is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series based on the long-running manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series, Bio Booster Armor Guyver, written by Yoshiki Takaya

Yoshiki Takaya

is a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the manga Guyver, which has been adapted into multiple anime features as well as live action films. Guyver was serialized in Shōnen Captain for the lifetime of the magazine from 1985 to 1997...

, adapting chapters 1 - 59 (volumes 1-10) of the manga. The production was in association with ADV Films and Kadokawa Shoten

Kadokawa Shoten

is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...

. The series first episode aired in Japan on August 6, 2005 and the last episode aired on February 18, 2006.

The series aired in North America on December 20, 2010, on the FUNimation Channel

FUNimation Channel

The FUNimation Channel is a 24-hour cable network which broadcasts anime series in the United States. OlympuSAT was chosen as the exclusive distributor of the network....

.

Plot

A test type Zoanoid, disguised as a normal man, escapes from an organization called the Chronos Corporation with a bag containing three items called the Guyver Units. Chronos soldiers attempt to recover the units from the test-type but are unsuccessful; the test-type was discovered with a grenade in his possession and used the grenade, killing himself and scattering the Guyver Units around the area. Meanwhile, one of the lost Guyver Units lands near two young high school students, Shō Fukamachi and Tetsurō Segawa. Curious as to what the unit is, Shō accidentally activates the unit which then merges with him, becoming "Guyver I." Now, Shō must fight for his life against Zoanoids sent by the evil Chronos Corporation, sometimes going to extremes in order to recover the three Guyver Units.

Characters

Most, if not all, of the characters from the original Guyver manga series appear in the new Guyver anime series. Several characters from the new anime series have undergone a slight change of design from their previous looks from the past animated OVA and manga series (see Guyver (OVA)

Guyver (OVA)

is a 12 part anime OVA loosely based on Yoshiki Takaya's manga, Bio-Booster Armor Guyver. It was released in Japan from 1989 to 1992. It is the second animated adaptation, following the 1986 film Guyver: Out of Control.-Plot:...

 and Guyver: The Bio-Boosted Armor). For instance, Shō has a different style, brown hair rather than his original black hair. Mizuki now has black hair in the 2005 series instead of her brown hair from the previous series.

Main characters

Shō Fukamachi is main protagonist of the series. A 17 year old, second-year student at a Tokyo-area high school, Shō cares deeply for Mizuki Segawa and has a romantic interest in her. Tetsuro Segawa, Mizuki's older brother, is his closest friend. He comes across the mysterious Guyver unit, which merges with him and takes form as "Guyver I." Chronos is now in pursuit of Shō, wanting the return of the Guyver unit. Now, Shō must fight for his life and protect those close to him against the Zoanoids of Chronos.

Mizuki is a typical school girl that goes to the same school as Shō. She is the younger sister of Tetsuro Segawa, Shō Fukamachi's best friend. At first, she grows a crush on Agito Makishima, but later starts to appreciate Shō a lot more, to the point where her affections have completely shifted over to him.

Tetsuro is a chubby third-year student and is Shō's closest friend. He is highly intelligent, keeps his hair cut short and wears glasses. Tetsuro is a Science Fiction fan and the leader of the Sci-Fi society club in the school, which gives him some knowledge to make quite a few assumptions about the things involving the Guyver.

Agito is a third-year student at the same high school the others attend. He almost never allows sentiment to stand in his way. He does not even show much expression in his face, but acts quite friendly at school. He finds a Guyver unit and merges with it to become "Guyver III." Agito also seems to have extensive knowledge on the Guyver and its abilities and exhibits them quite well. Agito seems to have his own agenda when it comes to dealing with Chronos. He is an excellent example of an anti-hero

Anti-hero

In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...

.

A high school girl that attends the same school as Shō and his friends. She is also a close friend to Shō and the Segawa siblings. She becomes of great help to them later when they are forced into hiding after the apparent deaths of Sho, Agito, and Masaki.

Guyot is tall, powerfully built man. In the beginning of the series, he acted as the commander of Chronos Japan branch after Agito Makishimia's foster father, Genzo Makishima, failed to retrieve the Guyver units. He has an immensely commanding presence.

Masaki was a freelance journalist captured by Cronos and used as a guinea pig in the Zoalord development program. He is a tall, thin young man with shoulder-length hair, and normally wears sunglasses, even at night. He joins with Shō to fight Cronos, having his own revenge in mind. He does not quite trust Agito at first because of Guyver III's earlier connections with Chronos.

Other characters

• Fumio Fukamachi

Shō Fukamachi's Father.

• Genzo Makishima

Agito Makishima's foster father and ex-Head of Chronos Japan.

• Oswald A. Lisker

An inspector from Chronos Headquarters. He is "Guyver II."

• Aptom

• Toshiaki Hayami/Bio-Freezer

• Hamilcar Barcas

• Archanfel

• Sin Rubeo Amniculus

• Fried'rich von Purg'stall

• Luggnagg de Krumeggnic

• Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Gregole

• Gaster

• Lǐ Yǎn-Tuí, Derzerb, Enzyme II

• Zerbebuth

• Elegan

• ZX-Tole

• Test Type

• Kawada

• Kobashi

• Misuzawa

• Dyme

Staff

Japanese Staff

• Director: Katsuhito Akiyama
  Katsuhito Akiyama
  ' is a Japanese animation director, screenwriter, and storyboard artist. He often works with Shinji Aramaki and Hideki Kakinuma.- Films :* Elementalors * Armitage III: Dual Matrix - OVAs :...
  
  
• Series Composition: Junki Takegami
• Scenario:

Junki Takegami

Koji Ueda

Natsuko Takahashi

Yasuko Kobayashi

Yuuji Hosono

• Music: Hayato Matsuo
  Hayato Matsuo
  is a Japanese video game and anime composer, arranger and orchestrator. He has worked on titles such as Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy XII, the Shenmue series, and Magic Knight Rayearth. Inspired by his mother, a piano teacher, he graduated from the music composition department of Tokyo University...
  
  
• Original Manga: Yoshiki Takaya
• Character Design: Yoshihiko Umakoshi
• Chief Animation Director:

Masato Sawada

Yuji Ikeda

• Creature Design: Masato Sawada
• General Supervision: Yoshiki Takaya
• Sound director: Jun Watanabe

• Animation Production: Oriental Light and Magic
  Oriental Light and Magic
  Not to be confused with Industrial Light & Magic, formerly Oriental Light and Magic, is a Japanese animation studio founded in June 1995. They have worked on several anime series, with Pokémon their most prominent work, doing all of the TV anime and films. The animation studio is composed of...
  
  
• Broadcaster: WOWOW
  WOWOW
  WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...
  
  
• Production:

ADV Films

GENCO

Kadokawa Pictures

Kadokawa Pictures

is a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...

Sojitz Corporation

WOWOW

WOWOW

WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

English Staff

• ADR Director: Charles Campbell
• Translation: Brendan Frayne
• ADR Script: Clint Bickham
• DVD Graphics: Larry Koteff
• Editing:

Eddie Shannon Jr.

Neil O'Sullivan

Patrick Givens

Roberto Garcia

• Executive producer:

Joey Goubeaud

John Ledford

Mark Williams

• International Coordination: Toru Iwakami
• Mix: Matt Wittmeyer
• Packaging Design: Larry Koteff
• Post-Production Manager: Shelly Thomas
• Producer: Scott McClennen
• Production Assistant:

Maki Nagano

Monica Jimenez

Paul Mericle

• Production manager: Joey Goubeaud
• Recording engineer:

Adam Jones

Afshar Kharat

Bobby Gordon

• Senior Translator: Javier Lopez
• Sound Design: Matt Wittmeyer
• Translation Proofer: Kaoru Bertrand

• ADR Recording: ADV Studios
• Distributor: Madman Entertainment
  Madman Entertainment
  Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...
  
   Pty. Ltd. (Australia & New Zealand)
• DVD Production: ADV Studios
• Licensed by: Funimation Entertainment
  Funimation Entertainment
  Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
  
  

Theme songs

• Opening THEME - "Waiting for" - Reiri (Líng-Lì Yáng)
• Ending THEME - "Cotton Candy" - Bonnie Pink
  Bonnie Pink
  , known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. She lived in New York during 1998 and speaks English . She writes and composes all her songs, and plays guitar and piano...
  
  

Differences from the past series

The Guyver TV series covers more of the original manga storyline than the 12 episode OVA series, being more loyal to the manga, mainly the first 10 or so volumes (covering everything up to the arrival of Guyver Gigantic). However there are key differences between the anime variation and original manga series:

• Guyver II/Oswald A. Lisker survives his first battle with Guyver I due to him and Tetsuro's escaping during the first of Guyver II's many Control Medal malfunctions. He is even kept from fighting up until the final episode of the "Cronos Japan Arc" because he is the only Guyver in Chronos' possession. Though he does meet the same end with a final grotesque malfunction, and then is caught in the collapse of Cronos Japan's HQ, all thanks to their self-destruct sequence.
• The only weapon Guyver II had used in the manga is the "Head Beam" and nothing else. In the anime he had also used the "High Frequency Vibration Sword" and the "Mega Smasher" weapons.
• In the manga, Aptom held Mizuki hostage in order to force Sho to call out the Guyver armor and cut off Mizuki's clothing completely, leaving her naked in front of Shō. However, in the anime series, Aptom only cut parts of Mizuki's clothing off.
• In an homage to the popular story in the manga where Guyver I/Shō's disembodied arm from the battle with Enzyme mutates into a clone, the dissolving Guyver I in the Enzyme battle turns into the clone's final form.

Many of these changes were, however, made with the permission and even involvement of Yoshiki Takaya

Yoshiki Takaya

is a Japanese manga artist best known for creating the manga Guyver, which has been adapted into multiple anime features as well as live action films. Guyver was serialized in Shōnen Captain for the lifetime of the magazine from 1985 to 1997...

.

Subsequent releases

• The Guyver TV series made its U.S. TV
  Television
  Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
  
   premiere
  Premiere
  A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
  
   on October 26, 2006 on the Anime Network
  Anime Network
  The Anime Network , a former subsidiary of A.D. Vision, Inc. , is a cable and satellite digital broadcast service in North America dedicated to anime.-History:...
  
  , airing only the first episode and later, the rest of the series. The first episode was also viewable for free at IGN Entertainment, Inc.
  IGN
  IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
  
   for a short period of time.
• The first four episodes were released in America on November 14, 2006 on DVD
  DVD
  A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
  
  .
• Currently all 26 episodes of the television series are available through the Xbox live marketplace, via the Xbox 360.
• It also aired in the UK during the now non-existent Anime Network block on Propeller TV (Sky Digital Channel: 195) from June to November 2007.
• In spite of the fact that ADV helped produce Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor, this was one of over thirty titles that FUNimation picked up licenses for from Sojitz. According to a representative of Lace, however, ADV Films still has the German and UK rights to the anime

External links

• Funimation's Official Guyver Website