I haven't read the manga, just the first one and it's basically the first 15 min of the movie so I really don't know if there is a reason for the "NOT SHOOTING" thing. Over all is an OKAY movie, but if you want to watch it you better go for GANTZ: O (2016) so much better and they actually shoot there.

Japanese movies were often innovative, groundbreaking, trend-setting, also for the western movie industry. This declined during the last 10 - 15 years, that may (towards I tend to believe) or may not caused by the growing occurrence of Anime movies, often Manga-based. Therefore, Asian quality movies are now coming more from other countries.'Gantz' has its origins in a popular 'Seinen' Manga (for adults), which were in Japan also successful as Anime series. It starts up with a mystery. A few people are rematerialized in a room after their obvious death. The machinery responsible for their resurrection uses unimaginable technology, but orders them to fight against so-called 'Aliens', and to gain points like in an ordinary video-game. Confronted with their first mission the people react different, some of them are killed, but most of them are completely disturbed.Until the first mission the movie is (from a western point of view) intriguing; effects and design ideas are announcing a decent mystery/sf experience, if the audience isn't aware of the Manga/Anime.That lasts about 10, maybe 15 minutes, until one realizes, that any further impressing film experience will not happen. If you know the Manga or the Anime series, you know that the movie won't bring any deeper insights than disturbed people, hesitating to pull the trigger even when it goes for their (second) life, and Aliens mostly waiting for being destroyed between cheesy dialogs. Most of the Anime's sexual content and language is absent in the movie; but not the inexplicable behavior of the participants, both human or alien (or director/writer/producer).Furthermore, there is no real mystery, as one, who is not familiar with the 'Gantz' Manga, may hope. It's simple simple simple. The machine is for playing the game, it's not something between the realms of death and life, it's no matter of Karma or God or the Devil. It's a machine built for a game, built by someone, and this someone isn't even a computer nerd version of an AVP predator. So, there is no revelation, no development. There isn't even a noticeable story anymore.Between the fights the survivors are released to the real world, so they may continue their lost life, until they are transferred to the next mission, where new dead people arrive mostly to be killed because of their freezing despair (women) or dumbness (men). The real-life part of the characters between the missions is mostly lengthened and could have been cut with very little effect.If someone would argue, that there are insights shown to the abysms of human behavior or the illness of the society, or something that goes one millimeter deeper than Video Game Shooting, I could not disagree more than to that. I would accept it for 'Gamer', but not 'Gantz'.Overall, the movie could have been cut to some 75 min. length, and as a result it would be slightly entertaining for an audience with an IQ greater 70.People who expect a decent Japanese movie, will be deeply disappointed. There is a CGI quality to mention, but asides from the flawed plot, there is too much overacting and screaming, to keep the level at least in the B class.

If you think that only Hollywood is tapping deep into comic book source material for its films, well they're not alone, with the Japanese also digging deep into its rich manga culture for adaptations to bring to the silver screen. It's taken Gantz quite some time to reach our shores given that the concluding sequel had already been aired weeks ago and we're only getting the first installment, but as I say it's always better late than never. Based upon the original works by Hiroya Oku, Gantz is a science fiction fantasy film that posed a lot more questions than it answered, and really asks that you put aside nagging thoughts and accept things for what they are at face value until the second film rolls along.We're introduced to the teenagers Masaru Kato (the popular Kenichi Matsuyama) and Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) who meet by chance at a subway station, once best friends with the latter always standing up for the former. They get involved in rescuing a man who had fallen onto the train tracks, but in the process get themselves killed, yet transported into some sparse apartment room together with strangers, all of whom had their life expired, and a huge black orb to whom they owe their temporal lives to. Here's where a lot of questions get tossed up as to the origins of the orb, and some thick existential queries - are they really dead, or operating on a separate limbo plane, or are really just dreaming - but put all of these aside to just soak up the ground rules that the characters have to engage in, and the set action sequences that come with the territory.To help make the narrative a little bit more palatable, treat it as an extreme version of Men in Black, where a randomly selected group of apparently dead folks get topped up into an existing team, all of whom are given exo-skeleton suits to power up and weapons fit to kill aliens who walk this earth. Gantz, the orb within which houses a comatosed bald man communicating via a console on the orb, summons the players, sets the mission objectives, and teleports them into the thick of the action. Survive, and you get to live another day. Die, and you'll stay dead permanently. With a catch of course, where a Gantz summoned player earn meagre points in a mission (in addition to getting insulted), and a 100 points allows one to either wipe one's memory and go back to the "real world" not remembering a single thing when serving Gantz, or opting to resurrect a fallen comrade.The first hour or so is spent learning the ground rules, and what better way than to be thrown into the deep end of the pool in an effort to immerse both the characters and audience in double quick time. Our main protagonists with their different perspectives and values often come up clashing against once another in their ideals, but when push comes to shove it's a life and death issue should they choose not to cooperate with each other, and with others in the same boat, unless of course one decides to use the clueless newbies as fodder.The story's made more interesting with this particular contrast between the two leads, one being very reluctant to shed more blood and taking it upon himself to ensure that the newbies are properly briefed and told of the risks involved, often being ridiculed, while the other sees his new life under Gantz as an opportunity to rise up and be the hero he's meant to be, since in real life he's a zero this presents him a chance to answer what would be his calling in life, bordering on arrogance and partaking in riskier maneuvers. But alas given the need to cram everything into a slightly more than two hour film, you can bet that plenty of characterization and development got thrown out of the window, and subplot casualties include the romances between Kato and buxomy Kei Kishimoto (Natsuna Watanabe), and that of Kurono and fellow student and manga enthusiast Tae Kojima (Yuriko Yoshitaka), whom I suspect will have a much larger role in the concluding film.Surprisingly there is plenty of bloody violence and gore peppered throughout the film, sticking close to the treatment as in the manga and anime, with only the gratuitous nudity in the source materials being toned down by quite a bit in the live action movie. Computer generated graphics are the order of the day, as plenty of futuristic weapons got produced, in addition to the skin tight exo-skeleton suit. Villainous aliens take on different looks, from robots with awkward mobility, to inhabiting statues of Buddhas that give rise to one of the largest action sequences in the film that came complete with high casualty and property damage. Undoubtedly a special effects extravaganza, Gantz is ultimately half a film, and I am looking forward to the concluding episode to wrap up the open questions posed here. After all, the sequel's subtitle is Perfect Answer, so I'm really hoping for that to happen. Stay tuned during and after the closing credits for that trailer to the sequel, and tell me if that doesn't pique your interest even more, so much so that like me I'm putting that anime DVD collection on my wish list. Recommended!

To start with, I enjoyed the Gantz movie.When it comes to movies versus "books" it's a hard choice to make, when deciding which is better.The Manga is definitely the best.But here's what I've concluded with comparing books and movies...Movies are made not to necessarily follow the book word for word. Gantz really did a decent job with following both the Manga and the Anime. Yes, stuff was changed around. Most movies do such a thing.I am upset that the driving basis for the character Kurono is gone... (He was very sexually frustrated and found out how to play the game better due to this fact...) And the violence was toned down tremendously.. But overall, I found the movie to be enjoyable.The thing about watching a movie based on a book (Or an addition to an anime series) is that they want to change things. What fun is it to read a book and see the exact same thing happen on screen? It's kind of interesting to find something different happen in the story compared to what you had read.I am very familiar with the series, I'm on my third time through the Manga as we speak. The Character designs are great and the development is wonderful. Though, I can disagree on Kurono's character in the movie... They popularized it.Going from a perverted teenager who just wants to get laid to a "I want to be successful" character is quite a jump, but them doing Kato... Hit the nail on the head... I can't make a full on review at the moment until I see part two and how much they encompass with it. Considering the Manga is still ongoing and the movie claims that it's going to be an end makes me think that Phase 3 will not be part of this set and it will be like watching the Anime all over again...Final Thought: The movie did the manga justice for what I had seen of it. Minus the sexual tension, immense violence and extensive swearing (Which are all major portions of Gantz, but could be toned down to be more friendly... Especially for a two hour movie) They hit the story and overall aspects of the series on the head. No, it's no word for word by the Manga, but who cares? Instead of seeing the same thing repeated, why not enjoy a new twist on the story that still follows the major guidelines?