Gantz

Gantz is a weird-ass show.

It's not very good, but it makes up for it on sheer entertainment value. The premise is pretty interesting. Basically, it hinges on people who live in a specific area. There is a room with a large black sphere in it, and when it wants to, it will start a game. The participants are those who die right when the game is about to start, and those who survived the last game if they haven't accumulated 100 points. It's unclear whether the victims are there by coincidence, or if Gantz chose them. Anyway, they are given access to special suits which greatly increase their physical abilities, and special weapons that can either trap or kill. They are given an image of an alien to defeat or capture, and are transported outside. They have a time limit and a certain area they cannot leave without their head exploding. If they survive, they receive points for how well they did, and may return to normal life until the next game.

The cool idea is tempered somewhat by the generally retarded nature of what they're fighting. As it goes on, it introduces some more interesting foes and scenarios, but they sure spend a lot of time fighting spring onion people and giant wingless birds. The animation is a bit cheap, with lots of zooming and amateurish looking moments. They sure put some time into animating breasts, though. The show is extremely graphic, both with violence and sexuality. Gantz, the entity controlling the game, refers to the female lead as "big tits". The show was heavily edited for airing in Japan, which should give you an idea of how over the top it is. Because they show everything in Japan.

They aren't afraid to kill off characters and have radical departures in storyline. Unfortunately, it ends in a way that doesn't resolve anything, just leaves you wondering what happened. The pacing is also a bit weird, with only 4 "games" taking place in 26 episodes. The characters aren't very good either, especially the protagonist, who's pretty selfish. He gets redeemed a bit, but not enough to make him likable. No one's going to convince you it's actually good, but if you're bored, it can be an entertaining show to watch for a bit.