[Fish Sandwich]

Yo are we talking Gridman right now!?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamcastegirl

Gridman isn't really like that one series you would rush in and rescue if your house was on fire.

Disagree! I adore this show to bits, despite it not being some objective super masterpiece, and, well— you know what, I'm just going to quote what I wrote about my history with it from in DreamSword's anime thread when he was covering SSSS.Gridman:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

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.

...it's a show that kinda means a surprising amount to me, basically. I think it's just a very fun, energetic series that has a wonderful kid fantasy premise behind it. Really cozy, is maybe the single word that sums it up best. Probably not the best fit for binge-watching(!), but it's a great series to just have an episode of every now and then. I'm really glad you found a lot to like in there, even if I'm definitely a bigger Ippei fan than you apparently were.

(I think I mostly just liked that his specific tech shtick was 3D modeling? Like, I don't know, there's just something really endearing about that being his chosen artistic medium in the early 90's. Kid was ahead of his time if you ask me.)

I'm also really glad SSSS.Gridman seems to still be kicking people towards the original show? The connection between them isn't ~that~ significant as to make the original required viewing, so it's nice how often I see people at least giving it a chance because of their interest in the reimagining anyway.