Gantz Volume 4: Terminal Dispatch - Armchair Empire
- Armchair Empire
- Mike Siewert
- 08/11/05
- click here
"With the episode ending right there, I?m now twitching while waiting for the next disc to arrive. It?s only going to get better and better.
"
After watching Volume 03 of Gantz it took about as long as it took me to rip the packaging with my teeth to start this disc. So far, the action has been mostly focusing on Kei and Kei-chan but we now get a view of Kato?s life after Gantz. Will the pressure that?s been building inside the calm Kato blow over?
Episode 07
Kato is a tortured man, he lives under the authoritative domination of his aunt?s home. He wants to provide the best life possible for his younger brother, but he feels as though he must be around him at all times to protect him from the physical attacks that she unleashes on him. When a day at school draws the attention of the school bullies who decide to send the homosexual predator who doubles as a boxer after pretty boy Kato, the calm man burns with a rage. Not waiting for the attack to come to him, he searches out the potential attacker while he?s in the bathroom and unleashes all of the anger at once on the man. Elsewhere, Kei and Kei-chan meet after school so that Kei-chan can see how her ?original? is adapting to life post-suicide attempt.
We get another quick visit with some of the future players: a former male model who is trying to keep cool and distance himself from his stalker (a shy young girl who keep near the
target of her affection), he rents a motorcycle to get away from her by promising a girl that she could ride with him; the grandmother and grandson spend the day using the subway system and cause one hell of a backlog for the ticket machine; Tetsu the biker still has trouble from his gang members who accuse him of going soft; a future player (not this game) Sakuraoka checks Kei out while he waits to meet Kei-chan at a book store.
Episode 08
Kei-chan has reached an epiphany ? she reveals that her suicide attempt was due to finding out that her mother thought she was an idiot. Having spent all of her life trying to work hard in school and impress her mother, finding out that her mother thought so little of her, she committed suicide. Now not having to deal with her mother?s expectations any more, she decides that she is in love and is now focusing her attention towards her ?love? of Kato. As Kei uses a backrub as an excuse to grope Kei-chan, Gantz begins to call the players and the pair are brought back to the same apartment.
Tetsu and the bikers get tricked into a meeting where they are outnumbered and ambushed by a rival gang. In the fight that follows, all four members are killed and are also brought to the same room. The grandmother is driving the grandson back home, and so she gets onto the highway and gets caught in gridlock. The model is driving on the rented motorcycle when he discovers that the passenger is actually the stalker, and get caught in the gridlock and pulls up along the grandmother. While stopped a tanker truck barrels towards them with the driver falling unconscious from the beers he has been drinking ? he then crashes into the motorcycle and car, sending the grandmother, grandson, model, and stalker into the apartment. With the cast assembled, Gantz starts the song and opens the weapon locker to the players. Kei heads first to the suits, only to learn that his suit is not in the bag, but he left it at home. The mission is now officially going to be a whole lot harder.
With the episode ending right there, I?m now twitching while waiting for the next disc to arrive. It?s only going to get better and better.
Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 (Archive on Sunday, September 11, 2005)