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[Host Samurai]

I knew nothing about Gantz for the most part, and this was pretty solid. One question:

Spoiler

Are the monsters aliens? How come they look like beings out of Japanese lore? The big tough one said he was a god...was that just a jab at the team?

Spoiler

The monsters are all aliens living on Earth peacefully. They started becoming malicious once hearing that there were people with black suits hunting them down. They're hunting the aliens down because the elite created a gambling game with technology discovered by a fat German girl with down syndrome that was able to contact the most Godlike beings in the universe

These beings shared the technology with the earthlings to protect themselves from another advanced civilization that plans to take out Earth.

 

[kurahador]

Spoiler

The monsters are all aliens living on Earth peacefully. They started becoming malicious once hearing that there were people with black suits hunting them down. They're hunting the aliens down because the elite created a gambling game with technology discovered by a fat German girl with down syndrome that was able to contact the most Godlike beings in the universe

These beings shared the technology with the earthlings to protect themselves from another advanced civilization that plans to take out Earth.

I forgot how ridiculous Gantz plot was.

 

[Host Samurai]

I forgot how ridiculous Gantz plot was.

It was obviously rushed once the Osaka arc was finished. I was hoping there would be some more world building with the team going to more cities and doing more coop hunts. That final arc was such a disappointment.

 

[Cardon]

Spoiler

The monsters are all aliens living on Earth peacefully. They started becoming malicious once hearing that there were people with black suits hunting them down. They're hunting the aliens down because the elite created a gambling game with technology discovered by a fat German girl with down syndrome that was able to contact the most Godlike beings in the universe

These beings shared the technology with the earthlings to protect themselves from another advanced civilization that plans to take out Earth.

What? For real? Well that has somewhat taken the wind out of my sails, but I'll still give the anime a watch.

 

[clarknova156]

I watched this on Netflix and the plot was utter nonsense but I enjoyed the CG fights and monsters. I'd rate it a 5/10 so average.

 

[Host Samurai]

What? For real? Well that has somewhat taken the wind out of my sails, but I'll still give the anime a watch.

Read the manga. The anime ends right when the story picks up. The anime's final arc is a filler arc that has no connection to the manga at all.

 

[Daingurse]

Watched this last night with my brother, I really enjoyed it. Been years since I'd read Gantz, so everything felt pretty fresh. I thought the film was pretty damn impressive in terms of visuals.

 

[tauke]

Shame to hear about the work you and your colleagues did getting chopped for some reason. Also, what exactly went on during production? Just typical craziness of time and money running short, or was it something else?

Since I'm no longer employed by the Japanese HQ (our studio got dissolved end of last month), guess I can share some tidbits about the rocky production.

Firstly, the feedback process is non intuitive due to communication noise from Japanese to English and back to Japanese. This resulted in longer working hours just to meet the dailies deadline (and we are not paid overtime!).

For the FX team, we are the second last in the pipeline right before compositing for the final visuals so we ran into issues where the Dotonbori environment assets took up 16GB of RAM just for the geometry alone! Since most of our workstations are 16GB, Maya will crash when trying to build the scene for the shots that we need to create the FX so we used the low-res version when doing the initial phase of the FX works but the Japanese doesn't like that we are doing out of their pipeline norm...

This was resolved with an upgrade to 32GB of RAM around late 2015 but I personally bought an additional 32GB of RAM for my workstation last year January to maxed out the 64GB limit that my workstation mobo supports.

The last thing that pushes my patience is when the director keeps revising his opinion on an already approved FX shots by asking to rotate the blood direction by 30 degrees! Woops next feedback says the blood directions looks funny but that's what the director requested in his feedback... nevermind this time rotate by 10 degrees to the right instead! /facepalm

Also forgot to mention that their in-house plugins that we need to use during the FX compositing in After Effects has massive memory leak that will eat up all the allocated RAM for After Effects resulting in slower than usual preview and rendering...

 

[Vlaphor]

Sorry to hear all of that, but for what it's worth, the end product came out great.

 

[Goldenhen]

Which countries Netflix is this currently on? I saw someone mention Germany but you all can't be from Germany (can you?!)

Australia and maybe NZ too.

 

[Roberto Larcos]

Australia and maybe NZ too.

UK as well.

 

[Arkeband]

Caught it today - absolutely amazing. Maybe the best adaptation of a manga arc ever. SFX were so good, the studio issues were not noticeable to the regular viewer's eye. Kudos to everyone involved, this is truly next level. Imagine if Berserk had this treatment!

 

[SixMachine]

Just caught it, it looked amazing and I enjoyed it though I do have a gripe since I read the manga, so the black is spoilers for that.

Spoiler

There was no Kaze, Sakurai, and the psychic mentor guy. The Tokyo team was really slimmed down from the manga and I really missed that these guys weren't in there, though their picture was on the dead player list. Also Suzuki and Reika did come off as noobies, even though Reika at this point is a legit 100 pointer. IIRC they were intending to try to take down the 100 point boss so they can revive Kurono (which Kato did after this fight), so they basically were trying to prep and hunt it down during this arc, since she acts as the team sniper.

 

[rexor0717]

I'd love to see more anime get movies like this, pretty enjoyable. I'd take this over live action any day.

 

[HitchcockInTheZiplock]

That cg was pretty great. When the mech came out, I honestly thought that looked as good as Pacific Rim.

I had only seen a handful of the anime eps, and so this was a little different in plot? Anyways, the main guy in the anime was pretty lame (huge ego, pretty weak) and I never finished.

I'd be down for more of these. I saw those 2 Resident Evil ones, and the Starship Troopers cg film too. And I guess these's Final Fantasy SW, AC, and KG... Are there more? I think I like this fake live action style.

 

[Dio]

That cg was pretty great. When the mech came out, I honestly thought that looked as good as Pacific Rim.

I had only seen a handful of the anime eps, and so this was a little different in plot? Anyways, the main guy in the anime was pretty lame (huge ego, pretty weak) and I never finished.

I'd be down for more of these. I saw those 2 Resident Evil ones, and the Starship Troopers cg film too. And I guess these's Final Fantasy SW, AC, and KG... Are there more? I think I like this fake live action style.

At this point in the story, the guy from the anime (Kurono Kei) is

Spoiler

dead. He does end up getting revived through that 'point system' the Gantz ball uses for rewarding people since it saves profiles of 'humans' that have died in Gantz on its hard drive like a backup folder, but this part of the story 'changed protagonists' because the series protagonist is legit, 100% dead.

 

[SixMachine]

That cg was pretty great. When the mech came out, I honestly thought that looked as good as Pacific Rim.

I had only seen a handful of the anime eps, and so this was a little different in plot? Anyways, the main guy in the anime was pretty lame (huge ego, pretty weak) and I never finished.

I'd be down for more of these. I saw those 2 Resident Evil ones, and the Starship Troopers cg film too. And I guess these's Final Fantasy SW, AC, and KG... Are there more? I think I like this fake live action style.

This is an arc from the manga with some differences to make it fit more as a standalone without having to watch or read other material to know what is going on, so you can get the gist of it from the movie. The anime ended when the manga was getting interesting

Spoiler

Kurono basically mans up after the whole Tokyo team dies, and starts helping new recruits and training together. They basically become much more effective and tackle harder missions.

 

[plasmawave]

That cg was pretty great. When the mech came out, I honestly thought that looked as good as Pacific Rim.

I had only seen a handful of the anime eps, and so this was a little different in plot? Anyways, the main guy in the anime was pretty lame (huge ego, pretty weak) and I never finished.

I'd be down for more of these. I saw those 2 Resident Evil ones, and the Starship Troopers cg film too. And I guess these's Final Fantasy SW, AC, and KG... Are there more? I think I like this fake live action style.

Read the manga. The main protagonist has a pretty good character arc.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Australia and maybe NZ too.

Mexico too

 

[GuitarAtomik]

Finally got around to watching it. Probably the most beautiful Japanese CG movie I've ever seen. Great action etc. I've seen the anime so I had a lot of extra context for the story which helped, though I really wish we could have seen more. The only thing that really bothered me was the English voice for Anzu. She was almost unbearable. Other than that, good stuff though I could see how someone new to Gantz would find the whole set up a bit lacking in explanation. I hope we get more.

 

[Smiley90]

It's on the Canadian Netflix too for what it's worth. Just watched it - what an atrocious plot though. CGI fights were alright.

 

[Gravidee]

It bothers me that the movie on Netflix has no JP with subs option. The dub can be pretty atrocious at times.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Watching it now, seems they skipped crucial parts of the first arc and instead focused on Kato. So I'm guessing this is supposed to pick up after the live action movies? (haven't seen the second one)

CG quality is pretty good, I like the style of it quite a bit. Kinda dying at how much they overexaggerated Reika's breast movements >_>

It bothers me that the movie on Netflix has no JP with subs option. The dub can be pretty atrocious at times.

The movie has both Japanese and English VO options on Netflix...

 

[Alex_Mexico]

These cardboard cutouts are a perfect analogy to the women in this movie. You got two of them here and one is showing us her very defined ass thanks to her form fitting catsuit while holding a sexy pose and the other chick isstanding there nervous as if she doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing or holding.

Good movie or not this is an issue that bears mention.

 

[Angelus Errare]

The facial expresisons are pretty damn good. I should have grabbed a few of Anzu's close up with how they do her eyes darting around subtly when she was staring at Kato

 

[Nephtis]

Just saw the movie

It was great seeing Hachibi from Naruto fighting a Jaeger from Pacific Rim

 

[tauke]

The facial expresisons are pretty damn good. I should have grabbed a few of Anzu's close up with how they do her eyes darting around subtly when she was staring at Kato

The facial animation are a mix of keyframe and mocap although most of the animation are still hand keyed by the animators.

The best part is the mocap actors resembles their CG counterpart really closely especially Suzuki!

Overall I'm really happy to see most who replied here are happy with the movie. I dare say it is a much better output than the studio's previous effort aka the first two Resident Evil CG film and Tekken Blood Vengeance!

 

[Arkeband]

These cardboard cutouts are a perfect analogy to the women in this movie. You got two of them here and one is showing us her very defined ass thanks to her form fitting catsuit while holding a sexy pose and the other chick isstanding there nervous as if she doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing or holding.

Good movie or not this is an issue that bears mention.

You seem unfamiliar with Gantz, which has pinups of the women across the volumes. This film actually toned down the mangaka's obsession with tits and ass, and that's saying something when they fought a monster made out of naked women.

 

[plasmawave]

I think anime should go with CGI instead of live action. Of course it also depends on the subject matter and at the end of the day it all comes down to the directing.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Saw it on Netflix. It's terrible.

 

[Vlaphor]

I would love to actually get the Reika cardboard cutout. I have no place to put it in my house, but I'd definitely find one.

 

[Donos]

I think anime should go with CGI instead of live action. Of course it also depends on the subject matter and at the end of the day it all comes down to the directing.

CGI is probably way more expensive then Live Action, isn't it?

 

[Kinyou]

The facial animation are a mix of keyframe and mocap although most of the animation are still hand keyed by the animators.

The best part is the mocap actors resembles their CG counterpart really closely especially Suzuki!

Overall I'm really happy to see most who replied here are happy with the movie. I dare say it is a much better output than the studio's previous effort aka the first two Resident Evil CG film and Tekken Blood Vengeance!

Oh wow, that really is a big upgrade. I wasn't a fan of the Resident Evil CG movies at all.

Only too bad to hear about the late production issues but maybe they can eventually overcome that.

 

[SixMachine]

These cardboard cutouts are a perfect analogy to the women in this movie. You got two of them here and one is showing us her very defined ass thanks to her form fitting catsuit while holding a sexy pose and the other chick isstanding there nervous as if she doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing or holding.

Good movie or not this is an issue that bears mention.

The manga is 100000X more cynical than the film even with all this. There were psychopaths trying to rape aliens to death in the source material. Though Reika is less badass than she was in the manga

Spoiler

because believe it or not she already got 100 pts by this point. The Tokyo team were trying to get the 100 pointer to revive Kurono in the manga. The script in this one made it seem like Reika and Suzuki were newbies but they actually are trained. Kato was actually the least trained even though he was part of Kurono's initial team because he died and was revived by Kurono. He was trying to get the 100 points too.

 

[Host Samurai]

The manga is 100000X more cynical than the film even with all this. There were psychopaths trying to rape aliens to death in the source material. Though Reika is less badass than she was in the manga

Spoiler

because believe it or not she already got 100 pts by this point. The Tokyo team were trying to get the 100 pointer to revive Kurono in the manga. The script in this one made it seem like Reika and Suzuki were newbies but they actually are trained. Kato was actually the least trained even though he was part of Kurono's initial team because he died and was revived by Kurono. He was trying to get the 100 points too.

Yeah I was totally lik WTF are they doing with the story, and didn't make sense till it ended.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I watched this on a whim over the weekend after seeing the recommendation show up on Netflix. It was so silly, lol. I watched the whole thing tho cuz of the fight scenes.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Having absolutely NO experience with the series, I went into this pretty much blind, but really enjoyed it. Not sure if I'm gonna try out the Manga though, it sounds pretty bleak in comparison.

I will say though that the female characters were definitely not handled very well.

 

[comedian]

Watched it this evening and enjoyed revisiting the Gantz world. I do remember some of the osaka guys actually fucking the demons, but I wasn't surprised that they decided to cut this out. Solid 6/10.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Even though I loved this movie I can't help but feel like they were missing some of the deliberate characterization that the manga and anime had. It was that getting a group of strangers together and seeing how they interacted and responded to the situation that grabbed me the most about the series. Kind of reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode where people are trapped in a strange place and must work together to figure out what the heck is going on and leadership roles get decided, etc. The movie was too short and fast paced to really touch on this to any real degree (although I guess that one creep got shot before the game even started, but it was so minor).

Still, as a pure action movie it delivered for me greatly. It felt like I was in the middle of a crazy over the top action videogame with amazing graphics. The "boss" transformations were incredible and I can't say I ever got bored with the spectacle.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

These cardboard cutouts are a perfect analogy to the women in this movie. You got two of them here and one is showing us her very defined ass thanks to her form fitting catsuit while holding a sexy pose and the other chick isstanding there nervous as if she doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing or holding.

Good movie or not this is an issue that bears mention.

Was going to basically say this:

You seem unfamiliar with Gantz, which has pinups of the women across the volumes. This film actually toned down the mangaka's obsession with tits and ass, and that's saying something when they fought a monster made out of naked women.

The movie is pretty tame compared to every other iteration minus the live action movies. Not excusing it, but it's an amusing comment considering the IP.

 

[Onemic]

Good CG and good action, but that's where the positives end and it all goes downhill.

Very mediocre movie overall, complete with no explanation for anything, typical creepy anime chick that falls in love with someone after having just met them, and a nonsensical twist at the end.

I decided to check out the anime thinking it would have to be better than the movie...but it's easily worse.

 

[Basketball]

Movie was pretty good

loved the cgi and animations

pretty much encapsulates Gantz I think

like Bad Boys 2 it's just a dumb fun movie.

 

[AmethystEnd]

AYYY, HOW DID I MISS THAT THIS IS ON NETFLIX. LET'S FUCKING GO.

Loved the manga. It's too bad [spoilers regarding arc]

Spoiler

Kurono isn't in this.

Edit: Oh, except for the intro apparently.

 

[Won]

The other thread made me check this out on Netflix. Have not much to say about story and characters. It's Gantz, so it's trash. And that movie doesn't really change that.

I still have to say that I was quite surprised by the CGI. After years of garbage from Japan this is the first time I actually though that an "anime movie" actually looks good. They really nailed the feel and look of the monsters and the action was pretty nice too.

 

[Ushay]

I just saw this on Netflix (UK), really enjoyed it, The CG was spot on for me.

Hope we get more of this, the manga was great despite its shortcomings. One of the best out there.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Gotta admit, I really enjoyed this. If I went into this with no knowledge of the franchise, I'd be shaking my head in confusion. But knowing Gantz fairly well and having read this arc, it was a joy to see it animated so beautifully.