Gantz: O
While fighting invading monsters, Kei Kurono rescues his friend, Reika. Though she protests, he faces off against the monsters' leader, dying just after killing it. Reika and her surviving teammates are teleported back to their base. Elsewhere, Masaru Kato dies after attempting to save someone from a knife-wielding maniac in a subway (who seems to be indiscriminately killing innocent bystanders). He wakes up in a small room with Reika and her teammates: Yoshikazu Suzuki, an old man; Joichiro Nishi, a surly teenager; and an angry, unidentified man. Suzuki explains that, in the past, they have each died and woken in the room. They are subsequently forced to fight against waves of monsters. Before Suzuki can explain further, a black orb identified as "Gantz" announces that their next mission is about to begin. The angry man defiantly refuses to participate and is killed by Nishi, who reasons that the rebelling man will be nothing but a liability.
After putting on skintight black suits (which contain advanced tech), the group is teleported to Osaka; Suzuki, confused, says they are usually sent to Tokyo. When Kato presses for more answers, Nishi threatens to kill him. Suzuki quickly explains in more detail: the team is given two hours to kill every monster in the city; if they fail, the team members die. After Kato and his team meet another team, some of whom have exotic weapons, Suzuki tells him that players accrue points for killing monsters. Anyone who scores 100 points can choose from three bonuses: upgraded weaponry, resurrection of a fallen teammate, or freedom from the "game". Nishi turns invisible to stealthily wait for high point monsters. The others watch as the better-equipped team slaughters monsters. Reika and Suzuki urge Kato to not engage the monsters needlessly, but he insists that they rescue the city's scared citizens; they refuse, saying they are too weak.
Amused to find Kato fighting monsters alone, Anzu Yamasaki (a member of the Osaka team), follows him, trying to figure out why he is risking his life. Kato says he is a student who has been living alone with his younger brother since the death of their parents. Yamasaki reveals that she has a young son and says they have something in common: both must stay alive to help someone who depends on them. Although Yamasaki initially believes that Kato is just showing off, she eventually concludes that he genuinely desires to help others and joins him. After killing a monster that was menacing several helpless survivors (an elderly couple and a young boy), Yamasaki proposes that, if she and Kato survive, they begin living together with her son and Kato's brother. Although surprised, Kato agrees (somewhat reluctantly), and they rejoin the others.
A gigantic monster rises from the water, and an equally large mecha appears, piloted by seven-time winner Hachiro Oka. Oka kills the monster but loses his mecha. Two other multiple winners from the Osaka team die fighting when they become overconfident. Oka, wounded and fighting without his best weapons, engages the leader, who appears first as an old man, a naked woman, and finally a skull-headed demon. Oka appears to win but tells them it is not dead; instead, it must be taken by surprise to be killed, and his current weapons make it too dangerous. After rising, the demon easily defeats Suzuki, Reika, Yamasaki, Nishi, and Kato. Suzuki is heavily wounded when he sacrifices himself to save Kato, and Nishi's arm is ripped off. Instead of killing them, though, it goes after Oka, who has left to retrieve better weapons.
Knowing someone must defeat the demon soon and Oka may be too wounded, Kato acts as a decoy in a trap. The demon, having killed Oka, attacks Kato, and the others shoot it from a distance. Before dying, the demon kills Yamasaki and maims Kato. Kato collapses beside Yamasaki's body, and the others assume him dead. Reika, Suzuki, and Nishi are surprised when he rejoins them at the base, where all are fully healed. When the scores are tallied up, Kato has 100 points; Reika and Suzuki encourage him to choose his freedom, but he resurrects Yamasaki. After Gantz allows them to leave, Kato races to return to his brother. The others discuss how Kato previously won the game, had his memory wiped with his freedom, and has somehow returned, unchanged from his previous willingness to sacrifice himself for others.
violence