Mini reviews of Television seasons old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional bunnies.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Gantz (2004)

Some people fall victim to a horrific fate. At their moment of death they are saved and brought to a non-descript apartment overlooking Tokyo tower. But this is no rescue, for a mysterious and seemingly omnipotent black orb called Gantz has brought them there for a reason: To hunt down and kill alien life forms hiding on earth or die in the process.  Upon arrival the draftees only have a brief time to become acquainted and gear up before being teleported to the mission’s battle zone.   The challenges they face are hard and people die from them, a lot. This forces the characters to question their own morals; do you risk your life to save someone who wouldn’t do the same for you? Would you give your life for an individual who everyone else considers worthless?
In this series that’s chock full of blood, gore, sex, & horror some characters have a hard time bringing themselves to kill even for self preservation, others take great joy in being able to hunt and kill a sentient being. Petty quarrelling among the group and stubborn headedness lead to many lost lives all the while someone else is trying to make sure everyone can make it back alive and safe.  

All in all this is a very exciting premise for a show that combines all the camaraderie, tragedy, suspense, & heroism of both war and horror genres along with the kickassiness of Men In Black or any of the Spandex robot karate guy fighting rubber suit monster shows that Japan has. These elements create a high sense of danger and suspense that just might make it worth the watch providing you can get over the 2 biggest flaws of the series.

The 1st problem being the pacing, both the episodes themselves and the series in a whole. One good example is that the group could be in the middle of fighting a monster and then a few of them would get into a moral debate that lasts for half the episode while the monster just kinda waits for them to finish. Then there’s one time a character was being captious after a successful attack and because they didn’t shot right away get’s killed by a laser beam. And the fact that the missions last for several episodes means there isn't as much variety with the monster designs and situations that everyone gets into as there could have been provided the series was a bit tighter.
The 2nd and by far biggest is the ending. Totally unsatisfying in that a bunch of questions about the world, mechanics, character development and plot of the show are left unanswered. I know that the manga that this is based off of went on for much longer than the anime and thus the “true” ending could not be used but if they’re making an adaptation of their own then a new proper ending should have been made.

26 episodes, approx 23 minutes each

Episodes you must see:
I dunno? No one episode is any better than the others and the few with no fighting in them have character development so just start with episode 1 and work your way up.

Episodes to Avoid:
The ending blew so I guess the last 4 episodes aren’t as great.

Buyer’s Guide:
Technically 2 seasons, this has been released in several different collections and I believe all of the American releases are of the uncensored cut of the series but you should check before you buy.

3 old fat ladies and portly middle aged dudes looking none too shabby in skin tight battle suits out of 5

2 comments:

Marceline said...

I wish they'd just stop series like these at a story ending point, even if they're only planning on doing a single season. I feel like the Fruits Basket anime ending was largely satisfying, even though it stops really early into the manga. I know they're completely different genres, but still. I want to say they did something like that with Nana too. Good thing, since it looks like the manga might never end at this point.

Probably a 2.5 or a 3 for me. I'd have to watch it again, it's been a long time.

BLACKTR0N said...

2.5 for Gantz, Fruits Basket, or Nana?