#khan digifer

[lordartsy]

Octokuber, day 10 - Villain

If I didn't draw the guy I cosplayed last month, I'd be doing a disservice to myself and to the handful of people who excitedly recognized me (who I dearly owe my life to 🙏) (the guy who called me Alexis Kerib should stay in class longer though)

Now Khan isn't the most terribly interesting villain, but he makes up for it by waving his hands around really menacingly whilst emotionally manipulating children. Speaking of, Takeshi is such a silly guy. Yes king, go cause economic mass hysteria because you encountered an inconvenience in a supermarket! Slay!

[takerfoxx]

Even though exactly nobody follows me for my opinions about Gridman, this is still a fan blog, and I've technically been a Gridman fan since I was a little kid, even if only through Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad basically being my Power Rangers, because I wasn't allowed to watch Power Rangers (growing up in a conservative Christian household in the 90's was fucking weird, man). Still have the toys, in fact.

So anyway, given my nostalgic fondness for Gridman, of course I was all about the anime reboot. I loved SSSS Gridman, thought it was great. And while Dynazenon wasn't quite as good (felt the climax fell a little flat), it was still really good, and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

And now I finally got around to watching the crossover movie that serves as the franchise's grand finale, and...huh.

Well, let me put it this way. My reactions went about as such.

Man, it's been a while since I've watched this. Gotta recall everyone's names and what happened at the end.

Okay, this multiverse shit is admittedly kind of lame, and there's a lot of really out there coincidences, but it's still fun to see the two casts of characters hanging out and interacting. Feel sorry for both team's b-tier members, though. They get like maybe one or two lines apiece. Also, dafuq is up with Gauma's princess just showing up the hell out of nowhere! You'd think that'd be a bigger deal!

This play script is totally a meta-commentary on the writers' own frustrations in making this movie, isn't it?

Kaiju fights are still hype, though!

Wait, hold on. They're not actually...

They boomed me! They actually boomed me! They pulled a Rebellion Story and got me! Oh, this is good! Hell yeah, turn up the weird, I wanna see how this-

Well. This may be the stupidest climax that I've ever seen.

Eh, things ended on a nice note, I guess.

So, basically this movie's biggest problem is its villain. Like, we find out the reason for the different digital worlds colliding is because Gridman himself became corrupted and all the worlds that he created are merging. Okay, that's cool! I like that!

Except we find out that Gridman was actually corrupted by an outside force, who turns out to be this super-kaiju...whom we literally never heard anything about until the final fight starts and he just shows up and starts ranting in cliched super-villain monologues! Like, serious! Who even was this guy? Why is this franchise's final, final battle where all the characters team up and we have like a gazillion different new combinations and super-weapons against this fucking Dragonzord-looking motherfucker that we've never even heard of until the punching started and we get no exposition about until literally the climax of the movie? Why would we even care about this guy?

Seriously, if you needed a final boss, Alexis is literally right there! Just have this be part of his master plan! Or, hell, if you wanted to go meta with it, make it be Khan Digifer, the OG villain from the original show! Or commit and make it Gridman himself! Make the final fight be a "I know you're in there!" fight to redeem a hero corrupted by his own guilt and self-loathing!

And while it was fun seeing Akane again, the way they brought her back was pretty sloppy. I know it's Trigger and Trigger is ridiculous, but it usually feels like there's a method to the madness.

I mean, I still enjoyed a lot of it. The two teams interacting was fun, even if Yomogi did get relegated to sidekick. Sorry buddy, protagonist no longer. And poor Yume and Koyomi were...there, I guess? I mean, even Chise felt like she had more to do. Same with the NG high-schoolers. I guess they had lines. And it did feel like they were running down a checklist of everything they needed to cram in, like Yomogi and Gauma's reunion, the two protags having a heart to heart, etc. But I still liked it.

So, not upset that I watched it, but the final act left a lot to be desired.

[macmanx]

The Evil Lord Khan Digifer suddenly appears on Takeshi's computer. He plants the Gilarus into a computer of the hospital where Naoto's little brother, Daichi is being treated for appendicitis. It disrupts the entire hospital's facility!

[magicaldogtoto]

Six episodes into Hyper Agent Gridman, and I like how fantastical this portrayal of the computer world is.

Very often portrayals of a digital world tend to go more towards hard science fiction, so I enjoy how this episode was basically like “There are spirits of sound/music in the Computer World and also kaiju who exist separate from Takeshi and Khan Digifer.” It has the same charm of older works like L. Frank Baum’s that were written when technology was new and like magic in its own right.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, You have told us that the world of SSSS·Gridman is on the edge of the Megaverse. However, have you or any other Transformers ever met Gridman or his fellow Hyper Agents?

Dear Dan Dan Dreamer,

On one occasion Khan Digifer attempted to destabilise the multiverse by sending the Cybertanium Monster Gigadweller into the digital domain of Multi-World, where Optimus Prime and Megatron were locked in battle.

Gridman arrived to balance the odds after Gigadweller overwhelmed Optimus Prime. While he decided not to entirely intervene in the battle between the two leaders, he did use his Fixer Beam to heal Optimus, giving him the strength he needed to defeat Megatron before any harm could come to the inhabitants of the game world.

Of course, this victory led to the war taking a brand new direction, one neither Khan Digifer or Gridman anticipated...

[toku-explained]

Guide to Gridman Universe

Part 2: Denkou Chojin Gridman

The original classic Tokusatsu series.

As a warning, this post will have many spoilers for the series.

In the city of Sakuragaoka, 3 friends have been working together, using whatever parts they can get their hands on, to create a custom high spec PC which they call Junk. When one day they discover a battle within the Computer World which is affecting the real world, they are brought into the battle between Gridman and the villainous Khan Digifer.

Sho Naoto is the series protagonist. He received the Acceptor out of his desire to save Daichi on the first episode, and it alerts him to Kaiju activity in the Computer World. After using an Access Flash to enter Junk, which changes him into a white and blue suit, he merges with Gridman there and enters the Computer World. Naoto lives with his parents, Soichiro and Michiko, and younger brother Daichi.

(Obi Masaya, Naoto's actor, is the only actor to appear in all 3 major installments, having cameos voicing a character based on his present appearance, appearing as a customer of Aya in Gridman, and a lifeguard in Dynazenon)

The Acceptor allows Naoto to merge with Gridman and be notified if they're needed, it connects to the Gran Acceptor worn on Gridman's left arm.

Inoue Yuka is one of Naoto's best friends, excelling academically more than her friends, and more level headed than them, and is the unknowing object of Takeshi's affections. Of the Junk Team she is the programmer, devising programs to assist Gridman in battle including the growth program he uses to match the Kaiju on size. She is also the one who normally inputs the Access Code: Gridman to allow Gridman to leave Junk for another Computer World. She loves with her mother Yoshie, her father Hideyo, the head doctor at the local hospital, and her older brother Yoshihito, who is obsessed with studying for entrance exams.

Baba Ippei is the 3rd member of the team, keeping Junk in the basement of hi families store, Ippei is the one showing the most romantic interest in people at the moment. Ippei excels in negotiating for parts for Junk, and CG modeling, having designed Gridman's appearance before the Hyper Agent appeared, as well as the Assist Weapons. Ippei loves with his parents Hiroshi and Ayako, and his younger sister Kana, who has a crush on Naoto.

Junk is the homebuilt PC the trio have made together, further improvements made as the series progresses, and houses Gridman until he needs to go into action. When Gridman's energy runs low, it can effect Junk, causing components to starts sparking, occasionally needing to have components replaced of the damage is enough.

Gridman The Hyper Agent is a Hyper Agent from Hyper World, come to Sakuragaoka in pursuit of the dangerous criminal Khan Digifer. Finding Junk as the only PC capable to containing an entity of his nature, he took the form of a CG character Ippei created, and gave Naoto the ability to merge with him to defeat he Kaiju, growing giant size in the Computer World thanks to Yuka's P-L6806OX size changing programGridman has a number of combat techniques. On his own he possesses the Cho Dendo Kick technique, and using the Gran Acceptor can utilise the Spark Beam, the Grid Light Saber and the finisher Grid Beam. After defeating a Kaiju he channels energy from the blue panels on his torso in the Fixer Beam, repairing damage and restoring altered areas of the Computer World.

Todo Takeshi is a classmate of Naoto, Yuka and Ippei, although they seem largely unaware of his existence. Generally introverted and misanthropic, he is left alone at home by his parents, and he has a crush on Yuka which he keeps attempting to confess to her but losing his nerve. Prone to accidents or being slighted, deliberately or not, he lashes out at those he feels are responsible, never accepting any blame for himself. In his dark room he creates Kaiju to vent his frustrations. Khan Digifer takes up residence in his computer, enslaving Takeshi, and bringing his Kaiju to life as his army, sending them to disrupt the operations of those who have drawn Takeshi's ire. Despite receiving painful retribution for failure, he continues to do as Khan Digifer orders.

Khan Digifer is a Demon King from Hyper World, who has escaped to earth in order to conquer it. He enslaves Takeshi, bringing his creations to life as part of his plans, and punishing him for failures.

[radroller]

Takeshi interrupted this woman’s piano playing to bang on the keys like a child and then swears vengeance when the store owner tells him to gtfo. Dude’s been hanging with Khan Digifer far too much.

[ultramanultimo]

The Future of SSSS Gridman

so apparently a novel for SSSS Gridman involves the assist weapons entering different worlds and one of them is a medieval fantasy world, and will be released next month and that got me thinking, if there were more cases like Akane, then perhaps each world is tailored or different depending on the hobbies and likes of the individual that is the "god" of the world.

That is probably what trigger meant by "Gridman universe" when they announced "DynaZenon" and that explains a spinoff of Gridman in the Sengoku Period.

These spinoffs and other worlds they are in? They're MORE people, more souls trapped in a world conjured by other demonic figures beyond Khan Digifer and Alexis Kerib.

TDLR: Gridman and the team are saving people from Isekai.

It’s all coming together...

[himitsusentaiblog]

SSSS Gridman Episode 10

Hoooo boy there’s a lot to unpack here.  Not as many direct references to the Ultra Series as before but some deep dives into Gridman’s own lore.

We see the return of the computer world we saw in the sky, which marks the borders of the world Akane has created for herself.  This time it’s in her home and signifies she has divorced herself from where she was.

 The kaiju Akane creates in this episode is a half-hearted effort that looks like this:

The weird colors and the obvious joints for the neck, the arms and the legs makes it look like one of the old Marmit vinyl figures that often had imaginative colors schemes not seem in the actual shows plus more rounded and ‘cute’ proportions.

For example below is one of those style vinyl figures for the Kaiju Hedorah from the Godzilla series next to a picture of the actual kaiju suit,

So this was more of a stylized action figure version of a kaiju, which is why it was so weak.

However, another kaiju, the most powerful yet emerged from inside of that one after it was defeated.  It looked like this:

This things is weird and remind me of a cross between two famous Ultra Kaiju.  The first is the Alien Metron which first appeared in 1967′s Ultraseven.

Mostly from this one is the general body shape and the color scheme of red, blue and a bit of yellow.

The other is the Kemurman from Ultra Q who has a weirdly split face design and weird, humanoid hands like the kaiju above.  It was also used to create the Zetton aliens from the end of Ultraman who featured one eye like the thing above, though on  he head rather than the middle of the chest.

Lastly, we come to the part that had my gasping and staring in awe and this, this is a huge SPOILER so it goes under the cut.

Anti, the little humanoid Kaiju that transformed into a foe devoted to destroying Gridman turned over a new leaf in this episode.  He had been copying Gridman’s abilities but he took it one step further and became a new version of Gridman himself called Grid Knight.

This is major because this references back to something planned for the original Denkou Choujin Gridman series that never happened. Originally, in the later part of the 1993 series, Takeshi Kudo (the original series’ version of Akane) was to have been turned into the Khan Knight by his alien master Khan Digifer.  He would have been a rival to Gridman (much as Anti is) before redeeming himself and becoming Grid Knight. 

This never happened as the original plan was changed later.  It has happened here though!

What’s more, Grid Knight was to have become the protagonist of a second Gridman series which never went into production because fo the low ratings of the first one.  However, designs exist for Grid Knight, his evil Khan Knight form and the planned designs for his look in the never-made sequel series.

This just goes to show that Tsuburaya NEVER throws out a good idea and just finds ways to use them later down the road, even today.

Oh and Grid Knight’s concept eventually morphed into the concept for Gridman Sigma, Gridman’s younger brother who appeared in a sequel novel series called  Denkou Choujin Gridman: The Demon King's Counterattack. 

He made his debut appearance on screen in the short film Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero which was produced in 2015 by Studio Trigger for the Japan Animator Expo. It was the reason Tsuburaya teamed up with Trigger to produce the current series.

You can watch it below:

[des-shinta]

Access Flash!  On Gridman and it’s new anime.

  So Tsuburaya Productions recently branched out into the realm of anime with this collaboration with Studio Trigger.  And for those who haven’t been following, it’s with a series you 90′s kids might recognize.

The name Tsuburaya should need no introduction if you’re in the Tokusatsu or giant monster(Kaiju) Fandoms, but for those unfamiliar; Eiji Tsuburaya is the special effects wizard responsible for all the effects in the original Godzilla.  A Life-long fan of scale models and recreating the world in realistic miniature, he is in many respects considered the Japanese Counterpart of Legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen.  In example of his amazing talent and attention to detail, he was consigned during world war Two to make propaganda films of the Japanese military winning in engagements across the pacific and the productions for the time were paid so much attention to detail that no-one at the time was able to tell that they were fakes. He got a lot of flack for that after the war ended, and was barred from filmmaking in Japan for several years.

His company, Tsuburaya Productions has carried that fortitude for effects and quality storytelling with it throughout the decades.  Since 1966, their primary product has been the “Ultra Series” Franchise, Primarily focused in The titular Ultraman of the entry, and their adventures.

The franchise focuses on benevolent Giants from the M78 Nebula (though some originate from elsewhere as there’s actually an Ultra-multiverse) who act as troubleshooters for random giant monster calamities; bonding to specified hosts (or on occasion take human form themselves) to conserve their own powers while away from their own homeland; allowing the chosen humans to utilize their powers to defend their home and what’s precious to them.  The downside of the Ultra’s is that in planetary environments they can only use their immense powers for approximately 3 Minutes before they need to rest, as their powers are garnered from light energy given off by stars, who’s rays aren’t intense enough to sustain them in-atmosphere.

The currently running series, Ultraman R/B is actually really good, and has a lot to say on the subject of caustic fans who miss the point of the merits of a series due to only caring about the action/spectacle of a fight and adherence to Tropes, and not understanding what a hero may actually be fighting For.  While that might initially read poorly to some people as it attacking fandom (as a certain other current toku series does every week)--and that not helped by words from the Head of Tsuburaya from before R/B debuted--it’s more focused in social commentary refuting the Idea that the genre is message-less nonsense, and wants people to actually put thought into what being a true “Ally of Justice” means; Doing the right thing.  Links to 3 Relevant twitter threads discussing this: 1.  2.  3. For the interested, R/B is currently being fansubbed by the group Color timer, as Tsuburaya has not had luck in getting it officially distributed as of yet.  Crunchyroll, who’d previously been getting the import library, has recently begun dropping Ultra series left-and-right in favor of other licenses, with the only ones remaining being ones they originally subbed. If you’d like some older Recommendations, Ultraseven (available from Shout Factory) is considered the best overall series, And has multiple sequels with the adventures of Seven’s Son Zero (trying to list all of Ultraman Zero’s appearances is ridiculous, as he’s mainly been the star of a long collection of movie’s), and then 2017′s Ultraman Geed (available on Crunchyroll, the movie for the series also from MCS fansubs), focused in turn on the Son/Clone of Zero’s Greatest enemy Ultraman Belial which then had Zero act as a secondary protagonist part of that series’ Ensemble. Tsuburaya however has been having something of a hard time the last several years.  The chinese Company Chaiyo, using falsified documents, laid claim to many of the showa-era (pre-1989) ultraman series and all Distribution rights to All of The related content of the franchise from Tsuburaya, preventing them from making money internationally while Chaiyo flexed those rights themselves to make them an immense sum of money.  The litigation and lawsuits basically bankrupted the company as Chaiyo argued under the technicality of having a proper authentication of their document from one of Tsuburaya’s sons that the agreement was a foregone conclusion; requiring Tsuburaya productions have an in-part buyout from company Namco Bandai to continue running.

This is why recent ultra Series (Ginga, Victory, X, Orb, Geed, R/B), have ended up being awash with collectibles; Bandai over-merchandises every thing they can get their hands on.  Previously the merch licenses resided with Takara/Tomy (transformers, zoids), and were a LOT more restrained as while Tsuburaya Pro Knew merchandising was important to the longevity of a series as an additional revenue source...the storytelling of the series would come first.  with series before this, most of the toyetic items came in the form of scale models and figures of both the title ultra’s, some roleplay items, and an assortment of assist vehicles and jets the normie humans would use in battle to support the main protagonist against the situations of the week. That monetary support however helped, and in a newer lawsuit Tsuburaya won through and prevented Chaiyo from screwing with the company again...however, the legal distribution rights for their own assets are still in legal limbo, as the latest case only allowed them to claim Dominance over north-American distribution.  which while still a significant market is still small in comparison to the rest of the world; especially with the stigma these live-actions show have in the US. to the non-converted. Really, I think that’s part of the reason why they ended up pushing a new entry of a series that Chaiyo had NOT previously been able to touch at all.

Denkou Choujin (Lightning superman, though the title is localized as Hyper Agent) Gridman was a 39-episode Tokusatsu series that ran in 1993, and more recently was imported and subtitled to completion by the US Premium channel TOKU.

It followed the adventures of Naoto Sho and his friends Yuka and Ippei as they, after encountering the titular Gridman inside of a video game they’d been developing on a kitbash computer (Junk), must assist him in defending the computer realm from the attacks of Khan Digifer (subtitles writing it as ‘Digipher’).

Yes, we know he looks like the shredder from TMNT. Both Gridman and Khan originate from the “Hyper world”, a realm comparable to cyberspace where all entities exist as living data (*cough*Digimon*Cough*), and thus can manipulate less complex data to their own ends.  With Khan’s goal being the destruction/conquest of the computer world, which would allow him to transcend digital limitations and begin his conquest of the real world, ala Code Lyoko XANA means of devastating anything electrically powered which could lead to bad ends for those involved (like, say, screwing with a nuclear power plants regulation systems).

PLOT.  POINT.

Khan’s efforts are Assisted by Takeshi Todo, A classmate of Naoto and Co who is an introverted social outcast and Victim of bullying; though Khan’s manipulations have turned him into a selfish, petty man.  Khan uses him to create the series’ monsters-of-the-week by Takeshi programming them into a homebrew game similar to the one Naoto found Gridman in, with Khan’s incentive for doing so being to allow Takeshi some catharsis from the awful things that have happened to him in his life, oblivious/not caring towards the entities deeper machinations as making homebrew monsters in his game was how he’d previously endeavored to vent his frustrations in a healthy manner...that Khan has just taken to the opposite extreme.  Though the show makes clear that Takeshi is fully an Indoctrinated thrall of Khan’s power to even allow him those indulgences so he can’t see the outstretched carrot is naught but a Stick.

To Fight Khan’s attacks, Naoto uses the transformation trinket the “Accessor” brace to Digitize himself and fuse with Gridman, With the transformation cry “ACCESS FLASH!” allowing his body to be turned to data and fuse with Gridman to upgrade his capabilities.  Yuka and Ippei likewise assisting them with the programming and transmission of weapons and vehicles/robots that add additional arsenal to Gridman’s counterattacks.

And unlike Previous tsuburaya productions, Gridman was the first to have these assist robots...actually be able to combine with the core hero.

Now, you 90′s kids in the audience might be thinking, “Hey, this all looks familiar” And you’re right.  Because the series got imported in 1994.

In response to the rise of Power Rangers Adapting the Japanese super sentai series, there was in turn an attempt to make bank on...basically doing the same thing.

Saban made SEVERAL adaptations of other tokusatsu series from toei’s library; Making VR Troopers and Beetleborgs from Toei’s “Metal heroes’ franchise”, and Saban’s masked rider from the Kamen Rider series “Black RX”.  They did not do as well as Power Rangers, primarily because they repeated many of the same mistakes MMPR made but grew out of, and lacked quality storytelling to really keep people invested. While VR Troopers and Beetleborgs To this Day have their merits and defenders...well, the only thing Worse than Saban’s Masked Rider that Saban has made, is Power Rangers (Super)Megaforce...Though some argue That Samurai, Dino Charge and Ninja Steel are very close as well. But THAT is where We Find DIC in all this.

DIC entertainment Was a Company active in the late 80′s, 90′s and 2000′s most known now-a-days for being the original distributors for Sailor moon and it’s awful original Dub, and producers for Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters,  the 90′s Sonic Cartoons, the 90′s Carmen Sandiago series, and Alienators: Evolution Continues. Those were their “good” Productions, most of the rest of their library was schlock and terrible both at the time and looked back on in hindsight.

Stargate fans do Not talk about Stargate Infinity.

But in the Power Rangers craze, DIC made two contributions to this in an attempt to cash in on the Hype. The first...is the infamously awful tattooed Teenage alien Fighters from Beverly Hills.

A Transparent ripoff if there ever was one, while many of the PR-clones of the era are accused of being ripoffs, ALL of them with exception with this show ultimately did their own things.  TTAFfBH though?  No.  On every level it’s an awful, obvious knockoff, and only True Power Rangers Ripoff. Not-so for the series we (in the round-about way I’ve taken) should actually be discussing:

Yeah...Ironically, that name was decided on to avoid hedging in on Power Ranger’s naming conventions, SSSS was originally going to be imported as PowerBoy. No, seriously.  it ended up doing the opposite, but the intention was to have no relation.

The series...actually did a lot of things right.  Co-Produced with Tsuburaya, SSSS was pretty much a direct adaptation, with the plots of the week being adjusted to an Americanized setting. culture and subplots...just with the standard campiness expected of a DIC production...and even less of a budget than Power Rangers at the time had.

A Teenage basement band calling themselves Team Samurai (though why they called themselves that escapes me, I’ve yet to get the show on DVD so am working on memories from 1994/1995 and clips on youtube), end up involved in stopping that attacks of cyberspace monsters after their lead guitarist Sam Collins (Played by Matthew Lawrence, later the sidekick to Will Friedle when he would join the cast of Boy Meets World) somehow gets zapped into his computer and endowed with the powers of Gridman’s counterpart Servo, who then take up the duty of stopping the machinations of the Escaped military AI program KiloKahn (voiced by the ever-awesome Tim Curry.  Seriously) and his Human servant Malcom Frink (basically just takeshi’s character again) as their various attacks upon any devices connected to electricity can end-up having real-world consequences...Just as they did in the original gridman series. Astoundingly, SSSS ran Longer than Gridman did, totaling in at 53 episodes; padded out with creative re-cutting of battle-footage alongside getting some test footage for a Gridman sequel that...unfortunately never got made.  It was rumored that had SSSS done better a full sequel Starring a character named Gridman Sigma would’ve been greenlit to provide more footage and story for adaptation...but sadly by 1995 and the show’s end, much of the PR Ameri-toku craze had ended, and Gridman/SSSS became a backburner to history. ...at least, until 2015

Co-Produced by Studio Trigger,  Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero was an animated short for the japan Animator expo.  taking place 22 years after the original series (and the opening several minutes acting as a recap of it), Former villain Takeshi Todo seeks his own redemption for his past actions when Khan (or potentially a successor) re-emerges with more power; Takeshi taking the form of the blue-bodied Gridman Sigma to engage in battle with Digital kaiju that now appear to be manifesting within the real world with intentions to rewrite reality. Again, PLOT POINT. ...which thus leaves us with 2018′s recently released SSSS Gridman.

High school Freshman Yuta Hibiki awakens one Day Sans his memories, and begins to see illusions of Giant monsters in the skyline.  Finding Gridman within a Junk computer at his friend Rikka’s Home, he sets out to uncover the mystery of his lost memories, why these monsters are appearing, and what it means for his world as the kaiju begin emerging into the real world, forcing him to fight in the real world as the new Gridman. The series is written by Keiichi Hasegawa, who over the years has written more content for  Tsuburaya than any other person; Writing on Utlraman Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Cosmos, Nexus, Mebius, Ultraseven X, and Most of the Ultraman zero content. He has also worked on Kamen Rider’s W, Fourze and Drive, The Big O, and Zoids Chaotic Century and new Century Zero. the series is being directed by Akira amemiya, previous on the series inferno Cop Already, if you’re aware of the backstory of Gridman, a few things pop out at you.  First off:

The Kaiju apperaing as phantoms before they fully emerging intro reality?  While also echoing enemies in Digimon and Rockman.exe, This is the same thing that was showcased in the ‘boys invent great hero’ short and was the endgame the heroes were trying to stop in the original series.  Thus, the same inference: Khan’s successor--

 --(called  Alexis・Kerib) has succeeded in transcending the limitations of digital existence and now is seeking to conquer and Destroy the real world.

Kerib has set himself up as a benevolent ‘genie’ to the social outcast and kaiju Fangirl Akane Shinjo, and is then proceeding to do the same thing Khan himself did with Takeshi; use her and her social issues to create his minions and monsters, realize them in the real world and devastate it while incidentally dealing with her real-life antagonists. This all conveyed through Studio trigger’s excellent visual storytelling, when Akane heads home to find it empty, and her room’s floor populated with an insane amount of bagged garbage; something no-one with actual parents in their lives would let happen.  A pseudo-social outcast with no-one to turn to; no parents in their lives to give nurture and comfort, seeking companionship through the internet as a source for what can’t be found in real-life so they can be happy, only to be manipulated by a predator for the vulnerable?

All we’re missing is a marred-up desk and suicidal thoughts to make her a Yandere version of Chigusa “Atoli” Kusaka from .hack//G.U.  Still time to do that, too. I honestly feel like there’s a Lot more to say on this character and the nuances to her portrayal thus-far that makes her character and actions work in a far better light than those who endlessly try to excuse other utterly-irredeemable people who bear similarities in their backstory.  it’s clear she’s just lashing out and kerib--like Khan--creating an environment and unhinged mental state where she thinks any slight can be wished out of existence to make her empty life better.  And people lashing out?  They can be reasoned with, talked down and reformed.  Not-so with those who would, with clear thought turn others into victims and steal from them their own lives; those who are truly abusive in their conduct towards others for petty reasons or only received retaliation in response to their own awful conduct.  And yet the reverse is often shown to be true; the irredeemable given the chances they’d wasted before and the consequences of their actions ignored or handwaved to not be applicable, while people like Akane and Takeshi are left in the dark to suffer and be punished to start the cycle anew. However...this time there’s a twist to the kaiju attacks.

The people who died in the kaiju attacks...Die Retroactively.  Whatever Kerib is doing, it allows him and Akane to in limited way rewrite reality.  in the First/Second Episode, it’s revealed that The volleyball team at Hibiki’s high school were killed in the first attack, but it was noted when Hibiki and Rikka went to school the next day that not only was the school undamaged from the previous night’s attack, no-one remembered the girls that were on the team, or a team for the sport even existing. The best way I can describe the phenomena, since Kerib is appearing to manipulate the world as if it were one gigantic computer, is The kaiju metaphorically clicked on the folder containing all information on the volleyball team, and dragged it to the recycling bin; deleting their existence as the team, and killing off the girls part of it at the point the team would’ve been formed.

And even as hibiki is the newest person to take on the identity of Gridman--

--The battles at best are ones that will only prevent more people from Dying. As we’re only two episodes into the series right now, it’s unknown if any other bystanders caught in the crossfire are also being erased, or if it’s only focused on the targets Akane points out.  We just don’t know at this point. What we do know is this series is not supposed to have a direct connection to the original, but because so much of SSSS Gridman is based upon the worst case scenario from the original, that could mean anything at this point; even the posibility that reality itself has been rewritten and is the cause of hibiki’s amnesia.

As a Studio trigger anime series though, there are some things that fans have been pointing out. First off, the names of the volleyball team victims are an amusing collection of homages: Tonkawa  Sakiru > Tonka and Cy-kill  Toiko  > ToyCo  Kena-chan >  Kenner Doi Hako  > Toybox (Hako means box) Takara Nana > TAKARA and Seven (Nana means seven)  Cy-Kill was a Gobot from Tonka’s gobots series that was absorbed by Takara and transformers respectively.  ToyCo is a toys and collectibles retailer, as Was Toybox.  Kenner/Playmates was the US toy liscenser for SSSS toyline in the 90′s, and Takara...well, is Takara. the animation of course, is full-on Expected studio Trigger gar in it’s homages as well

Feel the Obari Pose! Expect the Obari Pose! Love the Obari Pose! “you know, when they do that, it makes it look as if they have a giant Di-” IGNORE THE OBARI POSE!   

but the well goes far deeper, my friends.

This is SSSSGridman’s character designer.  Just...look at that desk.  I spot 5 power ranger/super sentai mechs (Kyoryujin/DC megazord hidden on the top right), gaogaigar, The box for Brave exkaiser, Gurren Lagann, a 3rd-party Optimus Primal, and Shattered Glass Megatron. that last one is kind of important, as the director, Akira amemiya, is a Huge fan of shattered glass transformers.

Shattered glass, for those not in the know, is basically the transformers mirror universe originally created for the transformers convention botcon.  it’s a Universe where the autobots are the bad guys and Decepticons the good guys. For more info, I will leave a link to Chris McFeely’s transformers: the basics video on the subject. Watch him, it’s good stuff. Now why is that relevant? Every character in this show is based on a transformers design or color-scheme.  Most Significantly those from shattered glass. Akane?  Shattered glass Optimus Prime

Hibiki, Rikka, and Sho (who’s knowledgable on kaiju and Ultra series tropes) are cliffjumper (Classics-verse autobot who jumped into shatted glass), SG Sideswipe, and SG megatron.

The autobot Matrix

SG Starscream and Soundwave/ravage.

aaand just a few more for you all.

These four are based on the movie-verse Dinobots, and are gridman’s support programs turned into human beings.  the one on the top left whose name is Samurai Calibur (yes seriously) turns into Gridman’s sword the Gridman calibur.  The other three turn into the support mechs showcased below. oh, and for the checkback?   Sakiru Tonkawa from the volleyball team:

But it doesn’t end there.

The jet booster and drill cannon Combinations:

yes, seriously. The heavy arms configuration as well is a common practice seen with partial-combiner robo’s as well, particularly with those lacking certain combination limbs, particularly those part of the scramble city play gimmick these robot configurations are also homage-ing with the limbs and legs being swap-able.  And as all the support arms are based on Dinobots:

“Me grimlock have Anchor arms:  now am Jerk and everybody loves me!”

So yeah, to wrap things up, SSSS Gridman is Tsuburaya’s revival of a 90′s gem in an era where a lot of similarly-themed series exist and have done what it has since this series ( Digimon, .hack, Rockman.exe, Code Lyoko just to name a few), but is bringing it back with a fresh transformers-toned coat of paint for a new generation and original storytelling based on the worst-case scenario of the original series, and thus-far it is absolutely glorious, and I hope is able to follow through ‘cause I just generally love series in this little subgenre.

And I will leave you with 3 things:  First and second, The Anime’s opening mashed up with Gridman and SSSS openings (link and Link) and lastly an Image of hibiki’s English VA roleplaying with the original series’ toy sword while recording his voiceover:

SSSS Gridman is available from Funimation.

[lordartsy]

If you're wondering about Octokuber, I got sick last week and had to catch up on school stuff and now I'm waaay more fatigued than I'm supposed to be. I might post sketches post October when exams are over, but uploading by the day ain't an option anymore.

Anyway here's a picture of me as Khan Digifer to make up for it

[toku-explained]

Guide to Gridman Universe

Part 2A: Denkou Chojin Gridman: Mao no Gyakushu.

Plans for a 4th quarter of the show were abandoned early enough that part of the storyline planned that would have had to appear in the 3rd quarter weren't made, specifically Todo Takeshi would have created a way to become an evil copy of Gridman, Khanknight, and from there evolve to become Gridknight. Additional plans for a sequel with a largely new cast in a new city, Denkou Chojin Gridman F were eventually abandoned (Ippei was the only main cast member who would have carried over). In the end, the only official continuation of Gridman for 20 years was a Televikun photo story, The Demon King's Counterattack. This was a sequel, told using suit photos and prose text, similar to the majority of Andro Melos or Kamen Rider ZX, and did loosely incorporate the Gridknight idea, albeit in a different manner. Due to budget most of the Kaiju were small clay models.

Khan Digifer's younger brother, Neo Khan Digifer, comes to try and finish what his brother started. His first effort revives one of his brother's Kaiju, altered, otherwise creating new ones from leftover data for them, but his efforts break through into the Real World. Gridman returns, joining again with Naoto, Ippei, Yuka and a repentant Takeshi to fight him.

Neo Khan Digifer is the leader of the new attempt to take over the world, attacking the real world.

Full Power Gridman is a new form of Gridman used to try and overpower the Kaiju, by having Thunder Gridman ride on the King Jet wielding the Dragonic Cannon.

Gridman Sigma comes to join the fight. The younger brother of Gridman, he merges with Takeshi and wears the Gran Acceptor on his right arm. Similar to his brother he uses the Sigma Slash, Grid Sigma Beam and Fixer Beam, as well as combination attacks with his brother.

As the battle rages Sigma eventually joins Thunder Gridman as King Gridman Sigma. Together they perform the Dragon Spiral attack.