Gantz

Gantz is gritty. Gantz is gruesome. Gantz is a show where a bunch of people who have died essentially become the Japanese MIB, only with a Battle Royale twist.

Now that may sound like an intriguing premise, but let me continue. I'm a pretty easy going guy and I can tolerate more nonsense than most people. For instance, I've actually watched (and in some cases enjoyed) Ikkitousen, Elfen Lied, Mezzo Forte and even some hentai, so I know tasteless when I see it. Gantz is many things, but someone would have a hard time trying to defend it as tasteful. Everyone, including old folks, kids, ... and women, get treated like utter crap. They are either getting humiliated and/or abused (physically or sexually). What I'm trying to say is: Gantz is pretty F'd up.

The funny thing is I don't even really dislike Gantz, but I'd be lying if I said Gantz had any kind of depth. They do a lot of talking, but they don't really ever say much. The plot could be described in a paragraph but is stretched out over 13 episodes where you only get two encounters with Gantz/aliens and lots of discussions about whether to shoot or not.

Let's start with the easy part, the pros:

1) So where does Gantz go right?

Well... I suppose the idea behind the show is interesting? Guys with special suits and secret missions caught up in some bizarre intergalactic excursion. The opening theme isn't bad, at least at first, it starts to get old pretty fast though. The sectioned layer teleportation was kind of cool. There's quite a bit of funny "engrish" like "You can be RIDER powful" and "hear are your skores" that amused me. I also enjoyed the Dragonball Z, Fist of the Northstar and possibly Akira references. If you like violence with a lot of nudity mixed in, Gantz has you covered. I guess there is a certain level of... honesty(?) in Gantz's sadistic depiction of humanity. Kato is the only real trace of decency and dignity in the whole show. Gantz is probably the funniest/best part of the show, you bastards.

At best Gantz is a cutting criticism of the dark side of human beings and a hard look at the many flaws that can make people detestable. As such, people are mostly portrayed as weak, cruel, manipulative, inconsiderate and degenerate. Now to some extent I suppose one could consider this seemingly realistic, but more likely, Gantz is the cynical machinations of a misanthrope with deep seated resentment towards the world and some deviant wish fulfillment. Now I'm not passing judgement here, if that's what you are into, then... ok... but let's call it what it is.


2) So what does Gantz do wrong?

First, the main character (Kei) is, to be blunt, an insufferable, lecherous prick who doesn't know that he's an unlikeable, pathetic prick. Almost every other character is as well, or they are gullible and naive. As if that's not bad enough, the show seems to actually attempt to glorify or sympathize with Kei's adventures in douchebaggery. Now, I'm not allergic to douchey characters, I've liked both Light from Death Note and Lelouche from Code Geass. I liked Light's perseverance and determination, and Lelouche's cunning and bravado, but Kei... he's cowardly, perpetually perverted, selfish, and kind of stupid. I'm not just "hating" or saying this out of some kind of predetermined bias, in all honesty, he really just doesn't have a single redeeming quality to speak of. I didn't think this character could get any worse, but, the dub somehow manages to make him sound like even more of a shameless creep.

Then there's the animation. I'm not like some people who gripe and complain about the use of CGI in anime, and I don't even mind it here either, but some of the actual animation is so lazy and terrible...
There are scenes with random pixelation and (intentional?) ghosting and plenty of still/pan scenes where it looks like they were cutting corners in order to afford preserving the CGI to animation ratio that makes up half the show.

Lastly there's the female main character. Her method of death was apparently suicide (bathtub cutting). So we are introduced to one of Gantz dubious and faulty premises. Let's be serious for a second. Does this girl even seem like the suicide type? The reasons they give for her "motive" aren't very convincing. She's not ugly, she's well endowed (i.e. HUGE breasts) and she shows none of the trademark signs of mental scarring. It's not like she would have trouble finding someone willing to employ her or a boyfriend. I think we can all admit someone like that is not in living hell just because of some bad grades. So we are forced to conclude that the whole bathtub scenario is merely a contrived device just to have an excuse to throw in a big boobed girl completely naked.

Here is where Gantz shows its true colors. As if it's not bad enough that 99% of the show seems to be populated by complete jackasses, within seconds of Kishimoto's introduction we are treated to a scene where the girl is very nearly raped, by MULTIPLE people AND a dog. The rest of the show either flashbacks to this or comes up with new ways to have her naked and/or molested.

Classy, and this is just season one. This is pretty much all you need to know to make a decision on if Gantz is the kind of show you'd be interested in watching. Did I mention this show is also kind of gay? Like, literally.

All that aside, the character motivations and plot development are erratic. Characters ask stupid questions and have to repeat the same answers continuously over multiple episodes. They also do very stupid things. Such as, doing nothing and just gawking like dumbfounded idiots. The best was the genius plan of inviting yourself into someone's home, offering yourself as a pet, getting in their bed, and then expecting it to NOT lead to sex... yeah, that makes a lot of sense... wait, no, IT DOESN'T.

It's kind of hard to like Gantz because it's a very dark and absurd show. There really aren't any likable characters other than Kato and maybe Kishimoto. The worst is how deliberate everything is. Characters take FOREVER to make a decision about ANYTHING. It's really kind of deceptive that way. They look like a bad-ass action squad, but in actuality they're a way-too-chatty and indecisive INACTION squad. For example, in this one episode they spend the whole time arguing over whether or not to put on their super powered suits. Sheesh. The only things one can really take away from watching Gantz is maybe appreciating it for its harsh depictions of reality or basking in its scattered brutality and rampant depravity.

Good guy A: I'm gonna shoot it!
Good guy B: Shoot it now!
Alien: *kills random guy*
Good guy B: Shoot it already!
Good guy A: I will for sure!
Alien: *kills another guy*
Good guy A: Okay, I'm serious, I think I should shoot it right now...
Good guy B: Yeah, sounds like a good idea...
Alien: *kills nearly everyone but good guy A and B*
Good guy A: *finally shoots the alien*
... -mission cleared-
==========================================

Fun aside, but this is mostly what this anime felt like. It's not that it's bad at all (the story is quite interesting and offers great potential to make this show an awesome anime), but there's still so much that made me feel uncomfortable watching this show. But let's start with the good thing:

Story:
The main characters die in the very beginning and get kinda reborn in an appartment in Tokyo. They receive some super cool weapons and a suit, that offers superhuman strength, as well as the mission to use this equipment to kill some aliens, that are hiding in town, within 60 minutes. Why they got to do that remains unexplained, but I didn't mind that.
That actually seemed to be a pretty cool concept to me, and I did enjoy the first episodes.

Characters:
The characters are cheap... like... really cheap. We got the generic loser, that fell for a beautiful girl, we got the generic beautiful girl, that fell for a tall, muscular guy, and we got the generic muscular guy, that's not interested in the girl at all. Besides that we have a lot of annoying side characters, that are mainly used to be crushed by some aliens. Also there's no bit of character development in the course of the anime, which would be necessary to make the characters even a little more interesting. So long story short: The characters aren't really bad, but they're also far from being special or at least interesting.

Animation/Artstyle/etc:
The anime looks alright, no more, no less, a 5 out of 10, the least you could expect but nothing better. I'm really struggling how to describe what the show looks like, but I think "alright" just describes it perfectly well. There's a lot of splatter and a lot of nudity; fans will like it, others won't. The design of the aliens is alright aswell (an onion-frakenstein's monster-hybrid and birds without wings). Nothing to get excited about, but they're okay.

Sound:
The soundtrack is actually pretty good. It fits the whole scenario and accompanies the action scenes as well as the not-so-action-scenes. The opening's still stuck in my head right now by the way.

Enjoyment:
First of all I did enjoy most parts of the show, because I like the idea and the way the story is told. BUT! Now we get to the big minus, that made some of the episodes a pain in the ass: The fighting scenes are sooo drawn out. I heard a few people comparing it to Dragonball Z, but Gantz is completely different (in a bad way). In DBZ both the hero and the villain stop fighting for hours just to talk about how much they hate each other, but at least they're as fair not to attack their enemy while he's still talking. In Gantz the "heroes" stop fighting to do nothing, while the aliens keep crushing them. It sometimes felt like they didn't even want to kill these monsters, and I personally really do hate that. It even made me fast forward some scenes because I just couldn't handle it, and eventually it's the reason I rate this anime not as good as I'd actually like to.

Recommandation:
Don't watch it if you can't see blood. Don't watch it if you don't like sex scenes. Don't watch it if you get worked up over characters standing on the sidelines. Watch it if you're into sci-fi/aliens/mystery/superpowers/whatsoever, and you'll be having a good time.

Skip the anime, read the manga. The pacing is awkward and the artwork pales in comparison to that in the manga. The artwork of the manga is drawn over 3d models whereas the animation is completely flat. Also the exquisitely drawn blood and gore of the manga is translated into a few seconds of short unskillfully animated blood squirting. I suppose they could not invest any money into animating most of it since they knew it would be edited out for several releases.

NOTE: This review is intended to cover Gantz in its entirety.

Gantz is about as close as you�ll ever get to a love it or hate it anime. It�s littered with so much gore, profanity, nudity, and sex that it�ll either immediately turn you off or immediately glue your eyes to the screen. Being a person from the latter group I have to say I absolutely loved Gantz right from the start. Well, okay, not exactly right from the start. Gantz starts out in the life of Kei Kurono, an angst ridden teenager who has nothing better to do but think negatively to himself and get ... boners in class. He�s always worrying about something, and doesn�t care about anyone else except for himself. To put it simply, he�s like an emo kid on acid. He complains about everything, but mostly dwells on the fact that he�s never gotten laid. Hmm�wonder why. Ten minutes of listening to this punk whine and cry while so eloquently squeezing in the occasional F-word and I dare anyone to not want to turn this anime off and forget all about it. Thankfully things pick up from there, albeit with all the whining and crying still intact.

After we get acquainted with our main protagonist we get to meet Katou. Katou is an old time friend of Kei�s who used to look up to him. You see, before Kei was a whinny little punk he was actually a really cool and adventurous kid. Lack of character development doesn�t exactly show why Kei went from hero to zero, but Katou tries to emulate the Kei he once knew throughout the series, starting with attempting to save a homeless guy who fell on the subway tracks, with the help of Kei of course. Here is where the feces (and blood, guts, and various other nasty things) really hits the fan. Kei and Katou successfully aid the drunk homeless guy to safety, but soon realize that a subway is coming their way. Their plan of avoiding it? Run up the tracks passed where the subway should stop. Bad plan? You bet. I don�t know about you, but I�d much rather try my luck at climbing back onto the platform rather than outrunning a damn subway train. But that�s just me. It turns out that Subway isn�t going to stop at the station after all, and both Kei and Katou are royally screwed. They get hit, and heads go flying.

Welcome to the true start of Gantz. Here is where things go beyond the boundaries of typical anime. Here is where things get fun. Kei and Katou wake up in this room with a number of random people who all seem to have died. They can�t leave the room, and trying to make sense out of it all is only a waste of time. Introduced into the story next is who I like to call the third wheel. Her name is also Kei, but like everyone else in the series I�ll just call her Kishimoto. Kishimoto serves little to no purpose other than for Kei to obsess and angst over, and as fan service, but with her flakey and often times clueless personality I don�t think she�s doing anyone a service. Luckily Gantz isn�t about character depth; it�s all about violence, nudity, and all that juicy stuff. That�s where the true main character of the anime comes in: Gantz. Gantz is probably one of the coolest anime characters to come around in years, and he doesn�t even have to say a word. He�s psychotic, yet fully in control. He�s evil, yet lovable. He�s the gears in the machine.

Gantz is a game of survival that you can�t help but love. Everyone in the room is soon transported to an area of town and can�t leave until they have eliminated the targets selected by Gantz. These targets are as wacky as they are terrifying, and while many of them look harmless or relatively easy to dispatch of that is rarely the case. Part of the excitement of watching Gantz comes from not knowing what everyone will have to go up against next. It�s also worth mentioning that this isn�t your typical �bad guy of the week� series. Each time our reluctant cast is forced into battle it usually lasts for a lot more than just a single episode. This is good, because Gantz is one anime that will probably have you thinking �So many characters, so little time to kill them all.� Gantz sets its characters up like dominos. Very few of them are ever developed, and very few survive long enough to see the last episode. There is a lot of death in Gantz and plenty of gory scenes to cringe at and watch over and over again, trust me.

Gantz does suffer from one major flaw, or at least I thought it was major: the ending. For an anime that is so straight forward and brutal right from the start it sure did have a weak and vague ending. Maybe the writers just didn�t know of a good way to end it. The movie The Cube had a very similar ending and plot, so I must wonder if that is what inspired Gantz in the first place. I would have liked to get a little background info on Gantz before it ended. Like where did he come from, and what was the purpose of these �games�. Either way, there is a lot to love (and hate) in Gantz. It�s lack of character development, almost completely unlikable protagonist, and strict R rating is sure to turn many viewers off, but if you�re a fan of the brutal and nasty stuff I see no reason why you won�t like the fun little rollercoaster that is Gantz.

My Score: 9.0

Version Watched: English Dub

This is a review of both Gantz and Gantz 2nd Stage. Why are the two seasons even split up in the first place? The first season very clearly does not end the show and the second season picks up right where the first leaves off, so what's the point of even writing two reviews? If you have fundamental problems with this decision, blow me. Moving on.

Gantz is a show that a lot of people don't get. This surprises me because, in the grand scheme of things, Gantz is amazingly simple and straightforward. It's brutal in a different way than anime fans are used to because ... it pulls absolutely no punches in its delivery. This is an anime that isn't really suited for today's anime climate, where shit that uses gore for filler gets passed off as "tough to watch" (Elfen Lied), and Epic Movie style reference jokes get passed off as funny because moe girls are the ones telling them (Lucky Star). Its supernatural plot sets people up for something that ends up being the polar opposite of what they're given. At its core, Gantz is all about keeping it real, and that attitude is what fucks up a lot of the people that try to watch it. Really, it's the very definition of a love-it-or-hate-it anime.

Essentially, what Gantz does is take familiar stereotypes (the teenager, the helpless titty girl, the self righteous big dude, the serial killers, the gangsters, the bikers, grandma and her spoiled grandson, etc.) and shows you how they would react in a life or death, kill or be killed situation. It's a textbook deconstruction that takes character types out of their usual element and throws them dick first into all sorts of trials and tribulations that they aren't usually written into. It's an anime that makes no judgements on others' character; "morally pure" losers will at times act like fucking psychos, and complete assholes will touch your heart, or at least make you laugh. It's an anime that serves as both an indictment and an exoneration of humanity; it will con you into rooting for kill-first-ask-questions-later types over those genuinely concerned about their fellow player, but in the same way it'll coax you into rooting against the kill-because-I-like-it types who knowingly and purposefully fuck over everyone else for their own selfish reasons. It's an anime that preaches balance as the solution and then kills the balanced ones anyway. It's paradoxical, contradictory, cold, and eccentric, because that's the way a fantasy-land situation like this would be in the real world.

Even though I basically just gave Itchiro Itano a textual handjob up there, Gantz is certainly not without its flaws. If you are not emotionally invested, or at least interested, in the fates of any of the characters (the majority of which are horrible douches), this anime will rape you with how slow its pace is. Battles have a tendency to run for 3 or more episodes and they can be the most frustrating things to have to sit through for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it feels like writers don't know how to end a battle so they just keep throwing more shit at us (the 3rd fight ends with Katou fighting a giant green turd because they literally ran out of ideas), some battles are plagued by having a cast of pussies who ruin perfectly good opportunities because none of them will act first, sometimes the characters launch into the Communist Manifesto during the middle of a fight scene, etc. There's much more dialogue than action, so if you're just watching this to see dead guys cash checks and break necks, then I'm sorry but you're going to be disappointed. The writers have a tendency to let the plot dictate the character's actions, even if it means making otherwise logical characters act dumb as hell, just to further the show along. Above all that though, Gantz's most pervasive flaw is that the cynicism is often left unchecked. Half the shit in this show could be something out of Youngblood or Bloodpain or Assblood or any other generic, "dark" 90s comic book. Every child is beaten, every woman is nearly raped, the one black guy is a gay thug, the bully rips the Karate instructor's teeth out of his gums, the guy who loves guns also loves torturing things, the goody-two-shoes old man tries to "save" a kid serial killer by talking sternly to him, that same serial killer tries to validate killing and raping homeless people (!!!) with a long-winded speech about war, and so on and so forth. It just gets really really over the top at times and, I mean, I don't have a problem with that (I loved Death Note and its intense notebook writing action), but it shits all over the "realistic and gritty" atmosphere the anime tries to present.

The art? Um, it's ok. That's about the best I can say. It incorporates some CGI, and it runs the gauntlet from good to "what the fuck is that?" The monster designs are pretty creative and they make up for how generic the character designs are. The backgrounds are nicely done as well, so no complaints there. Animation wise, the show is plagued by stiff computer animation and an assortment of cheap tricks that actually made me do a few double takes while I was watching. Nothing to write home about.

Sound in-show is barely even noticeable. The OP is pretty cool but I skipped it a lot. I imagine it would've gotten pretty fucking annoying quick if I had to hear it on a regular basis. The ED? Uhhhhh yea its ok. Generic, relaxing, melancholy Jpop. I expected much more in both of these departments from GONZO than what we were given---oh wait, no I didn't. The English dub was middle of the road as well, not shit-tier but not god-tier either. Some of the voice actors were better than others but for the most part my only complaints are subjective, so we'll move on.

Out of everything it seems the characters are what piss most people off about this show. For starters, there's a rotating assortment of cast members because they're constantly killed off. Because of the wide array of assholes that regularly appear on this fine cartoon, the very few people you can sympathize with (aside from Katou) are minor roles, which sucks because again, in this show being a member of the supporting cast is an instant death sentence. There's a lot of varying personalities, some you'll like, some you'll hate; I think this is probably one of Gantz's strongest points because it allows the show to stay fresh, even if it is at the expense of a lot of character development. The 3 people of biggest importance to the plot are:

Kurono, the whiny, horny, selfish, impressionable teenager. Probably one of the least likable characters on the show. His development is really haphazard because the second he starts to change in a certain direction, the show waves its floppy dick and fucks the whole playing field up. On the spectrum, he's more or less centered between I'm-a-fucking-psychopath and I-fucking-care-about-everyone, and as such, he can be cool one moment and then act like a flailing dumbshit the next. Really, he's whatever the writers need him to be for that specific episode. Personality wise, the most flexible member of the cast.

Katou, the big dude with everyone's best interests at heart. One of the only glimpses of genuine goodness on the show. Can get really, really fucking annoying when he hinders the progress of the group with his nobility, but at other times he's a welcome break from the sea of dickheads this show throws at us. Sometimes loses control and legitimately hurts people (physically). His only reason to really continue on living is to raise his little brother.

Kishimoto, ahhh fuck this bitch. IMO the least likable member of the cast, even worse than that fucking serial killer kid or that whiny businessman. This bitch is the worst. Killed herself because her bad grades lead to a strained relationship with her mother or something like that. I don't know, it was basically just an excuse for us to see her naked (which is stupid because we saw her naked like 30 other times afterwards). Depends on others for 98% of the show and is always yelling at other people for not doing anything when she herself does the equivalent of masturbating during a house fire. Kept around primarily for fanservice and to create sexual tension. Not exactly emotionally stable but that's to be expected considering the circumstances of her death.

Did I enjoy this anime? It depends on what you mean by enjoy. Its hard to "enjoy" an anime like Gantz in the typical sense, but it was well executed and at times pretty fun to watch, so I'll say yeah. Plus it made me laugh multiple times (both intentionally and unintentionally), and in an anime this bleak, I think that counts for something.

Overall I give it a 7. Watch it for the black guy, he's hilarious.

It is not easy to find an anime that keeps you on edge. Something that in which no character seems safe, and nothing is certain. Gantz is one such anime, a relentless monster-busting gorefeast. It takes no prisoners, and even the central characters do not seem safe from harm. However, what Gantz has in intensity and shock, it lacks on plot and theme.

Gantz follows high school student Kei Kurono. Kei is a rather selfish teen who’s only goal in life is to get laid, going on record as one of the horniest anime characters of all time. However, this goal goes unmet, as Kei and ... childhood friend, Masaru Kato, die saving a homeless man from an incoming train. Unexpectedly, they end up in an apartment room with others who have died, including naked girl Kei Kishimoto, and and a sphere referred to as Gantz. The sphere opens up, revealing racks of black suits and weapons. They are informed that they have been given a second chance at life, but with a catch. They must hunt and kill aliens when called upon by Gantz.

Gantz actually has quite a few things going for it. It has a very interesting premise, and an edgy feel. As mentioned before, this is a very violent series. Heads explode, limbs get cut off, people get torn to pieces, and all is shown on screen. Throw in some domestic violence and nudity, and what you have is something not for the sensitive or faint of heart. These elements make Gantz a relentless, gritty urban supernatural thriller.

The visuals in Gantz are a strong point. Character designs are reminiscent of people you see in everyday. Business men, gangsters, and other people look as they would in real life, nothing stylized, safe for the gantz suits. The gantz suits actually compliment Kei and company’s character designs well, though they look silly on some characters. The aliens are some of the strangest looking creatures you will see, and of course, the gore is well detailed. The background art is also good, giving the feel of a real city. The music does a fine job of setting the tone for the series , and the opening theme perfectly captures the grittiness on the show. On the technical side, Gantz is solid, if only the same could be said for the writing.

The biggest problem with Gantz is definitely the way its themes are handled. It is clear that Gantz wants to say something about society and human behavior, but the message is muddled. In the world this series paints, people are mean-spirited to the point of being unbelievable. There is almost no one willing to help their fellow man, only looking out for themselves. While there is certainly some truth to what Gantz shows about human beings, it comes across as more nihilistic than truthful.

Most of the characters in this series are not very likable, most are quite despicable. Kei is one of the most unlikable leads around, he’s selfish, lecherous, and has little to no decency. He does manage to somewhat redeem himself near the end of the series, as he begins to look out for others, though not enough to redeem him completely. Kato proves to be much more likable, if for no other reason than he is the voice of morality in a show that would otherwise be completely devoid of it. His back story, which is of a violent relationship between Kato, his younger brother, and abusive aunt, also gains him some sympathy points. Rounding out the main cast is Kei Kishimoto who, despite being in an interesting situation due to a failed suicide attempt, is the least interesting and explored of the three. The rest of the cast consists of a collection of thugs, psychopaths, and innocent and well-meaning victims of society, all of whom will obviously die.

The pacing of this series is another problem. Scenes seem to drag on and on at times. The scenes in the Gantz apartment, in which the new recruits try to figure out what happened to them while the veterans try to explain the situation, are interesting at first but eventually become quite tedious. Just as grating is how long it takes characters to make decisions, even in the midst of battle. Entire scenes are devoted to characters making decisions instead of getting anything done, and it grows tiresome after a while. The plot is stretched thin over 26 episodes and lacks a proper conclusion, making Gantz less than a rewarding experience.

If you are simply looking for a thrillingly violent series with strong technical merits, than Gantz is certainly worth checking out. It has an intensity and willingness to show extreme violence that most anime do not come close to. However, if you also seek a well plotted, rewarding experience, there are much better titles that do the same.

Supposedly to be about COMPASSION. It manages to show HESITATION. Imagine a paintball game where all the participants are dumb and become sitting ducks.

Episodes drag endlessly, stretching at a slow pace, with all characters doing nothing, stupid, motionless, refraining from even defending themselves even if they are armed with hi-tech weaponry and if they are in the iminence of being hurt/killed by the bad guys. It feels strongly like a horrid NIGHTMARE in which you are frozen, unable to act and everything is out of control due to your own weakness.

The aliens are quite something. Surprisingly sluggish grotesque weirdos, who even so eventually manage ... to kill the characters due to their lack of decision. They are later replaced by mystical Tomb Raider-style living statues.

The CHARACTERS are flat -- a profusion of generic cliches : 1) the big guy who is too soft-hearted to do something (in the best Yasutora Sado-style), 2) the innocent/stupid hot babe who is too scared to do something, 3) the cynical who plays the game all along (this is the one with whom the westerners will probably relate more), 4) the psycho sadist bum-killer who blames the society... and so on. Exception noted for Kurono, who starts as a grumpy selfish teen who evolves into a cowardly fearful selfish teen and then into a not-very-competent reckless teen killing machine.

HUMOR pops up every now and then, and when it does it is well done (e.g., the scoring of the points for the dog with hylarious comments). Some acid critic permeates (e.g., the fanatical priest who is blind to the truth, the stupid yuppie who never catches up and is unable to act in the team).

The vulgar language, the violence and sexual hints give the illusion that some development is really taking place, but the lack of action is unnerving, they mostly talk and talk, without deciding nothing. If the story was condensed/edited, the 26 episodes (of this two-parter) could easily become 10 or 12.

Ah, there is also a sterile melee of criss-cross non-coincident encounters of apparently secondary characters which supposedly have some meaning in the major plan, whatever it may be. And also a faint attempt to create a psychological dimension with the curiosity about the meaning of the ominous ball 8. Looks like a cheap sci-fi where nothing is even remotely explained (such as in "story? who cares?"). Unexpectedly, it got me glued to my seat and I watched the 26 eps in 3 days.

As I'm sure almost everyone knows by now, this series is not for the faint of heart. It has buckets of Gore, a healthy dosage of nudity and a nice sprinkling of profanity to go along with it.

That being said, Gantz really does have a message underneath it's grisly facade, this is actually a much more philosophical anime then people think, most might compare it to Elfen Lied, do not be fooled. I found Elfen Lied to be way over-the-top in content but I felt that they did way to many scenes just for the hell of it. Gantz itself however manages to ensure that ... it keeps a message to go with the violence, when I was watching this show It seemed at many times to talk about why violence itself is generally unnecessary (I.E. Kato's initial feelings regarding the Green Onion Alien and especially the last episode arc which features a pacifist bookstore owner who in my opinion makes some fantastic points about violence)

All in all Gantz is worth checking out, The Message is very different then what the content shows you.

Oh dear God, here comes the train wreck! Ironically, Gantz unfolds after a fatal train wreck kills two of the main characters. It sounds intriguing, yes, but it is really a reflection of the utter barf that is this series.

First and foremost, this series has so much profanity that it's akin to listenning to a teenager who has just discoverd the F-word for two hours. The over the top violence makes your stomach roil. Seriously, it's traumatizing. And finally, there's the nudity and boderline porn. Strick that, I'm going to go ahead and just call it porn because for someone who has never seen a ... "true" porno, this would likely register as one in his mind.

The actual story appears at first glance to be quite interesting. The recently deceased are resurrected by a mysterious being known as Gantz and forced to partake in a high-stakes game of life and death. This interesting concept is completely and sadly butchered beyond all recognition into something utterly pointless and terrible. The "games" in which the characters partake are never fully explained and seem to meerly be the whims of the oddity that is Gantz. Gantz himself is never ever explained.

As far as the characters go, all of them, save Katou are utterly despicable or totally obnoxious. He is the only one that seems to have a moral weight. His blind adherence to his code of ethics ultimatly makes him act stupidly and is garaunteed to make you want to throttle something. So he too, at first glance seeming cool, turns out to be annoying. However, I am embarassed to admit that I was strangly attracted to the character of Nishi, probably because he's such a smart-aleck and very ambiguous when you first meet him. He has way more knowledge than anyone else, but rather than sharing it, he's a malicious, back-stabbing, punk. It does make him interesting.

I will give it points for its unique take on gun design and the element of the suits. The guns, already bizarre in appearance, are peculiar in that there's a delay after firing them. I've never seen something like this before, so the show does get originality points there. The suits that the characters wear to enhance their muscle-strength, agility, and speed have an intriguing appearance and do add a further level of uniquessness.

All in all, if you like mindless violence, sex, aren't turned off by cursing or ambiguity, and enjoy a dash of the utterly bizarre, I guess you'd find some enjoyment here. Personally, I think it was a bunch of depraved trash.

When I first think of watching an anime, I always look at the reviews. I like to see what others have to say before I watch, without spoilers. I am really glad I decided to watch this anime. I was pleasantly shocked at the beginning and wanting more at the end. I have yet to watch Gantz: The second stage, but I am starting when I am done with this review.

Story: I gave it a 9 because I really think it deserves it. There is more than one hidden message in the story and hopefully most of you will see ... it, if not, that's okay as well, you will enjoy it. I hate to read reviews with spoilers, so I won't add any. It starts off shocking and isn't for the faint of heart. If you don't like blood, gore, nudity, profanity, this anime is not for you. There is no sex or romance, :( , lol, but thats okay as well.

Art: I think the art could've been done better. If you watch it online fullscreen, it's kinda choppy. The colors weren't as vibrant as you would expect being horror.

Sound: I LOVED the music. It fit well with episodes and what was going on at that time. There was a lot of that creepy, horror movie magic there. The beginning starts with Hard Rock or what I think is hard rock and then end is kinda...gentle.

Character: You love them, hate them, pity them and want to smack them. Some characters made me wanna jump through the screen and beat the crap outta them for their lack of survival skills. You won't see all characters all the time, but we all know the mains pretty much stay. Some you can't wait to leave and others you feel bad when they are gone.

Enjoy: I was really surprised I enjoyed this anime so much. I usually go for an anime with romance, drama, etc. There were times I was slack-jawed by what was going on. Sometimes I was rolling with laughter at the stupidity and helplessness a few characters portrayed. But I really enjoyed it and watched it all back to back in a few hours.

Overall: I think this anime is OUTSTANDING!!! It is not your typical story line and if you don't read any spoilers, you will be surprised and enraptured. Look at this anime. Give it a chance. I tried to stay away from giving too much away. This is my first review. I think, I hope, I will get better with time, lol.

Back in 2004, many Americans including myself liked to watch Anime Network to witness edgier and darker anime. Released in tandem that year were Elfen Lied and Gantz. Elfen Lied became hugely popular and Gantz...did not. This is despite the fact that Gantz had more blood, more tits, and more realistic art than Elfen Lied. Many critics of Elfen Lied say that it is only popular due to tits and gore, but these people are missing a crucial bit of information in their analyses, the utter failure of Gantz! Gantz has a plot so stupid that an 8 year old on a sugar high could ... write a better one in 5 minutes. The characters are either unlikable assholes or bland and forgettable. The soundtrack leaves MUCH to be desired, despite that awesomely terrible J-rap at the beginning. Despite all of this, Gantz could have at least been entertaining if it embraced its own stupidity and became self aware. This worked very well with the absolute batshit insanity that is Hellsing Ultimate. Instead, Gantz too often tries to take itself seriously and fails miserably as a result. The manga at least tries to avoid this, but the anime strives so hard to squeeze in a moral in that insufferable filler arc that the viewer feels like gagging. Don't watch Gantz! If you feel like watching something violent featuring a guy in a black gimp suit, put on Pulp Fiction instead.

Gantz is a manga written by Oku Hiroya. It enjoyed quite a bit of success getting two anime series, a novel, a video game and two live action movie adaptations. Of course, popularity doesn't equate to quality and this is the guy who's known for random fan-service and gore of course you can't judge a person's works just by their reputation. So I guess I'll actually have to watch the anime before I make any judgments. Let's take a look at Gantz: First Stage.

There's not so much a story in this as there is a concept. An electronic bowling ball known as Gantz creates copies ... of people as they die, somehow getting rid of the original bodies in the process. Gantz then sends the duplicates to live their lives, assuming that they can survive fighting aliens. Okay, this is an interesting concept. There's a lot of room for intrigue and plot but, like the anime I reviewed last week, it squanders most of its potential. The first major issue is the aliens. They don't seem to be causing any problems, hell they aren't even hostile until provoked, but the only one who ever questions whether or not it's okay to hunt them is Kato and he quickly forgets about his objections. Are these characters all morons? How could you not question the morality of this situation? Look, it's a child-like alien standing there with a green onion, kill it! You don't know the situation. Maybe Gantz just hates aliens and you're helping it in a genocidal rampage. Stop blindly following the bowling ball with an annoying sense of humour and think for yourselves, Idiots. Another issue is that there are a ton of continuity errors. They'll end an episode with a scene, open the very next episode with that scene but done differently for no apparent reason. Or they'll close an episode with several characters unarmed and in the next one they'll have pulled weapons out of their bags of holding off screen. That's just inexcusable. How do you screw up continuity from one episode to the next? Did they just forget how the previous episode went? Another issue is that the anime moves really slowly. I wouldn't mind that much, but a lot of what they show is completely irrelevant to the important characters or its a different angled shot of things we've already seen or its showing a scene that we already know everything about that we need to. As an example, female Kei's suicide scene. You know right from her introduction that she committed suicide in the bathtub. They don't need to show it. The images add nothing except for the information that she cut her wrists wrong. Dammit Kei, you cut vertically along the vein, not horizontally across it. Kill yourself properly next time. This is what causes you problems, you don't think. Another thing that bugs me is the humour. There's a repeated "joke" where the dog tries to lick female Kei's crotch and someone inevitably comments that he must be owned by a working girl because we all know that women with jobs can't find romance. After all, who would want a significant other with ambition when you can have someone wothless? Wait... what? They also end the final episode with a gay joke. It's funny because................................... gay people exist?

Let's waste no time in looking at the characters. How do they fare, aside from the being too stupid to ask basic questions thing? There are really only three characters worth mentioning. The rest are either one dimensional side characters or fodder. Let's start with our hero, male Kei. I will admit that there are some good things about him. He's pretty courageous and he has a lot of determination. However, he's also a jerk who has no objections to harassing female Kei. To be fair, he never goes over the line into outright sexual assault but he does come pretty close. How are we supposed to sympathise with the guy when he's a terrible person? Kato is by far the best character. He's got a lot of rage but he also tries to keep it under control and cares about helping others. He's a good guy but he also has a darker side. It makes him an interesting character. Why doesn't the anime just keep the focus on him? Then we've got female Kei. I don't even know where to start with her. Her main purpose is to provide fan-service and to get rescued from rape threats. Yeah, that's pretty bad. She has very little personality aside from wanting to support Kato. To be fair, she does get a few good scenes in the very last episode, but it really is too little too late. Come to think of it our only major female characters are her, a stalker with barely any dialogue and an old woman who spoils her grandson. I get the impression that Oku Hiroya has a bit of an unenlightened attitude towards women. Okay, that's a pretty massive under-statement.

The art is mostly pretty strong. The characters look fairly realistic, except for their eyes. The eyes in this are just bizarre. They're almost always drawn so that they're looking in two different directions or staring blankly. The gore just looks silly. It's like watching one of those low budget independent films where they include obviously fake gore effects, except that this was drawn looking like a bad effect so it isn't so much a matter of budget as the artists apparently not knowing what actual blood and guts look like. Another thing that bugs me is the ridiculous amounts of fan-service. Female Kei gets nude scenes in virtually every episode and a lot of them drag on. You know, in case you forgot what breasts look like and need to study them. To the anime's credit the fight scenes are pretty interesting and unique. Even if a lot of them consist of one person fighting while everyone else just kind of watches like a lazy moron.

The voice acting is really strong. Yamaguchi Megumi, Nabatame Hitomi and Namikawa Daisuke all do really well in the main roles. The music is also really good. If you weren't actually watching the screen you might get the impression that afro robots asking for Yuzo is actually dramatic.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. This anime doesn't even pass the Bechdel test, of course it doesn't have yuri.

So, how does Gantz fare? Well the concept is really interesting, there's one really good character, the art is pretty strong even with the bad gore effects and bizarre eyes and the voice acting and music are really good, but the execution is beyond sloppy most of the characters are twits, there's quite a bit of unchecked misogyny and there's just a huge number of flaws. Maybe the second season fixes them somewhat, but the first season definitely has more flaws than positive factors. It isn't bad, but it's certainly not good. I have to give it a 4/10.

Overall: though many might say Gantz is good, I must say otherwise, its a super bloody killfest that isnt actually that interesting. though I must say that they tried to get attention by throwing stuff like an H-scene, and tons upon tons of blood and guts, I liked it when I first watched it, but now I took a hard look back on it and it doesnt seem all that great. also, if you are expecting explanations for many of the events and mysteries of Gantz, you will be disappointed.

Story: At first glance the story seems interesting, but once you start watching, you realize ... that the anime doesnt make it flow well. to me, it was all "I have to survive this game" till they tried to throw in some "are humans worth saving?" and other utter bull that makes it into a wanna be morale teaching anime.

Art: well the art is done pretty well, with the whole killing things and exploding bodies and the such.

Sound: I personally did not like the opening and there arent any parts of the soundtrack that caught my attention.

Characters: I must say that they try to make the characters deep, however, they never really put much effort into making truly deep characters.

There's no pay off!
Would not recommend to a Psychological anime lover. Great nudity and violence though!

This anime is very flat.

Pros: nudity, violence, animation, English Dub is spot on, great voice acting in both jap & english versions and social commentary (the first four episodse make you question what does humanity really mean? What makes us human? What does "human nature" mean? Why do some people stand up for others? While some people move aside to see their fellow man fall to the ground, without so much as an 'are you okay?' 'Do you need help?'
I liked that... I found it deep, intriguing and topical.


Con's:
... Storyline is flat. There's main character, character development but the majority of the episodes and series are spent in the "Gantz" room. Time spent here is full of arguments and time wasting.

Barely any rules of the "game" are explained so you feel like you are watching a series with no purpose.
Not knowing why they are in the room, who calls them there, why they were chosen in the first place really begins to become frustrating after 6 episodes, so imagine 21 episodes in and not getting those basic questions answered. It becomes irritating! The concept is easy to understand without those pressing questions being answered though, which is why I say this anime is not a good one at all for Psychological/mystery fans. As it also fails at diving deep into the mental state of the characters.
Its very 'on the surface'

There's no reward for watching this other than the nudity because the ending doesn't quite make sense and you feel you've wasted your time.
There's no pay off!
Would not recommend to a Psychological anime lover. Great nudity and violence though!

I felt that gantz had a weak plot which was an excuse to create a show that contained way too much unnecessary violence.

I felt the same way about elfen lied. However, I felt that elfen lied had a much better story line and the story was attmpting to teach us ideas such as forgiveness, love, tolerance of others, tolerance of what we don't understand or expereince, self-refelction, human rights, morality, and irony.

Aside from the fact that Gantz did not do any of those things to rectify itself, Gantz also displayed the idea that 'sometimes' murder is justifiable...I decided not to waste any more of my ... brain cells absorbing trash.
Like the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.

Gantz is infamous for its excessive amount of gore and explicit sex, which is its bread and butter, and this does sound awesome on paper but it lacks any real likeable characters and has a story with more questions than answers.

Story

Gantz is about two students who die in a train accident after saving a hobo’s life. They awake in a room with a giant black ball called Gantz and other people who have died recently. The ball in this room commands them to kill aliens every night within a certain amount of time and with every kill they rack up points. After every night of ... killing the survivors do go back to their normal lives for another day before doing all of it all over again the next night. With enough points, they can go back to their normal lives without ever having to participate in the games anymore and they’ll have no memory of Gantz.

Gantz has a fantastic setup but it just fails to deliver. The story is dark and shows how cynical the world can be. One of the characters risked his life to save a woman’s child but she didn’t even have the decency to say thank you. But instead of trying to find a balance between that and all the fights the characters get into, the story just focuses on the build up to the fights and the actual battles themselves (which can be entertaining) with only an occasional attempt at being philosophical about human nature and how cruel we can be. The personal lives of the main characters are really really boring, which shows that most of the effort really did go into all the battles. And it doesn’t seem to bother any other civilians that people who have died recently and were reported dead on the news have suddenly come back to life. The use of profane language is smartly used throughout the show to add some humour and it does lighten the cynical and depressing atmosphere of the story occasionally.

Art

The art of Gantz in a mixed bag. The traditional character designs and animation are great but the mix of CGI objects with 2-D animation just doesn’t work. Maybe if the show was released more recently it would have looked better but it just looks like ugly clay models alongside our characters.

Sound

The characters in Gantz shout and yell, a lot. I can tell you this can start to irritate the hell out of you. Kei shouting can make the hairs on your neck stand up. It really gets to you. And it’s not just him, everyone else does this. This is just nitpicking but when someone decides to shout for minutes on end you really want to fast forward or stop watching.

The music is okay. Both the OP and ED are forgettable and so is the music used throughout episodes.

Characters

The characters in the story are despicable human beings, most of them anyway. They don’t seem to blink at the idea of killing somebody else. Kei is a pretty awful lead and has absolutely no redeeming qualities to him, in the anime at least. He comes off as whiney, obsessed with sex and just full of himself. This is supposed to be our hero, the guy we root for.

I absolutely despise Light from Death Note. Not because he’s poorly written, as a matter of fact he’s a fantastic character. He’s what a villain should be and that’s why I hate him so much, because he’s the perfect bad guy, but Kei on the other hand is not the bad guy. Kei is like a stand in for the audience, and when the hero is a real douche it makes it a lot harder to take in and follow the story.

Another problem I have with the characters is that they have a tendency to repeat something and not do it. For instance, one of them will have a gun, and shout a dozen times “I’M GONNA SHOOT IT!” before actually doing anything. This happens quite a few times throughout the show and it can get really off putting. It also feels like time is being bought to stretch out the length of the episode.

Characters die like flies in Gantz so don’t expect a lot of character development. If the character started out as really slutty in the series, chances are, the character will die as someone who was really slutty, the same can be said for everybody else, no matter what type of person they are.

Enjoyment

Gantz is not a good show, but it can be enjoyable up to a certain extent. The battles are really fun to watch even with the uneven animation and the battles really have some suspense attached to it. Since the series ended before the manga, the ending has been discussed numerous times. Gonzo came up with material in the last few episodes that the viewer is supposed to study. Study the ending, the story, how it all came to this etc. But because this is filler, nobody cares and will not waste their time doing it. And since the last arc is non-canonical don’t expect to get a lot of the questions you had with the story answered.

Gantz is something I’d only recommend to someone who loves and can stomach mindless violence and gore, with some added sex scenes for good measure. Although don’t expect to be fastened to your seat when watching it and when you finish the show, just forget about what you saw in the last four episodes and continue with the manga.

6/10

Gantz at first sounds amazing by some of the other reviews I had read. The idea of people dieing and then being transported to a place where they basically have to kill to earn points and win their life back sounds interesting enough, plus after hearing that is loaded with violence, sex, and profanity... nuff said had to give it a shot...

But of course this anime went the way of Elfin Lied, alot of hyped up talk, but nothing to back it up. There is no sex in the first 13 episode season.. ill tell you that now, just a lot of fanservice shots, ... and the sex that was in the second season.. pointless and was pretty much just put there to keep people watching. The Violence... not really there, yeah you see a few heads explode here and there, but most of the time the first season is pretty much still shots of people being scared to fire a gun. Also there is no real character development in the first season.

There is almost no REAL character background for the characters, I guess with a series this short they didn't want to waste time and just kinda summed everything up as quick as possible, which would have been fine if they hadn't made them all mentally challenged... it's like watching a really bad horror movie where everyone is retarded and you get all ticked off at the endless stupidity... I feel that this whole anime can be summed up as follows...

Main character: "hey i've got an erection and im just gonna stand here and watch everything go down and let me friend do all the work (which he won't) until the last minute then I'll pretend i was of some help after everyone id dead :D, yay i have an erection :D"

His friend: "I have to do something!!!!..... *Stands around not shooting the enemy and lets everyone die*

The Girl: "I have big tits and just like to stand around crying, while people (and a dog) try to rape me all day, but its okay because 'His friend' will protect me for five seconds then stand around not shooting some more"

Everyone Else: "Hi I'm your average horror movie retard and I'm just gonna do the dumbest stuff you could possibly do at every given opportunity, until i die."

Gantz(person ball thing that controls everyone): "I don't really know why I'm even doing this, we're never gonna tell you, but I'm a rude over-sized bowling ball, that does magic :D"

Yeah that about sums it up, there characters are horribly created and their actions and emotions are lame. Please save yourself the trouble and don't watch this, you will never be able to get those wasted hours of your life back, The second season picks up a little bit, but not enough to be worth how horrible it still is, I could feel myself dieing a little inside with each episode, but i finished the series for you, the readers, that way i could give a proper review and hopefully no one else will ever have to suffer through this like I did.

Action, aliens, crazy wild sex! Yes, these are all elements of the story of Gantz, and what a story it is!

The story starts with Kurono Kei, a complete asshole with no regard for the life around him, who dies trying to save the life of a homeless man.

Yes, you heard me right and before you call out my contradiction, there were other parties involved.

Kurono Kei was described as being a fearless person who was ready to tackle on anything by his close middle school friend Kato Masaru, however, as time went on Kurono slowly starts to drift away from being so fearless and eventually assimilates ... into the void of the human nature.

He becomes just like every other human being, no longer any different as he once was, just an uncaring, unfeeling person trying to work for only his own benefit in the world.

Kato meets up with Kurono one day by accident and finds that his old friend has changed for the worst. The two start to reminisce by the subway station and Kurono notices a drunk old man, he curses at him silently to himself and talks about the filth in the world for a while in his own head when suddenly the man is on the tracks of the subway in imminent peril. Kato, being the fearless wonder boy he is, urges Kurono, whom he had always looked up to, to save the man! Yet, Kurono is no longer the person he once was, he has become detached from his former self. However, he reluctantly goes to help the man off the tracks, but, in doing so, Kurono and Kato are both killed by the oncoming train.

When they awake they are not dead, or they are, but they still exist. This is where the story starts to get good.

Possibly the greatest part of this anime was the characters. Truly, splendidly done. Wonderful character development as well.

Throughout the story it's a constant test of "What are you willing to do to survive?" and it shows the human nature and animal behaviors that show the lengths of our will to survive.

While Kurono starts out as someone who would die in this new world he finds himself in, he soon adapts to his new surroundings and overcomes all odds.

While the series ends on a bitter note, at least Kurono gets to unleash his carnal desires. And isn't that what life is all about anyway?

A great, great, great series that I would recommend to anyone 16 and over. There's a decent amount of blood and nudity, but it's nothing that someone at 16 shouldn't be able to handle.

Definitely a guy's anime, but, maybe some girls will like it as well.

First of all, I want to say that the anime of Gantz, is not as bad as people who have read the manga have made it sound. Also, I am not a person who watched it for the gore or nudity, but for the story and overall message. I started this anime expecting a disaster. But as I continued to watch the series, paying attention to every detail, I began to feel a thrill that no other anime has offered. It is that thrill that made this anime unique.

Gantz was a thrilling adventure about an ... average high school student, Kurono Kei, who didn't think about anyone but himself. He was just a perverted kid that thought only about women. But all that changed when he died. Well, I'm not sure if he really died, but that doesn't matter.

He was sent to a room with several other people that had similar near-death experiences. In the middle of that room was a large black sphere known as Gantz. This mysterious sphere sent Kurono and his group on various alien hunts. Whoever died was replaced for the next round. Kurono's main goal was only to survive until he discovered that he would be able to go back to his normal way of life if he killed enough aliens.

That is the main plot of this series. The strange events that occur along the way are what makes the series stand out from the crowd. If you're bored and can't find anything to watch like I was when I started this series, I suggest you try Gantz out for a spin. If you do, you may get more than you were looking for.

I was first introduced to gantz manga. When I started to read it I found myself unable to stop. I thrilled me to no end. When I was finished, I was really sad because I wanted more of gantz, until I found out that they made anime.
I started watching it and frankly it ruined the gantz name for me.
Half of the things are left out in anime, the other half was just poorly done.
Just a poor poor imitation of manga.
Ok, I understand. The manga has about 380 chapters,a lot of things are expected to be included, story is huge and they made just 2 ... seasons.
But if you already decided to make 2 seasons of particular manga, shouldn't you at least try to make it as similar as possible as manga?
This part ruined it that much that I was very disappointed and I don't recommend it at all.
Of course you can try to watch it but I highly recommend manga which is much much better.
Not to mention the poor quality of characters as well as series itself.
Very very poor.