| Reviews Gantz vol. 1
The DVD contains the first four episodes of a series that was shocking enough to require Japan to heavily cut it for broadcast. However, we are presented with the episodes completely uncut here. The series is packed with violence and a frank script reminiscent of a far less pornographic Urotsukidoji; we see the protagonist fantasising over their teacher and getting an erection in the first ten minutes, and this promotes a discussion. The violence is not as graphic as some critics would make out, but it remains shocking in context. We see scenes of attempted rape and the murder of a child (although he is a green-onion boy). Did I mention this is also a fairly surreal series? However, if you can get past the sex and violence, there is a very intelligent series underneath. The pacing is perfect, each episode covering little ground, but yet never becoming dull. The first "mission" to kill the green-onion man is only explained in episode two, and is not concluded until the end of the disc. Parallels can be drawn with the Prisoner and Frank Miller's Sin City books. The "Gantz" is a large, albeit black sphere that dominates the characters' freewill, and visually the violence committed on the son of the green-onion man is similar to that inflicted on the Yellow Bastard. The episodes are twenty-five minutes each, and are in Japanese stereo or English 5.1 surround with English subtitles. The disc contains the clean credit sequences common on MVM DVD releases, but also a revealing interview with director Ichiro Itano, and a second one with Daisuke Namikawa (Kei Kurono). Although this series obviously won't be everyone's cup of tea with its offensive content and violence, I enjoyed it and will seek the other volumes (there are nine in America so far, the ninth released on November 19th). This DVD is released on October 17th with a 15 certificate, and I strongly recommend it if you enjoy intense action anime, or just intelligent science fiction. Episodes: 7/10
|