Netflix And Chill: Gantz: O (2016)

I'd watched a few too many animated Japanese movies in a row so decided to pick something live-action as I continued to explore the world of Japanese cinema this month. Seeing the thumbnail and clips of Gantz: O, it looked like a great option. It's a testament to the quality of the animation that it took me a good few minutes to realise I wasn't watching a live-action film. I knew there was something a bit off, but initially thought there may just be a bit too much CGI layered on for the action sequence that was kicking off the whole enterprise.

Based on a manga (isn't that the way for 90% of the major sci-fi and action movies from Japan), Gantz: O tells the story of a group of people who are given a second chance at life after an untimely death. The main character at the centre of things is Masaru Kato, a young man who is killed by a knife attack in a subway. He wakes up in a room with a few other individuals beside him, and a large black orb computer named Gantz. They're given suits, given a time limit, and sent to Osaka to kill some big monsters. Kill all the monsters within the time limit and all is well. Don't manage it and, well, it's game over, in more ways than one.

The first thing that struck me about Gantz: O was just how visually gorgeous it was. Considering I thought the opening moments were live-action, I was impressed by the polished and realistic nature of the CGI on display. Realism may start to fade away as the monsters get wilder and wilder, but the attention to detail remains throughout. You also get some imagery in the third act that wouldn't look out of place in an animated movie from the late, great Satoshi Kon, and I don't say that lightly. I am not sure if this is directly lifted from the source material or a decision made to create something vivid and memorable in the animated versions, but the monsters here are wonderfully ridiculous in ways that make them seem a bit silly until they start killing people.

Daisuke Ono does well in the voice of Kato, and Mao Ichimichi is equally good as Anzu Yamasaki, a member of a different monster-killing squad who connects with Kato. Saori Hayami voices Reika Shimohira and Shûichi Ikeda is Yoshikazu Suzuki, two team members fighting alongside Kato, and Kendô Kobayashi is Hachiro Oka, the stern and cold killer who often has a point with what he's saying, despite the fact that it goes against the helpful and more humane nature of our hero.

Directors Keiichi Saitô and Yasushi Kawamura have done a great job with material that is obviously designed to provide as many different adventures as you could wish for (as is the way with many manga premises). The initial exposition is done in a scene that gets the main character up to speed while the viewers learn everything alongside him, and more information is effectively drip-fed in between some eye-popping set-pieces, including a bittersweet revelation in the very last main sequence.

Having gone into this with no expectations (having no previous knowledge of the series, I was just hoping that I would be able to appreciate this as a standalone outing), I'm now looking forward to eventually watching other tales set in the Gantz world. It's a fun place to visit.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: A Silent Voice (2016)

I hated most of my school years. Absolutely hated them. Schools are still pretty bad at being able to deal with bullying. Bullies are sly, their victims prefer to stay quiet. Telling teachers doesn't work, standing up to them can even lead to a fight which gets both of you in equal amounts of trouble, and you can't ignore a bully when they're in so many of your classes. Thankfully, you can mock them, you can get smarter than them, and you can eventually move from the area, build up your movie collection to an enviable amount, sit in your paid-up home, and mentally deliver a big fat "FUCK YOU" to all of those who helped to make your life an absolute nightmare for at least five years. Okay, that may be just me, but I am here to tell others that there is always hope. The weirdest thing about remembering those years, however, is remembering the times that I did the bullying. It happens. I still feel awful about it to this day. Trying to single out the kid who was a bit more different from the rest, trying to go along with a joke that was clearly making someone else miserable. Oh, they had dandruff (big deal), they weren't used to using deodorant yet (some people never learn, THAT'S when you need to address the issue), they were even poorer than I was, or they were just being far too annoying while also being physically weak, and therefore possibly beatable in a fight.

If you read that and I was ever involved in anything that made your life wretched and worse at an age when it should have been a lot easier just for us all to band together and battle through our education . . . please know that I am very sorry. I don't think I was ever a big threat to anyone, but I know (as much as I want to rewrite my own history) that I had some moments of being really shitty, for no other reason than to pass along the shittiness that I had been delivered by bullies.

I know, I know, you've once again stumbled on to a review here and wondered just what the hell I am wittering on about. Why this big tangent at the very start? Well, A Silent Voice is an imperfect film. The animation is nice, but not gorgeous. The characters, outwith the leads, aren't too memorable. The main story isn't really all that engrossing, in terms of how things ultimately develop en route to a third act. Yet it remains one of the best animated movies I have watched in some time, for one big reason. This film, more than any other, gives you an idea of the slippery slope of bullying, how easy it is to remain in that mindset, AND the ways in which bullying victims can continue to apologise and blame themselves for the actions of others.

The main strand of the narrative shows the relationship between Shoya and Shoko. Shoya is first shown planning a suicide attempt, and flashbacks show the life decisions that led him to that point, with the worst being his bullying of Shoko, a deaf girl first seen introduced as a new pupil at his school. As a youngster, Shoya really wasn't all that nice to some people, especially Shoka. But he improves as he gets older, although he moves through high school in an isolated and antisocial way, either deliberately keeping people away from him or assuming his past behaviour was already enough to cause them to want to avoid him. It's possible for people to change, especially moving from their younger years through their teens, and towards adulthood, but it can be a lot tougher when you consider the damage already caused to be irreparable.

Director Naoko Yamada has a decent selection of work in his filmography, from the look of things, but I am unfamiliar with anything else he has done (which is a lot of TV work, some OVAs, and less than a dozen movies). I may check out some of his other stuff one day, although I try to stick to individual movies rather than the wealth of episodic anime tales available out there, but the person who I need to remember from the list of credits here is writer Reiko Yoshida. He has a more extensive, and even more eclectic, filmography, and I am very interested in enjoying other tales from him, on the strength of his incisive work here, although perhaps I should also check out the source material by Yoshitoki Ōima.

The voice cast do well enough. Miyu Irino is the main voice for Shoya, Saori Hayami is the main voice for Shoko (although she says very few words, understandably), and the few other main voices are perfectly suitable, but the power of the film comes from the way it so beautifully illustrates different relationships and attitudes, rendering the vocal performances a distant second to the skillful visuals and artistic decisions.

Not everyone will get as much out of this. I am well aware that it resonated more strongly with me for a couple of different reasons (the spiral of self-loathing that motivates Shoya is also familiar to anyone who battles against depressive episodes). But I encourage everyone to give it a watch. Especially if, like me, you hadn't heard of it before.

8/10

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