Review of SSSS.Dynazenon

*some spoilers for SSSS.Gridman, as SSSS.Dynazenon is a distant sequel that's best experienced with the context of Gridman* SSSS.Dynazenon is an impressive follow-up to 2018's SSSS.Gridman. It improves on all of the visual elements of its predecessor while having a far superior cast that gets explored with the level of precision rarely seen in 1-cour anime outside of Ping Pong: The Animation. With said rogues gallery, Dynazenon maintains the depth of Gridman while having more overarching themes and ideas to focus on. SSSS.Gridman was a piece of anti-escapist media. Its focus was on Akane Shinjou and her struggle to accept that she can't just callously play amalevolent god in this world she created for herself to escape her problems. Despite some unease and dissatisfaction with the show's worldbuilding, it manages to tell its message in fascinating and resonant ways thanks to director Akira Amemiya and his team. Unfortunately, while its focus is primarily on Akane and perhaps one or two others, the cast was largely pretty dry. Most of the main characters hardly had much to their personalities and weren't all that entertaining. Outside of one side character, the cast was really carried by its antagonists: Akane, Anti, and Alexis.

This is where Dynazenon comes in. The main focus this time is on getting over your troubles and regrets in order to move on with a sense of purpose and direction in your life. It explores this through its entire main cast and some of its antagonists, as unlike Gridman, Dynazenon wishes to explore and develop its ensemble cast. Yomogi, Gauma, Yume, Koyomi, and Chise make up the initial Dynazenon crew, as well as the heart and soul of the show.

Let's start with Yomogi, as his issues are the least important. This is not a slight against the character, but rather a statement of fact that he himself agrees with. He feels uneasy about his mom dating a new guy who could potentially become his step-father. Big whoop. Compared to everyone else, his problems are the most benign, and therefore, the easiest to get over when the show reaches its bonkers 10th episode storyboarded by Kai Ikarashi. In reality, his character is more centered around understanding the call of duty in comparison to the normal life he tried to lead, and his burgeoning and frankly charming relationship with Yume.

Speaking of, Yume herself is probably the most interesting and resonant character of the lot. In stark contrast to Yomogi, Yume is probably the most damaged of our main leads. Due to the mysterious death of her estranged sister Kano, she found herself detached and standoffish for years. Since the death came after Kano invited Yume to her club's recital for the first time, she developed a habit of asking boys out and standing them up, breaking promises like the one that was robbed from her. After doing this to Yomogi and realizing that the two are now pilots of parts of Dynazenon, they eventually become closer. Yume takes the initiative to find out the truth behind her sister's death, and Yomogi joins her as their relationship deepens. Said relationship is deemed interesting by Kaiju Eugenicist, Shizumu, who finds people's dependence on each other limiting and sad, but nonetheless finds emotions beneficial as they are what fuel Kaiju.

The reason the two come together in the first place is due to Gauma and the appearance of the 4 pieces of Dynazenon. Gauma is brash, passionate, principled, and in no way accustomed to modern day society thanks to his experiences breaking away from the Kaiju Eugenicists of yester...millenia. Regardless, he's arguably the most entertaining of the bunch, and his struggle to remember the final important thing his beloved mentioned, as well as his grapples with being unable to find her, are nonetheless compelling. His interactions with Yomogi tend to be pretty amusing and endearing after the latter saves him from starvation. Plus, his antics upon getting a part-time job are priceless. He's the one who chews out Yume for standing Yomogi up and breaking promises (important thing 1), and he finds himself relating somewhat to Koyomi, as the latter lives a rather pathetic life by his own feelings (thing 2).

As for Koyomi, he's a 33-year-old NEET. The most important moment in his life was when he ran away from his crush in middle school after she proposed to run away with him. He was afraid to take life by the horns, and now he's a loser who has made nothing of himself with the girl he likes ends up coming back into his life with a husband she's on the rocks with. At best, he lives with his younger cousin, Chise, who doesn't go to school just as he doesn't go to work. He ends up being a foil to Mujina, who has no ambitions and hardly knows much about herself. Koyomi goes along with the Dynazenon cuz it gives him something to do, and Mujina goes along with the Kaiju Eugenicists' myriad of motivations including the destruction of humanity and a world where Kaijus are needed, for the same reason.

To round out the main cast without spoilers, there's Chise: the middle-schooler who felt ignored by all her peers. She's also the odd one out in that she's the only member without a piece of the Dynazenon. Yomogi has Dyna Soldier, Yume has Dyna Wing, Gauma has Dyna Diver, and Koyomi has Dyna Striker. Qt best, Chise just tags along and gets a little bit of practice as a substitute, but between this and Koyomi's own subplot, she feels like she's second fiddle once again. She's also the only one without any Kaiju Eugenicist to serve as a foil. Yume and Yomogi have Shizumu, Koyomi has Mujina, and while the next comparison is more shallow, Gauma does have the soft-spoken, mild-mannered Juuga as well as the more brash and psychopathic buttmonkey, Onija. Chise has none of that. Her arc does come to a head around the same time as Yume's does, and Chise manages to lift the both of them up in a time of need. However, she does have the fewest connections out of anyone in her group.

It's not often that a 1-cour series successfully juggles this many character arcs at once so naturally while having all of them constantly play off of and run alongside each other. Each member of the show’s ensemble cast is lively in their own way, and has a lot of powerful moments before climaxing in episode 10. Even the Kaiju Eugenicists have a lot of chemistry with one-another, especially when the shoe dedicates time to showing them just dicking around. It's where Mujina in particular, ends up shining the most, as the empty and often stoic girl becomes just as vibrant, fun-loving, and expressive as most of the cast.

There's still a lot of fascinating and compelling specifics regarding Yume and Chise in particular left out for the sake of a spoiler-free review, and there was still a lot to unpack. To think, we didn't even get into the characters that make this show a distant sequel. There's also the two-part ending that details what happens after the bulk of the conflict is over and everyone is forced to move forward on their own terms based on their developments, or in the case of the Eugenicists, drift along due to the lack thereof over the course of the show. We shan't get into them here, but the two returjing characters add even more fun humor, character chemistry, and transformations into the show. The ending is certainly weird, but it's nonetheless a powerful conclusion.

The audiovisuals are also an improvement from Gridman. There is still a lot of CG, and when it comes to debris, it can still look weird and choppy. However, the tokusatsu feel is captured much better this time, as the compositing and the new kaiju models are more appealing to look at. The show still retains the feel of the rubber suit kaijus in toku works, as well as the environment toppling over like cardboard. It's just that the team at Studio Trigger has refined this aspect of the franchise, leading to more dynamic and stylish fight scenes with less of the jank of Dyna's predecessor.

The character designs are a lot more vibrant than the largely plain and uninteresting designs of Gridman's protagonists. Even the returning cast looks incredibly sharp compared to before. Additionally, while there are still some wonky, off-model shots characters have towards the middle of the show, they don't seem to surpass Gridman's iffy moments, either. There are several absolutely gorgeous shots in every episode, thanks to often beautiful art direction and Akira Amemiya and his team mastering sick wide-shots. Then, there's episode 10: a highlight among highlights. Kai Ikarashi's more jagged, stretchy style lends well to the extreme emotions and situations the characters find themselves in at the climax of their arcs. Here, the show sells a sense of desperation and impact like never before. The visual representation of TV screen static and cracks and Yomogi tries to help everyone deal with their issues, is difficult to describe. It really must be seen to be believed. Rarely is Dynazenon exactly a masterclass of visuals aside from its noteworthy presentation Akira Amemiya carried over from Gridman. However, episode 10 isn't just cool and interesting, it a highlight of the year!

As for the music, the show does something interesting yet again. It does carry over Gridman's distinct lack of music in a lot of scenes where no one's fighting. However, the show ends up having a lot of insert tracks thst liven up the battle and exist diagetically as music bumped up by the titular Dynazenon. Most of the music is likable enough, though special mention must go to the bombastic orchestral transformation themes, as well as the OP and ED. "Imperfect" by Masayoshi Ooishi is an incredibly fun and lively OP theme, embodying a hopeful, youthful energy more so than Gridman's OP did. It also makes a satisfying transformation appearance in episode 1, as well as a gut-busting appearance in episode 2. Meanwhile, "Strobe Memory" is easily Maaya Uchida's best anisong for being a solid, peppy closer to every episode. Her singing is way better than in her Gridman ED, to boot.

SSSS.Dynazenon takes everything that worked about Gridman, and just runs with them. There are some strange character beats here and there that at least make some sense. However, there aren't that many issues to be had aside from some strange pacing at points, a few of the Eugenicists not getting all that much focus, and perhaps some odd aspects of the Eugenicists' pasts which also get no real spotlight. Still, this show is even more ambitious and emotionally resonant than its predecessor, knocking its messages and the handling of its ensemble cast out of the park! There are several fun, little touches as well regarding the way the show carries itself. Concurrent conversations overlap and there's often this sense of quietness and awkwardness to the characters as they bumble about their lives in and out of battle. It's this mumble-core type feel that further cements the series' identity. It is best if you watch SSSS.Gridman before Dynazenon, but either way, this show is a must-see if you wanna experience what will surely be one of the best anime of 2021.