Gantz (ガンツ or Gantsu) manga!

I have been reading Gantz since over a week ago. I was at my parents’ house about a week or so, and the only Internet connection that they have is dial-up. I had thought of reading only the first few chapters of Gantz manga online, to see how it looks like and stuff, since Gantz is quite popular amongst manga fans (it was number 6 on the most viewed manga at MangaHut this week!), especially in Japan itself.

And I can say that I was hooked pretty immediately from the first chapter of Gantz! Unlike Katekyo Hitman Reborn, which took me a few chapters until I felt comfortable and hooked to the manga, Gantz hooked me right away at the very first chapter!! Even though with the slow loading with the dial-up connection back in my parents’ house, I just couldn’t stop reading the Gantz manga online!

GANTZ MANGA SUMMARY/PLOT

So what is “Gantz” all about?

Taken from AnimeNewsNetwork:

“Kei Kurono is a typical high school student in a selfish world, not caring about anyone other than himself. However when, by chance, he was forced to help out his childhood friend, Katou Masaru, rescue a drunkard who fell into subway tracks, both he and Katou were killed… Or not. After being run over by the train, they were suddenly teleported to an enclosed apartment with others who recently died. And now their lives are controlled by a mysterious black ball inside the apartment called GANTZ, and they are forced to participate in a “game” of unprecedented danger and horror.”

Taken from MangaHut:

Somewhere in Tokyo, there is a room. In that room is a black sphere. Periodically, people who should otherwise have died are transferred to the room. There, the sphere gives them special suits and weapons, and sends them out on a mission to kill aliens here on Earth. While these missions take place, the rest of the world is largely oblivious to them. These missions are lethal - few participants survive them. The sphere calls the shots, and it’s not the slightest bit nice. It’s name… Gantz.

Kei Kurono

In my words:

Gantz centers around the main character, Kei Kurono, a typical 1st year high-schooler who basically only cares about himself and himself only. He lives alone in an apartment, and is a serious pervert. If there’s one thing that he cares about, it’s probably swimsuit models with nothing but their bikini’s, or one of his many pervs magazines.

The story starts in one incident while Kei was waiting for his train, back from school. He spotted his childhood friend, Masaru Kato, who he thought wouldn’t recognize him anymore since Kato transferred to different elementary school years back.

Then a few moments after, a homeless guy fell on the train track and seemed to not be able to get up. No one seemed to want to go down the train track and help this homeless guy. But finally Kato, the childhood friend of Kei who hadn’t noticed Kei’s present in that train station, went down the track and tried to help the homeless guy up from the train track. And then Kato accidentally saw Kei Kurono and shouted at Kei to help him. Kei, who actually didn’t care if the homeless guy die, found himself climbing down to help Kato.

To cut the story short, these two teenagers had a difficult time trying to get the man up, and once they managed to get the man up the railway track, the train was coming. And it was too late for them to save themselves. They were hit by the train in a tragic accident (well, both their heads were cut off and flew off).

But even though the people at the train station saw the accident, no one could find the boys’ bodies or even any evidence that the accident took place after it happened.

In the meantime, the boys, Kei and Kato, realized that instead of hitting by a train, they were actually running inside an ordinary apartment, where they could see Tokyo Tower from. It turned out that everyone else in the apartment was “saved” or “brought back to life” just before they die, just like them.

The only thing that wasn’t seemed right was that they couldn’t get out from the apartment by any normal mean, and there was a big ball (like a very big crystal ball) inside the apartment.

This ball, which is called “Gantz”, is telling them that their lives now are in his (Gantz’s) control. Now they have to gain 100 points by killing aliens in their assigned missions before they could be freed.

So each one of the people who were brought to that apartment by Gantz then has to go to assigned missions, with the weapons and suits given by Gantz, until they reach that 100 points mark. If they die in the given mission, they won’t be able to get back to the apartment, and their lives end right there.

MY COMMENTS/REVIEW

I like this manga series! I’m not a big fan of ecchi (this manga is an ecchi!), but the fast-pace plots and the interesting story makes me hooked!

If you like action and adventure type of manga, and probably like some ecchi, this manga is DEFINITELY for you. You won’t get bored. It’s really interesting to see the main character, Kei, who is a selfish brat, works his selfish ways and turned to be a hero instead in certain events. Yo’ll see what I mean when you read the manga. So even though my favorite character is Kato, and I sometimes feel like kicking Kei’s ass, but actually at times Kei can be interesting.

So what are you waiting for.. go read Gantz manga now!