SSSS.Dynazenon Episode 9

Chise and Goldburn

I don’t remember how many weeks ago it was now, but at some point, there was the episode about Chise’s role in the group being that of the substitute. Well, now her role has been upgraded to that of a fully-fledged member.

However, Chise isn’t one of the Dynazenon pilots. Instead, she’s a Kaiju user who controls a gold, robotic, dragon-like Kaiju that she named Goldburn. And, like the Kaiju that appeared in Episode 8, Goldburn starts off as a baby Kaiju.

Well, it’s actually more correct to say that Goldburn started off as a seed a few episodes back. Over time, the seed grew roots and eventually turned into the baby Kaiju we’re introduced to at the start of the episode. I’m assuming all Kaiju grow in this same way.

Something interesting about Chise and Goldburn is that they appear to have a natural connection. Chise doesn’t need to use instance domination to control him. He automatically does what she says — likely because he grew by feeding off her emotions.

Also, for now, it’s a bit unclear how Chise and Goldburn are going to be involved in future battles. I understand if Chise’s the one directing him to fight. But when Goldburn combines with Dynazanon/Gridknight, Chise isn’t doing anything.

And, there’s one last thing I want to mention about Chise here. This was the first time we saw what her room looked like, and it was made very clear that Chise is interested in music. There were multiple instruments, headphones, and band posters.

I’m interested to see if Koyomi was involved in a band in any capacity in the past. That could explain why Chise looks up to him.

Getting Closer to the Truth

Now, we didn’t get too much new information about the death of Yume’s older sister in this episode. In fact, I think we technically got no new information on that front. But, it still did play a fairly significant role in the episode even if the information wasn’t necessarily new.

This time around, Yume and Yomogi meet with the ex-boyfriend of Yume’s sister. Futaba was her boyfriend at the time of her death but seems to have moved on since then. I don’t remember if it was stated how many years have passed. But he has a ring on, so I’m guessing he’s since gotten married.

Why I’m bringing this meeting up, though, is because I felt that Futaba was acting strangely during this meeting. Yes, he was the one who sought out Yomogi and Yume. However, I still think he has something that he’s hiding from them.

Three things made me suspicious of Futaba. First, his insistence on the death being an accident and not suicide. Second, his inability to make eye contact later in the conversation. And third, the way he played with the ring on his finger before suddenly leaving.

The first part about insisting that it was an accident and not suicide could be seen as not suspicious. However, to me, it came off as him trying to convince himself that her death was an accident. The fact that she wouldn’t have committed suicide was more of an afterthought.

My guess is that he was involved in her death. This would explain why he wants to convince himself it was an accident, why he avoided eye contact, and why he seemed to be fidgeting with his ring as a way to distract himself.

And, I think he met with Yume and Yomogi in an attempt to put it all behind him and move on. Was someone targeting him over all that money and she ended up dead instead?

Giant x Mecha x Kaiju

In most cases, I’m not really the biggest fan of the combining nature of super robots. I’m fine with it in a larger-than-life series like Gurren Lagann. But in Dynazenon, it’s not being done as a reference to the trope. It is the trope.

The reason I’m not a huge fan of combining mechs is that it removes the individuality of the components. I’m much more interested in seeing all of the various pieces of Dynazenon fighting together rather than them combining into Dynazenon.

Once everything is combined, battle strategy often suffers. There can still be strategy. But it’s much more bare-bones. It changes the dynamic of the fight from a team fight to a solo fight despite there still being a team residing within the combined mech.

Think about the combination in this episode and how it reduced the roles of the majority of people on the Dynazenon crew. Basically, they all just turned into power-ups for Gridknight — most of which didn’t actually matter in any way.

Gridknight was in control, Dyna Soldier became his weapon, and the other three parts of Dynazenon along with Goldburn were turned into armor that didn’t actually serve any purpose. I guess you could say Goldburn let the combined mech fly. But did that matter?

Combining can be a fun mechanic. But having every mech combine into one for every fight is pretty boring. Especially considering that once the combination happens, fights usually end after a powerful beam-type attack is fired off. What’s interesting about that?

Conclusion

What do you think of SSSS.Dynazenon Episode 9? Do you think the Kaiju Eugenicists are going to steal Goldburn from Chise at least temporarily? What are your theories regarding the death of Yume’s sister? And how do you feel about combining mechs? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 10 is available now.