Gridman is the proof that every TRIGGER show (except Imaishi's directed) are going to be a disappointment, except Little Witch Academia and Inferno Cop.

It's 2018 and we got an anime adaptation of Gridman, Tsuburuya's failed attempt to make another ultra series. That was a joke and I haven't seen the original Gridman. But, hey, no one does.

In my monthly reading of Tokupedia forums to find a good Toku to watch since Zi-O and Lupin vs Pato is a big disappointment, I found this. This thing is called another disappointment.

As a Tokusatsu, the writing is bound to be cheesy. But here's the thing about Gridman, it wasn't cheesy enough. What is the right amount of cheese? If the Toei Spider-Man is the cheesiest, the Power Rangers Movie (the old one) is the right amount, then the Godzilla VS movies are beyond the right amount just because you can see Godzilla "Symbol for Atom Bombs" dicking around and fight other monsters with various comedic ways.

After blurting out some Toku references, I forgot that I'm supposed talking about the story. The structure of each episode is repetitive just like every live-action tokusatsu, but in the live action, the monster moves like a baby that can only jump and flail their arms around like an idiot and whenever the mecha are combined it's stood there, gloriously, that what's makes watching Tokusatsu as a grown man is all about. This thing's monster and mecha are fully CG, not the entire show just the most important part of any tokusatsu series.

I see this video in my YouTube recommendations talking about how the janky low framerate movement is realistic and it encapsulates the movement of the bodysuit, that video was made by the same person who thinks the Detective Pikachu trailer is good. If a tokusatsu is done in animation, the designs should be more expressive and the movements more fluid. Instead, they use cheap 3DCG with stiff motion. This is even worse than Shin Godzilla. What we can take from all this? Ultraman (2019) is safe to skip.

So let's move to the characters, there's amnesia boy, cucked glasses, thigh girl, god girl, and an alien wearing Kamina shades. Whenever I see a TRIGGER character using those shades, I got reminded the fact that Kamina died a virgin. The God girl is TRIGGER's attempt to make another religion, the only thing that stands in their way is that Akaneism doesn't roll off the tongue very well. The character design is the best thing about the show, I found 31 artists to follow just by looking at Danbooru, I only found 14 with Yuru Camp. The subtle naming of the mecha power up cast's school is the most stealthy reference of the decade that only people with high IQ will understand and the voice for Rikka's mom is eerily similar to Haruko.

Despite all this, I fully enjoy it. The dream sequence at episode 9 is exciting, the background kaiju are really cool, the character interactions are fun, the last fight finally uses 2D, the last shot makes me giggle like a little kid and this makes hopeful for another TRIGGER anime.