GANTZ: Movie adaptation. What a fan might call doing it right~!

Lest we forget, the Death Note Trilogy movie, obviously the Japanese version whichever there are, was a huge success. Now for a second time I am wowed by another Japanese movie adaptation of possibly my FAVOURITE manga GANTZ!

(For people who do not know what is GANTZ, I've given a brief overview 3 paragraphs down)

For the rest of you who are GANTZ manga readers, you would understand why this movie received a movie adaptation and they deserved it, its real movie material. And guess whose in it, "L Lawliet, oops" from Death Note plays Kato Masuru, one of the lead characters.



Just like the Death Note movie, there are small changes to the original story to make it more suitable for the big screen. Other than that, everything else is preserved and carbon copied. Even most of the storyline and character designs. Not a surprise, it didn't look weird nor cheesy at all (Dragonball Evolution popped into my mind, what a flop). A "B grade" Japanese made manga movie adaptation beats Hollywood multi-million production anytime, or so at least in recent times. Don't get me wrong, I've no doubts Hollywood can outdo anyone with their technology, experience and budget, just that the screen writers get off with the wrong foot by trying to reinvent the wheel so too often.

From the pictures I posted from the movie (Shouldn't be spoilers) you can see the alike-ness of the transition from paper to the big screen. As promised, for people who have not read GANTZ, here is an overview.

GANTZ is a science fiction thriller manga by Hiroya Oku. It talks about a world hidden from view where a group of unwilling are forced to fight aliens who are taking refuge on earth. Yes, its idea is a little similar to the movie "Men In Black", by Will Smith, only that GANTZ is more brutal and less comedy. In other words, more believable or realistic (in fictional sense), whichever you want to call it. From there, the story gets really intense. The unwilling people I talked about forced to fight aliens, they are recruited from dead people. And what I mean by that is that assuming you meet an untimely death(a real death), like from a car accident or committed suicide, GANTZ teleports your body into his room and repairs any damage. From then on, your life belongs to GANTZ. You are already dead anyway to begin with, so GANTZ decidedly throws you into a mortal death match against superhuman aliens with very little explanation.

But rest assure, the people sent to fight the aliens do not have to do it empty handed. GANTZ provides guns and swords to aid their quest. Not just any gun or any sword. The gun is something like a super high tech time delay gun that you don't even need to point it at the enemy to shoot. In the manga the people call it the microwave gun. And the sword, its long blade comes out from the handle from nowhere. Like a light saber, but this one is super sharp metal. And the most valuable equipment of all, the machine suit, as seen in the picture on the left. It is a skin tight black latex/pvc/lycra Ironman suit that gives the wearer superhuman strength and huge damage tolerance. The wearer can be thrown through a wall and not get hurt. They can also punch through concrete and jump over a building.

Now that you get the idea, the fight begins. However, don't think its so easy just because of these super godly equipments. The aliens all have different unknown abilities, and can kill just as well. Read the manga if you wish to know more. One things though, the manga may not be suitable for minors as it contains violence and sexually risque illustrations.  If you're not already a fan of GANTZ, it wouldn't be a bad idea to become one now.

From the screenshots I've posted so far, you can see that the design and storyline very much follow the manga spot on. It was to a fan's delight to see the machine suit created to such correctness as well as the microwave guns, GANTZ ball etc. I think the suit looks great with the glowing discs and the bulging muscles. The glossiness and the texture of the suit looks exactly what to expect, not latex or PVC and not Lycra but something in between. Truly alien to the word.

Some of the fights are shortened due to precious movie time and the story is condensed a little. Its like Harry Potter, you'll complain if you know the story from the book, but the whole idea and quality is retained.

I really like the movie perhaps because I've been reading GANTZ for so many years(7yrs? 8yrs?). And finally seeing it as a movie with real actors and actresses taking the story from the pages into the real world is just amazing. In the end of the movie, it appears that there will be a sequel. And the really hot female lead character from the manga finally makes her appearance. She looks awesome in the black machine suit. Kinda makes me want to get one of those hehe.

I posted a few more screen shots below. Be sure to check out the movie if you haven't. And if you like the story and design, do check out the manga. Hmm, I'm advertising for GANTZ it seems.Are they going to give me any incentives for this?

GANTZ anime opening theme, song by Rip Slyme

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