Customer Reviews

Gantz - Game of Death (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If there is a positive note about GANTZ, its that its incredibly unique and unlike any anime you've ever seen. The swearing, sexual content and image it provides is something you won't be expecting. Some scenes are so oddly intense that you can't help but giggle to yourself asking what is wrong with you for watching it, but at the same time it makes you want to see more.

The most interesting thing I noticed is that it deals a lot with what people are really thinking in life. You'll notice this quite a bit from the characters as it often narrates what they think to themself before or after what they say outloud... Often exposing whether the person is being truthful or not... Just like someone would in real life.

The show deserves a 3, but I give it one more for originality. However I subtracted a star due to the marketing... Why in the world is ADV releasing this 2 episodes per DVD stretched across 13 DVDS? The DVD costs 10 bucks and a 3 or 4 episode DVD usually runs 20 to 25... So why do it this way? Seems like their losing money with the extra packaging, material and ink.

The extras are good, but somehow I imagine that the creditless opening and closing will be on every DVD... so DVDs to come won't seem as interesting in the extra features.

Gantz is about life, death, and the nature of reality. Let me start this review by saying that if you dislike R-rated content, and flinch at nudity this anime is not for you. It is graphic in the best sense of the word - violence and sex have a dark purpose in this anime, and they are omnipresent.

GANTZ is a looking-glass version of life itself. It is a game with obscure objectives and fatal consequences for failure. Information is pathetically limited, though the players have the tools they need. Those who can't adapt, die. Anyone who doesn't see a metaphor for the real world here is missing a large point.

Into this world come two unlikely heroes (unlikely in both background and temperment) - students who save a homeless man from a train at the cost of their lives. Throughout it we see their dark counterparts, two students who beat homeless people to death for fun. In the second season we see a twisted counterpart of the first, where the dark duo takes command of the group through intimidation and fear (as opposed to courage and charisma). The final evaluation on which version of life and leadership was superior? For those who have seen it, they know the fates of the group, and which fate was the better one.

For those who don't - watch GANTZ. Philosophy, action, suspense, interesting characters, and absolutely nothing resembling child-like morality and situations that make up the usual fare in TV. Nihilistic could be used to describe it, but the description does not give it justice. Worth watching, even if it won't cheer you up.

A world of ultra-violence, demonic aliens, mouths filthier than a Quentin Tarantino film, gratuitous nudity, and a sadistic black ball named Gantz who decides to bring back people from the dead (after experiancing horrific fatalities) to play a game for their lives. As it has been already stated this series is what you would get it Tarantino and Kubrick ever made an anime together. But fortunately the violence here is not to the extreme of other anime like MD Geist or Genocyber where the violence is used to cover a horrible story. Here the story holds up on its own. You cant help but continue to watch each new episode to find out who survives in the end. And surprisingly there is definately character developement amongst the barrage of violence and language and sex (in the form of nudity and language, there surprisingly is virtualy no sex in the whole series...at least not up to volume 5, havent seen anything after that).

Definately for mature audiances only! Get ready for the hardcore thriller that took Japan by storm. Will you survive the Gantz?

Ask any anime fan today what the best current anime is, and you'll hear, "Full Metal Alchemist, and Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex." I've never heard such a unanimous answer in all of anime history. Everyone agrees these are the two best current anime. This tells me that not enough people have been watching `Gantz' otherwise it'd be on their list.

The plot: I'm not sure a description of the plot will really persuade you to buy `Gantz' but here it is. A perverted teenage boy is killed and finds himself along with other recently deceased being forced by a machine Gantz to assassinate aliens living in Tokyo's slums.

It's not so much the plot of `Gantz' but its characters that make it work. Our hero is a high school nerd; he's worried more about bullies and having enough money for porn than he is about aliens. His goal is sex, not protection of the human race. As you might guess this leads to laugh out loud scenes.

Yes `Gantz' has TONS of sex, violence, and profanity, but it really does have context. We care very deeply for our hero, even if his biggest adventure of the day is buying porn.

I can't really compare `Gantz' to any other anime except in terms of production quality. THE BEST I'VE EVER SEEN! And yes I've seen them all, yes even better than `Last Exile' or `Ghost In the Shell' or `Night Shift Nurses'.

The only reason I can think of as to why so few of my fellow anime fans on Amazon are giving `Gantz' a low rating is that they've never seen or just don't care for R rated or boarder line X-rated anime like `Gantz'.

NEWCOMERS NOTE: Volume 1 is not the best volume to start `Gantz' because as with all stories there's an introduction. Start with volume 3, you can catch up and trust me! After the first five minutes of volume 3, you'll be ordering every volume of `Gantz' there is.

What if when you die you are summoned to an apartment filled with a few select others (including a dog) where there is no escape and no possible contact with the outside world. It is here, in this apartment room, that you take orders from a black sphere known as Gantz. You are transported out of the apartment into the streets of Tokyo where you track down and kill your assigned alien target. If you do not comply, you will die again.
Reviewing Gantz was tricky for me given the release platform decided on by ADV Films. Here we are only given two uncut episodes making it very difficult to give an honest opinion on the show. But from the looks of it, this series does show some potential. Put together by the incredible talent at Gonzo, we are provided with something that truly pushes the boundaries of violence and sexuality in anime made for TV. And boy is it violent! Limbs ripped off, bodies disemboweled, and decapitation all done in substantial pools of blood. For those who haven't figured it out by now, this show is definitely not for kids!

**Animation**
While I find no problem with the character designs, I was a little distracted by their stiff movements. Not only that, but there are a lot of camera pans in the first few scenes that make the characters look flat and out of place (Episode one's subway scene in particular). But after the first 10 minutes or so the camera pans ceased to bother me.


**Story**
This is where I really find Gantz hard to review. Having only viewed two episodes I'm a little unsure of what type of show this is going to turn out to be. In the first episode we watch two of our main characters get rundown by a train and then in the second, they are assigned their first alien to hunt. It's here in the second episode that the show gets weird. Their first target is "The Green onion Alien " and not only does he look like one, but he runs around and chews on them as well. While this all seems very silly, the violence keeps the show serious. And then it ends. Yep, that's the end of the volume! Based on what I've seen from this disc, Gantz looks to be a very interesting story to watch unfold. I'm intrigued and very much so awaiting the next release.

**Overview**
Gantz is looking to be a good show, although flawed, it's still something to be seen by those who aren't easily offended by violence and sexuality. And though I wish there were more episodes on this release, the quirks I found here were interesting enough to make me anticipate the next volume.

We had the opportunity to preview the first two episodes of the unedited/uncut version of the animated TV series "Gantz".

The anime is based on the manga by Oku Hiroya and directed by Itano Ichiro ("Mega Zone 23", "Macross Plus").

The storyline begins with Kurono Kei. Kei, is a student who has an obsession with pornography, arrogant and has a low opinion of people around him.

Upon waiting for a subway train, he sees an old childhood friend, Kato Masaru.

Masaru is the total opposite of Kei in which he respects Kei because of his braveness but he's simple, kind and willing to help people.

When a homeless person falls down on the subway tracks, Masaru is their to help him. But to save him, he needsd help, thus he asks the help of Kei.
Both managed to save the homeless individual but in the process are ran over by the subway and decapitated.

While dead in reality, in another reality, both end up in an apartment room with other people and a dog (who have also died).

The apartment happens to be a self-contained small universe where chosen individuals are transporated to immediately after death.

No one can escape and no one understands why they are there until the black sphere in the middle of the room known as GANTZ gives them a mission. To kill a strange onion-headed boy.

Since, I haven't watched the original TV episodes that, what I can tell you is that this anime is definitely not for children.

It features graphic scenes, violence, nudity and adult situations that I'm curious what was exactly shown on television.

The animation is top notch work from GONZO and so far, the characters in the anime seem to be quite interesting.

Among the chosen individuals is the lone female of the group, Kishimoto Kei, a girl who attempted suicide but survived but for some reason the GANTZ created an exact digital copy of her and upon arrival to the apartment is nude and Kei is holding on to her.

While most of the chosen ones seem to be decent individuals, among them are two yakuza gangsters. One who tries to rape female Kei but fortunately Masaru is their to prevent it.

Thus Kei becomes smitten with Masaru, while Kei (male) takes a liking to her.

Also among the individuals is Nishi Joichiro, a mysterious person who has been in the GANTZ for one year and is fascinated by it.

For comedy relief is the dog, Butter who seems to have a taste for female Kei.

Although this anime may be a bit dark and graphic for some anime viewers, I actually found it quite intriguing because the storyline is very original and exciting.

i have the whole GANTZ collection and if you stick it through the whole series you get a huge eye opener at the end...makes you think.

the only problems i have with this series are a few instances where various characters cannot make up their minds which leaves the viewer (at least in my case) yelling at the tv in frustration. but even those moments, in reflection at the end, seem to make the point of the movie even more poignant.

overall, i think this is a very unique anime. there is definately a good amount of humor in this series (kato is ridiculously entertaining) the action keeps your attention, even if sometimes it is out of frustration :) i know it can get expensive with the 10 dvds but this is one of the anime series i have no regrets with spending money on.
enjoy :D

THe first one leaves you hanging a little, but after that you will so pissed that you have to wait for the next disc to arrive. It will drive you nutz. However not reccomended for children at all. Tons of gore and a few sex scene occur later on in the series.

I can't believe people actually like this show. And lest admirers of this say "You only watched a couple of episodes, you have to let it grow on you", I watched about five episodes before I couldn't take it anymore. I really wanted to like the show because the show's premise was intriguing, but the execution in my opinion is terrible. You have protagonists who are completely unlikeable (especially Kei, the main character, who is so misogynistic and egostical that it's impossible to like him), male characters who cry and whine like babies constantly (many, many times I was yelling at my tv because their actions were completely incomprehensible or else they stand around with their mouths agape, yelling each other's names instead of doing something, anything), and gratuitious violence that doesn't contribute to the plot (what plot?). There was not a single character on this show that I liked. And to say Gantz moves slow is an extreme understatement. Countless times characters just stand around doing absolutely nothing for long periods of time, then the editor will add completely random shots of lightposts and pedestrian signs for no reason whatsoever! Extremely infuriating and frustrating. Add to it the over the top sexual aspects of this show (like a dog molesting a naked girl, WTF?!) which served no point except to titillate the audience really turned me off. I like some "fan service" once in a while, but even this was excessive. This whole thing is a mess. Even the animation isn't all that great or special. I just started watching a new series called "Darker than Black" which is whole better than this dreck. Please, take my advice and don't waste your money buying these DVDs!

Other reviews have indicated that Gantz is merely a mindless vehicle for gratuitous violence & sexuality. I don't agree. The extreme violence and sexuality were clearly intended to set the tone and give insight into the characters.
It is an intriguing and original concept, but clearly not for the squeamish. Definitely only for people who like darker anime with Edge.

In this initial volume Gantz sets a group of random individuals into a bizarre and extreme situation. It is reminiscent of the concept of movies such as "The Cube" and "Battle Royale". This volume is not about plot.. it's about setting up a bizarre situation and introducing a group of characters trapped in it.

I was immensely impressed with the excellent characterization of the major characters. The internal monologues are very 'real-life' and the actions and dialogue of the characters give you insight into exactly who they are and where they are coming from. The extreme violence and sexuality are designed to provoke realistic reactions which give you insight into the characters. It doesn't mean that you'll like the reactions, but they are 'real'. Observation of character under extreme stress is inherently interesting.
Gratuitous nudity without purpose is watching some female anime character take a shower. The sexuality in Gantz cuts directly to the moral and ethical character (or lack thereof) of these people.
Overall, I think Gantz is intriguing and has great potential. Of course, they could easily blow it and descend into absolute pointlessness, but based on the first volume I would definitely recommend picking this up.
Yes. 2 epsisodes per DVD is legalized crime. But you gotta be willing to pay for a good story.