GANTZ by Hiroya Oku [MANGA] [COMPLETED] ⁰⁷.¹³.⁰⁰ ⁻ ⁰⁶.²⁰.¹³

 GANTZ

                 Hiroya Oku

Typed: October.02.2025 (there were things I had to do, and it got in the way). My favorite manga of all time... Hands down, legs up, HEADSTAND- *screaming to the high heavens about this amazing, amazing composition of art*.

I would like to start with how I first discovered this gem. At first this diamond did not leave a positive impression, to long for more, because at the time I was but a child. My first introduction to Gantz was through the anime... Yes, they had an anime² and it went on for two seasons, my sibling and I dropped it after a few episodes because we couldn't stand the gore and raunch (before Gantz, there was Elfen Lied, the anime was released in the same year as Gantz and we watched that before we got to Gantz, which already traumatized us and added more disturbance to our already defiled minds).

Years passed and I rediscovered Gantz, through the movie Gantz:O which blew my mind. CGI that derives from animes usually are not that well-made (like every damn Berserk adaptation, besides the original animated one, they make you want to jump off a cliff while yodeling) but the CGI in Gantz:O... Oh, my goodness, it was so gosh darn good that I have rewatched it multiple times. It made me curious about the progression of the story since we my sibling and I stopped at a measly 3 or 4 episodes back in 2004, the new characters, the aliens they got to fight, wow I was awestruck and made me want more, made me wanted to know more about what the heck was going on. From that day on, this manga blew me away and made me put this sweet baby gem at the very top of my manga hierarchy. 

Enough lactating, now let me explain to you why this manga is number one to me. From character development (yes serious character development and you know why when you start reading) to character progression (it may look like they are two words describing the same meaning, but by my definition this relates to how far the characters go as they continue to adapt and get stronger and stronger, while seeing how they influence the outcome), the countless settings they are brought into while introducing us to varies of aliens that they must take down in order to free themselves. Without saying much to spoil, if you like action, brute force combat and blasting through shit like they are different levels of a video game, this will pull you in as you start reading. I love, love variety and Hiroya Oku (bless this man) does it perfectly.

Hiroya Oku is not done, he has made many different versions of Gantz as well as many amazing other mangas I have read like Inuyashiki for one (after finishing the original Gantz and Gantz:G) the art is so darn good that you can put him in the same ballpark as Yusuke Murata. As you delve into the original Gantz, you will see how the art advances since he first started at around the year 2000 and ended it around 2013. Also, a last bit before going on to the rating; he has also recently made Gantz:E, which I did not know about until a few months ago when my sibling finally... FINALLY started to read and finish the original Gantz. I have started reading and have caught up, still equally excited for what is to come as I was when I first read THIS gem.

I started this read at around 2016-2017, cannot recall the month and day but it was when we first found that they made a movie which was released in 2016 and later I remember the sneak peak of what animes are to come in 2017 which one of them was Inuyashiki, I remember clearly telling my sibling that I read that manga months ago and am excited they were making the anime adaptation to it. So, it was between mid 2016 and 2017.

ART & DESIGN: 19

STORY: 18

WORLD BUILDING: 18

CHARACTERS: 19

PACE-RESOLUTION: 17

I give it a whopping 91 out of 100, a rightful 9.1/10.