Grendizer U ep.11 Review: The U stands for “Ugh wtf is this?”
“I dislike sexual assault as much as the next guy. Yeah, thats some bad stuff. Rape, booo! Don’t like it, boo! …buuuuuut…”- Charlie Fukuda
Grendizer U has only a few episodes left until it ends, and we’re slowly approaching the final battle. What seemed like peace before the battle, Fukuda surprises viewers with a big twist.
Let’s get to the highlight of the episode, which is the plot twist at the end of it – Terona disguises herself as Rubina to “marry” Duke Fleed. This is clearly a callback to Flay taking advantage of Kira’s vulnerable moment to have sex with him in Gundam SEED. To me, this plot twist is pretty lame. First of all, it’s 2024, no one writes rape like this anymore. Second of all, this is not an anime in the Gundam SEED universe, but the 50th anniversary anime of UFO Robot Grendizer. People who are attached to Grendizer expect to be reminded of old memories, not reminded of some Gundam series. Therefore, Fukuda’s use of this plot twist is beyond lame, childish, arrogant and disrespectful to the audience.
I feel even more sorry for that plot twist, because the relationship between Duke Fleed and Rubina has been built quite well throughout the anime. At the same time, the intention behind the appearance swap of the two sisters Rubina and Terona in Grendizer U is also clearer. Perhaps the anime will recreate Rubina’s death in UFO Robot Grendizer, with Terona in the appearance of Rubina in 1975.
Aside from this, the other plot points weren’t quite right either. Episode 11 continued to suffer from the problem of skipping plot points off-screen, as the battle at the Photon Research Institute didn’t end in the previous episode but is already ended in this one. Some new plot points were pushed, such as the Earthlings’ attitude towards Duke Fleed, which I felt was unnecessary. Finally, the plot point that wasn’t good aside from the rape plot point was the sudden appearance of the Space Science Laboratory. It was a nice homage idea, but the execution could have been better – the anime could have had the Photon Lab staff build it, or introduced it in a more grandiose way than Hikaru pulling it out of nowhere. If only Fukuda had focused on paying tribute to the UFO Robot Grendizer rather than bragging about himself.
In short, watching the final episodes of Grendizer U is no different than watching Shinn in Gundam SEED Destiny – viewers are treated to a downward spiral. At this point, the only thing I’m looking forward to from this series is that it ends soon.
//Getter Andy//
//Getter Andy//
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