Review: Gantz dvd series

Review: Gantz anime DVD series

Gantz is an anime series based on the Gantz Manga series written by Hiroya Oku.  

The story line orbits around  Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato who die while saving a drunk who has fallen onto the tracks of the subway.  But instead of nothing, the pair wake in a room with a dark sphere and shortly there after a man dressed in what appears to be a dark latex body suit.  

They are informed that they are not really dead, but in between and as such have to complete tasks devised   by a mysterious Gantz.  As the series proceeds, more people join under the very same circumstances and even more are "killed" under increasingly more difficult tasks.  

The Animation of Gantz which appears in Japan as Manga, is directed by  Ichiro Itano and produced by Gonzo.  The series aired in Japan on Fuji Television and AT-X. The Gantz anime is divided into two seasons: The first season is known as "The First Stage", while the second season is known as "The Second Stage", which is a direct continuation of the first season. The First Stage aired in Japan with several scenes censored due to inappropriate content such as violence or nudity. However, the DVDs from the series contained the scenes uncensored. The Second Stage aired on Japanese network AT-X on August 26, 2004.There are a total of 12 Japanese DVDs, released from August 28, 2004 to June 29, 2005.  The US release contains ALL the scenes as the Japanese dvd release. 

On June 25, 2010, anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced on their online FuniCon 4.0 panel, that they have acquired the rights to the series, along with 3 other former ADV titles after ADV's collapse in 2009.

That's the basic history of Gantz.  If you want a break from High School antics, Gundam power suits and move into something more sophisticated as say Ghost in the machine, with an even harder edge, you might just want to check Gantz out.  However FAIR WARNING The average character is unpleasant, the action is fast and violent to the point that if it can be cut off or sliced up, it is!  With great gusto.  Gouts of blood and flying body parts are the rule of the day along with...well if you caught the review about scene censoring you have to know where that was headed.  If you want introspection, you are not going to get it here! Graphic violence and nudity, and more, that would get this series canceled except on dvd anywhere you can imagine.  If this is your cup of tea, well you are not going to be able to rent it, so pony up and buy BOTH sets and you will not be disappointed   But if you want introspection for the ages, put the DVD down and run away.  

How would rate this? if looking for edge of your seat action you will get it in spades.  If I had to I would deduct a point for just to damn much! that would still give it an 8 or 9 with the graphics right up there with it.  Hey its' no DC or Marvel but then it ain't trying to be.  If weird weapons and whacked power suits (not gundam but form fitting latex with weird power globes at strategic locations) you will be watching one dvd and have two or three right at hand ready to go, and the world will go away for several hours....

Review: Ultimate Avengers Vol. 1 & 2

Directed by Curt Geda
Voice cast
Justin Gross      as Captain America / Steve Rogers
Olivia d'Abo      as Black Widow / Natasha Romanov
Marc Worden    as Iron Man / Tony Stark
Andre Ware       as General Nick Fury
Grey DeLisle    as Wasp / Janet Van Dyne-Pym
Nolan North      as Ant-Man / Hank Pym
David Boat         as Thor
Fred Tatasciore  as The Hulk
Michael Massee as Dr. Bruce Banner
Nan McNamara  as Dr. Betty Ross
Jim Ward            as Herr Kleiser

This disk is the first of two and pretty much pulls a pretty conservative line for a plot. I haven’t seen the live action Avengers yet, but what I can see, seems to follow a very similar timeline. Plus if you catch the Avengers on Sunday mornings you will recognize the alien Chitauri. These alien beings are in fact backing the Nazi regime with the subjugation of the human race that they plan to accomplish by destruction of SHIELD satellite. Since SHIELD is all but hamstrung, Fury has the distasteful duty of trying to recruit superhumans that are at best difficult to deal with.

Fury has already recovered Captain America / Steve Rogers, but Bruce Banner / Hulk , Black Widow, Iron Man, Ant Man, Wasp and a person very likely unstable and who believes he is Thor.

Together they somehow have to work together and in the meantime defeat the Chitauri.

Being straight to disk, I mainly wanted to get an idea of what to maybe expect from the live action. Plus there was some curiosity as to how the DVD might compare to the weekly offerings. I have to say I was mildly surprised. The animation is not bad, seems to have something of an anime influence, the plot actually took chances with the characters that I never thought would take place. The extras are interesting and if not enough to make some happy, more than adequate.

I would give this first offering a grudging recommendation. Lets see how the second holds up.

Ultimate Avengers 2

Voice Cast
Justin Gross Steve Rogers / Captain America
Marc Worden Tony Stark / Iron Man
Andre Ware General Nick Fury
Grey DeLisle Janet Van Dyne-Pym / Wasp
Nolan North Hank Pym / Giant Man
Dave Boat Thor
Olivia d'Abo Natalia Romanov / Black Widow
Fred Tatasciore The Hulk
Michael Massee Dr. Bruce Banner
Nan McNamara Dr. Betty Ross
James K. Ward Herr Kleiser
Jeffrey D. Sams T' Challa / Black Panther
Mark Hamill Dr. Oiler
Dave Fennoy T'Chaka / Black Panther

As you can see, no big surprises in the voices and no big ones for the characters. I did notice some origin differences, but realistically there are characters here that were relevant 40 or 50 years ago and were at risk of being dropped. Hell I thought Thor was dated even in the 60s! Plus
a lot of them had not aged well through the 60s, 70s and so forth. So with this series and especially 2 you see some pretty major changes and even a character death!

In UA #2 we take a slightly different track to once again be introduced to T' Challa / Black Panther that really diverges from the Black Panther DVDs that I reviewed a month or longer. Here we have T' Challa becoming the Black Panther after Kleiser kills his father. Not so different, but Kleiser is not as he appears plus the Chitauri were not wiped out and they now have their sights set one Wakanda and if you follow the Black Panther and Avengers you know why, but I will pass on being a spoiler.

As usual no one gets along, everyone has their own agenda and even the couples aren’t happy, until they all MUST get the job done.

If you like the Ultimates comix they you’re going to love this. Pretty much all hand drawn and very well done. Almost NO CGI and then only when it works better and thank goodness for that!

The extras are excellent well worth a 9 and that is because I still would like to hear a commentary voice tract, The movie is a solid 8 for entertainment and animation, if that is your thing, you will enjoy it! And that gives the overall score to 1 and 2 to an 8 and from me I would say give it a go if you like comic and animation you will enjoy this. It is mainly for early teens, but I know the older fans are out there, cause I talk to em! So they would enjoy them as well.