Move Aside Gridman, Dynazenon Wants In!
Contains Spoilers
Introduction and Story
Yomogi Asanaka has only one concern in his adolescent mind, is he falling for the quiet—but popular—Yume Minami? While that thought burns in Yomogi’s mind, a strange meeting occurs in the form of a seemingly homeless man named Gauma. After “rescuing” Gauma from hunger, the stranger presents himself as a Kaiju User who is looking to defeat kaiju before they can destroy the city. At first, Yomogi thinks this comment is nothing more than nonsense coming from a weirdo but soon he learns that Gauma’s words echo truth. Forced to fight as a pilot for the strange robot Dynazenon, Yomogi must now worry about a larger issue than his love life…
SPOILERS AHEAD
Surprisingly Fun Sequel
Those who loved SSSS.Gridman as much as we did probably were fearful when they heard a second season was releasing, worried it would have new characters, new robots, and a new main team. Don’t feel bad, here at Honey’s Anime, we had similar doubts and worries. Thankfully, SSSS.DYNAZENON shocked us all by delivering a sequel that was quite enjoyable despite lacking a lot of SSSS.Gridman concepts.
Yes, SSSS.DYNAZENON relies little on the original SSSS.Gridman world—there are cameos and plenty of references still to be found—but maybe this is for the better. The new cast of heroes has a lot more diversity to them and we loved witnessing their backstories—despite how quick they end up being—develop as the series progressed. We did miss the more Power Ranger-esque feel of SSSS.Gridman but SSSS.DYNAZENON beats to its own drum and that helps it feel like a retread of previously seen content.
DYNAZENON Is Incredible
While Gridman was an impressive machine and Gridknight—who does reappear in SSSS.DYNAZENON—equally kicked some serious kaiju butt, Dynazenon is easily one of our favorite machines from a mecha anime. The various ways Dynazenon can transform and combine are always fun to witness and rarely don’t impress. Studio Trigger—who did the animation for SSSS.Gridman—returns stronger than ever with amazing special effects and eye-grabbing visuals only they can deliver. When Dynazenon pulled off the combined form seen in episode 9, we all got goosebumps and were grinning from ear to ear, that is just how epic Dynazenon is in our honest opinions.
Lackluster Kaiju and Ho-Hum Villains
Sadly, one of the weakest elements of SSSS.DYNAZENON—and the reason many will dislike the series most likely—are the weak kaiju and villains in this sequel. SSSS.Gridman hit us hard with impressive kaiju creations from Akane Shinjou’s mind and Akane and Alexis Kerib were both excellent villains, even if Akane did redeem herself at the end. Sadly, SSSS.DYNAZENON isn’t as fortunate in either department. Both the kaiju in the series and the so-called Kaiju Eugenicists aren’t that impressive and semi-ruin the plot of the series.
As colorful as the kaiju are in SSSS.DYNAZENON, their designs are very…cartoony and not that threatening. They do destroy buildings and cause a lot of damage but they just look silly and goofy in comparison to SSSS.Gridman’s main kaiju threats. The Kaiju Eugenicists also aren’t that noteworthy as their character development takes far too long to get going and never makes them evil enough. Ironically, as we meet the various Eugenicists, we see them more as humans and less as villains. Overall, SSSS.DYNAZENON fails to grant us with a much-needed main threat in the series and that truly hinders the overall enjoyment of this sequel.
Side Character Shaft
Do you like Chise Asukagawa, Koyomi Yamanaka, and/or any of the returning cast from SSSS.Gridman? Well, we have some bad news for you readers. Don’t expect those characters to be well developed as they never really are. Koyomi is given this semi-dark backstory—where you learned he loves a now-married woman—but that story ends up feeling rushed and overly simplified.
Even Chise is given a minor part despite how much her early role seems impactful. Yes, she gains the kaiju dubbed Goldburn but again, this is a rushed plot point that feels shoehorned in. SSSS.DYNAZENON biggest sin hands down is that it has too many characters that could have been developed further but end up getting thrown to the side for the main pairing of Yomogi/Chise and Gauma.
Final Thoughts
SSSS.DYNAZENON is a fun sequel but is equally quite flawed. While the animation is still quite stellar and the mecha action rocks just as hard in SSSS.DYNAZENON, the main cast of characters and the new enemies feel underdeveloped. SSSS.DYNAZENON tries to up the ante in this sequel but just fails to deliver the same experience we received from SSSS.Gridman. Overall, it’s a sequel worth watching for those who loved SSSS.Gridman but don’t expect it to rise above the original.
Did you have differing thoughts on SSSS.DYNAZENON? Let us know your love/hate for SSSS.DYNAZENON in the comments below. Don’t leave our hive just yet as we still have plenty of other anime reviews to be read from our amazing hive that is Honey’s Anime!
Author: Aaron
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