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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/22/2025 in all areas

  1. Dunno if this is new for anyone else but it was definitely new to me! Backstory; a little while ago I was doing a Guyver nostalgia deep dive (as y'do every so often) and came across a Japanese site that mentioned initial versions of episodes 7 and 8 of Act II that were recalled due to poor production quality and redone into the versions we know and... uh, know. I wasn't sure if they were anywhere online but lo and behold - here we are! Episode 7 Episode 8: Thoughts are as below, don't read if you wanna see for yourself first! - The opening sequence/theme is taken from the original six episodes with bits and pieces from Act II being windowed in, the ending credits keep Strange Angel Milestone with a piece of art I've never seen anywhere else. Kinda torn on this because I really enjoyed the original Act II ending song as well! - BGM cues vary throughout in different spots and IMO they're usually worse picks compared to the final versions. Episode 7 - Guyver 1 comes into the scene with less flair (no flip) but better still art when he's dramatically pointing. - The (much paler) Ramotith transformation/death isn't as detailed, same with the pressure cannon (though to be honest it actually works better) - The second Chronos operative gets straight up disintegrated by the sonic busters. Almost certainly done for budget reasons but still kinda awesome. - Murakami has brown hair in these two episodes. Neat. - Balcus' outfit is identical design-wise but has a much more eye-searing color palette in the recall episodes. Also, green forehead gem. - Sho and Agito have a face to face conversation about what (supposedly) happened to his dad instead of a phone call, nice touch. - The explanation about the Guyver's blast field is more elaborate in the recall, complete with visual representation. - The Ramotith that gets killed by Murakami is SSJ yellow. Interesting choice. - The scenes with Murakami shooting down the Zoanoids are differently animated. - Tetsuro does a full roll out of the van instead of stumbling out holding his head. Not sure if it's supposed to be funny, but it was. - The fake Mizuki's transformation/death is different and the way Sho's reaction is framed/voiced makes it clear he has absolutely no idea what's going on behind him despite being handcuffed to a Zoanoid that's now twice his size. Sho. Dude. Duuuuuuuude. - The end of the fight is IMO a lot better; instead of a poorly drawn/animated Sho running to lead them away, he kills a bunch more in a really anime sequence before blasting the rest of the frozen crowd (and not because of bad animation, this is very clearly 'crap, we're so screwed') with the Megasmasher - This is in both versions but Murakami effortlessly dodging Broize's strikes untransformed and without his mental powers is badass as all hell. Episode 8 - Before anything else; the entire Lost Numbers fight takes place in an open environment with much better lighting. This changes the feel of that portion immensely. - We get to see Fumio walked to the processing tank before the reveal. This combined with the altered music cues makes this sequence a lot less unsettling. - Murakami's explanation to Sho and Tetsuro comes on the same road as the final version but this one has an attempted Chronos roadblock/trap that Sho easily handles. Take note of him timing the sonic busters so the first Zoanoid dies riiiiiight after transforming. - There's an attempt in the recalled version at hiding Murakami's RX-7 under scattered foliage. The key word here is attempt. - We meet Onuma and Shizu waaaaay earlier in this one (Onuma looks close to his final version, Shizu has brown hair) along with a nice little touch of Murakami scanning them to make sure they're on the level. - Aptom and Somlum initially confront Sho in human form. - Zoanoid Somlum is bright red with almost no other colors/detail to break up his design. He also tries hit Sho with the glue twice in fifteen seconds and gets put on the ground twice in that same time, if he didn't have any backup there's a very real chance Sho might have just beaten him to death and gone on with his day. - Dyme locking Sho down is a lot worse looking in this version to say the least. - There's absolutely zero drama to Aptom's fake Guyver reveal. This is gonna to be a running trend for the rest of the episode, as you'll see shortly. - Sho breaking free actually has some pretty decent still art even if the animation is iffy. Also, the shot of the broken blade landing in the grass is kept in the redone episode, which explains why the lighting looked so off to me even as a kid; it didn't take place in the same location. - Murakami straight up blasts Somlum's head off in what has to the the lowlight of these two episodes. It needs to be seen to be believed. - When Murakami starts messing with Dyme, we visibly see him react thanks to a cutaway to his human form. - Aptom loses his arm to the sonic busters (that come out of Guyver 1's eyes, sure, why not) instead of the Zoanoid Buster and shows about as much reaction to that as Somlum's headshot. - And his reaction to Dyme getting killed off? A semi-threatening raise of his remaining arm and an even less threatening 'onore'. This is co-worker energy, folks. - Guyver 1 and 3 meeting up at the end has some animation differences and ends on a nice piece of artwork that I feel is better than what the final version had. Needless to say, it was super interesting getting to experience 'new' Guyver content in 2025! I can also see why these two episodes were recalled, even considering Act II's reputation for rough quality these ones didn't even meet that bar even if a few sequences were really cool in isolation. (And I guarantee you, as soon as this Aptom gained independence from Chronos he's bailing on the whole thing to retire somewhere).
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