Review of SSSS.Gridman

SSSS.Gridman is a show with a reputation problem. Coming off the heels of the dumpster fire that the ending of Darling in the FranXX was for the anime community in the first half of 2018, Gridman was not received with the same kind of fanfare other Studio TRIGGER shows prior got upon release due in part to the participation of the studio in the production of the former, despite not being the main production team (that honor being reserved for A1 Pictures instead). Between this, and the relative obscurity of tokusatsu shows in the west (beyond Super Sentai/Power Rangers), the initial reception on the showwas... mixed.

Now, Gridman is not a show with the kind of explosive first episode hook that will get you in for the whole ride. Instead this is a show that rewards those willing to look into a slow burner of a story. Gridman begins awkwardly and throws you right into the thick of it without much initial explanation or context, however, by the end of the story all the pieces are assured to fall into place and give way to a very interesting take on the genre it takes inspiration from.

< STORY: 8 >

Like mentioned before, SSSS.Gridman is a story with an strange sense of progression that results in an awkward first episode. The problem of this strange pacing results in the show suffering from a bit of a deceiving first half that makes you think that this is just your standard superhero/mecha show: a completely by the numbers monster-of-the-week story spiked with fanservice. Gridman certainly does very little to make newcomers to tokusatsu feel welcome, and even with the context that being a fan of the genre can give you, there are plenty of questions posed early on that are just left hanging in the background. While this makes for an interesting mystery, the bulk of the first half is spent easing you into the sense that this show is about Hibiki Yuuta, your bland, run of the mill protagonist with amnesia, who battles the kaiju in his mecha/transformation Gridman, to save the city or whatever. I wouldn't fault you for thinking this, as it is exactly what I thought too and was the reason I almost gave up on it even I saw the show as it aired.

The reality however is that Gridman is using its first six episodes or so as means to setup the events of its ultimate goal. Even for a monster of the week superhero story, the show has throughout a slight feeling that something is not quite right with the way things pan out. Our antagonist is called a god of the world our characters are in, but if this is the case why is it that whatever kaiju it throws at our heroes is never enough to defeat them? Why can't the antagonist just... erase them with its god powers? Why is it that the characters that die to the kaiju are erased from reality, as showcased during the second episode? Who is Gridman, what is the relationship it has with Yuuta and why is it trapped in a crappy 80's mainframe? There are a lot of questions like this that the show posits early but only decides to answer in the final third of its run.

Without going into specifics and spoiling as little as possible, as it turns out, the show is not a monster of the week superhero story, but rather one about saving a lonely, tortured soul. A lonely character that did not feel adequate in the world it lived in and allowed darkness to take control of themselves in exchange for unlimited power. This deal was however a ruse from the darkness to trap and use this soul for their nefarious purposes, something that a few would not stand for and so would fight to save the lonely character from damnation at the hands of evil. The reveals that allow the viewer to see the big picture take time to show up but when they finally do they never stop coming, one after the other, building towards an incredible climax and an ending that ties the story in a neat little bow.

It's hard to unwrap what makes the story of Gridman work, however it is a story that has a lot to say about its main character and its struggles, the conflicts that led it down the path it did and, ultimately how Gridman is involved in this battle of good and evil. Along the way the story explores themes of loneliness, the struggle to connect with others and the toll it can take in one's psyche, as well as the unifying power of bonds of all kinds to be a beacon of light in that kind of darkness.

< ART: 9 >

The visuals of Gridman are, all things considered, very impressive. Studio TRIGGER is well-known for their wacky, highly exaggerated animation style that takes cues from both western animation and the influence of many of their senior staff members, however this quirky flair that they are so famous for is almost absent in this show. It's not gone as there are plenty of moments where the visuals just feel like the kind of thing TRIGGER is known for doing, but compared to other shows of theirs, like Kill la Kill or Inferno Cop, they are just not there. Instead, the animation style goes for detailed highly animesque style that switches up for CGI during the action scenes of the show. Everything is also infused with nods to the style of tokusatsu shows it's honoring. There are a couple of weird moments with the animation but given that the show is very consistently animated throughout and these moments are all found in the first episodes, it may be fair to say that they are intentional, though they are not all that well executed.

The CGI is a surprisingly well done part of the visuals. The CG battles emulate with great accuracy the movements and mannerisms of actual tokusatsu, and only breaks with these conventions where it benefits more from a more anime-like aesthetic with 2D animations.

The background art is also used to great effect in the show. The panoramas of the city, where giant kaiju statues loom menacingly from far away in an otherwise fairly average cityscape are great, but the background used in many of the later, more emotionally charged moments of the show are very impressive mood setters too.

Altogether, the animation is the high point of the production values in this show.

< SOUND: 7>

By contrast, the sound design, while still good, doesn't do much to stand out in the crowd. While Gridman has a fairly good use of sound effects and proper use of their OST, very few tracks in said OST are worth mentioning. The OP is probably the one track in the entire show that deserves a mention as it is also the main theme for Gridman during the battles of the show and is very like to get stuck in your head after a while with its explosive cold opening.

Beyond the OP, the ED has a good vibe to it, though it owes more to its visuals and what they entail to the plot, than what the music itself provides.

< CHARACTERS: 8 >

The characters of SSSS.Gridman are a bit of a conundrum. On one hand, they can feel pretty bland because they are characterized in a way that clashes with the more exaggerated characters in the show, while on the other there is a great degree of nuance that is easily missed in the way the main cast behaves (for the most part). This is all results in the characters of Gridman being a bit of a hard read for most of the story. That's not to say that the characters are badly written, just that the main cast can be hard to like on their personalities alone, at least initially. This is particularly noticeable with Yuuta, our hero, so to speak, who is amnesiac and can't seem to remember anything before the point when the show begins. This piece of characterization results in his personality being understandably devoid any distinguishing traits, in other words he's totally bland. There is a plot-related reason for the amnesia but it's not explained until much later and that makes it hard to relate to him, though then again the developments in the story down the lane make it seem like this is intended to an extent. All in all, Yuuta is an ambivalent character and probably the weakest in the main cast.

If you want to talk highlights of this show, the best character is far and away that Akane Shinjo, who has a very central position in the plot as the antagonist of the show. Her character is so intricately linked to the plot that most of the points relevant to her have already been covered in the Story section, but needless to say, her involvement in any scene of the show almost invariably lifts it up in terms of narrative and this only becomes more pronounced as the episodes go by. It truly is a sight to behold how her story pans out in the end.

The rest of the main cast can't really be discussed all that much in terms of their character development. That being said, this section wouldn't be complete without praising the character designs of the show. While this praise can be extended to the kaiju as well, the real stars here are the cast of characters. Yuuta and Shimizu have that typical "shonen hero and his nerdy friend" kind of aesthetic to them that fits in very well with the way the story conceals its final narrative initially, while the characters of Akane and Rikka got pretty attractive designs that no doubt reached the point of memedom, especially with the latter. The character designs are not all that unique, but they make up for it with a highly polished style and that is enough for them to be great.

< ENJOYMENT: 8 >

As much as the Gridman does to tell us a great story, the beginning can be a very rough start, especially if you are not familiar with tokusatsu shows, and that was the case for me. I only stuck around during that part due to starting to watch the show late when it was airing, which allowed me to binge through its slow start. However, the last third of the show provided such highs that they completely obliterated the mediocre start for me. So much so that it even left me a little shook by the time the final episode ended. The final episodes were such a wild ride and I loved them to bits.

With all that in mind, I can say that the ending of the show was worth it for me. And it really tied the story up in a very tight way for me.

< TL; DR >

SSSS.Gridman is slow burn of a show that takes the ideas of the tokusatsu series like Ultraman and Kamen Rider or Super Sentai/Power Rangers and successfully translates them into a unique anime that pays homage to the genre while also telling an impressive story filled with both tragedy and hope, love and hate, and all encased in something as classically superhero-like as a battle between good and evil, with life at stake.

While it is probably not for everyone, this is a great show that demands attention and will reward anyone willing to look past the more superficial elements of its story.

< OVERALL SCORE: 8.0/10 = 8>