There are a lot of mysteries in the world; one of them lies in the true end of this long life of ours. Where exactly will we end up after that final breath? Will we actually drift from our mortal coil and become a spirit, living in the innocence of afterlife in a so called heaven? Or will we be toyed with in a harsh game of life or death, hoping to survive until the end and finally figure out what it was all for?

That is basically the whole premise of the show Gantz; this is yet another series developed by Gonzo. It follows the story of Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident after unwillingly being talked into saving a homeless man. It seems that the road to death isn’t that simple for Kurono and Kato, they both awaken in a room full of people and a black ball rests in the middle of the room. They question if they even died at all just before the ball creates a naked woman before their eyes.

Yes, you heard me correctly when I said a naked woman. This is a highly mature show and contains plenty of sexual encounters. In fact the death of Kurono and Kato in the opening episode is the sign of that. This show is full of hardcore sequences where people die the bloodiest death possible. So if you ever liked a show like Fist of the North Star you’re going to enjoy this one. I think this is as visceral an Anime as they come; in fact it is right up there with the violent Elfen Lied.

The story of Gantz leads on the path of being a psychological thriller, it follows along the lines of people who have been killed or committed suicide at one time. They all are forced to go out into a game to kill a few aliens. Yes… I said aliens; they are apparently causing havoc on the real world and need to be killed or sent back. They soon discover that they have a time limit in which to get rid of these aliens. I would explain the time limit thing… but I’ll leave you to watch the show and find out at the end.

The actual length of Gantz seems to be in a time span of two weeks, over the course of the 26 episodes you’ll see about five that lead through probably ten hours of a day. Do not be alarmed about that tidbit; it doesn’t make you suffer through episodes like Dragonball Z. You’ll be delighted with enough action and storyline to keep you happy until the next episode. Everything in Gantz revolves around two particular things, the lives of the survivors and the game itself.  

Everyone in the game is given a form fitting suit which enhances their abilities, when activated it bulges and increases the muscular structure by at least five times. This is really where the meat and bones of the action is, you’ll see high flying and hard punching combat in Gantz that’ll lead to some violent deaths. However the suit only has so much power inside of it, so it can be beaten to the point of uselessness. Not to mention that the aliens in this Anime can be downright powerful themselves. This and not everyone will wear the suits because they either don’t want to, or don’t believe the ones who survived about it.

The world outside of the game will be constantly shown throughout, Gantz. You’ll usually be following the main characters through their everyday lives, or you’ll see how some of the newer characters are killed and brought to the game. For example, Kato seems to be in a bad situation. His parents are no longer around and he and his brother are forced to live with a vicious relative. Kurono has many troubles in school and is basically an all around pervert in the truest sense; he is also probably the most selfish person you’ll ever come across. His moods seem to vary from wicked and perverse thoughts that often lead to daydreams, or he will be filled with cowardice that takes a “VERY” long time to overcome with confidence.

The main female character “Kei Kishimoto” seems to have a proper clone in the real world. She is actually forced to move out of her house and go live with Kurono, he of course accepts everything in the most selfish way possible… and I’ll leave that to your imagination. While we are on the topic of selfishness, it seems that the world is laden with these types of folks. Most people seem to have a high cowardice factor, or they are extremely evil and rude to the highest extent. The lifestyle choices in Gantz just makes the story that much darker and mature when they come together.

As for the animation of Gantz, it blends together nicely with a light touch of 3d animation here and there. Most of the eventful scenes occur during the night, the environments of the city are pretty average anime faire. The best work comes down to the attention to detail in the death animations and some of the 3D. When you see a body melt away from the flesh to the bone and then splash to the floor… well it really does make you go “Yuck”.  It also seems that the women in this anime have rather large breasts and curvaceous builds. But hey… with a pervert as the main character, what would you expect?

Sound wise? Well do we have the dramatic screams in place? Check. Do we have the ominous music that plays during a turbulent moment? Check. Gunshots, explosions, head popping noises, random crashing sounds, etc? Check! Basically the sound in Gantz is nothing to shout about, everything is pretty standard in this department. You won’t be running out and looking for the soundtrack, at least not in my opinion.

Overall Gantz is a bloody romp that should be able to keep you entertained; the violence level may not be for the squeamish… but for the people who don’t mind, you’ll get a kick out of it. The story mainly jumps around random lives of the people in the game; you are faced with flashbacks and lots of dramatic deaths. Nothing in the story really screams out “This is a fantastic Anime!” but you’ll enjoy it all the same. The melodrama is on point with that in the Gundam Seed series; in fact in most places it actually kicks it up a notch.  I recommend Gantz as either a rent or a buy when you can’t find any other anime to watch, it will keep you entertained until you get your hands on something else.

Final Grade:

Story: Naked women, bloody violence, and Melodrama… what more can you ask for?

Sound: You won’t get much out of this, but at least the voice acting is good.

Art: The detail to death is astounding, everything else is pretty normal by now.

Overall: 3 Oro’s out of 5