Ok, it's been a while since I've posted. Just a little while, right? Anywho, the columns are updated.
I just finished watching the first volume of the newly redone
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor. Sho Fukamachi had enough on his plate with regular high school problems and maintaining his secret crush. One day after school he meets his friend Tetsuro at the lake when there is an explosion nearby. Thrown by the blast is an odd looking object that Tetsuro believes to be some type of space ship. After fighting about what to do with it Sho accidently activates it. It then proceeds to grab him covering his entire body like putty. As he falls into the lake soldiers and a mutant monster surround Tetsuro demanding the mysterious object. Thus the Guyver rises to protect his friend and meet his new found destiny.
In shorter terms, there is the Chronos Corporation that is secretly developing bio-organic weapons. The Guyver Units being their ultimate creations; they will do anything to keep their secret. Now Sho, in possesion of a Guyver unit, is being hunted by the Corporation's minions, the Zoanoids, mutant creatures with great power. Will he run and hide? or discover the truth behind the Guyver and Chronos?
The animation is standard 2-D nothing fancy. When it comes to the dub, though, I'm not a purist, it has to be really, REALLY ear-bleeding bad for me not to at least tolerate it. But this one I found decent it has a couple of my favorite voices in it, those of Luci Christian (Kaname Chidori - Full Metal Panic!) and Chris Patton (what hasn't he been in lately? Sosuke Sagara - Full Metal Panic!) Patton plays the lead, Sho, and Christian plays Mizuki Segawa, Tetsuro's sister and Sho's love interest.
Now for some
Guyver history. It was originally released as a twelve episode OVA (straight to video) based on Yoshiki Takaya's manga beginning in 1989. The U.S. then released a live action movie,
Guyver, in 1991. I remember watching this on the Sci-Fi Channel a long time ago. It was kind of amusing because they were trying to pull Mark Hamill fans. He was casted in the movie, yes, but he wasn't the lead character that the promo posters kind of led one to believe. Jack Armstrong, who played the lead, looked a lot like a young Hamill and the promo poster covered half his face with the Guyver mask and shrouded the rest with shadows. It was a fun movie, though, with the same kind of effects and props you might see in Power Rangers, but darker. It was then followed up in 1994 with a sequal called
Guyver: Dark Hero with David Hayter playing the lead.
Though this is rated TV M for violence, I didn't see anything gratuitous. There was plenty of action and slicing and dicing but no guts flying through the air. Maybe it gets more graphic as the series progresses? Anyway, I enjoyed it. The storyline is a simple one with Sho discovering his new found powers. But if one more weekly mutant comes charging at him yelling "I'm in a class of my own!" I will scream. If you like this series I would also recommend checking out Project Arms. Similar story in that you have a group of teens and secret organization bio-testing etc. That one has interesting swear words combinations . . . and is DEFINATELY TV M.
Boma at 12:01 AM
