SSSS Gridman is one well written show. As mecha has now fallen, Gridman tends to have a low rating. But Gridman is far more than just cliché stories and fanservice; it’s one amazingly thought out mecha anime with many layers beneath the surface.

Now for one who hasn’t at all heard about this anime this review is also for you, and I will try my best to explain this to people who are curious in this series... or just here for some reason.

Story
Gridman follows a boy, who is tasked by Gridman to protect the city from kaiju. Nonetheless, we are greeted with 6 episodes of happy mecha fighting. Most people decide to drop Gridman by the fourth episode, as Gridman is... well... repetitive.
The first half is just full of cliché moments and nostalgic mecha fights scenes with the good guys always coming out on top. Personally, I enjoyed it as I didn’t have a childhood with mecha.

But the second half is underappreciated. Suddenly, we have themes such as depression and running away from reality implemented into the show. It was filled with themes like those, but in the end, it’s still good. Even though it ended up being slightly dark, it isn’t as dark as Attack On Titan or like that.
This show gave some feels of hope, which would make you want the good guys to win.

Music and Art
Studio Trigger definitely did a good job with this one, the opening sounding so very hopeful whereas the ending sounding very emotional (and quite yuri).
The voice acting wasn’t anything special, but it was a fine job. It doesn’t sound exaggerated and sounds more to how Japanese people really speak.

The art was nice, too. With the CGI improving every single episode. Even during the first episode the CGI was fairly decent.

Characters
The characters aren’t exactly the best written characters, but even then, they’re mostly likeable. I’d have to say, it does lack a bit of character development and some people don’t get explored enough. This is a story-over-characters-type show, so (Y/N) shouldn’t really watch for the characters.

Conclusion
SSSS Gridman was surprisingly good. There were some aspects that they could’ve worked on, but it was able to execute a story very well.
I can see why people hate it. There was a fair amount of unnecessary fanservice, and it may have been cheesy, but for someone who never experienced Gridman, I enjoyed it a lot.
Going into it blindly was an amazing decision but perhaps your expectations should be lowered a bit.

Note: It’s not for everyone, as the good guys win too much, and it is slice-of-lifey, so don’t really expect Steins;Gate level writing.