This is the third and final installment in the review of the long running sci-fi manga Gantz (ガンツ) by Oku Hiroya. If you have not read Phase 1 or Phase 2 please go to them first before continuing. Keep in mind that in order to properly review the series there are some plot spoilers.
Phase 3, or Katastrophy, is the final installment of the Gantz manga. It takes place between chapters 304 and 383. Gantz is malfunctioning and it appears the game is over, but before anyone can celebrate their freedom huge ships appear around the world and begin reeking unparalleled devastation where ever they are. First America is almost obliterated and before anyone can determine if it is real or not Tokyo is attacked by enormous mechs. No place is safe as the entire city is a battleground.
What at first appear to be mechs are battle suits as the alien invaders are gigantic humanoids. The humans that are not killed are captured and flown to the aliens landing ship. The attack begins while Kurano is in school and his primary concern is with Tae's safety. He defeats two aliens that arrive at the school and flees, with a number of students and teachers following. The refugees from school hide overnight in an abandoned hotel. The alien attack resumes and as they flee Kurano is teleported away from Tae.
This time he finds himself and many other black ball soldiers in a park. A group of men have taken control of functioning balls and are forcing the people they summoned to invade the alien ship in order to do as much damage as possible. Kurano and others find themselves in what looks like the aliens home world, surrounded by alien civilians, on a city street.
Security forces arrive to suppress the human invaders and the teams face impossible odds. The teams are transported out of the ship to prevent everyone from dying and then randomly teleported into various cities to await another round of attacks. Kurano searches for Tae, but before he can reach her she is captured and sent off to the alien ship. The entire thing driving Kurano forward is to save Tae. He has little concern for the eraditcation of the invaders and takes every opportunity he has to find the only thing he cares for. At the same time she works as hard as she can, against all odds, to survive in order to be reunited with him.
Various battles are fought against the aliens by the teams who are the only ones that posses the firepower and experience to do anything against them. As they struggle to prevent mankind's extinction they begin to understand the true nature of the black spheres.
This final Phase really ties everything together and ratchets up the doom and destruction to incredible levels. There is no safety and no time to rest. In order to survive everyone must continue to struggle, hoping that their efforts will amount to something positive. Reading it keeps you on the edge as the horrors of the invasion unfold, from the rampant destruction of the city to the harvesting of people for food. The aliens see humans as nothing more than insects and pests. There are some interesting moments when background powers come into play regarding the black balls. Shadow groups have taken the chaos as an opportunity to vie for control of Earth once the victory they see possible takes hold. In a strange portion the characters are summoned and directly explained the entire reason for the black spheres existences. Honestly, it wasn't a bad secret either. Its hard to tell is Oku-sensei had that idea in mind from the very beginning, but it worked out well.
The artwork remains highly detailed and unfortunately some of that detail becomes muddied in the more action packed sequences. There are a few portions where some was done via CG and it didn't mesh well with the hand drawn stuff, part of this may be due to the black and white format. There are a few full color pages and those really make you want to see the entire thing in vivid color. If the manga was in color it would be an incredible experience. Oku's artwork is fantastic but so much is lost in the lack of color. Regardless the mechanical designs in this Phase are excellent and really create a cyberpunk feel. This Phase would make a fantastic movie, one Michael Bay would really enjoy making.
It was hard to tell how the series would end and what type of answers would be given for the stories core mysteries. The way it was executed was rather abrupt but worked. The finale though seemed a bit rushed, there were segments of the time progression that were glossed over, import things. You go from one extreme to the next with no real explanation for the shift. The final issue as well was choppy in how the characters get from point a to point b. Despite these plot inconsistencies the series wrapped up in a satisfying manner. What was interesting was the direction Kurano's personality takes again. His altruism recedes as he only cares about his own future with Tae and that drive propels him to fantastical survival mode.
This was a long but quick series, quick due to much of the artwork being devoted to the battles. There is not a lot of dialogue in the manga, considering its something like 3500 pages long. It was worth the time and at the same point makes the anime unneeded. The anime, which came out in 2004, only covers events for the first 8 tankoubon...thats 8 out of 37. So really, once you read the manga watching the anime is rather pointless. If you started with the anime, pick up the manga and have your need's satisfied, otherwise skip it.
The series is licensed by Dark Horse comics in North America and all of the tankoubon are finally available in English. A new Gantz series is set to begin at the end of 2015 with Oku writing and another person doing the artwork. It will be hard to tell if it's good, as Oku's strong point really is his art.
Phase 3, or Katastrophy, is the final installment of the Gantz manga. It takes place between chapters 304 and 383. Gantz is malfunctioning and it appears the game is over, but before anyone can celebrate their freedom huge ships appear around the world and begin reeking unparalleled devastation where ever they are. First America is almost obliterated and before anyone can determine if it is real or not Tokyo is attacked by enormous mechs. No place is safe as the entire city is a battleground.
What at first appear to be mechs are battle suits as the alien invaders are gigantic humanoids. The humans that are not killed are captured and flown to the aliens landing ship. The attack begins while Kurano is in school and his primary concern is with Tae's safety. He defeats two aliens that arrive at the school and flees, with a number of students and teachers following. The refugees from school hide overnight in an abandoned hotel. The alien attack resumes and as they flee Kurano is teleported away from Tae.
This time he finds himself and many other black ball soldiers in a park. A group of men have taken control of functioning balls and are forcing the people they summoned to invade the alien ship in order to do as much damage as possible. Kurano and others find themselves in what looks like the aliens home world, surrounded by alien civilians, on a city street.
Security forces arrive to suppress the human invaders and the teams face impossible odds. The teams are transported out of the ship to prevent everyone from dying and then randomly teleported into various cities to await another round of attacks. Kurano searches for Tae, but before he can reach her she is captured and sent off to the alien ship. The entire thing driving Kurano forward is to save Tae. He has little concern for the eraditcation of the invaders and takes every opportunity he has to find the only thing he cares for. At the same time she works as hard as she can, against all odds, to survive in order to be reunited with him.
Various battles are fought against the aliens by the teams who are the only ones that posses the firepower and experience to do anything against them. As they struggle to prevent mankind's extinction they begin to understand the true nature of the black spheres.
This final Phase really ties everything together and ratchets up the doom and destruction to incredible levels. There is no safety and no time to rest. In order to survive everyone must continue to struggle, hoping that their efforts will amount to something positive. Reading it keeps you on the edge as the horrors of the invasion unfold, from the rampant destruction of the city to the harvesting of people for food. The aliens see humans as nothing more than insects and pests. There are some interesting moments when background powers come into play regarding the black balls. Shadow groups have taken the chaos as an opportunity to vie for control of Earth once the victory they see possible takes hold. In a strange portion the characters are summoned and directly explained the entire reason for the black spheres existences. Honestly, it wasn't a bad secret either. Its hard to tell is Oku-sensei had that idea in mind from the very beginning, but it worked out well.
The artwork remains highly detailed and unfortunately some of that detail becomes muddied in the more action packed sequences. There are a few portions where some was done via CG and it didn't mesh well with the hand drawn stuff, part of this may be due to the black and white format. There are a few full color pages and those really make you want to see the entire thing in vivid color. If the manga was in color it would be an incredible experience. Oku's artwork is fantastic but so much is lost in the lack of color. Regardless the mechanical designs in this Phase are excellent and really create a cyberpunk feel. This Phase would make a fantastic movie, one Michael Bay would really enjoy making.
It was hard to tell how the series would end and what type of answers would be given for the stories core mysteries. The way it was executed was rather abrupt but worked. The finale though seemed a bit rushed, there were segments of the time progression that were glossed over, import things. You go from one extreme to the next with no real explanation for the shift. The final issue as well was choppy in how the characters get from point a to point b. Despite these plot inconsistencies the series wrapped up in a satisfying manner. What was interesting was the direction Kurano's personality takes again. His altruism recedes as he only cares about his own future with Tae and that drive propels him to fantastical survival mode.
This was a long but quick series, quick due to much of the artwork being devoted to the battles. There is not a lot of dialogue in the manga, considering its something like 3500 pages long. It was worth the time and at the same point makes the anime unneeded. The anime, which came out in 2004, only covers events for the first 8 tankoubon...thats 8 out of 37. So really, once you read the manga watching the anime is rather pointless. If you started with the anime, pick up the manga and have your need's satisfied, otherwise skip it.
The series is licensed by Dark Horse comics in North America and all of the tankoubon are finally available in English. A new Gantz series is set to begin at the end of 2015 with Oku writing and another person doing the artwork. It will be hard to tell if it's good, as Oku's strong point really is his art.
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