Denkō Chōjin Gridman | SSSS.GRIDMAN | SSSS.DYNɅZENON | GRIDMAN UNIVERSE
This is a character sheet for the second major installment of the animated Gridman Universe, SSSS.DYNɅZENON.
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Dynazenon
DynaRex
Kaiser Gridknight
The titular giant robot in Gauma's possession. It requires 4 pilots in order to fight against enemy Kaiju.
- All Your Powers Combined: Dynazenon, Gridknight, and Goldburn can come together to form Kaiser Gridknight.
- Animal Mecha: When Dynazenon shifts into Dyna Rex, it becomes a robot dragon.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Dyna Soldier Striker Combine gives Dyna Soldier access to an enormously powerful Wave-Motion Gun, but it's so imbalanced that the result can barely stand for long enough to fire it.
- BFG: Dyna Soldier can transform into the Dynamic Cannon for Gridknight to wield. Kaiser Gridknight uses the Dynamic Cannon as a Shoulder Cannon, with Dyna Rex's claws serving as a brace against the ground.
- Combination Attack: During the final battle, Dyna Rex and Gridburn Knight unleash the "Blazing Hot Inferno: Burning Grid Rex Roar," which combines the Rex Roar and a golden variant of Gridknight Storm.
- Combining Mecha: Dynazenon is formed from the inner Dyna Soldier plus three auxiliary vehicles: a stealth bomber, a race car, and a submarine. Dyna Soldier can also combine with the individual parts into different forms, or rearrange them into Dyna Rex. Together with Gridknight and Goldburn, it can combine further into Kaiser Gridknight.
- Hand Blast: Kaiser Gridknight's Kaiser Knight Double Storm has it fire beams from each of its hands.
- Humongous Mecha: It's a giant robot in the same vein as its predecessors, God Zenon and Powered Zenon.
- It Can Think: Implied; Gauma believes Dynazenon is alive and chose the 4 pilots. When it initially appeared, it moved solely under its own power before absorbing the group.
- Kill It with Fire: "Blazing Inferno: Rex Roar," Dyna Rex's finishing move, as well as "Striker Storm," as set of four flamethrowers fired from Dyna Striker's wheels as a powerful single blast.
- Laser Blade: Dynazenon can generate a Blade Below the Shoulder variant called "Dyna Saber," which comes in handy for close range combat and can cut through most projectiles and rubble. As Kaiser Gridknight, this move is upgraded into the Kaiser Knight Circular.
- Leg Cannon: Dynazenon's Burst Missile Kick has it fire missiles located on its legs.
- Master of All: Kaiser Gridknight combines Dynazenon's power, Gridknight's speed, and Goldburn's defense, as well as having all of their individual abilities.
- Mighty Glacier: Downplayed; Dynazenon has shown off some acrobatic skills that its bulk wouldn't hint at & can transform into the more agile Dyna Rex, but it's typically outsped by most of its opponents and Gridknight in particular. Once it manages to catch its opponent, though, Dynazenon has more than enough firepower to ensure that they're not getting back up.
- Non-Indicative Name: In a Mythology Gag, the original Dyna Dragon was actually a mechanical T-Rex, so its obviously dragon-themed successor was named Dyna Rex.
- Phlebotinum-Handling Requirements: Gauma claims that only those with the aptitude to become kaiju tamers can pilot Dynazenon, and thus assumes the other three were taken in because they have the potential for it... but then Chise tries to sub for Yomogi and perfectly succeeds, besides her complete lack of training. This makes him reconsider his original assumptions and start wondering if there really are requirements at all. And then Yomogi actually does almost pull off taming a kaiju.
- Psychoactive Powers: Dynazenon is implied to run less efficiently when the pilots are plagued by doubts and stress, and grow in strength as they become stronger people. Kaiser Gridknight technically doesn't need Dynazenon's pilots to function since Gridknight controls the body, but removing the human element makes the combination much, much weaker.
- Shoulder Cannon: Gauma calls them "Penetrator Gun," but Yume consistently refers to them as "Something Beam",note despite Gauma's complaints.
- Sleep-Mode Size: When inactive, the individual mechs that make up Dynazenon shrink down to about the size of an action figure to be carried by their pilots.
- Transformation Name Announcement:
- "Combined Dragon! Dynazenon!"
- "Super Dragon! Dyna Rex!"
- "Super Dragon King! Kaiser Gridknight!"
- Transforming Mecha: It can change from the humanoid Dynazenon into the draconic Dyna Rex, which Gauma claims is the machine's true form.
- Unusual User Interface: All four of Dynazenon's cockpits have the appearance of a mouth, with the other pilots visible on the inside of each fang while communicating. Instead of a control seat, each pilot stand/sits on the flat floor of their cockpit and controls their part through what looks like an arcade controller. The controllers themselves can be taken out of the cockpit and still be used to control their respective mechs.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Kaiser Gridknight uses the Dynamic Cannon to unleash the Rex Grid Fire, a powerful beam.
- Wrecked Weapon: During Episode 10, all of the pieces except Dyna Soldier shatter when the pilots are trapped in a Psychological Torment Zone and give in to their despair. Reclaiming their resolve fixes the pieces.
Gauma Team
Tropes applying to all members
- Calling Your Attacks: The pilots all do this when using Dynazenon’s attacks, but with varying degrees of enthusiasm and creativity.
- Dysfunction Junction: All of the pilots, except perhaps Gauma, have personal traumas that they deal with in unhealthy ways. Ironically, by Episode 10, Yomogi is the one least burdened by their personal hang-ups, as he was the only one who could escape the Psychological Torment Zone without help.
- Elemental Motifs: Most of the pilots have an element that’s associated with both the component they wield as well as their backstory: Gauma is water, Yume is air, and Koyomi is earth.
- The Friends Who Never Hang: Yume and Koyomi have next-to-no interactions with each other for the entire show; the first time they're shown talking one-on-one is during the voice drama for the Compilation Movie.
- Scars Are Forever: By the end of the show, all of the pilots have S-shaped scars that match Gauma's facial scar (Yomogi on his hand, Yume on her thigh, and Koyomi on his ankle), except Chise who instead stops hiding her dragon-shaped tattoo. They haven't disappeared even three months after the final battle, and Yume hopes they never will, as a reminder of everything they went through.
- With four main pilots, the four S-shaped scars most likely stand for SSSS.
Gauma
Gauma
Voiced by: Daiki Hamano (Japanese), Aaron Campbell (English)
Dyna Diver
A self-proclaimed "Kaiju User," albeit with varying success at the field. He has the ability to summon Dynazenon and pilots Dyna Diver.
- Ambiguous Situation: In the epilogue, Gauma briefly appears in the background, sitting in his usual place watching over Yomogi and Yume. It's unclear whether he revived along with Dynazenon, or moved on to be Together in Death with his princess.
- The second trailer for Gridman Universe seems to address this by crediting Daiki Hamano as "Rex", implying the former to be true.
- Back from the Dead: He and the Kaiju Eugenicists died over 5000 years prior to the present, but were suddenly revived through the logic-defying power of kaiju.
- The Beastmaster: Supposedly, though as of the first episode, his powers seemingly are on the fritz (as far as the kaiju rampaging through the city is concerned). He claims that Yomogi, Yume, and Koyomi have the same ability, which is what allows them to pilot Dynazenon.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Yomogi gave him food when he was starving, so Gauma feels the need to pay him back.
- Brutal Honesty: Gauma's a very honest person and when he speaks, he's really truthful about what he says. But his honesty can also seem quite harsh to the protagonists when he calls them out for their faults.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Access Mode! Dyna Diver!"
- Canon Character All Along: Gauma is the Chinese mummy from Denkō Chōjin Gridman episode 18 "The Legend of Dragon"/"Ryū no Densetsu".
- Catchphrase: As of the first episode, "X is a pretty good name!"
- Any variation of: “In this world there are three things that are important to keep: promises, love, and...” with the last thing always omitted. The last thing is heavily implied to be bonds/friends, but Gridman Universe reveals it to be "expiry dates" (i.e., knowing when to move on from the past).
- Character Song: "Beginning".
- Dark Is Not Evil: To contrast the Kaiju Eugenicists, Gauma's outfit is mostly dark blue, and he's one of the good guys. In fact, despite his tough appearance, he's surprisingly caring and tries not to be intrusive if he can manage it.
- Defector from Decadence: It's quickly established that Gauma was formerly a member of the Kaiju Eugenicists until he betrayed them. The circumstances, however, don't come out until much later.
- Determinator: Gauma was dying and clearly in pain in the final episode, but with some help from The Second, he got in Dyna Diver to take part in the Final Battle against Gagula in spite of this, and managed to last until the battle was over.
- Distinguishing Mark: Has an S-shaped scar on his face.
- Face of a Thug: While his edgy look and rough demeanor may make him seem scary at first glance, he's a polite-mannered and loyal friend who genuinely cares about others, fights Kaiju to protect humanity, and insists that love and promises are the two most important things in the world.
- Fiery Redhead: Despite his stamina not matching up, he's very energetic, and is the most passionate about piloting Dynazenon. He's also not one to easily give up, drilling Yume until she finally admits she planned on standing Yomogi up.
- First-Name Basis: He always refers to others by their first names, hence why he's the only character Yume didn't know before the show began to not call her "Minami-san."
- Hot-Blooded: To the max. It's bad enough that when he was witholding his reasons for piloting Dynazenon, the others started assuming the entire mess happened just because he's really into screaming and fighting stuff in a giant mech.
- Homeless Hero: He doesn't have a place of residence when Yomogi first finds him. While he's able to take odd jobs and earn money, he decides to live under the town's bridge.
- I Will Find You: As he reveals in Episode 3, the reason why he's running around in the present day is because he's searching for the woman who entrusted Dynazenon to him. Since both he and the rest of the Kaiju Eugenicists were revived, he figures that she was as well.
- Large Ham: He can't seem to go one scene without screaming once. Even when expressing gratitude, he hams it up.
- The Leader: He's Dynazenon's main pilot and the one who rallies the group together. Appropriately, Chise refers to him as "Commander."note
- Macross Missile Massacre: Dyna Diver sports twin rows of missile pods on its back, letting it fire the Dyna Launcher Burst Missile finisher.
- Mr. Fanservice: He rarely wears anything that may cover his stomach area and has many shirtless scenes. He appears completely naked when he is about to join Yomogi in the bathtub, and you can see his bare butt when he closes the door behind him.
- Nice Guy: He's an incredibly honest and respectful guy. If you've earned his trust, he's got your back covered always.
- Odd Friendship: He gets along really well with Koyomi even though they’re complete opposites in terms of personality. The two are shown to open up to each other about their problems, despite being generally unwilling to with anyone else. They also work very well as a team in and out of battle.
- Only One Name: Like the Kaiju Eugenicists, Gauma lacks a surname.
- Really 700 Years Old: He's actually over 5000 years old, or at least that'd be his age if he hadn't died in ancient times.
- Romantic Wingman: Gauma is always pushing and encouraging Yomogi to act on his feelings for Yume, as well as call him out when he messes up, such as in Episode 9.
- Sarashi: Gauma's regular attire includes a yellow top that ends just above his navel. Said top has a heavy resemblance to bandages, hinting at his true identity.
- Secretly Dying: Having abandoned his connection to the kaiju, Gauma's revival is temporary. He isn't aware of it until episode 11, but keeps it from the others for a while longer.
- Skewed Priorities: When he finds out Yomogi left Yume behind due to the Kaiju in Episode 9, he starts admonishing him in the middle of the battle and demands he come back with her. He doesn't do this because he needs all hands on deck, but because he knows Yomogi has a crush on her, and is willing to stop the entire battle when lives are at stake just to lay some sense into him.
- Support Party Member: Despite being the main pilot of Dynazenon, his component Dyna Diver has very limited uses compared to the other components in battle. Due to being a submarine it can only really function in water, limiting it's mobility greatly, often only contributing anti air attacks to combat. Dyna Diver also doesn't seem to get a combination form with Dyna Soldier, unlike Dyna Wing and Dyna Striker. Considering Dyna Diver acts as the legs of Dynazenon, it's also the literal support.
- They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: While he encourages the rest of the squad to try cooperating and opening up to each other, he'd rather not talk about his reason for fighting. However, he's forced to tell them in Episode 3, when his stubborn refusal to open up prevents them all from combining into Dynazenon.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Is often seen eating crabs or other crab flavored foods.
- Undying Loyalty: Episode 10 reveals that he gave his life to fight and kill his Kaiju Eugenicist comrades when they were planning to betray the country they all served, because of his loyalty to the princess.
- Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer: In spite of Yomogi finding Gauma helpless and starving to death at the start of the series and being from 5000 years in the past, Gauma quickly manages some modicum of self-sufficiency in modern society to the extent he's able to find employment early in the series and purchase some bare necessities to address the need for shelter. Even after assaulting Sizumu at school and being summarily fired from his job for an apartment complex, he's able to find similar work or just be straight-up rehired shortly thereafter.
- Unwanted Assistance: He has a habit of barging his way into Yomogi's life.
- The Worsening Curse Mark: Every time Gauma takes his shirt off, the purple splotch on his back is bigger than it was before. By episode 11, it's spread across his chest and arms.
Yomogi Asanaka
Yomogi Asanaka
Voiced by: Jun'ya Enoki (Japanese), Dallas Reid (English)
Dyna Soldier
A first-year at Fujiyoki High School. A chance encounter with Gauma leads him to become one of Dynazenon's pilots, piloting the central Dyna Soldier component.
- Affectionate Nickname: His classmate Ranka calls him "Yomo-kun." Likewise, Chise calls him "Yomo-san."
- The Beastmaster: He has the potential to be a proper kaiju-user, and nearly pulls off an Instance Domination on Zaiohn and actually succeeds (if briefly) on Gagula. Unfortunately for Sizumu, Yomogi is too attached to his regular life and the friends he's made to be enticed by the absolute freedom of kaiju powers.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Access Mode! Dyna Soldier!"
- Character Song: "Stay Gold".
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Yuta Hibiki has red hair and blue eyes, while Yomogi has blue hair and Supernatural Gold Eyes. Yuta's journey is about trying to remember who he really is, while Yomogi's is about letting go of his past to focus on what he wants out of his future. Yuta serves as the central component to Gridman by being Gridman, while Yomogi contributes the least to piloting Dynazenon. Even before he lost his memory, Yuta's only friend was Utsumi while Yomogi has an established group of friends outside of Team Gauma since before the show started. Yuta is more or less immediately on board with fighting the Kaiju as Gridman while Yomogi needs some convincing before he fully joins Team Gauma. Yuta's only powers are the ones he gets from being bonded to Gridman, while Yomogi has the power to control kaiju. Yuta's chances of success in a romantic relationship with Rikka are left ambiguous at best, while Yomogi's romance with Yume is the central plot of the show and ends with them successfully hooking up.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Episode 4 shows him being less than thrilled when he learns that Yume is going to meet up with a guy (even if she's just trying to learn more about her sister). This jealousy ends up encouraging him to ask if he can accompany her when she goes.
- Crush Blush: He tends to blush when he's around Yume, showing how much he likes her.
- Distinguishing Mark: Gains one the back of his hand in Episode 12 matching the rest of Team Gauma.
- First-Name Basis: Nobody ever refers to him by his surname; even Yume refers to him as "Yomogi-kun," which is unusual for classmates that have barely spoken to one another beforehand. By the time of the epilogue, she drops the "-kun" part, an act that shows off their Relationship Upgrade.
- Gender-Blender Name: Yomogi is a name usually associated with girls, but it can be unisex as well.
- The Heart: Despite being a core component of Dynazenon, Dynasoldier actually has no offensive capabilities of its own, and instead has to rely on combining with the other components to fight. That said, Yomogi is arguably the most important person on the team not for his fighting skills, but because of his role in forming connections with others including the Kaiju.
- He Will Not Cry, so I Cry for Him: Gender-Inverted in Episode 7. When Yume finally opens up about why she's searching for answers regarding her sister's death, Yomogi realizes that what she's really looking for is closure for her strained relationship with her sister that she wished she could've mended but never got the chance to. Yume is still too numb to properly grieve over it, so Yomogi ends up shedding the tears for her, which helps make Yume feel better and mends his and her friendship.
- Interrupted Declaration of Love: Played with in Episode 11; it wasn't his Love Confession that was interrupted, but rather Yume's response to said confession.
- Manly Tears: In Episode 7, when listening to Yume's story about the death of Kano, he suddenly cries. Evoked again in the finale as Gauma is dying of his wounds.
- Official Couple: He becomes one with Yume in the epilogue, with the "SSSS.DYNɅZENON Show" depicting the two getting married to each other ten years later.
- Oblivious to Hints: Missed a rather obvious one from Yume in Episode 9 when she asked if he wanted to go to the festival with her, only for him to think that it was a group occasion and offered to invite Gauma and the others.
- Only Sane Man: A Downplayed Trope, but this comes in regards to his "trauma." Compared to the rest of the team who have rather traumatic pasts that shapes the way they are acting in the present, Yomogi's only issue is wanting to disassociate from his home due to his mother remarrying. It's even implied that the reason he was working so much was to save money to get a place of his own after he graduates. Yomogi's homelife ultimate gets the least amount of focus because it's something he's able to get over on his own relatively quickly. This gets signified in Episode 10 where he manages to break out of the Psychological Torment Zone on his own.
- Refusal of the Call: Initially he tries to let the call go to voicemail by skipping practice sessions with Gauma and the others, the only one of the quartet to do so. When this fails to make the kaiju problem go away and leaves him as The Load in their next real battle, he begins taking the call seriously.
- Relationship Upgrade: Yomogi's romance with Yume is the central plot of the show. Episode 4 confirms his feelings for her, and this eventually culminates in his asking her out in Episode 11. Sizumu hung around them specifically because this trope was in play, in fact, to feast on the emotions generated by their romance. By the epilogue, they are all but explicitly stated to be going out.
- Skewed Priorities: Yomogi's arc is about fixing his priorities, accepting that his reluctance for his mother to remarry isn't actually a big deal and he should instead be focusing on what he can do to help others. When he's confronted with his personal issues again in Episode 10, he's able to let them go immediately when reminded of his duty.
- Supporting Protagonist: Like Yuuta before him, he's the primary point-of-view character, but despite the Dyna Soldier being the core component, Gauma is Dynazenon's main pilot, as well as the one who drives the plot.
- Technicolor Eyes: His pupils are very distinctly purple, a trait that he only shares with Sizumu, of all people.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets admonished by Gauma for leaving Yume behind due to the Kaiju - especially with what happened after meeting Kano's ex-boyfriend.
- Workaholic: Yomogi's distress over his parents being divorced and his mother potentially remarrying expresses itself as an addiction to working at his part-time job, to such an extent that a shot of his paystub reveals he works virtually full-time hours on top of schoolnote . Yomogi's classmates theorize it's because he wants to be financially independent, a theory supported by his throwing away a gift of money from Kamijou. Yomogi's addiction runs deep enough that it initially causes him to blow off his duty as a Dynazenon pilot in favor of more work.
- You're Not My Father: Implied by the first episode to be his personal trauma, as his mother's courting a man named Kamijou that Yomogi's not fond of.
- Confirmed in Voice Drama 2.2, where Yomogi reveals that his parents divorced when he was in the third grade.
- Invoked again in Voice Drama 11.11, when Yomogi tells his actual father while on an outing together that he's no longer his father, though the remark was made in a more humorous manner rather than genuinely hostile.
Yume Minami
Yume Minami
Voiced by: Shion Wakayama (Japanese), Kristen McGuire (English)
Dyna Wing
Yomogi's classmate at Fujiyoki High School. Like Yomogi, she ends up as one of Dynazenon's pilots, piloting Dyna Wing.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Access Mode! Dyna Wing!"
- Character Song: "YUMEUTSUTSU.GREEN DAYS"
- Clingy Jealous Girl: The Voice Drama for the Compilation Movie shows her arguing with Yomogi over the phone. The reason? He was hanging out with his female friends and didn't inform her beforehand.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Rikka Takarada was at least decently liked at school and has an established friend group outside of the Gridman Alliance, while Yume's "promising-breaking affliction" made it so that she had only one friend (Mei) prior to joining the Gauma Team. Rikka has a normal relationship with her mother, while Yume's home life is strained due to the loss of her sister Kano. Rikka can only contribute in a non-combat capacity, while Yume takes part in battle as Dyna Wing's pilot. Rikka initially needed to be convinced to be part of the Gridman Alliance, while Yume is onboard with Team Gauma from the get go. Rikka's exact feelings towards Yuuta remain unclear, while Yume has a fairly straightforward romance with Yomogi.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Something happened to cause her older sister Kano's death in September 2015, to go by the calendar sitting on her desk. It's implied to be related to a promise between her and Yume, as Yume's habit of standing up guys is relatively recent and all but outright stated to be a coping mechanism.
- Distinguishing Mark: Gains one on her upper thigh in Episode 12 matching the rest of Team Gauma
- Giver of Lame Names: She refers to Dynazenon's "Penetrator Gun" as "Something Beam," and she continues to call it that even after Gauma corrects her.
- History Repeats: Yume nearly meets the exact same end as Kano: standing too close to the edge of a tall building, dropping the ankh puzzle, and falling off while trying to catch it. Fortunately, Yomogi and Goldburn are there to save her, whereas Kano was alone.
- Jumped at the Call: Downplayed; she doesn't show much outward enthusiasm, but compared to Yomogi's Refusal of the Call early on in regards to becoming one of Dynazenon's co-pilots, Yume accepts her role as Dynawing's pilot no questions asked
- Last-Name Basis: Barring her family, Mei, and Gauma, everyone refers to her as "Minami-san."note During the epilogue, Yume points out that Yomogi is still calling her that, so Yomogi fights off his embarrassment and finally calls her "Yume," much to her amusement.
- Mundane Utility: Yume puts her Dynazenon component to the most use of any of them outside of battle, as it's essentially a private jet that fits in her pocket.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Yume still has yet to fully work through her sister's death, partially because of the suddenness of it, just as the two were beginning to reconcile after a period of distance. It gets to the point she tries to investigate Kano's death on her own on the possibility she was Driven to Suicide. In Episode 10 she travels to the past and meets Kano again, and finally does get to properly say goodbye, and accept that Kano really did die accidentally.
- Not So Stoic: While quiet and unexpressive by default, there are times when her emotions are on full display, such as her stunned look when Shalbandes went in for the kill against a downed Dynazenon in Episode 1, or when she was laughing while having fun with her friend Mei in Episode 2. She gradually grows more openly expressive as she becomes closer to the rest of the Gauma Team.
- Official Couple: She becomes one with Yomogi in the epilogue, with the "SSSS.DYNɅZENON Show" depicting the two getting married to each other ten years later.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: She wears tights in her school uniform, fitting with her reserved personality.
- Relationship Upgrade: While the show never quite spells it out like it does with Yomogi, there are some subtle hints that she's developing feelings for him.note And while we never get to see her response to his confession, the epilogue all but explicitly states that they're a couple.
- The Stoic: Under normal circumstances, she doesn't easily show her emotions. At first.
- Stood Up: Has cultivated a reputation for this behavior. According to her schoolmates, she asks out people to meet her in a certain area and deliberately leaves them waiting, never intending on coming back for them. She almost gets away with doing this to Yomogi in Episode 1, but Gauma catches her and forces her to be honest with the boy. After apologizing to him in the next episode, she appears to have stopped this habit.
- The Tease: Voice Drama 12.12 has her tell Yomogi that she wants to "move in" after graduation, only to reveal she was joking when he gets flustered.
Koyomi Yamanaka
Koyomi Yamanaka
Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Jason Liebrecht (English)
Dyna Striker
A NEET who ends up getting roped into being one of Dynazenon's pilots, piloting Dyna Striker.
- Affectionate Nickname: Chise tends to call him "Big Guy" in the English dub.note
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "Access Mode! Dyna Striker!"
- Character Song: "Toumei Ningen"
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Upon seeing Inamoto's husband in a wreckage, Koyomi considers leaving him until he recalls telling Inamoto he helps people in need and decides to rescue him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Flashbacks to Koyomi's school days suggest that his reason for becoming a NEET has to do with seeing the young Inamoto throwing rocks at the school windows at night.
- It gets expanded on in later episodes: Inamoto found dirty money, and asked Koyomi to runaway with her. Koyomi ran away from her instead of answering, which he seems to regret in the present. In episode 10 he gets a chance to choose to go with her, but quickly learns it would have been pointless.
- Distinguishing Mark: Gains one on his ankle in episode 10 identical to Gauma’s, and later the rest of the Dynazenon pilots.
- Eyes Out of Sight: His bangs have been consistently drawn so that they hide his eyes. We do see them poke out sometimes. After finally getting a job, he slicks back his hair to reveal his eyes.
- Foil: He generally serves as Mujina's, who feels a kinship with him as she believes they both have nothing to live for outside of Dynazenon and kaiju. But where she's perfectly content with wallowing in self-pity, Koyomi eventually grows enough to work on himself, renounce NEET-hood and go back to society. She doesn't take it well.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Played for Laughs. When he slicks his hair back and starts wearing a suit after finally getting a job, Knight can't even recognize him. Even Chise is so used to his looking like a bum that she thinks he looks really weird in proper clothes.
- Instant Expert: Within two days of practice with the Dyna Striker, he can pull off some pretty impressive feats of stunt driving with it. Gauma is even surprised by how much progress he's made in such a short amount of time.
- Manchild: His character arc is about growing out of this kind of behavior, as at the beginning of the series he was still very much stuck on his past middle school days. This also leads to amusing situations like Koyomi listing piloting Dyna Striker as prior job experience on a resume.
- NEET: He has stopped going to school since at least the end of middle school, and is currently unemployed. His unemployment is lampshaded by Chise when she thinks he's been killed in episode 1.Chise: Is he...dead? Unemployed and dead...
- Odd Friendship: With Gauma as noted in his entry.
- Older Than He Looks: He looks about the age of Yomogi and Yume, if not a little bit older. However, he knew Yomogi's boss, who should be in her mid to late 20s, in middle school. Supplementary materials and magazines reveal him to be 33 years old, with the poor back to match.
- One Degree of Separation: Episode 3 reveals that Koyomi has a lasting crush on a girl from his school days, who happens to also be Inamoto, Yomogi's boss.
- Running Gag: The other characters have a habit of pointing out that Koyomi's unemployed for no reason at all, such as when Chise thinks he's dead or when Yomogi and Yume notice the unfortunate implications of an older man hanging out with a group of kids at night.
- The Smart Guy: Episode 2 establishes twice over that he's the most perceptive of the Dynazenon pilots by determining both that Greyjhom is teleporting rather than simply moving quickly, and that it requires fanning out its wings in order to teleport.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: During flashbacks to his middle school days it's shown that he used to look incredibly similar to Chise, minus the pigtails and red highlights.
- What You Are in the Dark: In episode 7 he encounters Inamoto's husband Tachibana passed out and nearly crushed by rubble from the fight with Bullbind. Koyomi considers leaving him there, but ultimately his better nature wins out and he rescues Tachibana, knowing this will permanently end any opportunity he might have had to act on his longstanding crush on Inamoto.Koyomi: Gauma. Earlier, I went to save someone...a person I think I hate.Gauma: I see. Good on you.
Chise Asukagawa
Chise Asukagawa
Voiced by: Chika Anzai (Japanese), Megan Shipman (English)
Koyomi's cousin, who skips school in order to hang out with him.
- The Beastmaster: Since episode 1, Chise has held onto a strange droplet of something that appeared alongside the kaiju once they began appearing in the city. It slowly grows until episode 9 where it becomes a fully-fledged kaiju, a robotic dragon not unlike Dynazenon that she names Goldburn and that she discovers she can control on her own, although not pilot.
- Character Song: "KUJIRAGUMO"
- Clingy Jealous Girl: It's unclear if this is platonic or not, but Chise is almost always close by wherever Koyomi goes — even if she wasn't invited. Chise looks noticeably upset whenever Koyomi mentions having plans with other people.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: Possesses a tattoo she drew on her left arm that is kept hidden by her sleeve.note She keeps her arm sleeve on even when going to bed or the pool. She stops being embarassed by it by the epilogue.
- Free-Range Children: She acts completely independent going wherever she wants without any mention of her parents, Koyomi is her only form of supervision most of the time.
- Friendless Background: Her personal trauma stems from her time in middle school, where she was an outcast amongst her class, with no one to consider a friend. Even with Gauma and the others, these feelings of loneliness haven't subsided, her simply being the Tag Along Kid until Goldburn shows up, with her becoming the kaiju's keeper.
- Genki Girl: She is a energetic young girl who easily gets excited.
- Hidden Depths: Her bedroom shows she's fond of playing the piano and other instruments.
- Invisible Parents: Her parents are never mentioned. As Koyomi's living with his parents, her parents presumably know that she's with her aunt and uncle, but they never get seen or heard either.
- The Nicknamer: Refers to almost everyone by a nickname she calls Koyomi "Sempai", Gauma "Captain", and Yomogi "Yomo-san".
- Support Party Member: She acts as a backup pilot for Dyna Soldier. And later gains control of the kaiju Goldburn who assists in battle as well as helping Dynazenon and Gridknight combine.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Tried to pilot Dynasoldier in Yomogi's place while he was sick during episode 4, but because she has never trained at piloting it before, even though she was able to summon it, she was completely ineffective as a pilot.
Gridknight Alliance
"Knight" / Gridknight
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)
Gridknight
The former kaiju previously known as Anti, Gridman's archnemesis. After evolving into a kaiju with a human heart, he became the new guardian of the Computer World. He arrives in Episode 6 when Dynazenon is about to be defeated.
For tropes applying to him in the previous show, see his entry in SSSS.GRIDMAN.
- Berserk Button: Do not touch The 2nd, and don't try to discuss their relationship.
- Big Damn Heroes: His first appearance comes right as the most powerful kaiju yet is about to completely curbstomp Dynazenon.
- Deadly Disc: His favored finisher remains the Gridknight Circular throwing saw. When combined into Kaiser Gridknight, using the Dyna Saber as the emitter turns it into one that's miles wide.
- Duality Motif: His bangs now cover his left eye, but the last animated scene of the previous show revealed that Knight has one red and one blue eye, symbolizing his status as a kaiju with a human heart. The fact that his hair covers his red, kaiju eye, and exposes his blue, human eye indicates which side he's on.
- Fanservice Pack: With a few extra years on him and a more professional outfit, Knight's grown up into a handsome young man.
- Guilt-Free Extermination War: He takes this stance towards the more animalistic kaiju, pointing out that there's no way of telling if a kaiju that isn't hurting anyone really is a Non-Malicious Monster or just pretending, and they can be very good actors if it means getting people to let their guard down.
- Hand Blast: As in his previous appearance, his Gridknight Storm attack has him fire a beam from his hand.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He acts callous and dismissive of the Dynazenon team in their first encounter, including punching Dyna Rex in the face, but only out of wanting to confirm that they really have what it takes to be heroes after their dismal performance required him to save them. He's also quite protective of The 2nd.
- Meaningful Appearance: His suit and the red sword on his back harkens back to Samurai Calibur from the previous show, who played a significant role in his redemption.
- Meaningful Rename: He's stopped going by his former name of Anti, instead being referred to as either Knight or Gridknight. After all, he doesn't define himself by his antagonizing of Gridman anymore.
- Mid-Season Twist: He acts as a living one, dropping in exactly halfway through the show at the end of the sixth episode and establishing by his mere presence that DYNAZENON is a direct sequel to GRIDMAN.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: His time held captive by Garnix's Psychological Torment Zone makes him relive the scene from Episode 3 of SSSS.Gridman where Akane treated him to food after supposedly defeating Gridman. This indicates that Knight's greatest regret is taking for granted what time he shared with her before she returned to her real world.
- Perpetual Frowner: He is always seen with a scowl on his face.
- Purple Is Powerful: Gridknight's body and attacks are mostly purple, and he's a force to be reckoned with.
- Reverse Grip: He wields his new katana like this, much like he did his brief usage of Samurai Calibur.
- Ship Tease: With The 2nd. The only times he breaks his stoic demeanor are when he gets angry at Gauma for trying to touch her and at Yomogi for questioning the nature of their relationship, the latter of which actually causes him to panic for a brief moment.
- The Stoic: Outside of battle, he's shown to be stone-faced, with his dialogue being largely monotone.
- Super-Speed: Much like he was to Gridman, Gridknight is somewhat less physically powerful than Dynazenon, but dramatically faster.
- Vocal Evolution: His voice has gotten a bit deeper and more mature, and as Gridknight, his voice takes a more heroic tone compared to him being more prone to screaming back in SSSS.Gridman.
- Worf Had the Flu: He tried forming Kaiser Gridknight all by himself against Gagula's first form, only to clearly be on the ropes. When he tried again with the Gauma Team during the final episode, the fight was much more even, even though Gagula had gone One-Winged Angel by that point.
"The 2nd" / Anosillus the 2nd
Voiced by: Karin Takahashi (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
Gridknight's traveling partner, and the daughter of the first Anosillus kaiju.
For tropes applying to her in the previous show, see her entry in SSSS.GRIDMAN.
- Battle Couple: Has this vibe with Knight. While The 2nd prefers not to be a direct combatant, her ability to use Fixer Beam provides Gridknight with important support.
- Call-Back: She refers to herself and Knight as the Gridknight Alliance, named after the Gridman Alliance from the previous show.
- Fanservice Pack: As a result of her going from a child-like appearance to an adult one, she's now taller with longer legs and a large bust.
- Magic Music: Like the rest of her family, she can employ sound for a variety of effects, such as using it to heal Dynazenon with an imitation of Gridman's Fixer Beam.
- Magic Wand: Styled after a conductor's baton, and capable of loading capsules to perform effects like emulating Gridman's Fixer Beam. It's essentially the same wand that Unison wielded in the original show, who's implied to be The 2nd's mother.
- Only One Name: Played for laughs when she refers to herself as just "The 2nd", prompting Yomogi and Koyomi to ask the second what.
- Race Lift: Debatably, given her status as a non-human; while her skin tone is still noticeably different from the rest of the cast, it's much lighter than in her previous appearance. It's possible that she just had a tan that went away, but given how her previous costume resembled a vagrant, and the lack of commentary regarding her former stench, it's also possible that her original skin tone was the result of a layer of dirt giving her a Visible Odor.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Between puberty hitting her like a truck and switching from dressing like a hobo to wearing a classy business suit, The 2nd has completely changed her image from the previous show.
- Ship Tease: With Knight. She seemed a little too amused when Yomogi questioned their relationship, to the point of letting her signature laugh slip.
Kaiju Eugenicists
In General
The antagonists of the series, a group of kaiju tamers who believe kaiju (and those who control them) deserve to rule the world.
- Affably Evil: They are very chill, and remarkably friendly when they aren't wrecking the city.
- The Beastmaster: They have the ability to take control of kaiju with the command "Instance Domination".
- Bomb Throwing Anarchist: The philosophy they espouse is essentially this. Sizumu in particular makes arguments that people are constantly constraining each other through things like hierarchy, decorum, and relationships, and kaiju are born from the dissatisfaction that results from those constraints.
- Character Song: "Yakusoku"
- Cold Ham: Everyone except Onija make their presence known with intense gravitas.
- Color-Coded Characters: Their uniform's left sleeve has color-coded stripes for each member:
- Juuga's stripe color is yellow
- Onija's stripe color is pink
- Mujina's stripe color is cyan
- Sizumu's stripe color is gray
- Evil Counterpart: They act as a darker counterpart to the Dynazenon team, having the same team composition as the main Dynazenon pilots. Sans Sizumu, they all also share a similar hair color to the member of the team they seem to be a counterpart of. Their final combined form is essentially a dark mirror of Dynazenon.
- Juuga and Koyomi are both the indifferent and passive smart guys of the group.
- Onija and Gauma are the loud hot heads of the group always ready to pick a fight.
- Mujina and Yume both are the stoic token females of the group who had trouble connecting to other people at first but gradually began to open up.
- Sizumu and Yomogi have similar Technicolor Eyes and both have a high level of empathy towards the kaiju. Sizumu is also one to Knight, as a kaiju with a human disguise of a short teenage boy.
- Friendly Enemy: After Gauma tells them the other pilots are probably kaiju users as well, the Eugenicists (Onija nonwithstanding) opt to... chill, pay them a visit, and try to become friends with them, in an attempt to reach an understanding and possibly sway the heroes to their side. Sizumu even transfers to Yomogi and Yume's class.
- Light Is Not Good: All of them wear white coats, but they use kaiju to wreck the city.
- Make My Monster Grow: Taking control of a kaiju also appears to greatly increase its size. A kaiju that was roughly two stories tall becomes closer to twenty under their control.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Episode 10 reveals that 5,000 years ago, they turned against the country they served, in the belief that they were being used and intended to be ultimately exterminated.
- Redemption Rejection: Their Friendly Enemy behavior combined with the below-mentioned Villains Out Shopping moment would easily fool one into believing that redemption would be on the table for this group. By the final episode they completely double down on their beliefs and ultimately die trying to wipe out humanity.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Both the Eugenicist in control and the kaiju itself gain red eyes while using their powers.
- Resurrective Immortality: They died at least once, 5,000 years ago, and came back through the logic-defying power of kaiju. Episode 11 reveals that the kaiju now serve as their life force, with Gauma's body decaying because he abandoned his connection to the kaiju.
- Take Over the World: They aren't shy about spelling out that this is their motive.
- Villains Out Shopping: Since the kaiju of the week in episode 8 is too small and weak to bother controlling, they spend the whole episode going bowling and watching a movie.
- We Have Reserves: Juuga points out in episode 9 that they don't. There's a limited number of kaiju to work with, and by that point in the series they're starting to run out. In episode 11, after the enormous emotional trauma that Garnix inflicted on humanity using its Psychological Torment Zone fails to spawn any more kaiju, they conclude that the supply has finally run out.
Juuga
Juuga
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (Japanese), Y. Chang (English)
A bespectacled young man who serves as one of the 4 Kaiju Eugenicists opposing Dynazenon.
- Affably Evil: Has little hostility towards the heroes, and often wishes to discuss with Gauma.
- Ambiguously Gay: He's extremely hung up on Gauma’s betrayal, and it often comes off as though Juuga used to have feelings for him, so he personally feels betrayed. At times this goes into full-on Yandere territory, particularly during the final battle.Juuga: Gauma! I looked up to you! I needed you, and you needed me! And yet, you betrayed us! And yet, I only liked you more!
- Character Song: "Border".
- Driven by Envy: He repeatedly implies that he wants to prove that he’s better than Gauma.
- Graceful Loser: When the kaiju run out, Juuga goes in person to concede his loss to Gauma. He even lets Gauma beat him up without complaint, aside from pointing out that Gauma's punches are weak.
- Out of Focus: Juuga gets the least screen time and development of the group.
Onija
Onija
Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
A red-haired man and a member of the Kaiju Eugenicists.
- Ax-Crazy:
- The most psychotic of the Kaiju Eugenicists, and holds a personal vendetta against Gauma for breaking off of their organization. Even when told that there aren't any more Kaiju to take control of in Episode 11, he still attempts to take a police officer's gun off-screen with the apparent intention of killing people with it before he's taken into custody.
- This gets driven home in its final episode where during the final fight Juuga, Mujina, and Sizuma all get at least some form of the motivation behind why they are trying to control the Kaiju. Onija gets nothing because at the end of the day he's just an asshole.
- Black-and-White Morality: Gauma used to be an ally, but after he betrayed them, all nuance was gone and Onija considered him an enemy. Anyone working with him is considered an enemy as well.
- Butt-Monkey: On top of his allies not paying much attention to him, parts of whatever Kaiju gets defeated in a given episode tend to come close to crushing him.
- Character Song: "STRONGEST!!"
- Fiery Redhead: Tends to get loud and angry very easy.
- Large Ham: The only Kaiju Eugenicist to be outright bombastic and a loudmouth of the bunch.
- Not Quite Dead: In Episode 3, he appears to be annihilated by the falling kaiju's remains. He's soon shown to have survived, but it's unclear to both the audience and Onija himself if the meteors missed, or if he did die and came back to life again.
- Running Gag: The remains of the defeated Monster of the Week will often fall on him, only for him to be seen remarking "I thought I was dead" afterwards. In episode 8 where the Monster of the Week is ignored and not used by the group, he still mentions the line after watching a movie.
- Stating the Simple Solution: As far as he's concerned, they can end their manhunt for Gauma by isolating him from his companions and Dynazenon. He even points out that Juuga could have just killed Yomogi when he visited the boy at school.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: In Voice Drama 5.5, after venting about how his companions have taken him for granted, they realize their folly and thank him for all he's done that day.
Mujina
Mujina
Voiced by: Ayaka Suwa (Japanese), Kara Edwards (English)
A woman serving as a member of the Kaiju Eugenicists.
- Character Song: "doll".
- The Fatalist: She claims to have no goal in life that she's working towards, a stance emphasized in the following discussions with the other Eugenicists where she says she'll do whatever the other three decide on. She draws parallels between herself and Koyomi because of this, which turns into hatred when Koyomi manages to move on with his life while Mujina is robbed of her only purpose by the demise of the kaiju.
- Fatal Flaw: Sloth. Mujina briefly flirts with the possibility of redemption through seeing a kindred spirit in Koyomi, but she's unable to make the emotional commitment actually required of a Heel–Face Turn and lets the opportunity pass, blaming Koyomi when this ultimately leaves her with nothing in her life once the kaiju are gone.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's an attractive woman with large breasts and thick thighs, and her outfit is remarkably skintight compared to the other Kaiju Eugenicists. The episode where everyone goes to the waterpark has her in an even more revealing swimsuit.
- Never My Fault: Mujina retreats into this upon seeing Koyomi moving ahead with his life, blaming him for her own inability to find a purpose in life besides kaiju.
- Not So Above It All: While she often sports a stoic expression, she clearly is the least interested in whatever Kaiju shenanigans is going on whenever she's not involved. Outside of Kaiju, she always wants to have fun such as hanging out at a water park, going to a game center, and watching movies with the others.
- Shadow Archetype: Mujina is one to Koyomi, showing just how far his lethargic and antisocial behavior could take him if he kept going down the same path.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female Eugenicist in the quartet.
- The Stoic: Maintains a stone-faced expression. Except at Tokyo Beach Land, where she's clearly enjoying herself. When controlling a kaiju together with Onija, she also becomes much more animated.
- Straw Nihilist: Mujina's motivation for fighting on the side of the Kaiju Eugenicists is because she finds nothing in life worth living for otherwise. She believes that she found a kindred spirit in Koyomi and projects the idea that he may be the first human to completely understand her, and when he tries to improve himself and take responsibility for his own life, she takes it as a complete rejection of her.
Sizumu
Sizumu
Voiced by: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese), Lee George (English)
The de facto leader of the 4 Kaiju Eugenicists and the shortest among them.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Sizumu is the one always giving orders to the rest of his group, and the other Kaiju Eugenecists always listen to and respect what he says. He is also visibly the youngest member of the group.
- Ambiguously Brown: His skin is noticeably darker than all 3 of his associates.
- Big Bad: The leader of the Kaiju Eugenicists who has the last and most powerful kaiju of all lying in wait.
- Character Song: "Un-Understand".
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Throughout the show, Sizumu cryptically talks about how humans are always restricting and caging themselves without realizing it and how the kaiju represent true freedom while Yomogi always disagrees with this idea. In their final conversation it becomes clear that what Sizumu meant was that he sees the bonds humans create with one another as literal 'bonds' that restrict them and their freedom. When Yomogi refutes this, stating that the bonds and connections he's made with Yume and the others are far more valuable than any 'freedom' the kaiju offered, Sizumu only responds by saying that he can't understand.
- Meaningful Appearance: Various elements of his outfit imply he’s the highest ranking member or leader of the group. Such as wearing a captain’s hat, having the most ornate looking jacket, and each Eugenicists has a different number of stripes on the sleeve of their jacket out of four note Sizumu is denoted as one.
- New Transfer Student: He transfers into Yomogi and Yume's class in Episode 4.
- Odd Name Out: All of the other Kaiju Eugenicists including Gauma have names that end with the letter “a”, except Sizumu. Which foreshadows that there’s something different about him from the rest of the group.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Sizumu is the only one of the four who can hear "the voice of the kaiju". This also causes him to act as the Mouth of Sauron in expressing their will to the others. Having a kaiju inside of him probably helped.
- The Sleepless: Sizumu is the only Kaiju Eugenicist who's never shown sleeping. In a private moment in episode 7, he declares that real kaiju users don't sleep, calling back to a declaration by Alexis in the previous show that real humans don't sleep.
- The Stoic: Even more than Mujina. Even during the trip to Tokyo Beach Land, he remains completely stone-faced for the entire trip.
- Transhuman Treachery: Sizumu states during the show that he doesn't sleep. The voice dramas imply that he doesn't eat either, and had stopped doing so at some point 5,000 years ago, suggesting that this is around the time when he had a Kaiju put inside of him. This is also when he started bringing up the idea to the Eugenicists of turning against the country that employed them, which ultimately led to their battle with Gauma and ensuing death.
Other Characters
Inamoto
Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Japanese), Elizabeth Maxwell (English)
Yomogi's boss at Yuri Mart. Also a childhood friend and classmate of Koyomi.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: A rare in-universe acknowledged case where Koyomi has a hard time getting a read on Inamoto's motives. The viewer is presented with two versions of Inamoto, first as Yomogi's Cool Big Sis supervisor and then as Koyomi's Toxic Friend Influence. While going out drinking with Koyomi, she spends the night ranting about her husband giving the impression that she is in an unhappy marriage but the next time she is seen with her husband they are Sickening Sweet Hearts.
- Awful Wedded Life: In a brief downer moment during her night out drinking with Koyomi, she questions why she got married. Subverted in the next episode when she invites her husband to her next night out with Koyomi and they get along great, leaving Koyomi wondering if she acted like this trope was in play just to yank his chain.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Koyomi's Start of Darkness that helped to play a role in him becoming a hikikomori was Inamoto in their youth convincing him to run away with her. In the present, Inamoto doesn't seem to remember that even happened.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She shares her beauty mark with the girl from Koyomi's flashbacks, and the tone of those flashbacks indicates her past was very dark and troubled indeed.
- Former Teen Rebel: Inamoto was something of a delinquent in her teenage years, though she has seemingly mellowed out as an adult.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Koyomi saw her as one when they were in high school, but her flighty nature and lack of concern for social norms ultimately did him nothing but harm.
- Older Than They Look: Downplayed. She looks mid-20s, but as a classmate of Koyomi, she has to be in her mid-30s.
- One Degree of Separation: She knew Koyomi back in middle school.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: A strange case. We only know Inamoto by her maiden name, which she doesn't go by anymore, but she never gives her current full name to Koyomi so he keeps referring to her by Inamoto.
Mei
Voiced by: Azusa Tadokoro (Japanese), Emily Neves (English)
Yume's best friend.
- All There in the Manual: Her last namenote was never featured in the show proper, only being listed on the series' page on "Nico Nico Douga."
- Only Friend: Before Yume become a pilot, Mei was pretty much her only friend.
- Satellite Character: Her main role is to be Yume's friend from outside the Gauma Team, and we don't see her interacting with anyone else until the epilogue, which confirms that she's friends with Kaneishi.That being said...
Awaki, Nazumi, Ranka, Kaneishi
Voiced in Japanese by: Jin Ogasawara (Awaki), Gakuto Kajiwara (Nazumi), Rio Tsuchiya (Ranka), Hikaru Tōno (Kaneishi)
Voiced in English by: Zach Bolton (Awaki), Mark Allen, Jr. (Nazumi), AmaLee (Ranka), Jenny Yokobori (Kaneishi)
Yomogi's classmates.
- All There in the Manual: Nazumi's first name, "Ren," was only shown in a magazine.
- Flat Character: Due to their lack of screentime, none of them are given much characterization in the show proper.
- No Full Name Given: Awaki, Ranka, and Kaneishi are only known by one name each.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Played with; Episode 6 shows Ranka getting really close towards Yomogi, but he doesn't appear to mind all that much.
- Ship Tease:
- There are hints of Kaneishi having a (one-sided) crush on Yomogi.
- It's also implied that Nazumi and Ranka are in a relationship.
Kano Minami
Voiced by: Iori Saeki
Yume's older sister.
- Driven to Suicide: Subverted. Her death was officially ruled as an accident by the police, but as Yume and Yomogi investigate her former peers regarding the circumstances behind the tragedy, it becomes hinted that Kano may have actually committed suicide due to being bullied. Despite this, Episode 10 reveals that Kano's death truly was an accident.
- Driving Question: Wanting to know what truly happened to her is Yume's main motivation for most of the show, as she can't believe her death could really be just an accident. The answer ends up being that it indeed was, but more importantly that it doesn't matter anyway. Kano's death was never the big problem; Yume's inability to move past it was.
- Hidden Depths: As much as she doesn't show it, Episode 10 shows that Kano had always cared about Yume, and regrets not getting along with her better when she was alive.
- Iconic Item: In flashbacks, she is always seen with her ankh puzzle. Yume inherits it as a keepsake to remember her.
- Posthumous Character: She died back in 2015.
Princess (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
A princess belonging to the country that the Kaiju Eugenicists previously served.
- Canon Character All Along: She's the princess from Ancient China mentioned back in Episode 18 of Denkō Chōjin Gridman.
- Official Couple: She and Gauma had promised to spend the rest of their lives together.
- Posthumous Character: She's been dead for 5000 years, having been Driven to Suicide after Gauma's death.
Kaiju
In General
Giant creatures that begin appearing in the world after 5,000 years of absence. Their abilities defy explanation.
- Ambiguously Evil: It's not clear whether a kaiju without a tamer will actually do anything. Their ability passively activates on a small scale around wherever they appear, but they otherwise sit still until controlled. At the same time, Gauma claims that the Eugenicists follow the will of the kaiju, suggesting that they're inherently evil creatures and their relationship with the Eugenicists is mutually parasitic in some fashion. Sizumu later describes kaiju as humanity's suppressed desires to lash out at the world around them.
- The fifth kaiju, Neophobia, begins bucking this trend by moving around on its own before being controlled. While it doesn't act in an overtly hostile fashion, it's much more activity than any kaiju before it has displayed.
- Knight later elaborates that some kaiju do indeed have human hearts and could be reasoned with, but others will try to trick people into thinking they're not malicious until it's too late, and there's no way of telling one from the other.
- Emotion Eater: Kaiju grow in strength by feasting on human emotions, such as the pain and misery caused by their attacks. Sizumu hangs out around Yomogi and Yume specifically because their romance is an excellent source of emotions for him to feed on.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: A shimmer of white sparkles indicates the arrival of a kaiju or that one's using its abilities.
- Make My Monster Grow: A kaiju that isn't being controlled will gradually increase in size over time, but being subjected to Instance Domination immediately causes it to grow to gigantic height.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Most kaiju have blue eyes before one of the Kaiju Eugenicists take control of it, turning them red.
- No Ontological Inertia: While things like explosions or knocking over buildings remain even after a kaiju's destruction, their more supernatural powers tend to disappear with their demise.
- Power Incontinence: A minor example, as an inactive kaiju's ability triggers seemingly at random in a small area around it.
- Reality Warper: In a world that's otherwise just like ours, kaiju are capable of feats that defy logic, even bringing the dead back to life. Sizumu calls it the ultimate freedom: as kaiju are not bound by the proper laws of the world, they can do whatever they please even in spite of reality itself.
- Robot Antennae: A recurring motif of kaiju in this series are antenna towers on their backs.
- Serkis Folk: Like in SSSS.GRIDMAN, the kaiju in this show are designed to look as if this trope were in play. Episode 6 offers a twist with a kaiju whose body shape would require two suit actors in the costume, and as such requires two Eugenicists to control it.
- Theme Naming: Befitting their origins from the human psyche, all of the kaiju are named after terms in psychology, with Neophobia being the most obvious example.
- Tulpa: Kaiju are described as manifestations of people's dissatisfaction with their lives. This is similar to their treatment in the previous show, where they were deeply tied to Akane's violent impulses towards anything that got in the way of her perfect life, but with all of humanity as the origin instead of just one individual.Sizumu: People may seem free, but everyone's bound by something. It's kaiju that free them from that something.
Shalbandes
- All There in the Manual: Whilst it gets defeated before the Kaiju Eugenicists' debut and thus its controller was never shown on-screen, supplementary material reveals that Onija was the one who controlled it.
- Gravity Master: It sends out a wave that causes Dynazenon to start floating against its will.
- Meaningful Name: It's named after the Charpentier Illusion
, which ties in nicely with its powers. - Long Neck: While its neck is plenty long to begin with, it can extend the head further in battle (akin to a Whip Sword).
Greyjhom
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Equipped with a pair of scythe blades on its arms.
- Ironic Name: Greyjhom's colourful, psychedelic body is anything but grey.
- Meaningful Name: It's named after the Kuleshov effect, a mental phenomenon where more meaning is derived from interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation; this connects with how its Teleport Spam visually resembles a Jump Cut.
-
Prop Recycling: Its design, particularly the ribbed texture on its limbs and the shape of its lower legs, resembles Anti's kaiju form, which its hypothetical suit could be modified from with ease. - Teleport Spam: By fanning out its wings, it can teleport, and does so constantly.
Burnaddon
- Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Burnaddon's head remains intact after the rest of the body is destroyed and makes one last charge, only to be swiftly defeated by Dyna Rex.
- Explosions in Space: Both defied and played straight. The team grapple Burnaddon and carry it up into space, which successfully nullifies its ability to make explosions. Then they kill the kaiju, which explodes anyway.
- Having a Blast: Its primary power is to create explosions out of thin air.
- Made of Explodium: Even though the entire point of taking Burnaddon up into space was to stop it from being able to create explosions, the kaiju itself still explodes upon defeat. In the associated voice drama, the characters speculate it had explosives inside its own body.
- Meaningful Name: Named after Burnout syndrome, which is a state of exhaustion that's brought about by a prolonged period of stress.
- Motif: Hiroshi Maruyama designed this kaiju based on the Tower of the Sun.
Didoras
- Expy: Its design is intentionally reminiscent of Kingstron.
- Meaningful Name: It's named after the Diderot effect, the effect that the purchase of a disproportionately extravagant possession can lead to the consumer buying more objects to complement it, leading to a downward spiral of consumption.
- Squashed Flat: Its power lets it turn things into 2D objects that become intangible.
- Spiked Wheels: Didoras's entire torso is one, which it can use to turn itself upright if knocked onto its back.
Neophobia
- Belly Mouth: Neophobia's mouth is on its underside, only becoming visible when it gets flipped over.
- Combat Tentacles: Neophobia has an array of tentacles that it can use as arms in its normal mode, where it has a pair of stumpy legs, or it can walk on the tentacles in its upside-down mode.
- Eldritch Abomination: Neophobia is much more abstract in its appearance than the previous kaiju, and unlike the ones before it walks around of its own accord before being controlled. Even Onija finds it creepy. It's dialed up further in its upside-down mode, where it switches from a sluggish demeanor to a fast and aggressive one.
- Hollywood Acid: Its power allows it to instantly melt objects in similar fashion to acid, making it immune to missiles.
- Homing Lasers: Its primary offense when right-side up is firing a homing laser from between its antennae.
- Meaningful Name: Neophobia is a psychological term for the fear of new things, fitting how the kaiju goes berserk when it finds itself in an unfamiliar situation, such as being flipped over by Dynazenon.
Bullbind
- Extra Eyes: A variation in that it has two eyes, but each eye has three irises inside them, giving it a crazed look.
- Gravity Master: Bullbind's primary power is amplifying gravity, letting it crush multiple city blocks under their own weight in the blink of an eye.
- Lightning Bruiser: Compared to every previous kaiju, Bullbind is monstrously faster, stronger, and more diverse in its powers. Combined with the Dynazenon pilots being in a weakened mental state due to the day's previous events, Bullbind absolutely wipes the floor with them.
- Meaningful Name: Bullbind is a combination of "bull" and "double bind", a dilemma where an individual is presented with two contradicting pieces of information; similarly, Bullbind is a bull-like kaiju controlled by Onija and Mujina, who are polar opposites to each other.
- Pantomime Animal: Referenced. Just as most kaiju in this show are designed so that they could hypothetically be People in Rubber Suits, Bullbind is a quadruped similar to Ultraman kaiju Dodongo, which requires two suit actors to control the costume instead of just one
- Shock and Awe: Its dreadlocks are each a tentacle capable of firing lightning bolts powerful enough to blow up buildings in a single shot.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: In every regard, Bullbind completely overshadows every kaiju that came before it. Sizumu references this when determining how to control it.Sizumu: Kaiju must change for the world to change. We must change too.Juuga: Is that what kaiju tell you?
- Super-Strength: Bullbind easily manhandles Dyna Rex, which previously curbstomped every kaiju it faced within seconds. Bullbind instead tosses it around like a ragdoll.
- Synchronization: Unlike every previous kaiju, Bullbind requires two Eugenicists to empower and control it, which appears to cause some level of synchronization between them. Its design references this, as mentioned under Pantomime Animal.
- This Is a Drill: Its horns are each a drill.
- Wings Do Nothing: It has large wings on both sides of its body, but it's never shown flying; they serve the purpose of dispersing gravity-amplifying sparkles when it fans them out instead.
Zaiohn
- Ambiguously Evil: Even more so than other kaiju, Zaiohn's frail appearance and non-destructive power leave the cast questioning if it's really evil or not, making them hesitant to kill it. Knight points out that Zaiohn could very well just be pretending to be weak in order to invoke exactly that reaction.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: In addition to its main eyes on stalks, Zaiohn has a third eye in its upper mouth, which it reveals to stare at Yomogi when he tries and fails to use Instance Domination on it a second time.
- Generic Graffiti: Its power is to paint things random colors, such as Gauma's face. Other than changing their colors, it doesn't appear to have any effect.
- Meaningful Name: Zaiohn is named after Robert Zajonc, a psychologist famous for his research on the mere-exposure effect. Part of the heroes' reluctance to kill Zaiohn comes from their repeated encounters with the creature, which led them to believe it's harmless.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Whether or not Zaiohn really was one is left deliberately ambiguous. While it doesn't act in an overtly malicious fashion, it still climbs a building packed full of people that will collapse under its weight if it's not stopped, killing everyone inside. Knight comments that it could genuinely be benign, or it could simply be taking advantage of its appearance, and there's no way to communicate with it to figure out which one it really is.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Inverted. Coming right after the monstrously powerful Bullbind, Zaiohn is easily the weakest kaiju in the series. It's also ambiguous if it was evil in the first place.
- Special Effect Failure: It's designed in a way that deliberately evokes this effect, with exposed wires poking out of the seams of its costume and arms designed such that the hypothetical suit actor's arms won't fit in the sleeves and have to hang down at an awkward angle. In-universe, it's considered an unfinished kaiju.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: After Yomogi fails to perform Instance Domination on Zaiohn the second time, leaving him with no option to save the people in the building underneath it than obliterating the kaiju with the Dynamic Cannon, it opens its third eye and stares at Yomogi while he pulls the trigger.
- Too Many Mouths: It has one on its head and one on its tail, neither of which appear functional.
- Ugly Cute: Head character designer Masaru Sakamoto describes Zaiohn's creation process as taking lots of things that director Akira Amemiya hates, such as shiitake mushrooms, boneless soft bodies, slime, and Leucochloridium worms, combining them, then trying to make the result look cute. It gets this reaction in-universe as well, with Yume initially thinking it's kind of cute before getting a closer look and changing her mind.
Goldburn
- But Now I Must Go: With its wounds finally healed, Goldburn departs with the damaged Dynazenon alongside Knight and The 2nd back to the Computer World, though not before Chise gets the chance to thank Goldburn for being her friend.
- Combining Mecha: Goldburn can combine with Dynazenon and Gridknight into Kaiser Gridknight, or combine with Gridknight alone to become Gridburn Knight.
- Cool Helmet: A component of it provides the helmet for Kaiser Gridknight.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: Its body is nearly pure gold, and it's a powerful kaiju even before combining with Dynazenon.
- Immune to Mind Control: The first thing Sizumu does upon seeing Goldburn is try to perform Instance Domination on it, to no effect.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Goldburn can shapeshift into a large shield.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Chise names it for a band she likes after seeing their poster on her wall.
- Out-of-universe, its name comes from Lewis Goldberg, a psychologist famous for developing the Big Five personality model; this ties in with how Chise is the fifth member of Team Gauma.
- Out-of-universe, its name comes from Lewis Goldberg
- Non-Malicious Monster: Genuinely this time, unlike Zaiohn where it was left ambiguous. Goldburn demonstrates an immediate ability to understand human speech and a friendly personality, even saving Yume from a fall. It does get noticeably aggressive at things Chise herself is angry at, but she's well-adjusted enough by that point to prevent a murderous lashing out.
- Shrink Ray: Its power lets it fire beams from its mouth to enlarge or shrink objects.
Gibzorg
- Meaningful Name: It's named after James J. Gibson, an American psychologist known for studying the perception of curved lines; this ties in with its ability to soften objects, essentially creating curved lines where things would be straight.
- Mythology Gag: The antenna tower on its back is intentionally designed to resemble the computer tower from Denkō Chōjin Gridman.
- Quicksand Sucks: Juuga uses its power to soften objects to try and make Dynazenon and Gridknight sink into the earth.
- Robotic Reveal: When Kaiser Gridknight destroys its arms, the interior of its arms is revealed to have the same wirey insides as Ghoulgillas.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Fires one from its mouth and hands, but it isn't strong enough to penetrate Goldburn's shield form.
Garnix
- Everything Fades: People, buildings, even the land itself around Garnix fades away. Yomogi, who is forced to save his teammates, and both Chise and Anosillus, who were saved by Goldburn, remain the only ones left when all is said and done.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Mujina attempts to perform Instance Domination on Garnix, but only succeeds in making herself its first victim. The rest of the Eugenicists are taken moments later, although Sizumu appears to have expected and wanted this outcome.
- Meaningful Name: Its name is derived from the Zeigarnik effect, a phenomenon where people remember unfinished tasks more clearly; this ties in nicely with Garnix' ability to make people relive their past regrets.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: It's one of the most powerful kaiju the Eugenicists ever get their hands on, with an incredibly dangerous power... and said power ends up being the key that let Yume and Koyomi finally find closure to their respective character arcs.
- Psychological Torment Zone: Anyone taken by Garnix is sent back to the most shameful time of their life and forced to relive it.
- Super-Speed: As one final gimmick when its primary power is foiled, Garnix can dash at extreme speeds while leaving behind a light trail.
- Time Master: It plucks people from the present and hurls them into the past, although it's not clear if the time travel is all in the victim's mind or genuinely sends them through time.
- Walking Wasteland: By the time Garnix is done, nothing is left but a lifeless gray void.
Gagula (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
2nd form
The tenth and final Kaiju to appear. After all the other Kaiju had been defeated, Sizumu reveals that he's had this one inside of him.
- Breath Weapon: Its most powerful attack is a beam fired from its mouth.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: It has a bit of a rainbow motif in its second form.
- Evil Laugh: The most common sound it makes is a creepy laugh, with a hefty dose of Evil Sounds Deep for good measure.
- Final Boss: It serves as the last opponent fought in the story.
- Humanoid Abomination: Its appearance is much more humanoid than most of the Kaiju in the show.
- Meaningful Name: Gagula is named for the Caligula effect, the sense of pleasure derived from doing something forbidden, which is Sizumu's philosophical goal in a nutshell. The name "Caligula" is itself a reference to the Roman tyrant wearing a miniature soldier's outfit when he was a child, echoing Sizumu's appearance as a teenager dressed in a military uniform.
- One-Winged Angel: By devouring the other Eugenicists, it transforms into an even more powerful form piloted by all four of them.
