You really had me going this week, Amemiya. Chise’s Kubrickian vision at the start of episode 9 left me anticipating another extended dream sequence, like the one we got at the same point in Gridman’s run, but it never came. The previous episode even ended by tinting the frame a dreamy sunset color during Yomogi’s conversation with Yume (whose name literally means “dream”). Dynazenon’s structure is a bit different than its predecessor’s, so it makes sense that my dream went unrealized this time around – it could happen in a few years’ time, though, since there have been rumblings of a future third series in the Gridman universe (unless that was just a dream I had).
Now that everybody’s feeling nice and rested, hit the jump for some thoughts on the last two Dynazenons.
I’ll be frank: episode 8 was weird as hell. The Eugenicists’ field trip to the sportsplex contributed very little to my understanding of either their mission or their interpersonal dynamics. The baby kaiju’s habit of painting the town multi-colored was distractingly artificial in its application (especially on Gauma’s face). The reveal of what was in Inamoto’s bag of cash finally arrived, but I’d stopped caring by that point. Only the main story held up in my mind, illustrative as it was of Dynazenon’s overarching plot. While trying to control the little kaiju Eugenicist-style, Yomogi had a split-second vision of its internal hyper grid and the white object at its core – likely its heart, or the humanity he felt just before destroying it at the episode’s end. I’ve referred to those objects as both pearls and eggs in previous writings, but “seed” might be the most accurate term, biomechanically speaking. They’re the objects that fell from the sky at the start of the premiere, scattering across the earth and apparently sprouting into kaiju over the course of the show thus far.
The fact that Yomogi can sense these seeds makes him a close cousin of the Eugenicists – even closer than Gauma, who lacks the same empathic ability despite being their contemporary. But to my surprise, it wasn’t Yomogi who stood at the center of last week’s episode 9. Instead, it was Chise, whose How to Train Your Kaiju story I very much enjoyed. There were a lot of shared ideas between its various parts – the spacy 2001-inspired dream at the start synced nicely with the sterile feeling of her room, which we saw once she awoke. The isolation was palpable across both her sleeping and waking lives, and the resentment stemming from that loneliness nearly caused Goldburn to wreck her middle school as they flew overheard. Goldburn is clearly a kaiju, since it sprouted from the seed that Chise acquired at the show’s beginning, which means that human/kaiju empathy is a two-way street. It sensed Chise’s surge of negativity during their first flight together, and later on it followed her instinct to save Yume from death and fight off the monster threatening her city.
Last week’s gattai scene was a sight to behold, and highly reminiscent of Evangelion – those choral vocals during the Dragon King Kaiser Gridknight combination were prime Shiro Sagisu – but the surrounding fight had a major weakness, and that was a failure to highlight Gibzorg’s unique ability. We were dealing with a kaiju that could destabilize any ground surface, a talent which nearly drowned Gridknight in asphalt at one point, but the 3D effects used to showcase that power were easily the worst in SSSS franchise history. Illustrating a sinking, warping battlefield in the middle of a city is a nigh impossible task for a weekly TV anime, but this fight deserved so much more than what it got. Some of the uglier shots stuck in my craw, even as one of the series’ better episodes played out: Chise’s lecture to Yume and Goldburn’s midair rescue were both great. I’ve seen comments floating around that this show’s character focus excuses its visual shortcomings, which I don’t think is even partially true. If you serve your teen drama with a side of reality-warping robots, then the appetizer had better stack up to the main dish.
The late-game shot of Gauma standing apart from his celebrating friends makes me think his spotlight episode will be arriving soon. There’s a lot that needs to be clarified about his character before too long (especially the precise nature of his relationship with the Eugenicists), and I’ll be glad to get that information – I’m just hoping it’ll have the looks to match. Maybe what we need is a week without a kaiju fight, to build anticipation for a bigger battle in the last two episodes? Ultimately, I just want Dynazenon to surpass Gridman, and it’ll be down to these final June episodes to see whether it can achieve that goal. Fingers crossed!
“I’ll be frank: episode 8 was weird as hell. The Eugenicists’ field trip to the sportsplex contributed very little to my understanding of either their mission or their interpersonal dynamics.”
I’d say that it says something about the youngest of them – he was the one who pushed them to go onto the Field Trip and paid attention what was going outside. As if he was checking what the heroes would do with a Kaiju that was not controlled by the Eugenicists.
I just went back to episode 8 to confirm which Eugenicist suggested the sportsplex outing, and you’re right, it was Sizumu. You’re probably correct about his motivation, as well, since his investment in the propagation of kaiju is the highest of the four. Good eye!