Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was one of the biggest tokusatsu successes worldwide before Saban’s Power Rangers came along, and the Japanese series it was originally based on is coming back in anime form!
Studio Trigger – the production company behind Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia – has teamed up with Tsubuyara Productions – which has notably produced the Ultraman franchise – for a new anime based on Gridman for a Fall 2018 release.
Videos by ComicBook.com
With a teaser trailer unveiled at Tokyo Comic-Con, the series is titled Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad Gridman or SSSS.Gridman for short. The teaser video runs through some of Gridman‘s notable history, and includes some live-action spots fans of the original series would recognize. The last bit of the trailer comes with the first official look at the new Gridman, which has a stark contrast in tone from what’s come before.
The series will be directed by Akira Amemiya (Ninja Slayer), Keiichi Hasegawa (Zoids, Rage of Bahamut Genesis) is writing the scripts, and the new Gridman design will be provided by Tsuburaya Productions’ Masayuki Gotou, who has contributed designs for many of the currently running Ultraman designs. It will also feature an original story not pertaining to events of the original series.
The series has also confirmed the first member of the voice cast. Hikaru Midorikawa will provide the voice of the titular Gridman. Fans should recognize Midorikawa from his performances as Heero Yuy from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Ryuho of s-CRY-ed, and Lancer from Fate/Zero to name just a few examples.
This is not the only tokusatsu production getting a new anime adaptation as Tsubuyara Productions’ own Ultraman is getting an anime translation in 2019.
For those unfamiliar with Denkou Choujin Gridman, it is a Japanese tokusatsu series created by Tsuburaya Productions. A series in the “Giant Hero” subgenre, the series ran from 1993 to 1994. It follows three boys supporting a giant hero in the “Computer World.” The series was licensed in the United States by DiC Entertainment and released as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad and ran from 1994-1995. It was one of the series caught in a wave of new children’s entertainment in the United States where Japanese footage was spliced with new Western footage.
The last time Gridman was seen was a short produced by Studio Trigger for the Japan Animator Expo, Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero in 2015.
