff, and it’s genuinely nice to have an episode that foregrounds their relationship/acquaintanceship/rivalry/dyad. They’re both dealing with otherdimensional robot mans (?) who are empowering them to follow their hearts and do the things that only they can do, whether that’s destroying kaiju or creating kaiju, and that gives them common ground despite their hilariously diametrically opposed views of the sanctity of human life. They’re in this battle, even though Yuta can’t remember why, and Akane can’t explain why. Letting them feel their way around that vaguery through something as simple as two teens going on a date (which her dad shows up to!) is exactly the right energy for this show, and it’s probably going to be in the Top 3 things I remember after the series is over.

The Anti fight, also very strong, even if I find his dedication to a third Something Only I Can Do story to be more comedic and extravagant than I find it particularly moving or insightful. He’s cute and funny as a guy who just wants to kill Gridman, and while that has thematic value – his commitment to a cause at the expense of connections, versus forming connections that could impact his cause – it really just comes off increasingly goofy and more of a release valve for other stories’ tension than anything too compelling in its own right. He had an exceptional time out last episode (proximity with Rikka will do that for you), but this time out felt like a little more of a step back.

There are of course a bunch of little things that further flesh out Music Note’s exposition from last time, and I sort of don’t want to talk about them. That sort of puzzle box stuff, the city in the clouds or Alexis Kerib’s plans or whatever… I don’t want to theorize? I’ll find out in a couple episodes, maybe; if I don’t, I honestly don’t care. I am not here for that stuff, even if I’m sure I’ll love it when it all comes together. (I really like how Akane’s “perfect world” is all of them in high school, because it speaks to both a sense of ennui and a need for safety and routine that matches her dislike of disruptions and inconvenience. She very much wants things to be a certain way, and always go a certain way, and that really matches the template of most toku shows.) (Also, boy, I feel like Yuta not being able to say that Akane’s his friend, and Rikka not yet giving Akane the folio she bought her… those feel like real big things for this show and its eventual conclusion! I am not immune to hypothesizing after all!) I just like watching these characters bounce off of each other, and explore their concepts of self, like the teacher none-too-subtly talked about. I like them figuring out who they are so they can figure out what they stand for, even if those things are terrible.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman07b.png

https://i.imgur.com/7CR6QW6.png

The symbolism is strong with this one.

It is sadly lost on me!

Zeong?

(The extract here has been redacted after re-reading the post now that I haven’t just woken up and got to work on editing the TV Tropes Recap page for Bakugan)

And we get our final Gridman combination, in the form of Sky Gridman. His attacks, the Amp Laser Circus and Lucky Smoke Screen homage the original Vitor’s two pilots, Amp Pierre and his replacement when the show got unexpectedly renewed and the actor couldn’t commit to the new episodes, Lucky London. To sum up the differences, both in the words of TV Tropes and my own.

As for my words, Amp got the funniest lines (Holy Mel Gibson! That’ll make him one lethal weapon), while Lucky was on the receiving end (You couldn’t perform magic if Merlin himself was helping you).

And a last bit of trivia, this week’s monster, being made by Anti instead of Akane, not only has a totally different aesthetic, but has his voice distorted for the cry (though he doesn’t seem to be saying anything legible)

This episode's monster fight was always a favorite of mine? Between the slick nighttime atmosphere, the way Sky Gridman's basic ability to fly ends up being a natural way to drop a notably big hint about the larger Plot, and the especially clever concept for a monster, there are a lot of layers all going on at once that make it particularly interesting and fun.