Ask John: How Influential is Bio-Booster Armor Guyver?

Question:
Where do you rank the Guyver in the top 100 influnential anime of all time and why. Is there a 3rd live action Guyver movie? I’ve herd about it, but can’t find it.

Answer:
I’m aware that there’s a very devoted cult following for Yoshiki Takaya’s Kyousoku Soukou Guyver series, but I think that devoted Guyver fans tend to attribute more credit to the series than it really deserves. I do like the franchise myself, but Bio-Booster Armor Guyver wouldn’t appear anywhere on my own, subjective list of most influential anime ever made. I won’t argue that the Guyver series is popular, but to be considered influential, it must have had an influence on something that followed it. The more widespread or significant that influence is, the more influential the originating source can be said to be. It may be argued that Guyver influenced American director Steve Wang to produce two live action Guyver feature films, but I can’t distinguish any further influence than that.

The concept of advanced technology falling into the hands of a young boy, who is then hunted by the people that want that technology back appeared in the first Megazone 23 movie, released in Japan in March 1985. The Guyver manga series didn’t debut until four months later, in July 1985. The concept of an armored hero is virtually as old as literature itself, and there should be little doubt that Guyver creator Yoshiki Takaya was inspired by the decades worth of sentai and tokusatsu hero shows and movies that existed in Japan before Guyver. So these common themes don’t originate in the Guyver manga.

Guyver did introduce the concept of bio-organic armor, but how many anime titles that followed have made use of this concept? Furthermore, it can be argued that Go Nagai’s Devilman was the predecessor to Guyver because Devilman first introduced the idea of a human boy transforming into something that appeared to be a monster. Anime titles released after Guyver that have employed bio-organic armor, including Hagane no Oni, Five Star Stories, and Evangelion, are basically all giant robot series inspired by Tetsujin 28, Mazinger Z, Mobile Suit Gundam and many other giant robot shows. Honestly, the only other anime title I can think of that features armor plating that generates out of the warrior’s body is in the Gonzo anime series I Wish You Were Here. And in that series it’s clearly explained that the armor is mechanical, not bio-organic in the sense that it’s living armor.

Guyver did inspire a stand alone anime OAV and two OAV series of six episodes each. The franchise also inspired two live action movies, although it’s just as appropriate to just say that director Steve Wang was a Guyver fan and created the live action films as an expression of his own personal appreciation for the franchise. For comparison, the Crying Freeman manga series has been adapted into an anime OAV series, and three different live action feature films (Crying Freeman, Killer’s Romance, and Dragon From Russia) yet Crying Freeman is not considered “influential.” I’m not saying that Bio-Booster Armor Guyver isn’t good. Guyver is not an influential title because it has never spawned imitation, and has never encouraged a revolution in the content of manga or anime or a revolution in the production style of manga or anime.

I’m sorry to say that I’ve never heard of any existing third Guyver movie, nor heard of any plans for such a film to ever be made.