Grendizer U ep.2 Review: Duke and Kouji took off their clothes!

Friday is here again and with it comes a new episode of Grendizer U. In this episode, we are introduced to several new characters, Duke’s haunting past, different Dizers, and the camaraderie between Duke and Kouji. Oh and they also went shirtless…together.

The only problem I raised in the first episode’s review – the issue of animation quality – still exists in the second episode. I still encountered some animation errors, such as the scene where Duke was running and screaming while his mouth didn’t open or the scene where the collapsed building was replaced with a 3D model without any transition effects (around the 27th-second mark). However, now I have accepted this problem as part of the anime, and even find the errors funny.

Introducing many new characters, Duke’s backstory and developing the camaraderie between Duke and Kouji in just one episode without losing the viewer’s interest, the pacing of this episode (and the previous episode) was really good. The constant scene changes and the very straightforward way of providing information to reduce the burden of the amount of information provided are two keys to maintaining the fast pace of the episode.

Personally, I like how “straight to the point” the series has been so far. No “show, don’t tell” tricks that don’t work, no beating around the bush. For example, the anime doesn’t take much time to recover Duke’s memories and true identity, doesn’t hide his tragedy nor divide it up to create content for future episodes, and straightforwardly introduces the characters and the sides they take, etc. And I think this shows the writer’s confidence, like “We have more interesting things later so we don’t have to rely on just one mystery to advance the story”, things like that.

Episode two utilizes screen time to the maximum. The introduction scene of Blaki, Gandal and Cassado lets viewers know the personality traits and hierarchy of these characters in a short time. Through three scenes, the episode successfully establishes Cassado as a dastardly villain, clearly demonstrating his cunning, unruly, and sadistic personality. Although viewers don’t know much about Hikaru, through her lines, “If he’s a good person, I’ll marry him, but if he’s a villain, I’ll kill him,” and her actions, we partly grasp the personality and role of this new character.

The comradeship between Duke Fleed and Kouji Kabuto also strengthened quickly. From Duke saving Kouji’s life again, to him opening up and recounting his painful past to Kouji, and finally to him entrusting his life to Kouji, viewers can feel the connection between them become stronger, especially in the scene where Kouji promises to help Duke get revenge and gives Duke the bomb ring (which was probably just a bluff). This, along with Kouji launching Pilder into Dizer and him running to Grendizer demanding to be the commander, are very Kouji-like touches.

My final compliment is for Duke Fleed. His backstory is a good setup, creating nuances for the character – a hero carrying the burden of the serious sin he committed. Miyu Irino, the voice actor of Duke Fleed, also acted very well: at the 11:54 mark, you can hear the anger and pain in his words. Finally, it is impossible not to mention the classic Stark Flash Duke Fleed scene recreated after so many decades.

The episode ends with a very cool “Postcard memory” frame. Episode 2 of Grendizer U is a solid episode, with good pacing and clever writing. I really look forward to the encounter between Zeoladizer and Grendizer in the next episode.

//Getter Andy//

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