 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DARK HORSE | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | HIROYA OKU | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 224 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 18+ | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 06/25/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 06/29/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
Gantz is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. There is also an anime that is available from ADV films, which is already released in its entirety on DVD. Gantz tells the story of a teenager named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a "game" in which he and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. The missions they embark upon are often dangerous. Many die (multiple times) on each mission, but others replace them in the same manner as Kei Kurono's appearance from seemingly nowhere after a near-death experience. The story actually begins quite abruptly (in a good way, a la Pulp Fiction) with the accident that kills the two main characters and starts them in the game. The last thing Kei and Masaru remember was being struck dead by a subway train while saving the life of a drunken bum, and yet somehow they're still... alive? Or semi-alive? Maybe it's reanimated... by some kind of alien orb with a nasty message... "Your lives are over. What you do with your new lives is up to me!" And what this orb called 'Gantz' intends to do with their lives is make them play games of death. Gantz forces them to participate in what at first appears to be a reality game show, in which they hunt aliens who are secretly living in Japan. Gantz provides them with skin suits that enhance their strength and resistance to injury, special guns, and a small electronic device that serves as a radar of sorts, among other functions. Each participant has a miniature explosive implanted in their brains that prevents them from wandering outside the designated playing field, much like the explosive collars in the series Battle Royale. The designated area is roughly one square kilometer; if the participants cross this boundary or tell anyone of the secrets of Gantz and the apartment, the explosive will detonate. It really is quite an interesting concept and quickly draws you in, wanting to know more. This dark and action-packed manga deals with the moral conflicts of violence, coupled with teenage sexual confusion and angst, and with our fascination with death. Gantz is pretty unrelenting in a number of ways, and there’s no better formula than that to have you be entertained right quick! So the plot and the general interest factor is at a high point from the very start, but what about the art? You’ll be please to know that Gantz is very good looking – the visuals are pretty top notch and don’t tend to skimp on anything. The first thing that then pops into mind is the violence, because Gantz certainly doesn’t skimp on that! The details of the visuals when it comes to someone being cut in half or falling out of an apartment window are hard to describe other than to say “accurately detailed.” This gives Gantz a lot of shock value, but generally readers of this series are looking for just that, so no one is likely to complain for even a second. So yes: Sex, violence, and everything else your mother warned you about (and beyond) is made readily available in Gantz without so much as an apology. It’s all done in a very “pulpy” B-Movie kind of way – it could be said that Gantz is “violence for violence sake” – so either you love that sort of thing, or you hate it. That being said, Gantz still manages an very professional, clean, detailed look that must be respected – there’s no lack of quality in the presentation of the subject matter, quite the opposite really. It has a mature art style to go along with the mature target audience it is hoping to entertain, so Gantz is pulling all the right moves. This series is going to be a shocker – that is beyond a doubt!
IN SUMMARY:
Gantz is “out there” – this series is truly pushing the envelope for mature content, and you have to give it a round of applause for pulling it off so shamelessly. The art is awesome, the plot draws you in almost immediately, and the characters are sure to form some pretty involving relationships along this bumpy ride – don’t miss out on this gory thriller!
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved
|
