Ask John: A Couple Questions About Guyver

Question:
I have a couple of questions about “The Guyver” anime. First, when it was rereleased by Manga was it redubbed, or did they keep the original voices from the first release? Second, will “The Guyver” ever come out on DVD any time soon?

Answer:
Little known to most fans, Bio-Booster Armor Guyver has actually been animated three times, and all of the Guyver animation has been released in America. The 55 minute long Kyôshoku Sôkô Guyver: Out of Standardized OAV premiered in Japan on December 13, 1986. It was later released in America on subtitled VHS by Dark Image Entertainment under the title “The Guyver: Out of Control.”

Guyver was then turned into a 6 episode OAV series released between September 25, 1989 and February 25, 1990. This original OAV series was followed up by the six episode Kyôshoku Sôkô Guyver Act 2 OAV series that was released with 2 episodes per volume on October 24, 1991, May 21, 1992 and August 21, 1992. These two OAV series were originally released in America on 6 dubbed VHS tapes by US Renditions. In 1994, Manga Entertainment re-released these 12 OAV episodes on 12 individual VHS tapes with an altered soundtrack and edited opening animation. The first Guyver OAV series has been released to 2 reportedly poor quality DVD discs in the Netherlands, but none of the Guyver animation has ever been released to DVD in Japan. The OAVs are tentatively scheduled for American DVD release on February 25, 2003.