Kyoushoku Soukou Guyver II

One of the classics OVA's that were released to the west under the infamous MANGA Entertainment brand(remember them?), up there with Ninja scroll, Akira and Fist of the North Star, and of course the controversial Urotsukidōji.

Ultra Violence, Gore, Mecha-ish body suit(not huge ass robot), Fantasy/Monsters-Alien things, and superish kind of power(the suit). What more do you want? It would be considered cheesy and cliche these days, but back in the day, this was the shit. If you liked Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, Fist of the North Star, Akira, Urotsukidōji etc, then i'm pretty sure you would like this too. I don't remember any nudity or ... sex scenes though.

I watched this years ago, so i'm rating everything based on current day expectations. However, i'm rating the enjoyment factor on what i remember. It was great then, and i'm guessing it's still great now since i don't mind watching older 'b-grade' stuff, and i really like my R rated manga.

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First of all,it was the first anime i've ever seen! I remembered was 6 years old, my father took me from a kinder gurden,we went to a video\audio technics shop,there on screens was the Guyver...wow,it impressed me,i was so excited...My father noticed my interes,so it wasn't a problem,he bought it
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So many years passed but I still love it.
+Breathtaking plot,the story won't let you get out of a screen!

+great animation (those monsters are so cool,how was I not afraid of them when i was a kid O,o), a lot of blood,meat :D

+Characters' temper and their nature are showed well!

So,I'm reading the Guyver manga at the ... moment,and so bad there are only 12 series :(

Guyver Volume 2 contains the final six episodes of the twelve episode series that is loosely based on the manga by Yoshiki Takaya. While the first volume had its entertaining moments which consisted of some really cool fight scenes. Its follow up tends to take several shortcuts, which delivers some fight scenes that are mediocre at best for a majority of the outing.

The first four episodes are lackluster in almost all areas, most notably to me would be the bad and inconsistent animation. The battle scenes are poorly done; many battles are flashes followed up by falling limbs, blood spurts, or lengthy stills. Even some ... of the more gory scenes are weakly done. The artwork is also poor even by late 80's standards with some generic character designs, which are total eyesores concerning the biological monsters called Zoinoids.

The series definitely shows its age in the visual department. Many fans believe it's wrong to knock the series for its dated visuals but I choose to believe otherwise, especially when comparing the series to other 80's anime such as Neo Tokyo or even the original Bubblegum Crisis, which both pre-date the Guyver by the way, and still manages to hold up to some degree. It's also no real surprise to me that some of the fans never even heard of the former.

The basic premise is the main character Sho battling the biological beasts sent by Chronos. There are obstacles thrown in Sho's way, and the plot is fairly simple but I won't say it's predictable. At times, the story becomes tedious because the characters are pretty bland and a majority of the new supporting characters are disposable.

The story makes attempts towards depth by revealing a character with a hidden motive, which questions his allegiance, sincerity, and traces back to the first volume. There is also talk of greater beings with immense power; but none of these things really come to fruition, because the series ends leaving it wide opened with plenty of loose ends left untied.

The final two episodes are by far the best. One provides plenty of background which can actually be thought provoking, especially to those whom have some belief of man's origin supposedly being linked to extra-terrestrials. The action scenes are also the best here with some well animated and brutal action; but don't expect them to be on the same level as the first volume. These battles can't compare with the feuds that took place with the agile behemoth Enzyme, or the highly equipped and combat ready Hyper Zoinoid Team Five.

The artwork is also a big step up in the final two episodes with a very clean and well detailed polish. The soundtrack replays many songs from the first volume; a couple are new and the songs does manage to fit with what is taking place on the screen. The English dub to the show is horrible to say the least. The Japanese seiyuu really isn't too much better either. At least the opening and ending songs are much, much better, and aren't lifeless as opposed to the English tracks.

The Japanese sub also contains the uncut version of episode 12. I don't find it to be much of a big deal, simply because the only difference is the fan service via full female nudity. However, you would be surprised as to how many fans actually complained about this being removed.

Guyver is a series that can only be valuable to the most die hard anime fans and lovers of really old anime titles. I recommend it to them and the curious. If you don't fall into those categories then I recommend skipping it. I would instead recommend the 2005 remake. Although the remake contains an opened ending as well, there are still many areas where it out does its predecessor by leaps and bounds; but there are still better anime series out there to choose from with actual endings.

Highs: Action

Lows: Very crude artwork, with some bad and reused animation at times, opened ending