Kamen Rider Die watches SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon
 

Hi there. I’m Kamen Rider Die, and this is “Kamen Rider Die watches SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon”.

I definitely don’t think of myself as an Anime Guy, despite being old enough to have devoured formative series as they were first making their ways to America’s various physical media storefronts (Suncoast Video!) and as bootlegs on the tables of comic conventions. (Imagine if the cat site was some random dude’s folding table, and you had to pay $20 for a batch of episodes.) I came up on the AD Vision and Pioneer and Manga Video releases of Evangelion, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Blue Sub No 6, Tenchi Muyo, and a dozen more. But I’m old, and that was a million years ago, and I don’t really have the chemicals in my brain that hunger for season-length animation; I’d say I grew out of it, but *gestures to seven years of immersion in a tokusatsu franchise designed to sell toys to Japanese children*. So, I don’t know. Fell off of it, I guess? Seems like that’s something I could maybe push myself back into.

Which brings us to this thread! A couple years ago, as I was planning out a road map to rewatch and write about the Phase 2 Heisei Rider shows I’d gotten into before joining the boards on TokuNation, I wanted to sprinkle in some non-Rider stuff, so it could be new to me. (I like discovering new things!) One of the projects was watching a toku anime, and the first thing that came to mind – despite honestly not knowing a ton about it, including if it was actually any good – was SSSS.Gridman. I’m originally a Transformers guy, and I recall the initial designs of the characters from Gridman trickling out into the TF fan community, because they’re references to the Shattered Glass TF designs, which is fascinating and bonkers. Just basing these kids on Transformers is weird, but basing their designs on fan club repaints is the sort of thing that sticks in the brain of even those indifferent to anime. So, yeah: Gridman! That’s the one I wanted to check out, and hopefully find some of that old anime excitement that used to chew up my paycheck as a younger cubist monstrosity.

While there are for sure more knowledgeable and dedicated fans of toku anime on the boards, that is probably not the manner in which I’ll be approaching Gridman and its follow-up (?) Dynazenon. I don’t inherently care about anime, or the intentions of its creators. I’m going to watch a show, and tell you how I felt about it, and the parts of it that said something to me as a piece of art. I don’t know if that’s going to work for folks! (I definitely didn’t feel like my engagement with Fuuto P.I. was fostering a healthy discourse?) But it’s what I’ve got, and it’s how I process these things, and I hope some of you feel like going along for the ride.

After briefly feeling like I 100% did not want to do these threads anymore, I am going to approach this (potential) return in a slightly different way than in the past. Namely, I don’t know what the schedule’s going to be. I am going to look at each day, and see if I’ve got the time and interest to do another episode. If I don’t, we’ll try again the next day. I promise you that this thread will finish, but I couldn’t tell you how long it’s going to take. That said… I really like a steady cadence to these things? So expect something along the lines of 4-5 episodes per week. Just, like, set a subscription to this thread, and you’ll get a post when I feel like I can engage with it.

Beyond that, we’ve got our boilerplate disclaimers:
-PLEASE DON’T POST ANY SPOILERS ABOUT UPCOMING EPISODES. This is my first time watching these shows, and I prefer to go in as cold as possible. If we can keep the discussion to just the episodes I’ve covered, I’d appreciate it.
-DISCUSSION IS WELCOME. I like getting to talk about these shows, but I love getting to talk about them with other people. You are not obligated to chime in if you’d rather lurk, but I definitely enjoy these threads more when people share their own experiences with the art. (Facts and trivia are fine, too, but I way more want to talk about what you took away from the show!)
-KEEP BEING GOOD PEOPLE. I like when everyone is respectful of each other’s views on art, so let’s keep that in the front of our minds as we talk about these shows, okay?

I think that’s it! (It’s probably not, but I can’t recall what else to mention.) Let’s watch a toku anime!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman00.png

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 1 - “AWAKENING”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman01a.png

Toku should be for the young.

I’m old, obviously, and I like toku, but it shouldn’t be for me. It needs to speak to children – it needs to address their concerns, argue for their futures, and provide them the road map to survive their adolescence. If there’s a universality to that experience that echoes into adulthood, or a secondary payload for adults, all the better. But the use for toku is for the young.

So I loved this first episode of Gridman, and how it takes the signifiers of nostalgia and history – the Junk Shop, the retro computer, Gridman’s corny statements about callings that don’t impart any useful or tangible information – and hands them over to a new generation, and allows them to do whatever they want with them. It’s a rejection of nostalgia as something that targets a pointless audience, and instead takes the value of the past as only something that the future can give it. These kids don’t know what Gridman is, or why it should matter, so they get to decide in what ways it might matter. It’s a show from their point of view, with the entirety of their world being the scope of the story.

That was great, how hyper (agent) focused it was on these kids, their connections. The best sequence in the episode for me was the jittery editing of the Rikka/Yuta amnesia chat in the Junk Shop. (A protagonist with narratively convenient amnesia? It’s like I never left!) It leverages the flexibility of anime pacing – this episode’s lousy with languid establishing shots, frozen reaction shots, jump cuts – to bind Rikka and Yuta together into this one brain that is as equally annoyed by his amnesia as it is committed to keeping him tethered to the world. There’s no help coming from adults (Rikka’s mom’s two moves are leaving a scene, and asking the kids to leave a scene), so we’re left with kids sort of wandering around, navigating a world that’s shrouded in mist and unanswered questions. Again, the meanings are up to them.

It’s a really good vibe. I like these kids. I like how they’re amiable, and the right amount of idiosyncratic. There’s for sure more to come in each of their backstories (Akane feels slightly too weird to just be a weird kid in school) and tons of mystery to be explored (the school’s just back at the end?!), but this episode really only works if you want to hang out with Yuta, Utsumi, and Rikka, and I totally did. Yuta’s amnesia acts as a fun way to introduce the cast, and his chemistry with Rikka (charmingly inept) and Utsumi (co-conspirator) creates a really strong base to push the main story forward – the climax of this one needs you to buy not only that Yuta would get in the Hyper Agent, but that Rikka and Utsumi would try to help him defeat the kaiju, and I completely bought it. I bought that these three kids would puzzle their way through to saving their town, and that they could do it without subsuming themselves into toku mythology and signifiers. They did it as/for a bunch of kids.

I like that this show took an old thing, and handed it over to a bunch of kids to figure out what it was, and what they should do with it. Perfect choice, and a great start.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman01b.png

>watching the sub and not the dub

Wow, you really are a hardcore anime fan!

I dunno how often I'll post in this thread, given I feel that I've kinda already said everything I possibly could about these two anime and their finale movie, but I'll for sure be reading along.

Glad you liked the first episode! Personally I felt it did a great job at both being an introduction to its own original tale as well as having enough to try and hook fans of the original Gridman and/or Syber-Squad. The way the show handles its references is especially nice, as the way they're presented, you're not really missing out on anything super major if you're a newcomer, but you do get a nice little bonus if you've been around. It's the sort of thing alot of reboots fail at, in my experience.

Case in point, the special dog:

https://i.imgur.com/0hzKPOz.png

A nice little nod to the older shows if you're oldschool. A fun little oddity that just sorta exists in this world if you're someone new.

Anyways, hope you enjoy your time with this little section of the franchise!

It's the best decision this show could make, just letting the world happen to the cast, rather than continuously highlighting callbacks or whatever. I don't want a show that wants me to care about some other show!

Fun fact, the color scheme for certain characters are taken from Transformers: Shattered Glass.

I think I mentioned this? It's for sure what first made me aware of this show, as a Transformers fan. Really neat to see that SG Optimus color scheme, and the mask for SG Soundwave... just fun touches, even if it doesn't feel very narratively motivated. (The SG stuff is all flipped morality, so maybe that'll come into play?)

Dang it, I missed it. :lolol
But yeah loved seeing SG Soundwave.

It's hard to even know where to start with this one, for me?

I mean, first of all, happy to have you back, is probably the most important thing to say. I'm definitely looking forward to getting your perspective on these shows as someone coming in from the outside in so many ways. Even as a toku fan, your interest has always been pretty specifically with Rider, so you're sort of *double* lost going into this one? Which is maybe kind of perfect, actually? It's not really a surprise this first episode clicked with you, in that context. If you're exploring this weird new world, struggling to find your own meaning in it while dealing with some sense there's a drive or purpose you once had that you're only beginning to rediscover... hopefully that helps you connect with this story in a way that's entirely unique to you. (Or, failing that, hopefully a total episode count around half the length of one of your usual threads at least makes this a more manageable experience.):p

I'd like to talk about the unique way *I* feel connected with this whole Universe of Gridman media -- and I may have chewed someone's ear off about it in some other thread a few times -- but it's sort of hard to break it into digestible chunks? Trying to keep it relevant specifically to this premiere, I was going in as a fan of the original Gridman series, and it ended up leaving me feeling cold for reasons I had to spend a lot of time (i.e. the entire rest of the broadcast run) untangling before beginning to understand how lucky I actually was to have this show in my life.

So that's the oversimplified version, anyway! Skipping way ahead to entirely present tense feelings, though, I do think this series made a lot of really smart decisions in how it chose to present itself to new audiences first, and as is often the case with you, Die, despite only being one episode in, you're actually already a lot closer to grasping some of those big picture ideas than you probably realize right now.

Well I would make my regular feature explaining all the references (Inoue Hospital is not a reference to Toshiki and Akiko, for one). But I already did that for the other guy. So my snap new feature here, which will require me to make a major effort, is to point out what major Toku roles the Japanese voice cast have had (be they regular roles, or guest characters for a movie/V-Cinema.

Yuya Hirose (Yuta Hibiki) was also You and Pi (collectively known as YouPi) in Ultraman Arc. (Hilariously, the same is also true of the dub VA, Brandon MacInnis)

Hikaru Midorikawa (Gridman), in addition to playing the same role in the original series 25 years earlier, was also Dark Dragon King Salamandes in Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive, Bakuryuu Topgaler in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, Negataros/Kamen Rider Nega Den-O in Den-O x Kiva: Climax Deka, Mirror Knight in the Ultraman Zero saga and Wiserue in Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger.

Yume Miyamoto (Rikka) was later Magine/ZenkaiMagine in Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.

Reina Ueda (Akane) was later Mrs. Sweet Cake in No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger.

Tetsu Inada (Alexis Kerib) was also a wealth of roles, mostly in Sentai since 1999. Most notably, he was Juma King Golmois in GoGoV’s V-Cinema, Highness Duke Org Shuten in Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, Ultraman Cosmos and Ultraman Legend in the former’s movies, Doggie Kruger/DekaMaster in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Dark Faust in Ultraman Nexus, Kamen Rider Ichigou since Decade’s movie whenever Fujioka isn’t available, Homuras in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger Brave, Gachileus in Ryusoulger, Mashin Hakobu in Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Manhole Grumer in Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger vs King-Ohger and the live action role of Suji in the latter series. (Though his casting here is because he was the voice of Over Justice in Space Patrol Luluco, who Kerib is designed as a homage to)

And last but not least for this episode…

Suzuko Mimori (Namiko) was also RE.M in Ultraman Geed (also physically portraying her human form in one episode) and the Mother of Ultra in all Ultraman media the character’s appeared in since 2020.

As for what I thought… well I’ll either have to rewatch the shows, or go back and find what I said in said other guy’s threads.

That has to be intentional. :lolol

I love Gridman!

A shame they couldn't work in the headband!

Yeah, I loved how nothing in this first episode felt like it was punishing me for not understanding (or even identifying) the tropes, let alone catching the references, because these kids aren't aware of any of that? The things they're doing all make sense in that frenzied teen logic space -- batshit crazy shenanigans and peer pressure and discovery and background attraction and Let's Be Legends and and and -- so that we don't need an adult telling us how this all works together or what it meant to a previous generation; toku magical realism.

To quote Roast Beef from The Great Outdoor Fight, "Our every move is the new tradition."

Glad to know I'm watching Sabela's favorite toku anime!

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 2 - “RESTORATION”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman02a.png

I don’t… like, I don’t want to do that Kamen Rider Die cliched thing where I sort of handwave the actual toku action stuff in favor of really drilling into a metaphorical read of the iconography of the episode. The Gridman combat in this episode was awesome, and I loved Gridman Calibur as a new addition to the hero’s arsenal.

But.

All I really want to talk about is Rikka, and Akane, and the alternate hope and terror of adulthood when you’re on the cusp of it.

For Rikka, the kaiju are the terror of adulthood, of things changing, and of her friends vanishing. Tonkawa and Toiko don’t die – there’re no bodies, and whatever mourning took place for them was years earlier. They’re just, like, gone. They left. Rikka has to live on with her friends being gone, and nowhere to put that grief, because no one else in school remembers them. That’s a loss she’ll have to suffer in greater and greater amounts in the years to come, because that’s what growing up inevitably means – saying goodbye to childhood friends as your lives pull you in different directions. The kaiju that attacked the school last episode might as well have been Tonkawa’s parents getting a job in another town, or Toiko getting into a different college, or or or. Rikka will have to watch her friends vanish over time, and it’s as heartbreaking as it is unavoidable. It’ll happen, and she’ll never know when… like the immobilized kaiju in the skyline.

For Akane, the kaiju are the hope of adulthood – specifically, the dream of control. Akane as she is is a high school student, subject to the whims of adults and authorities and power. But if she were an adult, she’d have that power for herself. The kaiju are her way to exert influence on the world, and make it into what she wants, which is a child’s conception of adulthood. It’s power and control, rather than responsibility and service. The kaiju are a thing she can use to stop feeling powerless, the inversion to the unknowable fear of the future that Rikka has of them.

But then, in the end, the hope and terror of adulthood flatten out into days just like the ones before it. Rikka’s fear is alleviated by the new friends she makes as she mourns the loss of old ones – spending a day with Yuta, Utsumi, and Samurai Calibur (!!!), no different or worse than the ones she’d spent with Tonkawa or Toiko – and Akane’s dream of power is negated by a new teacher that still bumps into students because he isn’t paying attention, but at least says Sorry now in an unfulfilling way. The kaiju aren’t as apocalyptic as we’d fear, or as powerful as we’d hope; pretty much like being an adult.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman02b.png

Since you're not watching the dub, and I highly doubt you've seen Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, I just wanna point out a neat thing that the dub of Gridman did for this show specifically.

https://i.imgur.com/ig8J88x.png

In the old SSSS show, the main villain Kilokhan was voiced by Tim Curry. So the directors had Alexis Kerib's' VA, Barry Yandell, do a Tim Curry impression when voicing Alexis.

I just thought that was a really nice touch for us here in the west.

Oh, that's very cool! Thanks!

So this episode brings in a new character, in the form of Samurai Caliber, who can turn into… a samurai caliber. He’s a homage to the Gridman Sword from the original live action show, a shield that could combine with the sword hidden within it to become a larger sword (it was modelled after a hot dog. No, really), while the name is a reference to its counterpart in the American version Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, released as the Samurai Sword, and that show’s protagonist, Sam Collins.

And for the casting thing, Caliber is played by Ryosuke Takahashi, who you can also hear as Hudram in Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga. But he’s mostly a live action actor, in which capacity he played F1 racer Ando Takuto/Lio-Sazer in Chousei Kantai Sazer-X (a show that features the guy who went on to play Ankh as the kid-appeal comic relief) and the bad guy from Revice’s Live/Evil and Demons V-Cinema (I forgot his name and can’t be bothered to look it up now). He’s doing voice work here a) because he was inspired to by the VAs for the alien characters back during Sazer-X and b) he was supposed to reprise the role for a stage play that never happened (as to why, the show was scheduled for 2020).

Neat! Thanks!

Oh, by all means, go ahead! This show is fully supportive of being watched that way.

It's funny you mention the "toku" action stuff, though, since that's one of the interesting things about the way the fights are put together. It's not simply an animated version of the old Gridman, but rather this constant push and pull between shots and movements styled after giant monster tokusatsu, and those that instead take after the traditions of mecha anime. One of the more obvious tributes on the latter front, for example, being the specific pose Gridman strikes at the end of the "combination sequence" with the Gridman Calibur, with it thrusting towards the camera in that really exaggerated manner. That very particular framing is commonly associated with famed animator/mecha designer Masami Oobari, although the reality of its history is apparently a little more complicated than that. (Which is to say, more complicated than I'm actually educated about, but again, part of the beauty is that understanding the references isn't mandatory.)

Congrats on your 4000th post!

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 3 - “DEFEAT”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman03a.png

I haven’t really talked about it beyond noting it in passing, but: these Shattered Glass character designs really started to do my head in with this episode.

It’s Anti’s SG Hot Rod design that made it too distracting to not bring up. I love that design – the purple flame motif on black!!! –and it works great as a signifier of bottled-up rage. The rest of the designs… like, I honestly don’t know how intentional their specific applications are, so beyond saying Hey Utsumi Is SG Ratchet, I kind of don’t feel like reading a ton into it. (Like, I think you could 100% read into Yuta being Cliffjumper, who I want to say was from an alternate/regular reality in the initial SG Fan Club stories? That seems relevant!) The good guys don’t all line up as the good guys here – again, SG Ratchet, pretty much just a sadist – and the bad guys here are kind of just SG Optimus and SG Hot Rod, which… I guess could maybe map out? I don’t know. I feel like it’s a design decision that started from a place of Why Not, and then worked backwards to give it a thematic resonance.

And that vibe, the Anything Goes (sooorry) thing, it’s kind of the whole feel of this very good, very moody, very funny episode? It’s that got that teen ambivalence to it, where the imminent destruction of the city at the hands of a talking kaiju is given equal weight to Rikka feeling bad about not taking Yuta’s call when she had the chance. It’s to this show’s breathless and assured credit that neither level of this story feels diminished in association with the other, where a scene of Calibur anime leaping around town to then fling the teens at the Gridman computer, sits comfortably alongside a nuanced exploration of Rikka’s need to strengthen her connections with people before her default Cool Girl persona leaves her isolated and alone. This is an episode that doesn’t see the difference in stakes between giant battle and tiny terror, and it’s all the better for it.

More than anything, though, this is an episode that lets consequences feel both ridiculous and obvious, so you can just assume that cell phones work in formless interdimensional voids because I don’t know why *wouldn’t* they work in formless interdimensional voids. It’s got that toku magical realism, that teen heedlessness, where no rules exist if they don’t serve the emotions of the cast. We’re in a story that takes nothing for granted, and questions every assumption, which: teenagers. Whole story is built like a teen brain, and I love how that gear matches the toku genre so perfectly. Rikka needs to talk to Yuta on the phone because she couldn’t when it didn’t matter, so now she can. I love it. I love this whole dumb, weird, goofy, sad, earnest episode of monster battles and teen drama.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman03b.png

https://i.imgur.com/Qe3WIXl.png

This is the first episode where the show focuses more on emulating Super Robot shows in terms of its action rather than Tokusatsu, and I think it was the right call given the resulting battle is not only very cool, but it's also very memorable as a result. With many fans calling it the best action scene in the show even to this day.

Also, I agree that SG Hot Rod's' design is killer. He's literally the only SG Transformers toy I have because of both that idea as well as this show.

In which the 13 epusode run time forces us to the point it would normally take 13 episodes tor each for most shows: Our first major obstacle, on the form on slightly stronger Kaiju Anti. He’s an homage to Shinobilar, a monster from the original series who made three appearances and was enough of a threat in his first appearance to debut a new combination.

Speaking of homages, we also meet the Neon Genesis Junior High School Club (which is not a homage to Evangelion, despite how the subs translated the name. The Japanese script uses “Shinseiki”, which translates roughly as “new generation”, since they’re the new generation of Gridman’s Assist Weapons). They’re based on the original Gridman’s Assist Weapons, God Tank, Twin Driller and Thunder Jet, though with the exception of Max, they’re named after the US equivalents from Syber Squad, with Borr directly sharing his name, while Vit is derived from “Vitor”. (Max’s equivalent was named Tracto, which is homaged with his mecha form being “Battle Tracto Max”). In a similar homage, Max’s attack being called the Tanker Cannon references the fact that the guy who piloted Tracto in Syber Squad was nicknamed Tank (it was never revealed what his real name was).

And now, for the casting trivia, since all of our new guys are in other Toku.

Kenichi Suzumura (Anti) can also be heard as Ryutaros in Kamen Rider Den-O and Mashin Fire in Mashin Sentai Kiramager.

Katsuyuki Konishi (Max) was also GoseiKnight/Groundion in Tensou Sentai Goseiger and several voices in Kamen Rider Gotchard (specifically, he opening narrator, the Rider gear for the heroes, Smaphone, Renkingrobo, Gaiard and the Dark Hades King).

Aoi Yuki (Borr) was also Yurusen in Kamen Rider Ghost.

Masaya Matsukaze (Vit) was also Chevalier of Resentment Endolf in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger and appeared physically as Shun Namiki/Mega Blue in Denji Sentai Megaranger (he was also up for the role of Kuuga at one point)

As much as I only ever want to talk about Rikka's plots -- always, forever, favorite character on a show of nothing but great characters -- the episode-length battle against Anti was memorably visceral and complex. It's got a bunch of phases to it, and it brackets a great Utsumi/Rikka plot (sorry, I can't help it) with a fight that needs a bit more strategy, against an opponent that isn't just a dumb beast. Really great action in this Rikka show!

uuuuugggggghhhhh

and she was the best one on this

uuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

Ah, you'll be fine. :lolol

I was under the impression he was Sideswipe? Who TF Wiki assures me had a fairly prominent role in that initial comic as a character with a form of preexisting connection to Cliffjumper, who helped him get his bearings in a world he doesn't understand (being the audience surrogate), and apparently even hung out with him in at least a later story or two? Like a friend might?

As for why the main characters are based on those designs to begin with, just ask yourself why the creators of SSSS Gridman might have felt such a strong affinity for an alternate take on a nostalgic property made by nerds incorporating homages to all sorts of things they were fans of. Because once you start to look at it from that perspective, I'd argue how conscious a decision it was begins to stop mattering.

Huh! Interesting! I definitely got more of a Ratchet vibe (the white shirt), but I can see from pulling up an image on Goggle that he's got the scarred-up symbol on his chest that Sideswipe did, so I am clearly wrong. Thanks for the correction!

Yep, it's Sideswipe. But I can see why you'd think SG Ratchet because of his white shirt, green and purple on his clothes, and the slash resembling his chest area where it's cracked and all. It's stuff like this that reminds me of Gunbuster and 90s tv Evangelion-era Gainax where nerds are making some quality stuff packed with references and probably why I enjoyed it. For instance, Max Gridman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-DzK-Qikdk

Go to about the 00:29 mark on the clip and you might notice a resemblence.

So in my reading, I’ve discovered that the Kaiju roars in this show are made by having Akane’s actress say a word, and then distorting it dramatically. Episode 1’s monster Ghoulgilas was saying “die”, while episode 2’s D?vadadan was saying “kill”.

I'm glad it wasn't just me!

Neat! Thanks!

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 4 - “SUSPICION”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman04a.png

There is maybe nothing I love more than a Summer Toku episode. It’s all overheated everything: romantic entanglements, frustrated villains, oblivious heroes, and cicada soundtracks. Melodrama comes as easy as melancholy, while the stakes are trivial and all-encompassing at the same time.

As such, boy, this one totally worked for me. I could’ve watched a full episode of Rikka accidentally going on a date with four college guys (creeps, probably for the best that they were monster-murdered) while Yuta slowly comes to terms with his incredibly obvious feelings for her. It’s an episode maybe less about furthering any sort of overarching storyline – we’re sort of circling Akane’s need to unearth Gridman’s identity, while Rikka maybe accidentally starts to lay the groundwork to connect Akane to the kaiju attacks; also, Gridman has Yuta’s amnesia, too – than it is about the general feeling of secrets coming to light, and the end of self-delusion, all sweated out in the summertime.

Naturally for two characters modeled after SG Optimus and SG Megatron (I think I’m right on this one?), we learn that Akane and Rikka were friends, and they sort of drifted apart for reasons that Rikka chalks up to coincidence, while Akane pointedly doesn’t treat it like it’s something she even noticed. (The end credits sort of make me think otherwise!)They’re both the same in how they react to the group date – neither wants to be there – but where Rikka’s empathy keeps her from holding a bad date against some creepy college guy (It’s creepy! She’s a high school girl! I’m not overthinking this!), Akane immediately wants to murder all four of them the second they invade her personal space. It’s… these two girls are the same, but one of them is tuned to megalomaniacal retribution, and the other for basic humanity.

Beyond another killer Rikka story, we get some romantic comedy hijinks with a smitten/protective Yuta, and a variably engaged Utsumi. (I love that the second Akane is out of the picture, Utsumi’s interest in Yuta’s romantic dilemma vanishes. He is a very good friend, so long as there’s something in it for him!) The whole thing is hapless, even by this show’s standard of easily distracted teens and their Greek chorus of sentient weaponry. Yuta et al never really learn anything through their investigation – Rikka just straight up tells Yuta at the end of the episode – and nothing else is even accidentally uncovered in the course of their buffonery, but the buffonery is kind of more than enough? It’s just bumbling, and I think that’s this show’s best gear.

The whole episode works because it starts with Rikka complaining about the heat and then catching a bus, and it never loses that lazy, sweaty feeling of things not being worth any exertion. Even the fight against the kaiju takes a break in the middle, because it’s too hot out to not cool off for a minute. I love it, man. I love summer episodes of toku!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman04b.png

https://i.imgur.com/QqwF3Rs.png

Only Anti is allowed to defeat Gridman.

In which Akane gets mad that filthy casuals can’t recognise different Aliens from the Ultra Series. Even Gonglee’s cries are distortions of her declaring “Disgusting”.

And going with the Transformers references, the members of Arcadia are not only based on different incarnations of Jetfire, but in keeping with several minor characters being named after toy companies (eg. Namiko = Bandai Namco, Hass = Hasbro, Tonkawa = Tonka), the individual members are all named for companies that produced Macross (the toyline the original Jetifre toy was made for) toys, with the one who survives being named for the only company that hasn’t gone out of business. Arcadia is said company’s current name.

I love a good Principled Rival! Not only does it give us some nicely escalating tension in the Akane/Anti relationship, where Anti refuses to kill humans because he only kills Gridman, but then we get a chaotic fight scene that isn't just two-on-one, but something more narratively interesting. Great episode for Core Class SG Hot Rod!

I hope the dub changed their group name to Harmony Gold.

Just had to share it, but apparently Max's face mask was inspired by Grimlock from the Michael Bay movies.

Even though it's just a tiny little moment, I'm quite fond of how the show leads into that bit of exposition with the surreal moment of this charmingly self-serious computer superhero asking in the only tone he can if Yuuta needs help with his personal problems. The extraordinary blending with the mundane like that is always fun, and it's a nice sort of buddy moment for the two of them.

Neat! Thanks!

Even though I only ever want to talk about Rikka, I definitely could've spent all of Episode 4 talking about the hysterical collection of variably helpful dudes orbiting Yuta's incredibly straightforward teenage crush: Utsumi, who is maniacally insistent about Yuta stalking a girl he likes only so Utsumi has an excuse to stalk a girl he likes; Gridman, who sees that his partner needs help and loudly embarrasses him to a level that I think Yuta wanted to Access Flash his way right out of that room; and Max, who is somehow the most straightforward and sensible compatriot, despite being a massive man with a Bayverse facemask who turns into a pair of electric arms for a giant superhero that lives in a computer.

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 5 - “PROVOCATION”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman05a.png

Well, it certainly was provocative!

Teens are horny, I get it. As much as I loved last episode, this one’s, uh, male gaze left me a little cold, and that’s plenty ironic for a summer episode of bikinis. While the various fascinations and flirtations continue in earnest – Yuta/Rikka, Akane/Yuta, Utsumi/Akane, Akane/Rikka – the way this one leaned heavier on fan-service kind of… it sort of isn’t my preferred mode of anime storytelling? It’s sort of the reason I don’t watch a ton of anime, if I’m being honest.

This episode, and my ambivalence towards it setting its sights on Lingering Shots Of Akane In A Bikini as an entire genre of storytelling, is maybe the point in which I mention that my enjoyment of the previous four episodes is partially due to my initial fear that I’d mostly be confronted with character designs I’d glimpsed through merchandise listings like this one and this one, and my utter relief that the characters weren’t actually showcased in ways that I’d feel like I couldn’t talk about in public without having to defend a piece of art as Horny About High School Girls, But Still Very Smart. This was just a smart show about teens, and their hormones acted as a catalyst, not as a license.

For this one, I sort of felt like it stranded itself a little too much in the licentious zone, where I just don’t find as much story potential in lingering shots of Akane in a bikini. (Multiple times! She’s an attractive drawing, but I don’t need as much screentime devoted to that concept! Fairly well established by this point in the narrative!) The rest of the episode has some fun with the dilemma of a field trip delaying access to Gridman, and every moment of that problem-solving was a blast. (I honestly wish the train ride for the Neon Genesis Junior High cast was just twenty minutes of quick-cut montage editing; amazing, continuously hilarious.) I just… I don’t know that there was a ton else here for me? Little moments of interaction, but between swimsuit stuff and the (admittedly very funny) delays in even getting ready for a fight, I don’t feel like I can point to a whole lot that I could engage with either metaphorically or dramatically.

(My favorite story beat in the entire episode was a tossed-off line from Utsumi, about how the terror of the frozen kaiju fades as they just become scenery, and I like how that reinforced the fear of adulthood that the kids grappled with in the earlier episodes. Their future is just there, and it’s scary or dangerous or heroic or bright, but it’s not here yet, so they just sort of forget it’s imminent. That was a great line!)

I guess this one just wasn’t for me? Cute for parts, but thin on the ground in the places I most want to engage with. Glad the kids had a fun day, for the most part!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ssss/gridman05b.png

You really haven't seen much anime if you think this beach episode was alot in terms of fanservice.

Anyway, I noted at the start of this thread that I probably wasn't going to talk much, but this episode right here is probably going to be the one exception, because it's actually my favorite episode in the entire show.

The short of it is that it stands in direct opposition to a common complaint that I've read other people give Gridman after Dynazenon came out. That being that the main trio of Yuta, Sho, and Rikka don't act like nor feel like friends. I genuinely think that anyone who believes that should stop to examine this one.

Probably the easiest/biggest moment anyone could point to would be during the episode's' climax, where Rikka runs for literal miles for the sake of Yuta and Sho. You don't just like, do that for anyone who's a mere acquaintance at best, ya know? But beyond that, there's one very specific moment that spoke volumes to me and, judging by reactions I've gotten, literally only me.

https://i.imgur.com/WlBwTkv.png

This is a moment I took for granted in my original thread, and I regret that.

Because back before I'd gotten more into the toku sphere as a whole, I just sort of assumed other people would get how huge this little moment between Yuta and Sho was, like I did. But now I know better, and I'm going to make an effort to highlight it here: It's a scene which highlights two friends who have grown so comfortable with eachother that all they really need is the warmth and enjoyment of one another's' presence.

Based on what I've read, many extroverted people sort of struggle to understand this, but for alot of people, me included, the sharing and showcasing of friendship doesn't always require those involved to be "doing" anything, per se. Just the act of being willing and desiring to be around one another speaks volumes, and that alone helps weave and strengthen connections. Sure, big trips to the beach are great fun and make memories too, but the little things in life are just as important, if not moreso, and I'll always love this episode for showing that.

This is a nice note, and I appreciate you sharing it! I also think the main trio comes off well here as believable teens that genuinely support each other, even if I found the specific execution of their trip to the train station to be slightly unbelievable -- namely, I don't believe for a single second that canonically-doughy Utsumi has better stamina than Rikka; there's no way he'd beat her to the train station! ABSURD!

Beyond that, though, there are definitely some nice moments to their friendships, from the small moments of silent companionship, to the big moments of 5k runs for justice. Thanks again for sharing your take on it!

This week’s monster’s vocabulary is “Go home”. Which is perfect considering Akane thinks going out on a field trip is too much work.

And in terms of references, the ones this week tend more towards Syber Squad than Gridman. The episode’s basic premise (the heroes are trapped in the wild and have to get online to fight this week’s monster) is mostly the same as that show’s final episode (though the differences are that they bought a laptop, an aerial and an exercise bike to power both with them and the main hero was otherwise occupied, so the secondary lead had to step in).

And we see Borr in action, and like Max’s Tanker Missiles, he has two attacks homaging the pilot of Syber Squad’s Borr: the Forrester Extinguish Bullet and the Sydney Adhesive Bullet, both derived from Syber Squad’s sole girl Sydney Forrester.