The latest work from production house Gonzo was deemed too violent for Japanese TV and was edited for content (and it is bloody as can be). My biggest complaint is that this is another DVD with only 2 episodes on it. And the initial box is set for 6 volumes, and the whole season is 11 episodes, so one disc will have only 1 episode! And then their is a second season. Can’t they do 5 episodes to a Disc? The discs would sell better! I mean come on! Youch! Still the series seems pretty interesting. Ultraviolent, and really no idea what is going on or what is going to happen. The 2D and 3D animation is interesting, but the blend doesn’t seem to work perfectly here. Too many locations are 3D with 3D camera moves, but the animation and compositing seems very 2D. It works a bit, but also really shows what is 2D and what is 3D. I have seen the integration be much higher quality.

Review Contains Spoilers:

GANTZ is the story of surly high school student Kurano Kei, living his selfish little life, not caring about anyone else, but things are going to change for him. He is in a train station when an old woman ask him about the track and he lies and says she is in the right place. Through this sequence we can hear the thoughts of most of the people, and their selfish ways. Then an old homeless man falls drunkenly onto the train tracks. Another high school student jumps down to help the man, his name is Masaru Katou. He turns out to be a childhood friend of Kei’s, and gets Kei to help him. They get the old man up, the train is coming in, and it isn’t a local so it won’t stop. The two former friends run, but don’t make it, and they are killed, with their heads popping off, and a high school girl taking pictures of their heads, but seconds later their is no blood, and no bodies, and the two appear in a room with a large block orb in it, and a bunch of other men. A high school student, an elementary school teacher, 2 yakuza, a politician, and a blond kid, as well as a dog. Then a naked woman appears over Kei with blood on wrists, but no wounds, seems she killed herself in the bath, her name is Kishimoto Kei. One of the yakuza grabs her and tries to rape her, but Kato rushes to save her, and she follows him. Then the orb tells them they must kill an alien the Greenonion Alien and they have an hour. The orb opens and some of them grab guns and Kei grabs an outfit as they are all beamed out into the real world to kill the alien. The politician flees and is killed. The 2 yakuza, the blond kid and the teacher find the Greenonion alien and kill him, as Kei, Kato and the girl show up, but then a feel grown Greenonion alien shows up, and attacks the blond kid, then the gangster who tried to rape the girl is killed, and that ends the first 2 episodes.

I like how you don’t know what is going on. This ball that has a man inside of it seems to be grabbing these people just after they died in order to come back and fight hidden aliens. And these people cannot be seen my living humans. It is also very cool how the girl is beamed in kind of cut together by a laser like in the Fifth Element, with Kei being able to see into her body and brain, though he does pay more attention to her huge bouncing breasts though.

I am interested in seeing where this series goes.