Based on a manga by Hiroyu Oka, Gantz is a live-action feature-length film co-starring Kenichi Matsuyama, the very popular actor who played the eccentric genius “L” in Death Note: L Change the World, and equally famous actor/musician Ninomiya Kazunari aka Nino.  The anime adaptation is rated TV-MA and contains some pretty graphic violence and sex.  But the movie seems to have managed to veer away from at least some of those more extreme aspects as it was given a PG-13 rating.

Gantz is about these two guys who get killed and end up in an apartment version of limbo with a bunch of other recently dead people and a big, black spherical thing that opens up (sort of like the puzzle box from Hellraiser) only instead of demons appearing to torture the victims, they are sent on missions to fight for points.  Here is a plot description from the Japan Times:  “The sphere, called Gantz and operated by a bald, naked man in some sort of trance, contains exotic weapons and form-fitting suits that they are to use on missions in the world they have just departed. Their goal: to kill monstrous aliens within a set time. If they succeed, they will receive points. A total of 100 will allow them to leave this limbo — or send someone else back to life. If they fail, they get nothing and may even die for good.”

On January 20, a whole bunch of theaters across the US screened the movie as it premiered in Hollywood the same night.  There does seem to be a bit of disappointment over what appears to be a hap-hazzard dub track where the voices don’t fit the characters or the mouth movements.  But the movie itself is getting a lot of positive reviews from both fans and non-fans.  I, personally, prefer subtitles over dub because I think the literal translation stays more true to the original dialogue whereas dubs can change the wording too much.  But if I can find Gantz in a theater, I’ll definitely check it out. Right now it doesn’t seem to be playing anywhere so I might just have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

You can click here to go to the official Gantz website from Funimation.  There you can check out a clip of the anime series.  Netflix has the whole DVD set of the anime for rent (but not for streaming yet). You can also find it on Amazon.

Here is a subtitled version of the Gantz Trailer

• Tweet