Gaikisou!
Seven Star Fighting God Guyferd is a tokusatsu series produced by Toho and Capcom that aired in 1996, combining several elements from other series including Kamen Rider, Guyver, Fist of the North Star, and Street Fighter.
Guyferd tells the story of Gou Kazama, a martial artist who comes back to Japan after traveling the world to find his missing brother Masato. He is soon captured by the evil organization Crown and is changed into the Guyferd, a combination of cybernetic implants and an alien parasite, giving him newfound power. Gou is aided by Doctor Yakeo Shiroishi, fellow martial artist and rich girl Rei Kujou and her little brother and hacker Yuu. Gou uses his fighting skills to fight Crown and their legion of cyborgs and mutants, protect his friends, and search for Masato while attempting to control the Guyferd power.
Though it borrows heavily from other toku series before it, what makes Guyferd stand out are its use of martial arts and well-done choreography, making for a very unique Fighting Series.
Not to be confused with Galford.
This show provides examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: In episode 15, it is revealed that Shion's mother died because of a defective medicine (among 198 victims) and that she wants to take revenge against the owner of the pharmaceutical company which created the medicine (not to mention that said owner managed to escape justice and always act as a complete asshole). And unless you consider a punch in the face to be an appropriate punishment for him, this is also a case of Karma Houdini.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The Fallah parasite, which can be used as a mutagenic to give people superpowers and transform them.
- Back for the Finale: Detective Nakano is injured midway through and drops out after being hospitalized. He returns in the finale to help rescue Gou.
- Cain and Abel: It's not long after Gou reunites with his brother Masato that he learns Masato still has some unresolved Sibling Rivalry issues.
- Dark Action Girl: Two of the monsters Guyferd fights, Mutian Spirass in episode 4 and Gaia Soldier Valkyrie in episode 20, are female. Shion also becomes one after she's turned into Metal Shion during the Metalferd arc.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: As typical of the toku series, due to explosive energy of Guyferd's Ki-based Finishing Move.
- Elite Mooks: Interestingly, the Guyborgs retroactively become this after the Fangs are created using their design. The Fangs are designed to be mass-produced, while a single Guyborg can hold its own for a decent amount of time.
- Fighting Series: Outside of being Guyferd, Gou is a martial artist and so are his friends, as well as most of the villains and many of the civilians they meet.
- Henshin Hero: Much like those before him, Gou does a special pose to transform into Guyferd.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Gou and Masato both sacrifice themselves to stop the Gaia Net in the final episode.
- Homage: Guyferd shares a similar origin to Kamen Rider, has a similar name to and elements from Guyver, and looks a lot like a semi-organic Ultraman.
- Kamehame Hadouken: Guyferd (and later on, Deathferd) Finishing Move are mostly fired as Ki energy bolt into their enemies from a short range. Being a co-production series between Toho and Capcom, this can be seen as a Shout-Out to Capcom's own Street Fighter.
- Ki Manipulation: All of the monsters fought by Guyferd were former martial artists, and possess the ability to manifest their Ki into various form of attacks, mostly with explosive energy. Gou, being the resident Phlebotinum Rebel, naturally possess this ability too. Even his proper transformation into Guyferd from Episode 3 onwards requires elaborate Ki channeling technique.
- Mecha-Mooks: The Guyborgs and Fangs, though they're cyborgs rather than full-on robots.
- Monster of the Week: The Mutians at first, later replaced by the Metalferds, and then the Gaia Soldiers.
- Nebulous Criminal Conspiracy: Crown, an independent research organization that's really a front for a crime group looking to create the world's ultimate supersoldier. Who are later revealed to be a front for a group of cyborgs seeking to forcibly mutate the human race. Who are also later revealed to be a front for some Omnicidal Maniacs looking to remake the world In Their Own Image.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The main character started out as a professional martial artist, wound up getting infected with the stuff that turns most people into Mutians while managing to enter a symbiotic relationship with it, then got turned into a cyborg. In other words, he qualifies.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Mutian Spirass and Gaia Soldier Valkyrie, the two female monsters who appeared in this series, though still People in Rubber Suits have much more humanoid design that stands out from their more monstrous male "compatriots". Their costume utilize skintight garment with skin-like color, which gives bare, unmutated human skin impression. Spirass even retained her human face, albeit with Monochromatic Eyes and spider head decoration on her forehead.
- No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Most of the times, Guyferd's Finishing Move were fired as Ki energy bolt to destroy the Monster of the Week. However, sometimes Guyferd delivers his Finishing Move as a direct hit into the monster's body. One of Guyferd's finishers, Jiraishin, is even exclusively delivered as this.
- People in Rubber Suits: As with any other Toku, Guyferd and the monsters he fights are all this.
- Phlebotinum Rebel: Just like what it inspired it. Gou was meant to be one of Crown's soldiers, but rebelled and escaped instead.
- Power Fist: The scientist Takeo Shiroishi made Tricked-Out Gloves and Tricked-Out Shoes that enhances the wearer's strength for the Kujou siblings, Yuu and Rei respectively.
- Shout-Out: Even though the way they got their powers were different, the way Gou had to train in martial arts to learn how to transform is very similar to the How Do I Shot Web? dilemma that the protagonist of Kamen Rider Super-1 faced in his series.
- Story Arc: Divided into three.
- The first arc (1-8) involves Gou searching for his mysteriously disappeared brother and battling Crown's Mutians.
- The second arc (9-16) is mainly about Gou battling the Metalferds sent out by Metal Master, all while Crown stockpiles Fallah for a mysterious purpose.
- The third arc (17-26) is about Gou and his friends trying to stop Crown's "Gaia Net" plan.
- Tsundere: Rei is aloof to Gou initially and often gets annoyed at his laidback attitude, though she later warms up, especially after learning he's Guyferd.
- Was Once a Man: Crown's monsters were all previously humans. Mutians were directly infused with Fallah as humans, Metalferds were humans turned into the Guyborgs before infused with Fallah, and Gaia Soldiers are Metalferds further empowered by ancient artifacts.
