The Show:
Gantz reaches its bloody conclusion in the tenth volume.
Kurono is playing one last game, and anything can happen, especially when
the alien that everyone is hunting is Kurono himself. Filled with
all of the action that we've come to expect from this series, the final
volume is a bit of a let down. It is paced slower than the previous
shows and doesn't build to an exciting climax like it has in the past.
The many mysteries sprinkled throughout the show go unanswered too which
is a big disappointment.
Series recap:
For those of you who haven't seen the previous volumes, 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.
While playing the game they discover that the suits they wear give them
super-strength and offer them some protection from harm, but not enough.
Just who or what the Gantz is, why they have to play this game, or what
the points that they are given at the end of every game mean are still
a mystery.
Volume Ten:
(Warning: There are no spoilers for this volume, but this review does
talk about events that occurred in the previous discs. If you haven't
seen those yet you should skip down to the technical review.)
Kurono is in a lot of trouble. He's survived several of Gantz's
'games' but now the odds are really stacked against him. A new game
has started, and this time the prey is Kurono himself. Two of the
players are psychopathic killers, and they're really looking forward to
killing someone. It doesn't even have to be Kurono, anyone will do.
But then why should they settle for one when they can kill everybody?
It turns out that the most vile creatures that Gantz sends its victims
up against aren't aliens, but human.
This is a very bloody show, but it also has a good story behind all
of the gore. The way Kurono 's character evolves over the course
series really adds a lot of meat to the series. The change from being
a self absorbed teen to a mature adult who cares about others is both interesting
and believable.
The show is also very intense, and the fact that it spends time a lot
of time introducing new characters and presenting their background only
to have them killed off makes the program unpredictable. You are
never sure who's going to die and who will live and that adds a lot of
suspense.
Having said that, the ending of the show is anything but satisfying.
It's really easy to present a lot of mysteries and then leave them unresolved,
and that's what this show does. Just who or what the Gantz is, the
significance of the old lady, or any of the other strange things that have
happened through the series are just not explained. It makes me wonder
why they wasted the time setting up these strange events if they were never
going to explore them. As it is the vague "you can interpret this
in any way you want" finale is really a cop-out and pulls the whole series
down.
The DVD:
Gantz continues with the three episode per volume format for
a retail price of nearly $30.00. The disc come with an insert.
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:
In addition to a clean opening and closing, there is a 15 minute looks
at how the visual effects in the series were created and an odd Gantz
Special Features Collection. This is a series of the excerpts
from the interviews that were included on the earlier discs. I'm
not sure why anyone would want to have this when they have the full interviews
also.
Final Thoughts:
I've been very vocal about my dislike for the way ADV has handled the
release of this show, and you can read my reviews of the previous volumes
to see where I stand on that. In the end though, Gantz was a very
intense series that had a lot going for it. I usually don' t like
the 'gallons of blood' school of anime, but the mysteries, situations,
and characters in this show were very good. I enjoyed watching every
volume and really was engrossed in the show. The fact that the show
ends on an ambiguous note without answering a lot (or any really) of the
questions that were brought up is very disappointing. It get frustrating
to invest hours into a show only to have it just end with no explanations.
As it is, this show ended on a low note making it a good rental.
Buy: