"Hey! The three of us and Gridman beat that thing! You know what? We definitely need a name for ourselves! Something like "The Gridman Alliance"!"
- ―Sho Utsumi forming the Gridman Alliance, Awakening
Sho Utsumi is Yuta Hibiki's friend and one of the lead supporting characters in SSSS.GRIDMAN. He is the founder of the Gridman Alliance, and knowledge about the Ultra Series and its various tropes makes him an unlikely asset to the team.
History
SSSS.GRIDMAN
When Yuta lost his memories and forgot where he lived, Rikka Takarada got Sho's help via Yuta's phone to discover his address, so she could escort him home. In the morning, Sho arrived at his house to pick Yuta up to school, where he was told about Gridman, which piqued his interest. The two went to Rikka's shop/house to see Gridman but only Yuta could see anything. When Ghoulghilas attacked, Sho and Rikka witnessed Yuta get sucked into the computer and transform into Gridman to fight. However when he was losing, Sho realized the monster's neck was a weak point, after remembering seeing its skin flake under. When Rikka informed Yuta of this, he was able to defeat the monster. Awakening
Noticing that weird things were happening the next day, such as the school being instantly rebuilt, everyone forgetting about some of their classmates as well as the battle between Gridman and Ghoulghilas, Sho called for a meeting at the Junk Shop and wanted to investigate the cases. However, after discovering that the missing people had their history altered, Dévadadan attacked.Restoration
One week later, he and Yuta notice Rikka's absence from school so he gets Yuta to (accidentally) call her but she doesn't pick up. He also points out, as a joke, that the kaiju they have been fighting against may actually be humans, though that unsettles Yuta. When Anti appears, Yuta is hesitant to fight when Anti talks, which reminds him of what Sho said earlier. This allows Anti to defeat Gridman easily. He and Rikka go to check Yuta's house, but decide not to when they think of the possibility of Yuta being forgotten just like the rest of the dead students. Frsutrated, Sho almost disbands the Gridman Alliance the next day but was stopped by the timely arrival of the Neon Genesis Junior High Students, who said that Gridman, Calibur and Yuta were alive. After they returned, he watched Gridman fight Anti.Defeat
Later on, he was directly approached by Akane, who wanted to get information about Yuta from him. Despite her prying him for clues, Sho managed to dodge her questions until she got tired of it and left. Contact Yuta tries to explain to him what he heard of Akane from Anosillus the 2nd, but he refuses to believe him, saying that his story is too far-fetched and ridiculous. After seeing a city in the sky during Gridman's battle did he start to have some faith in what Yuta said. Scheme
As the day of the school's Culture Festival drew closer, Yuta, Rikka and Sho decided to confront Akane directly and she shows off her newest kaiju, Mecha Ghoulghilas, and dares the trio to try to stop her, confident that they would fail. Seeing not much choice other than to fight, Yuta and Sho come up with a plan which was to make Gridman and the Assist Weapons sortie at only half their size so that they can all fight together. However, Rikka cannot bring herself to fight her friend. This sparks an argument between Rikka and Sho, with Yuta and Gridman being on middle ground. Understanding Rikka's feelings, Yuta and Sho try to persuade Akane into not unleashing Mecha Ghoulghilas, so that they may have a peaceful resolution, but she disagrees. The next day, Full Powered Gridman easily defeated Mecha Ghoulghilas. After that, he dressed up in a maid outfit for the school Culture Festival and apologized to Rikka. Confrontation
Sho was trapped in a dream world during Bujack's attack, wherein history was rewritten so that the monster attacks never happened and all of Akane's desires were fulfilled. He spends time with Akane talking about Ultra Kaiju and even goes with her to buy toys, and planned to watch Ultraman: The Adventure Begins with her. Eventually, he realizes it is all just a dream since too many good things were happening consecutively, though he says that they could have been friends if they actually met that way. Sho remembers the events that happened in the real world and rush over to Yuta and Rikka, and then Gridman wakes the three of them up.Dream Hearing from Rikka that the city and everyone in it were made by Akane and her kaiju, Sho starts to worry and doubt his own memories. Arriving at Akane house next door to confront her, Max forces the door open, revealing a place not unlike the city in the sky. Even though no new kaiju show up for over a week, Sho gets a feeling that something bad will happen. Regardless, he had to study for a test. After Gridman faces another kaiju, he witnessed Akane stabbing Yuta.Collapse He and Rikka stayed by Yuta's side during his hospitalization and when Anti visited, Sho wanted to beat him for having taken the lives of many when he was still a kaiju, but Sho couldn't bring himself to do it. He was then disgusted in himself for actually enjoying seeing Gridman fight. After Yuta woke up and was taken over by Gridman, Sho pleaded him/them not to go after Akane because he feared for Yuta's safety, but was ultimately unable to stop him.Decisive Battle
Still in the hospital, Yuta and Rikka had to convince him to come back to the Junk Shop for one last fight. Eventually, everyone is gathered and Gridman transforms into his true form. Sho and the Gridman Alliance to heal Akane while Gridman fired his Grid Fixer Beam.
After the final battle, he wanted to talk to Akane but missed his chance to do so. Gridman and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students say goodbye but he requests that if Gridman were to come back, he should dwell in Sho instead so that he wouldn't have to say another painful goodbye. He then watched over Yuta, as he woke up in the Junk Shop.Awakening (Finale)
Data
- Height: 176 cm
- Weight: 78 kg
- Age: 15 years
- Date of Birth: 1 December, 2002
- Blood Type: O
Powers and Weapons
- Telepathic Link: For a brief time after Ghoulghilas' attack, he could see Gridman on Junk as well, but could not hear him.
- Mediumship: Sho has the ability to see Gridman in his computer and the Venoras the day after his first experience of a kaiju attack.
Trivia
- Sho's closest equivalent to Denkou Choujin Gridman is Ippei Baba, the assistant of Naoto Sho, as he helped designing and controlling several of the Assist Weapons to aid Gridman in combat.
- Sho is a fan of the Ultra Series and makes several remarks to the franchise. This is an irony, as the original Gridman is sponsored by Takara and incorporated various tributes to mecha anime that are sponsored by said toy company, since Tsuburaya Productions is now selling toys via Takara's rival, Bandai.
- His given name Sho is a homonym to Naoto's family name.
- Like other characters, Sho's color scheme is based on a character from Transformers Shattered Glass, in particular, Shattered Glass Sideswipe. Sho's shirt is the same general color and like Sideswipe's chest and sports a purple insignia with a slash through it.
- His binoculars are also based off of another Transformers toy.
- It is heavily hinted that Sho likes Akane, but he is too afraid to admit it. Instead, he says that she is "too unapproachable" despite calling her a miracle girl that everyone likes.
- According to the voice drama episodes:
- Sho says that he wants to be a voice actor some day, though this may just be a cover-up for Gridman speaking when he wasn't supposed to.Restoration#Voice Drama 2.2
- The shoulder part of his backpack spells out "TURBO", reinforcing his design reference to the aforementioned Transformers character. Because of this, Namiko and Hass gave him the nickname "Turbo-senpai".Defeat#Voice Drama 3.3