Guyver, The

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Koichi Ishiguro
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
300 mins total
Year
1989

The Guyver

By John Huxley
28th Apr 04

It's easy to associate The Guyver with a certain televised detective with a similar name, yet any comparisons are considerably unjust; as The Guyver out-classes it's rival in almost every department. The topics are also vastly dissimilar, as this anime follows a young man named Sho who runs into an odd-looking capsule that embraces and assimilates him, turning him into the Guyver of the title. Sho regains control of his own body after defeating a bio-morphic creature called a Zoanoid and rescuing his friends from mortal danger. These Zoanoids, it is later discovered, are engineered by a company called Chronos, who planned to steal the Guyver unit and use it for their own nefarious purposes. But are Chronos the real danger? And what exactly is the Guyver? Sho must answer these questions by discovering his true abilities and overcoming the odds to save his friends and his own future.

The Guyver himself looks the part with nice spikey accessories and amour plates surrounding his entire body, making him appear totally unique and very cool. While he fights the evil Zoanoids he slowly discovers new abilities hidden within the Guyver, and as each new challenge unlocks more of the storyline, this progression also reveals more of the Guyver. The plot is nicely paced and has plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested and on the edge of your seat. Each new episode offers a new (but also related) turn of events, so watching The Guyver in episodic form is no problem. But here lies the real downfall of The Guyver: all 12 episodes do not represent the entire Guyver story, and massive, gaping, unforgivable holes remain at the end of episode 12. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but rest assured you will be disappointed. Having said that, I feel that being let down so badly is testament to the existing episode's quality, and for every dissatisfaction there are two things that will surprise and please you.

I say surprise, because, in all honesty, the animation quality varies from episode to episode. For instance, episode four sees Sho battle the Hyper Zoanoid team and is expertly realized, while the fight with Aptom later on in the series is criminally wasted with poor quality movement and bad direction. Countering this is are the cool designs mentioned earlier and a strong characters who'll grow to love over time. As is the case with many manga and anime, the hero is possibly the weakest character - he's more or less a faceless drone with whom we are supposed to associate more easily. I can't say if this works or not, but the other characters (including Sho in Guyver form) more than make up for the lack of an interesting hero. Perhaps he's supposed to appear venerable and weak in his human form? I don't know, but I do know that The Guyver comes recommended, despite the previously mentioned hiccups and the gaping hole that is the end of episode 12. Buy all the episodes along with the original manga to round-up the loose ends and you've got yourself a fine, fine piece of work.

-- John Huxley 28th Apr 04

Guyver, The Images