That Nostalgic Feeling Again...

Hi, people. It's me again. Nice to meet you. With me preparing for another round of special post, I wanna finish writing about all of the Fall 2018 anime that I have watched. Guess what anime?

Found this nice picture!

Well, who cares about guessing? I will be telling you anyway. It is the anime, SSSS.Gridman!!!! I dun wanna write about it at first but I decided that the lack of knowledge of the Ultra series is not that big of an obstacle. OK, with that said, let's go!!!!



WARNING:-

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't watched it and plan to watch it without anyone being the spoiler, please DON'T CONTINUE READING!!!



P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You HAD been warned. Don't blame me for being spoiled if you INSIST on continuing to read this post.

Introduction


The anime...

The anime, SSSS Gridman, which is stylized as SSSS.GRIDMAN is an adaptation (it's more like a rendition) of the 1993–1994 tokusatsu series Gridman the Hyper Agent. The surprising thing is that the production of this anime is done by Tsuburaya Productions and Studio Trigger. Well, I'm not really a fan of Studio Trigger but Tsuburaya Productions is LITERALLY MY CHILDHOOD! Tsuburaya is the production company that makes the Ultra series (my childhood) and also some other people's childhood show (not mine), Gridman.

The original Gridman...

This collaboration is not the first time as they have previously collaborated on the Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero short original net animation for the Japan Animator Expo. What does "SSSS" stand for? Well, it is revealed in the final episode that it stands for "Special Signature to Save a Soul". It is also a reference to Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, a US adaptation of Gridman the Hyper Agent. The anime series premiered on October 7, 2018, and ended on December 23, 2018.



Plot


That scene...

The story starts with a boy who has lost his memories somehow, Hibiki Yuuta is found in a girl's home, lying on the sofa. He then hears a voice, claiming that he is Gridman telling him that he has a mission via an old computer in the girl's family junk shop. That girl's name is Takarada Rikka! She is literally the reason that I've decided to watch it before I understand the other reason that this anime is so popular.

Oh...MONSTER!!!

Anyway, back to the story, after a set of normal student life, suddenly, a monster (or kaiju) appears when Yuuta, Rikka and another guy, Utsumi Shou are gathering in the junk shop that Rikka's mother owns. That is where Yuuta connects with the old computer and proceeds onto merging with Gridman. After merging with Gridman, he successfully defeats the monster with the advice of Shou and the help of Rikka. With that victory, the Gridman Alliance is formed with Yuuta, Rikka, Shou and later, the four people from the Neon Genesis Junior High Students.

Oh, man...this is so Ultraman-like.

After the monster is defeated, the people's memories are reset and those who die are simply forgotten.
This happens every time as an unending cycle of monsters appearing and being defeated, and then the whole city memories are reset to the time before the monster appears. As the story progresses, the alliance slowing uncovering out the truth behind the endless cycle while defeating the monster as they appear. By the way, the people who call themselves, Neon Genesis Junior High Students can help Gridman to fight monsters.

Trying to find out the truth...

Anyway, I'd like to say a few things before we move on. The anime largely feel like Ultraman reborn rather than a unique series. Well, after all, the show is based on the Ultra series anyway so it shouldn't be a surprise. The ending feels a little off as it transitions into a real-life show at the very end. Why? It is because of the story based on the Ultra series, which is a real-life action show. The anime is pretty good overall.

Seriously...this feels like Ultraman.

Anime Rating


Story (Rating: 7/10)

The story is pretty simplistic, feels like the copy of the usual Ultra series. Not much of any twist. The story is pretty predictable, just like the Ultra series. The story had a little twist at the end BUT, BUT, BUT...the story still flows in a predictable manner. Anyway, a simple story...and a really nostalgic one. And also one thing, it shows a glimpse of human nature where people tend to close off...or maybe it's just me. Let's move on.

A special but short moment...

Art and Animation (Rating: 8/10)

The art and animation are pretty good. The fighting animation of Gridman and the villains are well-made. The art is nice, especially on Rikka, which prompted a huge meme regarding her...thighs. Damn it, you deviants. She is cute, I admit though.

Anti...the new Gridman?!

Sound and Music (Rating: 10/10)

The opening theme song...oh man, IT IS GOOD! SO GOOD!!! As for the ending theme song, it is a really beautiful song. The two theme songs are really good. As for the background music, it is quite good and well-fitted to the situations in the anime.

Nice screenshot from the OP.

Characters (Rating: 10/10)

The character, Rikka. So many people, especially Japanese anime otaku fans (I think), will think of her thighs when it comes to her. For me, it is not like that. I think she is cute and decided to have a look into the 1st episode. Well, I finished watching it all the way. The character development is quite prominent throughout the story, like how Akane slowly goes into a breakdown and the Alliance's member slowly realising the nature of this world. For me, the character that has the deepest impression on me is Akane. She demonstrated the tendency of how people tend to close off when they can't accept the world as it is and felt left out by the world. That's me...anyway, putting my own personal stuff aside, let's move on.

Oh, Gridman form 1!!! Gridman Calibur!


Gridman form 2! Gridman Max!

Gridman form 3! Sky Gridman!

Gridman form 4! Buster Gridman!!!

Gridman form 5! Full Power Gridman!!!

Enjoyment (Rating: 9/10)

I really enjoy this show even though I didn't want to watch it. I decided to watch it because of the cuteness of Akane. The nostalgia of this show captivates me when I start to watch it. Although the ending left me a little confused and a little off-tone initially, the show is really good overall. The story does fit into the common Ultra series narrative and plot points but well, there are a few little twists in the story. That is fine with me. I think the story is overall enjoyable. Well, some might defer but it doesn't really matter. This post about my opinion on this anime, right?

Akane reminds me of...me...

...anyway, there were cute and fun moments in this anime.




Overall Rating: 8.8 (8.75)/10

Screenshots


There is a series of monsters in this anime. Here is monster 1!

Monster 2!
Monster 3? Well, this one is a weird entity. His name is Anti.

Monster 4!

Monster...wait, what on earth is this?

Monster 5! And also Anti.

Monster 6!!!! SO HUGE!!!!!

Monster no.7!!!!

Monster no. 8! Isn't this countdown getting more boring?

The last monster...vs Gridman. BTW, I would call it monster no. 9.

That monster...monster no.10? Ok, maybe not.

Alexis Kerib in his full power...

PV/Trailer








Conclusion


With my aim achieved as this post reaches the end, I hope you enjoy this post and hope to see you on this blog again. I'm gonna work on the special post on other anime. Well, I have nothing much to say but I hope to find a job as soon as possible. Anyway, I would like to thank you for your visit once again. Goodbye, and God bless you!

A cute loli for all! Wait, don't call the police, you deviants!

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