I Personally Don't Find Gridman Miles Better Than Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad

Ah yes! It's back to the 90s and I thought about it that what didn't surprise me was that Superhuman Samurai (and I DO NOT see the Samurai element) Syber Squad was based on Hyper Agent Gridman. Gridman was a series that lasted for only 39 episodes, the fact that the hero Gridman (or Servo) looks like an Ultraman is because of the Tsubaraya license. It was back when Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers allowed Toei to reach the american market. Tsubaraya tried reaching the American market by allowing DiC (the same company that created that AWFUL Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills show) to create Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad from their very own Gridman.

I've decided to watch Gridman and I admit that I don't find it miles better than Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. I would like to talk about how I think the secondary villain Takeshi is flat out and boring while Malcolm Frink had more personality. Takeshi felt like a darker, brooding version of Point Dexter from Felix the Cat. His crush on Yuuka isn't all that well-defined except that he has a crush on her and that he targets her out of spite. I felt like Malcolm's lust for Jennifer (who was my guilty pleasure of the series and nothing more) was more well-done than Takeshi's inability to profess his feelings for Yuuka. Naoto is well okay but I can't say he's miles better than Sam. I would say that's the weakness of the series is with the writing and characterization.

This has me wondering why don't I find Gridman miles better than Syber Squad? The effects were quite opposite with me liking the Japanese vs. the American version. Sure, I'm not anti-American but I thought of how I tend to think the Japanese product is usually better over the Americanized version. Maybe, it's because of the bad habit of having legal permission to use fight footage from the Japanese and mixing it with the American. Syber Squad did the same thing as Saban did -- they both acquired permission to get footage. Yet, I still think no amount of legality will ever change the fact that shoddy editing happens A LOT with the fight footage involving Japanese actors and the American fight footage (both in suit and out of suit) -- yet I couldn't find Gridman all that better.

If there's anything that makes Gridman better is this aspect -- the need of a finale. I thought it was dull at how DiC (and Tsubaraya) decided to reboot Kilokahn and made Malcolm evil again for more extra episodes and Syber Squad didn't get a proper finale. Gridman did take all its trouble to actually wrap up its 39 episode (which was presumably due to bad ratings) with getting rid of Khan Digifier and redeeming the brooding Takeshi. Gridman gave its proper conclusion, destroyed Khan Digifier though the whole Gridman Sigma (who's none other than Takeshi no longer under the control of Khan Digifier) never happened -- presumably due to the lack of popularity for said series. Gridman Sigma was only in the animated version but never got an official series either. If anything, I think Gridman's wrapping up is what makes it better than Syber Squad -- but not necessarily miles better.