Review of SSSS.Gridman

WARNING: This review does contain spoilers SSSS Gridman is a fun, short mecha show that has a good amount of flaws but is still enjoyable. It’s more directed towards fans of older super robot or tokusatsu shows, but it’s a fine watch even for people who aren’t into that stuff. --STORY— Gridman’s story is both fairly standard, and goes for some unique stuff here and there. Pacing is solid enough, and I don’t particularly have any qualms with it. The first half is mostly your average monster of the week toku style show with Gridman getting to show off its various forms, and you get some slightplot development but nothing major. The 2nd half actually starts to get interesting, but I wouldn’t call it anything amazing. I like the concept of a god trying to make their own ideal world, and not being able to control it as it steadily falls apart and even entraps them before being saved by the very creations she toyed with. The actual execution of the concept isn’t particularly great or anything, but it does the job well enough. Seeing the characters try to find out the mystery behind the world and what is even going on is mostly engaging, but I can’t lie and say I wasn’t more interested in the actual fights/action most of the time. Though the main reason I find it hard to stay engaged is the characters, and speaking of…

--CHARACTERS—
The protag characters are quite frankly boring. The character designs themselves feel average, and the only somewhat cool designs are the Neon Genesis squad peeps however there are wasted on fairly one dimensional characters. The main trio themselves get good enough growth, but I wouldn’t call it compelling or anything.
On the flipside however, the antags were actually quite enjoyable. Anti’s growth from basically being an animal made human, to his own individual who decides what he wants to do beyond just fighting Gridman is nice to see. Alexis is quite enjoyable since what he lacks in depth, he makes up for in an entertaining personality. Akane in particular was a really great antagonist, and her close relations to the cast made for a great catalyst for her growth. Overall, she easily has the best growth of any character in the show, and while I’m not too fond of her basically being forgiven in the end despite the numerous people she killed…I mean what is anyone gonna do lol. It’s implied she can be killed in the world, but considering Akane seems to be a real life girl who retreated into her own world instead of facing reality head on I just wonder.
I’ll make one last note saying I do like the rather natural dialogue. There are pauses in conversation, normal reactions, etc. It works well, but it would’ve worked much better if I didn’t find the cast mostly boring.

--ANIMATION/ART--
I honestly don’t really have any problem with the 2d animation of Gridman. I could be extremely nitpicky and maybe point out a few examples where the animation had some QUALITY going on, but it’s pretty consistently great. Most of the backgrounds are quite pleasant to look at. I’d say my biggest issue is the cgi animation. I don’t have too high expectations when it comes to cgi mecha action admittedly, but here it can just come off as jarring. I can’t really complain about the large reuse of stock footage as that is the norm for this genre, but what I can say is that a bunch of very clearly cgi buildings and cars coming towards the screen does take one out of the experience. It’s a shame too since there are sometimes great 2d shots of Gridman, and the final battle is nearly entirely 2d animation and is beautiful to look at. In the end though, the cgi animation is “good enough to work, and there are some great action moments trickled across the series.

--SOUND—
Gridman’s music is pretty good. The OP is very catchy. I would’ve preferred maybe a slightly larger amount of songs to listen to during scenes, but it does the job. The actual ambience and sound effects during the silent, convo focused moments are great. I watched dub for this, and all the actors did a great job on their performances. They were able to do reserved, emotional, and intense scenes all well. Akane, Alexis, and Max’s va’s in particular were my favorite.

--Enjoyment—
Despite my flaws with Gridman, it’s still a nice modern mecha show to watch. If it was any longer I might have more complaints, but the ep count is just about perfect. Watch it if you enjoy old mecha, tokusatsu, or just some good Trigger mecha. Dynazenon has now started, and while there’s only 2 eps out I’d say it improves on problems I had with Gridman already.