The Charge

Round Two-Kill!

The Case

I told you I'd be back. It's now time to take a look at the latest installment in the anime series Gantz. The last volume ended with the newest recruits and our old regulars gathered together in the room housing the mysterious black sphere that is the Gantz; the episodes presented on this release pick up immediately thereafter.

Like the previous four discs, two episodes are included on this disc:

• Episode 9: "I'll Kill You Without a Moment's Hesitation"
Kurono continues to fret over the fact that he forgot to bring his battle suit. Kei and Kato try to persuade their new companions to don their suits, but Tetsuo says he is the only person who can give his biker buddies orders. Kei goes into the hallway to change clothes; the bikers leer at her. The dog runs up to Kei and begins licking her; this turns on Haruyo, one of the bikers, who then decides to assault Kei, but Tetsuo comes in and stops him. Testuo, having given the situation some thought, decides to take Kato's advice and change into his battle suit. Kurono continues to whine about not having his suit; he decides to grab a battle suit belonging to one of the bikers, only to end up getting his ass kicked. Kato attempts to bargain with the biker for the suit, but Nishi, the resident Gantz expert, says the biker's suit would not respond to Kurono's commands. Nishi tells everyone that it is pointless to care about the well being of their fellow captives, as the Gantz has set them up to be rivals in its twisted game. Nishi then begins insulting everyone; Kosuke, another biker, quickly tires of Nishi's tirades, so he pulls his gun and fires it at Nishi. Nothing happens. Nishi fires his own weapon at Kosuke. Nothing happens. Everyone wonders what is going on. Kosuke's head suddenly explodes. Nishi warns the other never to point a gun at him. Kato asks why Nishi was not killed, but Nishi refuses to answer. The Gantz comes to life and begins its countdown. Everyone is teleported out of the room. Kurono, still whining about his missing suit, materializes a few feet away from the Suzuki Alien, the creature the Gantz has ordered its pawns to kill.

• Episode 10: "Yuzou-kun?"
The Suzuki Alien (which looks like a generic ventriloquist's dummy) advances on Kurono. The alien is carrying a shopping bag filled with plastic eggs. A few of the eggs fall; small bird-like creature emerge from the cracked eggs and follow the alien. Kurono, sure he is about to meet his maker for the second time, freaks out, but the alien passes him by. Kurono is relieved, but he freaks out again when he finds one of the bird things on his shoulder. The Suzuki Alien turns, spots Kurono and speaks to him. Kurono knocks the bird thing from his shoulder; the alien goes nuts and starts chasing him. Kurono runs like hell; he eventually stumbles upon the other Gantz recruits. The Suzuki Alien approaches the group and stops. A bolt of lightning strikes the ground, killing one of the bird things. The alien once again goes nuts. A second bolt strikes the ground, only this time Nishi emerges from the flash. He fires at the alien but the creature is able to dodge the blast. Nishi activates a cloaking device and vanishes. The alien emits a series of loud screams; these screams are accompanied by blasts of energy from its mouth, one of which hits Nishi, disabling his cloaking device. The alien advances on Nishi, who begs the others for assistance. Tetsuo offers to help, but only if Nishi apologizes for killing Kosuke. Kurono wonders why anyone would bother to help Nishi. Tetsuo launches into a long speech about moral responsibility. Nishi punches the alien, momentarily knocking it away. Nishi looks down and sees a blue fluid leaking from his suit; he freaks out. Kato, still hoping for some answers to the numerous questions he has about the Gantz, jumps in to help Nishi. Meanwhile, the Gantz continues its countdown.

Last time out I mentioned I was starting to hate this series less. Well, I take that back. The two episodes presented here are boring, pointless, and irredeemably awful. Do we really need 25 minutes of Kato explaining to the others why they should put on their suits? Do we really need Kurono once again whining about how he's doomed to die a virgin? Do we really need a murderous thug giving lessons on the sanctity of life? Do we really need more shots of Kei changing clothes? Do we really need more shots of that damn dog performing oral sex on Kei? (As if that weren't bad enough, this time we actually get the lapping sounds to go along with the visuals.) Will I ever learn my lesson and stop volunteering to review these discs?

The folks at ADV have performed another exemplary job on the technical side of things. You get another fine transfer, a very good stereo Japanese audio track, and a rather nice English 5.1 dub. (Let me clarify that: the mix is good, but the voice acting in the dub is just plain awful.) Extras include clean opening and closing sequences, as well as previews for other ADV releases.

Okay, so that's it for this session. I hope you will join me again when I badmouth Volume 6!

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