Alternative Character Interpretation Quite a bit. Biggest has Imakarum's relationship with Archanfel. Some believe that Murakami didn't get brainwashed or was persuaded to join the Zoalords but was in fact an agent of Archanfel's to root out possible threats.
Then we have Sho Fukamachi and Chronos itself. Some readers see Chronos as doing more good than harm (They did conquer the world... but once they did, they ended poverty, hunger, disease, war and environmental problems) and from that point of view see Sho as an anti-villain in the story. Also some think Takaya made Sho something of a blank slate so readers can put their own personality into him.
Agito Makishima: a man who does what needs to be done, a villain, or a more complex character?
No love for Out of Control? This playlist should change your mind.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Often averted. Takaya seems to be good at throwing stuff that seems so out of place, such as the Exceed, but he is able to turn it around and make it plausible and not so random. We'll have to wait a few months to see if the latest BLAM moment, from the most recent chapter, Guyot's half spider mode, will be handled well.
Richard Guyot plans to take control of Chronos by taking one of the Guyver Units for himself and becoming invincible. First he has his own Zoanoids attack numerous innocent people to recover the lost Guyver units. The Guyvers foil these attempts, so Guyot forcibly turns his underling Genzo Makishima into a Zoanoid, Enzyme I, who tortures Sho Fukamachi to death while under Guyot's control. Genzo only had a week to live, and does everything Guyot asked of him in exchange for being allowed to live longer, but Guyot simply commands him to self-destruct once Genzo finished his task, killing both Genzo and Sho. Guyot assists another Zoalord, Hamilcar Barcas, in one diabolical trap—they forcibly turn a man into a Zoanoid, take over his mind, and then set him on his son, the first Guyver Sho Fukamachi. The plan fails, but Sho is forced to kill his own father in self-defense. Guyot, fed up with his minions' failure, attacks the Guyvers himself several times, at one point catching two high school students in the crossfire. He even goes out of his way to torture another Zoalord, a Prototype named Murakami, to death, gloating as he does it, before attempting to do the same to Guyver I and Guyver III with the Unit Remover weapon. This also fails, as Archanfel, well aware of Guyot's treachery, attacks Richard himself. Guyot flees in terror, murdering several of his own forces. When cornered, Guyot uses a dangerous attack that would have destroyed the entire planet, just to save his own skin. While a coward at heart, Guyot was one of the most vicious Zoalords in existence.
Cabral Khan, along with Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Luggnagg de Krumeggnic, betrays Archanfel. Trapping Aptom in an And I Must Scream state, he uses him as bait to trap Sho Fukamachi and Toshiaki Hayami. When they manage to free themselves, he allows them to free Aptom, then hijacks Aptom's brain and uses him as a weapon to murder them both. Forcing Aptom to devour every Zoanoid in sight, all of whom are on Khan's side, he forces Aptom to torture Hayami to death. When Sho forcibly frees Aptom from the parasitic Mind-Control Device, Khan flies into a rage and broadcasts a signal to every civilian Zoanoid all over the city. Unable to stop themselves, thousands of fathers, brothers, and lovers march to their deaths as Khan eats them all alive. The audience even sees their loved ones begging them to stop, but they can't. Absorbing them to fuel his Dragon Burst transformation, he becomes a giant monster and starts frantically trying to murder Sho and Aptom. This is how he also murdered the last of the resistance in the days after X Day. When Sho unveils the Gigantic Exceed, Khan devours even more people to become even stronger.
Crazy Is Cool: Valkyria and Neo ZX-Tole have shades of it. With the former being an Action Girl who doesn't care she has a nudifying Guyver unit, did really well against four Enzyme IIIs, shoved a pressure cannon down a Zerebuth's throat, and was far from terrified by the tentacles Svenite shot at her. The latter is ZX-Tole with power upgrades and wipes the floor with Aptom and Guyver III.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The Hyper Zoanoid Team Five, especially ZX-Tole and Thancrus. Nearly every Hyper Zoanoid and special Zoanoids. Some fans still hope that another Zerebuth or Enzyme I will pop up but the king of them is easily Purgstall, and people like Shin and Hayami as well. Guyver I's disguise state from a recent chapter has gotten a lot of positive feedback after appearing for just four pages.
Biofreezer to a small degree.
Amniculus racked some points for being a good character and a friend to Purgstall.
Purgstall was very well loved by the fan base.
A little for Guyver 0. There have been a few pictures of him appearing along with Guyver I,II, and III.
Faux Symbolism: A common interpretation of the big bad's name is Archanfel. Arch-angel-fell? It also helps that Archanfel's battle form is a golden angelic like being. And the fact that in one scene he parts water very much like Moses to save an ally of his. Nope, no religious connotations here.
Consider, though, that his past inverts the symbolism: Archanfel was loyal to the Advents, and took up arms against Guyver Zero — the first rebel. This is basically a case of God kicking Michael out of heaven after Lucifer's rebellion...
Fridge Brilliance: The Exceed may seem like a massive ass-pull but then you remember: The Guyver, and humans, were created to adapt to situations and Gigantic kicks this up to 100! Brilliant! Your mileage may vary on this of course.
Also, the Gigantic was in part designed by Sho (or at least his subconscious mind and his desire for more power), and his dreams as seen after the Gigantic's debut involved an Exceed-sized Gigantic.
Memetic Mutation: Comments on Guyver-related videos and forums calling the Guyver's Mega-Smasher "Laser Boobs" or a variation of the sort are quite common.
Doctor Barcas turning Sho's father into Enzyme II and then making them battle.
The Battle of Yokohama.
Narm: The Zoanoid Rock Band in the anime. (Though thankfully improved in the 26-episode OVA)
Guyot's voice in the OVA series English dub was already a little silly with him having a stereotypically gravelly mastermind voice akin to Dr. Claw; but in the dub's recuts, the low pitch effects were removed for unknown reasons, making Guyot's voice very hard to listen to without cracking up.
Narm Charm: A Cronos Soldier in the English dub of OVA Episode 9 was given a thick Scottish accent. It's goofy as all Hell, but you can tell whoever voiced the soldier was having the time of his life.
Lisker. Having a Guyver for a bad guy would have been awesome, but he ends up dead early on in the first volume. Even Takaya considered his short role a waste of the character. The 2005 anime rectifies this by keeping him around longer, and having a last fight with him be the payoff to the destruction of Chronos Japan's base.
