It's back to business as usual in GANTZ #3 with Kurono and his new team-mates dispatched to hunt down another funky-looking alien; the "Suzuka" alien- an afro sporting robot with a (literally) ear splitting scream and a murderous appetite for candy eggs.

Getting ready for the hunt, Kurono is suddenly struck with fear when he realizes he has left his combat suit at home. And as you would expect from people in this kind of absurd situation, most of the other "contestants" don't believe a thing they are being told about the hunt anyway.

It takes the harsh tongue (and short temper!) of school kid (and GANTZ veteran) Nishi to make them realize that perhaps they should take the big black ball sitting in the middle of the room seriously. And then they are off and whether they like it or not, the hunt is on and each person has but 1hr to prove they have the survival instincts to live on.

Despite being at times slow going, GANTZ #3 is another fun and interesting four episodes of alien bashing. This show has an undeniably sharp sense of wit and far from being just another unoriginal explosion of guts and violence, both the contemporary street side setting and close to the bone characterization capture enough raw humour and sarcasm to carry us through what would otherwise fast become painful and sadistic viewing.

The theme of this volume or this hunt in particular is probably self reliance. In what has to be a series highpoint, Nishi illustrates this point when he unleashes a shocking tirade of bitter remarks aimed at every member of the group. He slams the nigh on helpless Kishimoto for hiding behind Kato and relying on others to protect her, berates Kei for crying in front of the others when he realized he had left his suit at home and even the granny (yes, GANTZ has involved a granny in this hunt!) gets a few verbal criticisms thrown her way. Later, Nishi pays for what he said here, but still he hits the mark and if the likes of Kishimoto are going to survive, they will have to learn to stand up for themselves.

What prevents GANTZ #3 from being a true success though is the frustratingly drawn out pace that is peppered with indecisiveness and repetitive angst. For episodes on end, characters stand around doing nothing and after a while, it starts to grate. The action is being held back with some pointless arguments and you just want to scream "get on with it!"

The animation and soundtrack are similarly disappointing. With regards to the action, there is a notable lack of fluidity and detail when the violence inevitably does kick off; it's almost like watching a camera pan across static pictures and this only adds to the strong sense of narrative drag. It's a shame too, because when a series is so liberal with its violent tendencies, there is literally so much that can be done but isn't.

In Summary

Grannies, little kids and beautiful girls are all thrown into the bloody game this time around so if GANTZ hadn't already offended enough with its dark sense of humour, now is the time to get out the pitchforks and start screaming 'filth!’ It's not mindless though, and the strong undercurrent of social commentary drags the show from mediocrity until the afro robots turn up!