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As soon as Jonathan Kuminga shows up to rejoin the Golden State Warriors, coach Steve Kerr plans an immediate conversation with the dynamic forward to make sure they are on the same page as the NBA season begins.

Kuminga was expected to arrive in the Bay Area on Wednesday and be at Chase Center on Thursday to go through a physical and likely his first practice since signing a two-year contract Tuesday that could be worth up to $46.5 million. ‘The first thing is a great conversation with JK. To me at the heart of any good team culture is communication,’ Kerr said Wednesday, when the Warriors also signed 39-year-old center Al Horford. ‘We have to have a really good sit down.’

Kerr said he reached out several times to Kuminga over the summer, as he keeps tabs with all his players, and said that ‘he and I have always gotten along well.’ One message Kerr plans to make clear: The offense will revolve around Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, and Kuminga will have to pick his moments while focusing on the defensive end and running the floor to have a better chance of playing. Golden State’s first-round draft pick in 2021 will turn 23 on Monday.

‘Everybody progresses at a different rate. Things can click, but those are the things I’m going to continue to ask of him,’ Kerr said. ‘And I have no doubt, too, there’s going to be times this year where we’ve got to get him the ball and run the offense through him.’ With Kuminga finally signed as well as new additions Horford and Seth Curry, general manager Mike Dunleavy has Golden State’s roster intact at last – a process that took more than three months rather than a matter of days like a normal free agency period.

A restricted free agent, Kuminga received a $7.9 million qualifying offer on June 29 but weighed other multiyear options. Dunleavy hopes Kuminga will be a key contributor and said for now he wasn’t weighing a sign-and-trade scenario.

‘As far as the negotiations go, it was fair, reasonable, no issues on my end. I think just sometimes these things take time,’ Dunleavy said. ‘But by my count, I’m all good with it, feel good about the deal we’ve done and really the deal for JK. I think it’s good for both sides. . What that means for the contract structure is we feel like we have a player that can be really good, and I don’t feel like there’s a need to make a move. Now, we’ll see how the season unfolds.’

Everybody is eager to move forward with the drawn-out Kuminga situation resolved.

‘First of all, I’m happy for Jonathan. It may not be the contract he was hoping for, but that’s life-changing money and I’m really happy for him and his family,’ Kerr said.

‘The whole idea is to help him get better, help him become the player that he can become and sign a few more of those contracts. That’s what he has to focus on and that’s what I have to focus on, the getting better part and where he can help us, because that’s really been the thing that’s held him back – what we need versus what he wants to do. There’s no denying that that’s been an issue, and there’s no denying that there’s a place for him on this team. We don’t have a big athletic wing player like he represents.’

Horford, too, is ready to get going with his new team after spending the last four years in Boston, and leaving there ‘wasn’t an easy decision for me to make.’ Playing for Kerr and alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Butler to chase a championship seemed like a great fit.

‘If there was one place that I was going to leave was for this,’ Horford said.

So, during all the uncertainty in recent months he focused on his training and making sure his family was ready for the daunting cross-country transition.

The US private sector lost jobs in September, data from payroll firm ADP showed Wednesday, despite analysts’ expectations of employment growth and as concerns linger over the health of the labor market.

Private sector employment shed 32,000 jobs last month, said ADP, with the biggest losses seen in sectors like leisure and hospitality and professional services, as well as in financial activities.

Hiring in trade, transportation and utilities, as well as construction and manufacturing also contracted, data showed.

But analysts were swift to warn that ADP’s figures often diverge from official numbers. Hiring caution

They said this report could receive more scrutiny than usual as a US government shutdown – if it persists – might delay the publication of government employment numbers expected on Friday. For now, ADP’s overall reduction came as it conducted an annual preliminary adjustment of figures based on 2024 results of the quarterly census of employment and wages.

This resulted in a loss of 43,000 jobs in September compared with pre-benchmarked data, ADP added.

‘Despite the strong economic growth we saw in the second quarter, this month’s release further validates what we’ve been seeing in the labor market, that US employers have been cautious with hiring,’ said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson in a statement.

‘Far from definitive’

Pantheon Macroeconomics’ senior US economist Oliver Allen maintains that Wednesday’s report is ‘far from definitive.’

He said in a note that other ‘more reliable surveys generally point to growth in private payrolls slowing only a bit further in September, and remaining positive.’

But Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said markets would likely focus on how the headline number was below expectations.

A Briefing.com consensus forecast of analysts, for example, had expected private sector hiring growth of 40,000.

‘Regardless of whether ADP is a good advance estimate of the official payroll estimate, or not, markets will perceive this as a weaker-than-expected report,’ Weinberg said.

This could fuel expectations for further Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

Payroll data

Weinberg believes that market perceptions could also quickly change if the Bureau of Labor Statistics did end up reporting official payroll numbers on Friday that are significantly different.

On Wednesday, ADP said that salaries were up 4.5 percent year-on-year, a rate that was ‘little changed.’

Pay gains for those who changed jobs cooled to 6.6 percent in September from 7.1 percent in August, ADP added.

US policymakers have been wary of weakening in the key jobs market, with the central bank cutting interest rates for the first time in 2025 last month over employment concerns.

Mingyu of K-pop boy group Seventeen appeared delighted by Filipino actor Michael Sager, sharing the latter’s dance cover of the South Korean star’s new song ‘5, 4, 3, (Pretty Woman).’

Sager showed off his moves in a white muscle tee and baggy denim pants while the track’s chorus played in the background, as seen in the video he shared on his Instagram page on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

‘Pretty,’ he captioned his video. Sager’s comments section was then filled with praises from his and Mingyu’s fans. Mingyu sang ‘5, 4, 3, (Pretty Woman)’ along with his Seventeen bandmate S.Coups. It also features American singer and rapper Lay Bankz.

Mingyu and S.Coups, who make up the subunit CxM, recently released their first mini-album ‘Hype Vibes.’ Aside from ‘5, 4, 3, (Pretty Woman),’ the album consists of five other songs, namely ‘Fiesta,’ ‘Worth it,’ ‘For you,’ ‘Young again’ and ‘Earth.’

A grand party kicks off a season-long celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Philippine Basketball Association.

The league gets the ball rolling at the green gate of Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, where it will hold a four-hour fans’ day in honor of what the PBA considers its lifeblood. Players will be interacting with the different fan clubs in a meet-and-greet event that also features performances by the PBA’s All-Star band.

Various PBA merchandise is also on sale in the venue.

From Araneta Center, the festivity then shifts to Ortigas later in the night when the league hosts a first-ever fellowship that traces the 50-year history of Asia’s pioneering pro league.

Former and current players have been invited to the celebration at the Meralco Theater along with officials, managers, team staff, members of the press, and PBA employees – all past and present.

Entertainment will be provided by Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, APO Hiking Society, Bituin Escalante, and a host of others as they serenade the guests with songs from 1975 onwards-representing five decades of the PBA’s existence.

Members of the PBA’s 50 Greatest Players and Hall of Famers will also be recognized during the program, according to Commissioner Willie Marcial.

The celebration continues on Sunday when the league holds the annual Leo Awards at Novotel Manila, followed by the ushering in of Season 50 at the Big Dome where the lone opening game between long-time rivals Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia is set.

Marcial said more former players are expected to attend the Sunday gathering.

Kim Chiu personally shopped for construction materials to donate to the victims of the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu Province on Sept. 30.

Chiu, who grew up in Cebu, was spotted buying construction materials on Thursday for the residents affected by the earthquake in its epicenter in Bogo City and nearby municipality San Remigio.

In the photos seen on television variety show ASAP’s official social media pages, the actress was photographed being directly involved in the purchase of the materials and talking to the necessary individuals.

‘In the midst of her taping in Cebu, Kim Chiu took time to personally buy materials for those affected by the recent earthquake in Bogo City and San Remigio. Queen move, indeed!’ read the caption.

Sheil Andes, one of the crew members of Chiu’s upcoming series ‘The Alibi,’ also took to X to share that the actress plans to fill two 10-wheeler trucks with materials for the reconstruction of the disrupted homes.

Chiu is currently in Cebu for the filming of ‘The Alibi,’ opposite her on-screen partner, Paulo Avelino. Aside from Chiu, Zsa Zsa Padilla, who is also part of the series, has donated ready-to-eat food packs to victims of the earthquake.

According to the latest situational report released by authorities on Oct. 2, the death toll from the earthquake has now risen to 72.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the calamity has affected 170,959 individuals, or 47,221 families.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), meanwhile, has recorded 2,613 aftershocks as of 7 a.m. this morning.

Maynilad Water Services Inc. has reduced the maximum price for its initial public offering (IPO) to P15 per share, valuing its stock market debut at P34.33 billion from as much as P45.8 billion previously.

Maynilad president Ramoncito Fernandez told reporters on Wednesday they opted to trim their maximum offer price from P20 initially after the company had secured the commitment of two cornerstone investors.

These are International Finance Corp. and Asian Development Bank, both of which committed to invest up to $245 million combined at a subscription price of up to P15 per share. Fernandez said there were other cornerstone investors, although he stayed mum on the details.

Maynilad, which is jointly owned by Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc. and Japan’s Marubeni Corp., will announce its final offer price on Oct. 20.

Oct. 23-29 offer period

The offer period will run from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29 before these are listed on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on or before Nov. 7 under the ticker ‘MYNLD.’

This is the second time that Maynilad has adjusted its IPO timetable, citing the need to give investors more time to assess its business model in order to make ‘informed investment decisions.’

Fernandez likewise said this would be their final adjustment. The West Zone concessionaire is required to offer to the public at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stock on or before January 2027 as part of its agreement with the government.

Pioneering mark

This development also comes alongside Maynilad’s receipt of the country’s first Philippine Green Equity label.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wrote to Maynilad on Sept. 26, saying it had ‘sufficiently established and demonstrated’ its compliance with the regulator’s newly issued guidelines.

Last week, the SEC launched Southeast Asia’s first Green Equity Guidelines, in a bid to attract more capital toward businesses that champion sustainability. The SEC said the distinction would ‘enhance the visibility and attractiveness’ of companies that actively engage in green activities.

Companies interested in this mark need to be listed on the PSE or are preparing to go public. More than 50 percent of their revenues and investments must be earned or directed toward green activities, while fossil fuel-related revenues must make up less than 5 percent of their top line.

It’s been eight years since Daniel Day-Lewis announced his retirement from acting and said he wanted to ‘explore the world in a different way.’

But the big-screen absence of the actor many would peg as the greatest one alive ends with ‘Anemone,’ a new film directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. The two of them wrote it together. What began as something small, with no real ambition, grew until a full feature film and Day-Lewis’ long-awaited return to movies.

‘It saddened me that I had perhaps ruled myself out of that when I decided to work on something else for a while,’ Day-Lewis said in an interview alongside his son. ‘As we progressed through it, and it seemed less and less possible to contain it, like two fellas in a shed, it began to alarm me slightly. I understood that this was going to involve the full paraphernalia of a film production, and that wasn’t something I was eager to get back into.’

‘But we just kept moving forward to see what would happen,’ he added. ‘And this is what happened.’

‘Anemone,’ which recently premiered at the New York Film Festival and which Focus Features releases Friday in theaters, finds Day-Lewis, now 68, not even slightly less intense or magnetic a performer. It’s a father-son story, though not an autobiographical one. Day-Lewis stars as Ray Stoker, a solitary hermit living in a remote cabin. His brother, Jem (Sean Bean), arrives and tries to convince him to return to his teenage son.

Since 2017’s ‘Phantom Thread,’ Day-Lewis has, among other things, studied violin making in Boston. But he has also come to think of his declaration of retirement as a mistake, or not quite what he intended. At least, it wasn’t enough to stand in the way of him making a movie with his son.

‘I know it’s been imagined on my behalf by numerous commentators, people that don’t know me, that somehow the way I work has left me so debilitated I can barely open my eyes in the morning. This then requires a period of five or six years recovery!’ Day-Lewis says. ‘That was never the case. The work itself was always nourishing to me.’

Yet after making ‘Phantom Thread,’ Paul Thomas Anderson’s London-set portrait of a perfectionist couturier, Day-Lewis was uncertain that he would ever regenerate the appetite to tackle another role.

‘I definitely was brought low after I finished shooting ‘Phantom Thread’ more than for any other reason because I anticipated being back in the public arena again,’ he says. ‘And this is where I find myself now. And it’s something I never found a solution to from the day I started doing this work until now. The public aspect of my life I’ve always been baffled by.’

The spotlight and a ‘stark reminder’

The most meaningful gesture Day-Lewis is offering his son might not be making a movie with him, but returning to the spotlight for it. At the New York Film Festival, Day-Lewis has been a happy, humble presence, calling himself a fool for his professed retirement and dutifully accepting a glare of attention that he’s largely avoided for the last decade.

‘It’s been a stark reminder for me of: Oh, yeah, that’s what it’s like,’ he said, chuckling.

But Day-Lewis greeted a reporter warmly, urging him to pull a chair – a Churchill, noted Day-Lewis, a craftsman and furniture maker – and spoke candidly and thoughtfully about the mystique that has often surrounded his work, an aura he disdains.

‘I knew to survive in this world that that would probably be the way I’d do it, by creating other worlds and escaping into them and living through them for a period of time,’ he said. ‘And that remains the same. It never changed. I love that work, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I don’t do it as an act of self-flagellation.’

Day-Lewis’ Method-acting immersion in a character has long been the stuff of legend. Jim Sheridan, who directed him in three films, including ‘My Left Foot,’ once remarked, ‘Daniel hates acting.’ But the idea that Day-Lewis somehow makes himself into a martyr for his art has long chafed with him.

‘That’s something that’s weighed heavily over the years, this sort of misconception which has now become so ludicrous about Method acting, which is a very bad name in the business now,’ says Day-Lewis. ‘We all find a different way of approaching the same problems. And when we’re on the set, it makes no goddamn difference what system you train under, Meisner or Method or Stanislavski or whatever it might be. You’re just there trying to live in those moments, to burn yourself up trying to find that truth as well as you can.’

Day-Lewis has sensed some of the same all-consuming imagination in Ronan, a 27-year-old painter making his directorial debut. He’s one of two sons Day-Lewis has with his wife, filmmaker Rebecca Miller. (He also has an older son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, from his past relationship with Isabelle Adjani.) From a young age, Day-Lewis saw how invested his son was in creating imagery. Ronan, meanwhile, grew up marveling from a distance at his father’s work.

‘It always held a huge amount of mystery to me what he was doing,’ says Ronan, who has vivid memories of being on set for films like ‘There Will Be Blood’ and ‘The Ballad of Jack and Rose.’ ‘To be inside this realm that I had always been watching curiously from the outside was so intriguing. But there were aspects of his process that still remained a mystery to me, which I think helped, actually.’

More sardines

For Day-Lewis, building the character of Ray was a step-by-step process that included everything in his woodland world, right down to the expired tin cans of sardines that line his shelves. (‘There were never enough sardines for me,’ he says, smiling.) ‘Anemone’ unfolds in fits and starts, with several glorious, improvised monologues surrounded with strikingly lush imagery by Ronan. Day-Lewis so relishes pushing the boundaries of such a fictional world that, once in it, he tends to not want to let go.

‘You hope to create a world, an illusion. And when somebody says to you, ‘That was the last shot. Go home now,’ that was so bewildering to me because I’m still invested in that world,’ he says. ‘It’s not I have trouble letting go of it. The trouble I have is that I want to still splash around in that illusion.’

Still, it seems Day-Lewis has in ‘Anemone’ avoided the kind of post-film feeling that followed ‘Phantom Thread.’ The actor hasn’t yet announced a forthcoming project, but he acknowledges feeling the capacity for more. While he doesn’t say he missed acting during the last eight years, he appears to have come to some self-acceptance of its fundamental, irrevocable place in his life.

‘It has been my primary form of self-expression for my entire life, since I was a child,’ he says. ‘And therefore, I don’t know if I experience it as a sense of missing if I’m not doing it. But the need to express myself in that way, even at a subterranean level, that is still there.’

But just as it’s time to go, Day-Lewis offers ‘an appendix’ to his answer. If ‘Anemone’ has left him still hungry for more, that fact is owed partly to the nature of its making. Not just that it was done with Ronan, but that they made it, themselves. It’s Day-Lewis’ first screenwriting credit.

Jeongyeon of TWICE will be unable to participate in the group’s upcoming concert at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan this Saturday, Oct. 4, due to health reasons.

‘It is with deep regret that we inform you that TWICE member Jeongyeon will be unable to participate in the TWICE World Tour in Bulacan concert due to health reasons,’ JYP Entertainment wrote in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 2.

The talent agency noted that Jeongyeon’s absence was decided after careful consideration to prioritize the ‘artist’s health and recovery.’

‘We sincerely apologize to all the fans who have been waiting for this concert and are truly sorry to deliver such disappointing news. We are always grateful for the tremendous love and support you give to TWICE,’ continued the statement. This marked the second time for the Korean girl group to not have all members join a concert in the Philippines after member Chaeyoung was absent at the 2023 show due to health concerns as well.

The remaining eight members, Jihyo, Nayeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, will perform at the Bulacan venue for the group’s ‘This Is for’ tour on Saturday.

TWICE, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, is also set to release a special album, ‘TEN: The Story Goes On,’ on Oct. 10, in addition to their ongoing tour.

The nation’s girl group is also set to release their 10th anniversary documentary film ‘TWICE: One in a Million’ in local cinemas on Oct. 20.

TWICE , which debuted in 2015, is known for their chart-topping hits ‘Fancy,’ ‘TT,’ ‘What Is Love?’ and ‘Feel Special,’ among others. /ra

Holding firm A. Soriano Corp. (Anscor) has sold its 22-percent stake in casual dining chain operator The Bistro Group to the Cheng family for P1.91 billion.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Anscor said it had sold its shareholding in TBG Food Holdings Inc. to Inoza Business Holdings Inc., a newly established holding firm affiliated with Progeny Global Holdings Inc.

Progeny, owned by the Cheng family, owns integrated poultry producer Bounty Fresh and limited-service food retailer like Chooks-to-Go and Uling Roasters. The transaction represents value realization by Anscor of its investment in TBG, Anscor said in its disclosure.

New principal

Anscor had acquired a minority stake in the casual dining group in 2024 while the Chengs gained majority control this year. ‘Anscor extends its best wishes to the Bistro and Inoza teams. We are confident they will continue delighting Filipino consumers with their quality dining experiences for many years to come, and we look forward to seeing their continued success,’ it added.

The Philippine Competition Commission approved Inoza’s plan to acquire a majority stake in TBG in August. This was after considering the impact of the deal on the nationwide supply of chicken meat, table eggs, pork and beef. TBG’s brands include Italianni’s, TGI Fridays and Texas Roadhouse. /dda

Right before I discuss everything I know about ‘The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor’, I want to give a brief background on how I first got to watch this Japanese manga series. It was in the mid-90s when my cousin from the States visited us, and he brought over various anime VHS tapes, and some of them were of this classic anime series. And from that moment on, when I put in that first tape in the VHS player, my young mind was blown away with what I was seeing.

Why is that?

Simply put, because it was like nothing I have ever seen before, and as a fan of anime like Dragon Ball Z, Ranma 1/2, Yu Yu Hakusho, Samurai X, Slam Dunk, and many others. ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ was in an entirely different classification of its own because it was insanely violent, hard-hitting, and almost alien-horror-like in nature, which, with those three characteristics alone, did set it apart from every other anime series I have mentioned. For me, ‘The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor’ was a revelation of its time for everyone into anime, no doubt. That is why I still hold this classic anime series in high regard, because despite watching a lot of modern anime, this one still left a mark in my mind for everything it is all about.

I will discuss them below for all of you.

In an era dominated by slick, overly polished, high-budget superhero franchises and endless reboots, there is a certain undeniable raw, visceral, and chaotic energy found only in the cult classics of yesteryear, and certain anime are included in my favorites list. Enter ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor.’ To be clear, I am referring to the 1989 Original Video Animation (OVA) and not previous or later adaptations. It became a favorite of hardcore anime fans, anime VHS tape traders, and late-night cable viewers. Now, in 2025, this treasured classic anime series, I believe, is primed for a resurgence, offering everyone an antidote to the glossy, predictable anime content cycle. This one will break you out of that. All you have to do is watch it.

Why so? ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ will make you forget what you know about sanitized superhero origin stories. The Guyver is brutally honest, unpolished, and intensely uncompromising in its storytelling. This isn’t your average anime program, or what’s more, a kid’s Saturday morning cartoon. Haha.. This is an in-your-face body horror adventure that grapples with themes of power, greed, and merciless corruption-(almost like what is still happening in our side of the world) all told with a level of gruesome, ultra-violent, and monster-filled action that makes it feel uniquely fresh even decades later and not dated at all in some respects.

For me, this would be an ideal kind of anime for the current young generation, who have grown up watching the superhero boom, so it would not be a surprise if they get drawn to complex, morally ambiguous anti-heroes that blur the line between superhero and supervillain, because that is the ‘in’ thing now for them. The Guyver’s protagonist, Sho Fukamachi, is a reluctant hero at first. A regular high school kid who accidentally stumbles upon one of the missing ‘alien Guyver Units,’ he is forcefully and painfully merged with a powerful biomechanical armor that has its own built-in defense and offense systems, making him a living weapon of alien origin.

But Sho’s transformation is not a triumphant moment nor a sight to behold, but a hideously grotesque one. The ‘alien Guyver Unit’ latches onto him like an anaconda, and its immense power is as much a curse as it is a gift, constantly threatening to consume him if he loses control of it. Doesn’t this concept tap into the modern anxieties of losing oneself to an external force, making Sho’s accidental anti-hero journey relatable to the current young generation now, despite its monstrous exterior? Long before the internet, social media, news programs, documentaries, whistle blowers, mutants with telepathic abilities, and snail mail, of course, I am kidding about the last two, which all fully exposed corporate and governmental wrongdoings, there was The Guyver’s villainous Chronos Corporation. This mega-company hides its true nature as a global conspiracy of genetically engineered human-monster hybrids, known as ‘Zoanoids.’ Their global quest to retrieve the missing ‘alien Guyver units’ is not just a standard villain plot, but a clandestine, high-stakes hunt and race against time that pre-dates the paranoia of futuristic, apocalyptic, and wasteland movies like ‘The Matrix’, ‘Dark City’, ‘Riddick’, and even the complexities of modern whistleblower stories that can be drama-based, action-oriented, or a mix of both in some cases.

The point is, The Guyver had traits, characteristics, and qualities of everything, and for an anime series from the late 80s, that found its modern audience back in the ’90s, that is not bad at all. It is true that sometimes, it takes time to be appreciated and valued, as The Guyver has begun to re-experience in popular culture.

There is another point that I want to mention, that you will discover an unexpected, deep resonating philosophical quality about this classic anime series that also taps into humanity’s (us) oldest fears about our origins. As the story unfolds, the ‘alien Guyver units’ and ‘Zoanoids’ are revealed to be part of an ancient alien experiment that seeded life on Earth. That right there is a cosmic horror element-the idea that our existence is merely a science project gone wrong by aliens-is a theme for the all too familiar term ‘Gen Z’ or I would prefer to call them the young ones now, they will find this captivating, particularly in a cultural moment in time that is fascinated with ancient mysteries, religious themes, and alien theories. Seriously, they love this sort of stuff. Haha..

However, the only downside is that there are not a lot of episodes; with only 12 episodes in the original OVA series, ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ may not be enough episodes for most, but on the upside, you would be able to watch all of them over the coming weekend. At least the number of episodes created based on the manga is not like 100 episodes or something that insane. Haha..Trust me when I say, these episodes are worth it. It is contained, it does not go off the rails, and it does not become overly complicated at all. It is a streamlined, focused story that delves into high-octane action without the different fillers common in a much longer series, and that is why I ended up believing that a dozen episodes are enough. Hey, it has always been about the quality and not the quantity, I believe.

Although I have to say, and this is not a major spoiler, the ending is notoriously abrupt-it is because the manga it’s based on remains unfinished to this day-the journey is well worth the ride, leaving a lasting impression with its originality, visceral nature, intensity, unforgettable action sequences, and violent imagery done with a purpose in mind. And it’s not done for no reason, which has been a far too common situation with many modern anime series that use blood, violence, sex, and other excesses that border on being ridiculous. You guys know what I mean by that statement. Simply put, there are modern anime that are worth all the praise, and some are all mere hype, which constitutes a nothing-burger. Haha..

All in all, for anyone who has grown tired of cinematic universes (the MCU and DCEU), long-drawn programs, and predictable character arcs from stale onscreen characters that resemble something that came out of a cookie factory, making them as generic as they appear, then The Guyver is your break from that, a reprieve, and a must-watch. It may be a relic of a bygone era, particularly my time, when anime began to push boundaries, reveled in its alien-monster-filled madness, and left a lasting, indelible mark on its specific anime genre that, in return, would become hallmarks for future anime series to get inspiration from.

But, in the end, The Guyver from ‘The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor’ became their blueprint. It was that influential to everyone who watched it for the first time during that era, and that is exactly why I am talking about it now to all of you.