Gantz is one of the few manga I feel I cannot properly score numerically. That being said, obviously it is impossible to write a true-blue review without a numerical score on this website. With that as a basis, I will score Gantz here purely off a Story : Art : Character : Enjoyment system I used for the MyAnimeList site. I've also rated it numerically on my page, but those scores are generally enjoyment based and lack the criticism I will press here, hence the score being drastically different. Many people who look at the score of the review before reading will probably have a hunch about what this review might contain. Therefore I’ll make this no secret: Gantz is one of my favorite manga. However, I want to design a review that is actually helpful to someone wanting to read it, rather than bypass the many flaws this manga has (and embraces to an extent).
The general flaws of Gantz is the first subject I want to touch on. Gantz is the first (non-comedic) manga I’ve seen to be highly self-aware of its horrible writing habits and blatant disregard to something as important as uhh... plot. It’s reminiscent of FLCL in that regard, except FLCL instantly knew where to hone its strengths while it took Gantz a bit of time. One of the charismatic qualities of Gantz is you never know when Oku (the mangaka) is trying to make a societal statement or sacrificing his own work to completely fuck with you. This is just my theory, but I wholeheartedly believe Oku dishes out pseudo-depth into the settings and themes of every Gantz mission to sway the audience into buying his bullshit before he gives you multiple reasons why you should never trust him again. It’s easily the most logical reason for him to even pen the entire last arc. I actually see no other way Gantz could have ended with Oku piloting this thing. If this man has consistently done anything, it is bullying you as the reader.
Since I’ve already mentioned the final arc, I’ll get my thoughts about it out of the way first. It's long. It's messy. The ending is rushed. Many characters get completely disrespected to the point where their character is unsalvageable. The manga becomes more devoid of logic than we already thought was physically possible. And the plot armor, which was surprisingly well controlled for a series of this caliber, is strengthened to a ludicrous degree. Even with the Katastrophe arc being quite literally a catastrophe from a writing perspective (I mean this relative to every other arc, all of which encompass inconsistent writing), there are still a handful of good qualities to it. The art is at its most rich, the action retains its fluidity, some characters redeem themselves (some do the opposite), the sense of scale missing in other Gantz missions is here in spades, and lastly—something I think is incredibly important to the core of Gantz—the plot does not underwhelm. Don't mistake being underwhelmed with being unsatisfied. Gantz succeeds in unpredictability. And not the kind of unpredictable where it becomes predictable within its unpredictability at a certain point in the story. Oku heaves plot armor onto characters and removes it just as fast. Characters who are introduced with the sole purpose of eliciting fanservice can sometimes execute plot-shifting events and, in my opinion, enact truly compelling scenes. Once a certain deus ex machina is introduced, the amount of possibilities that were slowly dwindling grow dramatically and your perception of fate in Gantz somehow becomes more arbitrary than it already was. Hell, even the first couple of chapters would have been entirely unforeseen having not read the synopsis. I could delve into many more examples but that would lead to direct spoilers. However, the grotesque nature and absurdity that builds the foundation of Gantz is min-maxed with the final arc. Katastrophe plays to the strength of visuals, while falling heavily short in every other department. If you find the visuals to be the most enjoyable part of Gantz, you should have little issue with the arc (although the ending will never have an excuse to be as sloppy as it is, and I stick by that).
Let's rewind a little to the first two missions. Gantz debuts with an arc that is generally good, but it is packaged with a few shortcomings. The outline of the plot and the nonsense that comes with it thankfully doesn’t suffer from multiple pages of info-dumps; nowhere in Gantz really does. The exposition is provided in both above-average panel to panel artwork and natural character dialogue. While the art does undergo immense improvements in later chapters, it’s hard to ignore the character designs looking similar to one another or straight up goofy at times. Moreover, page spreads and backgrounds were nothing special at first. If I really wanted to nitpick the art, I could say the photo-realistic backgrounds are an unfitting contrast to the early character designs and only worked when the art was at its best (although there's something to be said about these missions taking place at night; it really gives a rich quality to the settings and backgrounds). Nonetheless, the Onion and Tanaka missions both respectfully established Gantz’ unique tone and style in seinen.
The Buddha mission is where Gantz starts becoming unhinged. All the crazy shit I said about unpredictability hits a stride here. The action scenes start taking shape. Oku starts to raise his artistic limitations by crafting more imaginative alien designs (this is not to say I didn't love that little onion shit because I did, really). From this point on, the aliens become more and more menacing and freakish, but seriously hold no weight beyond that. Don't expect them to have any characterization either. There's no theological meaning behind the Buddha statues the hunters are pitted against. For all you wishing for social commentary and thought-provoking messages, you may as well stop reading and find something else because it's just fun and games from this point on. The Buddha mission also made room for the MC to grow. Our protagonist, Kei Kurono, starts to show promise as an interesting character from the events of Buddha, and thus begins a metaphorical winning streak.
The next few arcs provide density to Kurono’s character while also allotting time for Oku to experiment with the Gantz missions as they steadily become increasingly dreadful. Regular-life activity and Gantz missions are merged together more frequently to serve as a reality check for the characters. Kurono is often placed in situations where odds are favored against him while he musters the resolve to take on these challenges (with minor plot armor). Sometimes these events are in place to make Kurono look cooler than he actually is, but I’ll admit they are well-handled and not used as a cheap way to develop him. Around this time is when Kurono actually grows as a character. This is one of the more genuine developments of the series and one of the rare periods where Oku is taking things seriously. This streak proved to be the manga's heyday, where many fans dub Gantz to be a nihilistically compelling piece of work. Truthfully, I disagree. I find the nihilistic themes to be pretty surface-level. In the beginning, the mindless body counts were null fodder for the unpainted concept. The themes are only powerful when all the characters have developed past a certain point. Regardless of my opinion, the nihilistic themes do have greater impact after this.
Osaka is a bittersweet arc to me. I won't get into any spoilers, but it is truly a breathtaking arc. Osaka holds possibly the most bizarre alien designs and visually stunning artwork. The tension and stakes are also the highest they have been in the whole series. However Osaka seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Development for main and supporting characters is missing and chances to explain plot contradictions are squandered. Within the longevity of the mission, you'd think there would be allotted time for plot hole clean-ups, but alas there was not. The good the arc has going for it are all cheap thrills. Osaka does hold a significant spot in the story but could have been much more magnificent.
There is one more mini-arc before Katastrophe but I won't bother getting into details because it's so minor and trivial that it's only memorable aspects are the gorgeous double page spreads. It somehow makes several insanely dumb decisions in the four chapters it runs for. The Italian mission feels like the "bath episode" OVA between seasons except it's canon and worthless even in its supply of fanservice.
Speaking of this, the fanservice of Gantz comes in the form of the standard “sex, drugs and violence” formula. Thankfully, Oku makes it painfully clear that the equation doesn’t amount to depth. In actuality, all three of these elements are brainless in its delivery and there is barely any depth to them at all. The sex, or sex appeal, is hilariously artificial. Female characters in Gantz have proportions the size of bowling balls, most of them anyways. Their lengths of employment also vary, as Oku likes to discard the women in this manga like used napkins. Then whenever Oku has a generous change of heart, he utilizes the aforementioned deus ex machina in a way that can be both satisfying and provocative. It’s also funny to note that the more annoying the character is, the longer their shift as a fan-service tool is. If that ain’t some sort of fucked up antithesis to fanservice, I don’t know what is. Don’t even get me started on the drugs in Gantz. There is only one instance of actual drug usage in Gantz, and it’s employed in one of the most asinine ways I’ve ever seen. To summarize, one of the hunters on a different Gantz team (who were considered veterans believe it or not) performs at their best while shooting up heroin. This is honestly too easy of a bait, and I refuse to criticise it. His teammates use a similar method and smoke weed before going on a murder spree, but I’m under the assumption this was just the most opportune moment for Oku to include a self-insert and I’ll treat it as such. Lastly, I’m brought to violence / gore, the last of our holy trinity. The violence in Gantz varies in quality; not in the creative aspect, as many deaths can be jarring but hilarious. Watching the masses die in Gantz is arguably the most solid aspect of the fanservice if you are some sort of sadist. You basically get this throughout the whole manga, and most of the time I don’t mind because it feels second nature for Gantz to do this. I would probably feel insulted if the masses didn’t die, or maybe feel jipped, as I know what I want to see when I pick up Gantz and Oku knows this too. The violence lacks in quality when it is used for shock value, which thankfully is only used a handful of times. Even in those handful of times, most of them can be excused with the absence of plot armor. In the beginning, many Gantz participants feel like cannon fodder. This is to be expected without characters’ receiving proper guidance, and naturally this goes away with more understanding of the missions. Gantz kind of has a get-out-of-jail-free card in that sense. The world of Gantz is already spontaneous and brutal to the point where it's harder to keep a character alive than to kill them. For that, I'll hold the rest of my thoughts about plot armor or shock value moments.
So what makes Gantz one of my favorite manga when it's ingrained with flaws and inconsistencies? Why is it worth your time when I mercilessly shit on the ending? Why should you read a dark and mature manga presented by an author who doesn't take everything seriously? Why am I not telling you to avoid this shit like the plague? Why am I still alluding to a positive mindset after such a mixed review? Well, the answer to at least one of those questions is “it’s really awesome”. Gantz is bohemian and charming, and the charm rarely wears thin. The unorthodox procedures Gantz takes to introduce dilemmas then untangle them is perverse yet thrilling. I would be lying if I said Gantz relied on it’s art or action to be engaging. Even though the world is spontaneous and illogical during many moments of this manga, it is rarely an immersion breaker. Gantz manages to make the audience adjust to unusual outcomes while also surprising them with said unusual outcome. In a way, Gantz is extremely refreshing to people who want to consume more unconventional manga. Read this manga if you want something with a gripping premise and outlandish plot direction; if you want page-turning action scenes and well-paced arcs that never get boring; if you want an in-the-moment thrill that’s just as fast-paced as it is memorable; or if you just want to have a fun time reading a seinen manga that’s primary focus isn’t to mask some sort of philosophical message with characters standing for something more than they actually are, which is somewhat rare in seinen.
All in all, Gantz is a manga that can reward you and also harm you if you invest yourself into its world. Even though I love Gantz and personally rate it a solid 9 purely off enjoyment, I know this is not everyone’s cup of tea. The average seinen enjoyer could end up loathing this manga, and I’m sure those people exist. If you treat Gantz like it's an amazing piece of art about nihilism and other mature concepts, you’re bound to hate it. If you treat Gantz like the absurd fever dream it actually is, then you should have no problem enjoying this manga.
Story: 3/10 (Twists and turns can't carry the manga when the story has so many plot errors. Too many inconsistencies to forgive too. Genuinely awful in making any plot point cohesive. Pacing and character decisions count as story so I'll bump it up a little bit for that) Art: 8/10 (Never bad, but the beginning had its rough spots. It was amazing by the end of the manga, especially in some of the character expressions too. You can really see what they are feeling with panels. Had to deduct some points because it took a while to get there though.) Character: 5/10 (Only one truly amazing character by the end of it in my opinion. A few good characters but that's debatable too. The ones I'm referring to are all main characters. A lot of side characters are pretty worthless and amount to either clichés or plot devices. One of my favorite characters also had no closure which upsets me even more. I do really love Kurono and a couple others though, and their stories are quality and impactful. Kurono has some of my favorite development in all of manga, but he alone can't save the score too much.) Enjoyment: 9/10 (Within the near 400 chapters this manga provides, I was never bored and always wanted to see what happens next. It's a page-turner for sure.)
Overall: 6.25 ➡ 6.3 - I tried to remove most bias when rating, but even I can't deny many of the story's problems.
Additional comments: Gantz does have a philosophical message serving as an undertone for the story, but it’s not the primary focus. It’s nothing you as a reader should wrap your head around or attempt to make imaginary dots connect while reading, because the themes genuinely are standard level and serve as the minimal amount of substance for the manga to operate.``
