It's been sooooooo long, huh?
Welcome back to another post in my never-ending CD Collection series! Today I will be looking at three CDs from the new SSSS.Gridman anime series. Personally I haven't seen it, but there has been some noise about the show online. People are saying it's derivative of a show that derivative of Ultraman...yeah, I don't know. All I know is that it gives me something more interesting than the usual borefest Super Sentai music CDs that I collect.
This post was...delayed. The wonderful folks at CINEMA KAN were slated to release a remastered 2-Disc Denko Chojin Gridman Music Collection the same day that this OST was released, but it has been delayed until the end of January. That along with a week-long delay in delivery of the OST has kinda left me with this last minute review of some SSSS.Gridman CDs.
On top of the freshly released Original Soundtrack, the Opening and Ending theme song singles were released back in October/November. Why not start back at the beginning...?
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OxT UNION [OPENING THEME SONG]
PCCG-70434
2018.11.07
01. UNION
Nah. I'm good...
This sounds like every Anime theme song since like 2003. I guess it's fitting since this is an anime series, but I was hoping it'd have something more of Tokusatsu influence given the source material. Then again, Tokusatsu theme songs have basically become anime theme songs these days.
I swear...100% of these anime theme songs have the exact same hook to make it easy to drop into a 30 second promo.
This isn't terrible, just horribly bland.
02. Yume no Hero OxT Ver
Oh hey, how about that? A cover of the Denko Chojin Gridman theme song.
You know what...the singing may not be the best, but this certainly made this purchase worthwhile. The Denko Chojin Gridman theme song has grown into something of a cult favorite among fans, so it's nice to see that it got some new love. This could have been far, far worse. Remember that new version of Kamen Rider ZX's Dragon Road? Nightmare fuel, that.
03. UNION [Instrumental]
04. Yume no Hero OxT Ver [Instrumental]
The Limited Edition version from Amazon.jp came with a print of the cover image.
Pretty neat, huh? It's 45 sized, which...makes sense...
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Maaya Uchida youthful beautiful [ENDING THEME]
PCCG-01725
2018.10.17
01. youthful beautiful
Again...this song is rather generic but really not bad. Weirdly, the face and voice is kinda familiar if you're an Akibaranger fan. Maaya Uchida...hey, I own a toy with your voice...
This is definitely more of a song I would listen over the OP, but not something I'd listen to on the regular. I appreciate it's energy at least.
02. kimi no heroine de iru tame ni
A strange jazzy song that I really can't get into. It reminds me of some of the lazier songs from a lot of 90s Sentai song collections. Better yet...if you told me this was from the B-Robo Kabutack song collection I would believe you. I really don't like Uchida's higher pitch in this one.
03. youthful beautiful [Instrumental]
04. kimi no heroine de iru tame ni [Instrumental]
DVD
This DVD contains the music video for youthful beautiful, a shorter version of the video set to the instrumental version of the song, and a 'Making Of' video.
Much like the OP Single, this single came with a photo bonus if you sprung for the Limited Edition from Amazon.jp.
It may not be Gridman themed, but...thanks for the extra image of Uchida I guess...
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SSSS.Gridman Original Soundtrack
PCCG-01740
2018.12.18
As I mentioned above, I really had no idea what to expect given that I haven't seen this anime. Sometimes going blind into a CD review can be fun...
I have to say...I thoroughly enjoyed this CD. The tone is certainly more on the serious side. The music itself is almost a throwback to Tokusatsu soundtracks of the 90s. You have the metal action tracks mixed in the near-Seiji Yokoyama sounding orchestral music. The composer of this series is Shiro Sagisu who, truthfully, I have never encountered before outside of the awesome Shin Godzilla film. I definitely hear some Godzilla-esque tunes here now I think about it.
Every once in awhile this disc does serve up a dud (BGM shouldn't have lyrics....HumanLove............), but overall this is a solid and refreshing listen. It fits in nicely with the Tsuburaya library of music much in the same way the Denko Chojin Gridman music collection did. It isn't Ultraman, but the DNA is there.
Check this one out! I'm looking forward to seeing what a second installment would bring to the table if there is one in the future.
Oh yes, if you managed to order on Amazon.jp you got this bonus print of the amazing cover art.
Seriously...I love this cover. It's risky that it isn't an overly colorful mishmash of characters like the OP single is, but I love it!
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It's been a long time since I've reviewed some Tokusatsu/Anime CDs. If you want to read more, be sure to check out my CD Collection page. I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the CINEMA KAN Denko Chojin Gridman Music Collection. Expect to see that review very soon.
Oh yeah, I also posted a 2018 Year-End post in tandem with this one. Be sure to check that out!
Take Care!
-CC
