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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strictly Not For Kids, January 13, 2006
This review is from: Gantz, Vol. 10 - Endgame (DVD)
This review will serve two purposes. It'll summarize what's on the last disc of the series, but more importantly it'll provide a critique of the Gantz anime series as a whole.
What is Gantz? This mysterious black ball orders people to accomplish its missions, provides crucial equipment to do so, and seems able to see and hear everything. The series approach Gantz from the viewpoint of the people caught in Gantz' games, and the viewers never get a definitive answer on this question.
However, the purpose behind this anime series seems obvious---to express the views of the author, Hiroya Oku, on the state of modern Japanese society. Each "player" in the games represent a specific archetype in Japanese society. For example, Kei Kurono is the selfish but talented teenager who wastes his time fantasizing and reading about sex, rather than make productive use of his talents. Childhood friend Kato Masaru is the conscience of society, sympathetic and perceptive, but ultimately powerless to do anything more than to watch. Kei Kishimoto is a passive but suicidal teenager who fails to connect with society in a meaningful way. The author's portrayal of his society is somber and less than flattering. A fascinating aspect of Gantz is how the characters voice what they're thinking inside their heads, offering an unfiltered peek at their views and prejudices.
Gantz seems to enjoy pushing the envelope with the brutality, violence, and gore. The scenes will shock you, disgust you, and titillate you all at once. From one game to the next, the only real suspense is how the players will die. For fans of the "blood and gore" or horror genre, Gantz will more than satisfy your appetite.
Volume 10 wraps up the last arc, albeit in a less than satisfactory manner. The final episode concludes the showdown between Kei and the homicidal maniacs, but leaves the viewer frustrated if not disappointed over the last few seconds of the episode. Perhaps the ending was held open for a possible "third" season.
This final disc contains three episodes with 16.9 anamorphic widescreen, dolby digital sound, and an option of English lanugage in 5.1 or Japanese with English subtitle in 2.0. Fans of Gantz will be delighted by the extras, which include a behind the scenes look at the production of this series, and also a "special features collection" of interviews with the Japanese cast of Gantz.
Due to the violence nature of this series, Gantz is not appropriate for any viewer under 18.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The End..., January 26, 2006
This review is from: Gantz, Vol. 10 - Endgame (DVD)
In this, the final volume of the blood-drenched, bare-chested series known as GANTZ, we are finally given all the answers we've been waiting for since the very beginning. I can let my nails grow out now that I'm not biting them anymore. My heart can return to its normal pattern since there are no more cliff-hangers. I can return to a normal life without GANTZ... or so I thought.
(Potential Spoiler) Firstly, at the end of volume nine we learned the Kurono is now the target of Gantz's wicked game, and working for Gantz are two psychopaths seen earlier in the series murdering a bum. In this volume, Kurono's fight for survival against the game continues, and this time he's the alien. Unlike in past games, the weapons in this have no delay. When the trigger is pulled, the explosions happen. It makes Kurono's chance at escaping the savages hunting him all the more difficult. Yet he's able to find allies in this game, and a new love interest, and when that happens all his past experiences come together to help him. Memories of friends spur him on, and the morals they brought to the game begin to sink into Kurono. He no longer fights to save himself, he fights for the other players as well, even when they're trying to kill him. Yet opposing him on completely opposite sides is a psychopath bent on killing anything and everything in his path.
GANTZ, overall, was an excellent series, and arguably the darkest I've ever seen. Death here is so common that sometimes I think a coffin would have been perfect to hold the DVD collection. Twists and turns dominate every episode, leaving you often breathless, but even more often speechless. The story behind these characters flows almost seamlessly, especially since the theme of the story is based on pure human emotions (anger, love, hatred) and these characters are ripe with such things. The only problem I ever had with the series was how long and drawn out it was, especially when the DVD releases were only two episodes.
The problem with the 10th volume is that, like a lot of good anime, it just never ends. Sure, the climactic battles ends, but when a new situation in presented it doesn't finish it up (I'm being intentionally vague so as not to spoil the ending). Though I will say I expected that sort of ending, it's still disappointing to actually see it. In all actuality, the end of GANTZ was like another cliff-hanger.
Still, though, GANTZ, for how unique it is, should be picked up by adult fans. It has some of the best storytelling and action seen, and the animation quality is a grade above even the more modern anime. I highly recommend this anime to people who especially enjoyed Elfen Lied or Ninja Scroll.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Addendum to the Other Reviews, January 30, 2006
This review is from: Gantz, Vol. 10 - Endgame (DVD)
While I agree with everyone else that Gantz is indeed one of the finer animes of the current era, and I have said so in previous reviews myself, I was sorely disappointed with the ending of the series. What made it so unfortunate in the end was the simple fact that it was such a typical anime ending - vague, rather anticlimatic, and even somewhat predictable despite the unconventional nature of the rest of the series. So it pains me to lower my score the way I have, but there is a lot to be said for having a satisfying end to the whole thing.
However, seeing the whole thing play out was still a nail-biting blast. I just wish that there was enough time to develop some sort of attachment to any of the final four episodes' characters the way the previous episodes had developed... even the dog had a sort of an emotional fit with the rest of the characters! It just kind of felt like by the end there was a lot of effort being put into wrapping the whole thing up very quickly.
Still, a huge fan of the series.
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