What is it that Guyver lacked to become a mainstream success?

[PowerofGuyver]

In my opinion I feel like it's not a bad story and setting. Young boy obtains great powers, gets thrown into a terrifying world of monsters and evil rulers, etc. It's not a deep thought, provoking story that redefines anything, but it's sure as hell fun! Even the publisher of Dragon Ball stated that there is nothing special about the story. Just characters fighting and getting stronger.

Was it the gore and violence? Plenty of successful anime and manga have gore.

[Tora Tan]

Character development. Sho is pretty reactive but doesn't show very much agency. We also don't know much about any hobbies or his history or relationships. We get a little bit, but not much. The enemies are pretty cut and dry too.  Obviously it has something that we enjoy, and it has a fairly large cult following, but it's not mainstream because of that lack of character.

edit: oh but of course it does improve later, but it takes a long time to get to the better character bits.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Tora Tan

[durendal]

I think this could be a lot of things.  A very solid indicator is the sell-out numbers.  Obviously since Guyver is serialized under Shonen Ace, which is published monthly and has a much smaller circulation than other popular magazines like Shonen Jump (which is published weekly), the exposure is not as mainstream like those of Naruto, One Piece or the likes.  The author might also not be too keen on accepting collaboration with other forms of medium.  The reason why we see a lot of Guyver figures is probably because he is friends with Max Watanabe who is a legend amongst hobbyist.  In addition, when they rebooted the anime into a 26 episode series, it did not do quite as well as expected.  Lastly, us cult followers of Guyver are few in numbers, and despite our support for the franchise, does not generate enough profits to merit pressures from management to push for Guyver.

[Tora Tan]

Do you think the cult following is low? I find that nearly everyone I talk to who is interested in geek culture is into Guyver, even if they don't talk about it as often as we do.

[PowerofGuyver]

15 hours ago, durendal said:

I think this could be a lot of things.  A very solid indicator is the sell-out numbers.  Obviously since Guyver is serialized under Shonen Ace, which is published monthly and has a much smaller circulation than other popular magazines like Shonen Jump (which is published weekly), the exposure is not as mainstream like those of Naruto, One Piece or the likes.  The author might also not be too keen on accepting collaboration with other forms of medium.  The reason why we see a lot of Guyver figures is probably because he is friends with Max Watanabe who is a legend amongst hobbyist.  In addition, when they rebooted the anime into a 26 episode series, it did not do quite as well as expected.  Lastly, us cult followers of Guyver are few in numbers, and despite our support for the franchise, does not generate enough profits to merit pressures from management to push for Guyver.

This idea recently popped into my head as well. But...aside from the 2005 series. The other animated works are well received and liked. Why not try and adapt your creation for other mediums?

Edited April 19, 2023 by PowerofGuyver

[durendal]

15 hours ago, Tora Tan said:

Do you think the cult following is low? I find that nearly everyone I talk to who is interested in geek culture is into Guyver, even if they don't talk about it as often as we do.

 

Well, I believe the term "Cult following" means that the numbers are low to be mainstream.  In addition, interest doesn't necessarily equate to sales numbers.  Interest alone is not enough, and corporate needs those interest to be translated to sales.  You ask everyone you talk to that is interested in Guyver how much Guyver merchandise they have.  Most likely, they won't have much.  At the end of the day, it's still all about the money.

[Matt Bellamy]

There are certainly a number of factors... But bad marketing certainly doesn't help it... As well as the content... And the hiatus' over the years...

Guyver is a very old series, almost 40 years old... And yes, for those of us who have read and followed it, we love it... But Anime trends have come and gone... And the current trends do not mesh with the Guyver's old style, and they haven't for a while now. Today's anime demographic is focused on different kinds of series... And Shonen Ace is full of these other series that are basically trash, but trash people like because of various reasons (I have been known to read some of them... ).

The simple facts that Kadokawa has kept Guyver alive, and that Max Factory is still releasing new figures doesn't make ANY logical sense... But here we are... And we are so very lucky.

When the pre-order for the new Figma went up, I posted it in a Facebook group that is about 70's, 80's and 90's anime. Lots of positive feedback and over 1000 likes... but only about 50 or so people said they were pre-ordering it.

People remember Guyver, yes. But most of them do not even know if they still like it... Or even like it enough to read almost 32 volumes of free manga to try and catch up. Hell, most don't even know all 3 animated versions can be found on just Youtube alone...

[PowerofGuyver]

5 hours ago, Matt Bellamy said:

There are certainly a number of factors... But bad marketing certainly doesn't help it... As well as the content... And the hiatus' over the years...

Guyver is a very old series, almost 40 years old... And yes, for those of us who have read and followed it, we love it... But Anime trends have come and gone... And the current trends do not mesh with the Guyver's old style, and they haven't for a while now. Today's anime demographic is focused on different kinds of series... And Shonen Ace is full of these other series that are basically trash, but trash people like because of various reasons (I have been known to read some of them... ).

The simple facts that Kadokawa has kept Guyver alive, and that Max Factory is still releasing new figures doesn't make ANY logical sense... But here we are... And we are so very lucky.

When the pre-order for the new Figma went up, I posted it in a Facebook group that is about 70's, 80's and 90's anime. Lots of positive feedback and over 1000 likes... but only about 50 or so people said they were pre-ordering it.

People remember Guyver, yes. But most of them do not even know if they still like it... Or even like it enough to read almost 32 volumes of free manga to try and catch up. Hell, most don't even know all 3 animated versions can be found on just Youtube alone...

Well now I'm sad.

[PowerofGuyver]

On 4/26/2023 at 12:40 AM, Matt Bellamy said:

There are certainly a number of factors... But bad marketing certainly doesn't help it... As well as the content... And the hiatus' over the years...

Guyver is a very old series, almost 40 years old... And yes, for those of us who have read and followed it, we love it... But Anime trends have come and gone... And the current trends do not mesh with the Guyver's old style, and they haven't for a while now. Today's anime demographic is focused on different kinds of series... And Shonen Ace is full of these other series that are basically trash, but trash people like because of various reasons (I have been known to read some of them... ).

The simple facts that Kadokawa has kept Guyver alive, and that Max Factory is still releasing new figures doesn't make ANY logical sense... But here we are... And we are so very lucky.

When the pre-order for the new Figma went up, I posted it in a Facebook group that is about 70's, 80's and 90's anime. Lots of positive feedback and over 1000 likes... but only about 50 or so people said they were pre-ordering it.

People remember Guyver, yes. But most of them do not even know if they still like it... Or even like it enough to read almost 32 volumes of free manga to try and catch up. Hell, most don't even know all 3 animated versions can be found on just Youtube alone...

Coming back to this briefly. I believe this is why Guyver had a better chance in the American markets.

 

Because overall, what you have with Guyver is a pretty classic case of a superhero story. Think about it.

 

Young boy in highschool, gets endowed with incredible powers. And is then thrust into a world of terrible monsters, evil villains, etc. 

You can so easily make it work in America so long as an adaption is respectful to the source material, and is completely made.

[durendal]

13 hours ago, PowerofGuyver said:

Young boy in highschool, gets endowed with incredible powers. And is then thrust into a world of terrible monsters, evil villains, etc. 

You can so easily make it work in America so long as an adaption is respectful to the source material, and is completely made.

That's basically the premise of all the popular franchise available in mainstream.  Unfortunately, the gore factor of Guyver puts the maturity level outside of mainstream.  Unless we can spend millions of dollars buying Guyver related merchandise, the most we can do right now is hope for the best.

[Masamune]

Be careful what you wish for. Most things turn to garbage once they become mainstream.

[Sully]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:23 PM, Masamune said:

Be careful what you wish for. Most things turn to garbage once they become mainstream.

This is the danger. I just want Guyver to conclude properly. 

Last thing I want is Teen Guyver Go or the likes...