The only thing that baffles me more than the script are the 10/10 reviews on here. It's a good looking movie, in fact it's an amazing looking movie. But the characters, as in most anime, are completely one note and communicate exclusively through clichés. Most of the dialogue (in the english dub) is characters simply stating what their emotional state is or what their intent is. Everything is just told, nothing is shown. This is either TERRIBLE writing, or TERRIBLE translation. At least 3 of the fights are resolved by a random, not set-up in any way, weapon materialising itself into the scene that Kato must get to to kill the monster. If this creates any tension the first time, it sure as hell doesn't by the third. The forced relationship between Kato and Yamasaki is laughably underwritten, they don't have any kind of meaningful conversation and yet are willing to die for one another after, what, 1 day? Consisting of a couple of exchanges of small talk? Also her just berating him, demanding that they will be together is seemingly played as romantic but just comes off as crazy. He sacrifices his freedom for her as he made her a promise. This is not chivalry. This is stupid. He also promised to return to his brother who he has known for longer than a few hours. Does any of this matter? NOPE. It turns out he can just leave the game anyway and goes home to his brother, completely undercutting his sacrifice and pretty much the entire movie. Why could they just leave? Could they always just leave? Who brought them back from the dead? Why is anyone afraid of death when clearly it's no longer an issue? Where do the monsters come from? What is their motive? What is gantz's motive? Why bring people back to life for this game rather than just give all this advanced weaponry to armed forces to quell the threat? I could go on and on asking questions that this film refuses to answer. Maybe it's in the other materials in the series, but that doesn't excuse it. There's a reason we are forced to see uncle ben and martha/thomas wayne die over and over....it's a quick catch up for anyone unaware of the backstory and/or motives. This needed something like that, if it exists, to give context to whatever the hell is going on. Without context, there are no stakes. Without stakes, there is no tension. Without a competent script, there are 3 star reviews.
Review of Gantz: O
