Gridman Universe (Movie)

Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.

I’m a couple months late with this movie. Part of that is because I didn’t get around to SSSS.DYNAZENON until recently. Then again, it doesn’t matter if I was caught up for the movie as its theatrical release was only in Japan. As of writing this post, it’s still not legally available in the US but it is available digitally in Japan so it’s a pirate’s life for me.

Gridman Universe largely takes place in the world of SSSS.GRIDMAN. Yuta (Yuya Hirose), Rikka (Yume Miyamoto), and Utsumi (Soma Saito) are now in their second year of high school and have resumed their normal lives after Gridman and Akane (Reina Ueda) both left their world. This movie is actually the first major appearance of the real Yuta as he technically was possessed by Gridman during the events of the show (and that wasn’t random or weird at all). The details are fuzzy but Yuta has some faint recollection of that period of time.

While Yuta mulls over confessing his feelings towards Rikka, Rikka and Utsumi are working on a play based on their experiences with Gridman and Akane. I’m convinced the play is the franchise’s way of poking fun at its reception, the cheekiest being Rikka’s friends telling her that they don’t get the stuff with Akane. The movie also uses the play as an excuse to give a recap of GRIDMAN (it later gives one for DYNAZENON as well). That’s frankly a bit unnecessary as no one should really watch this movie without watching the material preceding it.

As the festival approaches, the city is suddenly attacked by a kaiju. Yuta hears Gridman calling out to him and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students reappear to aid him and his friends. If you’re wondering how Gridman can appear in the world without needing to possess Yuta, it’s explained the possession wasn’t really supposed to happen in the first place. Anyway, Yuta successful reaches Junk and merges with Gridman, to grant the latter a physical form. During the fight, Gridman is joined by a newly revived Gauma (Daiki Hamano), who has merged his soul with DynaRex and has joined the Neon Genesis Junior High Students under a new alias, “Rex”. I don’t really get how Gauma is alive again but this does explain why Dynazenon manages to activate on its own at the end of its respective series. More importantly, we got Gauma back and we get to see Gridman and Dynazenon in the same movie so I’ll take it.

After the fight, Gridman and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students explain to the Gridman Alliance that their world is one of many in a digital multiverse and that something is causing it to collapse in a Big Crunch. As a result, elements from other universes are seeping into the trio’s world, such as new kaiju.

Of course, this overlap also allows for the rest of the main cast of DYNAZENON to appear in GRIDMAN‘s world. To be honest, I think the Dynazenon crew plays second fiddle to the Gridman Alliance. All they really have for an arc is their reunion with Gauma and the chance to properly say goodbye to him, which is good but that’s really about it. Other than that, they join Rikka and Utsumi in spectating the middle act’s fight scene and save for Yomogi, they’re actually absent from the plot until the final fight (which they at least participate in).

That said, it is fun seeing the DYNAZENON cast interact with the GRIDMAN cast. Yomogi (Junya Enoki) and Yume (Shion Wakayama) provide an amusing contrast to Yuta and Rika in that they actually did hook up at the end of DYNAZENON. Having them around makes it more apparent that Yuta and Rika are long overdue in making their romance official. It’s also fun seeing the DYNAZENON react and comment on the lore established in GRIDMAN such as the fact that Yuta has to enter Junk in order to merge with Gridman or Gridman’s appearance resembling Gridknight when it’s technically the other way around.

Thanks to the Big Crunch, Gauma finally gets to reunite with his Princess (Maaya Uchida). While I appreciate the closure provided by this scene, it doesn’t feel very earned. Gauma looking for the Princess was barely a thing in DYNAZENON and the convenient manner in which he gets to meet her feels cheap. Also, I don’t get the point of teasing the Princess’s identity and appearance when she ultimately is an entirely new character. It didn’t seem likely that she’d be a familiar face given how old she is supposed to be but that would at least justify the mystery surrounding her. I wonder if her identity was changed in the writing process.

As the multiverse collapses on itself, Yuta notices some inconsistences with the world and he’s seemingly the only one who notices them. After a surreal (and very well-animated) freakout scene starting Yuta, another kaiju appears so Yuta merges with Gridman to fight it with the Neon Genesis Junior High Students. The gang is soon joined by the Gridknight Alliance. Not going to lie, it is freaking awesome seeing both Gridman and Gridknight (Kenichi Suzumura) fighting together in their final forms from GRIDMAN and DYNAZENON. Apparently, the Second (Karin Takahashi) can now transform into a giant battleship. Why no one thought to have this in DYNAZENON is beyond me but you know, hindsight is 20/20. I know the Second can grow to giant size but it is off-putting when she later shows her giant human face while still transformed. That gives Darling in the FranXX flashbacks and I really thought Trigger was done triggering me about that goddamn show.

Unfortunately, things get very convoluted when the movie reaches its third act. Bear with me here. After the second kaiju is defeated, a second Gridknight appears and destroys Gridman. Gridman’s destruction causes everyone to disappear with the exception of the Gridman Alliance and Yomogi. Younger versions of Knight and the Second appear, explaining that almost all the universes in the multiverse were actually created by Gridman and someone is attacking Gridman’s consciousness, causing the Big Crunch to happen. The younger Knight attacked Gridman to hopefully reset things and keep GRIDMAN‘s world intact but that only works temporarily as more kaiju appear in the world. Knight and Yomogi try to fend off the kaiju so that Yuta can get back to Junk, re-connect with Gridman again, and restore the multiverse completely. While trying to merge with Gridman, Yuta stumbles upon Akane who has somehow found out about what’s going on with the multiverse while out in the real world. Akane helps Yuta locate Gridman, who merges with him again to fight the kaiju, and she frees Alexis from imprisonment. Somehow, Akane knows she is a kaiju user (and a magical girl, I guess) so she takes control of Alexis to help Gridman. Akane and Alexis find and confront the mastermind of the Big Crunch, a powerful kaiju known as Mad Origin (Nobutoshi Canna) who seeks to steal Gridman’s ability to create universes. Akane and Alexis take Mad Origin to the world of GRIDMAN and Gridman restores Knight and the Second to their adult forms and brings back everyone who disappeared for the final battle.

As you can tell, a lot happens in the third act, too much in fact.

Let me first say this: as insane as this all is, that doesn’t stop the final fight from being incredibly entertaining. It delivers all the remaining fanservice that you’d hope to see such as Gridman getting a new form, Gridman combining with Dynazenon and Gridknight combining with Powered Zenon. Everyone uses every form, every weapon, and every finisher at their disposal. The fight uses both of the movie’s parent shows’ OP as well as a new song made for the movie. Like with GRIDMAN and especially with DYNAZENON, Trigger brings their A-game. Combined with a movie level budget, the visuals do not disappoint. For what it’s worth, this battle is very hyped.

Gridman being able to create universes is bizarre. I get that you need to tie him to the conflict created for the movie but that’s an insane power to give to the face of the franchise. The fact that the multiverse is actually shaped like him is hilarious. There’s no way I can take this twist seriously after that and I say this as someone who accepts Bionicle mostly taking place inside a giant robot (that’s a deep cut no one’s going to get).

I do like that the climax addresses Gridman’s relationship with Yuta. Before this movie, it feels like Gridman didn’t think much about his possession of Yuta other than it simply being what it is. I much prefer him actually feeling guilty about it and seeking Yuta’s forgiveness. Also, as insane as this movie has gotten, I’ll still give points for incorporating this relationship into the main conflict, with Gridman’s guilt providing Mad Origin an opening to attack him. As for Yuta, he bears no hard feelings for Gridman. I figured that would be the case after seeing Gridman’s assimilation of his personality in the show and his real one throughout the movie. I always thought Gridman’s possession of Yuta was a strange twist so I’m glad to see it properly addressed and resolved.

Mad Origin might be the lamest villain in the entire Gridman Universe franchise and that’s saying something given the franchise’s track record. I knew that the villain would have to be new one but I don’t know, this sentient Kaiju occupying the vast reaches of cyberspace feels completely out of nowhere. Contrary to its name, Mad Origin’s origin is nonexistent and it has no motivation apart from taking over the multiverse. As a result, it feels like the movie is trying too hard by presenting such an omnipotent and almost unkillable foe.

Akane’s involvement in the final act raises a couple questions. Again, how does she know what’s going on in the digital multiverse? When she realize she’s a Kaiju user? Is it purely coincidence that her magical girl form resembles the Kaiju Eugenicists’ attire? I am however willing to look the other way on all this because at least Akane is actually making up for her misdeeds, as opposed to accepting the salvation everyone gave her for free and the story cutting off from there. Now, Akane’s arc feels more complete. I also like her heart to heart with Knight after the final battle. That was one reconciliation that was sorely missed from GRIDMAN so it’s nice to finally have it happen. Part of me does wonder if Knight doesn’t hate Akane because of his programming but then again, he deviated from Akane’s intent a long time ago so I buy him being thankful to her in spite of her mistreatment of him.

As for Alexis, I’m mostly fine with his inclusion in the movie. Even though it isn’t explained how Akane can control kaiju, this ability does justify Alexis joining the good guys for the fight and it’s also a neat inverse on the manipulative relationship Alexis had with Akane back in GRIDMAN. What does baffle is Alexis actually turning a new leaf. The dude actually sacrifices himself to save Akane and give everyone the chance they need to defeat Mad Origin. But why, though? I can accept him wanting to screw a fellow villain over for the heck of it but when did he ever care about Akane? At least the movie itself is aware that this is far-fetched as the Neon Genesis students hilariously don’t buy Alexis’s redemption at all and they still vow to find and capture him.

After the final battle and with the multiverse saved, everyone part ways and returns to their respective worlds. Gridman gives Yuta an Acceptor for him to keep, in case the two of them ever need to team up again and Trigger gets hired to make more Gridman Universe projects. Yuta, Rikka, and Utsumi participate in the school festival and at long last, Yuta and Rikka finally hook up. I still think Yomogi and Yume are the better couple but I still like the original pairing so I’m thrilled that it’s finally official. Plus, this is a solid note for the movie to end on (funny post-credit scene aside).

Gridman Universe is a lot like its two parent shows; it’s a flawed experience and yet it’s also a very entertaining one and it does have its fair share of solid ideas. In particular, the third act is where the movie risks falling apart as it throws so much at you and it barely has time to let it all or let you the viewer breath. That said, I still enjoy the movie for its action and its resolution to most, if not all, of the franchise’s loose ends (especially GRIDMAN‘s). The crossover element could be more balanced but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t fun seeing the two casts interact with each other. I would just say that this movie is pretty good but I can see diehard fans of the franchise adoring this to pieces.