Anime: Gantz

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

The French may have said “Make love, not war” but then Gantz appeared and said “Why not do both”…

Gantz is a cool manga that did the mistake of asking from GONZO to turn it into an anime. It has a very violent and mysterious story that can easily glue you just to see what will happen next yet at the same time has a very slow build up that ends in a very confusing and almost unsatisfactory way.

As many will probably tell you, the anime is covering just the first three arcs of the manga, while the fourth is an anime original, done on the run to wrap the story. That move disappointed many, since anime originals are always trying to abruptly end a complicating story with poor reasoning.

Beyond that, the anime was still going slow just to stay away from the manga while at the same time had to last for a full season and not end out of the blue. The result was for a big portion of the excitement being lost at characters standing frozen and talking about irrelevant things in the most inappropriate moments. Although that was present in the manga as well, the time spent there definitely didn’t last that long and most of it felt like internal dialogue than chatting in the middle of a massacre.

Many disliked the characters for being too unmoral and carnal, violent and devoid of sympathy which further damaged the image of the anime. Well I can only blame GONZO for that since that was the intension of the mangaka from the start; to create a setting that made a contrast to all the shonen shows out there. The cast is indeed a bunch of miserable cowards and horny creeps instead of idealistic super-powered kids. Most of the magic of the story is how these bastards need to find the guts to get active and cooperate against their deadly adversaries instead of being apathetic idiots, waiting to be slaughtered like sheep. It was a social commentary around the modern way of life of sorts and I must say it was brilliant. GONZO unfortunately is a company completely incompetent at depicting human emotions in their characters and thus failed to use the proper aesthetics to make the viewers feel what I mentioned above. To most, the cast was indeed a bunch of nobodies, talking idiotically in the middle of a massacre and waiting to be killed. The lack of proper emotional depiction and music BGM just ruined it.

Another thing that felt bad for most is the complete lack of an objective. Why are all these things happening in the story? For what purpose? Again, this is a very unorthodox approach to storytelling as most people want a clear goal early on and yet all they saw here was a bunch of unsympathetic people being ordered to kill stuff. What for? The penalty for not obeying is death. The penalty for not playing right is death again. Ain’t they all dead already? So what is the point of fighting? Yet the series plays along in a way to not offer anything clear. Not even the rules of this game are explained at the unwilling players. Many need to randomly be killed just so the rest can figure it all out on their own. There are even some who have played the game before but refuse to reveal everything and just use the rookies as cannon fodder, distraction just so they can flank the enemy themselves. All that create a very aimless and seemingly pointless premise that leaves the average viewer at a complete disarray. And that is the beauty of it.

Imagine your average moe show that lacks an objective, other than to make you feel fuzzy inside with its easy going plotless stories. Gantz is probably the only anime that tries to do the exact reverse. You don’t understand the ulterior motives of this continual bloodshed yet you need to endure it. That actually works as means to think of stuff on your own and give your own interpretation of what is going on. So besides mindless action it was also a mystery that was asking from the viewer to solve it himself, without nothing be spelled for him. That of course can look as if the scriptwriter is too lazy to think of a story and just makes everything cryptic just to make it look cool. Sure, you can say he is. It also works fine because I was constantly thinking of possible reasons for all this mess.

The experienced eye can also figure out fast enough that everything is basically a social criticism of the modern way of life. The aliens in the story all represent various negative aspects of life, such as immigrants, NEETs and religious fanatics, all are in fact extensions of human folly that the average Joe needs to fight even if he doesn’t want to. Why? Well, because he is forced to do it, in the same way we are forced to spend decades in schools and workplaces. What is the ulterior motive of all that? Why, to survive in an industrialized world that cynically treats you as an expendable peon. There is no ulterior motive other than that. That is also what the show is all about, dressed with extreme doses of violence and sex. Because down to it, our most basic desires drive us no matter how idealistic we think we are and most hobbies, wars, studies, work hours end up being pointless time, existing just to keep us occupied. Even the dead can’t rest and are thrown to survive a second time in a perpetual on-going struggle for the most basic of all needs: Survival. The purpose is not to win but to stay alive. Indefinitely!

Even if you don’t think so deep, the show is still violent and sexual enough for you to just mindlessly stare at it… assuming the dreadful GONZO presentation doesn’t kill you first. It is exaggerating a lot in terms of gore and in depicting everybody as idiots and bastards as means to make you angry or disgusted with all that. And they do have some cool suits and weapons to break havoc if they ever manage to figure out how to use them properly. All that create potential for a numerous possible outcomes and it hardly feels it is predictable. I mean, in an average show you know early on how everything will end. The heroes will survive and beat the monsters and get married or something. Gantz is not like that since you don’t know who the main villains are. Plus, anyone can be killed at any given moment. It is its unexpected, violent, sexual formula that makes this anime extremely special.

Again, GONZO messed a lot at making all that clear and ended the show in a confusing and disappointing way. But beyond that, the production values are good and for once, the cold 3D models and the heartless music this company so much loves to ruin all its shows with for once worked nice since this is a show of pitiful people and no real goals.

Gantz is one of my favorite dark sci-fis and I gladly suggest it to everyone who likes this sort of themes. Just make sure to read the manga version as well, since it continues the story further ahead and offers far more material, as well as far more gore and sex.

PEACE!

And now for some excused scorings.

Seeing as how Gantz is one of my all-time favourites I will have a pleasure reviewing.

Animation:

The animation in Gantz is unlike I have seen in other animes. The combined use of cell-shading and 3d/2d environments truly give the surroundings a very nice touch. Looking at Gantz and comparing it later to a different anime the difference in quality can be noticed very well. Gantz has these subtle but beautiful three-dimensional touches which elevates the score just a little bit.

Sound:

The catchy intro gets you into the action very fast, and the outro cools you down after another great episode. The sound during the episodes is quite good, no special remarks there.

Story & Character Development:

The best thing about Gantz is without a doubt its story and character development. Differences in the main character's personality are clearly noticable after all that happens during the series. The story is quite mysterious and very engaging. The story however isn't finished with the anime, it continues in the manga and becomes a tale of epic proportions. If you enjoyed the anime it is obligatory to read the manga also.

Value & Enjoyment:

Seeing as how the Gantz series is one of my favourite anime series these categories deserve a 10.

Naturally this review is biased, all reviews are based upon someone's opinion. I hope you enjoy Gantz as much as I have.

Overall Gantz is a good series that had potential to be great. The concept behind it is very interesting and it raises good questions about the human condition such as what a man alone can do against the concensus or how to handle your sexuality when it differs from the norm (even if at times in this show, the weird fetishes are portrayed as "normal"). Gantz falls short of being a better series as it loses some of its intensity and creativity towards the early middle.

The way Gantz really loses steam is through dragging out a story that could be resolved in 2 episodes with useless flashbacks and melodrama. Most if not all secondary characters are given a background story and the saddest it is, the more likely they are to die. You come to this conclusion while watching the anime as it tends to repeat its own cliches.
The background stories of the cast are dragged out so much you wish they had edited out a lot of what was seen, this way one would have cared about the characters had they known less of the unnecessary aspects of their life. That would also have helped them be more cohesive characters because as it is, their background clashes with the way they act in the present time - where the story takes place.

The animation is excellent in parts (I am a fan of the character design, Kei-chan looks really sexy in his suit. Some of the action scenes also have good detail) and not so great in others. The main reason being that some of the background are in 3D and the characters are in 2D, leading to some unconvincing melange. The frame rate is good in action scenes, yet very bad at other times (though one would assume panning to a character's face while he/she is thinking for 3 minutes might be effective, I think it might have worked better if their expressions changed a little more in that time frame.)

The sound is alright overall. The opening song is one frantic and plays up the action vibe, and the song which lets you know that the mission starts is also pleasant and efficient. These are the only great songs though as the series is then let down by some average tracks, including the closing song and the background tunes. Those instrumental numbers do their job but they are not the kind of thing one would want to listen to in great repetition.
Seiyuus in this do a good job but as the characters are dreary and poorly written, there is not much they can do to enhance their personalities. Kishimoto has an adequately annoying and detached voice that captures her character well. Katou and Kei sound adequate but cliched (in a shounen sense, whereby the feelings portrayed are straight out of flat performances). Overall, it was an efficient but unmemorable performace all around.

The story is an interesting one about what happens to a group of humans after they "die" and remains so throughout (unfortunately the story stalls from there). Suspense is built well in the early stages, however pacing issues got in the way of getting the story anywhere worthwhile. Some character cliches also drag the story down a notch. Had they made more interesting characters - or at least ones you cared about, the effect of the story would have been a lot stronger, since this is meant to be viewed as a character-analysis show.

I enjoyed this anime when I was watching it but it is unlikely to appeal to most people because of the excessive violence. The story is strong in parts but the repeated footage that does not achieve much drags down the effect a fair bit. Add the insipid character development and you get yourself a disappointing anime; not bad just disappointing.

I'm the kind of guy who loves to see action animes. But some actionanimes don't cut it for me *Trigun, hellsing, and so on* But then youhave a action + story + characters. You don't get all three usually,most times two and since 2004 it seeems even more so your lucky to geteven one of those traits. BUT this anime, gantz, In my honest opinionis one of the best action animes with a great story and veryinteresting characters.[br][br]First let's start off with the story. It's like a game but a biggerpenalty then a "Game over... Continue?" screen. Best part is toactually begin playing this "Game" you'll have to die first. Yes youread right "DIE FIRST" and only THEN you'll be able to enter the gamerunned by a black ball. It's very interesting and sadly while the animedoes get the first three arcs it only gets better so you'll have tobegin to read the manga after. [br][br]Next is the characters. The main character, Kei, is the biggestP***y ever. Seriously he'll let you die as long as he'll be ok eventhough he could of saved you. He's also a loser and even gets caught inclass with a boner. Yes this is the definition of a true loser. But asyou watch this anime you'll see him change and not to mention the sidecharacters are all good and very convincing. [br][br]Action is ace. blood? Check. Guns? Check. Swords? Check. Headexplodes/chopped off? Check. A realistic take if you were put into thesituation and it's done very well. [br][br]After watching over 200 animes i can still say I love this one and it's on my top 10. [br]

Oh, damnit, I died![br]Now here's a fantasy I don't really want to live in. After death, some people are recreated to play some kind of "game" with an unknown entity known as Gantz. Well, basically, they get told who or what they should kill, and die unless they do so.[br][br]General comments[br]- This animé is inspired by computer games, particularly deathmatches or cooperative first-person shooters and action RPGs, however, speed was reduced to a level where it seems absolutely unrealistic.[br][br]- Gantz lives off the violence, it actually reminds me of Elfenlied. The only way its visuals catch the eye is by showing people having body parts ripped off.[br][br]- It heavily drags many scenes, slowing things down - probably for budget reasons, which results in ridiculous scenes where everyone is just standing around in the middle of a fight, discussing where/when to shoot next or something.[br][br]- Sex is used in a more natural way than it usually is, however the timing often seems random or unrealistic.[br][br]- As typical for an animé taken from an unfinished manga, the plot structure seems incomplete.[br][br]Animation[br]There are three decent, but static CGI rendered places, other than that, just below-average artworks combining cheap CGI and cheap drawings. Nothing that blew me away. Visually, apart from broken bodies, the suits and these three CGI places, you'll probably not find anything noteworthy. Also, there are many scene repetitions. But there was never anything *really* cheap, they stayed at medium quality.[br][br]Sound (Hey doesn't that sound familiar?)[br]The shooting sounds reminded me of some old computer games. In fact, I think they actually USED these sounds I already knew, or something very similar. Either way, the sound effects were hardly more than a decent laugh. OP and ED were not to my taste and remained the same ones throughout the series. BG music was rather good, though it often sounded very synthetic.[br][br]Sorr... err Story[br]Okay, stupid pun. But it really fits the topic. I'd say everything about this story was pseudo-something. It tried to be about science-fiction, love, morals, friendship, sex, ethics and whatnot, but in the end, everything turned into some kind of a massive killing-frenzy-orgasm-combo. YEEHAW SEX AND INTESTINES 4 T3H M4$$3$!!1 lol @$$ STFU. *fires gun*[br][br]Mh, got carried away there, but I guess you get the point. It's not really about society or ethics, it's just trying to find excuses for the daily massacre or whatever perversion of the current episode. In this animé, stories only happen if they bring some ugly deaths along.[br][br]Refreshing character variety[br]You know, one can't really go wrong with introducing many very different characters. There's someone for every taste, and I liked most of them. Too bad they always died so quickly, quite a few of them had a lot of potential for further stories. If you have a vivid imagination, you'll like the many character ideas in here. If you want to see development, you'll get no more than one character, which is kinda sad.[br][br]"Value"[br]"Do I watch this again or show this to friends or learn from it?"[br]"Nah."[br]Actually, I won't even keep the episodes.[br][br]Enjoyment ... of watching people die the weird way?[br]Sadly, there really is some kind of satisfaction in watching freaky people and monsters ripping one another into pieces using various weapons. But in the end, there is a reason people watching computer games find them more disgusting than those playing them: this kind of setting is not meant to watch and enjoy from "outside".[br][br]At least for me, it's not a great experience to guess and see who of the weirdos gets killed next. Especially with the ridiculous behavior these guys show.[br][br]All in all ...[br]... it's a time waster. If you feel like wasting some, and are resistant to excessive violence, you might be entertained. It has some kind of... perverted, but rare style. But Gantz is certainly not smart or stunning.[br][br]Now that you've read all this, please rate this review. ;) Though please notice my intention: I wish for people who think similar to me to notice that through the way I write - and, in this case, be warned. I'm not claiming to have some kind of "true" rating.[br]

Gantz strikes me as a case of superb concept but poor execution. It's an anime I'd been hoping to see for many years, mainly because of all the passion and controversy folks have shown in their opinions on it. I suspect Gantz is second only to Evangelion in that regard. Based on things I'd heard and my feelings as I watched the successive episodes, I wanted to like Gantz, but enough things bothered me that I can't give it a high recommendation.

Animation was one of the high points, at least for me, in watching Gantz. While the modelling for the CG showed a major lack of sophistication, with many large angular surfaces reminiscent of 3D video games from the mid 90s, its immersiveness was what I appreciated. Gantz makes nearly constant use of camera motion, while retaining a visual style that's more conventional to anime than the type of 3D in the Final Fantasy movies, VanDread, etc. If I had to compare it with something else I'd say it's like Wonderful Days. Not nearly as good, but it works in the same way. One downside of the animation is that it gets sloppy as the series progresses. The visuals for bodies being dematerialized and materialized by Gantz in the first couple episodes are beautiful, full-framerate animation. By the end of the series, they're replaced with choppy 2 fps stills with fades between them.

The music in Gantz wasn't really my style. After the first episode I skipped the OP/ED on the rest.

Where Gantz really left me feeling unsatisfied was in the characters and story, not in concept but in execution. The concept was great: people salvaged in death, rematerialized with healthy bodies, and forced to make grave choices about what to do for a second shot at life. I also found myself liking and "hoping for" the individual characters, even though most of them were probably not good people. This is the kind of anime where you have to be able to tolerate characters doing stupid things over and over and still be able to have interest in their success or failure, or else you won't be able to enjoy it at all.

The worst thing about Gantz is that it suffers from a mild but nonetheless significant case of "DBZ syndrome": battles that should take one episode take three or more because the characters must stop fighting every few seconds to argue, hesitate, ponder morality, boast, and so on. Surely this is a major part of the frustration one is likely to feel with the characters and story; the incessant delays, indecisiveness, and questionable moral judgements again and again lead to tragedy that could have been avoided. But mainly, the feeling I got was that this technique was used more for building phony suspense, then for driving story or character development. Gantz could easily have been a 13-episode series without losing any of its value. I feel a bit cheated with regards to the time I spent watching it; I expect to get more than that out of a 26-episode series.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy watching Gantz. It's full of the kinds of themes I like to see explored, and it provided a fresh context and perspective in which to treat them. I just wish it could have done so either more succinctly, or else more thoroughly.