Guyver

Fukamachi Sho was an Ordinary High School Student with no real worries beyond moving along in school and trying to catch the eye of Segawa Mitsuki, the younger sister of his best friend, Segawa Tetsurou. That is, until he witnessed an explosion on a nearby mountain and came across a mysterious artifact which granted him the power to summon a suit of Bio-Boosted Armor called the Guyver.

An evil corporation, Chronos, lost that Guyver unit in the explosion that Sho witnessed, and will go to any lengths, using any underhanded measure, to get it back. Using their army of modified humans (called Zoanoids, capable of transforming into monstrous forms with increased speed and strength), and even the second Guyver unit still in their possession, Chronos attempts to regain possession of the Guyver which has bonded itself to Sho.

Originally a manga by Takaya Yoshiki, which began running in 1985 and is still currently serialized (27 volumes have been published so far), Guyver was first adapted as a short animated film, "Guyver: Out Of Control". Next came a Twelve-Episode Anime OVA series in 1989, called Kyoushoku Soukou GUYVER, or Bio-Booster Armor GUYVER. Currently, a television series is airing in Japan (as of August 2005) under the title Guyver: The Bio-Boosted Armor (though, the Japanese title remains unchanged).

The most recent series can be viewed beginning to end from Funimation's website here. Also, there were two American-made TV movies based on the manga, with many details changed (later revealed to be a result of Executive Meddling). The second one starred David Hayter, the English voice of Snake in Metal Gear Solid, if you can believe that.

As Takaya Yoshiki works without assistants, and has been suffering from chronic illness, the manga is released at an extremely slow pace.

The series is, at its core, an affectionate tribute to the Toku series of the seventies, in particular Kamen Rider and Kikaider.

Not to be confused with MacGyver.


 * The Ace: Agito at the start of the manga. Student president, hails from a wealthy family, hard working, skilled fighter, Mizuki has eyes for him, and Sho tended to play second fiddle to him when he was around but...
 * Broken Ace: He's so determined and cold hearted that he comes off as worse than Chronos. The 2005 anime also showed how he's probably in a lot of emotional turmoil.
 * Achilles' Heel: The Guyvers' Control Medallions.
 * Action Girl: After some 16 books there's finally a female...SOMETHING. Shizu becomes Griselda, a female Proto-Zoalord/Lost Number/something different. Though she's more of a support unit she can certainly mow down mooks pretty well.
 * Also who, depending on whichever side she's on, could become a Dark Action Girl.
 * Adaptation Distillation: The 2005 series.
 * To give one example, in the manga, Guyver II died not even halfway through the first volume. Even Takaya thought that this was a waste of the character. In the second anime, he becomes the first Big Boss and his death gets pushed back to episode eight, which is still equivalent to the end of the first volume, but that volume has been expanded a great deal.
 * Adaptive Armor: The Guyver units.
 * Alike and Antithetical Adversaries: Of the homogenous heroes vs. heterogenous Villains type. Most of Sho's band is made up of Japanese with Aptom being the only possible foreigner. Chronos is world wide with its Zoalords being made up of European, Asian, one possible African, Archanfel, and Waferdanos. Zeus Thunderbolt has the Japanese Agito and Shizu in charge but has Alfredo Hekkering as a scientist and much of the bulk army seems to have a lot of Americans.
 * All-Encompassing Mantle: Imakarum Mirabilis wears one, as do most of the other Zoalords.
 * The Aloner: Aptom, he likes high places. Archanfel who likes to stay at his island and have his second and third in commands handle Chronos.
 * Ambition Is Evil: It may not be intentional but we have Archanfel on one side where he rules the world and wants to eventually draft processed humans into a possible war against the Creators, on another side is Agito who may be just as bad and wants to rule the world, another we have the Rogues who just want power. and in another is Sho, trying to protect his friends is Sho who only fights because he sees Chronos as doing wrong. To be fair Chronos has brought peace and better medicine, Takaya acknowledges this, and the message is probably that "ambition is good if you want to improve the world or yourself and your relationships but is it worth pulling of an X-Day?"
 * Ancient Astronauts: The Advents/Uranus.
 * Ancient Conspiracy: Kronos.
 * An Ice Person: Good guy Hayami, aka Bio-Freezer.  Aptom is one too.
 * Anti-Hero: Agito, and later Aptom.
 * Anti-Villain: Purgstall has his sympathetic fans and did seem to care about humans and Zoanoids. Shin could qualify as well. Hell, some fans see Chronos as being worth all the deaths they've caused so from their POV Sho could certainly qualify as well.
 * Appendage Assimilation
 * Art Evolution
 * As You Know: Probably the biggest weakness of the manga. For several of the books from 20-26 Takaya has a character monologue and re-trend their history for almost an entire chapter, from Agito, Hayami, to Sho on Aptom's. It doesn't help that this is a monthly series that never gets 12 chapters out in a year. These always seem to be at the start of the book too.
 * However it seems the 'As You Know' chapters have gotten better when they pop up. At least Agito's showed some story and sometimes these inner monologues give a little insight on how the character studies another.
 * The one for book 22 subverts this, Barcus thinks of  and the audience didn't know about it before hand!
 * Sadly, it looks like for much of one chapter for book 27, Agito recounts the history of mankind's creation...FOR THE THIRD OR FOURTH TIME IN THE MANGA!
 * Author Avatar: Takaya once stated that he saw himself in Tetsuro. Its rather fitting, both appear to be sci-fi nerds.
 * Author Existence Failure: Some fans are worried about Takaya has gotten sick enough to suspend Guyver for over a month.
 * Ascended Extra: Toshiaki Hayami appeared in the background for several books, without even having a name. He is given a name in book 10 and finally returns in book 11 as a Lost Number. The 2005 at least has him introducing himself to Sho and co. however if there's no extension then his anime counterpart won't ascend.
 * Natsuki too. Who would have a thought getting an Important Haircut could change a background character so much?
 * Badass: Lots and lots.
 * Agito Makashima Has a dark and evil looking Guyver unit, is a good fighter, lots of confidence. Has gone to America and recruited an army there of individuals older than himself and of a different country (he is Japanese after all), has gained a scientist to create Hyper Zoanoids/Lost Numbers/Something in between that easily kill any cannon fodder thrown at them, has shown himself to be a determinator to the max, and is crafty enough to not just get the goat of, but even outwit people like Dr. Barcus, who is several hundred years old, or even Waferdanos...who must be a least 110,000 years old, older than Archanfel! Oh and he may not even be 21 years old!
 * Sho Fukamachi: See that teenager over there? The one that doesn't look like much? He's Guyver 1 and in a battle of wills he just beat the guy who could outwit 110,000 year olds before the age of 22, yeah. How does it not count?
 * Aptom: Hell his human form alone counts for this, leather jacket, shades, a big scar on his face and he doesn't decay into an American 90's anti-hero! Oh yes and then there are his absorbing powers and the fact he is like a cockroach to kill off.
 * Archanfel: Let's see....he's about 110,000 years old (roughly) blew up a meteorite that was the size of Mars heading for the Earth, recovered and began a vendetta against the Creators, conquers the world!, oh yeah, and there's that minor instance of pulling himself out of a blackhole and deflecting one and a half Mega Smasher blasts with one hand. Quite possibly the Earth's first badass?
 * Guyver 0: Despite being a minor character we know nothing about, his contribution is significant. The first human being to EVER rebel against a higher power should count. How does he do it? By being given a Guyver unit and gives the metaphorical middle finger to the idea of mind control by proceeding to kill Zoanoids left and right. Well, then the above bad ass entered the fray and it didn't go so well. Alas!
 * ZX-Tole: an armored beetle Hyper-Zoanoid with 14 freaking laser cannons in his body! One can even rival the power of the Mega Smasher! Blows off his own leg to escape Aptom, and then turns in all the respect and honor of being a Hyper-Zoanoid to be processed into a super power Lost Number and happily wipes the floor with Guyver III and Aptom, all to avenge his friends, the rest of Team Five. Pretty bad ass.
 * Backstory: Varies from character to character, some get a little (Purgstall was found in Vienna some 200 years ago), to a decent one that lasts a chapter (Waferdanos), to a bit more complex (Archanfel), to.....nothing at all (Gallenos, WHO ARE YOU!?). Guyver fans really don't mind these flashbacks...its when we hear about them again and again (No I'd love to spend another chapter hearing about mankind's origin, the first three times wasn't enough, Takaya).
 * Badass Bookworm: Hayami is the top one but really any scientist that willingly rises up against Chronos counts for this.
 * Badass Long Hair: Alkanphel, Agito, Murakami,, Waferdanos, and Valcuria.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy: Rarely, when naked people are in regeneration tanks; the artist usually opts for strategic lighting. However, when a female protagonist was brutally stripped, she was shown to not have Barbie doll anatomy, to the extent that, for the English comic book version, it was deemed necessary to draw in... frilly underwear.
 * Barrier Warrior: A Hyper Zoanoid that fought Valcuria formed one around a battlefield. Purgstall possessed one too made of electricity.
 * Batman Gambit: Agito's first visit to the Arizona Base. The plan
 * On a smaller scale: Hayami's plan to hold Evil Aptom long enough for Guyver I to finish him.
 * Belated Backstory: It was great to learn about Archenfel's in the 15th book. Some haven't been some luck  and some have hope.
 * Berserk Button: Sho and Purgstall don't like it when civilians get caught up in battles.
 * The Berserker: ALL Enzymes, starting with Genzo Makishima. And Khan when plans don't go his way.
 * Big Bad: Archanfel certainly has what it takes to be it, supreme power, an army, the entire world! However he does have the sleeping sickness and if he isn't going to be the manga's big bad then it'll most likely be
 * Big No: Sho screamed this after becoming the Guyver for the first time. Carries over to all the animes and the first movie. Not the last time and Tetsuro and Mizuki have had their turns with it.
 * Max Reed, played by Mark Hamill, gets another in the first live action film when
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: The Guyver's extendible high-frequency blades, mounted just below the elbows. And Thancrus as type three.
 * Blessed with Suck
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Lisker and Guyot fullstop; also a Jerkass.
 * Body Horror. In a series where the heroes and the Mooks are bio-engineered organic weapons that can transform between battle-mode and stealth-mode, there's plenty of this. Or perhaps Transformation Trauma is more accurate. There's also things like the Guyver's tendency to hack and rip Zoanoids apart, with gore and body chunks flying, and Aptom's feeding habits. Able to assimilate genetic material in order to gain new powers, he learned how to consume bio-mass from other living creatures in order to augment his Healing Factor. He essentially "absorbs" people, merging with their flesh and swallowing it into his own body.
 * A case of death-by-Body Horror happens to Mark Hamill's character in the first live-action movie. A PG-rated movie, no less.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: and
 * Breath Weapon: Galenos has one, as does Draglord Cablarl, Darzerb, and Neo-Zextole in the 2005 anime.
 * Butt Monkey: Sho seems a pretty good victim of this. Aptom was this from book 9 to book 25, since he can lose limbs and regrow them quickly. If there's one for Team Five its Thancrus: no matter the adapation he ALWAYS dies first and with little screentime.
 * Tokiwadaira, Aso's verbal punching bag and gets the most gag facial reactions.
 * By the Power of Greyskull
 * Cast of Snowflakes: Has a large cast of characters, and yet still manages to make most of them quite distinctive.
 * Chest Blaster: The Mega Smasher, the most powerful weapon in the Guyver's arsenal. Purgstall shoots a thick bolt from his chest. Some Zoanoids have chest-mounted weapons as well, but one nameless Hyper-Zoanoid in one of the later volumes took it to its ridiculous extreme: it's entire torso is one huge blasting crystal.
 * Chick Magnet: Outside the manga. Takaya stated in an interview that Murakami is popular with female readers. There are female fans of Archanfel and even some for Aptom.
 * Clingy MacGuffin: It's almost impossible to permanently separate a bio-booster from its host without destroying one and killing the other.
 * Cloning Blues: Depending on the media its either played a little straight or averted. In the manga show simply considers himself a clone for about two panels before moving on. Only later when he encounters a monster that was grown from his own chewed off arm, the Guyver essentially re-absorbs the last trace of the origin Sho. It's hard to tell if Sho is upset at that moment because the thought struck him or that he pondered how he could ever be free of the Guyver.
 * Averted completely in the OVA series where Sho never thinks about it but played a bit straighter in the anime. The episode after Sho thinks about himself as being soulless but Tetsuro tells him to worry about that later. Once getting home Sho seems to recover when he reminisces with his dad about the past over breakfast, a minor crowning moment of heart warming.
 * Combat Tentacles: Aptom sometimes sends a limb forward in a tentacle like motion to absorb a Zoanoid. Waferdanos' hair can extend and entangle or form drills.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Agito Makashima "What's that? Old Man Barcus is mourning two of his comrades? I'll shoot him six times in the back!" Imakarum "I'll fight in the city so they'll be concerned with civilians"
 * Combining Mecha: The three Branchai Brothers merge their battlestyles to form a fake Guyver Gigantic. Guyot's spider-form was that of four beaked Zoanoids combining together.
 * Cool Big Sis: Natsuki after the time skip to Mizuki and somewhat to Sho. Shizu could apply as well to Mizuki.
 * Cool Shades: Murakami and Imakarum have these, though Imakarum's is more of a Cool Visor.
 * Cool Ship: The Ark, okay we know it flies and can shoot beams of life energy, and sounds like it can go across the Universe but that's it..But damn does it look cool! Also the Relic.
 * Cursed with Awesome
 * Cute Monster Girl: Shizu's battle form is a touch of cute, a touch of creepy, but certainly someone you don't want to mess with.
 * Also some mermaids on Arcanfel's island. Well their human-like halves anyway.
 * But mostly subverted, since, oddly, there are no female Zoanoids in the manga - or, in any case, no woman has ever been shown to transform into one.
 * Both movies featured one female Zoanoid each, but neither could be considered cute.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Subverted with the case of Agito Makishima, Guyver III. Once gaining the Gigantic he is certainly more brutal, more determined, and certainly not afraid to rip through bystanders to get to an enemy, even going out of his way to harm civilians sometimes. And it's black and purple and spikey.
 * Played straight with Hayami's Lost Number form. No bystanders see it and act terrified but the form is a sharp-tooth, skeletal demon-like thing. However he is a very loyal and brave ally to Guyver I and Aptom.
 * Depending on one's view of the Zoalords, as a whole or person by person, Waferdanos could fit. In his human form he looks like a gigantic, creepy, bearded man. It turns out he wasn't human to begin with and his true form is that of a bizarre plant creature where the rest of his body is essentially a forest. Despite looking so weird and scary he's ready to sacrifice his life to make sure Barcus can escape with a precious item Agito is after, musing that if not for Barcus he would never have learned self-respect or learned the importance of living, even giving Barucs a Pet the Dog moment where he shows honest guilt in a rare instance.
 * Deadly Upgrade: The Libertus can tear through anything less than a Zoalord like a hot knife through butter. Griselda is no slouch in combat but is capable of overpowering a Zoalord's telepathic influence in a limited range. All at the cost of having spend most of their time out of combat in tanks since they can't absorb enough energy normally to power their combat forms and even with this they're not expected to survive more than two years. Probably less.
 * Also Neo-ZX-Tole. He takes a level in badass, thus sending his bad ass scales off the level, gains all the powers of his other four teammates, an anti-Aptom germ that stops Aptom from absorbing him, and slows Aptom's healing, all at the cost of becoming a Lost Number and losing his high rank. Due to all these powers he only has only a few days to live.
 * Death Seeker: Hayami given
 * Death by Origin Story: Sorry Test Type.
 * Defcon Five: It is brought up in book 9 during X-Day. Takaya got it right! At least he knows that DEFCON 1 is the highest alert stage.
 * Designated Girl Fight: Natsuki vs. Valcuria!
 * Determinator: Agito Makashima, no matter the obstacles he'll destroy Chronos and become the ruler of the world or die trying. Sho too, despite not being as ruthless or as good a fighter as Agito his heart makes up for it. And after taking a level in bad ass and pulling the Gigantic away from Agito, he counts.
 * I'm sorry, but Sho showed Determinator status long before taking the Gigantic from Agito. During his first rematch with Aptom, he actually powered through his own traumatized psyche and guilt over the Enzyme II battle to regain his ability to bio-boost. And then, in the same battle with Aptom, despite losing the use of his arms, caused the Mega-Smasher to open through sheer badass willpower.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Often averted with Takaya who goes through great lengths to research the sciences and geography to paint as accurate picture as possible.
 * Disappeared Dad: One of the most brutal subversions EVER.
 * Elemental Powers: A number of characters have these. Zoalord Purgstall has lightning, three guess what Bio-Freezer can do, it's a stretch but some could consider Guyot's gravity powers elemental, some speculate another Zoalord control fire but has yet to fight.
 * Elite Mooks: Sadly Hyper Zoanoids only got a relative short time as being the most dangerous thing to fight before getting overshaded by Zoalords having to fight the Gigantics and then some 400 Hyper Zoanoids get ripped apart by Four Libertus and Griselda. Ouch!
 * Heavily subverted with the Enzyme III type. They are categorized as Zoanoids yet whenever they fight a basic Guyver they come very close to killing that character.
 * Played straight or subverted with the Libertus? Yes they are the mooks of Zeus Thunderbolt and yet for the hundreds of Zoanoids and Hypers they've killed the only ones that have died thus far where due to Agito ordering their self destruction with their C-modes.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: The Zoalords are made up of various Europeans, Asians, possible one African, a pure Zoalord, and Waferdanos, someone that's not even human or Zoalord. Though they have helped out the entire world Aso expressed that people who become Zoanoids are gradually getting better treatment.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: In book 15, a flashback showing Archanfel's origin, there is a brief fight between Guyver 0 and a modified T-Rex!
 * Evil Is Visceral: The zoanoids' designs evoke this trope, as well as some of the bioboosted armors.
 * Eyes of Gold: Imakarum and Archanfel.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Murakami to
 * Expy: Subverted. Zuggernaut, a Firestorm villain who not only looks like the Guyver, but has a near-identical origin. (He hasn't been seen since the late 80s, however.)
 * Executive Meddling: According to an interview with Steve Wang, the director of the first live action film (and a fan of the original anime and manga), the film's producer Brian Yuzna wanted to make a kids film out of the licence while Wang wanted to keep the original tone of the series. This ended up resulting with the two having big fights over the film's direction and Wang getting zero creative control at all.
 * If that isn't bad enough, the DVD was released as a Directors Cut, which added a few scenes and transitions.... And cut all the violence out. By the way, Wang had nothing to do with it despite the cut labeled as such. It was Yuzna who commissioned it.
 * Fan Service: For much of the series it is not odd to see men, usually handsome or bishouen ones naked. Worst offenders: Murakami, Archanfel, and the king, Aptom. However with lady Guyver II there has been some for the heterosexual male/lesbian readers, yay!
 * Flawed Prototype: The Lost Numbers.
 * Fridge Brilliance: The Exceed may seem like a massive ass-pull but then you remember: The Guyver, and humans, were created to adapt to situations and Gigantic kicks this up to 100! Brilliant! Your mileage may vary on this of course.
 * Also, the Gigantic was in part designed by Sho (or at least his subconscious mind and his desire for more power), and his dreams as seen after the Gigantic's debut involved an Exceed-sized Gigantic.
 * Fridge Logic: Takaya is good at avoiding these but there's the matter of Guyver I and III at the end of book III. Apparently by the time Agito met up with the others, his injuries were still healing yet in that span Sho's head was nearly regenerated. Surely Agito's minor scrapes and burns would have healed first.
 * It's actually stated that a Guyver's regeneration rate is affected by his energy reserves and how much power he's expending at the time in combat.
 * From a Single Cell: Aptom and the Guyver itself both share this ability.
 * Four Is Death: Guess how often
 * Full-Frontal Assault: Aptom, lots of times, and Alkanphel in volume 15 of the manga.
 * Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke
 * Genetic Memory: Aptom seems to have a form of this for his entire consciousness.
 * Good Is Not Nice: One of the many ways to see Agito and the motives. Maybe even Chronos itself. It really depends on the reader.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Both the Guyvers and Aptom have taken severe damage - up to and including near-complete bodily destruction - on numerous occasions.)
 * Gone Horribly Right: Aliens invent biological symbiotic armor. Good. Aliens invent a new species designed for combat. Great. Aliens give the species the armo- ABORT! ABORT! SWEET JESUS, IT HAS A PARTICLE CANNON FOR A TORSO!
 * Humans eat aliens. Femaliens inherit the world.
 * God-Created Canon Foreigner:
 * Inspector Valkyria, originally created by the author for the first one-shot animated movie to replace Oswald Lisker in the role of Guyver 2, has recently made her debut in the manga as.
 * Takaya has also canonized the aquatic Hyper-Zoanoid Synevite, and even the Powered Zerebuth.
 * Gorn: The old OVA, at least, is almost absurdly violent.
 * Greek Chorus: Tetsuro to a degree, Aso and Tokiwadaira do this full time.
 * Heart Drive: The Control Metal.
 * Heel Face Turn: (Aptom, more or less)
 * Hellish Pupils: Both Imakarum and Archanfel have yellow eyes that eerily resemble those of a housecat.
 * Heroic Blue Screen of Death: Sho after
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Takaya LOVES this one.
 * Heroic Safe Mode: When Sho got hurt in the brain while fighting his
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Steve Blum was Guyver III in the 12-episode OAV.
 * Norio Wakamoto is Guyver II/Lisker in the Japanese dub of the same OAV. This isn't the first time he had a role in anything Guyver related, He played Chief Ishiwatari in Out of Control.
 * Sailor Mars is Mizuki in Out of Control.
 * Ho Yay: Some vibes between Imakarum and Archanfel. And some more from Hayami and Aptom.
 * Humans Are Warriors: Created by aliens to be the ultimate killing machines. It is implied that even normal humans are ridiculously strong and vicious compared to aliens and have a talent for making weapons that exceeds that of their creators. Then you have zoanoids, hyperzoanoids, zoalords, and adding a guyver to any of those will result in something between "hundreds of times more powerful than a creator" and a Physical God. Not to mention that the Guyver will automatically immunize a human host against our one weakness, the engineered-in susceptibility to Creator mind control.
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Brutally subverted, as Sho has been completely unable to put even the tiniest crack in 's brainwashing.
 * Implacable Man: Zoalord Richard Guyot, see Rasputinian Death below.
 * Important Haircut: We don't see the actual hair cutting but post time skip Natsuki went from long to short hair, signifying that Takaya has brought back a panel character and given them personality.
 * It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Guyver Gigantic is pronounced "Gi-GAHN-tic".
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After some character development Aptom fits this. He is pretty gruff and insensitive but he was really trying to look out for Hayami and eventually Sho.
 * Kaiju: Draglord Cablarl Khan vs. Gigantic Exceed.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Both Out of Control and the OVA are out of print (the latter because Manga Entertainment lost the rights for the series to ADV Films). Luckly, both can be found online and on Youtube (for now, at least).
 * The original US Renditions tapes of the OVA, which included an uncut English dub of episode 12, are also out of print.
 * The Viz Media and Star Comics English translations of the manga. Unless the other Volumes are translated anytime soon, good luck finding those anywhere (Don't get too worried about the manga however, There are plenty fan translations around).
 * The unedited version of the first live action film from it's release on VHS. Why? As mentioned under Executive Meddling, the DVD cut all the violence out of the film.
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * Knight Templar: This is so so Normally one can place Zoalords into two categories: 1) loyalists, who serve Archanfel, and Rogues, those who plan to take over just because they're evil and they like power. However this example is indeed a loyalist but has zero cares for humans or Zoanoids. Being able to take fights to populated areas and even being happy to kill them...all in the name of Alkanphel.
 * Last of His Kind: Lost Number that can actually fight are rare. It is not known if there are any left aside from Aptom. But from his squad is indeed the sole survivor.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Hayami AKA Bio-Freezer. First demonstrated his Lost Number form in book 12, only showed off his power to freeze stuff once, a very dangerous Enzyme III, and needed help to kill it and showed little strength and durability. Cut to book 17 where he finally transforms again and book 18 where he shows a keen mind to use his power strategically but also knows several secrets of the fortress they're breaking into. Then
 * Light Is Not Good: Archanfel, the main antagonist of the series, dresses in white robes and has silver armor formed into the shape of wings. His battlestyle is eerily angelic.
 * Played straight again with Guyver II who is gold color but Risker is a jerkass to boot!
 * Subverted a bit with Guyver I, out of the three Guyvers his basic armor color is not the brightest but still design wise it looks rather gentle and nice. Subverted way more with the Gigantic Guyver which is golden and Sho is the hero of the story.
 * Like Cannot Cut Like: High frequency swords.
 * Lovecraftian Superpower: Many Zoanoids have the ability to secrete acid, glue, high explosives...
 * The Man Behind the Monsters
 * Meaningful Name: Lots...
 * The Kronos conspiracy is named for Cronus, the Greek Titan. Cronus is famous for killing his father, the sky-god Uranus, and ascending to his throne. Uranus just happens to be the name of . In turn, Agito calls himself "Zeus," after Cronus's son, who killed his father in turn...
 * Several of the Zoalords qualify:
 * Doctor Hamilcar Barcas takes his name from Hamilcar Barca, Carthaginian general and father of the more famous Hannibal.
 * Luggnagg de Clumegnig is named for a country and town in Gulliver's Travels.
 * Waferdanos is named for a legendary island populated by "hairy men," appropriate considering his origin and powers.
 * Jabir ibn Hayyan is named for a tenth century Arabic alchemist.
 * New character Apollyon, named for the angel of the Abyss, seems to have been sent by the Creators to destroy their experiment on Earth, or at least the Zoalords that Archanfel has created. Other translators, however, believe his name should be read as Apollon, the Greek version of Apollo - who was the son of Zeus.
 * Mega Manning: Aptom does this, with a just a hint of Body Horror thrown in for flavor. Also seems to be true of Apollyon at this point.
 * Meta Mecha: The Guyver Gigantic is a bio-booster armor for the bio-booster armor.
 * Mono-Gender Monsters: In the 2005 series, at least, every Zoanoid and Zoalord is male.
 * Monster Lord
 * Monstrosity Equals Weakness: One of the series' biggest weaknesses is that monstrous zoanoids hog a great deal of screentime, despite being complete non-factors in any and all scenes. They're clearly meant to inspire terror, but given how handily they get killed en masse, it becomes difficult to see them as anything but padding.
 * ...Except on X-day, the day on which Chronos takes over the world by suddenly deploying Zoanoid sleepers everywhere - on the streets, in the military and in governments, even in the White House itself. Human military measures are totally inadequate against ordinary Zoanoids, underscoring just how insanely badass the Guyver is.
 * Naughty Tentacles: The scene in Out of Control where Guyver Unit 2 attaches itself to Inspector Valkyria wouldn't look out of place in a hentai title.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Handled pretty well, for the first few books Sho is figuring out the abilities of the Guyver. Either by seeing another Guyver pull the same move, or with luck. However with the vibration blade, and sonic busters, they sort of happen without any reaction to the characters. Okay the busters first occur with Guyver III and first off-screen most likely but still, Guyver I is just running through Chronos HQ, suddenly he sprouts a vibration blade and cuts off a mook's head and...that's it. Also some see the Exceed as this.
 * The gravity ram, the spike on the Gigantic chest extends out and raises a barrier. No one ever comments on it. Even when Sho is doing it for the first time and Aptom doesn't comment on it.
 * Not Good with People: Aptom (somewhere between the two), in book 26 Mizuki wants to invent Aptom inside for lunch, however he left when she practically opened the door. Sho commented that he's shy, but it could be that Aptom did once strip Mizuki to torment Sho in book 5, probably something he regrets, and tries not to face her.
 * Not So Harmless: Aptom was introduced as a Lost Number that could mimic the Guyver but was a weak opponent. Several upgrades later he becomes a raging terror to the Hyper Zoanoid Five, though he was diminished a bit by getting pounded by Zoalords and Enyzme III's
 * Off-Model: The first half of the OVA was animated pretty nicely, but the second saw a noticeable downturn culminating in Sho's second fight with Aptom, where blood is spurting from nowhere when he chops off Aptom's arm.
 * One Myth to Rule Them All: The legends about vampires, werewolves, sasquatch, etc., are said to probably be inspired by Zoanoids.
 * One to Million to One: Aptom converts his own body into Gaster's organic missiles to attack an enemy. After Aptom converts himself completely, the manga cuts to a distant rooftop, where it is revealed that while most of the missiles blew up, some of them flew away and recombined into a diminished Aptom.
 * One-Winged Angel: All the Zoalords qualify, but the top of the heap is the multi-staged battlestyle of Cablarl Khan.
 * Ordinary High School Student
 * Organic Technology
 * Our Dragons Are Different: The T-Rex in book 15 is called a dragon by Archanfel (But this may not count, since the Japanese word for dinosaur is 'dragon' (Ryu)) and then there's Khan's Zoaform. It's made up of the flesh of thousands of Zoanoids and is vaguely dragon shaped. And then [ItGotWorse: that shape went into OneWingedAngelForm.]
 * People Jars
 * Person of Mass Destruction: The Guyvers, the Zoalords, a fair amount of Hyper Zoanoids, and even a few Lost Numbers; Aptom in particular.
 * Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: It was a meteor, but the Advents dropped it because they were dissatisfied with dinosaurs' Super Soldier potential.
 * Phlebotinum Rebel: The core concept of the series.
 * Poor Communication Kills: It may not have persuaded the Rogues from going, well, Rogue, but due to the fact Archanfel is not exactly open with his other commanders it causes a number of them to question some of the things he has done. Such as his relationship with Imakarum or why he's even a Zoalord. Fortunately Barcus is more open with Shin and Purgstall and they regain some trust.
 * Power Crystal: Various Zoanoids and all Zoalords have a Zoacrystal, which focuses / provides their power. The Control Medal, though metallic, functions like one.
 * Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: When Sho sees the damaged Guyver II consume its host, he has a Freak-Out and can't bring himself to bioboost.
 * Rage Against the Heavens (Archanfel's entire scheme seems to be ).
 * Rasputinian Death: Well... Guyot had his arm and the right side of his torso nearly severed, had his zoacrystal pulled out of his brain, got a quantum black hole blast through his heart, and fell over half a mile into an erupting volcano, at which point everyone assumed he'd finally succumbed to this trope.
 * Hand Cannon: Masaki's Zoanoid Buster Custom certainly qualifies.
 * Also the Unit-Remover which certainly can't kill anyone, but is certainly much more deadly than any machine gun to a Guyver. Oh, yeah, and its like eight feet long, at least!
 * Running Gag: A bit of an unintentional one, but every adaptation that reaches American shores seems to end right when Gigantic is revealed. The Viz manga ended right before Sho's resurrection, Dark Hero nearly did it with their version of the Relic, and the anime just barely gets to it in the last episode before the series ends.
 * Scary Black Man: Sadly, Clumegnig is the only member of the Zoalords that is black.
 * If he is black: some have always thought he looks an awful lot like Dhalsim.
 * Derzerb, of the Hyper-Zoanoid Team Five, was black, but in human form never portrayed as particularly scary; they upgraded his scariness in the OVA series by making him about nine feet tall.
 * Scenery Porn: Takaya holds a very realistic style and added with his passion to research locations creates for very beautiful location shots that help set the mood. From Bartonone to The Dead Sea to even city shots of Tokyo.
 * Sculpted Physique: In more ways than one. The guyver armor looks all kinds of inorganic, but is alive.
 * Self-Destruct Mechanism: Barcus' last line of defense in stopping Guyver III from gaining the control metals of the Arizona Relic at the cost of their HQ the results are...devastating to say the least
 * The Libertus have this ability, their C-mode.
 * Senseless Sacrifice:
 * Shonen Upgrade: The Guyver Gigantic, and more recently the Gigantic Exceed; Aptom's absorbtion powers.
 * Shoulders of Doom: Part of the Zoalords' formal robes, and many Zoanoids (and the Gigantic) have weapons or other functions built into large shoulder-pods.
 * Shout-Out: The animal-styled Zoanoids designed by Kronos New York Branch appear to be Expies of various Kamen Rider kaijin.
 * Lots and lots in the 2005 anime to the OVA. From Guyver I ramming his knee into Zerebuth's face, to Darzerb throwing Guyver III into a wall, as opposed to punching him like in the manga, to Sho's fight with Enzyme I borrowing quite a lot from the more vicious version from the OVA.
 * The pose Guyver I make in the 2005 series, after coming out of the lake, seems like a slight tribute to the American Guyver who was more of a super-powered martial artist. Not the same pose but it looks like a very slight nod.
 * Signed Up for the Dental: Kronos offers tax breaks and other incentives to those who volunteer for Zoanoidification. The process also tends to leave your human form buff and healthy.
 * Single Phlebotinum Limit: All superscience comes from salvaged Advent technology.
 * Sixth Ranger: Guyver III fills the Second Rider variation of the role.
 * Spam Attack: Quite possibly Sin's main Zoalord power, able to shoot multiple beams from quite possibly a mile away? Yep. Also, Gaster's missiles.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Not even the author can make up his mind how the names of characters and Zoanoids are spelled in English.
 * Though it's since been ruled inaccurate, some have always enjoyed Richard Guyot being translated as "Reichmann Gyro".
 * Sphere of Destruction: Activating the Guyver creates such a sphere. This is sometimes used as a last-ditch weapon (it happens at least once deliberately very early in the manga and 2005 anime), but it's also a drawback. The sphere is why Sho can't become the Guyver in crowded places or while he's holding on to someone.
 * Storming the Castle: Happens many times and it's rarely the first raid that gets it the job done.
 * Super Prototype: The designation "Hyper Zoanoid" is applied to high-powered experimental creations, usually so complex that the genetic template has to be designed around a specific person's DNA and is not initially suitable for mass production. The tradeoff is that Hypers can generally be given much greater power than the mass-production designs which must be simplified for application to a wider range of subjects. (Example: the Delcasse Zoanoid is the mass-produced version of Zerbebuth.)
 * Teleporters and Transporters: The Relic had the ability to teleport its refuges, Mizuki and co., before its destruction. The Zoalord Li Yentsui also has the ability via creating two 'dimensions' where putting something through one will have it slide out the second, its also quite 'sharp' to say the least when closed.
 * The Faceless: Apollyon; Caerleon in Zoalord form.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The original was the Guyver's Mega-Smasher, a huge wall of inferno. Also ZX-Tole's Mega-Cannon, a blast in his stomach that can only be fired once before needing to be repaired, also damaging him. In book 10 it has been UPGRADED into a blast that fries Neo-ZX-Tole. Then there's Guyot and Imakarum creating black holes to try to destroy their more powerful enemies. Then comes along the Giga-Smasher which would be severe overkill for even a Zoalord, ironically it has yet to take a life due to being fired only thrice. Oh and Cablarl Khan summoning his Dragonlord form, once to destroy Guyver I and the freed Aptom, sucking up all the Zoanoids in Tokyo to do it. But way back in book 9 we learn that Khan was sent to assist destroying a U.S. base. He more or less arrived in time to see the all ready defeated base before doing nothing, the biggest overkill in the entire manga most likely. To be fair probably the only way to destroy a Guyver or Aptom is with nothing but overkill.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Aptom gives one of these to Sho during his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
 * The Stoic: Aso. What is his reaction to see a 52 meter tall  burst out of a building? He tells his younger partner to "shut up and keep taking pictures".
 * The Starscream: Richard Guyot; the cabal of Clumegnig, Khan, and ibn Hayyan -- now with added !
 * Story Arc: So far the manga, soon to be 28 books, can be divided into four arcs, each nearly eight books long. 1-8: Beginning/Relic's Point. 9-16: Chronos' at its peak. 17-25: Rescue Aptom, which all takes place in the span of one night. 26-???: Some weigh it will be the last arc.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Aptom wouldn't die until he defeated Sho. After the event of books 22-25 he's mellowed out.
 * The Unmasqued World: After X-Day.
 * The Virus: Aptom.
 * Team Dad: For the Zoalords: Arguably Barcas or Archanfel himself. Barcus seems to be the one who dishes out the most lectures to the others, sometimes Sin gets to do it too but Archanfel is the leader of the 12. Sho's team Hayami could have qualified, and now Aptom could fill it in an odd way.
 * Team Mom: Zoalords: Sin and somewhat Purgstall, both show more compassion for humans, Zoanoids, and Zoalords, hell Purg showed concern for Neo-ZX-Tole, a Lost Number! Sho's team: Mizuki, Agito's team: Shizu.
 * Time Abyss: Archanfel, Waferdanos, and especially the Advents.
 * Time Skip
 * This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman: Hayami isn't worth much in a straight fight but thus far his freezing ability has pretty much been critical for every victory against Enzyme IIIs.
 * Those Two Guys: Aso and Tokiwadaira, it took a long time for Sho and co. to meet them.
 * Title Theme Tune: Only the OVA has an opening song where the series' title also appears in the lyrics, making it more akin to a theme song from a Tokusatsu series.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Pre-time skip, Shizu and Mizuki respectfully, despite the fact that Shizu dresses the more femininely out of the female Guyver characters she's more cool headed and less shrieky than Mizuki. Post timeskip Natsuki is definitely a tomboy and Mizkui still acts more like the girly girl. So all together its more like: tomboy, tomboy that looks like girlygirl, and girlygirl (Natsuki,Shizu, and Mizuki).
 * Took a Level In Badass: Probably the biggest would be Aptom. Who went from a Lost Number that could mimic probably only half of the Guyver's power to gaining most of Team Five's power and becoming quite a threat. For a long time Aptom suddenly became outclassed but recently
 * Could apply to Hayami as well. Had a weak but ultimately very helpful first apperance in book 12, got to fight again in book 18 and demonstrated he could use his power strategically and help kick butt.
 * Also Sho, who has finally gotten over all his issues and is orders of magnitude more dangerous than he used to be.
 * Transformation Sequence: Which includes a nifty little Sphere of Destruction
 * True Companions: The strongest may be Sho with whoever decides to join him. It'll always have Mizuki and Tetsuro, books 1-8 have Masaki and Agito (kinda) joining and fighting with him . Book 9 had Natsuki joining Sho's team of support with book 12 trading Bio-Freeze for Agito and adding Aptom. Bio-Freeze   but now fans wonder, due to the fact that Takaya always has the third fighter in Sho's band always have a strong weakness if the next third member will be
 * About 2/3s of the Zoalords are honestly loyal to one another for an antagonistic version.
 * Vibroweapon: (The Guyvers' high-frequency swords)
 * Villain World
 * Viral Transformation: Aptom does this to most of the Zoanoids he encounters.
 * Wave Motion Gun: The Guyver Gigantic's Giga-Smasher, appearing equal in range, width, and power to a Macross Cannon.
 * Wham! Episode: The HSQ is there for a few reaons.
 * Book 9 where
 * Book 10
 * Book 13
 * Book 15
 * Book 16
 * Book 20
 * Book 24
 * Book 25
 * Book 26
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic?: A common interpretation of the big bad's name is Archanfel. Arch-angel-fell? It also helps that Archanfel's battle form is a golden angelic like being. And the fact that in one scene he parts water very much like Moses to save an ally of his. Nope, no religious connections here.
 * Consider, though, that his past inverts the symbolism: Archanfel was loyal to the Advents, and took up arms against Guyver Zero -- the first rebel. This is basically a case of God kicking Michael out of heaven after Lucifer's rebellion...
 * What Could Have Been: In the second live action Guyver film, the Ancients' spaceship plays a key role. They were thiiiiis close to setting up Guyver Gigantic.
 * While on the subject of the live action Guyver films, imagine What Could Have Been with the first film had Steve Wang been allowed to make the movie he wanted to make.....
 * If people hadn't responded to Guyver's first year so well it would have stopped with the first volume. Editors were gearing towards assigning Takaya to a....comedy romance manga.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: As a part of his "The Reason You Suck" Speech Aptom more or less throws some of this in, to paraphrase. Aptom: You don't care about your friends! Sho: I didn't kill Murakami/ because he's my friend! Aptom: So letting him kill you and your friends makes you a good friend to them?
 * Will They or Won't They?: Sho and Mizuki Then there's the fans who wonder if there is/will be something going on between Tetsuro and Natsuki, two sci-fi nuts!
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Archanfel.
 * Word of God: An older interview has been translated by fans in which Takaya states that Guyot has never been given or knows love thus earning his sympathy, some readers were surprised, to say the least. Also he mentioned that he is Tetsuro in the story.
 * Zerg Rush: Enzyme 3s often attack this way.