Gantz Vol. 2 Review

Episodes 3 and 4 of Gantz are shown on this volume and the ride starts fast and bumpy right away as the group that was sent out to kill the alien gets narrowed down very quickly to just three. Kei, Kato and Kishimoto(whom I’m only referring to by last name because her name is also Kei).  While it’s still very obvious that there is much to be learned about what is going on with the world that they are now apart of one rule is made abundantly clear: It’s kill or be killed.
 
Upon returning to the room after their ordeal they learn that they are now free to go back to their lives but with so many questions still hanging out there unanswered, will they want to?
 
The Good And The Bad
 
Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoyed the episodes on this volume but I do have to say that it is quite annoying to only get to watch two episodes at a time. While two episodes is definitely enough to keep me interested, it’s frustrating that once I’m done with these two episodes I have to wait to see more. Very little plot and character development happens in these two episodes and so while they are both interesting to watch, it’s really annoying at the same time.
 
What’s most annoying is seeing the trailer for volume three on this disc and knowing that stuff is going to happen that I really do want to know, it’s an endless cycle I tell you!  Ok, enough of that though. The animation on this disc was good just like it was on volume one and the storylines are progressing… albeit at an incredibly slow pace.

The early progression of the characters is what really started to draw me in early about this series. The entrance of Gantz is just a very creepy but there is so little information available. The mysterious player in the game doesn’t help things at all. Always entering but never giving any real information, he’s just not a very strong villain. I never fear or respect him, I just want someone to kick him in the teeth.

Squeamish fans are not going to get any sort of break in these episodes though. The blood is going to flow and the situations are going to get incredibly uncomfortable. The pasts that all of the characters in this series remain tragic, Gantz is allergic to happy I think.
 
Music
 
The music was pretty good on this volume, in particular I enjoyed the background music used in the fight scene during episode 3 was particularly good. While the opening theme and closing theme are growing on me quite a bit, I am still skipping them very quickly because of my want to see more of the episodes quickly and waiting 2 minutes for the songs to finish is too long of a wait for me.
 
Dub vs. Sub
 
Both tracks were well done and in particular I enjoyed Chris Ayers cynical portrayal of Kei Kurano, but I have to give the edge to the sub track. There is a lot to ingest in this series and watching in the sub track really helped me keep up with everything. I’m just glad that this series killed off most of the characters so far so that I don’t have to remember any names for now. I’m sure that’ll change in the future.
 
Extras
 
Not too many extras on here. The clean opening and closing animations might be worth a look but you won’t watch them more than once or twice. The interview segment was good though as this time they interviewed the Japanese voice actor who plays the role of Kei Kurano. He has some interesting points of view on this series.
 
Overall
 
Overall this is a good series so far but the two episodes per disc is entirely too frustrating and almost doesn’t make it worth the effort to continue watching and if it weren’t for the promise of major character development on the next volume I would consider quitting but something is drawing me back. The anime fan in me just has to know what Gantz really is and what the deal with sending these people out on their ordeals really is.