The second game gets well underway in the fifth volume of Gantz.  The character development that occurred in the last couple of volumes falls by the wayside as the main characters get thrown into another life or death situation.  Un fortunately, there are only two episodes included on this volume, like the previous DVDs.  The good news is that this is the last disc to only have a pairs of shows.  Volume six is slated to have three, and then starting with volume 6 ADV is going to a more conventional four shows per DVD.

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.

Along with Kurono and Kato, a young, attractive and very insecure girl named Kishimoto live through the first game.  There is also a young man named Nishi who has played the game several times and is quite good at it.  He knows a lot about what's going on, but he's very close lipped about what everything means.

The main characters, along with a quartet of motorcycle gang members and an old lady and her spoiled grandson, are all in the apartment with the Gantz as the volume opens.  The second game is about to begin, and Kato is trying to convince everyone to put their suits on.  He wants everyone to make it back alive, but Nishi just sits back and laughs at the naivete his hope.

Kurono is the only one, aside from Nishi, who has any idea of how the suits function.  He's in some deep trouble though, because he took his suit home with him at the end of the last game.  Now it's back in his apartment, and he has to play the game without it.  He realizes that his chances of making it back without the suit are practically nonexistent, and that reality scares him shitless.

The newest group is soon transported out into the city and they encounter the Susuki Alien.  This bird loving robot-like creature seems to be fairly harmless, but looks can be deceiving.

My opinion of this show has gone down a little with this volume.  The program is still interesting and fun to watch, but the script really could use some work.  Everyone acts as if they don't have a functioning synapse in their brains.  Kato wants everyone to survive, a noble goal, but he doesn't tell them what they are up against.  He refuses to tell anyone what is going to happen until their suits are on, but no one wants to put them on until they know why they should. A good part of the first show is Kato arguing with everyone to suit up, when a simple explanation would have helped a lot.

The dialog is poor in these shows too.  Everyone uses stilted language, and it doesn't seem natural.  The leader of a motorcycle gang becomes a philosopher when he sees someone get into trouble with the alien, but refuses to help him until the person apologizes: "This is about taking moral responsibility... Do any of you understand the preciousness of life?" As he gives a little speech about why an apology is in order, the fight that's going on apparently stops.  Nothing happens for a few minutes until this philosophical moment finishes.

These first volumes of Gantz are 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.

Happily, ADV has listened to the fans and is putting three shows on the next disc and four episodes on volumes 7 and up.

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, and some Japanese TV spots for the show.

Final Thoughts:

Gantz is still an interesting show, but not a lot happens in these two shows.  The second game starts, but not much is revealed as to the origin and meaning of the Gantz, why these games are taking place, or what it all means.  If you can stand the idiotic why all of the characters behave, this is actually a pretty good series.  Recommended.