Up until this volume Gantz had lived up to its violent reputation but shied away from depicting sex, preferring to instead settle for a few perverted jokes and little else. Volume 4 changes all that and as it turns out, this was Kurono's lucky day. I'm hesitant to mention the word hentai here (there is after all a lot more to these episodes), but suffice to say Kurono finally gets his girl problems sorted out.

Being as it is a champion of extreme cinema, Gantz would not be worth watching if not for the savage portrayal of human life outside (and inside) of the game. Kurono often comes across as a self-centred prick, yet ironically it is his teenage blemishes that make him into such a endearing, funny and sympathetic lead character; one moment he can do something so cool (like take on a giant killer bird all on his own, winning the hunt for his friends), but a few seconds later he will again make himself look a complete fool. Kurono is not a bastard; he is just a human- and a teenage boy at that.

The rest of this volume is similarly made up of some striking human characterisation. The nicest character of all, Kato, is now living with the increased responsibility of having to support himself and his younger brother on a students wage. Clearly both Kei and Kurono are benefiting from their experiences with Gantz, but it is a different story for Kato; more than anyone else, he can't afford to die, lest his younger brother be thrown into an uncertain life of poverty. Gantz has taught Kato to be more decisive but should he end up being killed, his younger brother will be left in a totally desperate situation with no where left to go. There is a lot riding on his survival.

The volume ends with a new mission just about to get ugly; as if the cheesy looking robots of the last mission weren't hard enough, this time Kurono and the gang are facing up against a pair of giant Buddha statues. Forgetting all the human drama for a moment, one of the great things about Gantz is that it truly embraces bizarre horror. There is an element of black humour that underpins everything about these missions and the aliens (if that is what they are) look so funny that when the action kicks off, we are left hanging between the humorous absurdity of a giant religious icon stomping down on a bunch of Japanese salaryman and the god-fearing terror being felt by his poor victims.

In Summary

Gantz #4 confirms everything you will have no doubt heard about this show. It has full-on sex, it has detailed violence and it has a cool mysterious plot too. How do I define cool? Alien hunting in downtown Tokyo; giant Buddhas reeking havoc on arrogant teenage punks.

Gantz is first and foremost a fun blast of gory horror, but the more you watch, the more it feels like reality TV; these shockingly normal characters had gradually burned themselves onto our hearts and urge us to watch more.