Women in Guyver

[*Chernaudi]

First off, I don't know if this fits better here or in the actual Guyver section, so for now I'll put it here. If a mod or admin thinks it'll be better suited or served in the main Guyver section, feel free to move it.

Secondly, I'll be basing this partly off canon, partly off my fan fic work, and off my own thoughts and observations which form the basis of how I'll portray such characters in my fan fic and how I see them in the canon of the manga.

Now for the actual topic. I'll be touching upon several things and how they apply to the major female characters in Guyver, especially the protagonist. I believe that about everyone on here who've seen certain of my discussions will know that I'm a big fan of both Shizu and Natsuki. And I also love discussing female characters, and I have my own views on what's feminine and otherwise.

The biggest thing that I like about the female protagonist in Guyver is that they're more than window dressing or sex toys. I know that Japanese manga and anime and other stuff like that, where such things are criticized for treating women badly and portraying them as sex objects. Though most of the women in Guyver are very attractive, the don't just run around naked, at least not without reason. It's not like Mizuki wanted to have Aptom cut her clothes off when he was threatening to kill her. And Shizu in the processing tank? Well, kinda inconvenient to wear clothing in there, and in her battle form, she sheds her clothes anyways--kinda hard to have clothes that fit a 5'5"-5'6" tall girl that weights 110-115 pounds fit something that becomes 7 feet tall and weighs over 260 lbs. And, we haven't seen Natsuki naked, at least yet, in any context. So even though Yoshiki Takaya was a hentai/erotic manga artist before he created Guyver, that argument doesn't hold water--there's a reason why chicks are naked, well, except for a degree for Valkyria, but she had her origins in the Out of Control OVA, and we all know what happened there...

Also, especially with Shizu and Natsuki, there's a bit of a tomboy/girly girl complex going on. Me, personally, I think that Natsuki is pretty feminine. Just because of her hairstyle, love of sci-fi stuff and occasionally how she dresses, doesn't mean that she's not a femme. And with Shizu, she's overtly feminine, but she also has an aggressiveness when she's pissed that's not conventionally feminine (Natsuki and even Mizuki also have a temper), and she knows more than how to clean house (conventional sense) and other "womanly" duties.

These are points to start discussions and some examples of my views on the subject. I know that a lot of these things are subjective because everyone has a different view on these things. I'd be happy to discuss more if this takes off.

So, discuss away on your views of women in Guyver

Edited December 6, 2013 by Chernaudi

[*V Guyver]

Unusually modest. It's all I have to say, despite the artist formerly working in romance and porn. You can tell he was a big scifi fan, and turned this all into a labor of love, not just quick cash in like many intended in the hero Genre. 

Second issue is on the women, the women are modest in most scenes, and for the most part they have distinctive personalities, and even act their age. The anime expanded on this and turned them into really stronger characters than Tetsuro and in many way better than Sho. Agito easily falls behind both women in personality, though he makes up for it in being the badass. 

My biggest gripe with Guyver though when it comes to women is that they are few and far between it's long run. Only 2 main females, 2 major female support characters, and one stock female assistant to Barcus. Also,they don't seem to be given equal treatment nor zoanoid forms. But despite this flaw, the few females, minus that one assistant have proven to be fairly intriguing. 

[*Chernaudi]

As I said, there's a reason for them to be naked when they are (which is rare), considering Takaya's dabbling in hentai and erotic romance manga and that Guyver is a shonen manga aimed mostly at teenage boys.  Things could be a whole lot worse, and at the very least Takaya decided to make the three main girls into intriguing characters with their own personalities and traits, and not into window dressing.

 

Not that I don't think that Shizu, Natsuki and Mizuki aren't beautiful women, but there's a lot more to them than just that as characters.

 

As far as personality, you have Mizuki, who is portrayed as weak, scared, and frightened.  But in her situation, what normal person--male or female--wouldn't be.  It's not like she's Sho who has bionic battle armor to save his ass and help him kick ass, or Agito, who's pissed at the world, also has his own bionic battle armor, and is just short of being purely demonic a lot of the time.  And, by the way, seeing what she sees and learning what she comes to know, it does become a bit harder to scare her than in the earliest days of the manga.  It also helps Mizuki when she becomes one of the things that Sho's fighting for--and she does come to symbolize why Sho fights against Chronos, period (protecting the human race from evil).

 

Then we have Natsuki, who's a bit of a bad ass book worm.  She's not intimidated by Zoanoids and such, and can even venture educated guesses as to what Zoaform they may be.  She's a normal human at the core of it all, but she sort of makes up for it by being extremely intelligent, using logic, being careful with her actions in certain situations (and advising others to do the same), being reasonable, and being the cheerleader.  I also like how Takaya did sort of make her the peppy cheerleader type, and also made her appearance modern and "with the times".  As I've mentioned, I don't get how that makes her "tomboyish".  Her hairstyle is feminine, she dresses femininely (when she wants to), and she uses her smarts and logic to figure stuff out--what I consider a feminine trait.

 

And we have Shizu, who's sort of a bad ass book worm, as well as just being simply bad ass in her own right.  Though I doubt that it had much to do with her future Zoaforming, but she educated herself on things that no teenage girl would normally be though of knowing by the age of 18 when she appeared in the manga.  This probably means knowing college level academics, but above all else, for sure things like nursing/medical stuff, survival skills, and other such items.  Considering, from what I can tell, that Shizu was essentially home schooled, that's quite an accomplishment, though that's probably what gave her the flexibility to learn that stuff.

 

She's also the most serious of the females.  She does sort of start out peppy and happy and is a source of encouragement, but after her grandfather dies, she becomes more overtly serious, though, especially in the TV series, we do get to see shades of that already with how she feels about Agito and what happened to his parents.  Also, Shizu, it seems, grew up not knowing her biological parents--it's never mentioned (at least yet) what happened to them, but in the TV series, it was hinted that they died when she was very young, presumably from an untimely but otherwise mundane cause (like Sho's mother).

 

However, she does make up for her being pretty dead serious at times with her acts of bad-assery.  Standing up to Neo ZX-Tole when he wanted to kill Agito, not being easily intimidated (even as a normal human) by Zoanoids, becoming Griselda (a mixture IMO of being a bad ass, being angry/upset about the death of her grandpa and wanting to avenge it herself, and wanting to fulfill her wishes to aid Agito), and fighting Valkryia and Guyot to protect Mizuki, Natsuki and Tetsuro as much (or potentially more) out of her wanting to protect them as to help Agito, knowing that she could die, and that she could very well die just by becoming Griselda (her life span is supposedly significantly shortened unless she becomes a full Zoalord or some other means is found to make her immortal).  Whether or not that's Shizu being a bad ass or a bit insane, or both, I can't tell you, because we can't always tell 100% exactly what she's thinking because of her desire to aid Agito and the fact that, unlike the TV series, we haven't yet gotten any major peeks into Shizu's mind, and we probably won't until Shizu gets her own chapter of the manga like Mr. Hayami did before he died.  But that alone makes her a complex character, in some ways more complex than Agito or Aptom. 

 

And just trying to consider her a hero, anti-hero, or anti-villain (the latter two are though association with Agito, and depend on how one feels about Agito) is a complex ideal, too.

 

I do agree that Guyver is a bit of a sausage fest, but then again, when we think of fighting, we do think of men.  But there was a quote by Kristen Stewart that I like that she said when someone asked her if she'd ever act in a role as a superhero's love interest.  She basically said to hell with that, I wanna be the hero.  Maybe more women should be held up as hero figures.  I mean, there's more women than men in this world, they're the ones who give birth to babies, and being a mother is as at least as hard as being a father, isn't it? 

 

And it doesn't take a big act to make a big impact.  Mizuki is Sho's love interest.  Not big in the scope of the world, but a big reason why Sho fights.  Natsuki is a smart girl and offers emotional support.  The former isn't significant in and of itself, and the latter is expected of a friend, but she inspires those around her and her intellect does provide a useful aid to Sho and Tetsuro.  Shizu is intelligent, gutsy, and loyal.  Again, things that on the surface don't count for much, but in the grand scheme, does make a big difference.  Stuff that she knows helps out her allies, her fortitude is inspiring, and her loyalty to Sho's friends did help save their lives, even if she kinda ended up on the short end of the stick.

 

Oh, and one last point on tomboy vs girly girl on Shizu before I forget:  she shows that a woman can lead and inspire men without relying on her sexuality, or sinking to stereotypical male levels.  She doesn't have to act like a slut to get men to do what she asks them to do.  She also doesn't act crude, profane, nasty or bitchy to get what she wants out of them, either.  She's sort of the polar opposite of Genzo Makishima or Richard Guyot in that way.  The latter two use fear and intimidation to get what they want and to command those below them.  Shizu, instead, inspires loyalty and intelligence though positive leadership skills.  Her psychic powers help, but without those good leadership abilities as a base, she wouldn't be a good leader, no matter how she may think of herself in that role at times.

[*V Guyver]

Love that last paragraph. That alone is worth reading Guyver. How many anime and manga have women who overreact to everything, are outright mean, or bitches, are sexually obsessed with themselves and use and abuse it? I can keep going on and on about how women are terribly represented in any media, either in the US or japan. But to think, a guy who once drew porn devaluing women is actually now their most honest representative... well minus Valkuria's constant loss of clothing... XD 

Really, it started off with generic characters, especially Mizuki, but now the females are some of the best written, and up until Valkyria, there wasn't much sexuality. It really is just the lack of female numbers in the series and of course, female monsters that we kinda lack, but it works. 

Overall, I think you've nailed most of this topic. 

[*Chernaudi]

Well, maybe Takaya doesn't want to see women getting massacred like men often are?  Could be a guess.  The nudity of Shizu and Mizuki isn't gratuitous--there's a reason for it, and it's not like we see them naked all the time.  It's actually very rare--once (twice if we count the nip-slip after she and Sho made love in Volume 26) for Mizuki and maybe three times for Shizu, all of which were in a processing tank, where her wearing clothing, since a lot of the time she spends in there she starts out in her battle form, even a swim suit wouldn't be practical.

 

For Val, it could be a reference to her being evil, and/or being a reference to her origins in the Out of Control OVA. 

 

Also, all three main females do have a temper, but it's not out of line or over the top.  We've seen Shizu, Mizuki and Natsuki get pissed at someone, but there was a logical reason for it, and we've seen Mizuki and even Shizu express frustration and self-doubt over their role in things.  Shizu even does it when the people whom she's leading have supreme confidence in her.  She might not mind too much about killing people out of self defense or defending others, especially if she's killing enemies.  But if innocent people get involved or those that she has loyalty to get involved, that's a hot button for her.

 

But none of them are outright bitchy, mean, overly annoying (at least in my opinion), which are common tropes in teen/YA fiction here in the West--and where guys are just as bad about it as women in their own ways.

 

In someways, Guyver is a good example on how to write heroes in a realistic yet idealistic fashion.  All the women in Guyver play their parts in a way that's not overly dramatic nor sexualized way.  Hell, the last time we saw her, I'd have to say that Shizu was being sexy without being sexy IMO.  Even the way that she was dressed was a bit of a turn on because she wasn't showing much skin and was just being herself.  Also, her showing honest emotions was a strong point.  Later, even when Natsuki was showing some skin in that tight T-shirt and cut off jean shorts, it wasn't over the top--how many women her age wear that stuff in the summer?  Not out of the ordinary, and we know that Natsuki isn't a slut   And even though Mizuki is in a romantic relationship with Sho, what happens in the bedroom, pretty much stays there.  Leaving things of a sexual nature up to the reader's imagination is probably the best way to go.

 

The female protagonist aren't one dimensional sex kittens who are just the pretty window dressing for the bloody violence within.  Takaya can write a whole stand alone story around each of their lives and it'd be interesting in itself.  Hell, if you or anyone else have the Guyver:  The Bio-Boosted Armor TV series info books, you'll notice how in book three he talks about how Shizu and Mizuki kinda leaned on each other in their difficult periods of doubting things about Sho and Agito and their livelihoods.  He admitted that the writers of those episodes did as good a or even better of a job than he did in the manga, and that's something he's done with both male and female characters is focused a lot on the camaraderie and support they lend each other.

 

Many of the characters are relate-able, and, at least in my opinion, the women are relate-able, too.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Chernaudi

[Guyver0]

I agree wholeheartedly.  Awesome job on breaking this down.  Although I think if I don't, someone will mention it. 

 

The only scene that comes close to sexually objectifying women in the Guyver universe is the Guyver: Out of Control OVA where Inspector Valkyria is "raped" by the unit when she activates it.  Now I assume that the Guyver would invade the person's body(man/woman) in this manner regardless, but Valkyria's was much more explicit. 

 

However, I believe that Yoshiki Takaya was just really getting out of his hentai manga writing for the first time, so it may have been a force of habit.  Either that or it was a test to see where hentai stands in the Guyver universe, like if it is something that is really a necessity.  Which thankfully it isn't.   

[*Chernaudi]

Guyver was Takaya's first true non-hentai or non-erotic romance manga, and pretty much his only one to date.  It's also been Takaya-san's only shonen manga aimed at a mostly non-adult audience.  Granted, Guyver's main target is the teen/YA demographic that the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games targets, but Guyver is going for the male faction, Twilight the female faction, and THG targets both, and most Guyver fans are adults.  Just as often, shonen manga is read in Japan by adults--including very old adults--as by kids, teens, and the YA age group, because shonen manga makes good light reading and the grown ups grew up with a lot of the more popular titles.  Guyver has been published since 1985 on a more or less continuous basis, so it's easy to say that plenty of people grew up with it and that's what has kept it popular, certainly in Japan.

 

But back to the women.  Again, my point is that at least the girls usually aren't glorified sex objects just put there to be easy on the eyes and give us a break from the violence and action in Guyver.  Don't get me wrong, they do give us a break, but not in "that way".  By seeing/reading what they're thinking and feeling, they add depth to the story and give alternate POVs to examine and think about.  And each woman adds something.  Mizuki going spazz and freaking out did add to the horror/suspense aspect, but also added some humor at times as well as what it's like to stand by your man.  Natsuki is more overtly funny and she contributes comic relief as well as her thoughts and theories about what's going on around her.  Shizu provides insight on Agito and trying to be faithful to those that she loves, as well as what its like to be lonely and trying to do the most good for the loved ones she has left, as well as the traits of fidelity and bravery, and you don't have to be huge or intimidating, or even a man, to show bravery and courage.

 

As I said, there's some aspects of physical beauty to all these women.  The all kinda look like dream girls in a way, and also act like them.  Some would call that a bit Mary Sue-ish, But I believe that they're templates for what young women probably should aspire to be like, and that beauty isn't only skin deep.  I mean, I find all these girls attractive, but to me, a hallow shell is pretty useless unless there's something in there beyond the exterior.  For instance, the last time Shizu appeared.  Yes, I'm a sucker for long hair, feminine dressing and even women who wear flip flops (I consider it a sign of ease, confidence, and practicality--weather permitting, of course), but the emotion that Shizu showed was something way, way, beyond that as far as impact.  She's inherently nice, gentle, considerate and thoughtful.  Her being with Agito is something that I question a bit, because personality-wise, they're polar opposites on a lot of things, but she grew up with him, saw him suffer, and he's about all she has left as far as people really close to her.

 

Same stuff applies to differing degrees to Natsuki.  She's a sci-fi nut--possibly a female equivalent to Yoshiki Takaya IMO--highly intelligent, and a very quick thinker.  She also shows that you can be all those things and not give up her femininity; sort of what I pointed out about Shizu and her leadership of men.  I'd bet that Natsuki likes jewelery, clothes, make up, shopping, and other "girly" things that other women her age do.  She may be tomboyish in her tastes as far as what she does in her free time, but it's helped her and her friends--namely Sho and Tetsuro--out on more than one occasion.  And her hairstyle?  Well, maybe Natsuki (in canon) decided that long hair was an inconvenience, and lopped it off into a peppy, but feminine, bob cut.  Probably nothing to do with her being a tomboy, which IMO it's debatable if she is or not.

 

And for Mizuki, she symbolizes the human element.  I'd bet that if any of use ran into mutated human-alien hybrid monsters like the Zoanoids are, we'd probably freak out, too.  But she also symbolizes what it's like to be up against things bigger and more powerful than you are, and feeling powerless to do something about it yourself.  But she also shows that you can make a huge impact by helping to cheer on those who can fight evil and give a reason for them to fight.  Like I said earlier, even small, simple actions and items can make a big impact in the bigger picture when aligned with one's will to battle evil and the desire to triumph over evil.

 

I do have to admit that I find Shizu to be especially pretty physically, and I find Natsuki and Mizuki to be cute.  But for a character, pretty and cute doesn't really cut it for me.  There has to be additional substance to them.  They have to have a "brain" and emotions.  They have to think and feel, and voice what they think and feel.  They have to have depth beyond what's on the outside.  They're not inanimate objects or simple air-heads, they're human beings, and I'm glad to see them treated and presented that way.  It they aren't who they are as people, what would we have left?

[*Chernaudi]

OK now, I have a proposition that may be sort of fun.  It requires equal portions of logic and imagination, and this is something that I've worked out with Twilight Saga characters. Once things in the world of Guyver get settled, and they survive (and there's a way to enable Shizu to become immortal or at least live out a normal span human life), or even if the events of Guyver never happened, what kind of jobs/career prospects could the female protagonist have?  IE, what would they do for work?  When the story began, Mizuki was a 16 year old high school student, Natsuki was an 18 year old high school senior, and Shizu was 18 and apparently (obviously would probably fit better here) home schooled.

 

I've also been thinking of this because of my fan fic that I've been trying to work on, and here's my view on this subject.  I'd imagine Shizu being a nurse or doctor, or possibly a teacher or even a librarian.  The nursing/doctor stuff is obvious from observations in the manga--in fact, that's an important role she has in Zeus' Thunderbolt.  I could also see her being a teacher because she's intelligent and has almost a motherly presence to her, and as far as a librarian, Shizu does strike me as being a bit reserved a lot of the time.  Of course, that does all, to one degree or another, tie in to her compassionate/caring side.

 

Natsuki is also fairly easy to nail down as far as her dream job.  She's a sci-fi nut and also probably into history, and is very intelligent herself, let alone creative.  So I can imagine her being an author or an editor/writer for a sci-fi magazine or writing Sci-fi/historical fiction.  I can also imagine her being a traveler to indulge her curious side, and it'd be a big bonus if she got paid for it!

 

Mizuki is a bit hard to nail down, because she seems to be a housewife type.  Of course, she might at least want a part-time job to get some supplemental income and for something to do.  Office receptionist?  Office worker?  Work at home?  And if she works at home, what would be a good fit, given her personality, which is bright and outgoing, provided that there's not Zoanoids around or something else to scare the living piss out of her?  That's where, IMO, she's a bit like Bella, or, to a degree, Esme from Twilight, both of whom are basically housewives who for sure don't have full-time jobs, or any actual job as far as I can remember.

 

Based on what we know about them, what could these women conceivably do as far as work, if Chonos is defeated or if the whole Guyver episode never happened?

[Guest Jupiter]

It would be cool to see Valkyria more in action in the manga. I really like her character. I don't know what her motives are with Richard or what they plan to do. Theres not much on her still. Other than the fact she carved up Grizelda and Richard killed off most of the Liberatus and burned Sho and his comrades hideout to the ground.

[*Chernaudi]

Val's motives aren't clear, and of course we'd all like to know more about them.  She's also very independent woman, but she's there kinda for fan service and maybe to show that a woman can be as evil and amoral as a man can be--that things like that are a human disease, not limited to one gender or the other.

 

On the other hand, we have Shizu, who does exemplify most of the things we'd want in a woman and people in general--compassion, bravery, fidelity, all that kind of stuff.  She's also an independent woman, but if Agito were to die, I'm not sure what she'd do.  Agito is her life right now, and even if she were immortal, her life (to her) would lose a lot of value to her without him.

 

Natsuki is extremely independent and intelligent.  She can get along just fine, aside from the supernatural stuff, that is.  Strangely, Chronos seems to ignore her, like they don't value her as a pawn they can use against Sho or Aptom, both of whom she is friends of and they (especially Aptom) seem to have feelings for her. 

 

Mizuki doe symbolize what love can do to a person, and she gives Sho something to fight for.  Without her, Sho might have given up on fighting Chronos, and by extension, he sees the human race as being as valuable in the bigger scheme of things as Mizuki is to him. 

 

Also, for the most part, these women, especially Shizu, do tend to symbolize the highest things that humans can achieve before they're 20 years old.  Mizuki was an honor studient, and has dealt with more crap than just about anyone in the manga.  Natsuki was also an honor student and has tons of street smarts.  Shizu might not have had a formal (conventional) education, but she had more knowledge of more stuff before the age of 18 than people 10 years her senior, and she gets to put that knowledge to work for her and her friends quite often.  She also shows what good home schooling can do if people want to go down that route.  Like Agito, Shizu studied advanced college level stuff as a teenager. 

 

Of course, this can be compared to like the Twilight Saga for example.  Bella was Edward's reason to live and fight.  Alice is the peppy , brainy cheerleader, and Rosalie is the brains behind a lot of stuff.  That corresponds roughly to Mizuki, Natsuki and Shizu respectively, though Shizu would've been a lot nicer to Bella initially than Rosalie was.

 

But one of the things that's kinda bothered me is the stereotype that women have to give up their femininity to be leaders or be powerful.  Shizu IMO proves that wrong.  She's the most overtly feminine character in Guyver, yet she's a leader and probably the most powerful person in Zeus' Thunderbolt aside from Agito.  And she doesn't sink to normal "guy" levels, either.  She's not mean or cruel, nasty or bitchy, and she inspires confidence rather than fear.

 

Also, I believe that Natsuki is plenty feminine on the other side of the coin.  She's more peppy than tomboyish, IMO.  Just because she's a T-shirt and jeans girl doesn't mean that she's not feminine.  She wears jewelry, seems to like fashion, probably does her nails and wears make up when she feels like it--you know, like Shizu probably does in her spare time.  Being feminine is more than just clothes, hair, and make up, and you don't have to give that up to be a leader or powerful.  See also the Twilight Saga, where Bella becomes more feminine after she becomes a vampire, but she's still a badass when she wants to be.

[Guest Jupiter]

Yeah. Shizu seems to be very set in her ways with Agito. Make a move against Agito and she'll crush you or....cut you in half with her head blades.

 

Its about time Mizuki came to her senses about Sho, and came head to head with her feelings for him. Through all the anime all she did was piss on him up until she realized that Agito didn't care about her or him, that and she saw Agito kill zoanoids that were under zoalord mind control  in that town near Relics Point with out remorse.

[*Chernaudi]

Shizu seems set in her ways towards Sho's friends, too.  She was defending them the best she could at the mansion, and Sho's friends showed concern over her well being, and Shizu seemed to show some relief that Sho and Agito tried to iron out some of their differences and that at least Natsuki was OK.

 

I can see and understand her being concerned about Mizuki and Tetsuro.  Between that and her being forced to kill the Libertus to kill off Guyot's Urans, she seemed pretty pissed about that the last time we saw her.

 

She always showed a lot more concern for Sho and his friends than Agito usually did.  She actually kinda bonded with them, while Agito tried to stay as detached as possible.  That's why I think that when Sho and Agito fought, it was more to see/confirm what Sho was made out of and if the Gigantic Exceed was for real than to actually kill Sho.  I think that harming those she considers friends is a hard limit for Shizu, and in my fan fic, threatening her loved ones is one good way to get Shizu pissed off and a good way to get one's ass killed by her--and that includes Sho and especially Natsuki, Tetsuro and Mizuki, who in my story are still normal humans

[Guest Jupiter]

Yeah, I felt really bad for her after Valkyrie hacked her head blades and arm off. I respect Shizu for putting up a good fight and she lost her men to Richard.

 

I really think the Rebel Zoalord's sent Richard and Valkyrie to kill Sho and take the Seqowa's hostage. Not to mention kill off some of the Zeus Thunderbolt. No doubt Richard is taking orders from them.

[*Chernaudi]

The rebels want to get a hold of a Guyver unit for themselves, which means trying to kill Sho or Agito, or maybe even Val if it'll get them what they want, so she might have to be careful with Richard, as well as the Rogues, because we know how amoral Guyot is when it comes to him trying to get what he wants.  He'll get what he wants, or die trying, and he hasn't died yet!

[Guest Jupiter]

Richard is pretty stubborn and over confident. His self confidence went through the roof when he became a zoalord. Ever since than he fancied himself kind of like a god and even than he was plotting the take over of Cronos. But you like you said. He'd rather die than give up and thats true because he would have rather died than give up the guyver remover to Alkenphel.

[*V Guyver]

He's still risking everything, because his own existence is still at risk. He has no choice but to keep fighting. He'll either run out of energy, or die in combat, he'd rather win then die, rather fight then waste away. I think the reason he even became a Zoalord was because he was ambitious and tenacious along with his intelligence. 

Originally, my view on Guyver was awful in how it used it's females. Fan service Mizuki, constant kidnapping, not strong willed, not brave, and fairly shallow. Then Shizu came in as the loyal devoted housewife.mistress type female, with not much else at first. Boy have things changed since the first decade of Guyver. Shizu now is the ideal woman, Natsuki is an awesome fiercely independent girl with street smarts and not impressed by social views. Mizuki is still a damsel in distress, but she has unwavering faith and devotion in others, and decries all the wrongs in the world in a way no other character does. 

However, I have mixed feelings for Val, competent and powerful. She's also freelance and rebellious, but that fan service kinda throws back some of the progress the other females spent so many years breaking into.

I'm still a little alarmed by Chronos, apparently not an equal opportunity organization as far as the female sex goes. 

[*Chernaudi]

Yep, Shizu is the only known female Zoaform because of her processing into Griselda to lead the Libertus--nothing to do with Chronos aside from using a Chronos scientist who rebelled against them and captured Chronos technology.  It can be said that her nude scenes are a mild form of fan service, but her being unconscious in a glass tube filled with liquid sort of detracts from that. 

 

All the females are attractive, but at least no longer are they a bit of idealized window dressing.  Shizu fights and has firm ideals of her own, Natsuki is fierce and has independent ideals, and though she'll never be as aggressive as Natsuki or especially Shizu, Mizuki is much stronger than she was in the beginning and has "grown up" along with Sho in that respect, and they are each other's reason for living and fighting. 

 

As it applies to my fan fic, nothing changes for the female characters, Shizu's change into being a shape-shifting vampire hybrid not with standing, but that's a physical change, not a personality change.  Shizu is still devoted to Agito, though that's even easier, now that Agito will have calmed down a bit.  Mizuki isn't as intimidated by vampires, hybrids, werewolves, mostly because they're friendly and will protect her, and by the cretins who attack her and her friends--basically embarrassing cannon fodder who aren't very intelligent and have no self-preservation skills it seems (my fan fic is a comedy, after all!).  And Natsuki is still fierce, independent, but loving and compassionate.  These girls, especially Shizu and Natsuki, exhibit traits to me that are sexy beyond their physical beauty. 

 

Also, I do wonder what readers' opinions are with regards to femininity of the female characters.  To give a non-Guyver example, from my fan fic, there's Lia.  She's married to my main male OC, Camel.  She knows how to fight, has a special power/ability, is into cars and knows how to use firearms and other weapons, but yet, she gets her hair and nails done (usually by Camel, who is somewhat feminine as a man), and likes getting dressed up, though she is kinda a T-shirt and jeans girl.

 

Even Shizu ends up that way because in Forks, WA, that's kinda the standard and she doesn't feel any serious pressure to look good, though she's a hair/nails/make up chick at heart, too, as to, to a slightly lesser degree, is Natsuki and Mizuki in my story.

 

I've always been perturbed by the tomboy vs girly girly thing, when there's plenty of cross pollination, even in Guyver.