Gantz vols. 20 & 21

This is a series that has been on the cusp of greatness a few times over the past year.  Protagonist Kei Kurono’s efforts to save his girlfriend back in vol. 15 and his release from the game and the repercussions of that act in vol. 19 were handled really well.  Unfortunately creator Hiroya Oku hasn’t been able to follow through with the fallout from these actions in a logical manner, having Kei continue to work with the teammates who killed his girlfriend as if nothing had happened as one example, and it has become harder to get fully invested in the series as a result.  At least the action has remained consistently exciting throughout.  These two volumes represent a major turning point in the series with regards to its group dynamics, but I’m not convinced that it’s going to be for the best.  (Spoilers for Kei’s fate in the two paragraphs after the break…)

More than anything, Oku’s greatest triumph with the series has been his characterization of Kei.  Starting out as a unlikeable cynical teenage punk, he eventually learned the value of not just having friends and comrades, but of being a leader and putting the needs of others before his own.  It was a gradual shift that happened over the first ten volumes, and it felt completely believable and natural.  Granted, there was some embarrassing awkwardness and self-indulgence in his romantic encounters, but when the aliens came for him in the real world and he risked his life to save his future girlfriend Tae, it didn’t feel forced at all.

Then his comrades got enough points to bring Kei and Tae back to life, only with no memory of their time fighting aliens under Gantz’s orders.  While the reset button was pushed on his personality, Oku indicated that there was more to it and that the two would wind up living happily ever after.  That turned out not to be the case and the wiping of Kei’s memory effectively wound up gimping him when the “vampires” hunting the Gantz team came to his house late one night.  The outcome of that battle still doesn’t sit right with me, because Kei deserved better after all that he had been through, but I have to appreciate how well it was set up.

Now we come to vol. 21 and the team has unwillingly picked up some new members and found themselves in a new city:  Osaka.  They also find a host of aliens in the form of mythological creatures from Japan’s folk history and another Gantz team already in the city.  At last!  More companions for our heroes to fight against and gain more points to free others and themselves from the black orb’s tyranny!  Right?

WRONG!  The Osaka Gantz team is so amoral and uncaring — they don’t care about bystanders, they do drugs, they rape the aliens they’re supposed to kill — that I hope to see them all wiped out in the next volume.  I have to cross continents for an appropriate reference, but this is like how the first human encampment Rick’s group encountered in “The Walking Dead” turned out to be run by a vicious madman who had no qualms about exploiting them for his own enjoyment and gain.  Had The Governor suddenly wandered onto the scene in this series, I think he’d have sided with the familiar Tokyo team because at least they have a working group dynamic he could exploit and weren’t a bunch of crazy psychopaths.  Just because The Governor is one himself doesn’t mean that he’d want to work with people who are crazier than him.

Fortunately that’s not the focus of the entire volume, as there’s still plenty of good alien-fighting action that doesn’t involve them.  A lot of time is devoted to little Takeshi showing that he’s not as helpless as he seems after he gets separated from the group and Kaze “Muscle Man Rider!” has to track him down and kick a lot of ass himself in the process.  Seeing the boy’s relationship with his father figure develop has been an enjoyable part of the last few volumes, and we get to see some payoff in its development here.  That relationship also gives this series some heart, which I was worried would go missing after Kei’s departure.

At this point, “Gantz’s” quality would have to steadily decline from here on out to get me to stop reading.  (See also:  “Bleach,” “Oh! My Goddess”)  However, this isn’t the first time I’ve been concerned about its future, and the series has always pulled out something to get me excited about it again.  That speaks more to its uneveness than anything else, but also shows that even if I do have concerns about the new team and direction, I can’t count it out just yet.