Anime: Kyoushoku Soukou Guyver (2005)

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

There have been several versions of the same story in several different media. We have the manga version, the anime movie version, the live action movie version, the OVA version and recently the anime series version. But I will stick to the anime adaptations and make a simple review about all of them. The symbols in the scoring mean the following: M = Movie, O = Ova, S = Seires, A = Average.

I would like to begin with mentioning that the whole concept is hardly original, even for the time it came out. I always thought of it as the middle ground between the vastly superior Kamen Rider franchise and the sillier Super Sentai (aka the Power Rangers). And in a way it is also what in effect ruins it in the longrun. It is too childish for those who like high amounts of gore and too violent for little kids who like transforming masked heroes. Meaning, it takes the middle ground and ends up feeling less thrilling than the other two.

But heck, let’s just stick to what we have…

ART & SOUND SECTION: M:5/10, O: 8/10, S: 7/10, A: 7/10

The atmosphere of all three adaptations is dark and kinda scary, filled with abominations and other monstrous looking creatures and labs full of inhuman experiments. The level of violence and gore is also rather high. The movie version seems to have the worst quality for its lack of airtime that results to a rushed line of small action scenes. The OVA version fixes that with a lot more duration which results to longer and more interesting action scenes. The series on the other hand, although it appears to have a far better quality in terms of smooth animation and improved coloring, lacks the passion of the hand-drawn cells of the 80’s. It looks more plastic and less scary and for its time even looks rather low budget. The OVA has by far the best use of what its era allowed and that shows easily.

The music themes go unnoticed in the movie version but are amazing hard-rock pieces in the OVA version. And that counts for both the Japanese and English openings which are completely different. The series version simply has… nice music but hardly as passionate or memorable.

Character figures and voice acting are ok but nothing that will stick to you. Everything outside of battles looks like generic people and average towns, so you will only care about the Guyver suits while fighting. There are lots of “posing before I attack” scenes, “chop hands and heads” finishing moves and “train to use bigger guns” parts that may appear to be ridiculous to a more mature audience but quite cool for the younger ones. Plus the level of violence is still rather subverted if you think most of what gets shreded to pieces is some ugly monster and not average people.

STORY & CHARACTER SECTION: M:3/10, O: 6/10, S: 7/10, A: 5/10

The story is quite typical. Evil organization creates bioorganic suits, dorky teenager gets accidentally fused with one and is forced to fight them. Add a predictable “lure the hero by kidnapping his girlfriend” routine, the usual “train to get stronger and protect my friends” and “a villain who changes sides every 3 episodes” and you know how it goes from there.

Each newer version is actually adding more plot and context than the older one, thus the movie is by far the simpliest that stops when the first base is destroyed, the OVA version continues up to the destruction of the second one, and the series up to the point the world is now at the hands of the villains. Still, even so the story remains incomplete in all versions.

There are character developments and some plot twists, concerning the origin of humanity and personal dramas but are presented in a childish and exaggerated way that will also appear to be ridiculous to a more mature audience. Although not original, the cast of characters has a great variety that colorises the general feeling of the series. Too-goody high-schoolers that are thrust into the insanity of war, megalomaniac villains that plan to become gods, not-completely-evil monstrous henchmen and mysterious anti-heroes run all over the place.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 4/10
It is a fine action/gore series but it does have many superficial elements that clearly make it good only for blood-boiling male teenagers. It is as I said too violent for kids and too silly for adults, plus there are always more famous alternative franchises to choose from.

VERDICT: M:4/10, O: 6/10, S: 6/10, A: 5/10
It could be far better…

SUGGESTION LIST
Kamen Rider. The forefather of Japanese masked superheroes.
Tekkaman Blade. A much more sci-fi and cool masked superhero.
Soul Taker. The best dementia/action series with a masked anti-hero I know of.

Things I liked:
Blood, gore, violence and mortality.
(An anime where some of the main/supporting characters die? Sign me up!)

Sho actually has a normal relationship with his father. His father doesn't exist merely for comic relief (example: Bleach).
He isn't some mysterious international businessman and Sho isn't some mysterious exchange student or living alone at 15 or an orphan.
This is the only anime I can remember where there is a normal relationship between parent and child. (Mainly referring to shonen here.)

The opening theme is a major earworm. Try as you might you won't get that tune out of your head. (Also there's gore!)
 
 
 
Things I didn't like:
Having to read so many subtitles.

Tetsurō doesn't actually help in the battles instead he is a liability. He sits on the sidelines and cheers his friends on (think Kinnikuman: Ultimate Muscle). Unlike in reality this usually doesn't result in a 'damsel in distress' situation so at least they didn't go there.

This is my first review, hopefully the first of many. I would really appreciate any sort of non-grammar related feedback. Thanks for reading!

This review will be absolutely spoiler free.

Oh, and I have not read nor will ever reference a manga.

Overall evaluation:
You can't turn off your brain because you will be bored by the touching, interesting moments. You can't turn on your brain because the Guyver is about to use his mega smasher to blast up the Zoanoid. Pass on this show.

Animation:
The animation is adequate. Everything looks as it should.

The most important aspect of the animation, the fights, are fairly boring, generally being either extremely one sided and quick or long and drawn out stalemates. They would fight a little, talk about it, and then fight a little more. Motions are quick, but not necessarily fluid.

The super attack of the Guyvers looks cool, however. The only bit of flash in a very "meh" looking series.

Sound:
I skipped the OP and ED. Who cares? They did not factor into the score.

Perhaps it was the story, but I found myself noticing the BGM a few times. A neat little orchestral or string quartet piece during a dramatic moment. I rarely notice BGM music, so I'll assume this means it was above average.

The dub, like some other things in this series, is inconsistent. The main character is good, and one of the best English screamers I have heard in anime. The main character's friend, prominent in the series, ranges from very bad to very good during the heated or emotional moments. It's odd, but true. He's good where it counts, I suppose. Side characters aren't very good. It's painfully obvious when a voice actor is doing a voice that is deeper than his natural one. Not terrible, though.

Story:
This is really difficult to judge, since this series cannot decide what it wants to be: Stupid and mindless or intelligent and thoughtful.

Remember the early power rangers series? With silly monsters and Megazords and stuff? They could easily have picked those monsters from the Guyver series. And you know how they named their attacks? They do that in Guyver too, calling the main weapon "The Megasmasher." Evil all-powerful villains who want destroy things? Yep.

But then they explain these monsters. They give them human faces and thoughts and emotions. There are moments that showcase the main character's father that are very touching, interesting, and oft ignored. How would you feel if you never saw your son around the house because he was out fighting monsters? You never see that angle in a monster-of-the-week type show.

People die, and characters react to those deaths. They explain all the silly, cartoonish stuff that's going on with the monsters and suits of armor.

At the same time, you have the Naruto "Explain my attacks to you while I'm fighting you" moments. You have power ranger-esque monsters and kiddy things like that.

Hell, they even have an existentialist philosophical moment that they quickly forget. They're too busy with the stronger-and-stronger monsters that they need to fight to actually dwell on anything interesting. This series absolutely falls pray to the "You just defeating my strongest monsters...good thing I have these other even stronger monsters that I haven't used yet!" syndrome.

For me, the good moments were ruined by the bad moments. I can't feel for a character after a dramatic event because I'm too distracted by the stupid shit going on to care. I couldn't immerse myself in the series because there was always a silly monster to remind me that I'm essentially watching a kid's show.

You can't turn off your brain because you will be bored by the touching, interesting moments of characters discussing their future. You can't turn on your brain because the Guyver is about to use his megasmasher to beat up the Zoanoid.

Characters:
The characters were actually decent, the main character's friend being my favorite. He reacts semi-realistically to the burden he is given, and tries to be smart about it. He's likable because he's a normal person in a ridiculous situation and maintains his intelligence.

The main character's father is also great, just because you rarely get to see a reasonable adult in this kind of anime. He's a great character, and if it wasn't for him and the above character, this anime would get a lower score.

The main character isn't annoying, which is a plus. He's not very charismatic or likable, but he certainly isn't unlikeable.

Even some villains have motivations, which is nice.

Value:
I discussed this earlier: and valuable moments are lost in the stupidity.

Enjoyment:
I suppose there were some moments of tension that worked well, and I often asked myself "What's gunna happen next?"

It was usually with mild curiosity rather than necessity, however.

If I had stopped watching the series halfway through, it wouldn't have made much difference. I covered everything else in my review of the story.

Animation.
Everything is really pretty drawn, quite OK. That would be 8 or 9, but there are a few drawbacks. Fights are just not flashy enough. Guyver's moves are lacking FX glory. Even more, sometimes (like in 1st ep already) you cant really see what happened. Back of the monster is blocking all the view. Then he shoots a fountain of blood and falls. What in the world happened ? You really cannot say, while in the manga everything is quite
clear. Anyway, there is alot of gore. Be prepared. But its not as violent as its predecessor. And that was 1989 ! What i liked in it, was how the violence was not glorified (i.e. like in Elfen Lied). It was like : "okay, theres lotsa blood and body parts, so what ?". I cant say that this attitude remains in this remake.

Sound.
Voices and various sounds are nothing out of the ordinary, just your usual "average" anime like. Hovewer, the music...i wont comment on the quality, but i think it seriously does not belong to the title such as Guyver. It just does not fit. Opening song is somewhat acceptable, but thats it. I still remember and love soundtrack of Guyver OVA (and opening video was way cooler and more in sync with music). I, personally, would throw what TV have away, and put in something heavy, rythmic, and really moody. The way it is now - there are even no good enough fighting bgm.

Story.
You can just read the synopsis, thats about all you need to know without getting too far into spoilers. The story is supposed to be really athmospheric and violent, not just another pathetic "i am hero of justice in the name of the moon" kind. Rather its dark and brooding...at least it claims to be so. Sometimes successfully.
Just one more thing. Those guys changed the story from the manga original - AGAIN ! When will anime industry learn, really...

Characters.
Characters, huh ... ? Well, they are all pretty realistic for the story setting, i guess. Except for Makishima, that guy is just unnaturally conniving and too much of an evil scheming type. And he's only in a school !

Overall, a nice TV remake series, which still is not much better than original.