GANTZ Volume 6

If you have a human heart, it will break during the first episode of Gantz #6. The end of the Buddhist Temple arc is neither fair nor happy – a dismembered, bleeding Kurono is forced is sit and watch as each and every one of his friends faces mortal danger in trying to protect him. This entire climax is like sitting through a horribly uneven boxing match, gut busting punch after punch landing in the stomach of a strong spirited but weak fighter. He keeps swinging, looking for his chance to win but in the face of such overwhelming odds, defeat is inevitable. This is another excellent volume of Gantz – just don’t expect an even remotely happy ending.

The subtitle of Gantz #6 is “Judge, Jury And Executioner” – this is an allusion to events after the Buddhist Temple arc. A new game is quickly pulled together by the titular black ball and the subject of its latest twisted hunt is”¦ the Kurono alien! An interesting turn of events, especially since a part of the new team is none other than Kurono’s stupid high school teacher.

This is the point where the anime strays from its still on-going manga source material and attempts to create a Battle Royale-like original story arc all of its own; interestingly, the satire and social commentary is pushed into over drive.

In previous missions the characters could pass off their murderous instincts as merely a matter of survival – after all, when your hulking enemy has big sharp teeth and roars in your face, it’s easy to pull the trigger and rub out that life in exchange for yours, but it’s a totally different thing to kill a human – an innocent person who just like you wants to go on living.

As you would expect of Gantz, no punches are pulled and one of the first bastards willing to shoot Kurono is of course his teacher; the very woman you would expect to feel responsible and protective over him is the one willing to kill to survive.
No matter what they do with their lives, at a very base of level of human nature most people are willing to murder to survive. Living by morals goes out the window when you have a gun to your head.

In Summary

Gantz continues to be both great fun and highly compelling. The end of the Buddhist Temple mission is utterly heart breaking, and it’s quickly followed with a quirky and interesting new hunt that pits student against teacher – Kurono against everyone else in a Battle Royale that will inevitably end in tears.