General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Gantz (GANTZ) (2011 film)

Gantz (ガンツ) is a 2011 Japanese live-action science fiction action film directed by Shinsuke Sato, the first installment of a two-part adaptation of Hiroya Oku's manga Gantz, which had run in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine since 2000. It stars Kazunari Ninomiya and Kenichi Matsuyama as two young men who die on subway tracks and are recruited by a mysterious black orb to hunt aliens, and it was released in Japan by Toho on January 29, 2011.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	January 29, 2011, nationwide Toho theaters; rated PG12²
Runtime	130 minutes (Nikkatsu's page lists 128 minutes)¹^•³
Director and writer	Directed by Shinsuke Sato; screenplay by Yusuke Watanabe; music by Kenji Kawai¹
Stars	Kazunari Ninomiya (of the group Arashi) as Kei Kurono and Kenichi Matsuyama as Masaru Kato¹^•⁴
Source material	Hiroya Oku's manga, serialized in Weekly Young Jump since 2000, over 16 million copies of 27 volumes sold, published in 12 territories¹
Sequel	Gantz: Perfect Answer, released April 23, 2011, running 141 minutes¹
Production	"GANTZ" FILM PARTNERS; production companies include Nippon Television Network and Shueisha⁵

Spoilers

Plot

College student Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) encounters his childhood friend Masaru Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama) on a subway platform. Kato, a strong sense of justice, jumps onto the tracks to help a drunk man who has fallen there, and Kurono spontaneously joins him; both are run down by the oncoming train.¹

In the next instant the two wake in a strange apartment with others who should also be dead, including the high schooler Nishi (Kanata Hongo), Kishimoto (Natsuna), and the salaryman Yoshikazu Suzuki (Tomorowo Taguchi). At the center of the room sits an enigmatic black orb called GANTZ, which enlists them on missions to hunt down and exterminate "aliens," providing fighting suits and weapons. Kato is anguished by the slaughter, while Kurono gradually finds satisfaction as he discovers his own fighting ability.¹^•⁶ The first mission targets the so-called "onion alien," and survivors are returned to the room for further hunts; accumulating 100 points allows a survivor either to erase their memory and escape or to resurrect someone of their choice.⁶^•⁷

Sequel and related adaptations

The story continued in Gantz: Perfect Answer, released on April 23, 2011, running 141 minutes, in which Kurono, having lost Kato and Kishimoto, carries on their fight to protect the team and seek revival.¹^•¹³ The manga has since been adapted further: a full-3DCG anime film, Gantz: O, directed by Yasushi Kawamura, appeared in 2016, and a Hollywood live-action film was reported in 2021 to have found a director, with creator Hiroya Oku saying the rights deal dated to 2020.¹⁴^•¹⁵

Production and adaptation

According to Nippon Television, which led the project, a live-action adaptation of the manga was long considered impossible because of its intense action and strikingly original story. The success of NTV's adaptations of Death Note and 20th Century Boys made the project feasible, with Shinsuke Sato directing and Ninomiya and Matsuyama, known for Letters from Iwo Jima and Death Note respectively, in the double lead.¹ A production announcement event for the two-part film was held on August 5, 2010.⁸

The film tones down the manga's more exploitative content: the sexual elements are largely excluded and the main characters are no longer teenagers, which the Chlotrudis review credits with letting the filmmakers focus on how ordinary people can be pushed into violence. Its structure is built like a video game, with three large action sequences separated by downtime that develops characters and seeds the mysteries around GANTZ. The monsters are mostly practical effects, and the black-suited fighters remain grounded rather than replaced by digital stunt doubles.⁶ The special effects were supervised by Makoto Kamiya, whose earlier credits include Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).⁷

Release and reception

Before the Japanese opening, a special world premiere was held simultaneously in movie theaters across the United States on January 20, 2011, reflecting the producers' intent to reach the manga's overseas audience.⁹ Coverage of that American premiere recorded mixed reactions, with critics and audiences agreeing chiefly that the English dub was poor.¹⁰

In Japan, the film opened on January 29, 2011 on Toho screens.² The Japan Times reviewer Mark Schilling described it as twisting the Japanese "murder game" formula, established by Battle Royale (2000) and the Death Note films, in ways provocative and strange.¹¹ On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 58% Tomatometer from two critic reviews, with more than 500 audience ratings; one critic called it an ill-paced array of stops and starts with okay special effects, while another noted that Sato retained the surreal atmosphere of the manga and anime while almost completely excluding the sexual and much of the violent content.⁵ A Japanese review praised the film for compressing the absurd world's essence into two hours and for pushing its actors hard rather than merely showcasing stars.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026