SSSS.Gridman Episode 8

Typically in these episodes we have to suffer through what essentially amounts to a filler episode in which the characters usually take part in a school play of some sort. Occasionally there are other activities involved, but a poorly written play or movie is the norm, which is too realistic.

So why did Akane create this city? Simply because she was alone and felt that this was the only way to make friends, much like that one episode of Pokémon in which the gym leader, Sabrina, turns trainers into dolls to keep them as her friends.

So let's start by analyzing the big point this episode hinges on: Akane fully reveals herself to the Gridman Alliance, declaring her intent to attack during the school festival. It's a direct challenge that can only happen now that all the players know each other. I talked previously about other tokusatsu series that presupposed their character interactions on the secret superhero worlds they occupied, and this is the next step up from that. Beyond the obvious increase in the scope of threats, it also allows the show to proceed into uncharted territory. One central conflict in this episode is Utsumi and Rikka disagreeing on whether they should actually fight Akane now that their supposed friend is being so transparent about her goals.

Rikka directly calls out Utsumi's enthusiasm for guiding the Gridman Alliance into giant mecha/kaiju battles on a regular basis, a challenge to the enjoyable conceit of the show. Of course a bunch of adolescent kids and their robot would want to have exciting battles, and it's what the (big) kids in the audience want to see as well. But is it the best decision to make every time? The setup of this episode with Akane stands to challenge that assumption. She's revealed herself and given them several days to prepare, so does that obligate them to pursue a peaceful possibility with her? Yuta has seen how sociopathic she can be, but with Utsumi and Rikka still considering her a friend, there's attachments that won't be overcome simply by throwing big fighting machines at her.

The solution Rikka's apology lends to this heroic dilemma gives this episode its other strong twist. The absolute rule of Saturday-morning heroics is that the villains act first and the heroes react. Deploying Gridman ahead of the Kaiju's arrival to evacuate the school and head off Akane's plot is such an outside-the-box solution for this genre that it succeeds at surprising the audience as well as Akane. It's another escalation that can only be made possible by the relentless plot shake-ups SSSS.Gridman has dropped in our laps over the past few weeks.

All these storytelling tricks are fine on their own, but they wouldn't go half as far without the show's impressive presentation. The visual direction of SSSS.Gridman is on fire this week again. The expected quiet everyday scenes of the days leading up to the festival work as well as they always have, and now they get that extra oomph from Akane's direct confrontation. Various camera angles are used to enhance the surreality, especially in the Neon Genesis Junior High Students' amusing habit of lending oddness to any otherwise normal scene they occupy. The scene between Akane and Rikka on the bus does a brilliant job of playing off their interaction from episode 4, only now instead of just sitting behind Rikka as a power move, Akane is invading her personal space as a demonstration of her power. The character animation on Rikka and Yuta in the subsequent scene where she comes around is incredibly smooth, selling the casually awkward relationship they've developed. And of course, the long-awaited arrival of the fully-combined Gridman is greeted with all the visual fanfare one could hope for.

And I can't forget about the mecha fight this episode! As much as I've defaulted to regarding The Ultraman-esque Gridman as a mecha, Akane calling the Full Powered Gridman a straight-up robot is a wonderful acknowledgement of the show's escalating absurdity, as well as a great way to sell how her plans have been upended by the team's unconventional choices. The scene that follows is a marvelous media mix-up, pushing the show's usual 2D/3D juggling act to its hardest limits yet. More experienced fans will probably have a killer time just pinpointing which mecha sakuga and choreographic cuts belong to which animators or are being referenced by them. The actual process of the fight jumps between ground and sky, cutting to civilian-scale shots when necessary and just celebrating the kind of Saturday-morning excess that made us love cartoons and robots as children. If I had any complaint to make, it's that the fight ends too abruptly; of course I wanted more.

It feels like I'm calling every other episode of SSSS.Gridman its best yet, but that's because these escalating plot twists keep raising the show's own bar. This episode worked so well for me because it took the opportunity to analyze some of its heroic tropes on a meta level, which I'm an absolute sucker for. But it layered all that under increasingly strong character work, making the dynamics between characters more complex because of the dramatic reveals. It tops all this off with spectacle that understands the references it's making to its source material and action worthy of those predecessors. It's a confident show, and I'm having so much fun following it.

ConfrontationSSSS.GRIDMAN, Episode 8InformationAir date11/25/2018Directed byHiroyuki TakashimaScreenplay byKeiichi HasegawaContinuityPreviousNextSchemeDreamSSSS.GRIDMAN NOVELIZATIONSWatch on CrunchyrollConfrontation (対・立 Tai・ritsu) is the eighth episode of SSSS.GRIDMAN.

Ok, getting off the soap box because episode 6 was a FEAST of Ultra Series references. Yes, episode 6 was more or less an info dump and the first episode without an actual kaiju fight but man, it was still a great episode!

So, there you have it. Most of the references to the Ultra Series in episode 9 of SSSS Gridman. I know there are a few I missed and for that, I apologize but this is already my longest post on the subject since the series began.

SSSS Gridman is all new on Toonami. Ep 8 has the school festival in full swing but when another Kaiju appears the team must decide on how to save it. Will they be able to? Check out the episode tonight and see on Toonami.

I like this episode a lot because of the tension it provided. Tension between the team, tension for the audience and even tension with the battle. Love the slow build for characterization for Akane too. Gives us more insight into her cruelty. Her line about monsters was very ironic especially since she herself can also be considered a monster in her own right.

Episode 6 of the original series provides a lot of the basis for elements of this episode (probably an intentional rhyming scheme, thanks Hasegawa), and is also an episode that more coincidentally illustrates how effective those slice-of-life elements can be for developing characters and a narrative.

To wrap this up before I wax philosophic for another thousand words, this was a really unique episode. It was an exposition dump with no full-sized Gridman fight, and the only other fight scene between Anti and the other Support characters ended inconclusively. But it still managed to be engrossing and interesting to watch regardless, and completely changed the tone and focus of the series both looking back, and likely going forward too.

Having a sexy anime character is fine. Having a woman in revealing clothes that shows off her body? Fine, but Akane is a young girl. This is not okay and severely impacted my enjoyment of this episode, especially since it happened throughout. Anime in general needs to cut this out. 781b155fdc