Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 25, 2026

Southern Utah in particular is a veritable goldmine, or perhaps more accurately fossil mine, of historical artifacts, including some really impressive dinosaur bones in and around Vernal. There are also both rock paintings and cave dwellings galore that are proof of relatively ancient civilizations like the Anasazi who made their home in the almost alien landscapes some sections of the state offer. That may be one reason why Utah is supposedly featured so prominently in Guyver: Dark Hero, with an archeological dig providing a kind of quasi-McGuffin to get the narrative ball rolling. While Guyver: Dark Hero prominently features allusions to the Beehive State (including a couple of highway marker signs), the film's incredibly low budget evidently kept the crew ensconced in and around the Los Angeles region. And that very low budget may be one of the more salient pieces of information in terms of accepting this sequel to The Guyver on its own decidedly odd merits.

For those unacquainted with this would be "franchise", Ken Brown's The Guyver Blu-ray review offers some background and plot setup that this film, while drastically different in tone from its progenitor, still builds upon. Sean Barker, AKA The Guyver, is portrayed in this sequel by David Hayter, replacing the first film's Jack Armstrong. Rather incredibly, Hayter's career also includes (perhaps appropriately, given the manga origins of The Guyver) English dub voicework for various anime projects (some of which had Hayter using "Sean Barker" as a pseudonym, evidently to work around union restrictions), but a number of high profile screenplays as well, including X- Men, X2: X-Men United, The Scorpion King and Watchmen. It might be joked, then, that the "mighty oak" that Hayter became was due at least in part to the "superhero acorn" he was much earlier in his career.

While intentionally more serious and less campy than the first film, Guyver: Dark Hero may still engender a few laughs due to some intermittently risible dialogue and "special effects" that, while actually pretty impressive given the lack of funding for the film, may not exactly be at Industrial Light & Magic levels. The basic story here has Barker wrestling with his, well, "darker" side courtesy of the Guyver suit, as he interlopes at the aforementioned archeological dig, uncovering even more of the dastardly Chronos network. Speaking of the "alien" landscapes of parts of Utah, actual extraterrestrials, or at least their after effects, also play into the tale.

The second film inarguably captures more of the nihilistic tone of the original manga, but even it refashions a number of elements to provide a more compact "hero's journey" arc. While some curmudgeons (ahem) might suggest that two Guyver films may already be too many, it may in fact be time for a more substantial adaptation of the source material, since jaded contemporary audiences may be more attuned to the apocalyptic fervor the original offers.

Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Guyver: Dark Hero is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Toy Robot Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This two disc edition comes with different versions on each disc, the Original Version on Disc One and an Enhanced Version on Disc Two. I've attempted to replicate frames from each version, with screenshots 1 through 9 from the Original Version and screenshots 10 through 18 from the Enhanced Version. This release does not include an insert booklet with technical information, and the back cover states only that the film is "making its Blu-ray debut with a new master transferred from the best surviving film elements". One of the new commentaries with director Steve Wang included in this set mentions "AI upscaling" for the Enhanced Version, along with a perhaps candid admission that "it's not perfect. . . yet," and at the very minimum there is definitely better clarity and increased brightness that is pretty evident simply by comparing the relevant screenshots uploaded to accompany this review. That said, I'm not sure either version offered here consistently resembles film. The Original Version is a little schizophrenic looking, with some of the brightly lit outdoor material popping rather well, and with decent detailing. Other moments resemble, well, upscaled video with near pixellation and macroblocking and considerably more fuzziness. The surplus of blue tones only seems to exacerbate some of these issues in the Original Version. All of those problematic elements are ameliorated in the Enhanced Version, but there's still what struck my eyes as an artificial digital look that affects both the general imagery and grain resolution. Updated special effects in the Enhanced Version probably fare best of all in terms of the improvements offered.

Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Original Version features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, while the Enhanced Version offers both DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options. The 2.0 track has no real issues to report, but it sounds surprisingly anemic when stacked up against a considerably more boisterous and forceful surround option. Not only is the 5.1 track just generally louder, it provides more noticeable midrange and low end in particular, and helps to open up some of the admittedly goofy sound effects. Les Claypool III's insistent score also sound punchy and fluid throughout. Dialogue is delivered without any problems (other than maybe the dialogue itself). Optional English subtitles are available.

Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One: Original Cut

• Text Interview with Guyver Creator Yoshiki Takaya (HD; 1:06) is, as the timecode suggests, authored to move right on, so have your pause buttons ready. The menu suggests chapter skipping will go from page to page, but it just gets you to the next chapter stop, where things proceed from that point. This may have been overlooked in authoring.


• Behind the Scenes Footage (HD; 1:00:03) offers a ton of candid footage.


• Production & Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery (HD; 29:27) is authored as with the above Text Interview, with the same incorrect information about using the chapter skip buttons on the remote.


• Artwork Stills Gallery (HD; 3:09) is, yep, like the two above.


• New 2026 Trailer (HD; 1:28)


• Archival Trailers (HD; 6:58)

Disc Two: Enhanced Version

• Second Chance (HD; 15:10) is an interview with Steve Wang.


• Dark Heroes (HD; 26:22) offers some enjoyable interviews with David Hayter, Kathy Christopherson, Christopher Michael, Bruno Patrick and Ted Smith.


• The MacGuyvers: Producing More for Less (HD; 24:33) has some fun (and funny) interviews with production personnel including Nathan Long, Ray Cecire, Tamara Noland, Wyatt Weed, Koichi Sakamoto, Asao Goto and Les Claypool III.


• Audio Commentary with director Steve Wang is accessible under the Audio Menu.


• Audio Commentary with associate producer Wyatt Weed & creature performer Ted Smith is accessible under the Audio Menu.


• Audio Commentary with Donavon Thompson of The Guyver Geek Channel and Dom O'Brien, author of Budget Biomorphs is accessible under the Audio Menu.

The back cover lists an archival making of piece that I could not find on either disc. Update: Toy Video released an apology stating that the featurette was removed too late in the process to have it taken off the listing on the packaging, and that all future packaging will not have it listed. See, they're making this first edition more collectible already (that's a joke, folks).

Toy Robot Video is a new imprint from Arrow Video and it is obviously seeking to establish its own identity with some distinctive packaging. The keepcase features a reversible sleeve and encloses four character cards. A slipcover has its own kind of Obi strip, or perhaps O-bi strip, in that it's a separate sleeve that fits over the left side of the slipcver, with Toy Robot branding. One interesting if tangential design element is that both the slipcover back cover and keepcase back cover have the information printed horizontally (so that the keepcase needs to be turned sideways to read it).

Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ken Brown's review of the first film alludes to a kind of "low rent Power Rangers" feel to The Guyver, and in that regard even the fan commentary included on Disc Two makes an overt reference to how the similarity to Power Rangers, at least from initial reactions to marketing efforts like posters with key art, led to discovery of the property for some. So it might not make this film's fan base overly indignant to suggest that there's an undeniable lo-fi ambience to this film, which even its creators jokingly refer to in some of the included supplements. While it's no undiscovered masterpiece, this film undeniably captures at least a bit more of the feel of the manga. Technical merits are probably hobbled on the video side by those aforementioned "best surviving film elements", which frankly don't always look that great, but the updated surround audio is nicely immersive. This is a release obviously geared toward a very specific fan base, and while I'm sure there will be complaints about the use of AI upscaling, to my eyes the Enhanced Version looks better than the Original Version. Supplements are very enjoyable even if the slideshows have a seeming authoring error, and should help to make this appealing for anyone considering making a purchase.