Gridman Anime Announcement, My Thoughts

In 1993, Tsuburaya Productions (the company known for Ultraman) released the live-action series called Gridman the Hyper Agent. It was a tokusatsu series ("tokusatsu" is basically a Japanese term for a live-action series that uses lots of special effects), going under the subgenre of "Kyodai Hero" or "Giant Hero". "Giant Hero" series involved robots or superheroes that could grow to giant size to fight monsters. Ultraman is considered the Ur example of it.

Gridman did come over to the US...in an altered form. In the 90s, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers fever was at an all time high. Yours truly was among many kids who loved the colorful heroes and their giant dinosaur robots that could combine together. I never was able to get a Megazord and Dragonzord as a kid...

Anyway, ABC would bring Gridman to the US, give it the Power Rangers treatment, and release it as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Yes, it's supposed to be spelled that way. The series lasted for one season in syndication.

Well, on YouTube, I got this announcement.

That's right, Gridman is coming back as an anime! Called SSSS Gridman (I'm guessing the four Ss are a nod to Syber-Squad. Yes, that is spelled correctly), it's coming to Funimation's streaming service.

My memories of Syber-Squad (YES, it's the correct spelling), are actually quiet limited. I don't really remember watching the show regularly. I do remember I saw some episodes. I don't think the series was really that good. It probably wasn't, writing-wise. Tim Curry must have needed the money.

What I remember is the toys. My cousin had quite a few of the toys, and I adored them. He had Servo (What Gridman was called in the US), as well as the three vehicular Programs: A drill tank called Borr, a mini tank called Tracto, and a fighter jet called Vitor. The three robots could form a robot called Zenon, or armor for Servo. Looking back, I have to admit, I do think the names for the three vehicles were kind of stupid. You can tell there was not a lot of effort put in to naming these things.

He also had this big red dragon called Drago. The dragon was formed from a jet called Torb, and a mini-jet called Jamb. Yeah, I know. The names were kind of dumb. The dragon could also form an armor with a dragon-headed bazooka for Servo. I wonder why he had two different armors. Did they do different things or grant different additional abilities?

He also had Servo's weapon, a sword-and-shield that could become an axe, and in our imaginations, a laser blaster. Always handy to have an extra weapon.

I have to admit, the idea of Gridman making a return does fascinate me. I never watched the original, but I would love to give this new version a looksee.