”I’m scum. Pure scum. I bet they’re all dead.”
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Hiroya Oku
Translation: Matthew Johnson
What They Say
The stakes raise for the conscripted Gantz team as they face an increasingly deadly array of bizarre alien adversaries. But while the team remains in the dark about the nature of the lethal “game” they’re forced to play, the consequences of losing couldn’t be any more crystal clear!
Hiroya Oku’s Gantz is a manga phenomenon, selling over fifteen million copies in Japan and spawning an anime TV series and three feature films. A boldly erotic adult science-fiction epic, Gantz is violent, disturbing, and visually stunning, an apocalyptic vision staggering imagination. This value-priced omnibus collection features over 650 pages of havoc and horror!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I think I finally get Gantz. Specifically, I think I finally get our stupendously dislikeable main character in Kei Kurono.
He’s a brash, judgmental, misogynist, incel teenager with absolutely no redeemable traits whatsoever. When he’s whisked off in another game of life-or-death of alien-hunting with his fellow humans, the only reason we don’t hate him the most of the human cast is because there are those in the group that are just that much more stupendously dislikable to the point that author Oku actually feels the need to kill off those characters sooner than later. But with Kei… it’s such a mixed bag. Kei Kurono is not dislikable in an irredeemable ‘80s bad guy way. Kei Kurono is dislikable in that every awful thing he says or does reminds you of what you fear you were as an awful trash child back in high school.
Whenever Kei is faced with a major decision in the story, he almost always picks the absolute worst possible decision ever. He hides when others need him, he lusts over women solely because he wants to have sex, he boasts to an obnoxious degree when he wins, and when the universe decides to dump on him, he whines to an equally obnoxious degree. Kei is the embodiment of what you don’t want to admit to being and you definitely were at one point or another.
And for the first two omnibuses, this was a very hard thing to witness.
The only reason this third omnibus works is because outside of the blatant hypersexualization of female characters (both canon and non-canon?) on chapter covers, plus overly long ultraviolence in the form of slow and painful death at the hands of grotesque alien monsters, Kei actually develops something of a conscience. Upon coming back the sole survivor of the previous Gantz round, Kei is suddenly alone in the world. With no one else to share in these strange close encounters with, he begins to blend into the background of his normal everyday school life. So when an alien from a previous Gantz round hunts down Kei in the confines of the real world, the stakes suddenly feel that much more real.
While we haven’t spent as much time in the real world or establishing any characters outside of Gantz participants, the deaths at the hands of this latest threat feel more real than any of the previous ones fought within Gantz because of the sheer amount of nameless innocents murdered. For the first time in the series, Kei shows remorse for forcing others to take the brunt of his negligence. And even if some details like Kei’s kawaii innocent not-girlfriend feel a bit heavy-handed, the message still rings true. Our garbage protagonist is developing a sense of morals, and in a series where deaths are more or less played off as plot, that means a lot.
In Summary:
Gantz omnibus 3 is trash, but it’s enjoyable trash. The actual alien fights are brutal and overly long, and yet are a breeze to read through because of how surface-level they are. Actual story takes backseat to hypersexualized chapter covers and the bombastic nothings that make up the fight scenes. And yet I continue reading because sometimes you need some schlock in your life. The protagonist happening to develop a heart was just a nice bonus.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: May 28, 2019
MSRP: $24.99
