The blocking and composition of these shots is so effective in communicating the emotional state of the characters. It really is admirable work.
Look at all this SPECTACLE!!!
These shot mirror each other is such a neat way. The Gridman Alliance is disconnected and out of sync with each other. They are terrified of something small, framed with the camera appear even larger than the sculpted kaiju. Their clear discomfort and fear is sharpened by the fact that the shot shows this small thing intimidating them while they are framed as larger and more powerful than it. By contrast, when facing the full-sized kaiju, Gridman enters the field at his smallest size, but then gets into his Full Combination which enables him to handily defeat the rebuilt and powered-up kaiju. He is bigger and stronger, but it is as a result of the Gridman Alliance putting themselves in a place of openness and humility with each other.
This is pretty awkward
Why aren’t the Neon Genesis Junior High… kids in school? Are we going to find out where they came from? How did they get into this seemingly closed system? They are entertaining enough to distract me from those questions most of the time.
Topic: SSSS. Gridman 04 Suspicion. Available as a SimulDub with a Funimation NOW subscription.
I keep mentioning stuff I am seeing on twitter and this tokublog Capes and Cool Scarves when I talk about Gridman. It’s all coming from the same place. Check out Pri for some way more extensive coverage of SSSS. Gridman.
Topic: SSSS. Gridman 03 Defeat. Available as a SimulDub with a Funimation NOW subscription.
The composition of this shot so cool. I love people being caught in mirrors in unique ways on film. That sure was a sentence. Kamen Rider Build had some really good shots like this, too.
Is this what real door bell ringers in Japan look like? This is the same as Rei Ayanami’s. Is that an actual brand? Is it the same fake brand used in many anime, like the equivalent of the 555 phone numbers in movies in the United States?
Topic: SSSS. Gridman 02 Restoration. Available as a SimulDub with a Funimation NOW subscription.
Overall thoughts on episode 02 Restoration
On a scale of terrible to great… Really good
Overall the story this episodes was… so darn compelling
On the setting… it was good. Seeing Akane’s room and home gave a really strong impression that she is affluent and alone. It hints at why she is open to working with Alexis.
Immediate Afterthoughts
This is super interesting. It was a solid showing. I got some answers, even more new questions and the visual and fun elements have been kicked up a notch.
Does Instance Abreaction shift reality to allow Akane and Alexis to erase some people from history?!
Are Akane and Takarada more connected than we know? Their relationship in the ED may just be for marketing…
Should Yuta know, but doesn’t because of the amnesia?
Also what’s with Utsumi and Rikka seeing the atmospheric kaiju now? What do they represent?
Characters Study
Since the show is so short, I am hoping they will keep the plot and character work tight, so these are all the characters who I felt I had to take notes on this episode: Akane, Tonkawa, Samurai Calibur, Yuta, Rikka, Utsumi, Gridman, the teacher and Alexis.
Plot Notes
Utsumi and Yuta are all about the Gridman Alliance. Rikka is unsure, but Samurai Calibur helps her figure things out. He also turns into a sword for Gridman, defeating the kaiju which is impervious to the Gridbeam
Trigger Shoots and….
Again, Yuta getting suckled into Junk looked so cool.
They made Akane very creepy with the shot composition and direction
They made the teacher look hollow and apathetic and then not, later on, so I am digging how deftly they can
Pretty sure they reused the Junk alarm animation
Silly Stuff
That Primal Acceptor is dope.
Is Yuta’s backpack made to be potential merchandise?
Gridmas Instance: Yuta
What’s the deal with Ramen soda?
Hearing “Acces Flash” made me think of “lashing a drive” or “flashing BIOS” and I wanted to share that computer geekiness with all of you. This link from the SuperUser blog tells all about it.
Hello, this is Matthew. I am here to do something new for the TOH Network. I will be discussing Ultraman. I am an Ultraman newb who got excited about SSSS. Gridman and decided to talk about it. I am open for comments and question.
Episode Length [14:14] RSS -Paste this into your Podfeeder of choice to subscribe
Topic: SSSS. Gridman 1 Awakening Overall thoughts on Trigger’s Gridman 01 Awakening available as a SimulDub with a Funimation NOW subscription. On a scale of terrible to great… pretty good. Overall the story this episodes was… solid. It hooked me into the mystery. The setting was very grounded and felt believable. On the characters These people who stuck out to me this time were:
Akane Shinjo
Tonkawa
Rikka’s mom
Disheveled guy
Our Principals
Yuta Hibiki – lost his memory after passing out for about 30 minutes. Gridman tells him he has a calling he has to remember. Sees and hears Gridman on the blank screen of the big, old custom computer the kids refer to as JUNK
Rikka Takarada- she seems popular. I like her attitude. She isn’t nice for the sake of being nice and she isn’t a jerk either. She feels even-keeled. She seems like she should be very interesting.
Utsumi – He is an Ultraman fan. He mentions the Ultra series and the weak point intrinsic to the Kaiju therein
Gridman- The Hyper Agent
Plot Notes
I like the conceit that Yuta’s parents are away for business for the next few months. The events of the show could all take place while they are gone. That feels neat and tidy and like a novel way to get them out of the way and out of danger for the series run.
With all the sniping and teasing the school setting feels very real
What is real and what isn’t? Gridman warns that something is coming to the world. Is it the first phase of the kaiju where some damage is done? Is there something more than that? It seems at the end of the episode that not all of the damage happened like Utsumi and Rikka.
Utsumi has the Ultra genre-savvy, Rikka types in the messages to Hibiki. I wonder why that is.
I like the wear and tear the whole kaiju attack has on Rikka.
I can’t tell why Rikka’s mom was so panicked and why the news showed reports of the school burning when the Junk-trio sees the school the next day. As they said, “Something weird is going on..”
References:
That tweet Mark linked to citing the Trigger and Original Gridman nods
Hello, this is Matthew. I am here to do something new for the TOH Network. I will be discussing Ultraman. I am an Ultraman newb who got excited about SSSS. Gridman and decided to talk about it. I am open for comments and question. Anyway, click on below to listen to Going Ultra episode 0, wherein I tell you a bit more about myself and how I intend to cover this Studio Trigger/Tsubaraya collaboration.
Episode Length [8:03] RSS -Paste this into your Podfeeder of choice to subscribe