Discuss Gantz: The new Generation [M-VLS] Spoilers

[Obesepanda]

[center][b][SIZE=1]Gantz: The New Generation[/SIZE][/b][/center]
[center][IMG]http://i1.tinypic.com/4dlslmh.jpg[/IMG][/center]

[center][b][SIZE=1]Information about the Gantz anime is taken from Wikipedia. Further information can be found here: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantz[/url]

Spoiler warning[/SIZE][/b][/center]

[SIZE=1][b]Gantz[/b] (ガンツ, Gantsu) is a manga and anime series created by Hiroya Oku. Gantz tells the story about a teenager named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which he and several other people who have recently died have to hunt down and kill aliens. The Gantz anime ran for 13 episodes and had a direct sequel called Gantz Second Stage, which continued the series for another 13 episodes. Both seasons make up the 26 episode series. It was licensed in North America by ADV Films. The anime series is distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment. Though the manga has no license in the U.S., scanlation groups have released all chapters to date, over the internet


[b]Beginning[/b]
The story begins with a pair of high school students who are both run over by a subway train after saving the life of a homeless drunk who had fallen onto the tracks. Following their untimely deaths, they find themselves transported?alive and well?to the interior of an unfurnished Tokyo condominium, from which the Tokyo Tower may be seen, with a number of people who have also just died. At one end of the room is a featureless black sphere we later learn is called "GANTZ". By way of green text that appears on the surface of the sphere, GANTZ informs those present that their lives have ended. The following words appear on the black sphere's surface: "Your lives are ended. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. That?s the theory, anyway." The sphere then opens up to reveal suits that amplify strength, speed, and have various powers. Along with the suits are various high-tech weapons with different uses for different situations. Next, instructions to kill target aliens appear on the surface of the sphere.


[b]The Rules of the Game[/b]
GANTZ forces them to participate in what at first appears to be a reality game show, in which they hunt aliens who are secretly living among us. GANTZ provides them with strength enhancing-skinsuits, guns, and radar. Each participant has a miniature explosive implanted in their brains that prevents them from wandering outside the designated area, much like the explosive collars in the series Battle Royale. The designated area is roughly one square kilometer; if the participants cross this boundary or tell anyone of the secrets of GANTZ and the apartment, the explosive will detonate. Curiously, it appears that this trigger only works when the player talks to someone about it, as Nishi developed a web site with written reports of his missions and apparently no harm was done to him because of it.

Those who are killed by the aliens die for good. If they manage to survive the mission, however, they return to the room in perfect health (even if they were nearly dead, missing limbs, etc). GANTZ then tallies individual scores based on kills and sets them free, only to have them return to play another time. Points are awarded both according to the number of kills achieved by the player and by the equipment used by the player. On two occasions, Kei Kurono is forced to fight without his Gantz Suit. On both such occasions, he earned a large number of points, causing some to assert that kills made while suit-less are worth double points. Some also believe that the live capture of an alien is worth the same as a kill, although there it has been implied in both the manga and the anime that the point reward for a capture is worth less.

Those who manage to accumulate 100 points are given one of three choices:

Be set free with their memories of Gantz and the games wiped.
Receive an "ultimate weapon" (Izumi selected this option, but the weapon is not yet revealed).
Be able to bring back to life someone from GANTZ's memory bank.

In the event that the one-hour mission duration is reached without all targets being eliminated, all of a player's points are revoked and he goes back to zero (as happened to Kurono in the Chibi Seijin mission). Prior to this the players had assumed that failing to complete the mission in the time alotted would result in the immediate death of the entire team. The following mission, Kurono was informed by Gantz (who addressed him by name) that if he did not achieve 15 points in the current mission that he would be killed.

It is not known for sure if this 15 point requirement is a hard and fast rule, since some missions do not appear to have 15 total available points to be earned, but it seems pretty clear that this was a penalty imposed by Gantz for Kurono's failure the previous round.

Perhaps the most important thing to note about the rules of Gantz's deadly game is that none of the rules are actually explicitly given to the players, with the exception of the 100 point menu, which is either given automatically when a player reaches or exceeds 100 points, or is requested by a player, and the 15-point requirement given to Kurono at the start of the Kappe Seijin mission. In every other case the players have learned of their rewards and penalties only after they have been earned.

Instead of being given any training or a list of rules, the participants are simply told to kill their target, and are only shown one or two enemies that are not representative of the full compliment of their opponents. They are not given any useful information on their enemies' capabilities or weaknesses, or the number of enemies to expect. Unfortunately for the players, the rules of the game (as well as the capabilities of the suits, the use of the weapons, and the scoring system) are learned by one of two ways: either by institutional memory (i.e. a veteran explaining to a newcomer how the game works), or by trial and error, the latter usually resulting in the death of one or more players. In the days before the beginning of the series when Nishi was the only surviving veteran, the newcomers were forced to rely solely on trial and error; the result-- as Nishi indicated following the Negi Seijin mission-- was that Kurono, Kato, and Kishimoto were the only other people to survive to the end of a single mission in "a long time".

The end result is that the newcomers are entirely dependent on the goodwill of the veterans for crucial information that may be their only hope of survival; in the hypothetical event that the entire compliment of veterans is wiped out, any future group of newcomers would be almost completely at the mercy of their enemies. Without the knowledge of a veteran to help the newcomers, we are left to wonder how many months or years it would take before a single person capable of surviving on sheer instinct and luck might come along. We are also left to wonder how long after the original inception of Gantz's "game" it took before anyone survived to teach his successors and build a team.


[b]Equipment[/b]
Before each mission, Gantz's black ball opens, displaying a handful of equipment that the players can use in the hunts. They can take these items home after the battles and even use them in their personal matters.

[b]Basic equipment[/b]

[b]Gantz Suit[/b]: Unquestionably the most essential piece of equipment the Hunters can employ. Each suit is attuned to an individual body and can only be utilized by that specific Hunter. The suits are tight to a point that the wearer cannot put it on with any kind of underwear, but gives them incredible strength, speed, and endurance. On top of that, the suit provides the player with an almost impenetrable protection to his/her body, even to the head which is fully exposed. Large caliber bullet rounds to the face do not leave as much as a bruise. When in full use, the suits' artificial muscles expand, making the Hunter appear larger. In terms of strength, they can easily lift over fifty times their weight and jump well over thirty feet high. However, the amount of damage it can sustain is limited. Should the suit receive too many powerful impacts without time to recover, the "caps" along the suit will break, releasing the essential chemical that powers it, rendering it as useful as ordinary clothes. The Vampires are apparently aware of the suits, as they often attack the caps directly.

[b]Controller[/b]

A device used to track the targets, as it carries a small screen displaying the location of the targets. However, the marker on the radar isn't very precise and has created many situations in which the Hunters ran into trouble pinpointing the exact number and location of the targets. The players can also change cloaking frequencies with this device, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. Some aliens, however, can see through the cloaking field, and there are devices that can do the same, such as the glasses used by the Vampires. Vampires also have contacts that fulfill the same propose as the glasses, they tend to put them on while in combat.


[b]Weapons[/b]

[b]X-Gun[/b]
The most frequently used weapon of the Hunters. The X-gun is a small handgun-sized weapon, that gets its name from the four protrusions around the barrel that spread out like an "X" when fired. It also has an X-ray monitor in the back. Later in the manga, the X-ray device is revealed to be part of a lock-on system that can target multiple enemies at once. The X-gun functions by firing nano-sized explosives which stop and explode inside the target. The effectiveness of this gun is not specific to biological targets as it has been shown to affect the surroundings as well. The only drawback to this weapon is its slow speed

[b]X-Rifle[/b]
A weapon is similar to the X-Gun in almost every respect in terms of functionality. However, the X-Rifle (which is shaped like a rifle version of the X-Gun) is clearly meant for longer range. It has a much greater firing range, higher accuracy, and a sniper scope. In the Buddha alien mission, one of the Hunters equipped with this weapon stated that its range is at least one kilometer.

[b]Y-Gun[/b]
The only non-lethal weapon in the Hunter's arsenal so far. It is a handgun-sized weapon that has the same lock-on capabilities of the X-Gun, but rather than fire out a lethal payload, it instead launches a homing net that securely ties up the target with a strong wire and then buries the points of the net into the ground. Once this is done, the target is "sent" by means of teleportation to an unknown point in space. This weapon gets its name from the Y-shaped barrel that the net launches from.

[b]Gantz Sword[/b]
The only short range weapon revealed so far. It is a katana-like weapon that is usually in a closed hilt-only state. When in use, an incredibly sharp blade extends from the hilt. It can extend without loss of durability and it is unknown if its length is limited; currently it has only been extended to roughly 30 feet


[b]Vehicles[/b]

[b]Gantz Bike[/b]
A type of monowheel and the only vehicle provided by Gantz so far. It doesn't seem to possess any attack ability, but can travel at great velocity. It made its first appearance in the dinosaur mission, in which Kurono and the old man used it numerous times.


[b] Roleplay[/b]

[center] Now, this is just an interest thread, im wondering if anyone would be interested in joining a [b]Gantz[/b] based roleplay. A good portion of detail is put up showing the different weapons/equipment of gantz and the basic storyline. During the roleplay you will be making your own character and how he/she found their way to the "game". From their most of our characters should have met each other, Characters are allowed to have already been in the false reality if they have well known knowledge of the gantz anime/manga.

If this sounds interesting and I get enough people wanting to join I will make a thread about it in the adventures square section of the site and will go from their.[/center][/SIZE]

[Domon]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Blue]Hmm. And here I was actually about to do a Gantz rpg ^_^;; I'm pretty interested in a Gantz rpg. It would be interesting.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Obesepanda]

[SIZE=1]If you already wanted to start one then I can delete this one, it's not a big deal or anything.[/SIZE]

[Domon]

No no no! Actually you would probably do a much better job than me. I haven't had the time to actually sit down and write the story.

[madnessofthecat]

[SIZE=1] interesting...I would be interested in a gantz rp. actually that sounds like alot of fun. [/SIZE]

[Obesepanda]

[SIZE=1]Great, Finally another response. Im looking for about four to five more characters before we start, since you are the only one interested. [/SIZE]

[only1specialed]

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=4][FONT=Impact]hey im down for doing the Gants rp. i havent seen the whole anime but i have seen enough to know about the show. So you can count me in too if you gonna do one :animesigh[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Kenshin DX]

Gantz is one of my all time favorite animes. Ill gladly join in.