SSSS.GRIDMAN

"You’re not alone. Whenever, forever."

―Series tagline

SSSS.GRIDMAN
Information
Format/Genre	Anime
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions Studio Trigger
Starring	Yuya Hirose Hikaru Midorikawa Soma Saito Yume Miyamoto Reina Ueda Tetsu Inada
Opening Theme	UNION
Ending Theme	youthful beautiful
Original Air Date	October 6, 2018 - December 23, 2018
Number of Episodes	12
Running Time	Approximately 25 minutes
Original Channel	Tokyo MX MBS TV BS 11 WOWOW FunimationNow
Continuity
Previous	Gridman the Hyper Agent Hime and Samurai Diaclone VS. Gridman
Next	SSSS.DYNAZENON
Production/Release
Previous	Gridman the Hyper Agent: boys invent great hero
Next	SSSS.DYNAZENON

SSSS.GRIDMAN（グリッドマン） (Guriddoman) is a 2018 anime series produced by Studio Trigger in collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions, based on the titular character of the series, Gridman the Hyper Agent and its American adaptation, Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Released in Fall 2018, the series was licensed by Funimation and can be watched as an English dub via their streaming service, FunimationNow, as well as on Crunchyroll with English subtitles. It can also be watched on Apple TV, Prime Video, and Google TV.

After SSSS.DYNAZENON was revealed, this series was designated as the first installment in the GRIDMAN UNIVERSE project.

To promote GRIDMAN UNIVERSE, the series' episodes were compiled into a film, which was screened in theaters for two weeks from January 20, 2023.

Synopsis

You're not alone. Whenever, forever.

Yuta Hibiki is a first-year student in high school living in Tsutsujidai. One day, he woke up without his memories.

Yuta later meets "Hyper Agent Gridman" who was inside an old computer.

Gridman told him to fulfill his purpose. Yuta's quest to understand the meaning behind those words and to find his memories began.

While all of this was sudden, Yuta had helpful assistance from his classmates, Sho Utsumi, Rikka Takarada, and Akane Shinjo, but...

Those peaceful days were destroyed mercilessly by a monster that suddenly appeared.

Episodes

1. Awakening DEATH
2. Restoration
3. Defeat
4. Suspicion DEATH
5. Provocation SUGGESTIVE CONTENT
6. Contact
7. Scheme VIOLENCE BLOOD SUGGESTIVE CONTENT
8. Confrontation
9. Dream
10. Collapse VIOLENCE BLOOD
11. Decisive Battle BLOOD
12. Awakening VIOLENCE BLOOD

Voice Drama

As a follow up to each episode, an original voice drama is uploaded to Tsuburaya Productions' YouTube channel, for a duration of one week though from the eight episode and onward, they are uploaded to Pony Canyon's channel instead. They normally contain dialogue that foreshadows certain things in the next episode and the overall plot.

Characters

Heroes

• Gridman

Gridman Alliance

• Yuta Hibiki
• Sho Utsumi
• Rikka Takarada

Neon Genesis Junior High Students

• Samurai・Calibur
• Max
• Vit
• Borr

Antagonists

• Alexis・Kerib
  • Giant Alexis・Kerib
• Akane Shinjo

Others

• Orie Takarada
• Namiko
• Hass
• Sakiru Tonkawa

Kaiju

• Venora
• Ghoulghilas
• Dévadadan
• Anti/Gridknight
• Gonglee
• Go'yavec
• Anosillus the 2nd
• Diriver
• Mecha Ghoulghilas
• Bujack
• Nanashi
• Zegga
• Anosillus

Cast

Character	Japanese	English
Yuta Hibiki	Yuya Hirose	Brandon McInnis
Gridman	Hikaru Midorikawa	Robert McCollum
Sho Utsumi	Soma Saito	Greg Ayres
Rikka Takarada	Yume Miyamoto	Jill Harris
Akane Shinjo	Reina Ueda	Lindsay Seidel
Samurai・Calibur	Ryosuke Takahashi	Ian Sinclair
Max	Katsuyuki Konishi	Cris George
Vit	Masaya Matsukaze	Chris Burnett
Borr	Aoi Yuki	Apphia Yu
Anti/Gridknight	Kenichi Suzumura	Stephen Fu
Alexis・Kerib	Tetsu Inada	Barry Yandell
Rikka's Mother	Mayumi Shintani	Anastasia Munoz
Namiko	Suzuko Mimori	Sarah Wiedenheft
Hass	Akari Kito	Amber Lee Connors
Sakiru Tonkawa	Kaede Yuasa	Dani Chambers
Anosillus the 2nd	Karin Takahashi	Monica Rial

Staff

• Director: Akira Amemiya
• Screenplay: Keiichi Hasegawa
• Character Design: Masaru Sakamoto
• Gridman Design: Masayuki Gotoh
• Alexis Design: Shigeto Koyama
• Kaiju Design: Shinji Nishikawa, Hiroshi Maruyama, Ichiro Itano, Shu Yamaguchi, Masahiro Maeda
• Assist Weapon Design: Tsuyoshi Nonaka
• Junk Design: Shota Sannomiya
• Heroic Drawing Chief: Muta Ouchi
• Assistant Director: Yoshiko Kaneko
• Sub Character Design: Mayumi Nakamura
• 3DCG Director: Shinichi Miyanei
• 3DCG Production: Graphinica
• Art Director: Yukihiro Watanabe
• Color Design: Nishida Takeda
• Director of Photography: Yamamoto Yayoi
• Editing: Yoshitake Masato
• Music: Shiro Sagisu
• Music Production: Pony Canyon
• Acoustic Supervision: Toshiki Kameyama
• Sound Effects: Yuko Morikawa
• Line Producer: Masato Takeuchi
• Animation Producer: Kazuya Masumoto
• Animation Production: TRIGGER

Music

Opening Theme

• UNION
  • Lyrics/Composition: Masayoshi Oishi
  • Arrangement: Tom-H@ck
  • Artist: OxT (Masayoshi Oishi x Tom-H@ck)

Ending Theme

• youthful beautiful
  • Lyrics/Composition: Ririko
  • Arrangement: Yusuke Shirato, Ririko
  • Artist: Maaya Uchida

Insert Themes

• Humanlove
  • Composition/Arrangement: Shiro Sagisu
  • Artist: Paul Lee
• Yume no Hero
  • Artist: Norio Sakai

Character Songs

• Only I Can
  • Lyrics: Yohei Matsui
  • Composition/Arrangement: Yuki Honda
  • Artist: Yuya Hirose (Yuta Hibiki)
• Ultra Theory
  • Lyrics: Yohei Matsui
  • Composition/Arrangement: Masaki Honda
  • Artist: Soma Saito (Sho Utsumi)
• Glass Tama
  • Lyrics: Ririko
  • Composition/Arrangement: Takenori Shibayama
  • Artist: Yume Miyamoto (Rikka Takarada)
• Motto Kimi wo Shiritai
  • Lyrics: Akira Amemiya
  • Composition/Arrangement: Shuho Mitani
  • Artist: Reina Ueda (Akane Shinjo)
• CODE "GRIDMAN"
  • Lyrics: Yohei Matsui
  • Composition: Daisuke Tsuchikawa
  • Arrangement: Ryo Takahashi
  • Artist: Hikaru Midorikawa (Gridman)
• My Way
  • Lyrics: Ririko
  • Composition: Yuto Minami
  • Arrangement: Ryo Takahashi
  • Artist: Kenichi Suzumura (Anti)
• INTERSECTION!
  • Lyrics: Erika Masaki
  • Composition: Atsushi Harada
  • Arrangement: Masatomi Waki
  • Artist: Masaya Matsukaze (Vit)
• Dig Dig Boooom!
  • Lyrics: Ririko
  • Composition/Arrangement: Hajime Mitsumasu
  • Artist: Aoi Yuki (Borr)
• Tooi Hi no Mirai
  • Lyrics/Composition/Arrangement: Kentaro Fuji
  • Artist: Katsuyuki Konishi (Max)
• Kokoro no Arika
  • Lyrics: Yohei Matsui
  • Composition/Arrangement: Takenori Shibayama
  • Artist: Ryosuke Takahashi (Samurai・Calibur)
• Xenon's Justice
  • Lyrics: Yohei Matsui
  • Composition/Arrangement: Yoshinobu Takeichi
  • Artists: Ryosuke Takahashi, Katsuyuki Konishi, Aoi Yuki & Masaya Matsukaze (Neon Genesis Junior High Students)
• Oh! My Hero!
  • Lyrics/Composition: Ririko
  • Arrangement: Shun Takahashi, Ririko
  • Artists: Suzuko Mimori (Namiko) & Akari Kito (Hass)
• Darken Red Sky
  • Lyrics: Erika Masaki
  • Composition/Arrangement: Atsuki Okuma
  • Artist: Tetsu Inada (Alexis・Kerib)

Home Media

The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray as 4 volumes from December 2018 to March 2019, as well as a Blu-ray set containing all 12 episodes on February 17, 2021. The compilation film version was also released on Blu-ray on September 27, 2023. The cover art for all six releases was illustrated by Masayuki Gotoh.

Vol.1 (episodes 1-3)

Vol.2 (episodes 4-6)

Vol.3 (episodes 7-9)

Vol.4 (episodes 10-12)

Blu-ray BOX

Compilation film

Spin-Offs

The popularity of the series has led to the development of a number of spin-offs. Among them are:

• Confirmed/Released:
  • Neon Genesis Junior High Students Diary : A comedy comic about the Neon Genesis Junior High Students. Written by Ahrico .
  • Hime and Samurai: A prequel story about Samurai・Calibur when he first went to Tsutsujidai. Written by Kei Toru .
  • Comicalize SSSS.GRIDMAN : A manga rendition of the series. Written by Yuki Konno .
  • SSSS.GRIDMAN NOVELIZATIONS: A novel series written by Yume Mizusawa , taking place after episode 8.
  • SSSS.GRIDMAN ANOTHER LOAD: Borr and Vitt travel to another world, taking on different roles. Written by Aya Satsuki .
  • Sengoku Gridman : Gridman somehow arrives in the Sengoku period. Written by Yuki Tamura .
  • SSSS.GRIDMAN: Neon Genesis Junior High Students Butler Cafe : One day, Rikka wakes up to find out that Junk Shop Aya had been remade into a cafe, being run by the Neon Genesis junior High Students, who have become butlers. Written by Misaki Sako .
  • Diaclone VS. Gridman: A short collaboration with Takara Tomy's Diaclone toyline.
  • Gridman Dogma : A story about a Hyper Agent named Vise who was left behind. He goes off on an adventure with a mysterious girl who can transform into a Gridman-like entity. Written by Danjun Satsuka .
• Cancelled:
  • A stage play that has since been cancelled indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • A manga about Akane that was cancelled after being stuck in development hell for over a year.

Gallery

Images

Videos

【完全新作！】『SSSS.GRIDMAN』TVアニメ製作決定！2018年秋放送予定

新アニメ『SSSS.GRIDMAN』公式PV第1弾！ - アニメジャパン2018 -

2018年10月放送・新アニメ『SSSS.GRIDMAN』公式PV第2弾！

10.6(土)~スタート！新番組『SSSS.GRIDMAN』放送直前PV！

SSSS.GRIDMAN放送開始ほぼ２周年記念生放送~君は独りじゃない~

劇場総集編『SSSS.GRIDMAN』本予告【2023.1.20(Fri)2週間限定上映】

Compilation film trailer

【SSSS.GRIDMAN】ノンクレジットOP／ OxT - UNION -clean OP--2

Opening

【SSSS.GRIDMAN】ノンクレジットED／ 内田真礼 - youthful beautiful -clean ED--2

Ending

Trivia

• The release of this series coincides with the 25th anniversary of Gridman the Hyper Agent, which premiered in 1993.
• To promote the premiere of the series, for a limited time starting 6 October, Gridman appeared on every screen in Akihabara Electric Town. A suit actor wearing a suit of the new Gridman also walked around town.
• Several elements of the series were reused and modified from a scrapped Gridman series, Gridman the Hyper Agent F. These include:
  • Yuta Hibiki appearing, as a classmate to Ippei Baba and bonds with Gridman (who may be another of his kind).
  • The main antagonist being Alexis・Kerib, who came from the Demon World as opposed to the Hyper World.
  • Akane working with Alexis.
• The Ultraman Series is an in-universe entertainment program and is referenced many times in several ways.
• This is not the first time in the Gridman franchise where the fight is taken to the "real world". That honor goes to Gridman the Hyper Agent: boys invent great hero, where Gridman Sigma appeared in a city at the end of the anime short, which was also produced by Studio Trigger and directed by Akira Amemiya.
• Most of the characters in the series have their designs based on characters in the Transformers franchise, mostly from Shattered Glass. Expanding on this, every main protagonist has blue eyes and the antagonists have red eyes, similar to how Transformers' eyes are color coded according to their allegiance.
  • Yuta Hibiki is based on the Classics version of the character Cliffjumper, since his Shattered Glass equivalent did not play much of a role in the story and was killed early in the story. Classics Cliffjumper, on the other hand, was the main focus character due to being displaced into the alternate setting.
• Several characters in the show have their names inspired by the names of toy manufacturers; Hass (Hasbro), Kena (Kenner), Sakiru Tonkawa (Tonka), Namiko (Bandai Namco), Toiko (ToyCo), Takarada (TakaraTomy) and Doi Hako (Toy Box).
• The series' Opening and Ending songs were awarded First and Third places respectively in AniUta's top 100 anime songs for October 2018. UNION also won First place again in November 2018.
• The SSSS in the name was included as a reference to the American adaptation of the original series, "Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad".
  • According to the twelfth and final episode, the SSSS actually stands for "Special Signature to Save a Soul" within the show itself.
• SSSS.GRIDMAN managed to win the 50th Seiun Award. The physical award itself was given to the show's director, Akira Amemiya.

External Links

• Official website
• April Fools' Day website
• English Trailer
• Twitter account
• Crunchyroll page