Review of SSSS.Gridman

SSSS.Gridman is an anime modernization of the tokusatsu genre, in the same vein as shows like Ultraman and Super Sentai, and it manages to do this shockingly well. My personal experience with the genre is essentially just seeing a few episodes of Power Rangers as a kid, which I never really cared for, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I ended up enjoying this show. I picked up Gridman mostly because of Trigger being the studio behind this entry in the series and the teaser trailer they put out after it's announcement alongside Promare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGw4SmxkryU) which led me to believe this couldbe a slightly darker take on the genre with the same action and story elements. This assumption was partially true.

The story is solid, especially for it's genre as plot normally takes a back seat for dramatic action sequences, but I feel like Gridman does a respectable job of balancing story and action. There are some well thought out twists which you can probably predict well in advance if you are observant but are still satisfying, and much of the final few episodes is focused on character analysis and introspection. After the first two or three episodes my expectations for a mature super robot series were deflated since most of the beginning is a parade of monster fights with little bearing on the plot, so it was enjoyable to see the show shift its focus to plot and character development while still keeping up the one-fight-per-episode pace.

Gridman's art is generally quite good, most notably with inventive use of 3D CGI to replicate the old rubber suit fights which have been a staple of the genre since its very beginning. The fights themselves look fantastic with a lot of dynamic movement and flashy action sequences. Transformation sequences, of which there are quite a few, are a little long but they are suitably cool and it's awesome seeing Gridman and his various forms drawn out alongside the 3D models used for most of the fighting scenes. The character designs look fine and are nothing particularly interesting but consistently pretty high quality regardless of the scene. However, the mech and kaiju designs are all excellent and look really cool no matter what they're doing, and there's always a lot of emphasis on making their size seem massive and real against the backdrop of their environment. Background art is good across the board with lots of little details and looks really nice in quite a few shots throughout the show.

Sound design is really good. All the mech and kaiju noises fit perfectly and are exactly as loud and weighty as they should be, and the accompanying environment sounds during the fight scenes fit well. The music is also generally good, some tracks are awesome. The OP and ED are both real ear worms.

Characters were the weakest part of the entire show for me. Most of the cast are very flat and underdeveloped, and there's kind of an in-universe explanation as to why this is though it still makes for a weaker viewing experience, but the characters who are given ample screen time and exploration of their motives are actually really interesting and I would have loved to have more of the main cast fleshed out in the same ways. It's a shame that this show didn't have a longer run or dedicate a little more time to a lot of the major characters, but I'm also glad it's only 12 episodes because it doesn't overstay it's welcome or get padded out with pointless filler like many other Trigger shows have.

In all, I found myself having a lot of fun with Gridman. I never expected to get much enjoyment out of something in this genre because of previous experience with it, but this show is so well done that I couldn't help but smile when the good guys win and the major plot moments were meaningful to me, I'm even a little interested in checking out the rest of the franchise because of the way it was tied in with this series. It absolutely deserves a watch.