SSSS.Dynazenon Episode 4

The Transfer Student

SSSS.Dynazenon is my least favorite episode of the series so far. I was hoping that each episode would be better than the one that came before. But that’s clearly not what happened this week. Though, to be fair, most of the episode was on par with the others, which is to say, average.

This week, we got a little bit more information about the Kaiju Eugenicists. First, it was confirmed that the Eugenicists aren’t the ones who create the Kaiju. We already knew this since we see them finding Kaiju in the wild. But, the protagonists didn’t know that yet.

Next, it was stated that what the Eugenicists are doing is giving purpose to the Kaiju. It’s unclear exactly what the point of this is, though. What does making the Kaiju go on rampages throughout the city actually accomplish? Is causing a bit of destruction and being defeated enough of a purpose?

Anyway, all of this information is given to Yomogi and Yume by Shizumu, one of the Eugenicists who transfers into their school. The fact that Shizumu casually transfers to their school and talks to them like they aren’t fighting against each other is a bit odd, though.

I know that the Eugenicists are currently seeing if they can bring Yomogi, Yume, Koyomi, and potentially Chise, over to their side. But it’s still strange that, multiple times now, the Eugenicists have talked to Yomogi like it’s normal.

My guess is that this is all leading to the Eugenicists not really being “evil” and instead teaming up with Yomogi and the gang by the end of the series. There’s probably some bigger enemy out there. But for now, them being all friendly kind of lessens the suspense.

Hologram Kaiju

The reason I think this episode is worse than the previous episodes is specifically because of the Kaiju featured in it. I’m going to call this one the Hologram Kaiju because its ability seems to turn three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional holograms.

Now, at first, that seems like a pretty neat ability for a kaiju to have. Even the Eugenicists comment on how it’s very “Kaiju-like” in how it apparently shifts things between dimensions. There’s a lot of cool stuff that can be done with an ability like that.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju doesn’t do anything cool with its ability. We see that it’s flattened a few cars and buildings, but its ability is really a non-factor during the fight between Dynazenon and itself. And because of that, this was the least interesting of all the Kaiju fights.

I was expecting the Kaiju to mess things up by turning one of the Dynazenon parts into a hologram or something. Perhaps one of them would have to be flattened in order to take down the Kaiju for some reason — that could have been unique.

But, no. The Kaiju doesn’t flatten anyone. And worse, its hologram ability doesn’t actually play a role in the fight at all. With the previous two Kaiju, our heroes had to figure out a way to nullify their abilities before being able to defeat them. Not this time.

This time, the only problem that our heroes have to overcome within the battle is that Yomogi isn’t there because he has a cold. That’s easily fixed simply by picking Yomogi up and throwing him into the Dyna Soldier anyway. So, yeah, not exactly the most engaging Kaiju fight.

Chise Finally has a Purpose

For the past two weeks, I’ve been questioning what Chise’s role in the series is. Until now, she’s just been the cute middle school student. I don’t necessarily have an issue with there being a random cute middle school student, but I wanted her to have a purpose beyond that — like Eugenicists want for the Kaiju.

Well, Chise finally has a real role in the series. She’s the backup Dynazenon pilot. When Yomogi is absent due to his cold, Chise takes over as the pilot of the Dyna Soldier. She’s not very successful, but in her defense, it was her first time piloting it.

There is one small problem with Chise being the backup Dynazenon pilot, though. And that problem is that a backup being needed probably isn’t very likely to happen again. Well, I say that, but Yume is the one with a cold now. So maybe Chise will stand in for her next.

I guess even if Chise doesn’t actually stand in for someone again in this series, at least being considered the designated backup means she’s part of the team. Otherwise, she’s just a truant middle schooler who hangs around with them.

There must be a reason that Chise’s the backup. Perhaps this means that someone else is going to leave the group for some reason? Chise does say that she wants to be like Koyomi, so maybe she replaces him? I doubt he would leave, though.

To me, the most likely person to leave the group would be Gauma. Obviously, Gauma isn’t going to just abandon the others. But maybe he gets captured or corrupted in some way. Or, maybe he and the other Eugenicists move on and he leaves his piece of Dynazenon to Chise.

Conclusion

What do you think of SSSS.Dynazenon Episode 4? Was this episode better or worse than the previous three? Where would you rank this week’s Kaiju against the others? And, do you think anything is going to come of Chise being the Dynazenon backup pilot? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 5 is available.