takaradarikka – Jainituos Presents

SSSS Dynazenon

Genre: Mecha, fantasy

Studio: Trigger

Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry.

Again, I am on my own challenge of trying to write as many entries on May as possible. Let’s see if I can break the record of January. Fingers crossed, especially because work is pretty demanding these days, and now, I want to take my time to get the latest anime from Studio Trigger, and perhaps another great entry of the Gridman franchise.

Now, that entry is…

But before I continue, remember to ask you the questions:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am very happy.

I still own all of you guys an entry of SSSS Gridman. Don’;t worry, I am working on it, as well as the entries of one of my favourite anime… My Hero Academia. They will come when the time comes. Having said that… let’s start with SSSS Dynazenon.

PREMISE

SSSS Dynazenon is a sequel from SSSS Gridman, and it tells the story of Yomogi Asanaka, a high school student who works in a convenience store and lives with his grandmother and his recently divorced mother; one day, he meets a mysterious guy, called Gauma, in an alley, Yomogi «saves» him by giving him some food; the next day, Gauma comes again and thanks Yomogi, claiming that he is a Kaiju user.

Shortly, a kaiju attacks the city and Gauma summons a great robot, called Dynazenon, dragging Yomogi, his fellow classmate, Yume Minami, a 33-year-old NEET, Koyomi Yamanaka, who all drive Dynazenon. After defeating the Kaiju, Gauma, Yomogi, Yume and Koyomi must fight together to find out who is summoning the kaijus and defend the city at all costs.

Unsurprisingly, the staff of SSSS Gridman returns for this new series, including director Akira Amemiya, writer Keiichi Hasegawa, and composer Shiro Sagisu. On the other hand, Studio Trigger needs no presentation, in fact, I already made a lot of blog entries from their products, including BNA: Brand New Animal, Darling in the FRANXX, Little Witch Academia, and Kill la Kill, and just like its predecessor, SSSS Dynazenon will be composed of 12 episodes.

One thing is for sure, the upcoming episodes of SSSS Dynazenon must include the very best two things that SSSS Gridman had, courtesy of fan-favourite Rikka Takarada.

And…

You thought I will say Thighs? Yes?

STORY

I think I will start pointing about one of the most notorious elements fo SSSS Dynazenon: its animation. Definitely they use the same style from SSSS Gridman, the 2D for all the characters, while most of the sequences of the kaiju and the robots are done in 3D; normally I will say that this mixture is not one of my favourites, especially after witnessing how it was horribly done in Ex-Arm, regardless the fact that the studio of the latter had no previous experience on producing anime.

Luckily, this is not any random studio that obviously didn’t care about the quality of the product (Perhaps I am being too harsh); this is Studio Trigger; and just like it was done with SSSS Gridman, the 2D and 3D mixture gives you a great feeling of having to face a gigantic mecha, or a dreadful kaiju (depending on your perspective), especially after the battles take place.

Again, Trigger has more great experiences with this kind of expressive, nuanced animation, so you will expect something pretty well done, especially from the Gridman franchise.

On the other hand, just like what happens with SSSS Gridman, the introduction of the characters can be a bit slow. Nonetheless is pretty solid, you get to know the characters. Well… I talked about that later.

I had a lot of fun with SSSS Gridman, and I remember many of its episodes. SPOILER ALERT – One thing that I didn’t like too much about the original anime is that the possible romance between Yua Hibiki and Rikka Takarada went nowhere, in fact… it was replaced by the arc of Akane Shinjou – END OF SPOILERS.

And from there, I see a lot of potential to SSSS Dynazenon in terms of story.

CHARACTERS

Now… this part where I am having some trouble. It is not like I didn’t love the characters, but it is just I do not know where to start.

I will start saying that, just like SSSS Gridman, Dynazenon, has a lot of interesting, defined characters; Yomogi, a relatable kid who is trying to grow up and become independent; Yume Minami, an aloof girl who lost her brother some time ago, Koyomi, trying to get some meaning to his life; his cousin, Chise, and Gauma… which I think it is the best character by far.

If Studio Trigger can get them lovely personalities, just like with its predecessor series, then there will be potential for these characters to become popular, or memes, like with Rikka Takarada and Akane Shinjou.

CONCLUSION