Putting aside all the back-and-forth about the perils of “localization” and its potential to corrupt the intent of the original material, I have to wonder about the office-place conversations that must go on during the translation and dubbing of a show like GUYVER: THE BIO-BOOSTER ARMOR. I feel like any entertainment professionals who opt to dub a dark, violent pilot like this “the Wondrous Bio-Booster Armor” has got to be doing so for every potential reason except for them trying to make it appealing to new, English-speaking viewers.
Do you figure the aforementioned staff concluded that this would have no appeal to anybody aside from the hardcore, pre-established GUYVER fanbase - - and thus, there’d be no point in working harder to finesse a literal translation of the Japanese? Or did they perhaps think this was a patently-ridiculous license assignment that they just had to work with, and they thusly opted to give it titles that’d crack themselves up at work?
My mind drifted to such questions because this pilot was about as by-the-numbers as you can expect. It isn’t necessarily awful, but it does feel like exactly the sort of prerequisite set-up you have to slog through on your moderately-budgeted syndicate sci-fi show. I have some fond, if still incomplete, memories of the live-action GUYVER movies starring the guy who voices Solid Snake and wrote some big budget superhero movies. And I found it highly amusing how, even though this is animated, the monster men still managed to look like men in rubber suits.
I suppose there’s potentially kitschy appeal to that - - but then we’re talking about some very specific and narrow areas of enjoyment. And that, in turn, brings us back to my earlier discussion of niche appeal. GUYVER: THE BIO-BOOSTER ARMOR seems to be made for a very precise niche, and I don’t know if I’m too solidly within that niche.
Watch this episode, “The Wondrous Bio-Boosted Armor” here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk
Has to be one of the longest running manga series i've seen out there 1985 - present lol
Yeah, Guyver...i have some good memories with this one. Korny yes but extremely violent and cool story idea.
The 2005 remake, to me lost alot of the umph this original OVA had and maybe thats because the viloence was toned down but overall the story of guyver is pretty basic, enjoyable shounen...actually maybe seinen-ish show
The death of Guyver (episode 5) is still up there as one of the most gruesome deaths in anime i've ever seen imo...that shit is PAINFUL to watch
@Donwun said:
So basically - - take away the ultra-violence and there isn't much more to GUYVER, is there?
Tom, don't make me say things i don't want to admit >_<
Guyver is pretty much 100% guilty pleasure for me now. If i looked at it for the first time with fresh eyes now...well...i can't say its anything to talk about. Alas, memories man its all about the nostalgia with this one to be honest