| Title: | Gantz |
| Episode: | 18: Welcome Back |
| Synopsis | |
| The others are amazed as Kei calmly disarms (literally!) the green alien, then, despite Kato's plea, finishes it off. Kato and Kishimoto are horrified at the extent to which Kei seems to have embraced this brutal sport. "He's gotten used to this" Sakuraoka comments. The newcomers are encouraged by Kei's confidence and bravado, and follow him to attack the red alien. Everyone joins in, but the alien seems to have learned to predict their tactics. Once more, it's up to Kei, who will have to devise a new technique... | |
| Comments | |
| The summary is pretty short this time, perhaps because this was largely a high-octane, action-packed episode without all that much dialogue. Though far from perfect, it was probably the most exciting one so far. At one point, one of the newbies comments "Don't you think we should do something here? Rather than just standing around like this?"--which is exactly what I've often been saying to myself during the fight scenes of this series. Why were some of the hunters sitting down on the temple steps while a furious battle was raging? What was the red alien doing while the green one got finished off? Perhaps it's because since the hunters are in fact armed to the teeth, some sort of gimmick is needed to keep them from blasting the aliens to pieces in the blink of an eye (which would be realistic but wouldn't exactly fill 23-odd minutes). At last everyone gets into the act, and I could stop ripping my hair out and enjoy the somewhat more believable combat. I noticed the use of stills several times to depict action rather than actual animation--was this intentional, or did the makers need to save some money? Is it just my imagination, or has the favored style of animation changed subtly--by a new staff, maybe? Anatomical detail seemed a bit more realistic (and gory) than in the past. One thing I definitely liked was the fact that a supporting character, who I don't think has even had a single line of dialogue up 'til now, played an important part--when I first saw his face and the technique he used, the thought popped into my head "Hey, it's Duke Togo from Golgo 13!". It makes things more realistic and unpredictable when even a minor character might accomplish something, rather than just serving as the proverbial red-shirted guys from Star Trek, whose only purpose was to get killed. I generally watch episodes of Gantz in subtitled form the first time around, then rewatch in dubbed form to save images, and as a result I sometimes notice differences in the scripts. Vulgar lines like "Stay back you stupid ----!" were definitely not in the subtitled version. No doubt the addition of profanity bolsters sales in America, which is kind of pathetic. The episode ends with a promise of much more action soon to come--Gantz definitely gets it's jollies setting the hunters up for unpleasant surprises!
[Devil Doll, 2006-12-04] Actually a decent episode this time, one of the best so far. Except for the usual flaws during the battle, there's character interaction at last: Kishimoto wonders how Kei's character has changed, Sakuraoka wonders what the relation between Kei and Kishimoto might have been, Kishimoto wonders why Kato suddenly addresses her differently. It's almost like this series attempts to turn into a decent drama at last... | |
