For a long time, I feared even watching this show. A friend of mine told me about it once and I thought, "Oh! That actually sounds like a really cool concept!" but then she told me as to how it really made her ill with all of the violence and inappropriate scenes in it. Of course, she read the manga, so I have no clue yet as to how similar that is to the anime. All in all, it terrified me about even touching the anime for a good year or so, and I would always panic a bit when I saw the name "Gantz" appear anywhere.
However, I just recently purchased the first box set to "Phantom, Requiem for the Phantom" and the preview they had on their before the DVD started was for "Gantz," this being the case, I figured, "You know what, sooner or later, I am going to have to suck it up and watch this anime. Besides...I am sure it is not as gruesome as my friend led on for it to be."
Well, I can now say that I am thoroughly disappointed. Here I was, all set and ready to endure this massacre of characters in such gut rearing levels...but it wasn't so bad. I was actually a little sad that it wasn't as hardcore as I presumed. I guess I just built it up too much, but it was pretty okay.
Don't get me wrong, I can see as to how it can bother people and as to why they may be turned off from watching it, but the show gets better. At first I thought, "Meh, it's okay..." but as the characters develop and the plot thickens, it really can turn in to something rather watchable.
This didn't turn out like the blood bath I presumed, and I am a bit happy for it. I do however feel like they could have worked more with the plot.
On another note, this anime seriously works up the suspense. They know the perfect moments as to when to cut off the episode, and the entire time I was yelling, "SHOOT THE GUN, SHOOT THE FREAKING GUN!" and practically wanting to jump in to the show and do everything for these people.
For a synopsis of the plot, here we go:
Essentially, the main character, Kei Kurono, and his friend, Katou Masaru died by helping this homeless man who fell in the subway tracks. After they helped him out, a subway came by and killed them. This being the case, they were presumed dead. However, they randomly appear in this apartment in Tokyo along with other people who had just died as well. It is there that they discover this ball containing a man named Gantz, is making them play a game. This game involves them putting on these odd, super human suits and using these futuristic weapons to hunt and kill aliens in this certain time limit. The goal is to capture, kill or send the alien in the amount of time, try to get a certain amount of points, and live. This is the only way that they can be free to go back home, alive.
The weird thing is though, they are technically dead. Their bodies are dead. When they are transported to the room, they are essentially "copies" of the original them, except they are them before they were killed. Gantz will keep calling them back until they earned a certain amount of points, giving them ultimate freedom. Until then, he controls their fates.
It's hard to say that I actually liked any of the cast. Like, characters that weren't really permanent per say, (they only lasted a few episodes) were the only ones I cared for. The main character (which I will refer to as Kurono rather than Kei because there is a girl named Kei as well, who I will refer to as her last name, Kishimoto) honestly starts out as a total butt at the beginning of the series that cares about no one except for his perverted desires. He in turn does get better as he experiences all these things, but he ultimately still is a jerk up until the last five or so episodes.
Katou is the only long term character I can...sort of like. He has kindness and compassion deep in his soul, but he is so obnoxious because he refuses to kill anything. You understand it is in fact his nature, but if you are put in to a life or death situation, you can't presume it will all just work out nicely. Because of him, many died.
And Kishimoto...I despised her through the entire series. All she was was a pretty face with a huge chest. She could do nothing by herself, and the final time she did, it was in vain. She spends the entire series offering blood curdling screams and hiding behind others, telling everyone else to do everything. She is in other words a useless character.
On to the fact that you see the scum of the Earth, it is very true. These kids have some seriously bad bullying problems in their schools. You see people ripping others teeth out, violating them, etc etc. Along with this, we find loads of gangs who come and shoot each other for no reason, beat each other with metal pipes because of turf wars, and so on. It's even worse when you just see people going around, dumping boiling water on the homeless then beating their brains out with a bat.
This anime really lets you grasp as to how terrible the world can be and as to how humans can truly be terrible people. I am not saying this exists about everyone, I am just saying that this is a very obvious plot device placed here.
All together, I liked this one. It was okay. Definitely not the best I have seen, but not the worst. I feel as though they could have better worked with the idea they had, but all in all, it is okay. It's an average. I cannot say it is wonderful, but it is surely not terrible. It is good. The ending is awesome, but the anime was okay.
And on a bonus note! I really liked the music that was used throughout this anime!
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