Ranked #78

GANTZ (Manga)

A Japanese teenager waits at a train station, reading a trashy magazine featuring an idol enticing the reader with her big boobs. An elderly lady approaches the teenager, asking for directions. The teenager quickly mumbles a non-informative reply while thinking to himself what an annoyance the lady is, why should he give a shit about her? Oh look, a drunken tramp just fell onto the tracks and no one is going to help. Why should they? It’s none of their business, just look away and pretend you didn’t see it happen.

This is Gantz. Hiroya Oku's exploitative, violent and cynical depiction of the Japanese and their behaviour when confronted with moralistic situations. There's also a bunch of ever-increasingly ludicrous battle royales with aliens and vampires that destroy various parts of Tokyo and other cities, but that all comes later.

Back to that train station and that teenager: Kei Kurono. Instantly unlikeable, but oh so real. You either know kids like him, or you recognise your own traits in his character. You'll probably be lying to yourself if you don’t see yourself in some of these characters, its human nature to recoil from awkward situations. Gantz seems to gain great pleasure from thrusting its many random characters into awkward situations, sometimes involving nudity, usually violence, usually spontaneously.

Gantz is about a room somewhere with a black ball and a very infantile presence who gives out childish nicknames to unfortunately-recently-dead and usually unwilling participants in a 'game' that requires them to kill aliens in a kind of real-life recreation of a First Person Shooter. The brilliance is in the mystery and its ridiculousness.

People die and are transported to the room to pick up their suits and weapons, and if they survive the subsequent battle they're free to wander off and return to their lives...until they're transported back to the room for another battle, and so on until either they reach 100 points and are released from the game, or they die for real. Author Oku continually ups the stakes, regularly throwing bigger obstacles in characters' paths, and it becomes a case of “can he top this?” The answer is always: "yes he bloody well can!”

There is a massacre in Shinjuku, Tokyo that beggar’s belief in its astounding ambition to shock the reader with its scope, creativity and viciousness. Once I read this sequence, I knew any anime adaptation would either fail completely at bringing to motion what this manga gets away with, or it would follow it faithfully and probably be banned/censored. Obviously at the time of writing this review, the answer is the former, there aren’t many anime studios in the world that are as crazy as Oku.

This is Gantz's best asset, its secret weapon, the reason for why it's so memorable. It's outrageous. Because it's happening in such a familiar world. Oku's attention to detail, the way people behave and react, either as individuals or as a collective, or even on the internet, is spot on. Whether it's a massacre on a street or in a school, or a small squabble in an apartment or a train, the tension is reminiscent of real life, because the dialogue and body language is grounded in reality, no matter how out there the action and sci-fi ideas are.

The art of the manga is economical and precise; computer aided graphics help keep the locales detailed. The costumes, props and weapons design is a nice deviation from the typical 'dress the characters in black leather' trend that The Matrix seemingly rejuvenated in entertainment media. Kudos to Oku for using his imagination and not dragging the manga down with anything generic. It’s one of his many traits, taking existing ideas that are ripe for generic rip-off but putting his own spin on them. In this case the battle suits are humiliatingly tight, and regularly attract scorn and mockery from bystanders.

The action sequences in this manga are some of the best I've ever read. Oku has a real eye for framing the action from the right angles and positions. His action pay-offs always bring a smile to the face, the audacity and enormity of what occurs on the page, is a sight to behold. The destruction to urban property gets exponentially bigger throughout the manga, no structure or vehicle is left spared. My review is intentionally vague to save the surprises for the reader, but if you like guns, swords, urban environments chopped, sliced and blown up to bits, then you're going to have a blast with Gantz.

The ideas in Gantz are to do with the narcissistic state of 21st century living, the materialism of the masses, human relations in the face of ever disturbing circumstances. There is almost a Hitchcockian vibe in the way ordinary people are pushed into extraordinary situations and thrash around desperately trying to get out of them. The great mystery of Gantz is a sci-fi conspiracy that is always just bubbling under the surface. In the forefront of the story is the cast of lowlifes and nobodies. School kids, street punks, idols, yakuza, tourists, businessmen, random passersbys, random aliens and vampires.

Would you jump onto the tracks and drag the drunken tramp back onto the platform? Oku's humorous retort to that is a train decapitating your head for your troubles. Welcome to Gantz. read more

Review of Phase 1

Gantz is a Seinen, Sci-fi, Psychological, Action, Adventure about an ordinary teenager Kei Kurono and his friend who are unfortunate to have somehow survived an accident. Now he and others are forced into gory, semi-posthumous, battles of survival.

The story of Gantz is split up into two Phases and here I will talk about the 1st Phase, which is split up into missions. The missions are basically about people forced to kill unknown beings, for no given reason except to survive. Sure it doesn’t sound like much but it’s during these missions that the story comes to life, with plenty of action that's easy to visualize. The best thing about the missions is how well some of the main characters develop, through struggles and hardships and how believable they act in such an unbelievable story. The time between the missions is spent mostly developing the current characters and introducing new ones.

Throughout Phase 1, the characters could be considered one of the best aspects of the manga but there are only a few notable ones in the story (most of them appear beyond the anime story). Out of those few the one that truly stands out, has to be the most badass teenage character ever, Kei Kurono. Seeing him develop from a worthless kid to no.1 Gantzer is the best experience from this manga. The real problem is just how easily the characters can be killed off at any given moment and there are missions that are hugely affected by this.

At least it doesn’t completely affect the overall enjoyment of the manga and it is the artwork that contributes a lot to this. Gantz is made up of a combination between hand-drawn art and CG that gives this manga a lavish and unique look, to suit its sci-fi theme. Of course there’s a huge amount of gore, nudity and senseless violence that will make you wonder; what is going on inside this mangaka’s head?

Overall Gantz (Phase 1) achieved its goal of being one of the most violent and gory manga around, on the other hand it somewhat managed to be hugely entertaining. It also managed to develop some of the characters so well but in order to get them into the story it required, an unnecessarily long, string of violence and deaths. One thing that definitely needs to be done, is for all the unexplained to be explained in Gantz (Phase 2).

Some may be turned of by this mangaka’s obsession over gore and boobs however if you’re able to overlook it, then you’ll surely enjoy this manga. ^_^ read more

I'm going to make this short and simple. Gantz is quite questionable and confusing, because it doesn't make sense at all until you keep progressing throughout the story. Gantz is basically a black ball who chooses who he wants to fight for him. The series is not completed therefore many questions are yet to be answered. When the characters die in the anime, the chosen people appear in front of a black ball given a task to assassinate a certain type of alien/leader. They use futuristic motorcycles, to swords, to extreme never- before - seen guns. The setting of this manga is like a video game and for every monster you kill the more points you get and the main goal of Gantz is to get 100 points. If they do not complete their task, they lose all their points, or they are all killed. Kurono Kei is the main character and he's selfish and looks down on everybody. Throughout the series he changes and you''ll see him change through drastic experiences. This manga is quite thrilling. The story is intense and makes you want to continue reading on all day. The art is quite interesting and gorey. It has all the elements you could want in a manga. The love stories, action, comedy. The only downfall of this is the way some characters act. If someone were to pop in front of you with a knife with blood covered all over them, you wouldn't just stand there and be like ''Hey why do you look like you want to kill me'' and let them kill you without wanting to avoid the person. Some characters act illogical and seem to have zero common sense. To wrap it up this manga has more to offer then what is written in this review. I suggest you read a volume to figure out whether you would like to continue or not to. I give this manga a 10 read more

One of the greatest mangas I have ever read, I found gantz to be one of the most outstanding mangas out there. I've never been so hooked on a story ever since Berserk.

Story - I gave Gantz a 9 because the story is just magnificent and very different I mean how many mangas start of with the character dying, but it does have some flaws. One being the beginning of the story to go on a bit slow, but once you get through the first mission the story will get clearer.

Art - The art for Gantz is also one of the best I've seen, the characters really look real and the gore is fantastic. Oku has one of the greatest imaginations I've seen from an author, Gantz art is pretty much like Berserk without the medieval theme.

Characters - The characters in Gantz is also one of the best, an example is the mangas protagonist Kurono, in the beginning of the manga Kurono is more like an idiot who cares about nothing but himself, not really the kinda character you'd think to be the main character. Then through out the series we see him develop from a punk into a "hero". One of the bad things about the characters though is Oku tend to kill them off rather quickly though most of em you won't care about some will make you feel rather sad.

I'm not gonna put an enjoyment cause it's pretty much clear I enjoyed this manga and overall Gantz is a great manga that will make you want more. read more

Gantz is a masterpiece in my opinion. Even though I love this manga, this manga is definite not for everyone. This manga contain sex scenes, blood, blood and more blood, naked girls/monsters with supernatural and technological twist to everything.
However if you can stand all of the above then, this manga is for you. The manga is about killing aliens with incredible suits, weapon, vehicles and with everything you can think of. The alien are not just standing there doing nothing, the monsters are strong and sometimes, they are way to strong, and makes you wonder if they can be killed or not. From human size alien that move an uses crazy fire or thunder power to dinasaurs with thousands of eyes to temple statues.
Gantz is about a ball that save randomly the memory of someone that dies in any particular way and transfer the memory and created a clone and used it to fight the monster. Its like giving you a second chance but with one mission in mind, Kill and Survive.
All the characters that stay long enough all they think is surviving. They all fight to survive not because they are afraid of dying, but because they still have something important to accomplish or they still have someone waiting for them every day or night.

I see Gantz as a test for survival. If you really really cant die now, then you fight, you fight like never before, like there may be no tomorrow for you. You will fight as a team or fight alone, its the same but you should just stay alive for just one more night.

This manga story is very complicated and even though it has +274 chapters, most of the facts around Gantz is still unknown. If you like all of the above, you should give it a try to this masterpiece =P
Oh btw, Gantz starts with a very unliked character but at the same time with a tremendous will to survive. read more

Great story, first manga I've been addict too. Good thing about it, is that you cannot predict anything. Some caracter will die, new will come... I always asked myself what else will happen next page. If you want a gore, bloody, nasty manga, this is the one.

Fight, Monster, Sc-Fi, Sex, Blood... and many dead, many many many !!

I start reading after I saw the anime. If you have seen it, the Anime is just a small part of the story, the plot is going much farter. Anime story stop near #5-6... If I remember correctly.

Gantz has a very different story. In the first chapter the main character and his friend get decapitated, and get teleported to a room with a giant black ball in it named Gantz. Gantz is a bastard calling them names, and later Gantz forces them and several other people in the room to fight against "aliens" which are the most evil things ever. Lots of people die. And basically its a fight to survive kind of manga. When you kill all the "aliens" you get teleported back into the room, and are set free. Then a couple weeks later you go back to the room and have to do it all over again.

Nobody knows quite whats going on. All they know is "if i kill these aliens i get to go back home. If they kill me i die." It's incredibly intense. You never know whose going to die or whose going to live (main characters included). The action is kick ass! They have suits that give them super strength and thse sci-fi guns. The best action i've ever seen. EVER! I want to keep talking about the story, but i would just start drueling eventually. I give the story a 10. Outstanding!

Art: The art starts out amazing. Then a few volumes later it gets even better! Then eventually it gets EVEN BETTER! The art is amazing! The mangaka uses digital art combined with pen to make the best art thats ever been in a manga. A definit 10. Words can't explain how good it is.

Characters: Kei Kurono, is without a doubt, the most realalistic character thats ever been in a manga. He's selfish, doesn't care about others, and when he sees a girl he thinks about boobs. Now, i don't like stagnent characters. Kurono is the definition of character development. He starts out as a selfish kid, but developes into a bad ass, fighting machine! He's the definiton of BAD ASS!

The emotions the characters feel are so real it almost makes me think the mangaka actually had real people fight against aliens and he just wrote them down. Unbelievabley amazing. Characters get an easy 10. They really deserve an 11-12 though, but thats not allowed.

Enjoyment: The fight scenes are the best i've ever seen. The sex scenes (yes, theres even nudity in Gantz) are...entertaining for lack of a better word. The characters, just like you, are always wondering what Gantz is, and why they have to do this. Did i mention the fight scenes? Honestly they blow my mind. If the fight scenes in gantz were a person i would have sex with them.

Overall: I have a man crush on Kei Kurono, get a stiffy from the amazing fight scenes...and the sex scenes *blush*. This manga is easily twice as good as the next best manga out there. I'm only allowed to go as high as a 10 on this site. But i personally give Gantz an overall 20/10. Thats right! I gave bonus points for awsomeness!

Just a warning to readers: Lots of blood, Nudity, and Cuss words. If you don't mind that, or prefer it (like i do) then read Gantz now. In fact even if you don't like any of that. READ GANTZ. This is my favorite manga easy. Go read it now! read more

I decided to make another review. This one will be about Gantzu.

STORY 9/10
The story is interesting..how they kill in order to survive. Compared to the anime, the story in manga is waaay better. In the anime, the story related to manga ends with the 3rd game and then...fillers...In the manga, Kurono continues alone. And for the first time we find what happens when someone collects 100points. Kurono's choice was ok..But if he chose to revive someone..the tragedy wouldn't happened. And the 2nd Phase is awesome too. The main characters, led by Katou, go to Osaka, and meet the Osaka gantz team. I hope they'll revive Kurono soon...
ART 9/10
The art is great. I read more mangas from Oku Hiroya. His drawings are great. There are better drawings..but i liked these. What else to say about the drawings..hm..dunno
CHARACTER 8/10
The characters look really cool. I wonder only..why are all girls made in anime tits version? only Kurono's girlfriend is average..but she is really cute. Kurono is cool. He is a pervert high school guy. He likes reading porn magazines. Loves big tits,... Katou-chan is a hypocrite. He wants to help everyone and yet he kills the alien even if they are innocent. A sad story. Gantzu is a mysterious man living in a mysterious black sphere. Later, we found out that there are more gantzs...around the world!
ENJOYMENT 9/10
The manga is enjoyable because it isn't repeating...Well..they fight aliens..but with different characters, weapons, and ways of fighting. In every new game..they add a new weapon..like the katana. And later they can even buy new weapons..but they need 100points first.I enjoyed this manga..I read it for a few days...120chapters a day..
OVERALL 9/10
Its a great manga, my favorite manga, and it deserves a 9.5..maybe it will turn out to be the greatest manga ever.even better than dragon ball and naruto! who knows... read more

Decent manga , really different from the normal manga type. There is a lot of emphasis on the psychology of many different characters, lot of bloods and really unpredictable many heroes dies at random time.

If you like manga that contain violence and that is orignal at the same time its definitely for you.