SSSS.GRIDMAN Episode 4/5 Review

Alright, I was super busy with traveling to San Francisco for a symposium/conference for work/school and I wasn’t able to get around to writing up my weekly review of SSSS.GRIDMAN. To be honest, I didn’t even get around to watching it until last Saturday, and thankfully I was able to enjoy a double shot of Gridman so there’s a silver lining. I really enjoyed what they did with these two episodes and I’m enjoying the pattern they have where Akane is not just throwing monsters and failing constantly but actually evolving and planning. More than that we have some character and relationship development kick in and I’m really digging that as well.

In episode 4, we have an awkward pause as we start out watching Akane be twitchy and trying to be social with Rikka, as she feels out what Rikka knows about Yuta and maybe Gridman. As they get to school, they are approached by Namiko and Hass and it turns out some YouTube group of four college students known as Heisei wanted to go on a group date that Saturday. Sho begins to hardcore crush on Akane (which is of course awkward as a watcher) and Yuta becomes adorably jealous that Rikka is attending as well. The girls head out and meet the Heisei guys as Yuta, Sho, and all the Neon Genesis Junior High Students tag along to observe what’s going on during the date. While the group date carries on in a cliché karaoke bar, Calibur gives no fucks and kicks in doors like the police with a warrant.

Of course with Akane only giving a shit about Rikka (like many of the people who watch this show) as soon as the guys start hitting on her, she flips a switch and runs off to issue a death sentence on them. As soon as Akane leaves, Sho loses interest and the rest of the Neon Genesis Junior High Students accompany him, telling Yuta to not be a creep. A dejected Yuta meets up with Max who brings up Yuta’s memories and while he feels he forgot something serious about Rikka, he knows that he “probably” likes her. The next day, certain members of Heisei are killed and with the reset they are forgotten with Rikka freaking out that there could have been a kaiju attack without Gridman being aware. In the course of this, she also hints to Akane that she is aware of Gridman and the kaiju and that her memory is not reset. As Akane finds the last survivor and tries to warn him off, the hidden Kaiju attacks, having been able to hide in fog to prevent detection by Gridman. To the rescue, the entire support team attempts to set off to combat both Anti who joined the fray as well as the stealthy kaiju. Unfortunately, Junk cannot support this and all parties involved freeze up and lock up and through the quick thinking of Rikka, they are hard reset and brought back out. Max once again sets off with Gridman and together they defeat the stealthy kaiju, and Anti runs out of time, with the episode ending with Rikka stating her disinterest in Yamato from Heisei and then thinking Yuta’s invite out to food was for a group event, and not a one-on-one date.

As episode 5 starts, we find out this is going to be a field trip episode, with the class setting off for some far mountain river rafting. Also, EVERYONE is just thirsty for Akane in a bathing suit, and her outfit does not leave much for the imagination. What follows is probably the only bit of lazy animation in the show so far in the form of this rafting scene, which is really just a bunch of stills with some audio spliced over it. When they land at the end of the river, everyone seems happy and relaxed with Akane scampering off to do her evil bit. Somehow, someway she managed the hide a phone in that outfit and uses that to trigger her largest kaiju yet in the form of a mountain-crocodile hybrid that launches flaming meteors into the surrounding landscape.

After some trekking to try and get Junk to the far off mountain town, we see Borr selected to roll up with Gridman to combat this absolute unit of a kaiju. Turns out Buster Borr transforms in the guise of a truck with double drills on its back and lemme tell you, Trigger knew what they were doing with these drill references. Anti really does come across in his role as a perpetual antagonist, even copying the missiles that Borr was rocking, but in the end the DOUBLE GRIDMAN BEAM is enough to defeat the massive kaiju, and firefighter (water filled) missiles help keep the countryside from burning down. The both of these episodes had me pretty psyched and unfortunately in trying to focus both of these together I was left unable to be as detailed and psyched as I normally am with these things. I for one can’t wait to get back home and just get back to my normal watching of this grand show and rank these two episodes as 8.5 DRILLS THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS out of 10.