Grendizer U Ep 1 Review: A first episode of mixed feelings

July 9, 2024Episode Review,  Mecha Discussion,  ,  
Grendizer U is an anime project for Super Robot fans, especially fans of Dynamic Pro. robots, have been waiting for a long time. This is partly because it has been a while since there was an anime about Grendizer and partly because the staff and voice actors are very prominent. However, after all the promotion hyping up the fans, the actual product was somewhat disappointing, but not without some hope.

The first thought when I started watching episode 1 was, “Where has all the budget gone?” because what immediately caught my eye was a lot of animations that weren’t good at all. Characters and objects look flat, do not blend well with the background and have lots of still frames. A typical example is when Sayaka and her flying car flew over Doublas M2. I felt like the animators just slid a PNG slowly across the screen.

The visual direction of the opening is not very impressive: the imagery is quite weak, there are many cuts that are not animated well, and the editing is a bit awkward. For example, the scene introducing the Mazinger girls along with their names and the machines they will pilot. Compared to similar scenes from the openings of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny – where the MS knife dancing, sword dancing, and shooting cuts place quickly and to the rhythm of the song, creating a dynamic feeling, the cuts of each female pilot’s last too long and don’t feel as dynamic. Not to mention their animation is quite stiff, it looks like they just appeared and immediately flew behind. The entire OP consists of 50% footage from the show, 25% Fukuda’s familiar tricks and 25% callbacks to UFO Robot Grendizer’s old OP/ED, so I think only fans of Fukuda or Grendizer can dig this opening.

The deeper I got into the episode, the more I noticed many errors or bad animations, such as the scene where Daisuke’s motorbike passes right over the wreckage of another bike or the fireworks scene filmed in real life. The Pilder On and Scrander Cross scenes were storyboarded quite safely, and the animation wasn’t very good, so it didn’t leave much of an impression on me.

More than halfway through the episode, the animation quality improved in the Mazinger Z fight scene: the 3D model of Mazinger Z moved smoothly and dynamically. I really just needed that, and they at least delivered it. The shading and effects in the battle scene are also done at an acceptable level, and the storyboard, layout, and editing are also very dynamic. Besides that, I have no opinion about the Dizer On scene, but the Space Thunder scene really went hard.

The ending of the episode is really great. The imagery is much stronger in the ending than in the opening. When they synced “Nando datte” with Rubina and Teronna’s mouths, it really gave me a chill. When it comes to the cel-shaded animation cut in the chorus, that’s when I can answer the question, “Where has all the budget gone?” it’s just so peak. Kudos to Shun Kudou, director of the ending.

The plot of episode 1 is okay, in my opinion: although the pacing is really fast, speeding up the plot to get to the battle scene is what I like. Who doesn’t like watching robots fighting each other? Am I right? Ichiro Okouchi and Shun Kudo wrote the battle developments very well. I like the fact that Mazinger Z and Kouji Kabuto, despite being weaker compared to the Vega army, still did not give up. The scriptwriter and episode director also had some great ideas, which were having Mazinger Z throw Rocket Punch backwards to suddenly jump up and catch the enemy and adding the sounds of civilians cheering for Mazinger Z when the guardian fell down.

In terms of design, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s character designs are really beautiful. Every female character looks very waifu-ish, especially Sayaka. The only thing I find confusing about the character design is that they gave Kouji’s pilot helmet a visor that covers his whole face instead of leaving his mouth open like the classic suit. This is really an unnecessary change.

In terms of music, GLAY’s “Kaishin no Ichigeki” and Band Maid’s “Protect You” are both great, but what I was looking forward to is soundtracks composed by Kohei Tanaka, one of my favourite composers, especially when he composes Super Robot music, and he did not disappoint. His music, as usual, is memorable and brings a lot to the scenes. The voice actors are also very good, and their acting helps make the conversations between characters like Kouji, Sayaka and Daisuke feel natural and alive. Kouji’s new VA plays his role quite well, especially in the fight scene: when he shouts “Kore demo kurae”, it sounds a lot like the Kouji voice of his predecessors.
In sum, episode 1 of Grendizer U disappointed me because of its not-so-great animation quality, especially when the anime was promoted as having a team of Mecha-genre veterans. However, the episode still has good points that give me hope for future episodes. Hopefully, in the coming episodes, the animation quality will improve.

//Getter Andy//
Check our more reviews here: