Guyver – The Bioboosted Armor
強殖装甲ガイバ
2005
26 episodes

This is the first Anime Tv series I have decided to write about so enjoy.

secretive multinational Chronos Corporation has been experimenting with bioweapons. Their main product so far has been Zoanoids, bestial creatures who can disguise themselves as humans, but the height of their development efforts are three Guyver Units, living suits of armor which bond with a subject and give him fantastic fighting capabilities, ones good enough to stand up to even the toughest Zoanoids.

Guyver, whose source manga was originally serialized starting in 1985, is one of the earlier anime/manga examples of both concepts. It was popular enough to spawn a 1986 anime movie, a 12-episode OVA series that ran in 1989-1990 and 1992, and a pair of cheesy live-action American adaptations most notable for starring Mark Hamill.

These series generally take one of two basic approaches: either the hero is a good guy looking for direction or a delinquent with mad fighting skills but a heart of gold. Guyver opts for the former, and adds to it typical elements like the accidental encounter with the armor, the evil multinational corporation out to recover it (and keep their secrets) at any cost, the best friend who’s privy to his secret, the fellow student who knows more about the situation than he lets on, and the oblivious love interest, who in Sho’s (main character) case is Mizuki, the younger sister of his best friend Tetsuro.

On the Bad Guy side we have the standard “regional director in danger of losing his job/life if the special equipment can’t be recovered” configuration, with the “big boss” ultimately stepping in, although the one minor surprise here is that he becomes directly involved so early. Guyver was itself the inspiration for other anime series about individuals in powered armor battling monsters disguised as humans, as many parallels can be drawn between it and Bubblegum Crisis, among many others. It will appeal to action junkies and fans of earlier incarnations, but probably will not find an audience beyond those groups.