Forum - View topicREVIEW: Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor Blu-Ray
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zatheus
 Posts: 78 Location: Ohio |
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I enjoyed this series because I was introduced to it through the live action movies when I was a kid. At 8 years old I thought the first movie was awesome. I will admit I am bias to liking this show more then I should since it was something I enjoyed as a kid. Would I still enjoy it had I not seen those movies when I was younger? Probably but it would probably be decent instead of good to very good as I rate things. And now I am going to watch those movies again because of this review.
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vermilionone
Posts: 45 |
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Wow, back in 1993-94 when I was what 10 or 11, Guyver was the first comic I went into a comic store to buy, the Max Factory Guyver III was my first model kit, and eventually the collected editions of Guyver were the first tankoubon I ever bought. A lot of firsts there.
I wonder if the best thing to come out of that was that I would buy Oh! My Goddess back issues while waiting for new issues of Guyver to come out. The designs in Guyver are still gorgeous, and Max Factory put out a series of modern action figures a while back which attest to that, but the story is on its 27th volume after 25 years wow it's something of the sort that should have cranked out 40 volumes over a third of that time and finished. It's funny that contemporary reviews of the movies didn't know what to make of them, the transforming superhero theme and general plot was too childish, and somewhat inexplicable for an adult audience, but the body horror and gore were too much for kids. Since the first film predated the success of Power Rangers in the US, I wonder if things would have gone differently had it been made and released during that high tide of Tokusatsu. The second movie, Dark Hero, did give us David Hayter, at least. His production company is even named Dark Hero. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4457 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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Isn't that they guy who played Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series or is it someone else? However i'd take the first movie over the 2nd.
Which was one of the main reason I liked this new series over the OVA. Not to mention the OP and ED is much better than the OVA. Especially the OP. Also guyver III is like an anti hero of the series which was a good thing. The only thing I did not liked of the series was they destroyed guyver 2's unit. However the biggest flaw was that it ended before it began. and without more info on giantor. It's the same thing with Tokko which I still like but ended too soon. Though it's still a a decent series nevertheless. and it's a definite must have for any guyver series. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3994 |
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Yup, that's Snake. |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Hah, never realized that was David Hayter. Been a while since I watched the live action ones. The anime was okay but the ending is probably what keeps me from buying the series. Not so much the fact that they didn't finish it and I'm secretly hoping for them to finish it, but just the fact they decided to end it like that. They should have just made their own ending if they weren't going past 26 eps.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18460 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Exactly. And yet people complain when series like Claymore come up with their own original resolutions to avoid this happening. 
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GuyverC
Posts: 17 Location: Calgary, Alberta |
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I think the point was, that they thought there would be a season 2. Apparently both ADV and Japan really tried to make the series something big ( I swear, before it came out, that is all ADV promoted). Turns out, not so much. Guyver is OLD. And as much as I love it to death, it's got no chance to really make it big in this day and age. As the reviewer said... What was popular in the early 80's, isn't really now... And a lot of what the Guyver did may have been original, or not overdone at the time... Has now been done to death. I honestly like the series for one main reason: It's better than the Manga Issues it covers. I read the manga, and own a lot of the Japanese volumes... But Takaya was NOT a good storyteller back in the day. And frankly, despite the new series not going too indepth with originality... the character development in the TV series was extra, since it never previously existed. And as I mentioned earlier, they REALLY thought there would be a season 2. The fact that right after those scenes, is a bit of a flashback, and the start of the new story arc... There was no other place to end it. And totally would have worked so well, if there had been a season 2. On the plus side, if you pick it up from Volume 10, it works as a good starter for the manga... Whenever Takaya decides to give us new pages... |
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TatsuGero23
Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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But generally, during that era of anime, it was more apparent when a series would get licensed or not for more episodes. Like usually by the last 2-3 months to a series, you would know whether or not if the sponsors or investors would order more episodes. Generally its not like your working on episode 24, still hoping for an extention on the episodes. Usually by episode 17-18 you'll know. So at that point, its a director's or producers call in what happens to a series at that point to the last 2, maybe 4 eps before they go into production.
And you could still create an ending that feels like an ending but still leaves itself open to a season 2. Guyver didn't do that. Not even a cheap narration over a slow panning shot of what they plan to do now and whatnot. At least nothing I remember. Some times ending it the way it did works (like for Big O) but its risky and can ruin an otherwise decent series if the gamble doesn't pay out (Like Big O II). I loved Guyver but the ending was just unfair to the series and kind of killed it for me. It's kind of weird how anti-climatic the ending felt despite it being a big battle. |
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mrsatan
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 913 |
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You know what would have been a cool ending? If they had ended just a few episodes earlier with spoiler[Cronos taking over the world. Maybe tease that the heroes were still alive and vowing to fight Cronos again and just end there.]
When I first watched the TV series, I was kind of stressed out by its limitations. I was thinking, "No! Why is this filler Zoanoid battle here? Why is this filler scene with Mizuki brooding here? We'll never catch up to the manga at this rate." I enjoyed it more this time around with the knowledge that the series ends where it does. Although Takaya was inspired by Shotaro Ishinomori and tokusatsu shows, it was pretty revolutionary for its time. Stuff like global conspiracies with access to alien tech was very cool in 1986, but admittedly has been run into the ground by The X-Files. I'd have to disagree with Guyver being "popular" in Japan. Most people I talked to over there had never heard of it. Maybe it was popular in the beginning, but it's certainly become a niche otaku title just like it is here. I still highly recommend Guyver. I don't think it's characters are generic manga archetypes at all. Maybe Sho and Mizuki. But I still couldn't tell you after all these years if Makishima is an antihero or a villian. |
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