The chapters of the Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

Gantz ''Gantz'' (stylized as ''GANTZ'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2000 to June 2013, with its chapters collected i ...

'' are written and illustrated by

Hiroya Oku is a Japanese manga artist, who is the creator of ''Gantz'', '' Gigant'', ''Hen'' and ''Inuyashiki'', the first two of which have been serialized in ''Weekly Young Jump''. Originally influenced by Katsuhiro Otomo and Ryoichi Ikegami,Weekly Young Jump is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. Launched in 1979, it is published under Shueisha's ''Jump'' line of magazines. The chapters of series that run in ''Weekly Young Jump'' are collected and published in ''tankōbon'' v ...

'' since its issue 32 published in 2000. The plot follows a teenager named

Kei Kurono is a fictional character in the manga series ''Gantz'' written by Hiroya Oku. In the story, Kurono is a teenager who feels forced to save a man from a subway train alongside his childhood friend Masaru Kato, but is killed in the process. He is ...

and his friend Masaru Kato who die in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous game in which they, and several other recently deceased people, are forced to hunt down and kill aliens. ''Gantz'' is divided into three main

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

s referred to as "phases". After the completion of Phase 1, the author put the series on hiatus for a short time to work on Phase 2, which is also known as "Catastrophe". Phase 1 consists of the first 237 chapters. On November 22, 2006, the first chapter of Phase 2, chapter 238, was released. As of chapter 303, the series was put in hiatus once again in order to let Oku prepare in the making of the final arc of the series. The series continued serialization in October from 2009. The individual chapters are collected by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

in ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' format; the first volume was released on December 11, 2000. 37 volumes have been released by Shueisha. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation, produced by

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

and directed by Ichiro Itano, aired in Japan on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

and AT-X. Publishing company

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

acquired the licensing rights for the release of English translations of ''Gantz'' on July 1, 2007, during the

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

. The first English volume was released on June 25, 2008. While the first three were being published quarterly, the following volumes are being released on a bimonthly basis. As of July 2015, 36 volumes have been released by Dark Horse Comics. The series is published by Glénat in Spain, by

Grupo Editorial Vid Grupo Editorial Vid (also known as ''Vid'' or ''Mundo Vid'') was a Mexican comic, manga and books publisher. It was funded in the early 1940s as ''Editorial Argumentos'' (EDAR). Many of their books are sold from around 30 pesos for comics up to 60 ...

in Mexico, by

Tonkam Tonkam is a prominent French publisher of manga and was one of the first publishers of manga in French, issuing its first titles in 1994. It was founded by Sylvie Chang and Dominique Véret with the financial assistance of a Parisian bookseller, ...

in France, by Planet Manga in Germany, Italy, Brazil and by

Editorial Ivrea Editorial Ivrea is an Argentine manga and comics publisher that publishes in Argentina, Spain and Finland. They also published ''Lazer'', a magazine which was specialized in anime, comics, manga, series and other media. The magazine has an acid ...

Volume list

Volumes 1–20

Volumes 21–37

See also

References