 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DARK HORSE | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | HIROYA OKU | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 224 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | M | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 10/08/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 10/21/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
Gantz was a manga before it ever became the popular anime enjoyed worldwide, and Dark Horse is proud to bring you Hiroya Oku’s inspired, sexy, and dangerous work of brutal science fiction. The anime that is available from ADV films - which is already released in its entirety on DVD – follows the same story as the manga, but with enough differences to make both versions of this story worth viewing and reading. 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 on each mission, but others replace them in the same manner as Kei Kurono's appearance from seemingly nowhere after a near-death experience. Volume two starts right where volume one left off with that huge cliffhanger. Having seen the junior onion alien killed (murdered really), the large onion alien slaughters the yakuza and others who were responsible one by one within the first few pages. The area becomes a sea of blood. Kei Kurono happens upon the scene too late and flees in fear, but the large onion alien follows. It looks as though there is no escape. But then Kato uses his body as a shield and ends up getting sliced pretty badly by the alien’s razor sharp claws. Inspired by Kato’s selfless bravery, Kurono turns to face the onion alien. The results of this fight ensue… but will the survivors make it back “home” in one piece? The other question that still stands is “Are they actually still alive?” It’s hard to know what is real or imaginary anymore for the characters – it seems they still have a lot of learning to do before they truly understand the predicament they are now in with Gantz. Well Gantz is still giving little snippets of information away as it sees fit, and it’s enough to keep you guessing about a number of questions. The plot makes sense in relation to the characters need for survival and what they are willing to do to make that happen, but we’re still not really sure what has happened to them and why it has happened. There may even be a question of who is doing this to them – that is not yet completely apparent though. The violence in the visuals certainly continues in this volume – don’t expect that to go away ever, because it’s highly unlikely it will get anything but “worse” (depending on how you look at it!) as the story goes on. The art is very detailed, and the artist is very good at depicting some pretty gruesome scenes of violence and the after affects. Almost no one is spared some sort of pain in this manga – everyone is going home with a few scrapes, or they aren’t going home at all. But the visuals are pretty awesome, and the plot is coming together at a pace that keeps you hungry, so all in all Gantz is continuing to prove itself as a good piece of over-the-top entertainment. Gantz is pretty unrelenting in a number of ways, and there’s no better formula than that to have you be entertained right quick if you’re a fan of shocking fiction!
IN SUMMARY:
Gantz is a pulpy, violent mess of a story, involving characters thrust into situations they don’t understand with some pretty high-powered weaponry… which they also don’t understand! Mayham ensues, thus creating a page turner that you might not have expected! |
