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Born in Fukuoka, Japan, he debuted as a manga artist in 1992, with his first series, Hen. The series became quite popular, spawning a live-action TV series in 1996 and an OVA anime series in 1997. Oku is an avid movie watcher and figurine collector, collecting life-like 1/6th and 1/4th scale figures of various famous actors. In 2000, he begun his longest and most famous work, GANTZ, which used a mix of traditional art and CG backgrounds. GANTZ was adapted into a 26 episode TV anime in 2004, which animated the first 8 volumes of the manga. It was also adapted into live-action film series in 2011, and a high-budget CG movie titled GANTZ:O in 2016. After 2016, any future GANTZ adaptions were put on hold as Oku had given the rights to Hollywood executives who wanted to make an American GANTZ film. In 2021 it was announced that Sony Pictures would be adapting a live-action GANTZ film directed by Julius Avery.
SPOILER WARNING: GANTZ spoiler details may follow.
GANTZ follows the story of two teens: Kei Kurono and his former childhood friend Masaru Kato, who are both violently killed after helping a drunken bum get off the train tracks. Following their deaths, the two find themselves transported to an unfurnished apartment with a black sphere named "Gantz" - along with other clueless participants - who tasks them with killing a specific target within the given time limit. Kato is a tall delinquent with a strong sense of justice, while Kurono is an ordinary student who acts like a hypocrite and only cares about himself - that's basically the character dynamic. There's also Kei Kishimoto, a quiet girl with short pink hair (and big boobs) who captures the heart of Kurono after she first appears in the Gantz room completely naked.
GANTZ was spawned due to the failure of Hiroya Oku's previous manga, ZERO ONE, which was cancelled after only three volumes. However, the idea for series originally came out while Oku was in highschool, after watching the sci-fi film Back to the Future. It was the first movie that Oku had ever rented and kick-started his interest in Western cinema. Kei Kurono also shares many similarities with the film's protagonist, Marty McFly, even at one point sporting his iconic red puffer vest.
Gantz Suit
Our goddess, the unattainable and eternal Reika.
A stylish glossy black bodysuit that also functions as armour during the Gantz missions. The suit is highly durable and protects the user against all conventional means of damage, even against unexposed parts of the body - How exactly it does this is unknown. The suit is also cable of amplifying a person's base strength up to approximately ten times. When it reaches full strength, the suit bulks up taking on a large veiny appearance. Every part of the body can be bulked, even the legs. Which allows the wearer to make giant leaps and run at high speeds. The boots also have a special system that reduces the impact of falling from great heights.
The suit is covered in dozens of glowing blue/yellow buttons, which are used to monitor the status of the wearer. Once the durability of the suit has reached its limit, a strange liquid oozes out of these buttons and renders the abilities of the suit useless. Once this happens, the odds of the wearer surviving to the end of the game are greatly reduced. The suits are designed to fit the exact measurements of their wearer, regardless of age, sex, or physical proportions. There are even suits for animals! Each suit given by Gantz only works for the specific person they're designed for. This means it's impossible to take someone else's suit if you happen to lose or forget your own. If worn, the suit nullifies "friendly fire" attacks from other Gantz weapons. However, this greatly reduces the durability.
Oku originally wanted to give the Gantz suit a mech design, but that wasn't well received by his editors as he used something similar in his previous series. So instead, he gave the suit a cloth-like look that was also much easier to draw by hand. On a side note, the aliens that the characters in the series face are usually large in scale, almost making them look like tiny insects as they hop around and lift things ten times their size. The name "Gantz" is also very reminiscent of the word "Ants", but that might just be me looking too deep into it. A flea that stands up to a massive opponent... Can that be called courage?
Weapons and Equipment
One of my favorite aspects of GANTZ is the weapons! Despite appearing ordinary; these advanced pieces of alien technology from unknown origin house a variety of unconventional and destructive abilities that the characters need to quickly figure out to survive the game:
X-Gun: The haply named X-Gun is one of the most prominent weapons in the series. It is lightweight, easy to use, and can be held almost like a regular pistol. On the back of the gun, there is a small x-ray screen that functions as a targeting system when the first trigger is pulled. This can also be used to see opponents through walls and to make aiming easier. When the second trigger is pulled, a strange force is emitted that blows up the target from the inside after a 5-second delay. While firing, the barrel opens up taking the shape of an X, hence the name.
X-Rifle: The X-Rile functions almost the exact same as the X-Gun, with the only difference being that it has a longer barrel, can lock onto multiple targets at once, and can fire from further distances. In addition, the x-ray screen at the back can also be used as a scope, which makes this gun perfect for sniping.
Y-Gun: Unlike the other guns that Gantz provides, the "Y-Gun" isn't for killing. Instead, it fires three rockets that trap the target in a net before planting themselves in the ground. Once the target is stuck in place, a laser comes down from the sky and begins transferring the target to another location. Where the target is sent is unknown, however, doing so still completes the objective. It's called the "Y-Gun" because of the Y-shape of its three barrels.
Gantz Sword: The Gantz Sword is different from all the other weapons in that it isn't a gun. It is a katana with a retractable blade made from an unknown allow, which is strong enough to cut through even a fully working Gantz suit. Because of this, the sword is usually kept stored away in side room that's closed off until Gantz opens it. Normally, the Gantz Sword doesn't normally resemble a sword, until one of the buttons on the hilt is pressed, which either makes the blade longer or shorter. The longest recorded length of the blade is roughly 9 meters. How the blade is stored in the hilt is also unknown.
Controller: The controller is a small PDA device that shows the positions of other Gantz members and more importantly the targets they have to face. All within a squire kilometer of the battlefield. The controller also features "stealth" capabilities, allowing the wearer to turn invisible by changing their frequency.
Z-Gun: The Z-Gun is one of the weapons that players receive if they manage to reach 100 points. It is a large one-handed weapon introduced later in the story that applies extreme gravitational force to any circular area it locks onto. This usually results in the targets being flattened into large pools of blood. There isn't a 5-second delay with this gun, however, the power of it becomes less effective if not given time to re-charge.
