[Manga] Gantz: The Manga

GANTZ: THE MANGA

During the last few days, I’ve been absolutely completely hooked on the “Gantz Manga”. I learned about it from another forum and after reading a few reviews, I can see what makes it so addicting. As a matter of fact, I just finished reading up to chapter 226.

This thread is to discuss the Gantz manga. Discussions of the anime will not be the focus, however if you do feel that you need to make comparisons and the like between the anime and the manga, please try to keep it focused on this series. I have not seen the anime yet, but from what I’ve heard, it’s quite lacking compared to the manga.

You may find translated scans here. You must register first, but membership is free. As of now, March 3, 2006, the series is up to chapter 226.

As always, please use spoiler tags whenever appropriate (ie. [ spoil ] ZOMG GANTZ [/spoil ] without the spaces), as this story contains plenty of surprises and plot twists and the like.

THE CREDITS/INFO:

Authored by Hiroya Oku
Publisher: Shueisha, Editions Tonkam, Planet Manga
Serialized in Weekly Young Jump
Original run 2001 – ongoing
No. of volumes 18 (26 pending)
Genre: Action, Horror, Paranormal, Suspense

Source: Wikipedia

THE STORY:

Gantz tells the story about a young boy named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which he, and several other people who have recently died have to hunt down and kill aliens (Wikipedia).

While this may sound boring and somewhat clichequed at first (and does borrow a few elements from Battle Royale), it does a surprisingly good job of connecting the reader with the cast. It’s interseting as it makes the reader involved with the lives of certain individuals and perhaps “care” for them. Some of the minor characters are quite expedible and end up dying quick brutal deaths. What’s also intriguing is that there are certain characters which end up in certain situations which you wouldn’t have anticipated.

I'm not much of a big manga reader myself, and after being somewhat bored to death with generic anime series and the likes, I gave Gantz a shot, and damn, I'm happy I did. You will too!


THE CAST:

GANTZ — A large black sphere in the apartment that controls the lives of those who get involved with his game. Inside GANTZ are weapons and personalized skin suits that grant increased strength and reflexes to those "recruited" by GANTZ. The rather peculiar, comatose and bald man positioned inside the black sphere may or may not be GANTZ's true form. GANTZ is an enigma and while more about GANTZ's rules are revealed as the series goes on, GANTZ himself (or itself) remains a mystery.

Kei Kurono (玄野 計 Kurono Kei) — The central protagonist. He was summoned by Gantz, along with Kato, after being hit by a subway train in an effort to help a hobo who had passed out on the tracks. In the beginning, he is a rather selfish character who often ends up being the reluctant hero. At some points, Kurono actually enjoys the brutal missions since he has a chance to prove his mettle and to use the powers GANTZ's technology grants him to decimate his foes. In the manga, Kurono is eventually regarded as a hero by the other players, who look up to him.

Masaru Kato (加藤 勝 Katō Masaru) — An old friend of Kurono. He calls calls Kurono "Kei-chan". He is a noble and heroic person, having been inspired by the Kei-chan he knew as a boy. At school he acts as a guardian to the weaker students who often find themselves bullied. He was summoned by Gantz, along with Kurono, after being hit by a subway train, as a result of helping a pathetic drunken hobo who had blacked out on the tracks. Kato and his little brother live with their uncaring aunt.

Kei Kishimoto (岸本 恵 Kishimoto Kei) — First appears naked in the Apartment as her death involved her slitting her wrists while in a bathtub. Kurono has a deep crush on her, but she herself has a crush on Masaru Kato,

Joichiro Nishi (西 丈一郎 Nishi Jōichirō) — Nishi is a veteran of the GANTZ world, having arrived there a year ago. Supposedly, he committed suicide and leapt off the side of a building. Much like how Kuruno started out, he is also selfish and believes in every man for himself.

Shion Izumi (和泉 紫音 Izumi Shion) — A psychotic, yet powerful teenager. He could easily be seen as Kei Kurono's "unfeeling" and arrogant antagonist whose only ambition is to live his life striving to be the best Gantzer and may evidently take [innocent] lives, whom stand in his way, to make it happen. GANTZ refers to him as simply "Izumi".

Tae Kojima (小島 多恵 Kojima Tae) — Kurono's first actual girlfriend. A "plain-looking" girl, who Kurono initially starts dating because of a dare. But he actually falls in love with her.

Reika (レイカ) — A beautifully young and popular idol. She develops a crush on Kurono after seeing him in action during her first night as a participant in the Game. GANTZ used to call her "Kurono's #1 Fan", but now he just calls her "Reika". Surprisingly enough, she proves to be a formidable opponent against the foes (possibly on par with Kurono and Izumi).

Daizaemon Kaze (風 大左衛門 Kaze Daizaemon) — A tall and powerful man, with a solid physique, looking for a good fight in Tokyo. Gantz calls him "Countryside General", and later on "Muscle Rider (Not Really)".

Source: Wikipedia, edited for spoilers.

THE SOURCE:

You may find translated scans here. You must register first, but membership is free. As of now, March 3, 2006, the series is up to chapter 226.

Jazz has posted a few more links:

Originally Posted by Jazz Flight

http://shocwave.caticus.com/index.html -- Shocwave's page. He's translated the bulk of Gantz.

http://www.bur.st/~loserbait/index.htm -- Has from 143-221 on direct download if you need it.

What are your thoughts and comments for the Gantz manga series?

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Spatula

You may find translated scans here. You must register first, but membership is free. As of now, March 3, 2006, the series is up to chapter 226.

I've been watching the anime (only need to see the last volume), but now I want to read the manga since I heard it's better. But is there a way to download these in one large file instead of downloading these individually? I guess if I have to I will, but I would prefer just downloading one large file.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Gantz is friggin' incredible.

Best manga I've ever read. It's just a shame that it comes out so sparingly, the author keeps taking weeks off and each issue only covers a small amount of time. Love the twists and turns and never knowing if a main character is going to be killed off (although by the most latest issues, it's not as tense).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've tried looking around for batches, but unfortunately to no avail, it looks like the server restricts the downloads to only two chapters simultaneously. What's even worse is that it takes generally 8 to 20 minutes to download a 4 MB chapter. What kept me back logged with this was the download speed, honestly. If I were to give a ratio of downloading time vs reading time, it'd be close to 10 minutes of downloading to 1 minute of reading. It's sad, but heh, the price is right.

Originally Posted by Jazz Flight

Best manga I've ever read. It's just a shame that it comes out so sparingly, the author keeps taking weeks off and each issue only covers a small amount of time. Love the twists and turns and never knowing if a main character is going to be killed off (although by the most latest issues, it's not as tense).

I found the fight scenes somewhat tiring when they were back to back. I'd love to see more character development between Kurono and Tae since you see many flashbacks of what they did, however it seems to skip over that. Also, I like how there's an element of the "teenage romance" of which girl Kurono is after. It seems at the moment it's still Tae, but we can't forget about the lovely short haired chick, Kei.

From what I know so far about the release, it looks like its one chapter ever week that is being released.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Spatula

Also, I like how there's an element of the "teenage romance" of which girl Kurono is after. It seems at the moment it's still Tae, but we can't forget about the lovely short haired chick, Kei.

From what I know so far about the release, it looks like its one chapter ever week that is being released.

Spoiler:

Uh. What? Kei's long gone and dead, no one cares about her anymore. Same with Lara Croft Tomb Raider chick. The only other romance comes from Reika, but it's a one-way street (she likes Kurono, he's not interested). The current storyline is obviously Kurono and Tae getting back together (and becoming the developed characters that they had been during the Gantz months) through their lost memories.

In an ideal world, it would be one chapter per week, but haven't you read the little "next week" notes at the end of each issue? Most of the time it's from the author saying "sorry bitches, Gantz will continue after a 2-week break due to manuscript writing." Then add on translation time, which for Shocwave was FOREVER (fortunately another group took up the latest issues).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Spatula

I've tried looking around for batches, but unfortunately to no avail, it looks like the server restricts the downloads to only two chapters simultaneously. What's even worse is that it takes generally 8 to 20 minutes to download a 4 MB chapter. What kept me back logged with this was the download speed, honestly. If I were to give a ratio of downloading time vs reading time, it'd be close to 10 minutes of downloading to 1 minute of reading. It's sad, but heh, the price is right.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get started with downloading then.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

http://shocwave.caticus.com/index.html -- Shocwave's page. He's translated the bulk of Gantz.

http://www.bur.st/~loserbait/index.htm -- Has from 143-221 on direct download if you need it.

FELIPE NO

I still do have "feelings" for Kei, even thought she seemed pretty useless in fights and generally just ran away and hides, crazy "Tits" lol. The manga did mention about Kei that:

Spoiler:

there was another Kei out and about. I believe it was her "double" or some effect like that. I personally believe she will be brought back by someone's 100 points, most likely Kurono's. We've seen her on like 50 or even more of the opening cover pages of each chapter.
However, I doubt that the "Lora Craft" chick will be as fortunate.

And for the release dates, I got this information from another forum as I read the whole 226 chapters in 6 days, so I wouldn't have experienced how the pacing is like for the release.

As I'm caught up now with the story, I'll probably be sitting back and reading them one by one, just as much of you guys have been doing.

EDIT:

Thinking about it now with Kei:

Spoiler:

I do believe she's going to be ressurected and will probably hook up with Masaru Kota since it looks like they had some chemistry brewing together. I wouldn't be surprised if Kota used his future 100 points to resurrect her. There we go- two nice couples: Kurono with Tae/ Kota with Kei. As for Reika, I've got a feeling perhaps there might or might not be another love interest brought into the game

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Spatula

I still do have "feelings" for Kei, even thought she seemed pretty useless in fights and generally just ran away and hides, crazy "Tits" lol. The manga did mention about Kei that:

Spoiler:

there was another Kei out and about. I believe it was her "double" or some effect like that. I personally believe she will be brought back by someone's 100 points, most likely Kurono's. We've seen her on like 50 or even more of the opening cover pages of each chapter.
However, I doubt that the "Lora Craft" chick will be as fortunate.

Spoiler:

If they bring back Kei (girl), the only person to do that would be Katou. Kurono, when faced with the decision of who to bring back, thought for a split second about Kei and Lara, then brought back Nishi instead. Then he had his memories wiped with his own 100 points so he could live with Tae.

Kei (girl) had the hots for Katou, but Katou was pretty oblivious. Katou's main story focus is his little brother, who he was reunited with recently.

The original Kei (non-Gantz) met Kurono once, but was weirded out and thought he was a stalker. They didn't go into that ever again, really.

The way the author has the story set up now, there is little chance for large amounts of people dying (as this group has been fleshed out, as opposed to previous teams), and anyone can be brought back with 100 points. There is less tension and Kurono and Tae's relationship is pretty predictable from now on. It's guaranteed that he'll be drawn back into Gantz.

Kei (girl) was a throwaway character with no real backstory. She was just a latcher-on to Kurono and Katou, had no fighting skills, and died really early in the series. Plus, she wanted to die, that's how she got into Gantz in the first place. With so many characters in the story at the moment, I don't see her coming back, except POSSIBLY for the finale when Gantz is destroyed/whatever.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

About Kurono around chapter 220ish.

Spoiler:

Yeap. I find it pretty obvious that he'll be joining back into Gantz, somehow. Perhaps when the rest of the gang aren't on any missions, they'll pursuade him to join again. Plus, I bet something will click into both their minds (Kurono's and Tae's) about the conversation they had when Tae was the target. Remember when Kurono explained to Tae about the game and she was the target? I've got a feeling that some event will trigger this memory back into both their minds again.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I personally don't really like Gantz, since it's so goddamn slow. I'm not saying that the story's bad, it's just that you could tell the same story with fewer chapters imo. I do like the character art, but the alien/monster or watever they are are designed pretty boring. I've read the first 5 volumes, and they only got to the mission with the ugly bird thingies. Since the manga is too bloody expensive in France, I just gave up on it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

A thought regarding the aliens:

Spoiler:

So far we've seen the progression of aliens which our "special forces" have fought. I've noticed that the difficulty of defeating these aliens have increased substantially since the very first Onion aliens up to the Oni aliens.

I'm wondering what type of aliens were fought prior to Kurono's coming. What sort of aliens did Joichiro Nishi (the so-called Veteran who seemed to be the only survivor from the last couple Gantz games before being killed in the Tanaka mission) have to deal with?

Perhaps Gantz adjusts the difficulty according to the one individual character with the highest experience (ie Kurono), so all the newbies that joined just recently were at a disadvantage since Kurono would be at such a high level.
However, if that were the case, then Nishi himself shouldn't have had problems with the Tanaka alien, since this particular alien would be at his skill level.

I'm not too sure if Gantz chooses aliens which "he" wants the people to defeat, or if it's a total random draw of which aliens are the next targets. One clue that Gantz chooses the targets is when Tae gets targeted for accidentally taking pictures of the game.

Also, I think Gantz randomly chooses a slim selection of people who have lost their lives in the real world to participate in the game. If Gantz were to choose every single soul that was killed in Japan/Tokyo for that matter, then imagine how many people would be stuffed into that apartment during Izumi's Shinjuku raid.

There are still a lot of questions, but one speculation I have is perhaps Gantz is the final alien. I'm not too sure, but maybe Gantz promised the group some sort of offer near the end of the series, but fails to deliver. This triggers a rebellion by Kurono and they choose to fight Gantz. I just wonder how they'd be able to transport themselves home since they would be in Gantz's world. Interesting. I guess we just have to keep reading.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Spatula

A thought regarding the aliens:

Spoiler:

I'm wondering what type of aliens were fought prior to Kurono's coming. What sort of aliens did Joichiro Nishi (the so-called Veteran who seemed to be the only survivor from the last couple Gantz games before being killed in the Tanaka mission) have to deal with?

Spoiler:

You also forgot Izumi was part of Nishi's old group.

Quote:

Spoiler:

Perhaps Gantz adjusts the difficulty according to the one individual character with the highest experience (ie Kurono), so all the newbies that joined just recently were at a disadvantage since Kurono would be at such a high level.
However, if that were the case, then Nishi himself shouldn't have had problems with the Tanaka alien, since this particular alien would be at his skill level.

Spoiler:

The author's just making it up as he goes along. He has to make each fight harder than the last one otherwise no one would read the manga or be interested.

Quote:

Spoiler:

I'm not too sure if Gantz chooses aliens which "he" wants the people to defeat, or if it's a total random draw of which aliens are the next targets. One clue that Gantz chooses the targets is when Tae gets targeted for accidentally taking pictures of the game.

Spoiler:

Gantz chooses aliens. There's a lot of evidence that he picks certain targets, objectives, and people to piss off and challenge the current team. He's a sadistic bastard.

Quote:

Spoiler:

Also, I think Gantz randomly chooses a slim selection of people who have lost their lives in the real world to participate in the game. If Gantz were to choose every single soul that was killed in Japan/Tokyo for that matter, then imagine how many people would be stuffed into that apartment during Izumi's Shinjuku raid.

Spoiler:

Yeah, we know that. It's only around 10-12 people per group. He picks from people who have died at around the same time in Japan. Usually the dumbass newbies get killed instantly (I like when the black Americans showed up and their text was already in English and pretty authentic for their characters. Nice touch by the author).

Quote:

Spoiler:

There are still a lot of questions, but one speculation I have is perhaps Gantz is the final alien. I'm not too sure, but maybe Gantz promised the group some sort of offer near the end of the series, but fails to deliver. This triggers a rebellion by Kurono and they choose to fight Gantz. I just wonder how they'd be able to transport themselves home since they would be in Gantz's world. Interesting. I guess we just have to keep reading.

Spoiler:

Yeah, it seems like the group will eventually find a way to get rid of Gantz forever. However, it's a toss-up if the author will ever reveal any secrets about the series at the end. I remember they were getting into some "apocalypse" stuff and the quote about "in the beginning there was the word" which you can see in the early volumes, but it's been set aside. Also, the fact that Kurono's brother is a vampire might come back up.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hmm, this series is hot. I keep guessing what will happen in the end of the manga. Maybe it all of those "players" will kill each other to be survived? or maybe Gantz will be the last boss? only time will tell. btw if I bcome Kurono, I will definitely pick option #2, that's like gamesharking the Gantz itself

anyway, Gantz is too sadistic and looks like a perfect representation of bella omnium contra omnes :P

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I read both manga and anime and unlike most anime adaptations it does the manga justice, sometimes even outdoing it (I like how more depth the Masaru Kato relationship with his brother and aunt are shown in the anime, or the backstory of the thug with a child and his milk problems). It even has a decent anime only ending, where other anime has rushed endings when the manga isn't complete yet.

The anime missed out on the awesomeness of Izumi and Reika though. I wasn't fond of the psychics or the streetfighter when they were first introduced, nor of the prize when people reach 100 points, but this is one of the few series where I trust the way the author handles the story. It might be spontaneous storytelling but the plot twists keep it interesting and entertaining.

FELIPE NO

the manga is great (up to the current chapter) and i actually want to own the GN's one day
i totally see tokyopop getting this series but not right now

the only thing that turn me away from this series is the opening titles where its showing that chick all sweating and shit.. thats not hot lol

How ya doing, buddy?