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|serialized=Weekly Young Jump
|first_run=October 2000
|last_run= ongoing
|num_volumes=22

}}GONZO |licensor= ADV Films
MVM Films
Madman Entertainment |network=25px|Japan Fuji Television
25px|Argentina 25px|Peru 25px|Brazil 25px|Mexico Animax
25px|Peru Japanimax
25px|Germany MTV Central
25px|United States of America Anime Network |first_aired=12 April 2004 |last_aired=26 June 2004 |num_episodes=13 }} GONZO |licensor= ADV Films
MVM Films
Madman Entertainment |network=25px|Japan Fuji Television
25px|Argentina 25px|Peru 25px|Brazil 25px|Mexico Animax
25px|Peru Japanimax
25px|Germany MTV Central
25px|United States of America Anime Network |first_aired= 26 August 2004 |last_aired= 18 November 2004 |num_episodes=13 }}

is a manga and anime series written by Hiroya Oku. Gantz tells the story of a teenager named Kei Kurono who dies in a train accident and becomes part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which he and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. The missions they embark upon are often dangerous. Many die--again--on each mission, but others replace them in the same manner as Kei Kurono's appearance.

The Gantz anime, directed by Ichiro Itano and animated by GONZO, ran for 13 episodes and had a direct sequel called Gantz The Second Stage, which continued the series for another 13 episodes. Both seasons make up the 26 episode series. It was licensed in North America by ADV Films. The anime series is distributed in the United Kingdom by MVM Films, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. At Anime Expo 2007, Dark Horse Comics announced it would release the manga in English[1].

Manga

Gantz is still ongoing and is serialized in Shueisha's Young Jump, and currently consists of 265 chapters, many of which have been compiled and spread across 22 tank?bon. The manga has more content and stories than its animated counterpart. The manga's art was created using a combination of CG backgrounds and hand-drawn characters, a technique which was also used in the Gantz anime.Gantz is divided into two phases. Phase 1 consists of the first 237 chapters. On November 22, 2006, the first chapter of Phase 2, chapter 238, was released.

In 2007, Dark Horse Comics announced that it had gained the licence to print the Gantz manga in english. The English version is due to be released in the summer of 2008. The first volume is to be released on June 25, 2008.

Anime

List of Gantz Episodes

The Gantz anime is divided into two seasons: The first season is known as "The First Stage", while the second season is known as "The Second Stage", which is a direct continuation of the first season. The anime has been licensed in the United States of America by ADV.

Plot

Beginning

The story begins when a pair of high school students (Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato) are seemingly run over by a subway train, after saving the life of a homeless drunk who had fallen onto the tracks. Following their untimely deaths, Kei and Masaru find themselves transported — alive and well — along with a number of people who have also just died, to the interior of an unfurnished Tokyo condominium from which the Tokyo Tower may be seen - and none of them are able to leave. At one end of the room is a featureless black sphere we later learn is called "Gantz". After a short amount of time, a postwar Japanese exercise radio begins to play from the sphere. By way of green text that appears on the surface of the sphere, Gantz informs those present that their lives have ended. The following words appear on the black sphere's surface: "Your lives have ended. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. That's the theory, anyway." (The ADV translations have it as "Your lives are over, you bastards. What you do with your new lives is entirely up to me. So there you have it.") The sphere then opens up to reveal suits that, when worn, amplify the user's attributes, such as strength, speed and agility. Along with the suits are various high-tech weapons with different uses for different situations. Next, information on the Gantz Targets appear on the surface of the sphere, shortly before the Gantz Team are transported to the location of the mission.

Much is still left unknown about the room. It appears to be isolated from the rest of the world through a dimensional barrier. Its door will only open under the condition that the mission is completed. According to the manga, there are reports of similar rooms in Germany, United States and Israel. The appearance of another Japanese team set in Osaka indicates that there is more than one of these in Japan.

In addition to the weapons, suits, and scanners, Gantz holds what appears to be a muscle-bound bald man on life support in the center of the ball. The true identity and purpose of this man is never revealed; but there has been no small amount of implication that he is in some way responsible for the running of the game, selecting players, scoring the individual players' performance, and monitoring the team both during missions and during the 'off hours' in between.

The Rules of the Game

Gantz forces them to participate in what at first appears to be a reality game show, in which they hunt aliens who are secretly living in Japan. Gantz provides them with strength enhancing- skinsuits, guns, and radar. Each participant has a miniature explosive implanted in their brains that prevents them from wandering outside the designated playing field, much like the explosive collars in the series Battle Royale. The designated area is roughly one square kilometer; if the participants cross this boundary or tell anyone of the secrets of Gantz and the apartment, the explosive will detonate. It appears that this trigger only works when the player speaks verbally to someone about it, as Nishi developed a website with written reports of his missions and apparently no harm was done to him because of it.

If the players manage to survive the mission, they return to the room in perfect health (even if they were nearly dead or missing limbs). When a player is injured in the game and returns to the room afterwards, he/she will have no memory of what happened after his/her injury and will be standing in the pose he/she was last healthy in. This leads to suspect that Gantz "copies" an entire individual and later "pastes" that into the room rather than restoring an injured individual. Also note that it seems that later in the manga, this copy and paste method is replaced with the characters remembering their own injuries. Those who are killed during the mission do not return to the room. Gantz then tallies individual scores based on kills and sets them free, only to have them return to play another time. Points are awarded according to the number of kills achieved by the player, less points are given if the alien is captured, and no extra points are given for suitless kills.

Those who manage to accumulate 100 points are given one of three choices:

1. Be set free with their memories of Gantz and the games wiped.
2. Receive a more powerful weapon.
3. Be able to resurrect a deceased human from Gantz's memory bank.

In the event that the one-hour mission duration is reached without all targets being eliminated, all of a player's points are revoked, and his or her score goes back to zero (as happened to Kurono in the Chibi Seijin mission). Prior to this the players had assumed that failing to complete the mission in the time allotted would result in the immediate death of the entire team. The following mission, Gantz informed Kurono (Gantz addressed him by name) that if Kurono did not achieve 15 points in the current mission that he would be killed.

It has been shown that one can slowly remember aspects or memories from the game: Izumi slowly remembered his time as a member of Gantz's team and eventually got himself back into the game, and Kei also remembered that he was the leader of the team for a while when the vampires attacked him at his house. Kato is currently trying to obtain 100 points to resurrect Kuruno.

None of the rules are actually explicitly given to the players, with the exception of the 100 point menu, which is either given automatically when a player reaches or exceeds 100 points, or is requested by a player, and the 15-point requirement given to Kurono at the start of the Kappe Seijin mission. In every other case the players have learned of their rewards and penalties only after they have been earned.

Instead of being given any training or a list of rules, the participants are simply told to kill their target, and are only shown one or two enemy profiles, which is often not representative of the full complement or ability of their opponents. They are not given any useful information on their enemies' capabilities or weaknesses, or the number of enemies to expect. Unfortunately for the players, the rules of the game (as well as the capabilities of the suits, the use of the weapons, and the scoring system) are learned by one of two ways: either by institutional memory (i.e. a veteran explaining to a newcomer how the game works), or by trial and error, the latter usually resulting in the death of one or more players. In the days before the beginning of the series when Nishi was the only surviving veteran, the newcomers were forced to rely solely on trial and error; the result - as Nishi indicated following the Negi Seijin mission - was that Kurono, Kato, and Kishimoto were the only other people to survive to the end of a single mission in "a long time."

The end result is that the newcomers are entirely dependent on the goodwill of the veterans for crucial information that may be their only hope of survival; in the hypothetical event that the entire complement of veterans is wiped out, any future group of newcomers would be utterly at the mercy of their circumstances; their only hope of survival would be their own guile, cunning, and the ability to quickly figure out and utilize the tools provided.

Gantz sometimes gives hints to the hunters about what they should do, but it rarely happens.

Development

The series introduces new characters constantly and most of them are killed off just as quickly, though a stable cast forms at times. As the series progresses, the viewers are left to ponder what Gantz is and how it is able to provide the characters with such fantastic weaponry and technology. These, along with many other questions (such as who the aliens are or even if they are evil period - after all, the aliens never seemed to actually cause harm to anyone or anything until Gantz sent people to exterminate them) remain unanswered.

Later in the manga, some of Gantz's participants obtained over 100 points and used their points to revive various fallen persons, like Tae Kojima and Masaru Kato. Kei Kurono, however, was convinced by his comrades and Kato to use his points to set himself free and had his memory erased. Kurono then returned to his former self before he met Gantz, without any memory at all of his life during the months he was participating in the Gantz game. However, Kurono stumbles upon various clues of his past life (like Izumi did previously before coming to Gantz a second time) such as photographs of him and Tae and rumors of him going out with Reika. These forgotten memories begin to haunt him immediately after his return.

It is later confirmed in the manga that Gantz teams of other nationalities exist in the world. It is stated in Issue 229 in a dialog between Izumi and Nishi when the latter asks if they should leave it to the other countries, with Izumi answering that he wants to show the world Japan's greatness. There also may be a central sphere located in Germany, but nearly all information regarding it is still in speculation.

Influences

The last episode of the anime pays homage to a scene in the anime Cowboy Bebop, when Kei Kurono raises his hand in the shape of a gun and says "BANG."

The Future

In chapter 237 it was announced that the first phase of the manga was completed, and the second phase, named "Catastrophe", started on November 22, 2006, leaving many questions about the events of the previous chapters and creating new ones as the hunters went on without their leader Kei Kurono. They must now deal with new situations, like the adding of two vampires to the team, the rogue group of hunters from Osaka, and being visible to any civilian spectator since the ending of their last mission with the Oni Aliens.

Characters

Please note that this list is based on the manga's storyline, which differs from the anime version's plot.

Names are in Western order, with the given name before the surname (family name).

Targets

In each mission, Gantz informs the Hunters about the current target which has to be hunted. This information includes an image of the target as well as it's characteristics, things it likes, and favorite quotes. Most of the time, Gantz doesn't give the whole information because almost always the "boss" is not the original target or there are more than one specimen for each class. While in the anime version, there are four targets including a "Kurono alien" (after The Buddhist Temple Aliens mission), until this moment, there have been nine different targets in the manga:

• The Green Onion Aliens
• The Tanaka Aliens
• The Buddhist Temple Aliens
• The Shorty Aliens (aka The Chibi Aliens)
• The Kappe(countryman) Alien
• The Ring Aliens
• Kojima Tae
• The Oni Aliens
• Nurarihyon

Equipment

Before each mission, Gantz's black ball opens, displaying a handful of equipment that the players can use in the hunts. They can take these items home after the battles and even use them in their personal matters.

Basic equipment

• Gantz Suit: Unquestionably the most essential piece of equipment the Hunters can employ. Each suit is attuned to an individual body and can only be utilized by that specific Hunter. The suits are tight to a point that the wearer cannot put it on with any kind of underwear, but gives them incredible strength, speed, and endurance. On top of that, the suit provides the player with an almost impenetrable protection to his/her body, even to the head, which is fully exposed. Large caliber bullet rounds to the face do not leave so much as a bruise. It should be noted, however, that the suit only seems to protect from blunt attacks such as bullets and punches, but doesn't seem to do anything for slicing attacks like from a sword. When in full use, the suits' artificial muscles expand, making the Hunter appear larger. In terms of strength, they can easily lift over fifty times their weight and jump well over thirty feet high. However, the amount of damage it can sustain is limited. Should the suit receive too many powerful impacts without time to recover, the "caps" along the suit will break, releasing the essential chemical that powers it, rendering it as useful as ordinary clothes. The Vampires are apparently aware of the suits, as they often attack the caps directly.
• Controller: A device used to track the targets, as it carries a small screen displaying the location of the targets. However, the marker on the radar isn't very precise and has created many situations in which the Hunters ran into trouble pinpointing the exact number and location of the targets. The players can also change cloaking frequencies with this device, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. Some aliens, however, can see through the cloaking field, and there are devices that can do the same, such as the glasses used by the Vampires. Vampires also have contacts that fulfill the same purpose as the glasses and they tend to put them on while in combat.

Weapons

X-Gun: The most frequently used weapon of the Hunters. The X-gun is a small handgun-sized weapon, that gets its name from the four protrusions around the barrel that spread out like an "X" when fired. Also, it has an X-ray monitor in the back. It has an oddity shared by the X-Rifle: one must use both their pointer and middle finger to pull its trigger - one would imagine this makes the weapon somewhat unsteady while firing repeatedly. Later in the manga, the X-ray device is revealed to be part of a lock-on system that can target multiple enemies at once. The X-gun functions by firing nano-sized explosives that stop and explode inside the target. The effectiveness of this gun is not specific to biological targets, as it has been shown to affect the surroundings as well. The only drawback to this weapon is that it has a significant time delay between the triggers being pressed and the projectile being fired/impacting the target, during which the enemy can easily dodge it, use an object as a shield, or kill the wielder.X-Rifle: This weapon is similar to the X-Gun in almost every respect in terms of functionality. However, the X-Rifle (which is shaped like a rifle version of the X-Gun) is clearly meant for longer range. It has a much greater firing range, higher accuracy, and a sniper scope. In the Buddha alien mission, one of the Hunters equipped with this weapon stated that its range is at least one kilometer.Y-Gun: The only non-lethal weapon in the Hunter's arsenal so far. It is a handgun-sized weapon that has the same lock-on capabilities of the X-Gun, but rather than fire out a lethal payload, it instead launches a homing net that securely ties up the target with a strong wire and then buries the points of the net into the ground. Once this is done, the target is "sent" by means of teleportation to an unknown point in space. One trigger on the Y-gun is used for firing the snare and the other is used for initiating the 'send'. This weapon gets its name from the Y-shaped barrel that the net launches from.Gantz Sword: The only melee weapon revealed so far. It is a katana-like weapon that is usually in a closed hilt-only state. When in use, an incredibly sharp blade extends from the hilt. It can extend without loss of durability and it is unknown if its length is limited; currently it has only been extended to roughly 30 feet. The sword and the vehicle were both in a room next to the Gantz room, and nobody knew about them until Izumi appeared in the Dinosaur arc.Strong Weapon (reward): This weapon has not yet been used during the manga by the Tokyo Gantz team, and Izumi was killed by the vampires before he could use his. In chapter 243 we meet the Osaka team, and it's noted they're carrying bulky yet powerful looking weapons which have not been seen before, so there is a large possibility that these are the 'strong weapons' rewarded after getting 100 points. It's also possible that these are secret weapons like the "Gantz Sword" but only 5 of those weapons have been seen in the manga during the Osaka mission. In chapter 247, the weapon is shown in use for the first time. The results of this weapon being used leave a large cylindrical "cut out" in the ground, and it seems as if aliens caught in the blast simply have large vertical cylinders "cut" out of them. It's suggested by Sakata that these weapons may not be the result of attaining 100 points once, but many subsequent times, wherein each of the wielders reached 100 points several times and repeatedly chose the weapon option over and over again. It is often referred by fans as the "H-Gun", because of its similarities in shape with the letter H. In chapter 262 the Osaka teams strongest three wielding these weapons used them on the strongest aliens they could find with minimal effect. The weapon is described by them and shown as flattening and pinning their targets to ground suggesting it might be a gravity weapon of some sort. The aliens attempt to fly but are crushed and when one of them manages to soak the blast without being pinned to the ground the top part of its body is flattened like rubber. It has yet to be seen if there is a delay associated with this weapon. It has also been shown that this weapon is not an instant kill as the Tengu and Kitsune were able to take multiple blasts and still fight.

Vehicles

Gantz Bike: A type of monowheel and the only vehicle provided by Gantz so far. It doesn't seem to possess any attack ability, but can travel at a great velocity. It made its first appearance in the Dinosaur mission, in which Kurono and the old man used it numerous times to pursue their enemies. It has a second appearance in chapter 243 when two Gantz members from the Osaka team enter the battle riding on them. The Gantz Bike is also present in the Gantz video game as part of a prize after reaching 100 points.

Reception

The first season, known as the ?First Stage?, was heavily edited on Japanese TV, but the second season (?Second Stage?) remained uncut. The Gantz anime is often criticized for its ending and pacing problems. The anime was made while the manga was still in early production, and thus Gonzo had to produce episodes at an irregular pace, and end the series in a manner a number of fans found unsatisfying - a common occurrence when an anime is made from a manga that has not finished its run.

Theme songs

Opening

• "Super Shooter" by Rip Slyme

Ending

• "Last Kiss" by Bonnie Pink

Gantz: The Game

On March 17 2005, Konami published a game for the Playstation 2 based on the Gantz series. It was named simply as GANTZ: THE GAME. It features the characters and plot up to the Buddha Alien mission (though the vampires and the Shorty Aliens are present). The game may be classified as a Third-person shooter, although it does have a little RPG elements put together. More information can be found on the game's * official website. The game also includes extras including Free Play mode, a Mini Mode, Magazine Browser mode, Gantz Rankings, a special preview movie and the scenario completion statistic.

Playable Characters

The game offers a total of nineteen playable characters, and they are made available as the players progress. The available characters include:

Kei Kurono (the story's protagonist)

Masaru "Kat?-Cha" Kat? (Kurono's best friend)

Kei Kishimoto (the girl with large breasts; Kurono has a crush on her)

Rice (also known as Butter Dog)

Joichiro " Nishi-kun" Nishi (a Gantz veteran who enjoys watching people die)

Masanobu "Homo" Hojo (a former metrosexual model)

Sadayo "Sadako" Suzumura (Masanobu Hojo's stalker)

Sei Sakuraoka (she looks like Lara Croft; Kurono lost his virginity to her)

Juuzou Tougou (the sniper in the Buddha Mission)

Tae Kojima (Kurono's girlfriend; a hidden character)

Although they are playable, players cannot access the characters immediately; they may do so only upon completing the game once. By doing so, one may choose a different character other than Kurono to play as. This is possible through the Extra Option mode.

Enemies

The enemies the player may encounter are almost exactly from the manga and anime. Although this is true, the game actually multiplies the number of enemies the player encounters of the same type over and over. Hence, players will fight a copy of the same enemy depending on a particular stage/scenario. The enemies available in the game are as follow (in order):

The Onion Aliens

The Tanaka Aliens

The Buddhist Temple Aliens

The Chibi Aliens

The Vampires

Cultural References

• Gantz's apartment bears a strong resemblance to a famous building in the Ebisu area of Shibuya.
• The stray dog, often depicted as licking Kishimoto's genitals and commonly referred to as "Butter Dog" (although in the PS2 game it was given the name "Rice"), was abandoned by his owner during a walk, then hit by a dumptruck and sent to Gantz's apartment (source: Volume 7; as stated by Hiroya Oku over a phone conversation).
• One of the Vampires bears a striking resemblance to actor Vincent Gallo from the movie Buffalo '66.
• Kappe Alien Mission takes place in Chiba, Chiba Makuhari.
• During the Buddha mission of the anime, reference is made to the movie Shaft in which the other character tells the first to "Shut your mouth" to which he is replied with "But you can dig it can't you" which is a reference to the popularized theme song.
• In the anime, the notebook computer that Nishi used to keep track of the 'games' was an Apple PowerBook G4.
• Episode 3 of the series there is a reference to the series Dragonball and Hokuto no Ken. The reference refers to Goku and Kenshiro, used to describe Kei Kurono.
• The sunglasses and contact lenses used by the vampires to see the Gantz team are similar to the Hoffman Lenses from They Live.
• Volume 1, Issue 3: The song being played by Gantz is one from a popular postwar Japanese exercise radio program.[2]
• Volume 1, Issue 4: (1) The writing on the Gantz ball is in Leet language. (2) "Denpa Shonen" is a stunt reality show running now for about a decade and made most famous by the comedian Nasubi. (3)
• Volume 1, Issue 5: (1) Honoo Challenge is a Japanese game show (2) Franz Harary is an American magician and illusionist.
• Volume 1, Issue 6: (1) Natto are a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans. (2) The Onion Alien [3] Mission takes place in Ichinomiya (??, literally "First Shrine") in Tama, Tokyo.
• Volume 1, Issue 9: Eichmann test is referring to Adolph Eichmann, an SS soldier in World War II. the term "Eichmann test" describes the player's instructions to blindly obey Gantz and kill the aliens.
• Volume 3, Issue 23: Bosozoku are Japanese motorcycle gangs.
• Volume 3, Issue 25: The "Shosen Grand" in Jinb?ch? is a good area from Tokyo to locate rare books and manga.
• Volume 3, Issue 25: "Aerts" and "Hickson" are references to Peter Aerts and Rickson Gracie
• Volume 3, Issue 29: Tetsuo Nemoto is the leader of the Bosozoku Japanese motorcycle gang that partakes in the Tanaka Alien Mission.
• Volume 4, Issue 37: The Tanaka Alien's words "Hey, hey, hey, it's a beautiful day" are Daniel Boone's "Beautiful Day." This was covered in 1976 by Japanese singer Seiji Tanaka. The Tanaka Alien (Tanaka Seijin) is a play on his name in Japanese (Tanaka Seiji). The other things the Alien say are presumably bits of his other songs. His name was changed in the anime to "Suzuki Alien" perhaps due to Seiji's discontent of his portrayal.
• Volume 4, Issue 40: Yoshinoya (???) is the largest chain among beef bowl (Gy?don) restaurants and one of the leading fast food chains in Japan; often shortened to "Yoshigy?" (meaning Yoshinoya's beef) among its enthusiasts.
• Volume 5, Issue 47: (1) "Yuzo" refers to Yuzo Gucci, the original singer on the show "Together With Mom," a cousin of Seiji Tanaka who was the lead singer of the comedic band "Busy Four" and famous for his impersonations of Tanaka. The "Haah" and "beautiful" lines originate from the lyrics of his biggest hit, "Beautiful Sunday." Famous Watermelon Lands and "Did you make some friends" are lines from his "Famous Watermelon Lands" song. (2) Kagoshima Prefecture is where his current record label is located at. (3) His sidekick "Gyoro-chan" is a grotesque take-off of a "Choco Ball" Morinaga Confections mascot, "Kyoro-chan." Tanaka was well-known for his appearance in Morinaga commercials from 1973 to 1988.
• Volume 5, Issue 56: Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese type of tea.
• Volume 5, Issue 57: (1) Sei Sakuraoka from the Buddha Mission looks like Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. (2) Musou Tokugawa, the monk from the Buddha Mission, looks like the Japanese television personality Odamudo. (3) Tougou Juuzou (the sniper in the military fatigues in the Buddha Mission) looks like Duke Togo, the codename for the assassin from Golgo 13. (4) JJ, the American karate practitioner from the Buddha Mission looks like Geese Howard from SNK. (5) Tomao from the Buddha Mission looks like the Japanese actor Yosuke Kubozuka. (6) Tomao's friend, Konta, also from the Buddha Mission looks like Kawabata Kaname, a Japanese musician from Chemistry. (7) "Namuami Dabutsu" is a Japanese Buddhist prayer meaning "I take refuge in Amida Buddha."
• Volume 6, Issue 67: The Buddhist Temple Alien statue that appears on the rooftop looks like one of the Buddhist Bishamonten or Tamonten deities who are in statue form in Kamakura.
• Volume 6, Issue 68: Among the remaining Buddhist Temple Aliens are the Tentouki (Tentoki) and Ryuutoki (Ryutoki) creature who hold lantern. Though originally evil, they were trampled by the Shitenno (Four Deva Kings), repented, were saved, and now carry lanterns as offerings for the Buddha.[4]
• Volume 6, Issue 69: The big Buddhist Temple Alien is based off a Buddha statue located at T?dai-ji Temple in Nara.
• Volume 7, Issue 72: (1) The Seibu Line runs from Seibu Shinjuku Station in Shinjuku, Tokyo to Honkawagoe Station (????) in Kawagoe, Saitama. (2) Higashi-Nagasaki (????) Station is in the Toshima ward of Tokyo. (3) Ikebukuro (??) is a part of Toshima ward and is a large commercial and entertainment district of Tokyo.
• Volume 8, Issue 87: "Thousand Arms Kannon" Buddhist Temple Alien (part 2) looks like Spider Smith from the movie Lost In Space.
• Volume 8, Issue 93: (1) Kei Kurono's laptop is a Sony VAIO. (2) The Tanaka Alien [5] Mission took place in Itabashi (???), one of 23 special wards of Tokyo.
• Volume 8, Issue 94: Regarding Nishi's website, Izumi wonders if its a parallel to the beginnings of Blair Witch 2.
• Volume 9, Issue 95: Chibi / Shorty Alien: (1) Has uzumaki or swirls on his cheeks and chest. (2) The Chibi Alien looks like a statue of a kami in the Shinsekai district of Osaka.
• Volume 9, Issue 101: Red Envelope are occasionally given from married couples to friends and family.
• Volume 10, Issue 108: Shibuya is known for being a fashion epicenter of Tokyo and all of Japan as well as being a particularly famous for its nightlife.
• Volume 10, Issue 109: Sakata Kenz? asks if he looks like Takuya Kimura (????), a Japanese actor and singer.
• Volume 10, Issue 114: Hiroto Sakurai ("Cherry") is shown wearing a UEFA Champions League sweater.
• Volume 10, Issue 115: From the Gantz Manual, Oku Hiroya clearly states that Kaze Daizaemon's inspiration for Hakkyoku-Ken, a Chinese martial arts known as Bajiquan, is Virtua Fighter's Akira Yuki.
• Volume 10, Issue 117: Kei Kurono poses like the Karate Kid.
• Issue 122: An Advertisement for a James Bond Movie can be seen in the Background of Page 5.
• Issue 124: Izumi is wearing Adidas Handshoes.
• Issue 134: The cover girl looks like Fujiko Mine from Lupin III.
• Volume 17, Issue 191: Oni Mission takes place in Ikebukuro.
• Issue 228: One of the girls hitting on Akira Kurono and his friends looks like Chiaki Kuriyama.
• Issue 232: Izumi Shion fights the Vampires in Chiyoda Park outside of Mizuo Train Station.
• Issue 233: Razor Ramon HG is shown on Kei Kurono's television while flipping through channels.
• Issue 234: Kei Kurono goes to shop in Akihabara to find a counter weapon against the Vampires.
• Issue 235: The subtext of: "The dew may stay on the withered flower, but it will never see another evening." of the issue's title is borrowed from H?j?ki (1212) by Japanese author Kamo no Ch?mei (1155-1216).

External links

• ADV's Gantz website
• MVM Films' Gantz website
• Madman Entertainment's Gantz website
• Young Jump Magazine Webpage
• Official Japanese site
• GANTZ: THE GAME official website.
• Review of the series by Dreamlogic.net
• Gantz Box Set DVD review at www.sci-fi-online.com
• Dark Horse Lands Gantz Manga

Action anime and mangaScience fiction anime and mangaHorror anime and mangaSeinen2004 television series debuts2004 television series endingsAnime of the 2000s

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