Grendizer U ep.13 Review: They Fucked It Up.
So you’re telling me the last boss is Duke?
The finale of Grendizer U is finally here. A sweet release from the painful trip. As mentioned before, a satisfying ending is out of the picture, and we only hoped to see Grendizer being badass in the last episode. We didn’t know that we jinxed it. Even though Grendizer decimated everything in this episode, but it was done in a manner akin to rubbing salt onto the wound.
After Duke and Rubina escaped the ambush with ease, he got onto the Grendizer while gripping Rubina’s body. And of course, Grendizer went full berserk mode. Blaki sortied in his own Vega Beast – which was the design that won the designing contest from Manga Production. Not sure if the creator is a fan of this anime, but if it were me, I’d not want to be featured in this lol. Duke easily dispatched Blaki and it’s kinda funny when we see Gandal being “shocked” at Blaki’s death. In the original, they couldn’t care less about these kind of casualties. I guess for a character voiced by Takehito Koyasu, getting the caring emotions out is better than cold-blooded.
And then we get to see the craziest copy-paste animation. While Grendizer’s attack is cool, the explosion he created are…static, soulless and just looks cheap. It’s basically the Shopee version of the Gundam’s explosion sweep. Those sequences were done much better in 00, Seed and even Build Fighter. For a grand offensive, it feel really cheap. Not to mention a very…lackluster battle with King Gori. In the original, King Gori was a powerful foe. But in U, they are leaning hard towards the fact that a “Berserk” Grendizer is near unstoppable, and he had the power to obliterate everything, even the universe itself. So of course he bulldozes everything in his way, including King Gori himself. Duke and Grendizer being powerful isn’t an inherently bad thing, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. King Gori also received some sort of…animation downgrade this ep? With a very different proportion and color design in many scenes, but going back to the ep 12 proportion in another. This causes a bit of immersive-breaking when following the scenes.
And then we get to see the craziest copy-paste animation. While Grendizer’s attack is cool, the explosion he created are…static, soulless and just looks cheap. It’s basically the Shopee version of the Gundam’s explosion sweep. Those sequences were done much better in 00, Seed and even Build Fighter. For a grand offensive, it feel really cheap. Not to mention a very…lackluster battle with King Gori. In the original, King Gori was a powerful foe. But in U, they are leaning hard towards the fact that a “Berserk” Grendizer is near unstoppable, and he had the power to obliterate everything, even the universe itself. So of course he bulldozes everything in his way, including King Gori himself. Duke and Grendizer being powerful isn’t an inherently bad thing, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. King Gori also received some sort of…animation downgrade this ep? With a very different proportion and color design in many scenes, but going back to the ep 12 proportion in another. This causes a bit of immersive-breaking when following the scenes.
After Grendizer absolutely trashed the Vegans, he continued his rampage on Earth. And this turn into one of the cringiest sequence in a Super Robot series. While the Mazinger vs Grendizer scenes were pretty awesome, the Spazers felt pretty hollow and forced. And they turned the viewers on their head when they forcefully combined with Grendizer as a sort of “restraint” for Grendizer. I can’t believe it worked since Grendizer was displaying incredible power just before and was able to literally punch King Gori into another dimension.
And then Fukuda or Okouchi must have seen those fujoshi’s fanfic about Duke x Kouji ship since he turned Kouji into the only one who can wake Duke from his berserk. I did said before that the bomb ring is basically just a gimmick because there’s no way Kouji will detonate it. And it basically became a “proof of trust” between Kouji and Duke. And both of them crying at the end gave us flashback for Okouchi’s WFM writing. Even though Duke didn’t kill Prof. Yumi, he definitely did major damage to many areas, and I wonder how the governments of the world will take this after the fact.
And then Fukuda or Okouchi must have seen those fujoshi’s fanfic about Duke x Kouji ship since he turned Kouji into the only one who can wake Duke from his berserk. I did said before that the bomb ring is basically just a gimmick because there’s no way Kouji will detonate it. And it basically became a “proof of trust” between Kouji and Duke. And both of them crying at the end gave us flashback for Okouchi’s WFM writing. Even though Duke didn’t kill Prof. Yumi, he definitely did major damage to many areas, and I wonder how the governments of the world will take this after the fact.
And…I guess we got our Spazer gattai moment…ish? Since Grendizer did combine with all three Spazers and charge into the Vega Star and take it down in like…30 seconds. Gandal was pretty stupid if he actually thinks his plan will work. But yeah, it’s pretty much a Token demonstration of the Spazer gattai, which is sorely missing from the series. We really need dedicated episode for each Spazer, but alas, it is too late now.
And even after all this, Tirona left Duke and Earth and probably went off somewhere to regain herself. I hope this isn’t sequel bait and they made her go back to Vega to try and kill the King (since that’s a stupid idea because Blaki killed Rubina, and Gandal is already dead). And she just left her “husband” and ran off. Duke probably didn’t mind that much because he already got Kouji lol.
And even after all this, Tirona left Duke and Earth and probably went off somewhere to regain herself. I hope this isn’t sequel bait and they made her go back to Vega to try and kill the King (since that’s a stupid idea because Blaki killed Rubina, and Gandal is already dead). And she just left her “husband” and ran off. Duke probably didn’t mind that much because he already got Kouji lol.
This episode pacing and structure is pretty off. Technically there’s 3 major battles and many smaller skirmishes. But it’s pretty much just fight fight fight until the end, but it doesn’t feel like an action packed episode because Grendizer keeps pawning and posing every time he’s on screen. And he didn’t even use half of his attacks. Grendizer for most of the episode is on berserk mode, the mode where we don’t want to see him in because it’s just mindless violence. We want to see a badass Duke that fight on despite his loss, pain and grief and exact justice for Rubina by his own mind rather than him going berserk and just let Grendizer squat everything down.
And furthermore, the OP didn’t play in ANY segment of this episode. I know that they played it during the initial assault on the Vega Star, but that’s a weird moment to play it. And this episode has more suitable moment to do so or even an insert song would do. But Fukuda being Fukuda, he broke every trope that makes a Super Robot good and just carry on with his drama. In the end, only Rubina proved her unyielding love to Duke, while everyone else is super vague, even Duke towards Tirona and vice versa. All in all, I’m glad that it’s over…or is it? The weird teaser at the end with King Vega is obviously a sequel bait. Reminds me of the Green Lantern movie’s after credit scene.
Aaron
And furthermore, the OP didn’t play in ANY segment of this episode. I know that they played it during the initial assault on the Vega Star, but that’s a weird moment to play it. And this episode has more suitable moment to do so or even an insert song would do. But Fukuda being Fukuda, he broke every trope that makes a Super Robot good and just carry on with his drama. In the end, only Rubina proved her unyielding love to Duke, while everyone else is super vague, even Duke towards Tirona and vice versa. All in all, I’m glad that it’s over…or is it? The weird teaser at the end with King Vega is obviously a sequel bait. Reminds me of the Green Lantern movie’s after credit scene.
Aaron
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