Anime 50587 Gridman Universe

Personally I don’t think Gridman Universe was as crazy as I was led to believe. Expectations are dangerous things, so my advice is to keep them tempered! However, if you enjoyed SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon and appreciated their characters, it’s easy to recommend seeing how they wrap it all up here without reading on. But if you’re still unsure, I’ll share my thoughts.

This has the casts from SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon, and they’re very nice to see again! Unfortunately this many characters means only a handful get time to shine. The characters that are simply There still have fun little moments or animations at least. SSSS.Gridman’s cast ... mainly get the limelight though, but that worked out well since that story was solid.

I ended up as more of a Gridman: The Hyper Agent fan than I thought I would’ve, so I was super excited to see that get properly thrown in with the two anime series for the Ultimate Gridman Crossover. Let’s just say that if you feel the same you should really temper your expectations. Most people probably won’t mind but I will admit the disappointment hit me pretty hard…

As for the movie itself, its first half and ending are nice! I got somewhat lost when the main plot point came in between those, though. On top of me not entirely getting what was going on, it felt a little too asinine for me. It’s possible I just didn’t get it. After all, I really liked the main takeaway point of the story.

In true Gridman fashion, Gridman Universe is primarily about the characters and story more than the fights. However, while I am the kind of person to go “YOOOOO” when a new weapon or transformation happens, I can’t say I did much of that for this movie. By now it goes as you’d expect. The enemies are nothing too interesting either, but it’s always funny to see the suit-like kaiju designs in this series. On top of that, the camera placements and character movements make the fights hard to follow more often than I’d like.

Still, the movie as a whole was pleasant! It wasn’t as exciting or groundbreaking as I was expected. But at the end of the day I did enjoy seeing everyone again, interacting with each other and working things out.

//some backstory//
SSSS.Gridman is really important to me, being one of the first seasonal anime I discovered and watched on my own in 2018 (i.e. without a friend's recommendation) and ended up liking ALOT.

I was like 14 back then; for somebody who grew up watching transformers and power rangers this was like the dream show for me. The bombastic soundtrack, entertaining characters and the super interesting stuff which was happening with Akane made the anime leave an everlasting impact on my impressionable brain (even though I was too dumb to completely understand the last part on my own so I hard to resort to reading articles).
Fast ... forward 3 years, after watching alot of different types of shows and movies, I watched Dynazenon as it was airing; which at that time I found to to be even better than Gridman.

Now, before I could watch this movie I decided rewatch both Gridman and Dynazenon as I wanted to give it the sendoff it deserves. And this was unironically one of the best choices of my life, watching these shows and the movie have given me an unpredented appreciation for this frachise. I could now properly understand why Gridman's story of Akane's escapism impacted me so much. I could now see why watching people overcome their past regrets and move on in Dynazenon was so engaging for me.
Seeing these these two stories end on such a fulfilling note made me wonder how were they planning to incorparate a 'finale' movie.

In this time I aso read/watched some stuff regarding the original Hyper Agent Gridman show. So I could appreciate some elements more (like the 5,000 year old mummy episode mirroring dynazenon, final few episodes mirroring gridman and the stuff with Anosilus II).


//the actual review//
This movie primarily deals with Yuta's identity, which was one open plot point from the Gridman anime and it handles it really well. Its also extremely witty and meta in some sections (particularly the first half) when its discussing the relation of humans with the fictional worlds they love creating and exploring.
Watching the characters from both universes interact with each other was such a treat. Seeing them learn from their pasts and each others' and then finally get a deserving sendoff was gratifying.

The animation, both 3D and 2D is exhilirating (that one sequence of Yuta in the school hallway lives rent free in my head). Also the blending of live-action scenes led to some surreal sequences as well.
There is this one scene in the final battle where the OP is playing, which is already hype as you can imagine. But the it suddenly switches and I just lost my shit; unironically one of the most "HOLY SHIT" moments I've ever had watching something.

The finale was extremely sweet, and wraps up everything perfectly.
You just love to see it.


Thank You,
(Special Signature to Save a Soul) Gridman and
(Scarred Souls Shine like Stars) Dynazenon.
I will never forget this.
I hopefully understood what you were trying to tell. And even if I didn't, atleast I laughed.

Extremely conflicted on its approach to meta commentary. It felt very confused and heavy-handed with the kind of message it wanted to tell with the concept of Gridman. Its message about the beauty of fiction allowing itself to spread and inspire others to make their own creations is something I really admire on paper, but it feels very at odds with the idea it presents earlier of so many ideas collapsing in on itself to the point where it's super overcrowded feels at odds with that, and it doesn't really do enough to make a clear distinction of the difference between the two. It doesn't ... have the balance to its meta that other works I've seen tackle such themes, where there's a much clearer distinction made to the power and beauty of fiction while also showing the danger of getting too lost in it. Without being able to really ground itself in that balance, it feels like it gets lost in its own crowded spectacle. It feels more interested in displaying the power of fiction and creation rather than letting the audience *feel* it. Also the Dynazenon cast deserved better.