[SHINOBI03]

Finally finished Super Human Samurai Syber-Squad. It doesn't differ that much from Gridman. They're both silly and goofy shows based on outdated technology, but Gridman took itself too seriously while SSSS was less by embracing its silliness.

I joked many times watching it how cheap this production is, but sadly that is its biggest flaw. They could not use the show's full potential because they had a seriously tight budget recycling the same indoor sets making the setting so isolated from the world and having extras or guests was very few and spaced out between episodes. For crying out loud one character was never seen and the only thing they used was her voice. And yet they thought extending the show for 16 more episodes was a great idea.

As a reminder, Gridman ran for 39 episodes, SSSS went past that number by reaching 53 episodes, and the only reason they finally decided to end it was running out of footage to use. And even then, they've been recycling battle footage way many times than it should be allowed. Episode order was also out even with the official order presented when they were introducing the new attack vehicles and weapons creating many plotholes. Maybe I could rearrange the order to make it more consistent.

The actors did their best with the material they've been handed to. The writing is not the deepest or the most serious, but you won't get any dull moment with them. Amp and Mrs. Starkey were my most favorites. And of course, Malcolm and Kilokahn are the best improvement over their Gridman counterparts and Glen Beaudin and Tim Curry brought enough personality they could carry the entire show with just them bickering like the odd couple.

The series reached its peak with episode 37 "Kilo Is Coming To Town" where it's agreed it should've ended there. The next 16 episodes were like an unnecessary bonus that regressed the show backwards like it hit a reset button. Amp got replaced with a cheap copy duplicating his random humor, Malcolm is back to his old self like he never went through any development, and more recycled fight scenes where one monster was used twice within these 16 episodes. It was clear they were running out of steam. And the finale was your average run of the mill event with the main actor absent and no finality ever on what happened to the main villains like they've disappeared unceremoniously. It was hastily put together like the crew no longer gave a damn to do anything.

Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was an experience alright. I thoroughly enjoyed it even at its lowest points and it'd be interesting to rewatch SSSS Gridman now that I finally watched this and Gridman together.