Since the first Gantz series is limited to the first two alien encounters, there's not much to really talk about in regards to the story. Nothing in particular happens. You see, in the manga it makes a lot of sense for your characters to slowly figure things out. And, when you realize the Gantz manga is a little under 400 chapters long, it's reasonable to assume that the characters of Gantz will only figure out the world of Gantz after about chapter 80 or so. Considering the incredible horror of alien killing, it's even more so understandable.
However, in an anime that is limited to 13 episodes (and yes, I'm excluding Season Two for this review) you can't have your lead characters fumbling around constantly. They need to get better. Fast. You have a short amount of time to make things work, so get cracking. Animation is a totally different medium that, while can be more sensory, is limited to a shorter amount of time, therefore things need to move faster, MUCH faster.
And, in that area, talk about slow. The pacing in this show is absolutely terrible. I think it has to do with the fact that the producers couldn't procure 24 episodes right off the bat and had to stick to 13 at first. Afterwards, they got the ok to do even more. Why this is important: They couldn't expedite earlier content to make room for latter chapters, effectively closing off the expositional arc of Gantz (somewhere around chapter 120-130). So, because of this, Gantz runs extra, extra long on scenes that turn into complete schlock. When the action flows well, it's great. When it's constant gun pointing and talking, it's very boring.
Now, many will find this show offputting because the narrative is so hateful, and that's a very reasonable response. It's very evident that the writer is a straight nihilist and a pervert. There are many scenes that are clearly thrown in to be edgy, and it's laughable. There are other scenes that are horrible, completely inhumane. The latter is more fitting considering the circumstances, but when it's surrounded by disgusting 'pornography,' it seems like it doesn't belong. It's one of my biggest complaints about the earlier Gantz stories. It's not until long after these events (and the following ones that, I assume, are in Season Two) that the story reaches 9/10-10/10 territory. Of course, like a boomerang, the manga falls back down to the lowest of lows for the finale, but this isn't a review on the manga, just bringing this up for comparison.
Basically, this season couldn't help but be a mess. It's all pretty dumb in the manga, too. If it wasn't for such a cool premise, Gantz would fall flat near instantly.
Art:
The animation is pretty dang good when things are actually happening. Proportions were occasionally off, but that's what happens when animators are told to focus on making nude females more important than clothed male forms.
Scenes are varied, but most combat takes place at night. Because of this, everything sort of blends in.
I liked some of the transitional cuts that were in 3D while characters were in 2D. It was a stylistic choice that was risky, but, to me, added a lot of neat ways to explore the world.
I liked that this show had gore and didn't just BS some of the animation.
Sound:
This is an incredibly limited OST that is sparely used. At first you hear a track with vocals during a fairly intense scene and it seems as though this will happen more often than not. I would have preferred that to the rather ridiculous nonsense that came later. It's not terrible, but it's not all that great, either. Certain scenes really don't earn themselves any right to have music. They're far too gritty and disgusting to have music. Rather, hyper realistic sound effects would have been more efficient in getting across how disgusting the world of Gantz is.
General combat sounded alright. Nothing memorable.
Character:
Talk about terrible. No one is likable save for Kato. This is definitely the fault of the source material considering I felt the same way then, but it's only made worse when the anime changed some scenes and made certain characteristics WORSE. Holy cow, it's just pure crap.
Enjoyment:
Lukewarm. I've read the whole manga and really disliked the opening stuff. It's not until after a huge event (those who read know) that things pick up and become really, really good. Then, of course, terrible once you get to the ending.
I watched this with a bunch of friends and it was pretty fun since we all laughed at the pretty crappy junk, but we still enjoyed it since the concept is quite engaging.
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