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Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013




What's Gridman? Denkou Choujin Gridman was a 1993 tokusatsu series by Tsuburaya Productions (the same guys who made Ultraman) about a digital superhero created by 3 kids in a computer who then gets possessed by a Hyperdimension Agent named Gridman. One of the kids merges with Gridman to battle digital monsters before they can break out into the real world and wreak havoc.

What's SSSS.Gridman? SSSS.Gridman (the SSSS refers to the Western show that used the Gridman footage, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad) is a 2018 anime created by Studio Trigger and Tsuburaya Productions. 3 kids find the Gridman computer in a junk shop and Gridman starts talking to one of them, who is the only one who can see and hear him. When kaiju start attacking, it's up to them to beat them down as the colossal Gridman.

Characters


Yuta Hibiki
Amnesiac at the start of the series. Only person who can see/hear Gridman (and presumably merge with him). General anime protagonist loner with few friends.


Gridman
Hyperdimensional Agent. A digital being living within Junk, the computer. Merges with Yuta to fight crime kaiju.


Sho Utsumi
Yuta's friend and classmate. Generally laidback. Knows about Gridman, but is generally skeptical until he sees Yuta merge.


Rikka Takarada
Found Yuta unconscious outside her home. Yuta's classmate who had never talked to him before his amnesia. Lives above her mum's junk store, where Junk was found. Snarky and great. Helps with tactical decisions during Gridman's fights.


Akane Shinjo
Nice girl in Yuta's class. Other than being nice and popular, a general mystery. The happiest villainess out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiOUwl0vm9o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z1HU4aalLU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZdZmbvln4g

SSSS.Gridman shows on Saturdays on Crunchyroll over 12 episodes. There are also audio dramas complementing each episode released by Tsuburaya, translations of which you can find here.



I'll eventually put something about Dynazenon here.

Ibblebibble fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Apr 2, 2021

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Sakurazuka
Jan 24, 2004

NANI?

Hah, I had no idea that's what the SSSS was all about

KomeradeCanadian
Jun 22, 2014
Anyone else getting a Eureka Seven vibe?

Ccs
Feb 25, 2011


That’s fun that they integrated both titles. I wonder what Japan thinks of western recuts of their live action shows.

Yinlock
Oct 22, 2008

Ccs posted:

That’s fun that they integrated both titles. I wonder what Japan thinks of western recuts of their live action shows.

from what i've seen they mostly just find it kinda funny

Cipher Pol 9
Oct 9, 2006


Amnesiac protagonists are an easy in for intrigue, but I really like how they did it in the first episode. He basically knows how to function as a human being and doesn't freak out or get depressed about it, he just doesn't know who or where the gently caress he is so he gets to figuring poo poo out at his own pace. His friend being relatively chill with it was great too.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Speaking of which, did Syber Squad ever get dubbed and aired in Japan the way similar shows like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight did?

Also if anyone's curious about the original it's available fully subbed on TOKU and Amazon Prime. You have to create an account first and it's a paid subscription but it's a pretty decent show overall.

In fact, the core concept of both the show and its American counterpart is almost exactly the same (digital entity recruits creepy teen to make monsters for him, another boy is given powers and dives into cyberspace to stop them while operating out of his parent's basement along with his friends) though in Gridman the main character's family is actually seen and plays a fairly major role. It also doesn't focus on the school quite as much as the US version did and is a little darker in tone overall (Khan Digifier is also nowhere near as entertaining as Kilokhan but then again it's kind of hard to top Tim Curry).

But anyway, this seems decent so far. It's familiar but also different enough to be considered it's own thing, looking forward to seeing more (it's apparently only going to be 12 episodes long though).

Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013

Yeah it's a shame that it's only 12 episodes long. Some of the cinematography is great, like the opening kaiju shot.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Ibblebibble posted:

Yeah it's a shame that it's only 12 episodes long. Some of the cinematography is great, like the opening kaiju shot.

TBH, that's probably good. Mystery stories benefit from being tight and focused.

Hidingo Kojimba
Mar 29, 2010

Darth Walrus posted:

TBH, that's probably good. Mystery stories benefit from being tight and focused.

Yeah. This show isn't presenting itself as the kind of ongoing saga that needs 56 episodes. 12 episodes is enough to tell a tightly focused story with a small cast. (And it's not like they can't do other Gridman media if it sells well. This show's entire existence is a case in point.)

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~
Given how this is a sequel(?) to a show made to sell toys, I am shocked how little we've seen on the toy side of things beyond the assist machines, which we've seen more of in the trailer than anything. We still haven't even seen a fully armored form, just a couple different combinations.

Motto
Aug 3, 2013

I mean, it's a seasonal anime, not an actual (little) kid's show. Different marketing model.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

SpazmasterX posted:

Given how this is a sequel(?) to a show made to sell toys, I am shocked how little we've seen on the toy side of things beyond the assist machines, which we've seen more of in the trailer than anything. We still haven't even seen a fully armored form, just a couple different combinations.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a sequel but at the same time it doesn't feel like a complete reboot either. Possibly things will become a little clearer on that front as the show goes on.

Hidingo Kojimba
Mar 29, 2010

Larryb posted:

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a sequel but at the same time it doesn't feel like a complete reboot either. Possibly things will become a little clearer on that front as the show goes on.

From what I can tell, it reuses a lot of material from a planned-but-canned sequel called Gridman F, but there's no evidence of any direct continuity to the previous media.

Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013

As far as I can tell there's only stuff that looks like things from the old series (i.e. Junk), but it's not confirmed if they're the same object or just lookalikes.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Ibblebibble posted:

As far as I can tell there's only stuff that looks like things from the old series (i.e. Junk), but it's not confirmed if they're the same object or just lookalikes.

The 3 main characters also share the same names as their live action counterparts but it's not clear if they explicitly are those characters (it seems to be implied that they know each other to some extent but when the action happens they act like this is the first time they've seen something like that). It also doesn't seem to be following the same plot as the previous series exactly so for the moment I'm calling this a re-imagining with some aspects of the canceled sequel grafted on.

Futaba Anzu
May 6, 2011

GROSS BOY

if they carried through and integrated the live action stuff into the story i bet this show will finally be the one to reach peak gainax level hype

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

At the very least I'm hoping we get a rendition of the Gridman theme song at some point.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Oct 11, 2018

Hidingo Kojimba
Mar 29, 2010

Larryb posted:

The 3 main characters also share the same names as their live action counterparts but it's not clear if they explicitly are those characters

No they don't. The original Gridman trio were named Naoto Sho, Yuka Inoue, and Ippei Baba. The SSSS.Gridman are Yuta Hibiki, Rikka Takarada and Sho Utsumi.

Yuta and Akane were going to be a characters in the canned sequel though. And the suited characters in the poster above are apparently named for the American names of the assist vehicles and samurai sword.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Hidingo Kojimba posted:

No they don't. The original Gridman trio were named Naoto Sho, Yuka Inoue, and Ippei Baba. The SSSS.Gridman are Yuta Hibiki, Rikka Takarada and Sho Utsumi.

Yuta and Akane were going to be a characters in the canned sequel though. And the suited characters in the poster above are apparently named for the American names of the assist vehicles and samurai sword.

Ah, it's been a little while since I saw the original. Nevermind that point then.

Though if that's the case then maybe this actually is a sequel after all.

Larryb fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Oct 11, 2018

The Deleter
May 22, 2010
I watched the first episode and it's very good, but I kinda want a version of the show where Gridman is all in Yuta's head and it teaches him confidence or something.

Some of the shots are really cool. That image of the kaiju over the foggy city was really striking.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Motto posted:

I mean, it's a seasonal anime, not an actual (little) kid's show. Different marketing model.

The obvious counterpoint is the Gundam franchise, where it's the shows aimed at older audiences that move the most plastic.

Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013

Episode 2: Well guess Akane was pretty evil after all. It's nice to see that Mr. 4 Katanas is a huge dork though.

Battle music is hype. Nice ED too IMO.

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
I almost died at Calibur bouncing off the doorway.

Sindai fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Oct 13, 2018

Motto
Aug 3, 2013

Darth Walrus posted:

The obvious counterpoint is the Gundam franchise, where it's the shows aimed at older audiences that move the most plastic.

Yeah, but those are typically models of varying levels of complexity. Every anime tries to move plastic, I'm just saying that a seasonal tribute like this will be pushing stuff like expensive enthusiast figs instead of cheaper roleplay toys like the actual Ultra shows running atm.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

To be fair, the Ultra series was never quite as toyetic as some of its counterparts like Sentai and Kamen Rider. Generally you'd just have the Ultras themselves, the monsters and maybe some vehicles and gadgets used by that seasons respective task force. This has changed a bit recently with the addition of new modes/armors and the like though.

Back on topic, while it doesn't really hold a candle to the original I kind of like the music in this series so far (especially the ED theme).

Larryb fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Oct 13, 2018

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

The dub voice for Alexis (the new villain) sounds like somebody doing a light Tim Curry impression, good job Funi.

Dessel
Feb 21, 2011

I really like Rikka's VA (non-dub) and her design (apart from not seemingly wearing an actual skirt or pants). Her VA this episode made her sound like a real person in her sentimental/quiet moments which I appreciate over "anime-style" voice work.

chiasaur11
Oct 22, 2012



Well, this is a nice brisk pace so far. Villain revealed, some of the consequences set up, and the characters are starting to ask questions.

Even with the twelve episodes, I kind of assumed things would be going a little slower, so this is a nice surprise.

LunarCress
Feb 7, 2015

So it looks like all the character designs are actually low-key transformers humanizations? They're relatively deep cut one's at that.

That's an er, interesting place to draw inspiration from.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Dessel posted:

I really like Rikka's VA (non-dub) and her design (apart from not seemingly wearing an actual skirt or pants). Her VA this episode made her sound like a real person in her sentimental/quiet moments which I appreciate over "anime-style" voice work.

She's wearing a skirt. It's just that that long jacket hides most of it. Same as with Akane's ultra-baggy tracksuit top.

Hidingo Kojimba
Mar 29, 2010

LunarCress posted:

So it looks like all the character designs are actually low-key transformers humanizations? They're relatively deep cut one's at that.

That's an er, interesting place to draw inspiration from.

For reason the idea of Rikka and her girl posse as Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave is just hilarious.

Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013

That's rad. All hail Megatron-girl. The Ravage towel is also dope and I want it.

Justin_Brett
Oct 23, 2012

GAMERDOME put down LOSER
All the other kids with the Pumped Up Kicks

Better Run, Better Run,

Outrun my Kaiju

a kitten
Aug 5, 2006

Oh huh, i wondered if the fact that it was those specific kids that got killed was significant.

The lack of music sure does make things subtly eerie doesn't it?





Also, everyone please watch Shin Godzilla.

Schwarzwald
Jul 27, 2004

Don't Blink

Larryb posted:

At the very least I'm hoping we get a rendition of the Gridman theme song at some point.

Very disappointed this isn't the case.

Still, I've been really pleased with the show so far. The amnesia thing is a little played out, but the fact that the show is willing to have actual stake elevates it quite a bit. The weird atmospheric shots of the dormant kaiju towering over the city are also rad as hell. It reminds me a little of the early episodes of Rahxephon a bit.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Episode 2 continues to manage the intrigue pretty well. I'm very curious about exactly what Akane knows, or thinks she knows, about how things work in this world. Still very convinced that we're in the matrix. Interesting that the ED sequence itself seems to raise some new questions. The ED seems to suggest that Akane and Rikka are/were/will be tight? I don't think we've seen them acknowledge each others' existence in the actual text of the story yet tho. Curious to see what, if anything comes of that.

Larryb
Oct 5, 2010

Spiritus Nox posted:

Episode 2 continues to manage the intrigue pretty well. I'm very curious about exactly what Akane knows, or thinks she knows, about how things work in this world. Still very convinced that we're in the matrix. Interesting that the ED sequence itself seems to raise some new questions. The ED seems to suggest that Akane and Rikka are/were/will be tight? I don't think we've seen them acknowledge each others' existence in the actual text of the story yet tho. Curious to see what, if anything comes of that.

Especially since Akane seems like a petty bitch so far that is willing to kill people for the slightest transgressions against her and appears to even delight in the suffering of others. But I'm sure more aspects of her character will come to light as things develop.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Larryb posted:

Especially since Akane seems like a petty bitch so far that is willing to kill people for the slightest transgressions against her and appears to even delight in the suffering of others. But I'm sure more aspects of her character will come to light as things develop.

Plus there's also my creeping suspicion that we're in the Matrix and it's not clear if anyone who's died has stayed dead or even been a real person to begin with. Akane might just be playing glorified GTA (or think that she is) for all we know, running around ganking NPCs and kicking over sandcastles in a harmless simulation.

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El Burbo
Oct 10, 2012

Forget transformers, the villain is literally Over Justice, down to the VA and badge on head

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