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「果たせぬ願いって、なに？」 (Hatasenu negai tte, nani?)
“What Is This Unfilfilled Wish?”
This was a very interesting turn of events for SSSS.Dynazenon, containing some twists which were pretty heavily telegraphed and others which were a little more surprising. The question of how the series was going to frame the final battle – and there pretty much had to be one – was an interesting unknown. I figured Shizumu had to be integral but I didn’t see things playing out exactly as they did here. By this point in SSSS.Gridman we pretty well knew Akane was the top boss, and were just in the process of finding out why. But she dominated the narrative in a way Shizimu has not with Dynazenon.
For a good while there it looked like we were in full wind-down mode. Yomogi-kun conquering the wayback machine seemed to have wiped out all the kaiju seeds, in the process eliminating the need for Dynazenon – not to mention Gridknight. That leaves a big hole in everybody’s lives, each of them dealing with them in their own way. Koyomi actually decides to get a job, which leaves Chise in stunned disbelief. She takes the cue and goes back to school, or at least tries to – but that’s not as easy as it sounds (and it doesn’t even sound easy). The Eugenicists seem to admit defeat, Onija declaring his intent to fight on (“I’ll just kill people myself”).
Chise gets hit with a double-whammy here, as Anti and Anoshiras prepare to take their leave, and tell her that Goldburn needs to go with them. Chise can see the logic of it – Goldburn doesn’t belong in a kaiju-free world – but emotionally it’s not so easy. As for the main couple in all but name, Yume asks Yomogi to join her in visiting her sister’s grave – and in order to do so he breaks a dinner date with his mom and her boyfriend.
It’s interesting to see this storyline seemingly resolved two eps before the end. Yume has clearly come to terms with what happened, and just as clearly wants Yomogi at her side. The graveyard scene is an interesting one, especially for me the part where the kids are talking about the frustrations of parents. Yomogi’s angst has been kind of a cipher for the first ten episodes, and it really is as straightforward as it seemed – he’s got a very normal first world teen problem that really pales in comparison to what Yume is dealing with. His mom may be getting remarried, and he’s unhappy about it. And he even admits the boyfriend isn’t a bad guy. Maybe saying it out loud to the woman he loves will be the key to realizing he’s actually pretty lucky all things considered.
Gauma was pretty obviously in bad shape last week and that mark on his body has been growing for a while, so it certainly wasn’t a shock to find out he was dying. He never really should have been alive at all, but the thing is that if he can’t meet the princess anyway, this whole experience seems kind of hollow from his perspective. There’s certainly no question he was much needed to fight the Kaiju Eugenicists, but was that the only reason he was brought back? The sense of Gauma as a tragic figure has been growing for a whole now, but these latest developments truly cast him in a sad light.
I’m glad the kids seem to be appreciating Gauma for the bro he is at this late hour, at least. And he certainly has one more role to fulfill here, protecting Yume and Yomogi from an attack he suspects is coming from Shizumu. That Shizumu was unlike the other Eugenicists was never in doubt, but now we know why – he actually had a kaiju inside him. Anti clearly suspected too, as he stuck around long enough for Shizumu to show his true colors. So now the final battle has more or less been joined – though I wonder about the role of the other Eugenicists. Onija aside I’m not sure they’ll be keen to support Shizumu here, as he was deceiving them as much as anyone else, and he seems to have raised the carnage level to a striking degree…
Yay, Yomogi finally got to confess! Too bad Yume was interrupted right when she was going to respond. A part of me is wondering if she was going to turn him down, despite how things were building up.
Interesting how Mujina claims to despise Koyomi, even though it clearly doesn’t look like it. I assume it’s because, for all of his issues, he’s trying to move forward with his life., something she, and really all of the Eugenicists, can’t seem to do. And that really is what separates them from the Gauma Team, the good guys.
They actually used (distorted) footage and audio from Episode 18 of Denkou Choujin Gridman just to prove that Gauma really was that mummy (which the subtitles mistake for “mirror”) the whole time. It’ll be sad if he’s never able to be reunited with her.
P.S. Here’s what I assume will be the final Dynazenon voice drama (aside from the ones that’ll come with the Blu-Rays). Just Yomogi talking with his dad (who shockingly sounds like he’s voiced by the same VA as Shizumu, making him sound younger than his own son): https://streamable.com/3tx324
P.P.S. The soundtrack will be released 2 days before the final episode airs, and I am really looking forward to “All This Time” (the song from the second PV), and it’s alternative version that played during some of the battles (I assume it to be “All This metal”).
11.11 is very likely the last free voice drama release.
Bluray 4’s release (for this October) mentions an exclusive Ep 12 voice drama (together with dramas 10.01 & 11.11).
https://dynazenon.net/product/bd/bd4/
I suspect it’ll bookend the finale’s events, just like Gridman’s Bluray voice drama 12.12.
11.11’s also a callback to Gridman’s 2.9 voice drama, where Alexis takes out Akane and Anti for dinner.
https://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/12/ssssgridman-voice-drama-episode-29.html
Blurays 1-3 also have their own voice dramas, Ep 3/1, Ep √36 and Ep 9+1 respectively.
https://dynazenon.net/product/
I don’t know if I’m off or not, but my impression is that Kano was the princess, meaning she had already passed away. As you might know, this episode revealed that the Princess had something to give to Gauma, but he died before that happened, and maybe it was the ankhs that she and now Yume carries with her. If Gauma does die next week after all, I see him reuniting with the princess if she is indeed Kano.
Interesting. I’ve been wondering about the ankhs and yours is a pretty good theory about why they might be integral to the story, especially given the timelines. When this is all over, I’m gonna have to watch again with an eye to the use of such symbols throughout the show.
Oooh, didn’t think about that!
I thought the princess already gave Gauma what she wanted to give.
The cloth bag containing Dynazenon.
The voice helped give it to Gauma on behalf.
Don’t know whose voice said those words in Gauma’s memory.
2nd? 1st?
The voice in Gauma’s memory is that of Yuka, a character from the live-action 90s Gridman.
They used actual audio and distorted footage from its Ep 18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_4KNAarUM
The context is that an ancient mummy was revived following the villains’ virus attack on the research facility housing it. The mummy starts rampaging around looking for his princess and mistakes Yuka for her, but she’s able to placate him telling him that his princess is no longer alive and gives him the dragon statue from the grave goods provided.
The implication that Gauma = the live-action mummy.
Cool!
Never thought much about the distorted footage.
Hmm, I would be inclined to say that Gauma is this universe’s mummy.
But the footage…
Is it just a tribute or something more?
Timeline branch? Dimension leakage?
Or did this anime happen after the live-action? Still 5000 years, not 5001 years or something lol.
Hope there will be an explanation.
SSSS.Gridman has that surprise that Gridman turns to live-action Gridman.
Wonder how SSSS.Dynazenon will do it, suppose its this mummy stuff but I feel there can be more.
Calm before the storm lol
Wonder who planted the Kaiju seeds?
Oh so theres the mummy thing in the anime too.
Knight and 2nd have that very Japanese profesional politeness.
Befitting people in suits
Oh so the dark patch is decay.
Ok Knight can just use Dynazenon without pilots.
Sizumu is empowered after witnessing human emotions.
So the other 3 Kaiju users didn’t decay because they are connected to Sizumu?
Wonder will everyone give power to Super GridKnight and turn him all gold or something.
Somehow having Sizumu turn Kaiju doesn’t feel that endgame-ish.
That Kaiju last episode had a more epic extinction causing level.
Sizumu need to turn up the heat lol
But don’t cram too much and head for a rushed ending.
Wow if this show couldn’t get any worse. Some thoughts up to the end of Episode 11.
– Yomogi & Yume have no personality whatsoever and are so incredibly bland as characters. They wouldn’t be missed if they were poofed away.
– Gauma is your stereotypical hot headed guy with personal issues but very little motivation beyond meeting the “princess” and beating the Kaiju guys. They didn’t really do much with his character beyond his training the other characters and revealing he has a rivalry with the Eugenicists.
– They overused Knight on this show and it felt like his presence overshadowed the cast. Him combining with Dynazenon rendered the other characters useless. Though I would guess with the power of love and friendship blah blah they will join him in the mech and they’ll one hit kill the Kaiju dude.
– Kaiju Eugenicists were nothing more than props for your Kaiju of the week and had very little depth to the characters. I think as bad guys they were pretty terrible. If there’s some big game changer next week I dont think that will change.
Totally get if some of you love the show because its from Trigger but its really poorly done. It felt like at times they wanted to make the show Gridman Season 2. This crossover stuff dragged out way too long.
Because its from Trigger? In my case, it’s IN SPITE of it being from Trigger; Gridman and Dynazenon are thus far the only shows they’ve made that I actually enjoy. And I’m actually enjoying the latter even more than the former.
Out of all the points you’ve made, I’d say the one I agree with the most was with Gridknight kind of stealing the spotlight. But as somebody who did enjoy seeing how Knight has grown from when he was called Anti, it never got too annoying for me. Honestly, overusing Dyna Rex before he showed up was probably the worst part of the show for me.
Yomogi and Yume’s dynamic, particularly with how the series shows them getting closer in a subtle way, ended up being what I looked forward to most as the show went on, even more so than the amazingly choreographed fights. She helped him get his priorities straight, while he helped her open up (I doubt she would be so open to showing off her quirkier side if he didn’t). Sure, they may not be over-the-top, but saying that they have no personality makes me wonder if we’re even watching the same show.
Gauma was the character I enjoyed the most from the get-go, as while he tended to be really loud and not the brightest bulb, it was easy to tell he had a good heart, which was easy to tell with his interactions with Yomogi and Koyomi. And I personally found him the funniest character by a mile, but that didn’t stop me from feeling for him when I saw just how down he was here.
As far as the Eugencists go, I feel like they did their job in giving a slightly more human face to the enemy whilst also serving as a contrast to the heroes. The writers did a good enough job making me pity them without trying paint them as more sympathetic than they came across as (unlike with Akane). So I’m interesting in seeing how they end up.