Masaki Murakami is a major character in the Guyver: Bioboosted Armour franchise. Originally a freelance journalist, he found himself becoming involved in the machinations of the sinister organization known as Cronos. After being captured by Cronos, Murakami was transformed into a prototype Zoalord. He would escape confinement and later launch a campaign of revenge against Cronos, allying himself with the Guyvers to accomplish it.
History[]
Pre-series history[]
Five years before the events of the series begin, Murakami was a member of a journalistic team investigating stories revolving around apparent monster sightings in New Guinea. The journalists were led into the jungle only for their guides to transform into monsters before their eyes and attack them. Murakami's colleagues were all murdered but he was kept alive and taken to Cronos Headquarters in Arizona where he became one of Dr. Barcas' guinea pigs. Numerous experiments were conducted upon him in an effort to produce the ideal battle form for the 12th and final Zoalord to make up Cronos' ruling council. Once he had served his purpose, Murakami was to be disposed of along with the other test subjects present.
However, Cronos was betrayed from within by one of its leading scientists, Professor Yamamura. Yamamura released Murakami and the other Proto-Zoalords hoping that he could bring down Cronos from the inside, ordering them to find and assassinate the 12th Zoalord Richard Guyot who was still undergoing optimization at the time. Unfortunately, Yamamura's rebellion was quickly stamped out when the Zoalord Council assembled at Cronos HQ and eliminated the Proto-Zoalords. All except for Murakami, of course. Yamamura helped Murakami escape from the base before he too was executed. Murakami would later return to his home country of Japan and attempt to undermine Cronos' operations there. As his Zoalord optimization was incomplete, Murakami's lifespan had been greatly reduced, giving him only a few years to live provided he did not utilize his battle form for any length of time.
Series history[]
Murakami's Zoalord form
Five years following his escape from Cronos, Murakami had established a cover as a journalist while he operated in the shadows, monitoring Cronos' activities in Japan. He would eventually come to learn of the Guyvers and observed their activities closely following their destruction of Cronos Japan. When Cronos stepped up their operations to eliminate Sho Fukamachi, Murakami stepped in to help Sho when he was confronted by the Lost Number Commandos. When they met, Murakami did not reveal his status as a Zoalord and only offered minimal information on his connection to Cronos. After informing Sho of the existence of Cronos' base at Mt. Minakami, the pair travelled there together in order to rescue Sho's father Fumio and his friends Mizuki and Tetsuro Segawa.
After meeting with Agito Makishima and his servants the Onumas, Murakami was soon forced to reveal his zoaform when the group were attacked by the Hyper-Zoanoid Team Five. The Hyper-Zoanoids retreated after being instructed by Dr. Barcas, sparing Murakami from having to exert to much power. Still, even just transforming took a serious toll on Murakami and left him drained. He would later transform again after Guyver-I temporarily lost the ability to bio-boost and used his impressive powers to kill a trio of Enzyme II Zoanoids.
Having revealed himself to be a Proto-Zoalord, Murakami explained to Sho and the others how he came to be and also explained the origins of not only the Guyver and Zoanoids, but the origins of humanity itself. He also explained the nature of the Guyver Unit and how the Creators came to fear its power when wielded by a human.
Following this revelation, the group were attacked by Richard Guyot himself. Zoalord and Proto-Zoalord fought one another, but Guyot was far too strong and gained the upper hand. A massive gravity attack from Guyot devastated the cliffside where the battle took place, and Sho and Mizuki (who had been separated from the group before Guyot's arrival) feared the worst. Everyone survived, of course, and would later be sheltered by Dr. Odagiri and his staff down in the "basement" of Relic's Point.
While sheltered by Odagiri and his colleagues, Murakami went through a number of tests to determine if his life could be extended. Odagiri's team could do nothing to help Murakami and gave him only a few months left to live provided he did not transform again. Murakami would be forced to transform one last time when the group were attacked by Guyot while the Guyvers were attempting to launch the Creator bio-ship held deep within Relic's Point. As the ship ascended into the skies, Murakami, Sho and Agito battled together against Guyot, but Murakami would be horrifically maimed by Guyot, who then pulled out the dummy zoacrystal from his forehead, causing fatal neural trauma.
Spurred by Murakami's death, Sho battled furiously with Guyot, but their fight was suddenly ended by the appearance of Archanfel and the Zoalord Council. Guyot was seemingly killed and his zoacrystal removed while the Creator ship was destroyed. The Guyvers and their allies had seemingly been obliterated along with the ship, leaving no one left to interfere with Cronos' plans. However, Cronos had lost one of its leaders, the Zoalords that were essential to Archanfel's vision. However, Archanfel formulated a new plan upon discovering the body of Masaki Murakami.
Trivia[]
- In the manga, Murakami would be resurrected by Archanfel as a complete Zoalord and be brainwashed into serving him. The anime was discontinued before these events.
- Murakami also appeared in the latter half of the 1992 anime series, though his Zoalord background was never explained and he was still alive by the conclusion of the series.