GANTZ:O

GANTZ:O (2016) is a fully computer animated anime that works even if you have never read the manga. That matters, because most adaptations of this kind do not. The setup: people who die are resurrected by a black sphere called Gantz and forced to fight aliens. They are handed weapons, the rules are never explained, and if you die there you are dead. The film covers the Osaka arc of the manga and completes itself. You can watch it cold. You only have to accept the rules of the world in the first ten minutes. The animation is at the top of its category. In the fight sequences the camera movement and lighting do things hand drawn animation cannot. Against that, the facial work occasionally goes dead, which is the familiar weakness of the format. It runs 95 minutes and moves fast. Good for: anime, science fiction action, and creature combat. Less good for: the violence is extreme, with dismemberment and blood throughout. The design of the female characters also carries a problem inherited from the manga. Anyone wanting character depth will not find it. This is built for spectacle.