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I feel like it’s inevitable that we eventually get to this episode. It’s an episode where the cast will wear some sort of bikini and swimsuit and show as much skin and flesh as possible. We’re also talking about Trigger for Christ sake, one of the leading studio when it comes to fan-service. Right at the opening scene we would see Akane is sexy swimsuit with suggestive pose. While normally I’d say “yuck” in disgust in the same way kids behave when eating pepper, the fanservice here in GRIDMAN does so in conjunction with its theme. There’s always a disparity on what happens on the surface and what it’s actually about in GRIDMAN. All these fan-service tendencies, from Akane in bikini in the first few minutes, to Yuuta finding the swim suit, to the girls having fun with Shou’s chubby belly to that suncream sequence, all create an artificial surface that soon to be broken down by Akane’s true motive. Again, GRIDMAN turns what could be a disaster into something relevant to its detached world. All the more impressive that this seemingly field trip of rafting-exercise is soon to be a battlefield that come neatly together at the end. The settings this week rightfully become another character in this episode.

More than any other anime, GRIDMAN is a show that has many striking shots that are so condensed with details, and so integrate with its narrative that these shots alone inform you so much about the cast’s dynamic. I will address 3 such shots here (with the exclusion of the suncream scene between Akane and Rikka as I already talked about them last week). The first one is the sequence where Akane interrogates Yuuta to find out whether or not he’s involved with Gridman. The way GRIDMAN frames the shot, however, of them sitting in a symmetry manner suggests you how the show suggests them as a different side of the coin. Villainous as she is, Akane regards that as her duty, just like how Yuuta feels. As a result they share some special dynamic that go beyond from interrogation or bad guy vs good guy relationship.

The second shot happens later on, between Anti and Akane. It’s the moment when without any word, Anti just lowers his body to carry Akane around the burning bush. It delivers some raw emotions here, the way it’s Anti way of caring for Akane, but he’s also determined to carry his own mission, which is kill Gridman by himself. I found that he ends up helping Gridman’s team more often than not, but he remains the elements of surprise for the ongoing battle between Gridman vs kaiju monsters. Later on, the scarf the he gave to Akane, was pushed aside coldly by Akane. The show doesn’t put any sentimentalism on that but the way that scarf keeps lingering on the screen displays some powerful emotion. Last but not least, the sequences concerning the cast riding the train. Apart from an iconic shot of kaiju monsters in the background (and how little it affect the main cast as they’re pretty much used to it), it again has some GRIDMAN’s signature touch: the train ride is otherworldly, it’s empty and the quirks where there’s a strange mist that put everyone to sleep are a welcome one.

These past few episodes I haven’t mentioned much about the CG battles, not because it’s unremarkable but more like it’s the aspect I pay the least attention to. Now, I just want to give a moment to say that the CG battles between Gridman and kaiju monsters have always been consistently awesome. Usually CG fights stand out in a bad way (like in Planet With where you can tell right away the awkward moves. Here these scenes were handled skillfully, it’s the timing that is always consistent that sometimes it doesn’t feel like watching a CGI battles. Gridman continues to be its own thing, and I’m glad to say that so far I enjoy every moments of it, even more so with its understated moments. There’s only one mystery that I hope the show can address in the future: How the hell did Rikka’s mom (voiced by the VA actress of Haruko Haruhara in FLCL) work out that exact number for the Junk’s price? It might be a bit too expensive for an old junk that barely work, but it’s never too pricey to save the entire world.

Before discussing this week’s episode, I feel the need to mention the weekly voice drama (thanks a bunch for bringing it to my attention, Animosh) of GRIDMAN that provides more context and dare I say, more personality to the cast. As much as I like the current style of GRIDMAN, its strength is purely on the adept direction by Akira Amemiya and its solid visual craft where the dialogues are hardly relevant. As a result, by making these characters having an actual communication, it adds up a whole lot and helps explaining many of the loose threads in the anime. For example, listening to the audio drama, we learn that Rikka and Yuuta definitely had something going before the amnesia, that “ball game rally before summer” sounds like a perfect setting for a date if you ask me. These voice drama, along with the content of this week 4, also marks a shift in GRIDMAN’s perspective and now I come to suspect that Rikka is a crucial character that hold the emotional core in this anime. I mean, the voice drama of episode 4 (4.4) raises a red flag about Rikka’s life threat and based from what happened this week, I have very goods reason to believe that would be the case.

The main key to that plot thread lies in the relationship between Akane and Rikka. Granted, the main reason why Rikka approaches our girl in this episode is purely to confirm whether Yuuta is Gridman or not (and she fails miserably on that, but boy, did she try); but there’s hints about their already gone established friendship, and slowly Rikka comes to the realization that all the incidents happen around her. That might just be her hormone’s actin’ up (that everything revolves around her), but I come to suspect the core reason for Akane becoming a psychopath has something to do with her and Rikka. Talking about the Queen of Cruelty Akane (opps, lame references to another show I’m blogging), this week she decides to kills the V-bloggers boys because they keep pestering her (could it be a warming message for all the Youtubers out there?), and the way GRIDMAN displays her, by extreme dutch-angle shot, by her still acting nice but can’t hold back anymore when she’s alone, tells you pretty how unstable her feeling is. She isn’t merely killing people for fun, she kills them in the manner of farmers cropping up weeds.

As for our battle this week, things get even more crowded with the appearance of a new insectoid kaiju. This Kaiju succeeded on killing 3 of the boys, and on the verge of defeat our Gridman… until Anti interferes given he wanted to be the one who defeat Gridman. It’s interesting to note that Anti pretty much acts according to his principle, so he’s no longer an Akane’s puppet (the way Akane constantly throws her phone is amusing, too). On the other side of the battle, the Neon Genesis members, and Gridman himself, are freeze as soon as all of them entering the Junk (it’s overloaded – speaking about old machine, huh?). Their solution? Unplug the machine and load it up again (this sure brings back memories, but it’s also the fastest way to destroy your computer’s memory). Rikka’s quick decision sure brings a smile to my face. The Neon Genesis squad so far is a delight, they don’t harbor too much deep but they bounce off each other well, especially Samurai Calibur whose deadpan delivery goes well with the show’s emphasis on visual. I’m still down to see the other two members’ real power in the next few episodes.

Episode 4 also spends a healthy amount of time developing the high school romantic saga that involves a group date, a stalking and many more. Most prominent of all is the pair Yuuta and Rikka, as the last few episodes we see more of their chemistry from Rikka’s point of view, so it comes as a bit abrupt that in this episode we see Yuuta already fallen head over heels over Rikka (well, abrupt to me anyways). Yuuta still remains the most boring character out of this cast, but it’s fun and a bit cute to see how both him and Rikka are too dense to make any progress. Like how Max points out, it’s painful to see them trying to talk to each other. The offbeat tone still works wonder here. I very much enjoy the snarky comment from Yukka’s friends Namiko and Hass “who speaks like that these days?”, or Akane’s squid train pass card, which might or might not be relevant in the future. There’s still a lot to admire about GRIDMAN, even to the non-fan of its TOkusatsu homage and Gridman franchise like myself.

3 episodes in, GRIDMAN certainly surprises me in more ways than one. On one level, I really appreciate the show for its visual framing. There are many shots that are pure stunning, in a way it conveys the chemistry of certain characters that even without dialogues (the dialogues in this show aren’t very useful), we can have a real sense of the characters relationship and their roles in the whole narrative. This episode opens with such framing, with Akane standing in front of Anti – her human-form pet kaiju. The distance between them, the lack of emotional attachment tell you all about their relationship. Akane sure is fearsome, in a sense she can kill her friends for the lamest excuse and the way she treats her pets. There’s just something uncanny about a person with a gifted power who doesn’t take lives very seriously. But so far I like the way GRIDMAN downplays her stubbornness. She’d be unbearable if the show makes her over the top, which is most of the case for other shows. In any case, she brings Anti to kill Gridman, and because Gridman thinks that he’s a human (that remains to be seen), he can’t fight back and gets beaten down by Anti.

On second level, the way GRIDMAN explores its characters is unconventional, but fascinating. It’s not much about the depth of the characters, but more about their own space towards the world around them. That loss, and a potential death of both Yuuta and Gridman, shake Rikka and Shou to their core. In another brilliant visual shot (above in the screencaps), these two are framed through the reflection of different mirrors facing outward. Each of them feels guilty in different ways and succumbs into their own space. Shou feels guilty for telling Rikka about the possibility of kaiju being human, Rikka does for not picking up his phone. Notes that it’s a matter of them picking the phone and call him, but Rikka is to afraid to face the result. Even the way these two sits in Rikka’s base, waiting for Yuuta all night gives the same effect. GRIDMAN has a strong grasp of using their visual direction to transfer across what it lacks in narrative.

On yet another level, there’s a strong admiration for its inspirations: the tokusatsu shows, Gridman or Transformers franchise that at times I feel that I’m the target audience and a stranger at the same time. Granted we don’t need to know about any of those to enjoy the show. I have no clue about any of those and often the times I feel like I’d embrace it more if I know better about the original sources. Such details like the arrival of the Shinseiki Junior High Squad take a wink at the original but it’s fascinating nonetheless. These guys serve as a boost-up items for Gridman, which in turns balance out the fighting field between Gridman and Akane’s kaijus. While the second episode was a revelation with the true role of Akane, the third one keeps expanding from that universe and now it seems all the pieces of the board are in place now. Surprisingly, this one turns out to be the one I’m looking forward the most this season.