Review of Gantz: Vol. 4

Introduction

Another volume of Gantz arrives, with plenty of sex, violence and profanity guaranteed to raise the ire of many a Daily Mail reader. But for the casual anime fan, there`s also some sci-fi and mystery, all wrapped up in a ball shaped enigma that will get the mental juices flowing.

A mysterious black sphere appears suddenly in an innocuous room in Tokyo. Suddenly the lives of random people are inexorably changed, beginning at the moments of their deaths. Reincarnated in that room they learn that the sphere, known as Gantz, now controls their lives. They are assigned missions by the sphere, to hunt down and eliminate an alien menace unseen to the rest of society. They also learn that they too are unseen as they do Gantz` bidding. Equipped with strength enhancing suits and fantastic weaponry, they compete to amass points. But what is Gantz, where did it come from, are they dead, dreaming or playing some bizarre game?

If you thought the cliff-hanger bridging volumes 2 and 3 was tense, then the wait for this one must have been utterly nerve-wracking, with the Suzuki aliens having just killed two of the latest players, and with only Kishimoto and a vain former model to stop them. Meanwhile Kurono, without his Gantz suit is thrust into the lions` den, facing six more of the aliens as well as the big Boss alien, with just a small weapon to protect himself. Volume 4 of Gantz: Fatal Attractions contains four more episodes in the series.

13. Please Die
Kurono is unprotected, surrounded and about to die. That`s unless he can change his outlook. It`s time to stop reacting, to stop complaining about the hand dealt him, and take the fight to the aliens. He gets that wild child groove back, the one that inspired Kato as a child, and it`s time to score some serious Gantz points.

14. Goodbye
The latest game ends, and the survivors get to go home and try living their lives until Gantz calls once more. The last surviving biker Tetsuo takes the gun home with him, uses it to get himself out of a debt with a loan shark, but he isn`t playing by Gantz` rules. Kato gets home to find his aunt beating his younger brother once more, and this time snaps. It`s time for the two brothers to find a new place to live. Meanwhile Kurono is trying to explain his new outlook and understanding of the game to Kishimoto. However, despite the fact that he was instrumental in winning the last game, Kishimoto still sings the praises of Kato. There`s only so much that a red blooded teen can take, and soon Kishimoto is also looking for a new place to live.

15. I Wanna Be There Now!
Kurono is feeling guilty over Kishimoto leaving, while she is reduced to scrounging for food. Kato and his brother are settling into their new home, and everyone is expecting a semblance of a normal life to resume before Gantz calls again. But that same old lady knocking on Kurono`s door is a sign that the next game is imminent, and the survivors of the last game soon find themselves in the Gantz room once more. There, they meet a new bunch of players, who once again are debating over whether they are dead. This isn`t helped by one of the new recruits being a Buddhist priest, and he has been convincing the others that they are in a way station to Nirvana. Things are awkward between Kishimoto and Kurono, for a couple of seconds. Then one of the new players, Sei Sakuraoka takes a shine to Kurono, and they adjourn to a private corner…

16. I`ll Do It!
The next mission promises to be a difficult one, as Gantz has given them an extra half hour to kill the Ferocious Alien and the Grumpy Alien. When transportation is complete, the Buddhist priest is shocked and offended to find that the next hunt will take place in a temple, and the targets are none other than the statues within. Meanwhile, another hunt of sort is taking place, as a couple of thugs prey on the homeless behind the temple.

Video

Gantz is presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic ratio on a dual layer disc. The image transfer is up to MVM`s usual impressive standards, clear and sharp throughout, with only the usual colour banding associated with anime, as well as the occasional signs of the NTSC to PAL transfer. It`s all pretty unnoticeable.

This volume sees the CGI take centre stage, with the temple battleground and the alien statues all rendered inside a computer. By now the blending of 2D and 3D is pretty seamless, or at least I`m used to the look of the show. The character designs are as detailed as you would expect from a Gonzo animation. Once again, conversation scenes are more static, but the action sequences are very impressive.

Audio

You are presented with a choice of DD 5.1 English or DD 2.0 Stereo Japanese. I chose to listen to the original language track as always, and I found it to be quite acceptable. The dialogue is clear and there is audible separation on the stereo, with subtle ambience and spot effects. I spot-checked the English track, and found it to be of similar quality, with the surround effects given greater reign. The English dub is acceptable, but in an attempt to push the age rating even higher, there is a level of profanity absent from the original language track.

This is another series that relies on a good soundtrack, and I found the rap theme tune grew on me with repeated exposure. The show`s soundtrack continues at a similar frantic pace, but the reflective piece that plays over the end credits is the highlight of the soundtrack. You get translated English subtitles, as well as a signs only track.

Features

Animated menus, jacket picture, trailers for Samurai 7 and Paranoia Agent, as well as the clean opening and closing sequences are pretty much what you would expect from an MVM disc. There is also a TV commercial for the Gantz video game thrown in for good measure.

More substantial are a couple of featurettes, beginning with an Interview with Creator Hiroya Oku and Actress Chiaki Kurayama. Oku is responsible for the Gantz manga, while Chiaki Kurayama is recognisable from films like Battle Royale and Kill Bill. She also turns out to be quite a Gantz fan. Over 15 minutes we get to sit in with an informal chat between the two. The sound for this is quite atrocious, there`s constant hiss, and a stills photographer appears to have set up his tripod next to the microphone. Still, the subtitles are clear enough, and there is a spoiler or two for the rest of the series.

Interview With Director Ichiro Itano and CG Director Yasuhiro Kato lasts 16 minutes, and is more of a behind the scenes wandering through the computer labs responsible for the show`s extensive CGI. Narrated by the voice Artist behind Kato in the show (in character), you get to see loads of textures and wire frames and high-end graphics terminals. In a shocking restraint, no one mentions the word `polygon` once.

Conclusion

Gantz steps it up a gear with this fourth volume, a significant improvement over the previous one. Although it is more of the same sex, violence and profanity in many ways, the pace of the story has accelerated considerably, and the extraneous plot lines and repetitive nature of the story have diminished considerably. There is a lot less standing around and debating in this volume and a decent increase in action. Much of this has to do with the small time between games, now we only get one episode of respite before the next round begins. Another aspect dispensed with is the preliminaries for the new batch of characters. We don`t get to see the Buddhist Priest and his impromptu congregation live their every day lives, or how they meet their deaths. Indeed the only new character we do get an early introduction to is Sei, and that happened even earlier on in the series.

More importantly, there has actually been some character growth. Kato finally stands up to his aunt and takes his younger brother out of the abusive environment of her house. Kurono on the other hand is the first of the group to really get an idea of what Gantz is about, and he no longer reacts, or complains, or worries about what is happening, but instead is eager for the action, ready to do what is necessary and play the game that Gantz has set them. It grew to be something of a problem with the episodes as they progressed, that the characters would stand around, debating what to do, while faced with an alien that they were supposed to kill. It was understandable in the first instance, but of late it was getting tiresome, and one of the biggest problems with Volume 3 was all the standing around like idiots, waiting for something to happen.

Kurono has also matured in other ways, and here he tires of being used by Kishimoto as a convenient wailing wall, while she constantly waxes lyrical about Kato. Kurono reaches his limit, tired of only being able to look, but not touch. So Kishimoto is set adrift without an anchor. He regrets his decision immediately, but that regret doesn`t have time to take hold, as he meets Sei at the next game, and she takes more of a shine to him than Kishimoto ever did. Incidentally, if you have been buying this series for little Timmy, thinking that it`s just a cartoon, you may have been able to explain away the nudity, the exploding heads and other gory violence, and the swearing. You may even have been able to explain away the amorous dog. Well with this volume, you`ll have to pull out the old standby of, "The lady and the man are just wrestling. Without their clothes on. Wrestling, that`s it."

This fourth volume is a massive improvement on the previous one, and also distils what is best about the series thus far. Now that we have passed the half way mark, the story is flowing a lot better; it`s faster paced with the plot developments coming thick and fast. Simply put, there is hardly any waiting around for things to happen, which is something that I was royally tired of by the last disc. That said, Gantz isn`t the sort of anime to make you think. It`s an action series with a nice premise, and it delivers on that action with plenty of violent eye-candy, and a fair bit of sex. It doesn`t really inspire any great thought, or even the desire to watch it again. It`s the anime equivalent of Pringles. Once you start watching, you want to keep on with the series just to see what happens next. But there`s no nourishment in it, nothing of nutritional value. Actually, it`s slightly better than Pringles. You won`t get fat watching Gantz. Fast food anime, just put your mind in neutral and watch the pretty pictures.