SSSS.Gridman – Ep. 7

So now that Yuuta knows that Akane is a purple-haired, psychotic Haruhi Suzumiya, he proceeds to tell Rikka and Shou the truth. That his claims fall on deaf ears is to be expected since both of his friends have their reasons for wanting to give Akane the benefit of the doubt. At the same time, it does make a rather frustrating experience. Rikka insists Akane couldn’t be evil because she thinks girls don’t like kaiju which is odd to put it mildly. Shou declines to reveal that Akane is indeed a fan of kaiju and thus lend some credibility to Yuuta’s claims which is a serious dick move, feelings for Akane aside. At least, not everyone in the gang is ignorant. Max being the best buddy that he is confirms Anoshiras’s existence and the other Neon Genesis boys think it would be wise to at least investigate.

While Yuuta takes a while to muster the courage, he ends up not needing to take matters into his own hands as Akane breaks into his house and confesses her crimes to him. Things take some weird turns from here on out. Well, weirder than what I just described. First, Akane tries to seduce Yuuta and I do mean seduce (oh boy, the doujin artists are going to have fun with that scene). Next, she takes him to dinner at the diner owned by the family of one of the classmates she killed back in Episode 1. That alone is sickening when you think about it but balancing it out is Akane’s monster buddy, Alexis, waltzing into the place to join them. That the restaurateur pays that no heed made it all the more surreal. Altogether, it’s such a strange series of events for Yuuta and Akane’s big confrontation to unfold but it’s also indicative of how much fun and thought the staff at Trigger seem to be putting into this series.

I also really enjoy the chemistry between Yuuta and Akane here. No doubt, the former is appalled at the petty reasons the latter has for trying to murder people but the tone he takes seems more concerned and confused than angry and hostile. It’s as though Yuuta is trying to appeal to whatever ounce of decency Akane still has left. This could very well connect to what I was saying back in Episode 3, how Yuuta can be heroic to a fault. I doubt this is going to be last time he’ll try to plea to Akane to stop playing God.

This far in, I still can’t figure out what exactly Gridman aims to do with Akane’s character. If the plan is to redeem her, time sure is running out. Frankly, I think this anime may missed its best shot yet at doing so. For the big fight scene, Anti creates a kaiju of his own and, surprisingly, Alexis agrees to help bring it to life. The latter argues his change in allegiance being that Anti has a stronger hatred for Gridman than Akane does. For a couple of minutes, I thought maybe this would put this girl on the right path. She’s now stripped of her god privileges and with that, you could maybe have her reflect on her actions in the next episode or two and realize Yuuta has a point. Alas, this doesn’t seem to be the case as Anti gets his weekly dosage of defeat (not to mention abuse) and Alexis sticks with Akane again. Maybe I’m just thinking to myself but still, I can’t help but wonder if this was a missed opportunity.

On the bright side, the action is once again, a real treat for the eyes. Finally, we get to see Vit join the fray and the airborne mode Gridman gains from combining with him looks really cool. That Gridman can now fly and engage in a dogfight also makes for a nice change of pace from the ground combat we’ve seen in episodes prior. I especially enjoy the finisher where Gridman and Vit temporarily separate to better throw Anti and the Kaiju of the week off their game.

Amidst the action, one big detail gets dropped where up in the sky, is apparently a digitized city hanging upside down. That I know is a pretty iconic backdrop from the original Gridman show. What grand purpose this serves in the plot remains to be seen but for now, its presence does cement the fact that the world Yuuta and his friends live in is not the real one.

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Thanks for reading!

SSSS.Gridman is officially available on Crunchyroll & Funimation.

For all of my SSSS.Gridman Episode Reviews, check out the show’s archive page!

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