Review by Frank Plowright

Kei has been transported into the vicinity of an alien target to be killed, yet crucially lacking his protective suit. Gantz 3 ended with the target moving towards him. Typically for Hiroya Oku, it’s a creepy looking kid surrounded by tiny little walking birds. The other difference from the first mission Kei and Kato experienced is this time many participants are thugs with no concern for other people. Instead of mourning the deaths of those accompanying them, there’s a sadistic relish, as if it’s just entertainment. In this sense at least Oku has an ethical compass, and we can be sure he’s just setting them up for a righteous dose of vengeance.

Where Oku’s ethical compass heads seriously off course is in starting each chapter with a pin-up of the cast’s most prominent female member, a large breasted teenager also named Kei. These are shamelessly exploitative in a manner eradicated in English speaking publications by the 1990s. There’s no excuse, even in an adult-oriented action thriller.

Otherwise Gantz continues to be a creative headrush into which Oku throws curveballs every time the characters believe they’ve figured something out. What originally appears to be just the troublesome single threat, becomes something greater. Kei’s certainly taught a lesson here, and a considerable asset has been removed from the table, yet for all the imagination, for the first time there’s a feeling of Oku prolonging the tension just for the sake of doing so, rather than moving the plot forward. The same threat as introduced here remains to be sorted in Gantz 5.

Alternatively both are combined in the second pocket sized Gantz Omnibus.