I have a sense that GRIDMAN regresses considerably since its magnificent episode 9. Well, major events are still happening. Last week, Anti transformed into GridKinight and this week, it’s revealed that Yuuta is indeed Gridman, hence the reason the boy doesn’t remember anything before waking up is simply because he has no memory to speak of. But here where I see GRIDMAN falters. It brings up a lot more questions and I’m not so sure if they can address them all in just one final episode. Moreover, the main narrative core, which is about Akane, is stalled for the last two episodes. As a result, we ended up seeing her wandering aimlessly in her own makeshift town, stabbing someone and then wandering aimlessly again. Maybe it’s just me who expected more than this but we still haven’t gotten into Akane’s backstory, if there was one, at all. Nor do we have a good idea of what Alexis wants behind all this or exactly what Anti were in related to Akane. For Akane, we only have a vague sense that she had some trouble in her real life that she escapes to this world and makes it any conceivable way she wants. For Alexis, if his objective was to destroy Gridman, then it makes little sense to summon all those kaiju monsters again. I have to note that the reason for Anti assuming the GridKnight role is because of those kaijus. Without them, he has no reason to fight. Lastly, it’s unclear why Anti was so dependent on Akane. From my point, we (and Anti himself) know that he isn’t the kaiju created by Akane, and I feel that Anti becoming GridKnight is incredibly forced. He can become anything. A kaiju with heart. Anything. So why GridKnight in particular?
We can’t pass this episode without mentioning the big event of this week: the reveal that Yuuta is indeed Gridman. That’s the whole reason why he can’t wake up until the Neon Genesis Squad figures out that they need to fix the old junk. It makes a whole lot sense regarding how Yuuta doesn’t have any prior memory and how they need to fuse in order for Gridman to work, but it also opens up for more questions I’m not sure if the show’s equipped enough to deal with. First, what about Yuuta and Rikka’s previous encounter? GRIDMAN has been hinted bit by bit that the meeting is kinda important for both him and Rikka, but now I don’t know what to make of it. Second, what about Yuuta’s real body now? I guess this doesn’t matter much, he’s a NPC anyway. Finally, what to make of this revealing? Is the fact that Yuuta is indeed Gridman change anything on this chessboard? I have no clue to be honest but I suppose the show will tackle that question in the final episode.
This week’s audio drama we have a mundane but much-needed conversations between Shou and Rikka. The reason I said “much-needed” is because on screen, I’m more strucked on how they can’t communicate their own thoughts to each other. Back in episode 3 we had a brilliant segment (which is still one of my favorite moments of the show) of them sucked into their own personal space. We have a glimpse of that again when these two are in hospital beds, waiting for Yuuta to wake up, as each of them is lost to their own thoughts. Rikka has a lot on her minds, mostly regarding Akane, but I rather enjoy how Shou addressing his own crisis of a best-friend trope: that he doesn’t really contribute to any of the fights. He succeeds on performing a role of a character who has no more role except sitting there helplessly.
Finally, my hope for Akane’s flashback might not turn out to be true, regarding how Alexis, in his ultimate decision, turns Akane into a kaiju too. While there are much more kaiju battles in the last two weeks compared to what we previously got, I don’t really see the weight of these battles. The reason for that is because Akane’s pretty much absent-minded, so even more than before we know how the results are gonna turn out. I must say, I’m a bit disappointed that GRIDMAN didn’t deliver in this final stretch, but there are still plenty of reasons to get excited about the final showdown next week.
Judging by the original series I assume Alexis’ goal is to merge the two different cities/dimensions in order to either make the fake-world become real or to create a hole. Notice how the city in the sky is slowly descending. Alexis doesn’t care about Gridman, only Kaiju, so I guess the more they rampage the more the dimensions intermingle? Maybe he is some kind of jailed criminal (considering that someone ripped out his police badge from his forehead) and trapped in this dream dimension.
Kinda like the Yuuta plot though. I can’t wait to see the real Yuuta. Utsumi and others mentioned more than once how different he (Gridman-Yuuta) acts so I guess the original Yuuta has a few different character traits. My biggest question is if the dead ones will be alive when the second dimension disappears, but it’s rather unlikely. As far as I understand it it never was a full-blown matrix and rather a place of reality that got dragged into some kind of interdimensional space, a bit like an astral world.
Your theory makes whole lot sense, but then again nothing is concrete since the show doesn’t really give us enough information to wrok with regarding Alexis’s true motive.
Well, in my opinion we don’t have time to see the real Yuuta though. I don’t know how the real Yuuta would fit into the narrative thread. I’m two mind between hoping that this world would reset (so the dead ones will be alive again) but I think the ending would hit us more if they avoid doing that.
I wish the last episode was a double lenght one but I highly doubt it. Whatever happens I feel like it would have worked better if they’d shown Akane’s past in episode 11 instead so that we could sympathize with her and probably Rikka as well before the showdown starts (I guess their past is connected judging by the ED and the former friendship).
I mean so far I won’t doubt that they’ll explain everything, it’s just that showing the reasoning behind a character’s actions works better for me if it isn’t explained by some three minute long montage part that shows their past and summarizes how everything happened. It would have been better to see some development that turned a good Akane to the desperate semi-villain she was. But maybe I will like ep12 after all, who knows.