[Kiwami]

This might've been my favorite episode yet.

First of all, the scenes were Yume is reminded of seeing her sisters falling / her dead body in the water was genius. That's the kind of "show, don't tell" aspect I love about both Gridman and Dynazenon. And at the end it is once again handled perfectly, as Yume is unsure to jump into the water with her friends but looking at them fills her with ease. Since the panned shot included the entire team I want to say it was friendship, but since it ended on Yomogi it made me feel like she does return his feelings. Or a mix of both. Another small hint at this I feel like was seeing her being a bit annoyed / jealous at Chise piloting the Dyna Soldier together with Yomogi.

Talking "show, don't tell" and Chise - another great aspect of this episode. The focus on her arm bandage. Now we know it's not fashion but she's hiding something, I think it’s safe to assume its scars. Maybe burn marks even. This will no doubt play into a much darker aspect of her character and the suspected turn towards evil that the opening hints at.

Then there's Koyomi who I'm rather worried about honestly. I can't imagine what Yomogi's co-worker "showed" him back then, but it does appear she had issues. I mean, you don’t really smash windows out of boredom. And her current state - I feel like she isn't even married anymore, or at the stage in her relationship were she knows a divorce would be the better option but can't bring herself to do it. And I don’t know how Koyomi plays into this, he obviously had feelings for her but I’m afraid he was and is about to once again be used as an emotional punching-bag. A toy for someone who is broken.

Lastly there's Yomogi himself being a bit of a clumsy, love-struck fool and Gauma becoming an object of straight up comedic genius for an entire episode. And that’s why I liked this episode the best so far, everyone had something great going on. Even the bad guys. I really appreciate the running gag of Onija being almost killed via debris at the end of every fight.

And this episode also had the best monster so far IMO, a really fun design. The action scene was great too, I love that they went against expectations and didn't make Dyna Soldier Striker a melee brawler form like Max Gridman. Instead it’s a ranged powerhouse with stability issues which is hilarious.

My only gripe is that Dyna Rex is once again only brought out for seconds and only allowed to land the finishing blow. I want more action scenes with this form but I'm certain we will get them.

So yeah, this episode had everything. A simple yet fun setting, great character moments, well-done comedy and a top actions sequence. Also a really dark twist at the end, Jesus. But that's what makes this show so good, it never goes stale or becomes too predictable, you really need to be prepared for the gut punches.

All around fantastic episode for a show that keeps on delivering. In many aspects. Including this facial expression of Gauma