Gantz

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Gantz
Original title ガ ン ツ
transcription Gantsu
Gantz.gif
genre Action , horror , science fiction , thriller , his
Manga
country JapanJapan Japan
author Hiroya Oku
publishing company Shueisha
magazine Shūkan Young Jump
First publication July 13, 2000 - June 20, 2013
expenditure 37
Anime television series
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
year 2004
Studio Gonzo
length 24 minutes
Episodes 26 in 2 seasons
Director Ichirō Itano
music Natsuki Togawa, Yasuharu Takanashi
First broadcast April 12 - November 18, 2004 on Fuji TV , AT-X
German-language
first broadcast		 August 6, 2006 - February 18, 2007 on MTV
synchronization
Manga
title GANTZ: G.
country JapanJapan Japan
author Hiroya Oku
Illustrator Keita Iizuka
publishing company Shueisha
magazine Miracle Jump
Shōnen Jump + (last chapter)
First publication November 17, 2015 - March 17, 2017
expenditure 3

Gantz ( Japanese ガ ン ツ , Gantsu ) is a manga series by the Japanese illustrator Hiroya Oku . The manga was adapted into an anime television series and video game. The work can be assigned to his genre. In 2010 and 2011 a two-part real film version was also produced. a. Starring Arashis Ninomiya Kazunari and actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama . Before an official premiere, inquiries about international broadcasting had been received from 13 countries and from more than 45 companies by May 2010.

action

The youngster Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, whom he knows from elementary school, are run over by a subway train while trying to save the life of a homeless person. But instead of being dead, the two find themselves in a small Tokyo apartment near Tokyo Tower , where they meet a number of other people who have also died. In the middle of the room is a black ball with a person called a Gantz sitting inside it. This ball gives the "resuscitated" instructions to kill aliens within a specified period of 60 to 90 minutes and a specified area. However, if someone tries to leave the area, a bomb attached to their brain is automatically detonated, causing the refugee's head to explode. The aliens come from a different planet each time and always have certain characteristics, e.g. B. Preference for birds or leeks.

Gantz provides an arsenal of weapons and a special combat suit that gives the wearer superhuman strength and protects against physical impact. The power amplification of the suits is triggered by strong emotions (experienced gantzers can also do this consciously), but only lasts for a certain time. In addition, the participants get a device with which they are able to track down the aliens and access various functions of the combat suits, such as camouflage fields. When all the aliens have been destroyed, the opponents are transferred back to the room and are then completely unharmed unless they died during the fight with the aliens. If you have collected 100 points in the course of the individual rounds without dying, you have one of three options to choose from:

  • The player leaves the game and is alive again, however any memory of the events since his / her death has been erased from his / her memory.
  • The player receives a particularly powerful weapon and continues to collect points in order to be able to choose one of the three options again.
  • The player revives a player from Gantz 'memory who was killed in a previous game and continues to collect points in order to be able to choose one of the three options again.

After each fight and the associated scoring, the participants are allowed to leave the apartment and go about their normal life. However, as long as they do not die again, they will be called by Gantz at an unspecified time to play another round in Gantz's game. Depending on how many opponents died in the previous round, more and more people join the game.

The rules of the individual Gantz missions are changed more or less strongly from time to time. It happens, for example, that Kurono has to go on his fourth mission all alone, two missions take place one after the other, the time limit is turned off or the aliens and Gantz fighters become visible to all people within the missions.

main characters

Kei Kurono

Kei Kurono ( 玄 野 計 Kurono Kei ) is a 16-year-old student. Many admired him for his courage, but after Kato's move, he changed completely. Kei is mad about erotic pictures. He feels physically attracted to Kishimoto from the start, but develops serious feelings for her over the course of the series. However, Kishimoto feels that they do not go together and admires Kato for his compassion, which makes him one of Kurono's competitors in some places. In his fifth mission, Kurono succeeds for the first time in the role of leader among the new comrades-in-arms, whereupon he becomes responsible for directing the fortunes of the new Gantz team. From then on, his goal will be to get everyone through the missions in one piece. However, when his girlfriend Tae dies in the course of a Gantz mission, his main goal is to reach the hundred points to revive her, which he finally succeeds.

Masaru Kato

Masaru Kato (加藤 勝Katō Masaru ) is someone who tends to hold back and is looking for de-escalation. He's stronger and bigger than Kei, but Kei was his role model. In every game he tries to save the new entrants by, among other things, educating them about the game and urging them to wear the suits and not run away. He's more likely to burst into tears when he realizes how unfair life and Gantz are and that it is impossible to save everyone. He dies at the end of the Buddha mission, but after the Oni mission, at Kurono's request, he is brought back to life with the 100-point option. After the kei frees himself from Gantz with the help of the points he has collected, he takes on the status of leader in the next mission.

Kei Kishimoto

Kei Kishimoto (岸 本 恵Kishimoto Kei ) was the only girl in Gantz's first mission. She had cut her wrists in the bathtub and was transferred naked. A teammate wanted to rape her, but Kato intervened. This is how she fell in love with him. After the first mission it turned out that her real self was not dead at all and that there are now two kei. As a result, she became homeless and moved in with Kurono. She is a very fickle person. Kishimoto is usually called a giant tit by Gantz because of her bust size .

Joichiro Nishi

Joichiro Nishi (西 丈 一郎Nishi Jōichirō ) went to 8th grade before jumping off the roof of a high-rise building. He made it through several rounds of the game before Kato and Kurono joined and has been with us for a year. He introduces Gantz to the group as a kind of game that can win 10 million yen and which was developed by his father. He does this to distract those involved and the aliens in order to take advantage of them. He dies, but is later brought back to life at Kurono's request.

Shion Izumi

Shion Izumi (和 泉 紫 音Izumi Shion ) was a member of the Gantz team even before the events of the series and also fought with Nishi, among others. He managed to get a hundred points, which he used to leave the game. Despite the erasure of his memories, Gantz remains an important part of his subconscious. He begins to investigate and learns among other things that Kurono is one of Gantz's fighters, whereupon he joins his school class. Izumi may be the most popular, athletic and brightest student in his school, but the only thing he really desires is the hunting feeling that only Gantz can give him. After Gantz 'contact with Izumi outside of the missions, Izumi kills and injures several hundred people in a rampage and kidnaps Kurono's girlfriend, whereupon Kurono shoots Izumi. After his second death, he returns to the Gantz room.

Yoshikazu Suzuki

Yoshikazu Suzuki (鈴木 良 一Suzuki Yoshikazu ) is an old widower. He has a grandson who he thinks looks like Kurono. Suzuki is very fond of Kei Kurono because he thinks he is the only hope for humanity. They quickly become friends in battle. Despite his age, he is a pretty good fighter thanks to the suit, and so he manages to get 100 points and uses those to revive Kato. He later dies in the Rome mission.

Hiroto Sakurai

Hiroto Sakurai (桜 井 弘 斗Sakurai Hiroto ) is one of the two Gantz members with supernatural abilities . He learned this skill from Kenzo Sakata. He was also contacted by him when he announced his suicide on the Internet, as he was regularly humiliated to the extreme by his classmates. He uses his new skills to kill his former tormentors. Sakurai died in the massacre that Izumi caused. However, he almost managed to stop him. He mainly uses his supernatural powers in combat to finish off his opponents. Sakurai dies during the oni-alien mission but is revived by Sakata. Gantz calls him Cherry in reference to the nickname he used to announce his suicide.

Kenzo Sakata

Kenzo Sakata (坂 田 研 三Sakata Kenzō ) taught Sakurai in the use of his supernatural abilities . He also convinced him to take revenge on his tormentors. He also died in the Izumi massacre before entering the Gantz room. He manages to get 100 points in the Oni-Alien mission, with which he brings Sakurai back to life. He dies while trying to stop one of the alien during the Nurarihyon mission.

Ōki Kashihara (Gantz / Minus)

Ōki is a middle school student and the main character in Gantz / Minus . He dies when he catches a boy who falls from the balcony. At Gantz he meets Akari. At the end Ōki faces the specimen alien, who tells something about the catastrophe and Kurono. Ōki succeeds in defeating the specimen alien, he reaches 100 points and chooses freedom.

Akari Jingu (Gantz / Minus)

Akari has been with Gantz for a while and explains Ōki. They also meet twice outside of the missions. So that she can buy her freedom, Ōki gives her the chance to kill the tiger alien. She hits the 100 point but takes option 3 and revives her friend she came to Gantz with at the time. However, both are killed in the Specimen Alien mission.

Kurona Kei (Gantz: G)

Kurona Kei is a student and the main character in Gantz: G. So far not much is known about her other than that she is not particularly good at singing. In contrast to many of her classmates, she takes the suitcase with her and puts it on.

Production and publications

Manga

In addition to hand-drawn images, the manga also uses graphics post-processed on the computer, especially in the background.

The manga was published in Japan from October 2000 to June 2013 in individual chapters in the manga magazine Young Jump by Shueisha- Verlag. The chapters also appear regularly in edited volumes. The story was paused for two months after 237 chapters, and continued from November 2006 as Gantz 2nd Phase: Catastrophe . The manga is completed with 37 volumes.

The manga is also translated into Spanish, Italian and French, among others. An English translation has been published by Dark Horse Comics since June 2008 .

In Germany, Gantz was published by Planet Manga from February 2003 , but was discontinued after the fifth volume, which appeared in October 2003. The translation was done by Josef Shanel and Matthias Wissnet.

Since August 2018 the manga has been published in 12 anthologies by Manga Cult , in the first 4 regular volumes are combined, from the second 3 regular volumes are contained in one anthology. At the moment 7 edited volumes have been published.

Anime

The animation studio GONZO was responsible for converting the manga into an anime series. Ichiro Itano directed the character design, Naoyuki Onda created the character design and Shigemi Ikeda took over the artistic direction. The first 13 episodes were broadcast from April 12 to June 22, 2004 on the Japanese television station Fuji TV . A second season with a further 13 episodes followed from August 26 to November 18, 2004 on AT-X . Since the series was created when the manga was not yet finished, an alternative ending to the manga was added at the end of season 2. The weapons work differently, the enemy is Kei himself, Gantz actively intervenes in the plot and the other players are almost all secondary characters from other episodes.

From October 2005 the series was shown by Animax in Latin America, and in 2006 by Buzz Channel in Spain. The Anime Network aired the series in the United States. There are also translations into French and Portuguese.

From August 2005 to May 2006, the anime distributor OVA Films released the series in Germany on eight DVDs. The series was broadcast on German television by MTV on August 6, 2006 . The anime series was approved by the FSK from the age of 16. However, it was only broadcast on MTV in a slightly edited form, which should roughly correspond to the Japanese version. The German DVD version corresponds to the Japanese, uncut box version.

Voice actor

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) German speaker
Kei Kurono Daisuke Namikawa Clemens Ostermann
Masaru Kato Masashi Oosato Hubertus von Lerchenfeld
Kei Kishimoto Hitomi Nabatame Jana Kilka
Joichiro Nishi Masashi Yabe Ole Pfennig

music

The music for the series was composed by Natsuki Togawa and Yasuharu Takanashi. The opening title of Gantz is from the Japanese band Rip Slyme and is called Super Shooter . The ballad at the end of the show is by the singer Bonnie Pink and is entitled Last Kiss .

Video game

In March 2005, Japanese game maker Konami released a Gantz video game for the PlayStation 2 . The game is called Gantz: The Game and was only released in Japan. It is a mixture of action game (missions) and text adventure. It is possible to get characters who die in the anime / manga through the missions alive. The game also has 16 different endings.

Real film

The first of two real-life films opened in Japanese cinemas on January 29, 2011, the second followed on April 23, 2011. Both films were directed by Shinsuke Sato , while the script was adapted by Yûsuke Watanabe . The main roles are played by Ken'ichi Matsuyama as Masaru Kato and Kazunari Ninomiya as Kei Kurono. The project initially provoked major protests among supporters of the series, as it was announced that the upcoming films would be significantly defused in terms of sex and splatter . Nevertheless, the first part was number 1 on the Japanese cinema charts for several weeks. The European premiere of the first part took place on April 30, 2011 at the Nippon Connection film festival in Frankfurt. In Germany, the first film was released under the title Gantz - Game for Your Life from August 2011 in video stores and from September also in stores. The second part Gantz - The Ultimate Answer was released on March 8, 2012 directly on Blu-ray and DVD in stores.

Novels

There are also two novels by Gantz. The first, entitled Gantz / Minus, is about the time before Kurono and Katō. Izumi and Nishi appear here for the first time. Gantz / Minus was published in French. In 2013 Planet Manga Italy released an Italian translation.

In the second novel Gantz / EXA , Kishimoto plays an important role. However, the main character is an astronaut named Nagatomo. Kurono and Katou also appear later as well as new characters including Nagatomo's wife Yui. In 2014 Gantz / EXA was published in Italian by Planet Manga Italy.

reception

Brigitte Schönhense from Splashcomics praises the successful introduction of the Manga, which, from Kei's point of view, takes the reader away from the normal world into a bizarre science fiction adventure . The characters are interesting, but still quite two-dimensional at the beginning. Later they would become more believable and lively. The story is told in an exciting way, but it is brutal. The frequent fan service , which often consists of the fact that Kei Kishimoto is degraded to the pleasure and sex object of male players, is criticized . The drawings are neatly worked out and detailed, and atmosphere and style go well together. The combination of hand-drawn and computer-reworked images was also successful.

According to the German magazine Funime , in the anime you find yourself in a swamp of rough violence, charged action, an exciting story and sometimes unsympathetically realistic characters . The bloody plot extends deep into the abyss of the human soul and society, the characters are developed down to the smallest detail and implemented realistically. The animation is a feast for the eyes and the music is appropriate.

swell

  1. ↑ Arashi's Ninomiya and Matsuyama Kenichi to Go Out Into the World! . Musicjapanplus . May 14, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c Review at Splashcomics for Volume 1, by Brigitte Schönhense
  3. ↑ http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=978-4-08-879255-2&mode=1
  4. ↑ Cut description for Gantz
  5. ↑ http://www.insidekino.com/BO/JPTopI2011.htm
  6. ^ Nippon Connection Film Festival, Frankfurt am Main . Nippon Connection. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sunfilm.de
  8. ↑ Review by Splashcomics for Volume 3, by Brigitte Schönhense
  9. ↑ Review in Funime , No. 42 p. 16

Web links