Rikka and Akane is just what it is, I guess. Maybe they couldn't fit in some things because of the 12 episode runtime? Idk. Altho, I like to think the ED is the one that's suppose to bridge that gap despite how little context we get in the ED beyond two girls just hanging out.

You'll have to fill me in there. My extensive research(see: 10 second google search), brought up nothing on that song. Still, that is a nice touch!

Hey man, if you feel like giving your thoughts, go for it. I promise I won't cry(much). Though I will say, it seems like we're actually on opposite ends from what I can tell? Me liking the earlier episodes more and you liking the later ones more, I mean.

And oh yeah, there is great stuff to enjoy here. That entire middle section and that last bit with Anti and Anosillus 2? Hoo boy, great stuff.

Whoa wait, really? It was meant to be!!

And yeah, makes Anosillus 2 talking about "the spirit of music" in the previous episode she was in make alot more sense, dunnit? Haha.

I was gonna save this for the overall thoughts post, but I suppose there's no harm in mentioning here. This show does definitely feel like it was originally going to be like 3 episodes longer but then was cut down.

If the ED really is supposed to be our fill in, that is weirdly meta even for this show, but also still doesn't work given that said ED shows up even before Rikka sees Akane for the "first time in ages" at the bus stop.

Well, technically speaking, the title is Motto Kimi wo Shireba, which maybe would've been helpful to mention upfront. I, uh... probably won't be translating more than the title this time? ...I'm still not sure what the heck came over me back when you watched Kikaider. :lol

I definitely had a significantly rougher experience with the first half of this show than the back half. I've talked a few times about how finales in particular are almost like keys to me – something I rely on to "unlock" the story and connect all the bits together into something cohesive and meaningful. Whatever else I can say about SSSS Gridman, I'll never forget watching this last episode and constantly thinking "ooooohhhhhh... THAT'S what you've been trying to say this whole time!"

It's not perfect, but it almost singlehandedly got me to see a show I honestly hadn't been enjoying in a new light. Which, uh, yeah, at this point, it'd be pretty teasing not to elaborate on that a bit, huh? I'll definitely try and do another post after your final thoughts, but man, hopefully I can even figure out where to start.

Yeah, that's suppose to be a fill in before the start of the series. They probably grew distant after the appearance of Gridman and/or erased her memories.

Hime and Samurai, the prequel manga, probably touches on this considering Akane is a major character here too and is a bit more socially active than the show. Only two chapters are translated, unforunately.

Yeah, this has to be one of the most hype finales I’ve seen this year (since that’s when I first saw this show). Especially that reveal that Gridman was actually the og version all along (granted Ultraseven X did the same twist, but I don’t remember a lot about that series beyond the theme song.)

While I wasn’t in the crowd when the anime first came out, I found people on both sides of the dub vs sub battle mostly weren’t in this for the source material familiarity, since a lot of them were disappointed that Gridman’s “new look” wasn’t more robotic. Then again, we can’t expect everyone to be familiar with a short lived 90s show from the period where everyone wanted to replicate the success of Power Rangers, even the makers of Power Rangers.

Anyway, on with my regular feature. And boy, is it a big one.

* Zegga's design is actually recycled from a scrapped concept art of Kahn Digifer's invasion tentacle from the final episode of Denkou Choujin Gridman.
* Gridman's true form is, of course, the original design of Gridman from the 1993 series.
* The original Yume no Hero plays while Gridman fights Alexis.
* A piano cover of Motto Kimi o Shireba, the ending song of Denkou Choujin Gridman, plays during Akane and Rikka's final coversation.
* The area where Gridman and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students stand before leaving is a replica of a similar area Gridman stood in while within Junk in Denkou Choujin Gridman. (which Syber Squad used for scenes where Servo was talking while within Sam’s Compaq)
* In the Japanese version, Alexis Kerib reveals that the inhabitants of Tsutsujidai are Repli-Compoids. Compoids being humans who live in the Computer World in the original series. (The official subs by Funimation refers to them as replicants, removing that little nuance).
* One possible interpretation of what Rikka is to Akane is one of these, to Takeshi's good clone Takeo from the original Gridman. Rikka physically resembles Akane's real self, but her personality can be interpreted as an idealization of Akane's own, much like Takeo represented what Takeshi could be at his best.
And now for something in general throughout the series.

* One of the stops for the buses and trains is Sakuragaoka, which is the city that forms the setting of Denkou Choujin Gridman.

And to conclude, I’ll point out the final live action shot is the first few seconds of oxt’s mv for Union, this show’s OP.

Oooh man I have a feeling we're gonna have very different interpretations here.

Hmm, while that does help somewhat, it still would've been nice to have that elaborated on within the show itself.

Thank you for all the trivia all throughout this watch, it was very interesting to read!

And oh yeah, despite my complaints, the finale overall IS really hype. Heck, even seeing it a second time, I still got super hyped just like I did a couple years ago.

Just watched that fight again and released, Gridman's' pose when using Fixer Beam is actually the a reference to both Detonator Orgun's' Grand Cross and Tekkamen Blade's' Voltekka. Nice.

So, because I enjoyed following this, drew Dynazenon a while ago, and am debating on picking up a Figma of Akane I saw a while back. I spent way too much time digging for more Gridman content.

What did I find? There is a yuri web novel of two of Gridman's side characters. "Uniforms of others schools that I don't know." I wanna find it, though it's probably untranslated which means I'd have to brush on my non-existent japanese reading.

Edit: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n9623dz/ Found it!

And on the topic of shipping, I like how you can ship Yuuta and Rikka (which I do, as equally as Akane and Rikka) and it would technically be a 4-people ship but still only two if we go by the implications that Akane is Rikka irl and "Akane" is just her ideal self AND that Gridman and Yuuta are kinda one in the same during the series.

At this point I'm just rambling, but it's so fun and hilarious to think about.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dp1pyHRU0AA_YwX.jpg

I still think one of my favorite implications is Yuta being able to see through Akane's disguise and caring for her "true self"

Also the whole Akane is Rikka thing kinda kills the ship for me a little bit. I feel like Akane needed to learn how to love herself, more than she needed a s/o?

Aww, thank you!

Okay but like... literally who??

Man, that is a lesson I wish stories in general would teach more. Having a significant other is great and all, but it's not the end all be all. You should learn to love yourself and be able to make your own happiness, rather than feel worthless because you don't have a lover.

Giganto-post incoming. You have been warned.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SSSS.GRIDMAN

I am a simpleton.

Whenever I experience a story, especially for the first time, I tend to just take everything it gives me at face value. I tend not to think too much about it.

Things I tend to more focus on and thus attach myself to are the characters presented, as well as the general atmosphere that the story in question is gunning for. I'm a sucker for stuff like that.

It's the reason why alot of details that many others would find blatant tend to go over my head. I remember in Fish's'(best) Kuuga thread, there were many details and moments everyone loved and went into loving detail about, meanwhile I was just all "uhhh yeah that was certainly cool I guess."

Heck, Kurona's current coverage of OOO and Die's' coverage of Blade also did this to me(he totally ate that puzzle piece). Want me to go further? Well, you know all of the analysis I've done in regards to Anti throughout this entire rewatch?

Yeah I totally missed like half of that on my first watch through this show. The Puppeteer Kaiju, which very blatantly symbolizes Anti's' own feelings of being a puppet? TOTALLY went over my dumb-dumb brain on my first watch. But despite that, Anti was and still is my favorite character in this show, and the thing I'd say I attached to the most throughout the show's' entire run. A great character goes a long way.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I can deal with alot of stuff; I'm really patient with stories as long as they give me a single reason to keep caring. Whether it be a character I really love and/or relate to, great comedic timing, an intense atmosphere, great action scenes... I tend not to ask for alot. And I most certainly was not asking for alot when I tuned into SSSS.Gridman for the first time, and I still don't. The only thing I expected going in was a reboot that kept the general spirit of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, and, well, it's not a 1/1 exact comparison by any stretch, but I got it!

I feel the need to tell you all this because, well, I feel like I kinda gave the wrong impression with my write-ups on the second half of this show. Let me make this clear here and now: I DO like this show! I had alot of fun rewatching it! It's just that, two years later, with this rewatch, I noticed alot more flaws than I had before, and I felt the need to point them out, as a way of showing that yes, I was infact paying attention and not simply trying to shill a show to you all. The whole point of these posts I make isn't just advertising, it's also discussion.

With all that out of the way, I am going to present and break down what I feel are the biggest aspects that this show has to offer, and give my thoughts on what I felt worked, and what didn't. I'll try my best to end on an overall positive note, as per usual, but we'll see how this goes(you might've noticed by now I just kinda type my thoughts as they come to me in some inane ramble). So with that said, and I know you all are more than likely sick of hearing me complain about it, let's start off with what is, without a shadow of a doubt, the single biggest factor of SSSS.Gridman, and what I feel will be one of the key factors in determining whether or not the average viewer will come out liking this show.

Akane Shinjo

I didn't like her the first time around, and this time, I did my best to try and analyze and understand what exactly the writers were trying to get across in terms of who is essentially the central character of this story. And I will warn you all here and now, I am by NO MEANS any sort of expert on mental health, and I am trying my very best to be respectful about it here. If I end up crossing some sort of line, I deeply apologize in advance. The best I could come up with is the writers wanted to create a character who is their own worst enemy. Someone so caught up in and trapped in their own shell that they bring harm to themselves as well as those around them, to the point that they become depressed and potentially suicidal.

Unfortunately for them, it all falls short once you factor in that not only does Akane have no redeeming qualities to get the audience attached to her, but every character in the shows talks about how wonderful she is, with nothing at all to show for it. Not only that, but despite the show's' insistence that Alexis must be the one who made her the way she is, there is exactly no evidence to support such, which in turn makes Alexis, despite being the main villain, the most honest person in the entire show. Ontop of that, she's a murderer. One who laughs with glee and sees absolutely nothing wrong with killing those off who inconvenience her. The best the show does to try and justify this(as if you even could), is to try and make every past interaction that she killed over "deeper" in some context.

The one that is the most blatant is actually in the very first episode: Killing Tonkawa and the Volleyball Club over them accidentally smashing the Special Dog she tries to give to Yuta. What the show is basically saying is "You see it's totally understandable that she'd kill over that because it stopped her from getting closer to the boy she fell in love with!" Call me a heartless douchebag, but, no. Screw that and screw any sort of excuse you try and give her. Again, even when it seems like Akane is finally about to admit to her own faults, here come the other characters, even those who should know better, to say "No Akane, you're better than that! It's all Alexis' fault! You're the best person ever!" It'd be one thing if the show simply let life slap Akane down hard, but it doesn't, instead insisting that people like her are actually really good if you just give them a chance.

Yeah, tell someone like Yusuke he should've just given someone like Daguva a hug and see how far that gets you.

Heck, the overall lesson the show seems to want to preach(and thus the one Akane learns) is that you shouldn't stay cooped up in your shell and you should give life a chance, because there's alot of wonderful things out there for you to experience.

...A lesson Akane only "learns" via being cooped up in her own shell. Cool.

Add onto all of that that she's an abusive mother towards Anti and stabbed Yuta in cold blood, and I have no sympathy for this girl.

I don't even have to look very far to present ways that this was done better, because this franchise right off the bat provides two: Anti and Malcolm.

Anti's' redemption works because he actually gets slapped down multiple times, ontop of him discovering the hard way that life is more than any one single-minded goal. Unlike Akane, his story actually SHOWS the ins and outs of his everyday life, and how just a small bit of kindness goes a long way in getting him to reconsider things. He also never makes any excuses for his behavior, and actively WORKS to try and redeem himself.

Meanwhile with Akane, we get NOTHING on what made her the way she is, other than the other characters INSISTING that it must be Alexis, despite all evidence to the contrary. And when confronted on all the terrible things she's done, most of her responses amount to "Well I'm a God/bad person so I can do whatever, deal with it."

Meanwhile Malcolm, while certainly petty, also has a much better handled redemption arc. Sure, many of the plots of Syber-Squad were started over some petty squabble that Malcolm had with the kids at school, but here's some key factors:

1. Malcolm never meant to out and out kill anyone. All of his plots were, at best, a super annoying inconvenience. And those that were actually super dangerous? Kilokahn's' doing.

Almost every episode and ruthless kill in this anime however? All on Akane, and she did it with glee.

2. Malcolm has far more and far better interactions with the rest of the cast, making his feelings alot more apparent and clear-cut. There are multiple times were he tries to put in an honest effort at fitting in, but his own attitude problems(as someone who has autistic friends, he comes across as someone with severe Asperger's'), alongside his own social awkwardness, means he doesn't have an easy time connecting with anyone, and he's often ridiculed for it.

Akane meanwhile, has none of that. Malcolm actually tried. Akane does not.

3. Malcolm is actually out and out betrayed. All throughout the show, he does his best to actually bond with Kilokahn, multiple times actually! Kilokahn of course has none of it, but heck, come the Finale, Malcolm genuinely asks "Kilokahn... aren't we friends?' And everything goes downhill from there.

Meanwhile Akane and Alexis have dinner together like... once, and that's about it. I guess him complimenting her sculpting work went a long way? Pretty lame in comparison though.

And the last bit of all of this is, well, my own personal experience. I hate to admit it, but growing up, I shared a handful of traits with Akane. I too grew up a socially awkward shut-in nerd(Hell, I'm almost 28 and in many ways I still am), I too would often pass off something awkward I'd just said as a joke just to avoid being judged, and I too have had many an episode of severe anxiety. But what separates me and Akane, and keeps me from feeling any sympathy for her, is that I know my own past experience, and I never let them turn me into someone who actively wants anyone who so much as accidentally bumps into me dead.

The bottom line is that we know absolutely NOTHING ABOUT Akane's' past(or even Akane herself really), which in turns leads to another major problem this show has...

Informed Attributes

Outside Akane, I'd say this is probably the biggest flaw that this show has. Characters will often comment about certain traits that some other character is supposed to have, but it's either never followed up on or was never presented in the first place. I've pointed out several of them throughout the write-ups, so I won't go over them all again, but some highlights include Sho being called the jerk despite Rikka being the one who was being unreasonable at the time, Rikka insisting that she never wanted to help in any of the Kaiju battles despite her very much being more than willing to do so, and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students coming to the conclusion that they and Gridman all used to be a single entity because... um... reasons???

I understand that you can only convey so much in twelve episodes, but that highlights another thing that bothers me.

Pacing

Now, I'm not about to say the pacing is out and out bad(trust me I've seen way worse), but it definitely has some issues. Now, maybe it's just me, but the show really does feel like it was originally supposed to be a few episodes longer but then it got cut down. And heck, I could also easily see this being another "just me" thing, but... I honestly feel like, with the way the overall story flows, that this show was designed to be binged. The show very much wants you to get on this high and to carry that feeling all thoughout its run.

In some ways though, this actually does work in its favor, because of its...

Atmosphere

That first episode's' atmosphere is absolutely fantastic and I will not hear otherwise.

If there's one thing this show knows how to do well(atleast most of the time), it's create a mood. From the deep air of mystery in the first episode to the excellent comedic moments almost every character has, it knows how to blend imagery, music, and events to create a world that does truly feel alive, and one that you could easily immerse yourself in.

Heck, speaking of world building, the truckload of foreshadowing done in the first couple of episodes shows that the team very much did have a roadmap of how they wanted the story to go, it's just that, well, getting to the destination itself was a little bumpy. But I've pretty much already covered why that is.

The various references are also done extremely well in this aspect. None of them are at all distracting and are instead used to enhance the overall experience, and serve as a nice treat to those who can recognize them. They very much serve a narrative purpose.

Whether or not the grandiose moments totally work there within is of course up to the viewer(the various lingering plot threads certainly don't help), but where the atmosphere MOST DEFINITELY gets pulled off the best is in this show's'...

Action Scenes

Almost every single action sequence in this show, big or small, is an absolute joy to watch. The animation, the choreography, the sound effects, and the flow, are all done absolutely fantastic here, and where it most definitely shines the brightest are in the first fight with Initial Gridman, and in the final battle with Gridman and Alexis.

That first battle shows such a love and care in terms of recreating an old school Toku battle. From the fact that Gridman moves really slow to how the Kaiju looks and moves like someone in a rubber suit, you could really feel the animation team paying homage to that past era.

And as for that final battle? No joke, that is one of the THE MOST hype final battles that I've ever seen in an TV show, and believe me, I've seen alot. The animation team totally fired off on that moment, and MAN did it pay off!

I just wish that such a moment could've also been done for what I feel is the biggest takeaway from this entire thing...

Anti

Yeah you all knew this was coming. The show already had enough good going for it to keep me hooked, but Anti was the primary reason I looked forward to every episode. And I am by no means saying I find every other character to be bad or lackluster(other than Akane), it's just that man, props to whoever on the writing staff handled everything related to Anti.

Anti is a character who has it all. Plentiful character development, a great voice actor(Stephen Fu, for those who don't know), wonderful character design, great action scenes, hilarious comedic timing... there's basically nothing I don't love about this guy. To put it into Kamen Rider terms, he's basically everything I feel a Secondary Rider should be. Not that they all have to be pulled off the exact same way, but in terms of sheer quality? Oh yeah.

He's a wonderful look into what would happen were a Boss Monster suddenly given a conscience and life of their own, as well as just how hallow a single-minded existence can actually be. Keeping up with the Kamen Rider comparisons, I find him to be alot like Ankh in that respect(another character I love).

Overall

SSSS.Gridman is a show where it's very clear alot of love and attention went into its making, it's just unfortunate that sometimes(heck, alot of times), passion projects don't turn out perfect. Personally, I found enough in this show to keep me entertained and overall enjoying my experience, but I'm also very willing to admit that it has some issues that many won't(and shouldn't) ignore.

So let me end this all by (Studio)Triggering you all with one last bit of trivia about me.

I actually can't stand Studio Trigger's' works most of the time.

Kill La Kill? Didn't like it. TTGL? Absolutely HATED it. The only other show of theirs I liked before this was Inferno Cop. So to me? SSSS.Gridman was a HUGE step up for them in terms of, well, everything! Which also had me going on it easier than what other critics might.

SSSS.Gridman has great animation, great callbacks, great action, a great understanding of atmosphere, and a great character. It's a show I wholeheartedly enjoy despite its shortcomings, I'm looking forward to season 2, and I hope anyone who's willing to give the show a chance finds something to love about it too. My final rating for this anime is a 5/6.

Honestly, I can’t argue with your assessment of Akane. Especially having seen both version of the original and both Malcolm and his counterpart Takeshi are practically saints by comparison (Malcolm’s reasons for turning the water supply into acid is marginally more justifiable than murdering a dude because he shoved you and Takeshi’s only casualty was a dog in one episode entirely by accident). Not gonna try playing any form of defence. I know for a fact “it’s supposed to be darker/lighter” does not fly with everyone, especially when some things are just plain terrible.

I’ve also been thinking about it and I think I’ve found a reason I’ve gravitated towards this show (beyond liking Inferno Cop and SSSS when I saw them for the first time) is due to some recycled elements from Ultraman Ginga. I can certainly see some similarities between Akane’s plot line and episode 10 of that show’s victim of the week plot. Though I think the latter is better handled, since we actually get a buildup over 9 episodes and a movie with this character before we see her go bad, and it does have something of a fairly epic payoff. (IMO)

Another thing I loved is that the show acknowledges that Utsumi and Rikka not actively contributing much to Gridman and co’s battles with Akane’s Kaiju doesn’t make them useless. Especially since the fandom in general (mostly Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, with Power Rangers joining in to a lesser extent) seems to operate under the mindset that any character who doesn’t transform, fight or build a weapon is useless unless they do one of the three. It’s a fairly closed and unhealthy mindset which frankly goes against one of the main themes of these franchises. That being that real heroes can exist in spite of being able to transform. I’m doing something of a take that against the idea in my Sentai fanfiction where multiple minor characters try to become Rangers and end up as mindless beasts who have to be put down (though as of this post, I’ve only included it once) thus making it clear there is a reason why only these people became henshin heroes.

Anyway, it’s been nice to see your thoughts on this show and it’s been nice sharing these Easter eggs. I look forward to seeing what Dynazenon has to offer.

Okay, I've rewatched the last episode, thought about everything a whole lot, and, thanks to your surprisingly negative take on a lot of what the show does with its story, I've figured out where to start. Or maybe it's more like where I want to end? I mentioned I have complicated feelings about this show. Describing my personal experience with it could easily involve saying a lot of very mean things if I really wanted to, but I don't *ever* want that. I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself for s***ing on something a lot of people love just for the sake of it. Now, arguing in favor of the creative vision of a work? That is the kind of thing I'm here for. Plus, it can still involve the personal stuff! (This will take a minute; apologies in advance for using this thread as an excuse to vent.)

I think it's fair to call myself a big fan of the original Gridman? I forget exactly when after getting into Rider and everything (which was 2011-ish, as a reminder) I found out about it, but I remember it catching my imagination immediately as soon as I heard about it, and it never really let go. He was basically Ultraman, but even cooler, because he fought in sweet digital cityscapes, had sick combining robot allies, and arguably the greatest toku hero theme song of all time. It was something I probably would've watched at the earliest opportunity if not for the issue of there being no English subs for it back then. Kind of a hurdle, but eventually it hit me in 2017 that I'd stumbled my way into picking up enough Japanese over half a decade that watching a show raw was becoming a legitimate option. But obviously I wouldn't want to test that theory out with a show that would be super heavy on complex dialogue or plotting; I needed something older, lighter, episodic, and simple. When I searched my head for a good candidate, the answer was as clear as day – I finally get to watch Gridman.

It went over way smoother than I expected. A joke or some technical jargon here or there would fly over my head, but I was following along, and I was having a great time doing it. The thing about learning a language and getting to the point where you ~kinda sorta~ understand the broad gist of it is that it's a lot like being a little kid again, and experiencing Gridman that way gave me a bit more of a profound connection to it than I think a lot of people have. It helps that the show itself is just plain awesome, and has the style and tone it does.

There's a line in Gridman's finale that's become one of my favorite lines I've ever heard in tokusatsu: "If you think you've done something wrong, why not try taking responsibility for it?" It's a pretty simple sentiment for a pretty straightforward show, but it hit me like a hammer first watching the episode because it embodies perfectly what my single favorite thing about Gridman is – it's a very proactive hero show. A series about a bunch of middle school kids who manage to put together a supercomputer out of trash they scraped up with the scarce money kids have, and who use that computer to save the world. Every one of Gridman's abilities, down to his typical ability to grow in size like any Ultraman style hero, is directly owed to the tireless work of these three children punching WAY beyond their weight.

Gridman has this attitude that's closely tied to its status as a new hero for the digital age, which is that people can overcome just about anything with enough ingenuity and hard work. That's what technology is, at its core. There's even a line in the chorus of that amazing theme song that goes "anyone can be a hero", and that's what Naoto, Ippei, and Yuka all are; they're people who won't crack no matter what you throw their way. Naturally, then, Takeshi is the main antagonist because he represents the opposite of all of that. He's a guy who will take half a step towards solving his problems, say it's too hard, say that he tried, and go back to his room to listen to the digital devil on his shoulder telling him he should waste his time with unproductive schemes for petty self-satisfaction instead. Takeshi avoids dealing with his feelings. Takeshi retreats.

In SSSS.Gridman, nearly every character is Takeshi, and that drove me absolutely insane.

I knew seeing the trailers and everything back in 2018 that it was going to be shooting for a very different story. To be honest, I think I even started expecting to hate it, which usually means I move on with my life right then and there, but SSSS.Gridman was receiving so much hype, and when it started airing, people generally seemed to be utterly enamored with it. I wanted to be able to make myself see it that way, but I just couldn't get over how cold the show felt.

Sure, there are hot-blooded battles and all that, but it all seemed superficial to me. The raw core of the anime was this group of dejected protagonists who have no idea how to communicate and always seem in a rush to leave every scene they're in – nothing like my precious Gridman and its warm, exuberant camaraderie. They seemed so distant. I could not get into it for the life of me, and by Full Power Gridman's debut in episode 8, I was broken. I gave up, and I stopped watching, but a month later, right after the show finished, the feeling of leaving business unfinished became unbearable, and I pounded out the last stretch of episodes in a day or two. And you know, maybe the time away helped, or maybe DreamSword is on to something about SSSS.Gridman being designed for binge-watching, but whatever the reason, I felt so much less miserable doing it. Heck, by the end of it, I felt like apologizing, because suddenly I felt like I understood what it was going for. It all felt purposeful. Like it was all worth it, from the very start.

Here's the part where I get to rave a whole lot about UNION; everyone reading this is encouraged to take the opportunity for a quick break first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4CIYS1Bme4

UNION is one of the best theme songs anything has ever had. I thought this song was a masterpiece even back when I hated the show it was attached to, and constantly questioned why it deserved a jam this good. And maybe if I wasn't being a f***ing idiot, I would've actually listened to the lyrics, and realized it was explaining all this to me from day one.

There are two things I've always suspected about the song that I never had confirmed until I looked it up to make this post and immediately found out were both dead on. One is that the lyrics were written after reading the scripts for the show, and the second is that those lyrics were also actively written in parts to be directed at the audience of adults who grew up watching the original Gridman.

Now, I'm not saying I'm some great detective for figuring that out on my own; quite the opposite. I'm complimenting UNION for having such astonishing precision in its word choice that it'd be harder not to notice. Each verse leans harder in one direction, but the entire song has this extremely clever double meaning to it where it's talking about the literal events of the anime while also being a sort of metaphor warning against growing into an emotionally detached person who sees the world as a cage. And it pulls that off so effortlessly because those two topics aren't mutually exclusive.

SSSS.Gridman was about cold people, but it wasn't a cold show. It was portraying these distant people in order to tell a story about the necessity of closing that distance. It's even a motif in that music video up there that was made after the series concluded. The original show represented the optimism of a world of rapidly advancing electronic technology, and the anime, in what is arguably a very smart and logical update, represents the remoteness of the world built atop that. It's a show about teenagers who know each other superficially, calling themselves friends, working together or hanging out for the odd shallow conversation about recent gossip or hobbies or what have you; all the while never really leaning on each other, never risking getting too close. Most of the characters in the show are running away from their feelings in some way. It's most obvious with Rikka and Akane, but extends to characters like Anti and even Yuuta in one way or another too.

And the thing is, eventually, they do learn to lean on each other, and they're all so much healthier for it. Gridman goes back to being that optimistic toku hero of old and lifts the literal sedative fog trapping everyone in their narrow world. Rikka is the one telling Utsumi to have more faith in his childish concept of the Gridman Alliance, and says it won't be a big deal if Yuuta doesn't remember the events of the show, because they can just make friends with him again. That isn't a big deal to her! And then there's Akane, who abandons the repetitive cycle she's resigned herself to in favor of facing a world that can give her happiness that will be more than a lie. She stops retreating.

Does she deserve that? S***, I don't know. I mean, I don't really like her, but I still know DreamSword's Daguva comparison is definitely way overboard when Akane's capacity for remorse alone disqualifies her from being that level of monstrous. I think there's a bit of a problem with the show trying to have its cake and eat it here; Akane getting off scott-free for murder kinda hinges on the idea that these virtual people are only as real to her as is convenient, but the audience is conditioned from the start to just see them as people, so even if all her evil gloating is merely a mask for deeply rooted self-loathing, it could come off pretty awkward in the end, for sure. But on a broad strokes level, Akane growing to realize other people don't exist at her convenience, and everybody being willing to see the human heart at the center of all that evil, it all makes total sense for a narrative that is, once again, about closing distances.

SSSS.Gridman starts and ends with an awakening. Literally; the titles of the first and last episodes are the same, with only one difference. Every episode title in the show is made up of a single word comprised of two kanji (I swear I've heard that somewhere before...), separated by this little dot: ・

It's used in Japanese to separate words in a few different contexts, such as when writing out foreign names. It can be a sort of decorative choice as well, however, with Kamen Rider Fourze even doing something similar with its titles. What's curious then about SSSS.Gridman doing it is that it's dropped solely for the final episode, which is written normally instead. That always baffled me. I could never figure out what the significance was, and even looking around for an official explanation, nothing turned up very quickly. But in writing this post, I think I finally figured it out. Like I said, the dot is there to separate things. To keep them apart. So to remove that at the very end of the series, well, what else could it symbolize but removing all that distance, too?

...I'm really sorry this ended up being so long? I feel decent about how it came out, which doesn't always happen when I ramble this much, but I don't know. I guess my whole point can just be condensed to what I've already said, which is that SSSS.Gridman is a series I wasn't super welcoming of that turned itself around for me with a final stretch I thought payed major dividends on so many elements I was previously quite grumpy about. Nowadays I still feel conflicted – removed from the initial excitement, it became clear again I wasn't exactly imagining a lot of my issues, either, but still, I'm an awful lot more inclined to say the show is owed its success these days. I'm also not too sure if I want to watch Dynazenon for fear of going through this emotional rollercoaster twice, though, so... yeah, conflicted.

Hopefully this wasn't a drag to read!

Reading Dreamsword's opinion on Akane is very interesting in that I never actually felt this way on my first watching. I don't know why though. On me following this thread, it did make me go: "Wait a minute, he's right!" on several instances. Akane's character has some issues on the writing, maybe the show needed more episodes to convery her character other than "girl with escapism issues enabled by a big bad with a weird name". And yeah, it's become jarring that she's done a lot of things and the main cast kinda just forgives her for that. Especially when she stabbed Yuta and Rikka wasn't all that much angry.

I still like her tho.

But with the reveal of this anime (and the prequel manga I'm attempting to read) that the people living in the world are all digital beings called Repli-Compoids that were programmed to basically like Akane unconditionally, it kinda lessens the impact of any death. The characters forgiving Akane easily, as iffy as it was, now kinda makes sense. They were all pretty much tools to Akane for her fantasies. Only that the fantasies grew a bit of their own conscience and told Akane to wake up.

Gotta talk about one of my weirdly favorite scenes tho. The scene where Yuta and Sho hang out in 721 after he got into and argument with Rikka about fighting Akane. It's not my favorite because of what happens in the scene, it's the atmosphere and took me back a bit to my first trip in Japan and entered one of their convenience stores. That or I just like convenience stores in general. Anyway, I think I could also hear Ultraman R/B's ED in the background as well during that scene? I happened to think of it when Youtube played R/B's ED and I thought I recognized it from somewhere.

Got not much else to say. Again, I enjoyed following this thread and rewatching a few episodes of Gridman and I eagerly await SSSS Dynazenon, especially with the possibility of Sigma showing up. The kind with the blue hair and yellow eyes is very suspicious.

https://resize.cdn.otakumode.com/ex/...7af8922849.jpg

Okay right off, thank you guys for the responses! Legit I loved reading them, and appreciate that you all gave my uncharacteristically long giganto-post the time of day, haha.

Now let me go ahead and make another one via responding to all these! *deep inhale*

Like I've said before, I don't know much about the OG Gridman other than just some general stuff via osmosis, so it's been interesting learning about Takeshi. From what I've come to gather, I guess the staff at DiC who made SSSS really liked his character and thus kept alot of his aspects in Malcolm? If so I think I'll end up liking the guy whenever I actually get around to watching the show.

Like I said, one thing that definitely works in this show's' favor is its various references and callbacks, because they're used in a very natural and unobnoxious way! I never once felt distracted or like the show was trying to use them to pander.

Heck, there were apparently a ton of Transformers references that all went totally over my head since I'm not really into that franchise.

Yeah, it's definitely not super unique to the genre by any means, but I still love whenever there's a moment or an episode focused on that. Rikka and Sho do alot to contribute to the team, and I did like that Sho needed to be reminded and shown just how important his optimism and bonding with the group actually was. It's just a shame that it was Rikka who reminded him and not Gridman.

Power Rangers SPD does this same lesson in a fantastic way with the episode focused on Boom, and to emphasize your point about the fandom, people still to this day insist that Boom should've been the Omega Ranger, even though that would've totally went against both Boom's' and Sam's' character development.

Thank you for sharing the various bits of trivia! Heck, you pointed out callbacks to Syber-Squad that I totally missed. It was always fun to read.

is this what die feels like whenever you respond to him

I'm kidding! I'm kidding! And yeah, despite how (apparently) good I am at sounding negative, I tried my best to highlight why I still love this show regardless. And no need to apologize! That's part of what stuff like this is here for.

Oh this paints a very clear picture of where you're coming from with the rest of this post, and it's actually a really great way to experience something new, I think!

Discovering your own little show that you enjoy immensely, man, that was part of the feelings behind me making this thread!

That's a great line! While it wasn't in the US adaptation, the overall idea is still there in Syber-Squad. While Servo is some mystical anomaly that just kinda attaches itself to Sam, everything else involving him, from his weapons, to his robots, are all made via the collective effort of Team Samurai.

And in terms of taking responsibility for your actions, that is some Malcolm definitely did come the end of the show, which is something I felt Akane never properly did, or at the very least it felt alot more hallow after all was said and done.

...That is until Syber-Squad got artificially inflated, but that's a whole 'nother rant.

Dunno if I'd go that far, but I will say, this section definitely gave me something to appreciate about the Dream episode, so, for real, thanks! But more on that later.

Oh yeah, the theme song is absolutely AMAZING. But it does kinda highlight one issue I have with the anime; Lingering plot threads.

The biggest one, atleast to the way my brain is wired, is "What was the promise Yuta made to Rikka before the start of the show?" Like, the anime brings it up about three separate times and we never actually learn what it is. The theme song itself even mentions it, for crying out loud!

I guess they thought the audience wouldn't be satisfied with the answer no matter what it was, so they dropped it?

But yeah, it's no Baby Dan Dan, but it's a great song in terms of, well, everything about it!

As someone who's a sucker for the power of friendship, I felt SSSS.Gridman did it quite well(mostly). I personally felt that it did a good job at portraying just how awkward total strangers put into this situation would actually be, and how they grew to bond with one another over time. The Beach episode did a nice job at highlighting this I feel, with Yuta and Sho acting alot more like actual friends, and Rikka refusing to be left out not just because she was a part of the group, but because, well, she was a part of the group. And genuinely cared about the boys ontop of her "duty" as one of the city's' protectors.

My comparison wasn't really meant to be literal, but I see where you're coming from.

I could also argue that she only feels "remorse" in so far as how it affects her rather than actually feeling any empathy towards others, but that's an ENTIRE other debate that is probably best left alone.

That is actually incredibly subtle. Huge props if that's what they were going for!

I think here's probably the best spot to say the new thing you made me realize about the Dream episode. The episode wasn't just about "Don't you feel bad that Akane has no friends?" (although that is a major part of its framing) but also to show that Yuta, Rikka, and Sho, all knew it was better to face reality and that they could count on eachother to pull them through, rather than trying to force any sort of relationship like what Akane was doing.

It's just a shame that the episode puts so much emphasis on Akane that it's hard to see that other aspect.

Don't be sorry! I really liked reading what you had to say! And thanks to giving my own thoughts the time of day!

Hey man, I'm not here to dictate what you should and shouldn't like. So if you like her as a character despite all that, great! I know I like alot of stuff people would define as trash, haha.

I will say this though, and I know that this is gonna sound SUPER weird after all the ranting I've done, but I actually liked Akane more when she was portrayed as nothing but a kill-crazy lunatic. I found her alot more entertaining that way. So when the anime tries to pull "Oh but you see she's actually SUPER DEEP don't you feel bad for her?" All I could think to reply with was "Uh, no? What are you even doing?" Basically killed the whole mood.

See, that'd work fine if that mentality didn't also extend to Gridman and the Neon Genesis Group, who are outsiders and thus not under the influence of Akane's' programming. They all just roll with this idea that she's totally clean, which, well, she ain't. Combine that with how Sho and Rikka are shown breaking their programming multiple times and it just falls flat for me.

The show did do hangout scenes really well. That scene, the scene of Yuta and Sho in the train, and the bits of them at the school festival? All very nicely emphasizing them growing closer, and made me think of my own friends. It's basic stuff sure, but it's a small bit of effort I've seen others shows totally neglect, so I appreciate it.

Again, thank you! And yeah, I hope Sigma shows up too. It'll be doubly interesting to see where this goes since, and correct me if I'm wrong but, I don't think they've even shown Gridman himself yet? Curious.

---

*deep exhale* Thanks again guys! I know I usually finish these off with a pic of some new merch related to the show I just covered, but unfortunately my pre-order of GSC's' Primal Acceptor got delayed by two months, so instead I'll just repost a pic I took featuring my favorite Toku Heroes:

https://scontent.fdet3-1.fna.fbcdn.n...e1&oe=5FF8E96F

No idea what I'll cover next, but whatever it ends up being it's gotta wait awhile. My job is currently in the middle of its busiest time of the year so uh, not too much free time right now! As always, if anyone has any suggestions or wants to discuss other aspects of the various shows already talked about in this thread, go for it!

Man, I'm not even sure I've thrown Die that much of a brick wall of text in a while. :p

Thank you for indulging my habit of writing things that are way too long; rest assured returning the favor is the absolute least I can do. That final thoughts post hit on a lot of really nice points, and even echoed some of my own issues with the show.

Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad is something I become increasingly curious about every (rare) time I see it get brought up, because it seems like the singular western toku adaptation spawned in the wake of Power Rangers that made a concerted effort to be a fairly faithful adaptation of the source material. It sounds like the broad strokes of the plot in particular are nearly 1:1, even.

It's neat in that sense that SSSS.Gridman in turn went out of its way to acknowledge it to the extent it did, because it's the kind of thing it's easy to imagine Tsuburaya and/or Trigger barely even remembering existed at all. One thing I really should give the anime more credit for than I was at the time was how it kinda has legitimized the concept of Gridman being its own little franchise, and brought a fair amount of attention to it from people who would've otherwise never heard of it. Like, it's such a small body of work, and yet there are all these odds and ends like a foreign adaptation, obscure spinoff characters, abandoned plot arcs and sequel concepts... and the anime managed to pull from just about every last bit of it in some way? That sheer passion is truly out of the ordinary, and I have to commend the show's staff for excitedly working deep cuts into their story whenever they could. I mean, Anti is essentially a fully realized version of the Grid Knight concept I would've loved if the original series had time to do it, right down to the progression from villain to hero, except now he's voiced by Kenichi Suzumura; talk about worth the wait! :p

It's come up in the thread before, but this is also probably a good time to mention Trigger's "boys invent great hero" short film from 2015 that sort of led to this series eventually happening in the first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETpejXR_Bm8

I'm not sure I've ever seen such a reverence for stock footage in my life. I remember being floored that they deliberately recreated the cheesy digital scaling effect of the show's combination sequences for Dyna Dragon's transformation. Not to mention the screw on the back of God Zenon's head that's inexplicably taken from the toy and not the show. It's all so unabashedly esoteric and nerdy, and in retrospect, yeah, I probably would trust the guys who put it together to take good care of the property on a longer-term basis if I was Tsuburaya.

Yeah, this is the kind of thing I suspect I might appreciate more on a full rewatch if I ever get around to it? Lots of little moments that I probably wasn't paying anywhere near enough attention to in the moment because I was going into the show with a bad attitude. I remember rewatching episode 8, where I quit originally, on a whim (I don't even remember when or why exactly this happened), and finding some of the character moments a lot better handled than I remembered. Ironically, I recall being particularly impressed by some of the specifics of how Rikka and Utsumi's big argument plays out, which was obviously not your favorite part of the episode. But I think it's a scene that really exemplifies what I'm talking about with the whole "distance" theme.

Based on what little I do know of OG Gridman, yeah, it does seem like DiC at the very least kept the general idea of the original when making Syber-Squad.

If you ever do decide to check the show out, I will say that it is very much a "turn your brain off" type of show, but in the fun way! It's also what made the handful of episodes that actually did feature genuine character development and stakes stand out all the more. Malcolm(and the lunch lady) being the highlight character, much like how Anti was in this anime and Takeshi seems to be the star of Gridman.

It's 90s cheese at its finest, basically.

Yeah, that aspect is probably the main reason that I got super hyped for the anime in the first place, and is one of the few "modern" shows that I actually kept up with as it aired(I tend to stick to binging stuff nowadays).

When the first trailer aired, I remembered loving Syber-Squad as a kid(just as I did most US Toku of the time), and as soon as that title flashed on screen, that stylized "SSSS" brought back a ton of memories, and I knew exactly what it meant.

The upside of not many people remembering the show anymore also meant it was easy to find for a rewatch, which was great. Had a fun time seeing it again right before the anime started airing.

Ooohh yeah that thing is so good, and something I've only grown to appreciate more as time has gone on.

It also almost got me to rewatch Syber-Squad back in 2015, but I ended up getting distracted by a ton of other things and ended up not getting around to it until three years later, haha.

Well should you ever decide to do a rewatch, feel free to share your process and thoughts here in this thread. Would love to hear your perspective.

Been thinking about this, and so far I have three ideas that feel could be fun to cover. Two of which I have seen and one of which I haven't yet:

• The Skull Man - A sort of "Ultimate Universe" of Ishinomori's' various works. I remember liking it fine back when it first came out, but I feel like I'd appreciate it alot more now since I'm alot more familiar with his various stories.
• Garo: Crimson Moon - The prequel to the first Garo anime. I've heard some rather mixed opinions on this one, and I really liked the first anime overall, so I'm rather interesting in watching this. Plus next year is a special anniversary for the franchise as a whole.
• Detonator Orgun - I know alot of your initial reactions are gonna be "What?" And yeah, I know. Detonator Orgun is a rather obscure OVA that was originally conceived as a reboot of the classic Tekkaman, which in itself was very Toku inspired. It's actually a rather important piece of anime history that sadly becomes more forgotten with each passing year, so I do wanna eventually give it some sort of spotlight, similar to Kikaider.

If anyone has a preference on what to tackle first, by all means, cast your vote! Whatever one I end up doing won't be until the New Year though.

But, before the Current Year closes out, I feel like there's a bit of unfinished business on my end...

---

I wanna talk about the overall design of Primal Gridman, and just how cool it actually is.

https://cdn.animeherald.com/aniheral...1-20180725.jpg

Like, this is something I really only realized recently, because that design fulfills alot of things all at once and seriously, props to whoever came up with it. First off, it really does look like the sort of "techno-future" sort of design you'd seen on most rebooted characters, from the tech-lines, to the various armored bits.

That alone is cool, because it succeeds where the 2017 MMPR movie failed; Creating a design that not only still resembles the given character, but is also still appealing to look at ontop of making sense within the context of its own story. Because you see, there's also a reason this form is known as "Primal" Gridman, which should've been obvious to me once the epic finale hit.

Taking a closer look at the design, it really comes across to me that, especially with the various tech-lines emphasizing it, well... it straight up looks like Gridman himself is missing chunks of his body, or at the very least that his body is barely being held together. It really hammers home how Gridman became fragmented upon entering Akane's' virtual city, and how only by becoming whole again and uniting the hearts of everyone could he once again become his true self, or, the classic Gridman everyone knows and loves.

It's something that super went over my head until the rewatch, and it made me love this anime's' visual aesthetic even more.

Merry Christmas!

It's definitely a well thought out design, for sure. One thing in particular that bugged me about it at first but is genius in retrospect was how, despite still working blue into the color scheme elsewhere, Primal Gridman doesn't have the cool panels on his chest where the original fired the Fixer Beam from... which turned out to be ~pretty~ significant in the end, didn't it?

I linked to my Highlight Reel of what I consider my personal favorite episodes across the Power Rangers franchise in the opening post if anyone here is interested. I was honestly surprised at how much of a positive reception that got, so thanks to those who read it!

Anyway, with that (mostly) done, I've decided on what the next show I'll cover here is, based solely upon an action figure I received in the mail recently: Detonator Orgun!

It's a short but sweet OVA that, while not one of my favorites, has alot going for it, and I feel deserves more attention than what it normally gets.

I definitely recommend watching along. Will begin covering it this weekend!

Detonator Orgun is certainly an interesting, yet tricky piece of anime history for me to talk about. The biggest hurdles being that it's a very obscure OVA, even moreso than what Android Kikaider is, and the other being that I can't read Japanese, so finding information on this thing is pretty tough. But, I'll do my best to share what I know with you all I cover this.

From what I've grown to understand, this 3-Episode OVA, was originally pitched as reboot of Tatsunoko's' more popular production: Tekkaman the Space Knight. If you have no idea what that is, well, here's all you really need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MURDGxx7FJo

Isn't it great!? Anyway, Tekkaman took alot of inspiration from Toku shows(like many of Tatsunoko's' shows did), and both it and its eventual reboot are considered cult classics in both Japan and among anime hardcores alike. But, that reboot is decidedly Not Detonator Orgun.

As I understand it, Tatsunoko actually turned down the initial pitch in Orgun, and as such, the minds behind the project then went on to create the OVA we have now. The OVA ended up doing well enough that Tatsunoko would actually in turn use it as inspiration for the actual reboot that Tekkaman would eventually receive: Tekkaman Blade.

So yeah, if anyone reading this is a fan of Tekkaman Blade(localized as Teknoman Blade), then you have Detonator Orgun to thank, making this a really interesting watch if only for the sake of comparison.

But! This OVA has more going for it than that, which I'm hoping I'll be able to highlight over the next few days.

This is gonna be tricky though, because every episode is an hour long, and I wanna try to hook you all into checking this show out. So, I'm not not gonna do a huge play-by-play. I don't wanna spoil too much, and if I DID do that, every post would be like a novelette in terms of length, so instead, I'm gonna go for a slightly different approach and instead do a more sort of generalization of each episode. And if at any point any of this sounds interesting to you, then please, feel free to check this OVA out and post your thoughts!

I also recommend watching the subbed version if you can find it. Because while I don't think the dub is out and out bad, it is definitely on the more mediocre side of things.

With that, let's begin!

Episode 1

The show starts off intense and remains that way throughout most of the first episode. While I couldn't find a rip of Orgun's' main theme, Super Robot Wars W(the best SRW game) actually managed to do a really faithful recreation of it with the NDS sound card. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70P16tKY1WQ

Detonator Orgun takes place in the far off future of the 80s, where life seems pretty good. Humanity has expanded its reach across the solar system, having colonized various planets. Modern technology means everyone's' daily needs are met no problem, and the Earth Defense Force is made up of soldiers who wear Transformers as armor.

Enter our protagonist, Tomoru. He's a young man with way out of date fashion sense who doesn't know what he wants with his life. While he's making it through college fine, and certainly has family connections that make finding a career not much of a hassle, he appears lack any clear focus or passion, and instead finds himself spending most of his days sleeping and playing videogames. He considers joining the EDF, but feels it rings hallow compared to the military of thousands of years ago.


Things have gotten rather weird in recent times though. Tomoru begins getting these odd visions as he sleeps, and a local psychic predicts that a great disaster is about to befall the Earth. Ontop of that, EDF scientist Professor Kanzaki and her supercomputer, I-ZACK, receive a transmission from space; A set of blueprints allowing them to build an incredibly advanced suit of armor that they have no idea the purpose of.

And sure enough, they're gonna need it because an alien race known as the Evoluder begin to invade Earth, on a mission to recover that suit of armor specifically. The episode does a great job at selling just how dangerous just one of these creatures actually is too. It lays waste to the city at large, takes no damage from any of the EDF's' current weaponry, and appears to be a sort of living weapon in and of itself. It is only by Tomoru accepting his destiny that the threat is able to be dealt with.


The episode overall is really heavy on mysterious atmosphere. From the mystery of what the Evoluders are, to Tomoru's' visions, to how exactly Orgun is involved in all of this, the OVA is very definitely following a defined 3-Act Structure, and as such, the first episode is all about build up. It has good animation, well directed action scenes, and the music, while not amazing, does a fine job at getting you in just the right mood for whatever is going on. It definitely did its job in capturing my interest and getting me to watch the other two episodes, if nothing else.

Episode 2

If you weren't already aware, Detonator Orgun is directed by none other than the famous mecha designer Masami Obari, and that is made the absolute most apparent here, as their signature style really gets shown off in alot ways. Infact, many iconic shots of Tekkaman Blade are ripped straight from this OVA, and more specifically, this episode.

This episode dives much more into Orgun's' past. His resolve, his connection to the Evoluder, his connection to two other Detonators known as Lang and Leave, and his motives for coming to Earth and synchronizing with Tomoru. Professor Kazari even begins to have visions of her own, thus hinting at something much bigger at play.

That's not to say Tomoru is done being our main protagonist though. Alot of this episode also has to do with Tomoru coming to terms with his newfound roll in life, as well as finding a proper motive to keep him fighting against the alien threat that it seems only he can properly combat. He's understandably terrified of this whole ordeal, but this is still something only he can deal with.


When it comes to the action side of things, you can tell full-stop that this is pure Masami Obari at work. The action is shift, brutal, and bombastic. And various shots being directed, from Orgun punching Lang square in the face to them locking swords, it's all staples than anyone even remotely familiar with Obari's' work will recognize by this point.

To give a comparison that you fans of Tekkaman Blade will understand, Leave is essentially the Rapier of this OVA, whereas Lang is the Evil. While not super expanded upon due to this being an OVA and not a full blown season of a show, the character dynamics are pretty well played out and definitely interesting to watch if nothing else.


In the end, Tomoru finds what he wants to fight for, and the secrets of the Evoluder are revealed. Even so, it doesn't change that they are a group out to destroy every civilization they come across, and the people of Earth are essentially living on borrowed time. The full scale invasion will come soon enough, and the EDF needs all the help it can get.

The bombastic climax comes the next episode.

Episode 3

We've definitely reached the climax, as this episode is almost pure action, which means I'll have a bit more of a difficult time finding things to say other than "the actions scenes are really cool." But I will try.

Things are looking rather hopeless for Earth, as the best that the EDF can do is create outposts to stall the Evoluder at each planet in the solar system in hopes of stalling. Earth has three months maximum before the Evoluders arrive, and they hedge all of their bets on creating a new powered suit for their soldiers to use, based off of the blueprints that Orgun sent them in episode 1.

I liked how the propaganda the EDF makes to promote people joining the military as a soldier in it who looks like Tekkaman, by the way. It's a nice nod to the OVA's' roots.

Meanwhile with Tomoru, it's learned that the more he synchronizes with Orgun, the higher the risk of said synchronization becoming permanent. He's willing to risk it though, as he's found the thing he wishes to protect. He hates fighting and fears his powers, but he hates the thought of losing those he loves even more.


When it comes to the fight itself, yet again, Obari's' mecha roots are on full display here. The space battle between the EDF and the Evoluder is huge, bombastic, and chaotic. It's like something out of Gundam combined with Dragon Ball. Orgun, meanwhile, takes on Zoa, the Supreme Commander of the Evoluder, and vows to restore the Evoluder's' humanity.

And I gotta say, the way Zoa ends up going out is incredibly brutal, and all kinds of awesome too.

Victory can't be claimed just yet though, as the Evoluder's' Battle Planet has finished charging its Anti-Matter Cannon, and is ready to fire. It's here that Orgun reveals his strongest attack: Grand Cruciform.


I won't spoil how everything ends, but I will say this. Despite this OVA being primarily focused on action, and obviously not being able to dive too deep into things due to its limited run time, I found the characters talks to how people can inspire future generations, as well as the conflicting Warrior Philosophy that some characters have to be rather interesting. It makes me wish the OVA had been a full season's' worth of episodes instead, or at the very least a mini-series.

In the end, while I feel Detonator Orgun isn't anything super ground-breaking or incredible, it is definitely worth the watch. It has great action, iconic imagery, a good musical score, and is responsible for the cult classic Tekkaman Blade, which alot of people(myself included) really love. And I am so glad that Super Robot Wars honored it as such, even if only for one game. In the end, I give this OVA a very solid 4/6.

Oh, and since I've mentioned it so much, if you want an idea how the action is in this show but haven't watched it yet, Super Robot Wars W did an amazing job at recreating alot of the attacks Orgun uses throughout the anime. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg7a4CVOaIM

I'm re-watching Imagawa Yasuhiro's Giant Robo, which is a short series of true, majestic beauty, a rare pearl amidst a sea of inferior imitators, drawing inspiration partly from the 1967 tokusatsu series, but primarily from the comic by Yokoyama Mitsuteru from which it was adapted.

The series is a joyous homage to Yokoyama's entire body of work, drawing characters from his adaptations of classics such as Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms—which were both likewise adapted into live-action shows, and I watched alternately with the series, Monkey as a child—a work of such importance that we could call it the Watchmen of giant robot cartoons, no lesser in value is its function in deconstructing the tropes and dynamics of the genre.

Suffice to say, I think you should all watch it, if you have not already. :p

The most I know about Giant Robo is a) it has a tragic ending and b) it’s a rare Tokusatsu that was dubbed into English rather than subbed or adapted (which I only know of due to someone's analysis of a fanfiction written by a guy who hated Power Rangers and wanted to show what he thought it should be)

I feel a lot of these shows were surprisingly dubbed into English, they just weren't dubbed for the American market like Giant Robot (Johnny Soko and His Flying Robot) and Ultraman were. Water Margin, Three Kingdoms, and Monkey were all dubbed here, and Kamen Rider shows were being dubbed into English as recently as 2009—I actually have a real soft spot for the DCD English dub, and wish I had got a full set of the VCDs, and not just a couple of broadcast rips.

Yeah, I'm planning to get around to watching Giant Robo at some point, since it's been on my watch list for a while now. I've heard of Johnny Sokko and his Giant Robot before, so hearing that this is slightly based off it should be interesting.

I hope I haven't over-hyped it, but I really do believe it to be something special!

I'm afraid I can't agree with the sentiments here about Giant Robo. I made it halfway through that OVA before getting super frustrated and dropping it. Just not my thing I suppose.

Imagine me slowly turning my back on you, DreamSword. :p

That's fair. Part of me thinks I'd be more receptive to the other adaptations of it, should I ever give them a chance, but yeah, that OVA... I don't remember the exact moment that caused it, I just remember at one point literally going "Okay screw this" and going to watch something else.

Aww, don't worry, if it's not for you, it's not for you, and there's no shame to be had in that regardless of what anyone will say. If we all liked the same things, it would be very dull &c., and the joy of communicating about these things is that it forces to think critically of what we like in order to communicate these things.

I know the "Okay screw this" feeling when it comes to certain shows as well, and it's good to know when to cut your loses, so please don't think I'm being serious when I'm playfully mean to you. :p

Oh don't worry, I knew you were just ribbing me. I just felt like giving slightly more detail, haha.

Hhaaha, that's good, the last thing I want to do is alienate the only other person I've met who has watched Detonator Orgun. :p

I know it doesn't qualify for this thread, but the The s-CRY-ed blu-ray set is finally coming stateside. Meaning Discotek Media is now my favorite anime distributor. And it gives me an excuse to watch one of my favorite anime ever for like the sixth time. Seriously, if you guys haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, yet again, thinking about what to tackle next, even though it likely won't be until next month. Gonna copypaste two other shows from before, but there's two others I've considered doing:

• The Skull Man - A sort of "Ultimate Universe" of Ishinomori's' various works. I remember liking it fine back when it first came out, but I feel like I'd appreciate it alot more now since I'm alot more familiar with his various stories.
• Garo: Crimson Moon - The prequel to the first Garo anime. I've heard some rather mixed opinions on this one, and I really liked the first anime overall, so I'm rather interested in watching this. Plus this year is a special anniversary for the franchise as a whole.
• Star Driver - Speaking of anniversaries, this marks the 10 year anniversary of Star Driver! An anime that, while not based on a specific Toku directly, took many influences from the genre, and was focused on combining as many different aspects of various different genres as they could.It makes for a very interesting viewing experience if nothing else.
• Heroman - The s-CRY-ed announcement got me thinking about other anime that I think will never get an official physical release, and with the unfortunate passing of Stan Lee, I don't see Heroman ever getting its proper chance to shine over in the States. Heroman is essentially an anime version of Spider-Man that also takes inspiration from, well, Toku. Sort of like a recursive version of Supaidahman, in a meta sense. I feel like it could fun to cover!

Like always, if any of these sound more interesting to you than others, feel free to say so! Otherwise I'll probably do like usual and just kinda pick at random or for some superfluous reason, haha.

I also wanna end this by asking you all a question: Would you consider Gundam to be under this category? Me personally, I wouldn't, but the franchise has crossed over with Kamen Rider and Ultraman, so there is sort of a case to be made. Either way, I don't plan to cover any Gundam shows anytime soon, but I was curious as to how you all felt.

DreamSword, if you have not seen this show, please do. It's what if we put Blue SWAT, B-Fighter, and Fiveman in a blender and made a froyo out of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe3Kbn2CF1g

...This looks right up my alley honestly. Will DEFINITELY cover this at some point, if not have it be next on the list.

-Skull Man: They made an Anime of that?
-GARO: Crimson Moon: Heard mixed things about the Anime adaptions, have yet to see the original.
-Star Diver: Haven't heard of that one, though I could have sworn someone said it was the inspiration for Darling in the Franxx.
-Heroman: Oddly enough, that was one I was planning to watch some time ago, though never got around to it. Because I don't have time, I'll probably wait on that one.
-The Gundam Question: I guess it depends on how people see it. I haven't watched Gundam, except for Build Divers, though I've been curious.

Don't know if you'd care, but a few other "Toku-ish" Anime I have on my watch list are:
-Blassreiter: Apparently this was Gen Urobochi's attempt at making a Kamen Rider, prior to Gaim. It's basically Kamen Rider in Germany with Demons, as someone put it.
-Majin Bone: Just look at the suits, it's about as Toku as they can get. It seems to be based on a toy line from Bandai, consisting of interchangeable, customizable armor for each character.

But I'm probably just rambling, so I'll let you or anyone else here pick what to watch, as I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time on my hands. So whatever you choose to watch, I hope you all can enjoy!

Thanks for making me aware of those! I'll jot them down for the future. And I hope you find time to join us in the near future!

I would absolutely not say Gundam is inspired by tokusatsu to any massive degree, but it's worth noting how many superficial similarities exist due to them both pulling from the same broader mold of merchandise-centric Japanese hero shows for kids. The tradition of the protagonist getting a second, cooler Gundam to pilot midway through the show is basically the tokusatsu Final Form trope, for example. Rivals, evil counterparts, and even the occasional series with a big ensemble of heroes from the outset that sell themselves on the appeal of getting to choose your favorite of the bunch too – I could easily be talking about Gundam or Kamen Rider there.

It's really broad strokes stuff, but, especially when it comes to the parts Bandai has a direct hand in, there's a lot of shared language there nonetheless. Despite how I started this post, there probably are plenty of specific instances of direct inspiration being taken from toku. I mean, the Impulse Gundam even had straight up Ultraman Tiga style color swap form changing; I'd be more surprised to find out that didn't have anything to do with shows like Kuuga being such huge successes!

Oh yeah man definitely. And that's not even getting into all the shared mecha tropes between Gundam and Sentai, haha.

But now I gotta think? Which Gundam show is the most Toku? The one that immediately comes to my mind is G-Gundam, because like, kung-fu mecha that are basically glorified giant suits of armor, ontop how the Shuffle Alliance a Sentai squad in and of themselves, haha.