OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Cybernetics Guardian

Before he got started on gore fests like M.D. Geist, Koichi Ohata directed this OVA from 1989 that acts as a semi-prelude to his future cyberpunk saga, Genocyber. The special one-shot was written by Guyver author Riku Sanjo who had already worked with Ohata on the first M.D. Geist. Cybernetics Guardian came out in 1989 by AIC who was already dominating the OVA market with Bubblegum Crisis, in fact they did a production very similar to this earlier with Metal Skin Panic MADOX-1 which was about someone getting stuck inside a battle mecha. For this one, you can see a little of influence from monster movies like Frankenstein and King Kong playing a major influence in it while sticking to the recent success of Robocop.

In the city of Cyberwood in an alternate 2019 where mankind has learned to harness psychic energy, the Central Guard Company has created a new weapon for urban pacification, specifically intended to deal with a crime infested section simply referred to as Cancer. The mecha pilot aptly named John Stalker has his hardware infected by an evil spirit conjured up by the even weirdly cult named Doldo. The Doldo disciples capture John to summon up their dark messiah Saldo which is a part-beast/part-machine hybrid that starts wrecking up the city. The slimy government agent Adler wants to destroy this robot nightmare, partially so he can get in bed with John's girlfriend Raia who helped create the machine, but also to stop any plans for clearing out the city slums for a big political affair. John in the Saldo armor is being chased by the police as it continues to destroy most of the city's defenses in a particularly bloody sequence. John kills off the majority of the Doldo cultists just as Adler shows up in his own mecha suit called the "Genocyber", which really makes you wonder of this was supposed to be directly connected to AIC's future anime series. John and Aldo have a bot battle with John ending up on top as he takes control of the demonic cyborg suit that he plans to use for good along with Raia.

Cybernetics Guardian has a confusing story with a near infinite number of plot holes for a running time of only 45 minutes in a one-time production. It was released in America through Central Park Media on VHS and DVD featuring a pathetic dub, as well as frequently bundled together with their release of Genocyber. Aside from some grindhouse level brutalities, there isn't anything all that remarkable about it.