Collapse

***Collapse*** (崩・壊, *Hōkai*) is the tenth episode of *SSSS.GRIDMAN*.

* Monster of the week: Nanashi

## Summary

The gang discuss the implications of Akane Shinjo's revelation that they were all created by her kaiju. They head over to her house to confront her, but the interior is somehow missing, with only a portal to the backstage of Computer World remaining. Sho Utsumi resolves their existential impasse by spending the night studying for mid-term exams. He declaring that even if they are in Akane’s created world, they still have things that need done.

Wherever Akane's home interior is, Alexis Kerib is there demanding another kaiju. She hands over a kaiju model, then wanders off through the city, sinking into depression.

Samurai・Calibur confronts Anti, and asks what he would do without Gridman. Anti is not conflicted like the other students. He knows his purpose. He exists only to crush Gridman, and doesn't need to think of anything else.

Akane’s latest kaiju, Nanashi, appears. Gridman and the NGJHS all jump into action, and unite to form Full Powered Gridman. They make short work of Nanashi. Anti leaps into the fray, attacking Gridman, but Anti’s power times out quickly and he reverts to human form. Gridman explains that Anti has grown a heart through his interactions with humans, and gained humanity of his own, hence Gridman won't destroy him.

Anti seeks out Akane, and she rebuffs him, wanting nothing to do with a kaiju that has become human.

A kaiju comes bursting out of Nanashi’s body, and destroys all of the Venora, the poison-smoke kaiju who repair the city at night. Full Powered Gridman returns to battle this upgraded Nanashi. The kaiju does a bunch of acrobatic flips and jumps. Gridman’s power times out, and he is soundly defeated. Suddenly, Anti appears and takes down Nanashi. Max dubs the new heroic Anti with the name “Gridknight”.

As the team congratulate themselves, Akane shows up at the pawn shop. With the utility knife that she has been using to create the kaiju models, the one seen in the opening credits, she stabs Yuta Hibiki in the gut, causing him to collapse.

## Voice Drama

* **10.10: Getting In A Tangle**
	+ Yuta and Sho talk about the things that have happened, until Namiko and Hass come along to talk about Rikka.

## Trivia

* The poster in Akane’s room is of Gomora. This kaiju dates way back to the original Ultraman series, and appeared again in several more of the Ultra series. Originally a neutral antagonist, by the time of his appearance in Ultraman X, he was a full-fledged hero. This foreshadows how Anti becomes a hero in this episode.
* Nanashi ver 1 has some resemblance to Teleboze from episode Monster Mama is a College Girl of *Denkou Choujin Gridman*. Like Nanashi, Teleboze transforms into a second, evil form.
* The dots on the neck of Nanashi ver 1 are eyeholes such as were used in early kaiju suits. They aren’t just for show, considering that there is another creature inside there.
* Nanashi ver 2 is based largely on Alien Metron from Ultraseven, with some resemblance to Zetton from Ultraman, in which he defeated Ultraman.
* Gridman explains in this episode how the starburst which Akane saw in the sky in Episode 1 was the arrival of Gridman and the NGJHS, in which they were separated by their first encounter with Alexis Kerib.
* In Utsumi's notebook:
	+ "God's in his heaven - All's right with the world", - is the slogan of the organization NERV from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
	+ "KS512-H52", - is from the book No Good from a Corpse, by Leigh Brackett.
* When Anti confronts Akane, the choir song in the background is Kokoro no Hitomi (Eyes of the Heart).

## Gallery

A poisoned smoke monsterAkane's house is off the grid, with just Computer World outsideAkane's house is off the grid, with just Computer World insideAkane has a poster of GomoraThings Utsumi wrote
1. ↑ https://medium.com/@mach.dent/ssss-gridman-reference-recap-10-2c516f2acd45
2. ↑ https://blog.sakugabooru.com/2018/12/16/ssss-gridman-production-notes-10-11/