Review of SSSS.Gridman

“With all the might and justice bestowed upon me, with the sacrifices of my brethren whom the bond between them in me is deeper than blood and stronger than steel, I shall pass judgment on thee, JUSTICE BEAAAAAAAAM!” Just as nostalgic and cliché as the intro to this review, SSSS.Gridman brings back a familiar side of the genre that speaks to a lot more than nostalgia for some of us. Before the modern Gundam spread was a thing, going back to the root of the classic display of brutal punch exchange between a heroic giant robot at corner A, and a barbaric Kaiju roaring a cornerB. A 90's theme song would play in the background as the hero speaks of his flashily named power moves that are often mixed with ordinary wrestling technique, fighting for justice on a battle that spans across multiple scyscrappers wide.
SSSS.Gridman is by its very core, a modern shot at the classic Godzilla-Mecha fest which doesn't sacrifice a drop of the expected cliché moment that pretty much became a defining aspect of the mesh. But at a good price.

- Story (6/10):
To be honest, when it comes to similar shows, a ground-breaking isn't what you should be looking for, or expecting at the very least. It's all about the hardcore metal collisions that shake skyscrapers, as common sense and deep thinking has no place in making a bad Godzilla massacre better or a good one bad. And I'm not trying to say that there is not a single entry that managed to have both aspects going for it, it's just not a very critical rule of thumb that matters in these type of shows anyway.
My biggest problem with the story was how horribly scattered everything was. They would drop some vital information on you that gets you to ask questions but never bother to address it or explain it afterward like you're supposed to get the meaning behind everything yourself. Pardon me, but I didn't know I was staring at a Picasso abstract when I first signed in.

- Art (8.8/10):
I would have increased my rating on this a bit higher, but it seems that decent CGI could only get you so far.
I absolutely am not a fan of heavy use of CGI in Anime, and my greatest fear before stepping into this territory was just that. It doesn't get more classic than expecting heavy reliance of CGI in mecha related shows for how complicated it might get to animate everything and tie it up together, but God blesses SSSS.Gridman's animation team for the phenomenal job they did to sell the series, at least visually.
The normal 2D artwork direction was just as fantastic if dare I say better, I love the color pallet, and even more so the gloomy atmosphere and complicated and messy backgrounds.
The character designs were gorgeous, aside from Utsumi who looked as generic as you can get. All the Kaiju and Gridman action, on the other hand, was definitely the highlight, to see a skyscraper-size hand swing so swiftly and heavily until it messes a Kaiju's face making you feel the impact as if you took the punch instead. The use of complicated particles and VFX all over the place really helped blend in 2D and 3D nicely together. If anything, this might have been able to cure my ever-loving fear of CGI in Anime. And for that, I thank you, Gridman.

- Sound (7.8/10):
Let's get this out of the way. I never wowed hearing the opening song of the show until later in the series, maybe I had to get used to it, but no. I just wasn't ready to handle the epicness it had. I take its frequent use in the big fights a key to that. Sadly lyn I don't say much for the ending song, and I'm and ending song man.
With that off the way, I can finally appreciate the voice acting.
I thought the voice acting cast was decent in general, but God did I enjoy Akane and Rikka's performances, I don't know how, but those two make it work somehow, for the critical roles they take in this show, they sure were the right pick for whatever roles they handled.

- Character (6/10):
Not going to lie, I'm very disappointed in how the characters turned out to be. Yuta the main character, wait, did somebody say the main character? I literally mean it when I say that he had nothing that screams “main” character in him aside from his visual design. The same goes for every other main character.
It's like they trying so hard to be relatable and strike a likable trope, I'm sorry, I couldn't relate, maybe other people did, but that was just my personal experience with them.
Akane was an interesting choice of a character to the extent of me considering her the real protagonist behind the curtains.
Maybe the reason behind that is that they try to pair up an older structured character “Gridman” with a more modern bunch of 21-century teenagers, call me gatekeeping, but Gridman's enthusiastic heroic boi didn't match very well the emo-edgelord group of characters.

- Enjoyment (7/10):
Let's be honest, crappy it may be, I could never hate my punch-porn worth of seasonal overhyped fest. I need it in my life.
Yuta was never that great of a protagonist, or a character as a matter of fact, but he and everybody else helped deliver a blood rushing action-packed Kaiju kicking simulator. I really appreciate its attempt to take on similar vibes like FLCL, but no matter how hard it failed, it blessed us with a phenomenal episode that I'm sure to rewatch as a standalone episode on my free time.

- Overall (7.12/10):
I would probably recommend this, not for how game-changing it was, but for how really fun it stood for what it is. I would want to enjoy a city buster with a friend or two, there is no shame in that, ugh, also, don't forget the famous tights this show has gathered the attention on about.