Gantz

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Gantz/Osaka

Japanese: GANTZ

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 37

Chapters: 383

Status: Finished

Published: Jul 13, 2000 to Jun 20, 2013

Genres: Action, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Themes: Gore, Psychological, Survival

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young Jump

Authors: Oku, Hiroya (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.08¹ (scored by 119,773 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #637²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #30

Members: 249,283

Favorites: 18,809

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8.08

Ranked #637Popularity #30Members 249,283

MangaYoung JumpOku, Hiroya (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /37

Chapters: /383

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Synopsis

Lonely high school student Kei Kurono isolates himself out of a growing cynicism toward his fellow man and the cruelty they are capable of enacting. One day, while waiting to take the subway to school, Kei's classmate Masaru Katou leaps onto the tracks in an effort to save a drunk man. Driven by an uncharacteristic desire to rescue someone else, Kei follows Katou down into danger. While successful in saving him, the two boys are killed by the train.

Kei wakes up beside Katou in an apartment full of strangers and furnished by a giant black orb with a glass-like outer surface. After finding out that everyone in the room has recently died, words appear on the black ball tasking them with killing a strange creature. The ball equips Kei and the others with power suits and mysterious guns before sending them off to collect this bizarre bounty.

Although Kei discovers the mission to be far more deadly than originally suspected, he manages to survive. He is teleported back to the apartment where he and the other survivors are rewarded point values according to their actions in battle by the black sphere, which a fellow survivor says is called "Gantz." Despite his death earlier that day, Kei is granted the ability to return to his daily life with one condition: he can be uprooted from his day at any time and summoned back to the apartment, where Gantz will task him and other recently deceased with the assassination of another target.

While Katou dreads the inevitable return to Gantz, Kei finds himself living for the sole purpose of carrying out these missions. Thriving in the heat of battle and learning to care about himself and his comrades, Kei faces escalating monstrous threats that begin to bleed out into his normal life outside of Gantz.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Gantz was published in English by Dark Horse Comics from June 25, 2008, to November 17, 2015, and as omnibuses from September 4, 2018 to July 4, 2023. It was also released in Czech by CREW from January 13, 2013, to January 16, 2024; and in Spanish by Panini Comics from September 16, 2015, to September 19, 2018.

The series was adapted into two live-action movies released in Japan on January 29, 2011, and April 23, 2011, respectively. A TV movie titled Another Gantz aired before the second film was released and is an alternate telling of the first film.

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Characters

Kurono, Kei

Main

Nishi, Jouichirou

Main

Katou, Masaru

Main

Shimohira, Reika

Main

Kaze, Daizaemon

Main

Sakurai, Hiroto

Main

Izumi, Shion

Main

Kojima, Tae

Main

Kishimoto, Kei

Main

Sakuraoka, Sei

Supporting

Reviews

Jul 12, 2025

INoLuv

Recommended

Gantz is a manga that nonchalantly conveys its own sense of aesthetics in a way that makes the horror design, thriller-like dread, charming application of "rule of cool" and sense of humor feel cohesive when put together (especially at the initial arcs centered around the survival aspect of the manga), even if it gradually falls off drastically from such a good start. In the beginning arcs, the survival perspective it takes to tell the action-oriented story of the manga are very good and though it progressively loses steam of what made it so constantly engaging after certain point in favor of something that can be ... considered more generic, it still can keep up some of its own identity at some moments (which unfortunately wasnt enough to make it a satisfaying finale, but it had highlight situations and funny bits that made it enjoyable enough to follow). Criticized by some for certain characteristics of it, most of the criticism is very exagerated (when not just bad), so it can be easily disregarded (however, i do agree with the criticism about the last "arc" dragging and meh plot points, which isnt brought up much), and i add: I do not think the common generic criticism it usually gets by a certain bunch are what makes it flawed, i do think it has some obvious flaws but they are FAR from being for those commonly regurgitated reasons. The final arc, more than any other in the story (though it started to get worse as soon as when a certain moment on the story comes) showcases a noticeably drawn out drop of what made Gantz so great when compared to the good start of it all (wont go in detail, as this is not a spoiler review). For this reason, i understand why one would dislike it because of that and feel that it was unsatisfaying. Regardless, it still compensates by being a quick read and still enjoyable enough so it isnt much boring (being boring is a number 1 major cardinal in my book). As it is, it would have been way better if it maintained the fun quality it initially gives the impression of having (and that it actually does at the first "arcs").

One of the main appeals of Gantz, which unfortunately isnt replicated in a charming well put together cohesive way (even gantz didnt mastered that) is how fresh it unapologetically presents what happens with the characters and those that inhabit the setting of it while keeping up with the "rule of cool" intentionality behind the action, though it still plays safe, i confess i wanted it to be WAY more "twisted" and also "grim" in some parts and totality, but for most readers it will be enough of that. Honestly, if it kept up the edge it had in the few arcs and the MC got the opposite of the progression he had for longer (progression which many like for it to have been that way, even if it wasnt such a stricking change) it would have retained its uniqueness more. It had a massive potential to be way better than it actually came to be.

The art is good and has a lot of personality, greatly enhancing the atmosphere of the world and the already mentioned good design of the foes the characters face. Some pannels are funny too and are enjoyable to watch. The flow of the pannel and text makes it a quick read, so despite the number of chapters it passes by rather quick so it is not as long as it seems to be. One flaw of the art, however, is that it can sometimes be messy and too abundant of photorealistic details that sometimes mash together in a way that makes it hard to figure out what is happening with ease, in physical format it may look better to follow compared to the digital means (the one i did read it from), but the 3D models still can be bad to see, especially in the final arc (already complained here). So the art is not flawless but pretty charming.

All in all, it is a manga that though could have been way better with some major essential tweaks to the approach it took as it progressed further, though it still remains being a memorable manga that is indeed a nice recomendation.

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Nov 24, 2024

ibernard

Mixed Feelings

I was actually able to finish this longer manga which, says something about it's appeal. First off, the art is amazing, definitely a highlight. The story, meanders a bit. Starts off really good, kind of takes a dip with it killing off some of the better characters and being a bit repetitive. The ending, is fairly satisfying, though I was hoping for a bit more. All in all, it's a flawed manga with some highlights that are pretty notable. I think it's a pretty divisive manga, as some people will love, and others will hate it, and of course you'll have people like me who ...

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May 5, 2024

notaweabo1452

Not Recommended

Well-written

Gantz is the most overrated trash manga to grace human existence and anyone who considers it a literary masterpiece is a genuine incel that you need to watch out for. Here's why -

Right from the start of the manga its extremely obvious that the author is writing the manga as if its his own fetish journal. Sexualizing high schoolers isn't a new thing about Japanese mangaka but in the very first chapters there are so many unnecessary sexual scenes and fetishization that really kills the mood, especially when you realize that the sexual scenes are with a character still in her high school.

It ... doesn't help that the author decided inputting his nsfw fanarts on the start of each chapter instead of DeviantArt or something in the most inappropriate of scenes really fucking ruins any tension and mood you'd have while going over multiple chapters. There were many times where something fucked up is going on in the manga with people getting killed left and right in the goriest ways imaginable, characters crying over the deaths of their precious ones in one chapter and when you head over to the next chapter there is a naked lady standing with her tits and her bush out posing like a front page Playboy model. The author seemed to have gained some sense by the end because the finishing chapters actually have proper sensible covers but for the most of the manga be prepared to see a lot of naked ladies even if you didn't consent for them.

But this only covers the tip of the iceberg as this rampant sexualization roots to a deeper issue about the manga itself - the female characters. I've never read a manga where the female characters are so incredibly irrelevant despite making up a huge chunk of the main cast. The women in this manga are fucking helpless, lack any sense of independency and are there just to fawn over the cooler male characters in the series. Like, literally, a female character is introduced in one chapter and you can skip 5 chapters down the line and you'll see the same character fall in love with one of the male characters without achieving anything of her own. I completed the manga last night and I don't remember any major accomplishment that the women in the manga have done except what Reika did in the end (and even that accomplishment felt like it was done just to wrap up her character). For a 387 chapters manga that really tells you a lot about the quality of the female characters written inside.

Now that we're done with the most insufferable part of the manga, let's talk about the bad parts. We talked about the female characters being bad but the male characters aren't that far off either. It's hard to relate or feel anything for most of them because they're just so goddamn bland. They just appear on screen, do cool shit, most of them die while doing cool shit and that's it. Kei Kurono, the MC, is insufferable as well for the first half of the manga as one of the most selfish and inconsiderate main characters that you'll encounter while reading but gets a really nice redemption arc by the end. The only characters I personally liked are Nishi, Suzuki and Sakurai. I honestly wouldn't have minded if we had Sakurai as the main character from the start, even if he is too cliched as a shounen protagonist.

Speaking of cliches, Gantz tries to look cool by breaking a lot of them but fails miserably in the process. Gantz is that emo kid in your school who wears black and smokes in hopes to look cool in front of everyone but just ends up looking up like an idiot in the end. There is a lot of unnecessary gore fuckfest, casual mentions of rape and SA that doesn't influence the character or is brought up again (Berzerk is an amazing example on how to show the lifelong aftermath of SA, for example) and just a lot of sexualization and fetishization where it isn't needed. Case in point, there are a few chapters by the end of the manga where the author really tries to make a pedophile look cool and heroic.

There's also a general feeling that you'll get as you go further in the series where it feels like the mangaka intentionally wants to torture you either through gore, suspense or climax. It's really apparent in the ending and I'm not personally a big fan of it. As a writer myself, I get the habit of torturing your readers a little bit but there is a limit to how far you can stretch it and Gantz definitely stretched it thin.

By the end, Gantz attempts to be a representation of the modern world with its dystopian perspective and for a lot of parts I'd say it pretty much nails down what would happen, even if it takes a very cynical way of showing it. If the rest of the manga wasn't so dogshit I'd give Gantz 6 or 7 for its worldbuilding alone.

Coming to the rare good things that Gantz has and one very clear area where it shines the most is art. The art is fantastic and to his credit the mangaka has given a lot of details to the small things. That includes boob physics as well which I didn't think I would see in a manga done so fluidly but decades of drawing naked high school girls must've paid off for the writer I guess. Some of the backgrounds look really fantastic and there are a few panels where I actually waited for a bit and scanned each minor detail because of amazingly detailed they were. I saw a clip of Connor talking about how the monsters in Gantz are one of its strongest suit in his trash taste podcast and I would agree as well.

I liked the ending even though it felt really, really cliched and a bit rushed, which seems to be an unpopular opinion for the series. Absolutely not a big fan of it but it could've gone worse. Plot was good but not good enough to be worth the shit that comes with it. Action scenes were great but it's not something I look for in a manga when choosing to read/rate it simply because anime is a better medium to judge that.

Gantz has got a few things going for it and if you're a proud edgelord/incel you'll absolutely love this manga. For anyone else with half a brain and common human sensibility, I'd recommend avoiding this manga like the plague especially because it's a dumpster fire that you won't be able to stop reading until you've finished it.

4/10 - It's bad. Read at your own peril. You've been warned.

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Poll: Gantz Chapter 383 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) avrc - Jun 15, 2013	331 replies	by joxer77 »» Jul 11, 12:05 PM
Poll: Gantz Chapter 174 Discussion BackLashWave - Jan 13, 2012	28 replies	by ohnewnew »» Jun 26, 3:28 PM
Poll: Gantz Chapter 382 Discussion ( 1 2 ) skualninja - Jun 5, 2013	71 replies	by Adriannitro »» May 18, 11:21 PM
Poll: Gantz Chapter 372 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Dr_Funkadelic - Oct 17, 2012	59 replies	by Adriannitro »» May 11, 12:34 AM
Poll: Gantz Chapter 368 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Zhou - Jul 18, 2012	62 replies	by Adriannitro »» May 10, 11:54 PM

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