''SSSS.Gridman'' (stylized as ''SSSS.GRIDMΛN'') is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation of the 1993–1994 ''

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, war, fantasy, or horror media featuring such technology but is someti ...

'' series '' Denkou Choujin Gridman''. The production is a joint collaboration between

Tsuburaya Productions is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007, when the family sold the company to advertising agency TYO Inc. The studio is best known for producin ...

, the production company behind ''Gridman'' and the ''

Ultra Series ''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with ''Ultra Q'' and then ''Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is one ...

'', and

Trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * Mike Coppola (mobster), "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American ...

. It was broadcast for 12 episodes from October to December 2018. A sequel, titled '' SSSS.Dynazenon'', was broadcast from April to June 2021.

Synopsis

The story focuses on Yūta Hibiki, an amnesiac first-year high school student living in the fictional Japanese city of Tsutsujidai. He meets the Hyper Agent Gridman in an old computer, who states that the boy has a mission he must fulfill; Yūta sets out to find the meaning to those words and his memory loss. The sudden appearance of

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

eventually changes the usual dynamics of Yūta and his classmates. Yūta is able to merge with Gridman to fight kaiju, but after the kaiju attack, people's memories are reset and those who die are forgotten. As the "Gridman Alliance", Yūta and his friends now seek to stop the kaiju and uncover the truth behind the disappearances, with assistance from mysterious friends of Gridman who can transform into weapons that Gridman can use in combat.

Broadcast and release

''SSSS.Gridman'' was announced during Studio Trigger's panel at

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first ...

2017, alongside ''

Darling in the Franxx , abbreviated as , is a 2018 Japanese science fiction monster romance anime television series co-produced by A-1 Pictures and Trigger and animated by Trigger and CloverWorks that premiered in January 2018. The series was announced at Trigg ...

'' and ''

Promare is a 2019 Japanese animated film co-produced by Trigger and XFLAG. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima. It features character and mecha designs by Shigeto Koyama, 3DCG animation by Sanzigen, and music by Hiroy ...

''. Trigger described the show as "their anime take on the tokusatsu series", with an original storyline unrelated to the earlier live-action series. During Tokyo Comic Con 2017, more details about the show were provided, including the main staff, October 2018 premiere, Masayuki Gotou as Gridman's character designer, and voice actor

Hikaru Midorikawa is a Japanese voice actor from Otawara, Tochigi who is represented by Aoni Production. He is best known for the roles of Softon in ''Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo'', Tamahome in ''Fushigi Yûgi'', Seiran Shi in ''Saiunkoku Monogatari'', Gridman in ''Gridma ...

reprising his role as Gridman. On March 24, 2018, the official website revealed another visual and main voice cast details. During Studio Trigger's Anime Expo 2018 panel, Trigger acknowledged the differences between the US and Japanese releases of ''Gridman'', clarifying that ''SSSS.Gridman'' is a new show with the same concept. They emphasized that despite having an all-new story, ''SSSS.Gridman'' wasn't a reboot. Production of ''SSSS.Gridman'' took place alongside ''Promare''; staff related stories during the panel about production details for ''SSSS.Gridman'' being worked out during ''Promare'' meetings and vice versa. A special video featuring director Akira Amemiya was shown, emphasizing the story "would focus on the youth of Japan and their relationship to technology". The world premiere of the show took place after the panel ended. The series aired from October 7 to December 23, 2018. The series is directed by Akira Amemiya, written by

Keiichi Hasegawa is a Japanese screenwriter from Atami, Japan. History After graduating from Nihon University's Art Department with a degree in film studies, Hasegawa made his debut as an assistant director with the unreleased film ''Kuchita Teoshiguruma''. A ...

, and animated by

. Masayuki Gotou designed Gridman with Masaru Sakamoto handling the other character designs, many of which are directly inspired by characters from the ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms ...

'' franchise. Shirō Sagisu composes the music. The opening theme is "UNION" by

OxT OxT () is a Japanese musical group signed to Pony Canyon and Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. It consists of vocalist/guitarist Masayoshi Ōishi and guitarist , known professionally as Tom Hack (stylized as Tom-H@ck). The unit debuted in 2013, af ...

, and the ending theme is "youthful beautiful" by

Maaya Uchida is a Japanese voice actress and singer who works for I'm Enterprise. She won the Best Rookie Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. She is best known for her roles such as Rikka Takanashi in '' Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions'', Ranko Kanzaki ...

. During their Anime Expo 2018 panel,

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializ ...

announced they licensed the series for streaming on FunimationNow and an English dub. The anime was also licensed by Funimation in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The anime was simulcast by Crunchyroll in those countries. On December 14, 2019, a sequel series titled '' SSSS.Dynazenon'' was announced at Tsuburaya Production's own convention, Tsubucon. The animation project is a continuation of ''SSSS.Gridman'' set in the same shared "Gridman Universe". It premiered on April 2, 2021. On November 15, 2020, it was announced during an

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

YouTube livestream panel that the anime's English dub would premiere on the network's

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late night television programming block that primarily broadcasts Japanese animation and occasionally American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a d ...

programming block on January 17, 2021. A compilation film was released in cinema on January 20, 2023 before the premiere of '' Gridman Universe'' anime film.

Manga adaptations

On May 27, 2019, a manga adaptation and five manga spin-off adaptations were announced. The manga spin-offs announced were a comedy spin-off by Ariko, a spin-off centered around Samurai Calibur and a girl named Hime Kuzuki by Kei Toru, a then-untitled spin-off by Misaki Sano, a Sengoku-era spin-off by Yūki Tamura, and an untitled spin-off centered around Akane Shinjo by Shun Kazakami. The manga adaptation by Konno was serialized in

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

's ''

Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and title ...

'' website from November 30, 2019, to December 11, 2021. It has been collected in five ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' volumes. On October 26, 2019, the two spin-off manga adaptations by Ariko and Kei Toru began serialization in

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was poss ...

's ''

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Ma ...

'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Comic Alive is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Media Factory. The first issue was released on June 27, 2006. Serialized titles *'' Absolute Duo'' *'' Alice or Alice'' (until 2015, part of the supplement magazine '' Comic Cune'') *''Ano Ko ni ...

''. ''Shinseiki Chūgakusei Nikki'' ended serialization on October 27, 2020; ''Hime to Samurai'' ended on February 26, 2022. On May 2, 2020, the two spin-off manga adaptations by Yūki Tamura and Misaki Sano began serialization in

Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita on 10 August 1948. As of 2020, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. Magazines Male-oriented manga magazines ''Shōnen'' magazines * – Bi ...

's '' shōnen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese manga anthology. It is published by Akita Shoten since March 1970. Manga artists and series *Daijiro Morohoshi **''Mudmen'' * Hideo Azuma **'' Chibi Mama-chan'' **'' Kakuto Family'' **'' Yadorigi-kun'' * Hideyuki Yonehara **'' Cho ...

''. Both series ended serialization on April 6, 2021. On July 9, 2020, the planned manga spin-off adaptation by Shun Kazakami was cancelled due to creative differences. A manga spin-off written and illustrated by Hazumu Sazuka, titled ''Gridman Dogma'', was serialized in

Shinchosha is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award. Books * Haruki Murakami: '' Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' (19 ...

's ''Kurage Bunch'' website from April 13, 2021 to April 26, 2022.

Notes

References

External links

SSSS.GRIDMAN
* {{Toonami Adult Swim 2018 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Akita Shoten manga Anime composed by Shirō Sagisu Anime with original screenplays Crunchyroll anime Funimation Mecha anime and manga Media Factory manga Seinen manga Shinchosha manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Studio Trigger Television shows about virtual reality Toonami Tsuburaya Productions Wowow original programming