Grendizer U

I was so looking forward to this. I knew they weren't retelling the original story, and that makes sense to me. If you want the 70s original, with all its 70s vibes, just watch that.

This one pulls most of its ideas from that series, so far as I can tell, but mashes everything up. I just watched the full original series this year, and the few times Daisuke had to watch someone he knew or even loved die, or when he had to fight child soldiers and watch one of them get shot and the rest die at the hands of the Vegans...I was near tears each time despite all the cheesiness of that series.*

With this one, they've taken many of those meaningful stories and thrown them in like it was a salad spinner.

Even the Vegans are devoid of almost any personality. I felt like Ding/Blacki and Bellicose/Gandal actually had a bizarre kind of friendship going on as they tried to impress Vega the Strong in the original. Same with Gandal and Zuril.

Anyways, I will watch it to the end. But I was hoping for something on the level of the Dreamworks/Netflix Voltron reboot. Unfortunately, this isn't it. I agree with pretty much all the points the other reviewer made, but I will say I find the graphics okay, and I like the songs for the opening and closing themes.

*Corrected some incorrect facts about the original series.

First this isnt the Grendizer of the 70s so if you are expecting a true to original remake, you will not get it here. The characters and stories have been retconed in mostly bad ways. Dont worry none of this is a spoiler, its fully laid out in the 1st episode.

The bad is Daisuke is now an immature child who cannot control his emotions and instead of escaping Fleed before destruction, he killed a bunch of innocent people in a fit of rage and simply ran away. So he is no longer a clean cut hero but a nut job who runs from responsibility... not good.

Koji was actually presented as the Hero from Mazinger Z. In my opinion, this was good because thats who he was. He was just a weak sidekick in the old show which I didnt particularly like.

Now as far as villain motivation, Vega wants Grendizer destroyed at any cost and thats why they came to earth. They are willing to destroy earth just to destroy the weapon... its no longer about resources. I did not think highly of this change.

Grendizer is now insanely over powered. I mean... he isnt even trying to fight. Nothing hurts him and he can vaporize near anything in a blink. He can perfectly hit a target as far as the moon in a couple of seconds from earth.

Last they introduced fantasy and mystical stuff that didnt exist in the original show. Im not a fan of "chosen one" and "destiny" stuff.

Again this is not the Grendizer from the 70s so Im grading it entirely on its own and so far, its simply very average.

The animation is modern and the fight scenes are ok though too brief. The writing is so-so but it acceptable. I find that I dont like Daisuke nor do care about the story which is already suffering from a major plot hole. The opening and closing songs are fairly dull, lacking the high energy of the originals. So all in all the show is downright average so far. There is just not enough here to make it stand out.

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Update: I just finished Season 1 and the last 2 episodes were so disjoint that I got bored and fast forwarded through them. They are nearly unwatchable. I dont want to give any spoilers but lets just say the character development was a huge let down.

In the end, this is like a bad soap opera from the 80s and 90s. Hollow characters with zero chemistry in what amounted to be, a soap opera-like drama show. The main focus was not on adventure or action or even the invasion of earth, but rather the interpersonal relationship of children pretending to be adults. It was completely shallow and uninteresting. I knocked it down another point.

Wonderful reimagination of a classic show At the time of this writing it is episode 7 . Each episode gives you excitement boost a little more than the previous episode . I am more of a fan of the classic anime style , but here it is cutting edge digital anime like every anime nowadays and/or games like modern japanese RPGs . The characters most of them are developing and has characteristics each with a background story . The soundtrack is like any modern upbeat anime soundtrack i prefer the dramatic gloomy soundtrack of the classic more , anyways enjoy the ride and the fast mech action and sky blasts .

If you are looking for just Nostalgia this show is not for you watch the og if all you care is about is nostaliga since the show have it's own identity.

By the time im writing this we have only 5 episodes but i'll give you my honest opinion i love everything about this show, dose it have flaws and not perfect? Yes. Did i enjoy every moment and minute I spent on this show and everything it brought? Also yes. I apprecite this show is made in the first place it might not be for you and it's okay but i Enjoyed it and i hope everyone give it a chance and appreciate it. The animation is not mind Blowing but i think it's pretty good for a small studio but don't expect a godly animation.

Well... I'm a huge fan the old good Grendizer from the 70s... Yes, its graphics sucked more times than not but the characters were bright, vivid with distinguished personalities. Even the comic relief characters had a lot to tell.

And what do we have here? Some immature "good prince" wallowing in his guilt and romantic drama, it seems that he says "I'm sorry" more often than "Dizer, go!"

I didn't expect that the new anime would be a straight remake for the old one (what for, right?) but I really hoped that the characters will keep their identity at least... Dr Umon - what he's even needed for here? Now he's just some random weirdly old-fashioned looking scientist making no impact neither on Daisuke, nor on the plot (I'm on the 11 episode so far, nothing to tell about Dr Umon)

Daisuke used to be a complicated person - rather standoffish yet pretty laid back, with a good self-esteem despite his mental trauma and gnawing guilt for not being able to protect his own planet.

Plus don't forget about his physical injury which is quite an important part of the plot.

The new Daisuke has no resemblance to that character, even his physical appearance has been softened.

And oh my goodness, how much romantic drama for a mecha anime! Literally - there are entire episodes where Grendizer doesn't even appear to fight sauser-beasts but we're listening about the main characters' hearts' trepidation

I'll watch this series till the end for sure but I don't expect it to be prolonged for the next season

5/10.