[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I could go on about this thing endlessly, which is itself one of the reasons I love it so much.

Gridman Universe means way more to me on a deeply personal level than I can possibly get across in any condensed fashion, so rather than even attempt to do that, I'll instead simply focus on trying to enrich the experience of Die and anyone else reading the thread by adding further context to some of the things in the film.

For starters, the music video for the theme song is basically mandatory viewing. (It even comes with subtitles!)

The song itself is great, of course. Doing the same thing UNION did where the lyrics cleverly speak literally about the story while at the same time speaking to the potentially quite jaded target audience. Yuuta forgot about Gridman; you maybe forgot about the wonder of imagination, that sort of thing. It's an extremely uplifting tune, and the video makes for a great way to remind yourself over and over and over again of any good times you had with these shows and this movie. It also goes much much further than just that, because it was personally directed by Akira Amemiya himself, which absolutely shows in how detailed the choice of images gets. In particular, the entire thing is constantly highlighting the many times shots in these projects are quoting one another, complete with a speedrun montage of all those Dynazenon backgrounds that were secretly just Gridman backgrounds the whole time, and many other moments you'd have to be pretty hardcore to notice totally on your own. So it's even handy as a study guide, worth going through frame-by-frame at points, on top of simply being a fantastic way to celebrate the franchise.

And while we're on the subject of the quotes in these things, there's one in particular that's a great example of what the actual purpose of them can be as a storytelling tool, beyond simply being a reference for the sake of it. In the final episode of the original Gridman, the very last shot consisted of the main characters standing on a hill, looking off into the distance and expressing their thanks to the titular hero for everything he's done.



In Gridman Universe, the scene where Gridman leaves is set on the same exact hill, and framed almost the same way.



...but it's the parts that *aren't* the same that are important to note. They're both scenes about saying goodbye to Gridman, but they're also mirrored images, because in the live action show, the sun is setting, drawing the adventure to a close, whereas in Universe, the sun is rising, which I think connects to how the goodbye in this context is now more of a new beginning, a "see you later" that reflects the overall nature of this particular story, which is in part actively about how creative works infinitely inspire further creative works. Maybe that all seems like a stretch to some people, but even though my exact reading of it is entirely my own, the sunrise/sunset thing itself is something I know for a fact was intentional, because I heard it straight out of the director's own mouth.

That's the magic of it all. Everything works well enough on its own without any wider reading, but knowing more about where some of these things come from can add further meaning that makes a good story that much better. The first time I saw this movie, it had been long enough since I'd watched the original Gridman that I didn't realize the play Ustumi and Yuuta see is a recreation of a specific episode of the old show, but not only did I catch it after rewatching everything, I realized that particular episode is kind of a microcosm of the broader plot of the show, which was also the broader plot of SSSS.Gridman. Which is neat, just like how that guy on the motorbike who helps Yuuta go meet Gridman is another voice cameo for the actor of Gridman's original protagonist Naoto, this time even quoting his own character from his show's first episode, calling attention to how the story beat is basically the old hero coming in to save the day without having to derail the plot by making that too concrete or explicit.

Really, the references alone could already provide me enough material to keep talking about for a good while. Another particular highlight is a recurring background character with a design that sticks out way too much for a mere extra... because apparently she's actually a refugee from a completely different concept for the film's plot they ended up abandoning to do what we got instead, which, like... just think about that fact alongside what the finished plot ended up being about.

Again, the specifics are way too much to get into, because there are just that many layers to even seemingly inconsequential details, whether they involve references or not. Heck, I could do a whole 12-part analysis of my own just on how cute Yuuta is in this thing, if I really wanted to. I was profoundly moved by this film, to say the least. It's so intricately crafted in a way that made me immediately go watch it again, because it's like every single shot is entertaining in its own right, and as I just spent paragraphs talking about it, it's the kind of film that only gets more entertaining the more familiar you are with it, rather than less. It inspired me to go watch all the previous shows again, it helped inspire me to get back to posting on this forum again, it just inspires me in general, really? The whole movie is such a sincere expression of gratitude, and it makes me grateful right back, even if I can't express it anywhere near as well as they can.