Review of SSSS.Dynazenon

Coming off the back of the original SSSS.GRIDMAN, SSSS.DYNAZENON was always going to have a tough job following its predecessor. And, to its credit, it largely succeeds. DYNAZENON is an excellent show, which very much holds up to GRIDMAN in a lot of ways. Its animation is just as phenomenal. This is obviously most obvious in the fight scenes, which have a great sense of physicality that many mecha shows fail to have, and with 3D models that feel about as close to 2D animation as its possible to get it. But I actually feel that the animation really shines in the smaller character moments, withthe small, intimate details really pushing the show to being something special.

Those smaller details are also where the story often really shines; the development of the relationships, especially between Yomogi and Yume, is surprisingly gentle and calm a lot of the time, with a lot of really fantastic slow development. You can see where a lot of the characters start, and you're largely happy where they end.

That story is, also, however, where the show starts to struggle to meet the expectations set by its predecessor. Where SSSS.GRIDMAN was a razor-sharp story, which led to one of the most surprisingly personal and human resolutions to a largely action-driven show that I've ever seen, DYNAZENON wraps itself up largely as one might expect; the characters beating the villain. It's not bad, not on its own merits, it's a fantastic scene that shows the strength of the characters' bonds. But given how personal and thematically interesting the original's ending was, it did feel like DYNAZENON's ending didn't quite reach the same heights.

Overall, I actually don't have a lot bad to say about this. It's a immaculately animated action story, with good development of incredibly relatable and likeable characters, with a satisfying enough ending. It doesn't quite meet the expectations set by its predecessor, but, given how frankly genre-defining SSSS.GRIDMAN was, the fact that it comes anywhere near as close as this does is praise in its own right.