Hold onto your butts.
Our opening titles begins on a massive circuit board with electricity zipping through it. Light gathers at a focal point and the board around it shatters into the air as our title slowly rises up, supported by what appears to be upright circuit boards, giving the appearance of a city.
The theme music kicks in and we get a quick glimpse at a monster destroying a very unusual looking city.
Suddenly we're going though a trippy tube structure made up of circuit boards, which looks really good. The camera exits to a grid pattern followed by crystal structures and then a long PCB. At the end we get a full 360 of a technological citadel, before pulling back quickly through rows and rows of PBC, finally seeing them contained in a box making up a computer in someone's basement.
It pretty much covers most of the basics bar any characters. City in a computer that the monster(s) destroy, traveling into a computer, and this particular computer in a basement plays an important role. It's really great visually, and sadly I couldn't find any high quality videos to demonstrate it for you, so the only good option is to DL the episode yourself.
The opening theme; 'Yume no Hero' is also really good and catchy. I highly recommend listening to the full version which has this awesome synth around the 1:40 mark. Like a Super Nintendo having an orgasm, it's so good. The annunciation of the lyrics is also something I'm fond of, in particular I enjoy the verse 'Itsu no hi mo denkō chō jin.' I just love the way it sounds for some reason. The subs translate it as 'Dance forth Lightning Superhuman Gridman'. I don't know if that's entirely correct, but I still like the creative liberty taken with it.
Now, we truly begin with a narrator introducing our main trio of characters. Naoto, who is soldering a PCB. Yuka, who is getting the PCB in order, and Ippei, who is has just come in with a new-ish graphics card he dug out of the trash. We're informed that the three have just completed their own computer dubbed 'Junk'.
As you can imagine the computer is made of of various components gathered, which is stated further by Yuko mentioning most of the parts are second hand. Meanwhile, Ippei is messing around with a graphics program, creating wire frame model as sort of a mascot for their newly built computer. He calls it Gridman.
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| Speaking is great, doesn't it? |
The next day we see Naoto with his two parents at breakfast. His father quips that it's unusual to see Naoto up before his brother, Daichi. Naoto goes to wake up his brother and finds him having great stomach pain.
At the hospital we find out that Daichi has appendicitis and will need an operation. I must also note in addition to Naoto's parents, there is an unnamed woman present. Yuka is also there, so we can assume it's her mother. Naoto promises to visit Daichi after School, and hurries off with Yuka, meting Ippei along the way. They get to school just as the bell rings. Yuka in her rush ends up bumping into a boy with a rather disheveled look, in contrast to his tidy suit. She apologizes, but the boy is incapable of making eye contact and stammers to say something to her.
He reaches into his pocket to grab something, although Yuka is called away before he can pull it out. We see that it was an envelope, which he crumples with a look of disgust.
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| This is a perfectly reasonable reaction. |
We then get to see this guy (His name is Takeshi btw) at home playing a game called Castle Torture. Takeshi asks a sprite Kaiju named Gilarus questions as he types out responses, sort of like a voice program. He's essentially talking to himself.
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| So this is what assholes did before Twitter and Tumblr existed. |
Takeshi recalls that Yuka's family runs a hospital, so he decides to hack it to fuck with her and her family for not taking a the letter...and I guess possibly kill a lot of innocent people by cutting the power. Yeah...
A storm brews outside, and lightning strikes a power line, energy rushes into Takeshi's computer and sends him flying back. An inscrutable figure appears on his monitor. He is quite fond of the hacking program Takeshi has made, and the chaos it's creating at the hospital. His name is Demon King Khan Digifier, and he shares a mutual goal with Takeshi in creating chaos. Khan brings the sprite Kaiju to life in a sense, and sends it off to attack the hospital's computers in the virtual world.
In the real world this causes some very poltergeist like attacks in the hospital, particularly the operating room where Daichi is located. Naoto and his friends stop by after school and catch the insanity unfolding. No one is able to get close to Daichi due to various flying objects and the electrical field that surrounds him. Naoto decides to take matters into his own hands and heads out to see if he can fix this using Junk.
It becomes clear that the hospital's network is infected by a virus of some sort, and the three try to quick up an anti-virus. It doesn't do much.
The trio is at a loss. But outside, a beam of light dissipates the clouds and beams down to travel along the power lines and into Junk, shocking Yuka, Ippei and most of all;Naoto. Yuka and Ippei check on Naoto, who now has a device attached to his wrist. In a rather nice sequence, Ippei's wire frame soon begins forming textures and then morphs into the Gridman suit used in show.
Gridman quickly gives an overview of the situation. He's an agent of some kind, there's a bad guy named Khan behind the current problems, further details will have to wait until the proverbial fire is out. He tells Naoto to press the button on the device attached to his wrist, called the acceptor, as it will allow for them to combine. He and the others are skeptical, but time is of the essence, so Naoto goes along with it. He gains a spiffy blue jumpsuit and is sucked into the computer, merging with Gridman.
With the assistance of Yuka putting in a passcode, Gridman is sent off to fight. However, he is far too tiny to properly fight the Kaiju. Quick thinking on Yuka's part allows Gridman to grow.
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| Head on! |
He body slams Gilarus, which unfortunately drains a lot of his power and sends Junk into an overheating mess.
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| Not the third switch! |
The Narrator informs us that Gridman's abilities and power are linked to Junk, and if Junk were to crash, Gridman would be deleted. The warning light on Gridman's helmet begins blinking along with a warning sound, much like an Ultraman color timer.
The ensuing fight is a little short, but they sure do make it impressive. Gridman does roundhouse kicks, back flips, drops kicks, chops, shoots energy balls, and finally caps it all off with a finisher to delete the monster.
In less than 3 minutes you're given all you need to know on how impressive the fight scenes are. It's so goddamn satisfying to watch.
With the monster defeated, Gridman restores what was destroyed and then leaves. Naoto flies out of Junk, seemingly unaware of what just happened, as his friends check on him. Any celebration is cut short by Junk once again reacting like an old Universal prop.
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| You can replicate this at home by installing windows 10. |
We also get a preview for the next episode, which involves a portal from the computer realm into the real world.
This ends the first episode of Gridman.
So, first thing I want to address I realize it may seem like I rushed things (and I did trim a lot of dialogue) but this is a fast paced episode regardless, and even a little rushed itself, but is also incredibly efficient. A surprising amount of information is packed into this first episode despite how brisk it is. If there's a complaint I have, it's that you have to be on your toes when watching this to make sure you don't miss anything, because some statements might pass by upon your first viewing.
However it's also sort of brilliant how this information is packed in so tightly. Take Yuka's parents for instance; Her mother isn't named and she's completely unknown to us upon her first appearance, however she's standing next to Yuka and appears to be similar in age to Naoto's parents, so it seems reasonable to conclude a similar relation between the two. We also unknowingly see her father, as we're not given any indication he's anything more than the Doctor examining Daichi. However he is seen, and later on when the hospital is having massive issues, Yuka refers to the Doctor as "dad"(pictured further down). We get quite a bit of information about Yuka and her family.
Similar scenario with Naoto. Some passing dialogue implies that he's a little on a lazy side and sleeps in, with his brother Daichi having to wake him. Some comments by Naoto also imply he cares very much about his brother, with a statement on how he'll be sure to visit after School. Honestly there's nothing too special there, but their father also takes the day off so he can be at the hospital, showing that above all else the family cares to be together. Yuka's and Naoto's mothers are also frequently seen together at the hospital, possibly implying a strong connection between the two families, though that remains to be seen.
Ippei is the least developed here, which is fine given this is just one episode. Though we do see he is resourceful, just as much as Naoto or Yuka. In fact, everyone here is pretty much on equal footing in terms of being an asset to the team, which is nice.
Visuals/SFX
Visually the series looks good at times and sometimes...interesting. The most obvious thing you'll notice is the video quality. This was the first series Tsuburaya used D-2 digital video on. It's a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the quality is really high. This was made in 1993 and it looks really crisp. I reviewed Dairanger a little while ago, and that came out the same year as Gridman. The difference is startling.
On the other hand, Gridman also sometimes looks like a soap opera because the quality is almost unnatural. It can be really distracting at times, and honestly was extremely off putting for me at first.
However the effects are usually amazing. The set used for the computer world is really fantastic, and although it has a very obvious stage look about it, I think that works in it's favor. The Computer world should look unnatural and other worldly. The way it's lit with a blue hue, bits of green, spotlights, and lots of smoke, it's just great to look at. Building designs are all really well done here because they're not just the typical sky scrappers. They have circuit board patterns and lights going up the sides, which really makes them unique. All of this combines making for a set I would compare to a lazer tag arena or one of those insane 90s nerf commercials.
That said, this is a very experimental series and some of the CG is bloody hilarious. The scene with Daichi and all the hospital equipment flying around looks awful in the most funny way possible.
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| Attack of the clip art. |
There is also the occasional explosion that's clearly not at all there, looking about as natural as one you'd see in ATHF.
Now some of the CG is fine. When they're quick with it like impact effects when Gridman kicks a monster, it look good, doesn't linger too long. Energy based usage like the Grid Beam also look perfectly fine and are quite impressive. (Though I must point out that one fireball attack appears to be cut off before reaching the edge of the screen.)
The fight scenes as I've already mentioned, are absolutely fantastic. I truly cannot stress how good these are. Equal of such high quality is the destruction on the sets. I've talked about how they look in terms of ascetics, but seeing them crumble and smashed is just as enjoyable. Unlike Sentai or other shows making use of buildings, Tsuburaya tends to have much more firm but brittle buildings. This allows more a more satisfying crumble with a variety of chunks and smaller bits. The cinematography with multiple shots and slow motion effects also help the audience view these details. Traditional effects like explosions from squibs are also fantastic.
It's not by any means movie quality, but it very good for TV standards.
As for Gridman himself, I really like the design. I absolutely love the boots and how they go past the knee, it's something I wish was done more often on characters, especially male ones. Great color balance and a good variety of colors with large amounts of red, white, silver, and accents of blue, yellow and black. I would have never guessed so much white would work without being the primary color, yet it does.
The monster design for this episode, Gilarus, was pretty good. Not too complicated but just enough to not be boring. I like all the crystals on the body which are all rubbery and wiggle around. I dunno, just something I like. Fine for a first monster, but I know we'll get better. In fact the next episode has a much better design.
Music
Musically I've already talked about the op and ed, but some of the IN themes are pretty good. Unfortunately I can't tell you names of them because Gridman's Soundtrack is fucking impossible to find online and I'm not paying $80 for a CD off Mandarake. I can say there's nice mixture of orchestrated pieces and some rocking tracks. Really good stuff when Khan first appears. Very triumphant and upbeat pieces for the fight between Gridman and Gilarus.
Some synth, though not as much as you would expect, and that's probably for the best as it can be kinda cheesy. Specifically the part where Naoto and Gridman combine for the first time, they play something that I think is meant be very heroic and dramatic, but it sounds like video poker music. Black RX this is not. Although I can't help but wonder why they just didn't use a bit from the opening theme.
Themes
So lets talking about some themes of the show.It's not something I do often, but I noticed a lot here and it was a lot of fun to do. This is actually what made me want to do the review in the first place.
The biggest one is with Takeshi Todo. Rather than the stereotypical bully picking on computers nerds, we instead have a toxic nerd opposing fellow computer nerds.
And yes, I'm using toxic to describe him as his fit perfectly into the toxic category. Think about it. Takeshi strikes out with a girl because he's awkward and stammers a lot, makes up a scenario that never happened in which he is a victim and perhaps even truly believes it, and then he either directly or indirectly harasses said woman over the computer. That's something arguably more prolific now than in 1993.
Lets look at another example with the visual side of things. Naoto, Yuka and Ippei all pitched into the build Junk. The name already tells us the computer was built using various boards and whatever scrap they could get a hold of. This probably means they couldn't afford parts and had to make the best of their know how with computers, and to their credit it is shown to be possible to create decent textures on the hardware they made.
Of course the computer also affects Gridman's powers, which means that at some point they'll have to upgrade which presents an obstacle for our heroes, especially since they obviously can't just go and buy a part. This makes it good for story telling (and toys) but it also sets them very much apart from Todo.
Takeshi has 3(yes, 3) at the time damn good computers and monitors which are at the very least capable of amateur game programming if not more. Hell one of the monitors is an NEC PC-TV471, which from what I can gather was a TV/monitor hybrid which was mainly used when working in graphics design. It could be used in anything from games development and even displays in a hospital. It was also a pretty high dollar item.
This is one of the indications that Takeshi is more than a little financially sound, but our first is actually at the School itself. While everyone else at the school is in fairly lax attire, Takeshi is in a full suit, tie and all. His residence is also gated and it appears that his computer room is just that, an office all his own. Which is pretty rare in Japan.
We also have some contrasts with the main baddie and our title hero. When it comes to communication, Gridman cannot hear the questions asked by our protagonists, someone has to type them into the keyboard. I think this is interesting because it sets Gridman apart from Khan in how they operate. Gridman is accessing the main trio's computer but not taking it over, as indicated by their need to type to speak with him. He couldn't even be sent to battle a monster without the help of Yuka or Ippei. This not only allows everyone to play an important role in a team effort, but it also speaks volumes on how Gridman and everyone else operates.
In contrast, Takeshi doesn't need to type when speaking to Khan, because Khan does take over, he is in complete control and invasive of Takeshi's property. Perhaps even more than that, Khan may be inside Takeshi's mind. The only thing Khan seems to be incapable of is the actual creation of the monsters, which is a non-issue if Takeshi is under his control.
Finally, we don't ever see Takeshi's parents. Now to be fair that's not terribly surprising and we also don't see Ippei's parents either. But think of how we do see Yuka's and Naoto's. Yuka's mother stays with Naoto's mom to comfort her, Naoto's dad takes off to be there for his family, Yuka's father has an entire career to helping people.
As far as I'm concerned they're conveying that Takeshi has no one. Or at least no one that's around to care.
This is just the first episode and there's already so much going on, I love it.
Final Thoughts
Now, I've for the most part really enjoyed this first episode, with only a few minor issues. So you're probably wondering if there is any big issue here, something that I'm quite critical of. There is. It's Naoto. How do I put this...? Naoto is fine as a character, on paper he's a good person that's willing to take action to protect his family and others, fine protagonist stuff. However his actor is...not good. At all. He is incredibly flat and damn near emotionless. He sounds so bored and disinterested with everything, especially when compared to Yuka and Ippei, who can act.
I don't want to be hard because this was probably a first time thing, as it is with many toku actors.
But I swear it's like the kid ate a bowl of Zoloft before stepping in front of the camera. I really hope his performance improves, because watching this is going to be hard if it doesn't. I've only seen two episodes, so we'll see.
Also I need to mention the weirdness with some of the subs. You've probably seen from the screen caps that some of the wording and exchanges sometimes don't make a lot of sense or could be improved upon. It's not terribly distracting, and it's fairly infrequent, but I felt it worth commenting on. I should mention this is something of a personal project by UKWindom, who does work for KITsubs and msubs. The page for Gridman even states that Quality Control/Typesetting will be pretty bare, so keep that in mind. Again I'm fine with it. Timing was done by Champstice, who did a very good job with it, which I'm very thankful for. If there is one thing I can't stand it's badly timed subs, which is actually why I haven't been able to finish the original Ultraman.
I'm very happy that Gridman finally got at least one episode subbed, and the second was a great bonus. I've been wanting to watch at least one ep for years and I finally got to that back in May. Despite some issues(mainly with Naoto) this was a really enjoyable episode. I'd highly suggest checking it out, and I'm looking forward to more. But since this is a personal project it's unlikely we'll see anything soon, but I'm still happy for this. Maybe if we're lucky we'll get an official release added to CrunchyRoll.
Anyway, that was my look at the first episode of Gridman. I might go over at the second episode another time, but for now I'm taking a break from this. I already have another post in mind, maybe two. But they're not reviews. Between the Dairanger review and this one, I've simply not had time to watch other stuff that I want, so I need a break from that. I have a lot of Zyuohger to watch, 2 episodes of Solbrain, and however many Ultraman Orbs.
Bye for now, and thank you for reading.
BONUS.
So I actually looked way too much into the PC-TV Takeshi had, and while the info I could find was extremely limited, I actually got side tracked talking about it. But ultimately it was pretty pointless information. But I went through the trouble digging around and even downloaded a PDF advertising it, so I kept and moved the section here as a bonus.
"If the flyer for the PC-TV is to be believed, chances are the production team may have displayed some of the graphics seen within the show itself rather than in post. As a side note, during my research I came across an earlier model called the PC-TV453n, released in '87. It has a RGB21 output, and if it had it, the later model most definitely did. I bring this up because an RGB21 connector results in a high quality display. If you want to get a feel for that difference, look no further than the back of an NES box. The screen shots were typically taken from a Sharp 19SV111 Famicom TV, which also had an RGB output. Basically what I'm getting at is an NEC PC-TV would be very useful for anyone needing a high quality image."
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