[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

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

Wait, it was? I distinctly recall paying more attention to that moment on a rewatch specifically because I remembered you speaking of it so fondly when going through this show. Either way, totally a point worth reiterating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

You know, I hadn't even considered the possibility this subject would come up during this thread? Like maybe you just dodged that whole aspect of this show's popularity, but then you mentioned the merchandise and it's like "oh yeah, I guess it's kinda hard to miss!"

While we're tackling this directly, though, as easy as it would be to kick in my own misgivings about the sort of fanservice that makes people mistakenly believe "anime" is a genre, I'll instead take the more interesting option of noting that I also, at the same time, have to wonder how much of the long-term success of this series genuinely wouldn't have happened without its two female leads becoming so popular in that way. Did all the statues and everything pay for Dynazenon? How much did the free publicity of all the fanart draw people to the actual show proper? It's easy to sit here all disapprovingly, but I have to imagine there are definitely people out there whose genuine interest in Gridman as a whole began merely as an interest in Rikka's thighs, and I honestly wouldn't want to disparage that? I could bemoan the expectations that seem to come with being a late-night animated series aimed at nerds in Japan all day long (though, similar to what DreamSword is saying, I don't actually find this show itself that egregious), but I guess I also can't help but see some nuance in there, too?