The first episode of "SSSS.GRIDMAN" depicts the exploits of the main character Yuta, who is suddenly faced with a mission to fight a giant monster. The absolute threat of the monster and the flow of how he acquires the ability to become a giant in order to confront it are reminiscent of the "Ultraman" series, and are an exciting development for fans of special effects.
Ghoulgilas
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
Appears in the first episode, "Awakening". Also known as: Kien Banjō Kaiju. It is characterized by a long neck that extends at a right angle to its body, and the head at the end of it is shaped like a dragon. In addition, the wire used for the figure's frame is exposed in the large horns on its back, and the wire on its arms and legs is also used to form claws. Its weapon is a fireball that it fires from its mouth. This fireball is fired in a curved trajectory like a ball, and basically explodes the moment it hits the ground, destroying a wide area in one go.
Achievements
After appearing, it ravaged the town of Tsutsujidai where Hibiki Yuta and his friends live, causing great damage to the town. However, in the middle of this, it clashed with Gridman, who had merged with Yuta. Yuta was not used to fighting, and Gridman was not optimized at this point, so he was unable to fully demonstrate his abilities, and so he was able to advance in the battle with the upper hand.
Devadadan
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
Appears in the second episode, "Repair and Restoration." A monster with staggered eyeballs attached inside a dome-shaped transparent head. Also known as the Karma Monster. It has a distinctive body pattern that resembles a board, and shoots pale blue laser beams from the spines that unfold from the round part on its chest, shattering nearby objects. It can also absorb the opponent's beams and add them to the laser.
Action
A monster created to take revenge on its homeroom teacher, who ran into it while walking and using his smartphone, but didn't even apologize. It swept away the surroundings with a laser beam, attempting to kill the teacher, but failed when Gridman barged in. It was hit by a grid beam immediately after being thrown high, but it absorbed the beam and used the added laser to corner Gridman.
Gonguri
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
Appears in episode 4, "Doubts and Hearts." Also known as the Asakumo-Kureme Kaiju. It is an insect-like monster with a huge eye on the top of its head and a huge face on the part that would be its foot, and it attacks or captures its opponents by releasing glowing tentacles like bundles of cords from various parts of its body. As a countermeasure against Gridman, instead of blowing away the target and its surroundings as in the past, it creates a mist to hide itself and kills its targeted opponents one by one with its tentacles.
Achievements
Appearing in the middle of the night, its stealth tactics worked, and it attacked and killed Arcadia members Takato, Imai, and Ari one by one without being detected by Gridman. After that, it fought Gridman who had been dispatched, and put up a good fight, such as immobilizing Gridman with its tentacles.
Goyabek
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
Appears in episode 5, "Provocation and Explosion." Also known as the troubled monster. It is a monster that looks like a mountain of rocks and forests with arms, legs and a face, and is characterized by a large mouth and small red eyes reminiscent of an alligator snapping turtle. The tip of its tail is shaped like a tree root. Its overwhelming size makes Gridman and Anti, who are about 50 meters tall, look small, and it is not easily affected by minor attacks. It uses its large size to attack with mass and fire bullets from the crater on its back as weapons, but on the other hand, its movements are quite sluggish due to its large size.
Achievements
It appeared in the mountains where Gridman went on a field trip to lure him out. It attacked the surrounding area with the fire bullets on its back, but since Junk was not nearby, Hibiki Yuta was unable to transform into Gridman, and it did not make any noticeable movements for a while. After Gridman appeared, he and Anti cornered him by the difference in mass.
Giriba
Unlike previous monsters, this monster was created by Anti, not by Akane Shinjo, and materialized by Alexis Kerib. Alexis calls it "Anti's idea." It has a black and silver devil-like appearance with horns, and compared to the monsters created by Akane, it has fewer details, making it less charming and more vicious.
Activities
At night, he creates a disk on Tsutsujidai, throwing the surrounding area into chaos. After that, Gridman rushes to his aid and destroys the disk several times with his grid beam, but he quickly creates another disk and toyed with Gridman. The radar of Sky Gridman, who has combined with Sky Vitter, sees through the trick of the thread and realizes that the real body is in the sky. He confronts Gridman in the sky, and stands up to him together with Anti, who has also transformed into a flying form.
Monster Girl Anosillas
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
As her name suggests, her true identity is a genuine monster. Although she only appears in human form, she is treated the same as other monsters, such as appearing on the cover of the script, and is introduced on the official website under the "Monsters Appearing" page rather than the "Characters" page. She was not created by Akane Shinjo, but has been there since before the town of Tsutsujidai, where Yuta and his friends live, was born.
Mysterious Monster
She contacts Yuta under the pretense of a date. She tells him the truth that the monsters that appear in Tsutsujidai are created by Akane Shinjo, that there is a mastermind who instigated them, and that the town of Tsutsujidai itself was created by Akane. After that, when Yuta asks her why she is telling him such things, she leaves with the cryptic words, "Thank you for taking care of my predecessor."
Anti
Source: SSSS.GRIDMAN ⒸTsuburaya Productions/TRIGGER, Amemiya Satoshi/"GRIDMAN" Production Committee
A character who was called "mysterious boy" in the key visuals and official website before the broadcast. He is a boy with silver hair, white eyes, and a small build. He wears a long scarf around his neck and a school uniform-like outfit decorated with purple flame patterns. He first appeared in the third episode, "Hai・Kita". His true identity is an "auto-intelligence monster" created by Shinjo Akane and Alexis Kerib as an assassin to fight Gridman, and he has both human and monster forms.
Achievements
When transforming, he grows huge on the spot with a loud roar and reveals his true form. His weapons are his quick movements and the purple light bullets that are emitted from the yellow light-emitting parts all over his body. The light bullets are highly versatile, as they can be fired all at once to create a barrage, scattered in the air to avoid flares, or concentrated to emit a single thick beam. There is a time limit for him to stay in monster form, and there are many cases in the play where he is fighting Gridman on equal terms but is unable to settle the score and is forced to retreat.
Summary
Comments from each cast member on "SSSS.GRIDMAN" include "I hope this will be an opportunity for fans of the special effects Gridman and fans of the anime studio TRIGGER to get to know each other," said Inada, and "The staff's enthusiasm is incredible, and even a girl like me can really enjoy this work!" said Miyamoto, so the expectations are high. Even if you're not a special effects fan, you can enjoy it, so be sure to check out "SSSS.GRIDMAN" in anime form.
