SSSS.GRIDMAN |OT| Trigger Dan Dan Trigger Dan Dan Kagayake

[Jarmel]

Promotional Videos

PV1
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PV3 (English Dub)
OP/ED

Plot Summary

Yuta Hibiki awakens with amnesia and the ability see things that others cannot. He first encounters a Gridman in the reflection of his friend Rikka Takarada's computer and it tells him to "Remember his calling," but Yuta doesn't understand what this means. Later, in the distance, he sees an extremely large monster but it doesn't move. It's only when Yuta gets to school that the two sightings make sense: a monster attacks and the hero Yuta saw in the computer screen pulls him within the computer and transforms Yuta into a giant hero named Gridman.

Staff

Director: Akira Amemiya (Inferno Cop)
Series Composition: Keiichi Hasegawa (Rage of Bahamut: Genesis)
Music: Shiro Sagisu (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Character Design: Masaru Sakamoto (Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia)
Masayuki Gotou (Gridman)
Art Director: Yukihiro Watanabe (Asterisk War)
Sound Director: Toshiki Kameyama (Kiznaiver)
Alexis Design: Shigeto Koyama (Inferno Cop, Kill La Kill)
Animation Producer: Kazuya Matsumoto (Little Witch Academia, Kill La Kill)
Assist Weapon Design: Tsuyoshi Nonaka (Kamen Rider, Mazinger)
Heroic Chief Animator: Hiroki Mutaguchi (Giant Robo)
Junk Design: Shōta Sannomiya (Little Witch Academia)
Line Producer: Masato Takeuchi (Little Witch Academia TV)
3D Graphics: Graphinica (Rinne no Lagrange)
Animation Production: Trigger (Ninja Slayer, Inferno Cop)

Cast

Hikaru Midorikawa as Gridman
Reina Ueda as Akane Shinjō
Sōma Saitō as Shō Utsumi
Yume Miyamoto as Rikka Takarada
Yūya Hirose as Yūta Hibiki

Opening Theme: "Union" by OxT
Ending Theme: "youthful beautiful" by Maaya Uchida

Characters

Yuta Hibiki / Sho Utsumi

Akane Shinjo / Rikka Takarada

Mysterious Boy / Alexis

Why Should I Watch?

The easiest way to know if this is for you is to watch the short Gridman the Hyper Agent boys invent great hero and see if you enjoyed that. This will obviously have more story than the short but that will give you an insight into Amemiya's directorial and animation style.

Amemiya is the protégé of Imaishi and as such is in no way restrained. Unlike previous works of Amemiya, such as Ninja Slayer or Inferno Cop, he has noted that he's going into this with a serious mindset. However, this is also the man that is so bad at math that he used a D20 dice, for Ninja Slayer, to decide how many key frames per second should be drawn. The production for this though appears to be extraordinarily smooth with the production team at Trigger already almost done animating the entire show. A situation like that is practically unheard of outside of Kyoto Animation.

Another extremely important person of note is Keiichi Hasegawa, who wrote Rage of Bahamut: Genesis, which was a strong anime original. The whole show is a huge love letter from the staff such as the mechanical animation being a tribute to Masami Obari. While there is a large amount of CGI in the major mecha fight scenes, there are some cuts with 2D animation as noted by Mutaguchi's (a mecha specialist) involvement.

There's also supposedly some huge twist at the end of the 2nd episode but who cares about that.

FAQ

What is the episode count?
-12 episodes.

Is this related to the original Gridman?
-With what is known, it is considered a reboot.

Is the mecha CGI?
-The fights are a mixture of 2D and CGI.

What does the SSSS stand for?
-Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

Where Can I Watch

Funimation Simuldub (Saturdays starting 10/6/18 at 1:40PM EST)
Crunchyroll

Extra Links

Official Website
Animation Website
Twitter

 

[Slayven]

Finally anime is relevant again. I been psyched about this since the tribute video

 

[spookyduzt]

Gonna need Tim Curry for Kilokahn if there's an English dub.

 

[Slayven]

 

[fertygo]

Kiznaiver Dejavu is strong in this one.

 

[DanarchyReigns]

Gonna need Tim Curry for Kilokahn if there's an English dub.

Click to shrink...

There is an English dub, Funimation is simuldubbing.
And yeah, he's gotta show up

Spoiler

He won't, but it would be cool

 

[Yukari]

I want anime Gridman Sigma instead

 

[Harpoon]

Been looking forward to this since it was announced, hope it delivers. Some of the designs are looking pretty cool, like Alexis and the human antagonist-looking characters.

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

Still trying to forget Darling in the FranXXX existed, but anything trigger makes is an instant watch for me.

 

[xania]

Gridman, huh? I haven't thought about that for a while... I'll definitely watch.

 

[Crocodile]

Not sure what this is about but I guess it can't hurt to do some research on it or read some impressions to see if its for me.

Kiznaiver Dejavu is strong in this one.

Click to shrink...

I liked Kiznaiver so that's a positive comparison as far as I'm concerned LOL

 

[massoluk]

Lol, they misspelled Cyber.

Spoiler

Sorry

 

[lupianwolf]

Can't wait for this. Tokusatsu-esque content is so much better in the anime/manga format.

 

[mute]

Loved the english adaptation growing up, and I've been watching the original Denkou Choujin Gridman recently. Really looking forward to this.

Oh that official website is hilarious.

 

[massoluk]

Man, remember the time when computer virus infected Big Ben and all of the sudden literally everyone on Earth but SSSS were wrecked by the inability to keep time straight, because reason?

 

[spookyduzt]

I'm so annoyed that volume one of SSSS on dvd is out of print and nearly impossible to find. Maybe this show will generate enough interest to get it reprinted.

 

[Android Sophia]

I have been SO HYPED waiting for this. The original Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was my childhood, and Gridman is amazing too. So a modern adaptation coming out of nowhere is just <3

 

[Deleted member 31092]

Mahiro Maeda from Studio khara (ex-Gainax back from the Daicon days) worked on the monster design for this.

 

[mute]

Episode 1

That was interesting. Not too amazing but I don't hate it either. Not sure I like MC or the purple hair girl, or the

Spoiler

groundhog day reset.

Obligatory Eva vibes. I'm 50/50 on the Kaiju animation being a cool throwback to guy-in-rubber-suit or just plain silly looking. Hoping to see some action in Syberspace.

Otherwise, looking forward to next week.

 

[Android Sophia]

THAT WAS AWESOME!!!

A little bit slow paced at times and I think it'll be something that requires two episodes to really get going but...

STILL AWESOME!!!


I was feeling the Eva vibes there too, at least until the theme kicked in.

 

[spookyduzt]

BABY DAN DAN

Just finished watching ep 1 dubbed. Gonna start out by thanking whomever made the call to have the Kahn Digifier VA do a Tim Curry impression. That's damn good. The episode itself was pretty decent, bit slow to start, definitely had Eva vibes, the kaiju action was pretty decent, and animation was serviceable.

Few things bugged me, like why Gridman had that weird purple color scheme instead of the classic red. Or how the kaiju action took place in the real world instead of the digital world. That was always something about SSSS that set it apart, going into the computer systems to fight viruses. Not to mention the digital world had a really cool stylistic look to it. Now with the everything taking place in the real world, it may aswell just be another Ultraman show. The connection to the computer theme of the show seems tenuous at best. And somehow everything is repaired in the real world like when Gridman would repair computer systems? How? Is all this actually taking place in the digital world and the main characters don't know it's a simulation?

I'm definitely in for the whole season, and hopefully some of the changes are explained.

 

[Rob]

Gonna need Tim Curry for Kilokahn if there's an English dub.

Click to shrink...

Oh honey. I have some news for you.

 

[Harpoon]

I really enjoyed the first episode. Action was good, I'm interested in the characters, and curious about the mysteries going on. If all goes well, this might become my favourite Trigger show to date.

Gonna start out by thanking whomever made the call to have the Kahn Digifier VA do a Tim Curry impression.

Click to shrink...

FYI, the villain isn't actually Kahn Digifier. It's a new character named Alexis Kerib (who was also going to be the villain of the canceled Gridman sequel series, IIRC). But yes, it's awesome they got his English VA to do a pretty swell Curry impression.

 

[Gridman]

Once I get home tomorrow I'm definitely giving this a try. Not going to lie, was really excited when I heard Trigger was doing this. I'm happy to see positive reactions here.

 

[spookyduzt]

FYI, the villain isn't actually Kahn Digifier. It's a new character named Alexis Kerib (who was also going to be the villain of the canceled Gridman sequel series, IIRC). But yes, it's awesome they got his English VA to do a pretty swell Curry impression.

Click to shrink...

Ah, I see. That was another thing that was annoying me, didn't like his new look. But makes sense if he's a completely different character.

 

[squall23]

I watched the English version of Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad when I was a little kid in the early 90s in Hong Kong. I didn't know English so I couldn't understand shit, but man, this was the toku show that spoke to me. All the Ultramans, all the Power Rangers, they weren't bad, but SSSS, I really truly loved it and I didn't know why.

 

[RangerBAD]

Gridman's movement has an EVA weighty-ness, but the 3D hurts it. I really like it though. Man in suit Kaijuu movements are fun.

 

[Ororo]

Doesn't Gridman have a fansub now or did I dream that? I'd love to finally check out the original Toku.

As for this I'm not so sure, I'll definitely be watching but I don't like that it's just giant fights in the city and it takes away from the uniqueness of Gridman, there are plenty of mecha shows that have fights in the city.

 

[spookyduzt]

Doesn't Gridman have a fansub now or did I dream that? I'd love to finally check out the original Toku.

Click to shrink...

It's actually officially available on Amazon Prime with a Toku subscription.

https://www.amazon.com/Gridman-Season-1/dp/B07B4PJ4T2

 

[MistaTwo]

Loved the english adaptation growing up, and I've been watching the original Denkou Choujin Gridman recently. Really looking forward to this.

Oh that official website is hilarious.

Click to shrink...

How is the original? And are there any sets out there to pick up or anything?

I've always been interested in checking it out, as I really loved the English show as a kid. I had a few of the figures and they were some of my favorite toys.

 

[mute]

How is the original? And are there any sets out there to pick up or anything?

I've always been interested in checking it out, as I really loved the English show as a kid. I had a few of the figures and they were some of my favorite toys.

Click to shrink...

It's on Amazon Prime Toku. There were apparently DVDs of the English series at some point but I think they may be out of print.

I'm only 10 or so episodes in but some of the scenarios are really funny, as are the interactions with the main characters family and siblings. The computer world sets are really neat too. Sometimes gridman will just pick up the moster and throw him around, it's great.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

that villain has a bit of over-justice going on

he also has the same voice actor i think?

 

[DangerMouse]

First ep of the simuldub was great.
Also, Rikka is pure win.

I remember seeing bits and pieces of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad when it was on TV.

 

[Android Sophia]

Episode 2 finished. Loved it, even if the fight was kinda short.

You can tell just watching this show that it doesn't have the highest priority or budget, but that it's a creation of love by the people working on it.

I really hope this does well enough to justify a second season when the time comes.

 

[qon]

ahhh

Click to shrink...

 

[mute]

I like where this is going.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

Oh cool. When I was a kid I was a big fan of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. A couple years back I became interested in watching the original japanese show but at the time there were not any english subtitles available.

This looks cool, I'm gunna try to check it out.

 

[DangerMouse]

Episode 2 finished. Loved it, even if the fight was kinda short.

You can tell just watching this show that it doesn't have the highest priority or budget, but that it's a creation of love by the people working on it.

I really hope this does well enough to justify a second season when the time comes.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I hope it gets more too.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

I watched the first two episodes (dub). I'm into it.
The premise of this is simple enough that I was able to instantly get into it and my basic familiarity with Gridman helps.
I'm excited for more assist weapons to show up.

 

[modoversus]

I suspected the short animation was a pilot for something. Too bad Crunchyroll does not have it in my region. The original gridman has some great opening and ending songs.

 

[Android Sophia]

I'd say my only real complaint so far is that the fight scenes seem short because it's only 12 episodes. Because every fight has occurred in the second half of the episode, it thus feels like a rush against the clock to finish the fights. I hope we get some longer ones near the end.

I really like the actual fights too for portraying them as weighty. It's something that you don't often see nowadays, and it's very Evangelion-esque.

 

[qon]

Click to shrink...

so good

 

[Harpoon]

Episode 3 might have been my favourite so far. The action was pretty damn great, and Anti's a neat antagonist (poor guy though).

 

[qon]

there was a nice nod (i think) of gridman throwing shinobilar

Click to shrink...

 

[Qikz]

This show is everything I love about Trigger and anime in general. So damned hype oh my god! Episode 3 was awesome.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

Glad to see some solid combination going in the latest episode.
What is this neon genesis 33 year old highschooler stuff about though haha

And daaaaaamn these moves

 

[TwinBahamut]

This show has been really good so far. I mostly gave it a chance because I have vague memories of the original show from when I was a kid, but starting with that first episode I'm hooked. I was a little worried about the combat animation after the first fight, but episode 3 had some fantastic fights, so now I don't need to worry about anything and can look forward to how this progresses.

Spoiler: Speculation

Right now I'm really betting that they are in some kind of Matrix-like simulated world. It fits with the original series' premise, and explains a lot. Even little things like how the villains call Gridman a "guest" gives that vibe.

 

[Qvoth]

i heard this is pretty much objectively the best anime this season
any sample sakuga videos around so i can check it out?
if it's good i'll probably check this out

 

[FluxWaveZ]

The Neon Genesis girl looks like an Etrian Odyssey character.

 

[andymcc]

oh man, i didn't even know this was a thing and i was probably the only fan of the US version of Gridman as a kid. I need to check this out.