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Gridman Universe
Movie

Gridman Universe

2023 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

Yuta Hibiki finds himself drawing Gridman, who he seems to have missing memories of. Now in his second year at Tsutsujidai High School, Yuta decides it's time to confess his feelings for Rikka. But their peaceful days would come to a end as Gridman suddenly returns with a warning: "The balance of this world is collapsing."

Overall Series Review

Gridman Universe is an animated crossover sequel that prioritizes action and character resolution. The plot focuses on high school student Yuta Hibiki’s struggle with amnesia and his desire to confess his romantic feelings for Rikka Takarada, all while a multiversal crisis threatens to destroy their reality. The movie is less concerned with new dramatic characterization and more with providing an emotionally satisfying conclusion for the ensemble cast of both predecessor series. The narrative explores metaphysical ideas about what constitutes reality and the human need to form meaningful connections and choose one's own destiny, even when confronted with artificial origins. This is presented primarily through the lens of a traditional male-female romance and a male hero's journey involving sacrifice and self-discovery. The story remains grounded in its Japanese high school setting, focusing on personal drama alongside spectacular giant robot battles.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film’s cast is ethnically homogeneous, and the story contains no narrative focus on immutable characteristics, race, or intersectional hierarchy. Character merit is determined by personal sacrifice, competence, and emotional courage, promoting a universalist view.

Oikophobia3/10

The plot's central conflict revolves around the revelation that the protagonists live in a simulated or created reality. This challenges the validity of their home world. However, the film ultimately subverts civilizational self-hatred by concluding that the human bonds, growth, and destiny they chose within that world make it meaningful and worth saving, regardless of its origin.

Feminism2/10

The main emotional through-line is the male protagonist's successful romantic pursuit of the female lead, which is reciprocated, upholding traditional gender complementarity. The story climaxes with the male hero performing a self-sacrificial act to save the universe. Female characters are competent, but there is no forced 'Girl Boss' trope or messaging against motherhood or family structures.

LGBTQ+1/10

The primary romantic storyline is the male lead, Yuta Hibiki, successfully confessing his love to the female lead, Rikka Takarada, resolving the main tension in a normative male-female pairing. The narrative does not feature or focus on alternative sexualities, nor does it contain any lecturing on gender ideology or the deconstruction of the nuclear family.

Anti-Theism3/10

The film’s meta-narrative suggests that all human belief systems, including 'religion' and 'countries,' are a form of 'fiction' that humans uniquely create and believe in to give their lives meaning. This framing relativizes traditional faith by placing it on a subjective level, but it stops short of outright hostility or demonization of religious characters.