In a nutshell: The
second game begins.
The Show:
ADV is continuing to release Gantz in two episode doses.
Though I dislike the way they are putting it out, I have to admit that
the show is starting to grow on me. What first appeared to be a simple
blood and guts show is starting to have a little more depth and character.
Kei Kurono is a high school student who gets into some serious trouble
on his way home from school one day. He and an old friend , Kato,
get killed. Or do they? They get hit by a train and their bodies
are scattered over the station, but moments later they both wake up in
an apartment with several other people and a large black sphere, the 'Gantz".
The other people have recently 'died' too, and no one knows why they are
there. The sphere, communicating through poorly spelled messages
that appear on its surface instructs them to kill an alien hiding in the
city. It opens up to reveal weapons and uniforms, and then the recently
dead disappear one by one to confront their adversary. It's a deadly
game and most of the people who play it don't make it out alive.
Kato is having trouble keeping things together as this volume opens
up. He's becoming more violent and angry. After the trauma
of the game, he's having trouble relaxing and is always tense. When
Kato hears that some guys at his school are planning on jumping him, he
beats them to the punch and takes out their strongest fighter. He
doesn't just best him in a fight though, he pummels him long after he's
unconscious.
Kurono is also having difficulties too, but of another type. Kishimoto,
the buxom girl who has moved in with him, still insists that she is just
his 'pet' and that nothing sexual can take place between them. This
is driving poor Kei crazy, since they are sharing the same bed. He
doesn't have the nerve to tell her to leave because he's sure that they
will hook-up eventually. In the mean time he's just trying to stay
sane.
There are also some seemingly unrelated story lines about a lady and
her grandchild, a motorcycle gang leader who is married with a kid and
having problems settling down, and an ex-male model whose used to getting
what he wants. These almost random people come into play at the end
of the disc in an easily anticipated way.
The volume ends up with Kurono, Kato, and Kishimoto disappearing again
and ending up in the room with the Gantz, ready for another game.
This volume, like the last one, concentrates on the story more than
on violence, though there is a fair amount of that too. Seeing the
effect of having played a single game on the three main characters makes
them more realistic and interesting. I also liked the fact that they
are spending some time on the new participants in the game. If this
time around is anything like the last time, many of the team won't be coming
back. Having an emotional investment in the new game players will
make the game itself more dramatic and exciting. For the first time
in this series, I'm actually looking forward to the next volume.
The DVD:
Gantz in being released with only two episodes per volume, and
a retail price of $17.99 per volume. While I applaud ADV trying
something different with this release, putting the 26 episode series out
on 13 discs is a really bad idea for many reasons. First, it will
cost over $50 more than it would have if it was released over 6 volumes
at $29.99 a pop. Then there is the shear volume of space that the
series will take up when completed which another down side. Lastly,
it will take over a year to get the whole series with only two episodes
being released each month.
This slow pace could be something that Gonzo wanted, the way they insisted
on the four episodes of Blue Submarine #6 to be released on four
DVDs. Whether an experiment by ADV or a stipulation of licencing
the series, the way that this is being released is a big negative to me.
Happily, ADV has been making noises that they will increase the number
of episodes per disc in the future.
Audio:
Gantz comes with an English dub in 5.1 and the original Japanese soundtrack
in stereo. The original track sounded very good, but the English
dub was a little easier to watch. There are several scenes where
people's thoughts are audible, and it was a little easier to understand
who's thoughts you are hearing in the English dub.
I preferred the Japanese soundtrack overall. Though the English
dub was in 5.1, it wasn't as dynamic as I was expecting. The explosions
didn't have a lot of impact, and didn't sound much different from the stereo
mix. There were several scenes where the English voices were mixed
too low and a little hard to hear. Besides that, they did make good
use of the surround channels, throwing some of the effects and occasionally
the voices to the rears. The Japanese track also did a good job with
the front soundstage, using it to full advantage.
There were not any audio defects worth noting.
Video:
Generally the anamorphic widescreen image was very clean, though there
was some aliasing. This was minor though, mainly occurring in the
backgrounds. The colors were a little on the muted side, but that
was probably the creator's intention. A very nice transfer.
Extras:
This disc also includes clean opening and closing animation, a series
of previews. In addition to these fairly standard extras, there was
also Cast Talk Part 2, an 18 minute panel interview with several members
of the Japanese cast. Like the first installment, this was just okay,
not great. The questions the moderator asked were fairly standard,
"How did you get involved with the show" and things like that. It's
definitely worth watching, and I'm glad ADV included it, but the interview
came across as a little bit superficial in parts.
Final Thoughts:
I still don't like the two-episodes-per-disc format that this series
is being released in, but the show is getting better. It has progressed
from the violence-for-violence's sake show that it started out as, and
is looking at how the survivors have been changed by their traumatic experience.
Now that they know the stakes of the game, it will be interesting to see
how the main characters react to the second game. This show is Recommended.
Buy: