Guyver: Out of Control Review

 

High school student Sho Fukimachi’s life goes to hell when he accidently stumbles across an alien object called the Guyver unit. After accidently activating the unit, it envelops his body in an indestructible armor that enables its user immense strength and abilities that are being sought after by a corporation called Chronos. By a stroke of horrible circumstance or fate, Sho must now use the Guyver’s abilities to defeat the evil corporation and their shape shifting monsters called Zoanoids

 

Thoughts on the film

Ryan

I’m a huge fan of the Guyver mangas and anime series. Unfortunately they have yet to make a good live action Guyver film. They have tried twice and failed each time to capture what makes the Guyver awesome. The second film however was leaps and bounds better than the original, but it still left me returning to the animes to get my true Guyver fix. Now that brings us to the fifty minute anime Guyver: Out of Control. As I said I’m a fan, and if you are as well then Out of Control offers up some decent entertainment value. All of the extreme violence is present here. I also thought it was pretty cool to see a female use one of the Guyver units. The animation is on par with what you would expect for when it was made. The voice acting was competent. There are some flaws present in Out of Control. One scene that bothered me was an assassination scene. In this scene Sho’s classmates are shot, by a unknown gunmen. I realize that even though we don’t see the gunmen we are supposed to assume that the Chronos Corporation is responsible for the attack. Not seeing the gunmen did not bother me, however the fact that the scene cuts right to another scene so fast and the shooting is never spoken of again like it never happened did bother me. I could understand if it was a dream sequence, but it is never implied that it is. Another flaw with the film is that it felt very rushed, they just tried to pack to much stuff into fifty minutes. I feel Out of Control would have worked better as a series. With all that said I would like to say that Out of Control is not a film for the squeamish. As stated before it does have scenes of extreme violence and there is even a scene where the Guyver unit rapes a character. So if you are not a guyver fan than this might not be the film for you, however if you are then Out of Control is decent and worth at least a one time viewing.

Mark

Being a long time fan of the Guyver series, I was hard pressed not to enjoy this condensed version of the comic book. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Guyver Out of Control isn’t the best version in terms of the anime series, but it is a definite watch for any fan of the series. Also, Out of Control features enough blood and guts to entertain any fan of ultra violent anime. The feature was made in the early 80′s with a pretty skimpy budget but it still holds up with it’s very over the top action. Some shots are recycled but the action still looks very impressive. Clocking in only at 50 minutes, Out of Control drops a lot of plot points from the comic and gives the audience a non stop sci fi action picture. But, some people who are not familiar with the source material may find the above lacking as they will find a lot of their questions unanswered. As a whole Guyver Out of Control is a very enjoyable little anime. That’s if you can get your hands on a copy. Out of Control is only available on VHS and is considerably hard to find. But, if you happen to run into this title at a video store that still rents VHS check it out. Though I prefer the latter Guyver anime series from the late 80′s, Out of Control is still a definite must have for any Guyver fan.

Ryan

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Mark

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