Review by Frank Plowright

A new mission is starting with the target a supposed alien who looks very human indeed. As most survived the mission completed in Gantz/16 there are only five newcomers, one of whom is an infant child fixated on Muscle Man Rider. And yes, in case you’re concerned, the panda is present and suited up.

The beauty of Gantz is Hiroya Oku being imaginative enough to incorporate any kind of threat into his chase and kill sequences, and the transforming monsters he comes up with this time are an impossible sight, all the more gruesome for having some semblance of humanity. They tie in to Oku slightly opening the door to a bigger picture. The unexplained gangsters of earlier episodes return, and other gangs are referred to. Kei and his companions are considered Hunters by both, who remark on how weak and ineffective they are.

Much of this volume takes place in a busy city district where the threats can be seen by all, and Oku (or his assistants) provide detailed backgrounds to the nth degree, all the more striking for being populated by monsters. Those monsters and their morphing capabilities make for an effective reminder of just what a talented artist Oku is, and, it should also be mentioned, an incredibly disciplined one for paying attention to conversations as well. Unfortunately his objectification of women continues, although here there’s a playful distortion of reader fantasies. However there is the big and extremely welcome change of Oku no longer separating his chapters with pin-up illustrations of naked or otherwise sexually charged women. Hallelujah!

If the design of the monsters wasn’t already a clue, there’s some stomach-turning sequences here, and yet they’re creatively stunning also. For the cliffhanger ending Oku circles back to a reminder of characters we’ve possibly forgotten given everything else that’s been happening, and that leads neatly into Gantz/18. Or have them both combined in the smaller size Gantz Omnibus 6.