SSSS.Gridman

Major depressive episodes do have inciting incidents, though. It's just that depression means you react to mistakes and misfortune way harder than a healthy person would. A Love Triangle going sideways isn't the reason Akane has depression, but it could very plausibly be the reason she shut down and locked herself in a fantasy-world when the brain chemicals constantly telling her she's an awful person became too loud to ignore.

And indeed, its a very believable one. Even in teh real world these cause a lot of angst

I have seen people who've been driven to major depression due to romance, but they're really seriously bad cases and generally come in company of other major intimacy or affection issues. Knew a girl once who genuinely believed she wasn't allowed to have people who loved her and cared for her, mostly because of a lifetime of romantic failures, compounded by social issues and poor luck in making close friendships. It's definitely plausible.

I just don't think it'd be very satisfying as a plot point in his particular story.

To be honest, I have a hard time seeing how they'll work in what Rikka said to Yuta before the start and make it plot relevant, considering their relationship and lack thereof throughout the series.

I just figured he asked her out and it doesn't actually matter to the story.

Whelp. It all ends tomorrow.

To celebrate the end of this ride, lets watch...a humorously bad Pain version of the opening:

Beautiful.

In case it wasn't obvious before, this episode kind of cements Akane as the real protagonist of the story.

Yuta is just a Decoy Protagonist.

Ok, so which tokusatsu should Trigger tackle next? And don’t say Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills.

Do they need too?

I don't know. I've always wanted to see a series in the vein of Kamen Rider animated (as we mentioned a few pages back).

I think the series would lend itself really well to animation. Hell, Tokusatsu is essentially a live action cartoon right? There are a lot of things they'd be able to do with animation that they can't in live action.

The only issue is that Gridman, while taking beats from the Ultra Series, is not a real Ultra series. There's nothing else from the other two big Toku franchises that is quite in that vein so what could they do?

And this is a big IF as well.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Dec 22nd 2018 at 11:00:25 AM

The main issue is copyright when it comes to such. To do a legit KR or SS anime could cost a lot just to get the liscensing required.

A while ago, Toho tried to make a Sentai equivalent called the Chou Sei Shin Series, but it never took off the way they wanted it to. Let Trigger do that?

Edited by Beatman1 on Dec 22nd 2018 at 1:11:38 PM

I still think they should take a Sentai series next.

Speaking of next, Tsuburaya uploaded a “pass the torch” video of sorts telling people to look forward to Netflix Ultraman with Gridman introducing it.

So the last episode came and went.

It could have been better but it could have been worse too. Fortunately it wasn't so bad as to ruin my appreciation for the series. Fixer Beam spoke to me as a metaphor for mental health recuperation instead of just a Deus Ex Machina laser, but I think the show should have leaned in harder into the mental health idea than just it being a dream of Akane, and the ending is too oblique to be as satisfying as it wants to be.

On the plus side I now want to write a story based on Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad.

The live action ending of real world Akane was a clever as hell call back to the original live action shows. Plus, the actress for her was pretty cute, too.

...

Ok. That happened.

Honestly...I didn't care for it all that much, but I still have the other 11 episodes.

Maybe the show needed more than 12 episodes to be frank.

It wasn't All Just a Dream in the conventional sense. The whole objective was to get Akane to wake up, get out of bed, and face the world. I got the impression she'd been cooped up in that room and in her own head for a very long time.

It's also worth mentioning that this show ended up less as part of the Gridman franchise and more as a psychological, rather than biological version of Cells At Work.

Alright, time to marathon this bitch. I was expecting it to become shit, but it stayed true to the Toku and Mech fights that I love and I appreciate that.

Hm... an interesting ending.

Oddly enough, we leave with less questions answered than one would expect. There's a lot that can be speculated, of course, but some of the more essential stuff, like Alexis, still goes without a clear explanation. Akane's exact situation does as well: I think the implication is that this was all a dream, but I prefer to interpret it as a more long-term thing, as in Akane being depressed and stuck in her bedroom lying on her bed for ages, unwilling and psychologically unable to leave, and with the live-action bit at the end being her managing to get up from bed for the first time in a while, instead of just waking up.

That live-action bit was a pretty smart way to close the show, by the way. I think that's Akane's voice actress, but I'm not sure. Much the same, having Gridman become fully 2d animated for the final fight is a nice touch for the transition they were intending to make.

I still hold to the idea that Akane was the protagonist here. Yuta barely had any development, and Gridman was only ever really with us for the last two episodes, while the entire show is about Akane and her need to be healed. Either way, the show does a good job of getting it's message through. Not a great job, mind. I think it could have used another episode or two to develop things a bit more, but what was done with what they had is good enough.

Honestly, I quite like this series. If it wasn't for this season being filled with good stuff, this would have easily been my favorite in it. Either way, it's a great show, particularly in the direction and writing department, which is most certainly not what I expected coming into it. I'm thoroughly pleased.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 22nd 2018 at 8:46:36 AM

Still, there must be something to be said about real life Akane looking like Rikka.

I thought about that, but ultimately I think it comes down to whether or not the actress was ok with painting her hair white for a single scene. Her looking like Rikka might be intentional or not, but we've no way of knowing.

Yep. That was an ending. I can't say for certain I'm satisfied, what with the way they rushed through the whole Alexis thing, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I really wish they went a little deeper on the kind of trauma Akane endured to get to this point. That room at the end looked way too normal too. Good lord, I think I actually saw a class picture in there. Would it have been so hard to add a little kaiju figurine to the scene just so it would look like Akane's room?

But yeah, great show. Hit some really good beats. I feel like some of the plot points the ending touched upon could've used a bit more room to breath, but it's still very much a show worth watching.

EDIT: you know what? Never mind about showing more of Akane's trouble in the real world. Though I would have loved to see if I could find her specific problems relatable, in the end it doesn't actually matter. Depression can have so many different sources, or maybe none at all. Akane's specific circumstances were completely irrelevant to the fact that she needed help. So I'm okay with them not showing any of it.

That room is still unforgivable, though. It had an analogue alarm clock. In 2018!

Edited by Kayeka on Dec 22nd 2018 at 12:24:55 PM

Episode 3; I'm still not completely sold on the cast, but they're inoffensive so far. The action is still the highlight so far, and I guess Anti is The Rival?