[DreamSword]

Guyver: Out of Control

Sho Fukamachi is your normal everyday kid. But unfortunately for him, he one day stumbles upon a mysterious metal object which soon bonds to him. This "Guyver" unit is what ends up pulling Sho into fight against the Zoanoids; A group of aliens bend on world domination. Can Sho defeat the invaders and save his girlfriend Mizuki while trying to make sense of his life getting turned upside down?

"Interesting" is probably the best word I could use to describe this movie.

Because it slots into a very specific sub-genre of anime history: That of the bio-horror influenced Tokusatsu hero show.

There were others floating around this time frame that I've seen: Detonator Orgun, Iczer, Tekkaman Blade. And while I liked all of those better, this wasn't bad.

Without doing any sort of direct comparison though, the first entry in the Guyver franchise comes out "okay." The animation? Okay. The action? Okay. The acting? Okay. The music? Okay. It all sort of just amounts to a very decent sit at the end of the day.

But if there's one major thing I took away from this past hour of my time, it was what a surprisingly human character Sho is. He's a scared kid, and many of his actions and reactions reflect that. But, over the course of the movie, when it comes time to stand up for the people he cares about, he does. While the arc itself is basic, it's the sort of thing that also makes him very likable.

Perhaps that's the key as to why Guyver ended up actually becoming a franchise. As otherwise, all I can think is that someone on staff must've been very passionate about the project. And I am very curious to see how this thing evolves going forward.