[dreamcastegirl]

Of course, I did end up watching Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. As soon as I was informed by DreamSword that it was on youtube, I felt compelled to watch the entire series—well, I say watch, what I really mean is play in the background whilst getting on with other stuff, but it still counts, okay?

Dare I say it, but I might even have enjoyed the show more than Gridman, for the most part, and I think that part of the reason for that is the playfulness in which these stories are translated and reinterpreted. To be clear, this is obviously a television show aimed at children and obviously written by people in their 30s, and yet because of that, because it is clear that these adults are trying to have as much possible fun as they can during their day jobs, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad—hereafter SSSS—is chock full of the worst possible kind of dad jokes, the kind that you cannot help but laugh at; punchlines to jokes and dialogue snippets such as "She's an active young miss" and "This even beats going to the laser light show and listening to Pink Floyd" are par for the course throughout the unwieldy 53 episodes that the show runs for. At one point, Sydney, our Yuka analogue for the series, claims to be suffering from "hallucinations brought on from studying and too much intelligence." It's that kind of series. Yet, this lightheartedness really ensures that, for the most part, it remains fun.

When watching Gridman, I spent a lot of time musing on the nature of nostalgia, the absent world of 1993, and such is just as applicable to the depiction of 1995 present in SSSS. Whilst having never been to America, it is unarguable how much American pop culture has shaped the world over the last few centuries, and the references here are all ones present that filtered down to us in the decade during which the series is set; CompuServe, Compaq computers, New Kids on the Block, the Lemonheads, references to cyberpunk books, and both the idea of "video pirates", and the abundance of boys with their hair styled after curtains all of which conspire to evoke the year of production.

Speaking of curtains, our central character in SSSS, Sam Collins is portrayed by none other than a young Matthew Lawrence doing his best Omri Katz impression. Wait, you may be asking, who is Matthew Lawrence and why should you care? Well, friends, Matthew Lawrence, who later went on to appear in Boy Meets World, is the younger brother of Joey Lawrence, one of the main cast members in the sitcom Blossom—well, technically, both brothers appeared in Blossom, the former playing a younger version of the latter's character, but the character of Joey was something of a fan favourite, meaning that, in a way, audiences were already primed to accept the character of Sam as a likeable, youthful lead in a show like this.

Having said that, despite the significance of the show's supporting cast, the real co-star is Sam's foil, Malcolm Frink, played by Glen Beaudin, who hams it up with such aplomb that he gives Tim Curry's Kilokahn a run for his money. During these opening episodes, there also seems to much more of a case for Malcolm's romantic involvement with Sam's later girlfriend, Jen, than Sam really has, with many of the episodes following the initial set up showing Sam in one of two modes, either apologising to Jennifer or telling us how cute she is. Thinking back on adolescence, actually maybe that's not too far from the truth when it comes to youthful romance. Perhaps I am somewhat biased here though, as Malcolm is initially far more akin to "bad boy" characters from movies of the time—a diet version of J.D. from Heathers being the most obvious example—and I may or may not have a preference for such characters. Of course, with how completely over-the-top Beaudin is encouraged to be in the role, he also comes across as incredibly.... Matt Berry.

Another relationship that comes across stronger in SSSS than it does in Gridman is that shared between Malcolm and Kilokahn. I genuinely like the naïveté of Kahn Digifer, and Takeshi certainly was my favourite character in Gridman, yet there is no denying the wonderful performance that Tim Curry gives as Kilokahn, nor is there any arguing with the gleeful manner in which the digital overlord and his human apprentice antagonise one another. Malcolm is significantly less subservient than Takeshi, referring to his evil compatriot at one point as a "cheap Darth Vader clone," whilst Kilokahn—who allegedly runs at an "impressive" 400 MHz—is a lot quicker to call out Malcolm's pettiness, his childish ambitions. This is what makes the sense of finality that arrives in episode #39 and the backtracking that follows shortly afterwards so much more frustrating.

I would argue that the approach taken to the "end" of SSSS is even more significant due to the lack of division between Sam and his Gridman persona, Servo. There is no reason for why, in armour, Sam is suddenly called Servo from episode #1, but as there is no delineation between his human form and his "digital form" like there is between Naoto and Gridman, when Sam's body is destroyed and he is locked in cyberspace, the moment is genuinely moving, and the sacrifices he makes to ensure that Malcolm is aware that he is not alone, that others are around him, is a moment that really elevates the show for just a brief while above its contemporaries, Big Bad Beetleborgsand VR Troopers.

As with Gridman, the world captured within the scope of stories that constitute SSSS is a familiar one, full of pagers and unlisted phone numbers, laughable computer specs, and, ah, a lot more occasions in which Sam dresses up as a girl. If you can accept it for what it is, if you can excuse the later episodes in which the show drags on and recycles footage, or if you can just avoid watching those later episodes, then SSSS actually has a lot to offer, representing a show with a much more team based dynamic than its original source material, and a genuinely fun villain. There's also a fun blink and you'll miss it cameo from Naoto, Yuka, and Ippei in episode #11.

And now that I have watched all this, now I can watch the cartoon, right?