AKA: 強殖装甲ガイバー (Kyoushoku Soukou Guyver)

Genre: Sci-fi action

Length: OAV, 12 episodes, 30 minutes each

Distributor: R1 DVD from Manga Entertainment out of print.

Content Rating: 15+ (violence, gore, gruesome death)

Related Series: Guyver: Out of Control (movie), Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor (2005 reboot), two live action movies.

Also Recommended: Generator Gawl

Notes: Based on a manga by Takaya Yoshiki. There is a previous 1986 anime feature, Guyver: Out of Control, and at least two live-action movies, including the surprisingly watchable Guyver: The Dark Hero. Note: This is not the newer Guyver series that has been reaquired by FUNimation. This reviewer has seen the first three episodes on individual tapes, as well as a compilation tape containing episodes five through eight. All rights earlier owned by Manga Entertainment has been lost. The show is currently unlicensed.

Rating:

Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor

Synopsis

Thanks to corporate conspiracies and sheer (unlucky) coincidence, Sho, a student, comes over the discarded Guyver unit. It immediately latches on to him, transforming him into a powerful bio-boosted warrior. This does immediately put him into the sights of Chronos, a company that is quite willing to let anyone pay the price for getting it back.

So Sho must fight against hordes of Zoanoids. Perhaps he will even encounter the other two Guyver units that were lost as well.

Review

There are just some times when you don't really expect to get much out of a title, but end up being at least somewhat surprised anyway. Guyver is one of those. It doesn't promise anything but a series filled with monsters and all kinds of fighting action, and it doesn't deliver anything outside of that either. If nothing else, you can't accuse this series for dawdling.

That being said, this is pretty decent stuff. Granted, the animation could use some work, particularly past episode six, where the plot takes a turn for the indeterminable and the animation takes a turn for the seriously inferior. At least the idea and the visual execution of the Guyvers themselves are pretty damn cool.

At least the art is pretty good and the animation is, for the most part, decent. The design for the Guyver soldiers and the Zoanoids are pretty good. It's the sort of thing I like in my action features anyway.

The music is, well ... okay for a half-tacky action show, I guess. The dub is, for the most part, not annoying, though the script (or perhaps the translation) could do with some more work.

Or perhaps I'm just being a little bit too demanding out of this show. Like I said, it's not too bad, really. It's just a case of "what you see is what you get."

In a sense, I do wish I've seen the rest of it, if nothing else, so that I could comment on it. Nevertheless, if you're looking for some semi-braindead action, this might very well be right up your alley. I just don't think it warrants a spot in your collection unless you're REALLY into bio-boosted armor pieces.

A good definition of 'middle of the road'. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Not for younger audiences. The fights tend to get rather excessive at times, and people and monsters literally melt into the ground. Outside of that, there is little fan service, no nudity, and nothing else objectionable that comes to mind. For the action fan only, I guess.