[Manga] Gantz: The Manga

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).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

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

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.

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.