Genre Action
Age Rating 18+
Price $12.95

Publisher's summary of volume from the back cover:

"Your lives are over. What you do with your new lives is up to me!" This was the warning given to a diverse group of citizens that were teleported to an inescapable condo by an ominous black orb calling itself Gantz. Join best friends Kei and Masaru, the sultry Kishimoto, a stray dog, and the rest of the group as they are unleashed on the streets of Tokyo to face a terrifying onion alien! Will the weapons and strange suits given to them by Gantz prove to be a lifesaver or a death sentence? Now the group has to fight for their lives, even though they are all already dead.

I'm not a big fan of the Gantz series as a whole but reading the second volume reminds me of what hooked me in the first place. It's simply brimming with potential and dangles several promising elements. For example, there's some moral choices the characters have to make during crucial moments. It heightens the drama and readers are polarized on whether the character should simply do it or stop whining. True, these scenes might be cliche but since it's thrown in there, it might as well be exploited to its fullest. And this particular volume of Gantz does just that.

Another highlight for me was the opening of the second chapter. Its inclusion is simply terrific and tugs at the heart of the reader. The less I talk about it, the better lest it spoil the story but again, its placement is quite effective.

What I really, really like is the art. It's detailed, it's gruesome, and there's no mistaking what kind of title this is. Oku simply does some of the most breathtaking artwork and paneling. One minor complaint for me however are the splash pages in between chapters. Yes, it's fan service, and I'm sure some of the fans will like that but for me, it's distracting. I have no complaints with nudity within the story and while there's no outright nudity in the splash pages, for me it just feels out of place, especially at the current direction the manga is headed.

Overall, this is actually a great volume. Oku hits the right beats and Gantz seems ripe for the picking. The ending gives enough closure for now yet piques your curiosity.

9