Gantz #4:
Terminal Dispatch

50 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
Released: 05/03/2005
Reviewed: 08/02/2005

It's a tricky time in my life. I'm working longer hours than I have in some time so, logically, my brain assumes that I have tons of money. Thus I do crazy things like buy Arby Sandwiches and Cinnabons by the bucketful. Impromptu visits by old friends don't help matters either and I'll end up splurging the whole weekend away on alcohol like I used to in the olden times. But, most prevalently, I just start dropping bills on DVDs like they're going to disappear and this is the only way I can save them from their cruel fate. When last I had a legitimate, full time job you wouldn't believe the amount of my paycheck that went to DVDs. More than beer.

What the impulsive part of my mind doesn't realize is that I do not in actuality have a job yet. What I have is a trial period in which I am being tested to see if I can beat out competition for the job. As such, yes I do have lots of money coming my way in the near future. But no, I am not guaranteed long term future income at this point. In this situation it would be prudent for me to scrounge what I have, cobble it into my meager saving's account and hold out for bad weather until the time when I am assured of my permanent employment. But I am stupid and I like alcohol and I really like DVDs.

So too are the Gantz characters in a weird situation. Their memories of horror start to fade in the long days since their first experience with "the game", and one begins to that that they've forgotten it entirely. Certainly I was starting to get a little impatient. So far the show has been good enough to carry along without guns blazing and supersuits, but I'm not gonna lie to you: there's a sizable portion of my persona watching this to see when the aliens blow up. After four-some episodes where aliens don't blow up I'm just about the end of my rope.

It's not that I don't enjoy such touching moments like new dad Tetsu's halfhearted attempts to escape his knock around lifestyle with his old biker gang. Obviously I've proven in the past how much of a sucker I am for cheesy human drama... it's just that I'm starting to not be convinced that Gantz is anything more than a show about big titties and bigger explosions. Or maybe vice versa (thems some big titays!) If it's gonna be like that then I might as well embrace it as such. With the next orgy of violence just around the corner and Kato spitting out Fist of the Northstar references like they were gold bricks I see no need to extricate myself from the show just yet.

These two episodes are just more filler to reveal just how messed up the character's lives are. Kato, especially, is a crazy honky the likes of which we have never seen. When Kato's "school for delinquents" is first exposed to us it seems relatively normal. Then characters in the dub are speaking in Mexican accents, which sound nothing like Mexicans but much more like when my beloved roommate Skabs is trying to imitate a Mexican. When Skabs "imitates" a Mexican he's really just using his "Strongbad" impression.**

Even through he haze of faux Mexicans, it's made clear that there's a sinister plot among the upperclassmen. They're going to beat the hell out of Kato and then this 12th grade boxer is going to beat the hell out of him and rape him. Catching wind of this, Kato excuses himself from his Shogi match and proceeds to pound the living shit out of this so-called badass in the bathroom while all the upperclassmen are watching. Not only is this good television, because watching a guy get the crap kicked out of him while he's taking a crap just tickles my irony buttons, but it's also a big flashing sign that Kato's sort of a psycho and not as nice as he might seem. Plus, we've all had fantasies about beating up people we didn't like back in school. I frequently acted on them, but rarely came out as consequence-free as Kato. My eyes were, and still are, much bigger than my stomach (and fists). Once again Gantz challenges us by attuning itself to our immature side.

The characters of Gantz are forgetting the fact that they're the newly risen dead and getting too complacent. Unlike me, they don't use this "opportunity" to break out of their general mold. They all go back to their routine lives, however un-mundane they may be. If they were dead or alive they could relax. As it is, Gantz has brought them back for a purpose we don't quite understand yet. They occupy a weird space in-between life and death where they have the full benefits of being alive, but the specter of grisly dismemberment at the hands of a mutant onion is looming just around the corner, waiting to surprise them at any moment.

Just like with my possible job prospects I gotta admit I'm getting a little impatient for that moment to come. There's something to be said for living your life with a bit of surety in it, even if it's not the result you wanted. Where Gantz and I diverge is that which satisfies me would kill the show's hook. Conversely, if I was more secure in my finances I wouldn't be so impatient. I'd have the DVDs right now! The characters of Gantz are living in constant peril of death, which doesn't seem much better than being dead in the first place. Better for them, anyway. It's a good enough hook to get me going. At least until the aliens start blowing up again.