History YMMV / SSSSGridman

** [[spoiler: A popular interpretation of Akane and Rikka’s relationship is that that of the ideal self and the true self with the thinly veiled yuri ship tease being an allegory for self love.]]

** Episode 5, Akane asks Rikka to put sunblock on her back and as the latter does so she comments admiringly on Akane's skin. After the back is done, Akane then asks Rikka to do her front. After a beat, [[TheTease Akane says she was only kidding]] and they laughed it off.

** Borr-chan-kun: The GenderReveal of Borr being a boy leads to this by Japanese fans.

* {{SugarWiki/Awesome Music}}: [=OxT=] perform the simultaneously blood-pumping and uplifting opening theme "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4CIYS1Bme4 UNION]]," while Creator/MaayaUchida's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6-MIsN8gwE youthful beautiful]]" serves as the wonderfully upbeat ending theme.

** The ending theme animation.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Those who went into the series [[spoiler:without any knowledge of the original series could see Gridman’s Fixer Beam as an AssPull, but Gridman being able to restore virtual worlds to their original form was well established ResetButton in the Tokusatsu show. Fixer Beam's purpose of fixing a person's heart, on the other hand, was mentioned [[AllThereInTheManual in supplementary materials]].]]

* TearJerker: It's quite nostalgic to hear the same piano version of "Yume No Hero" from the classic Gridman again in episode 6 of the new anime.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The cameo appearance of Masaya Obi ([[Series/DenkouChoujinGridman Naoto Sho]]'s actor) in episode 6 is a complete shock to the viewers.

* AbandonShipping: A number of fans stopped pairing Akane and/or Rikka with Yuta and/or Utsumi after [[https://imgur.com/UtJnXDf an interview in a magazine pointed out that]] [[LesYay Rikka is the only person in the digital world that Akane loves]]. However, a drama CD that introduced [[spoiler:Akane's counterpart in their world,]] with the ironic implication that Rikka herself ships Utsumi x Akane, while Utsumi ships Rikka x Yuta, did alleviate this a bit. Yuta/Rikka would later rise back up thanks to ''Anime/GridmanUniverse'', which focuses heavily on their relationship and [[spoiler:upgrades them into an OfficialCouple by the end]].

* AbandonShipping: A number of fans stopped pairing Akane and/or Rikka with Yuta and/or Utsumi after [[https://imgur.com/UtJnXDf an interview in a magazine pointed out that]] [[LesYay Rikka is the only person in the digital world that Akane loves]]. However, a drama CD that introduced [[spoiler:Akane's counterpart in their world,]] with the ironic implication that Rikka herself ships Utsumi x Akane, while Utsumi ships Rikka x Yuta, did alleviate this a bit. However, Yuta/Rikka would come back in full force in ''Anime/GridmanUniverse'', which focuses heavily on their relationship and [[spoiler:upgrades them into an OfficialCouple by the end]].

* AbandonShipping: A number of fans stopped pairing Akane and/or Rikka with Yuta and/or Utsumi after [[https://imgur.com/UtJnXDf an interview in a magazine pointed out that]] [[LesYay Rikka is the only person in the digital world that Akane loves]]. However, a drama CD that introduced [[spoiler:Akane's counterpart in their world,]] with the ironic implication that Rikka herself ships Utsumi x Akane, while Utsumi ships Rikka x Yuta, did alleviate this a bit.

* CompleteMonster: The enigmatic [[ForTheEvulz Alexis Kerib]] manipulates mentally unstable people with reality warping powers like [[TheHeavy Akane Shinjo]], who Alexis uses to create {{kaiju}} to cause mayhem and destruction throughout Akane's virtual reality version of Tokyo. With Akane falling into melancholy at her inability to stop the heroic Gridman Alliance, Alexis tries to force her to create more kaiju for him, and when she refuses, summons his own to wreak havoc on the virtual reality Tokyo. When the Gridman Alliance attempt to comfort Akane, Alexis turns her into a monster himself and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice brutally impales]] a friend of hers for trying to save her.

* AbandonShipping: A number of fans stopped pairing Akane and/or Rikka with Yuta and/or Utsumi after [[https://imgur.com/UtJnXDf an interview in a magazine pointed out that]] [[LesYay Rikka is the only person in the digital world that Akane loves]].

* AbandonShipping: A number of fans stopped pairing Akane and/or Rikka with Yuta and/or Utsumi after [[https://imgur.com/UtJnXDf an interview in a magazine pointed out that]] [[LesYay Rikka is the only person in the digital world that Akane loves]]. Which becomes hilarious given [[spoiler:Rikka is based on Akane's real life self]]. In other words the only person Akane loves is [[spoiler:herself]], which ties greatly to her character arc. A drama CD that introduced [[spoiler:a regular Akane from the alternate world as opposed to our own]] with the ironic implication that Rikka herself ships Utsumi x Akane while Utsumi ships Rikka x Yuta alleviated this a bit.

** [[spoiler:The true nature of Akane and Rikka's relationship was made blurry by the reveal of Akane's IRL appearance being near identical to Rikka. Some have theorised that Rikka is actually the original form of Akane which was discarded when Akane was making her digital world, whom Akane made her best friend as a form of wish fulfilment. This is supported by Rikka's home, a junk shop which Akane describes as "a place where unwanted things go", which is found literally next to her idealised home. At the same time however, there is just as much evidence stating that Rikka was a friend of Akane in the real world whom Akane looked up to and wished to be good enough to associate with. This interpretation is best seen in the ED and Rikka's episode 9 dream, with the latter seemingly being Akane's memory of her and Rikka's meeting and relationship deterioration, only with their roles reversed.]]
** Similarly [[spoiler:there's several hints thrown about that Akane created Yuta to be her boyfriend in her ideal world. Her first act in the series is to use her Kaiju to erase Sakiru Tonkawa and her friends from existence because they interrupted her MeetCute moment with Yuta. And later, after learning that Yuuta pilots Gridman, she makes several sexually charged advances at Yuta in an attempt to make him switch sides and stop destroying her kaiju. In the dream world that she creates for Yuta, she sets herself up as his LoveInterest, effectively inserting herself into the role that Rikka was presently in. And given the aforementioned above statement about Rikka, this may imply that there is a Yuta in the real world that she carries a torch for.]]

** Was Rikka's effort to redeem Akane even after she stabbed Yuta in the gut a genuine effort of friendship, or because she was created/programmed not to hate Akane no matter what? There's evidence on both sides.

* EpilepticTrees: At the end of the series, fans liked to speculate that [[spoiler:the real Akane based Rikka's appearance off of her own body due to some design similarities like long hair and the uniform]]. It hasn't been confirmed one way or the other, but it's still a very persistent theory.
** The official music video for the opening confirms this theory to be true.

** As detailed on the Trivia page, Rikka's design in the initial drafts was given over to Akane. [[spoiler:As of episode 12, the reverse turns out to be true in the real world.]]

** This takes an interesting angle with the confirmation that [[spoiler:Rikka is based on Akane's appearance in the real world. Perhaps all along, Akane's relationship with Rikka was her learning how to love and accept herself, including her sexuality.]]

** The name of Alexis' spell, "Instance Abreaction", might be one. "Instance" can mean an example, illustration, sample or ''specimen'', which are all perfect descriptions of Akane's kaiju, and later, [[spoiler: herself]]. It is also a term in [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance_(computer_science) computer programming]]. "Abreaction" means [[https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/abreaction "the expression and consequent release of a previously repressed emotion, achieved through reliving the experience that caused it (typically through hypnosis or suggestion)"]]. Akane repressed her emotions before unleashing kaiju to solve her problems, and [[spoiler: while as Zegga, she relives through the traumatic memories of her killing the people in the digital world]].

** As detailed on the Trivia page, Rikka's design in the initial drafts was given over to Akane. [[spoiler: As of episode 12, the reverse turns out to be true in the real world.]]

** This takes an interesting angle with the confirmation that [[spoiler: Rikka is based on Akane's appearance in the real world. Perhaps all along, Akane's relationship with Rikka was her learning how to love and accept herself, including her sexuality.]]

** Akane's words in Episode 11 to Alexis about [[spoiler: why she doesn't want to make new Kaiju anymore hint that she may have had feelings for Yuta and killing him launched her even deeper into the DespairEventHorizon.]]
--->'''Akane:''' [[spoiler: There won't be a next. I don't need Kaiju anymore.]]\\

'''Akane:''' Because [[spoiler: Because Hibiki is... [[LastSecondWordSwap Because I brought down Gridman already.]]]]

** "Transformers: Gridman"/"Gridformers", due to the heavy ''Transformers''-based {{Shout Out}}s on the show.

** [[spoiler: The true nature of Akane and Rikka's relationship was made blurry by the reveal of Akane's IRL appearance being near identical to Rikka. Some have theorised that Rikka is actually the original form of Akane which was discarded when Akane was making her digital world, whom Akane made her best friend as a form of wish fulfilment. This is supported by Rikka's home, a junk shop which Akane describes as "a place where unwanted things go", which is found literally next to her idealised home. At the same time however, there is just as much evidence stating that Rikka was a friend of Akane in the real world whom Akane looked up to and wished to be good enough to associate with. This interpretation is best seen in the ED and Rikka's episode 9 dream, with the latter seemingly being Akane's memory of her and Rikka's meeting and relationship deterioration, only with their roles reversed.]]
** Similarly [[spoiler: there's several hints thrown about that Akane created Yuta to be her boyfriend in her ideal world. Her first act in the series is to use her Kaiju to erase Sakiru Tonkawa and her friends from existence because they interrupted her MeetCute moment with Yuta. And later, after learning that Yuuta pilots Gridman, she makes several sexually charged advances at Yuta in an attempt to make him switch sides and stop destroying her kaiju. In the dream world that she creates for Yuta, she sets herself up as his LoveInterest, effectively inserting herself into the role that Rikka was presently in. And given the aforementioned above statement about Rikka, this may imply that there is a Yuta in the real world that she carries a torch for.]]

** [[spoiler: Gridman's supposed influence on the homeroom teacher has several implications. Before, he didn't really care about the students or his job, but as the series went on he suddenly did. Was this CharacterDevelopment, or did his life actually ''improve'' because certain people (like maybe some of his students, some of his acquaintances, etc.) died to the kaiju?]]
** This dwells into Fridge Funny, but did Gridman [[spoiler: pick Yuta because he was the closest to Shinjo in the classroom (and in other, emotional ways), or did he pick him because of his ShonenHair? If Akane has a crush on IRL Yuta then it would make sense for her to give him ShonenHair.]]

* ContinuityLockout: [[spoiler: Episode 12. The entrance, the final Gridman form, his attacks, the song that plays, the Fixer Beam - all are directly from ''Denkou Choujin Gridman'', leaving people who haven't seen or aren't aware of the original series confused since they seem to come out of nowhere with no prior reference.]]

* EvilIsCool: If the character page is anything to go by, Alexis, Akane, and Anti are far more interesting characters than the Gridman Alliance. Anti of course soon falls into a well received [[spoiler: DarkIsNotEvil]], especially as the intimidating [[spoiler: Gridknight]].

** The fact the show [[spoiler:is really a sequel to the original tokusatsu makes it the Japanese counterpart to the additional episodes ''Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad'' had when the originally intended ending was changed.]]
** Unlike ''SSSS.Gridman'' which deals with romance and sexuality, Trigger's previous anime ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'' contained NoHuggingNoKissing despite the main character [[TheHero Akko's]] major ShipTease moments with [[BlueBlood Diana and Andrew]] over the years. In ''Gridman'' Akko appears as a background student and [[https://imgur.com/a/ft1VaLo manages to hook up with a guy]] in just ''four background shots''.

** Episode 8, Akane embraces Rikka from behind as they were seated on the bus [[spoiler: as Akane tells Rikka that she created her as her friend by her kaiju]].

** In a past interview with Akane's voice actress, Reina Ueda, she stated that, in episode 12, Rikka was supposedly very close to admitting that she loved Akane, but chose not to so then [[spoiler: it would be less hard for Akane to decide on returning to her own world ]]. However, with no official confirmation regarding the topic from anyone working on the show besides the voice actress, its debatable whether or not this information can be considered canon. The untranslated article can be found [[https://cho-animedia.jp/anime/76379/2/ here]], while the auto-translated version of the same article can be found [[https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://cho-animedia.jp/anime/76379/2/&xid=17259,15700019,15700043,15700186,15700190,15700248&usg=ALkJrhgJcRjRT9G-YUxVaMh7tQ8yxNX3Vw/ here]].

* LGBTFanbase: Akane flirts with everyone and her realizing her feelings for Rikka [[spoiler: who is based on her real world appearance]] can read as coming into acceptance with your bisexuality[[note]](things like a strategically-placed LGBT poster during Akane and Rikka's plot in episode 9 suggest that this is intentional)[[/note]]. Cue LGBT following.

** Thank you Gridman. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Given the notoriety of [[Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx Trigger's previous Anime]], fans were eternally grateful to the fact that this show exists, and one of the times that [[AuthorsSavingThrow Gridman eventually showed up and stopped Yuta and Rikka for doing any unnecessary drama]] ([[ShipperOnDeck despite his support on them getting along]]) in the anime.[[/labelnote]]

*** "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1442982-ssssgridman Baby Dan Dan Starts/Intensifies]]", another variant of the meme, used as a positive reaction. [[spoiler: [[HilariousInHindsight And then the final battle happened]] and "Yume no Hero" ''actually starts.'' The phrases are common responses to that.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: If he wasn't already over the line for [[spoiler: taking Anti's eye out as "punishment" for something that he'd put Anti up to doing in the first place]], Alexis officially crosses this in the penultimate episode [[spoiler:by turning Akane into a kaiju against her will.]]

** Those who did not see the original two shows were surprised by the [[spoiler: live action scene of the real Akane waking up.]] Especially since Trigger's previous Gridman animation didn't use [[spoiler: live action.]]

-->'''Akane:''' [[spoiler: There won't be a next. I don't need Kaiju anymore.]]
-->'''Alexis:''' [[LackOfEmpathy Why's]] [[AffablyEvil that?]]
-->'''Akane:''' Because [[spoiler: Because Hibiki is... [[LastSecondWordSwap Because I brought down Gridman already.]]]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Akane [[spoiler:enters the shop at the end of episode 10, and no one tries to restrain her. Yuta gets stabbed when he walks up to her to talk her down. That said, there is the possibility that [[DoNotTauntCthulhu no one wanted to attempt to aggravate the god of their world much further.]]]]

** Unlike ''SSSS.Gridman'' which deals with romance and sexuality, Trigger's previous Anime ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' contained NoHuggingNoKissing despite the main character [[TheHero Akko's]] major ShipTease moments with [[BlueBlood Diana and Andrew]] over the years. In ''Gridman'' Akko appears as a background student and [[https://imgur.com/a/ft1VaLo manages to hook up with a guy]] in just ''four background shots''.

** Speaking of [=OxT=], they also give us some splendid covers of the opening and ending themes of the live-action Gridman series, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO-Tej1ok-8 Yume no Hero]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THcWLThFyag Motto Kimi wo Shireba]]."

** Unlike ''SSSS.Gridman'' which deals with romance and sexuality, Trigger's previous Anime ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' contained NoHuggingNoKissing despite the main character [[TheHero Akko's]] major ShipTease moments with [[BlueBlood Diana and Andrew]] over the years. In ''Gridman'' Akko appears as a background student and [[https://imgur.com/a/ft1VaLo manages to hook up with a guy]] in just ''four background shots''