Gantz vol. 35

There are two significant character deaths in this volume.  One of them involves someone who has been relatively sympathetic throughout most of his tenure in this series.  His turn towards hatred in the last few volumes has actually been one of the more believable character developments of this final arc of “Gantz” as his reasons for hating the alien invaders were at least well-founded in his mind.  That his final act actually involves saving some of the aliens he has been trying to kill doesn’t come across as glaringly inconsistent is down to the fact that we feel he was a nice kid warped by tragedy and hope for his redemption on some level.  (Or at least that’s what I felt.)

The other, well… I really couldn’t give a shit.  The character spends most of this volume embracing the nihilistic and selfish worldview he has embraced for most of this series.  It appeared for a while that he may have found a reason to care about his fellow humans (maybe just the littlest one fighting on his team), but that turned out to not be the case.  In the end, he winds up being a simple punching bag for Kei to show the audience how much better he is than this particular character.  As if we didn’t already know.  That the character in question winds up spending his final moments crying for his mother isn’t so much sad as it is grossly disappointing.  It was obvious that this kid was a horrible bastard who deserved everything that was coming to him.  Seeing him cry like a baby in his final moments doesn’t feel satisfying, it feels like a foregone conclusion where our only recourse is to go, “GET ON WITH IT!”

As for our protagonist, mangaka Hiroya Oku spends most of this volume rehashing plot points he had presented to better effect in previous volumes.  Kei is reunited (again) with Tae who impresses upon him the idea that not all the aliens are evil and that they shouldn’t all be wiped out due to the actions of the ruling class.  Then she dies again — only it’s a fake-out by the mangaka!  The couple then returns to Earth while the endgame begins in earnest.  I’ll be sticking around for it, but DAMN!  This final arc has jerked me around more than “Future Diary” without the joy of watching a figurative train wreck unfold before my eyes.  Only two volumes to go before the series either flubs its landing completely, or sticks it in the most awkward way possible.