Gantz – Volumes 21-25

Roughly two years have passed since I last read this manga and oh my is it just as nasty and gory as I had left it back in 2007.

First thing first, when you leave a long ass manga series like this alone for two years, you tend to forget things, namely the entire plot and characters, but amazingly enough I had no problems at all getting back into the groove of the Gantz universe.

It doesn’t take a genius to grasp the concept of you kill bad things or you die plot-line, and oh boy there are some pretty beastly things that have to be killed in this arc.

Unlike the earlier volumes I thoroughly enjoyed this Osaka Arc immensely. Who knows why, probably my primal instinct of wanting to watch things or people get torn up into little itsy-bitsy pieces by cool guns or sharp tentacles?

The addition of the Osaka team is a huge refresher for the story as they are a complete contrast to that of the Tokyo team. What we got here are a bunch of doped up, horny, cocky and overall pretty fucking crazy bunch of hunters as compared to the inexperienced Tokyo team. That and the new arsenal they bring with them is mighty impressive.

Not to say that the Tokyo team is a complete failure, as later in the story their inexperience proves to be vital as it allows them to work as an effective team instead of the Rambo-like mentality of the Osaka team.

Now Katou. This guy is the man! After his mini-teen-angst moment of deciding whether to save people or not, he pretty much turns on the good-guy-baddass switch. Here’s a guy who never cleared the game wanting to take on the hardest challenge the game has to offer to revive his friend. That and he has to compete with the Osaka team whom many of its members have already completed the game multiple times.

As for the Osaka team, I guess the most notable person to mention is Yamasaki Anzu, the only sane one out of her team. Finding Katou’s decision to help civilians hilarious at first, she turns into someone very memorable by the end as she is gradually moved by Katou’s character.

I can probably keep rambling and talk about more things, like the 100 Pointer dude who is fucking insane or the dude who supposedly cleared the game seven times already, but things would just delve into spoiler land, something I don’t really need to do for those of you who have not read this yet.

This was a really good read. Luckily I still got a few chapters left before I catch up to the present day release, so I hope those don’t let me down.

Oh yes just if you didn’t notice the art is gorgeous.

Rating: 3.5/5