If you follow this series, you know the thing I like most in animanga is well written characters. In this respect, I feel like Gantz is king.
Gantz is the story of two young high school students. They used to be childhood friends, but haven’t seen one another in years. They happen to meet up one day at a subway station. This chance encounter leads to an unfortunate accident where we see the protagonists loose their lives trying to rescue a homeless man. Instead of dying the two students were transported into a mysterious room with a large black orb. This orb directs a collection of recently deceased people to undertake missions to kill aliens(from outer space).
I know this plot description sounds strange, Gantz is a very strange animanga. For anyone familiar with it, I can acknowledge that there are some serious problems with Gantz’s plot. Even so, in terms of my pure enjoyment it is one of my favorite manga series.
What makes Gantz great is its cast of amazingly flushed out and diverse characters. The animanga takes normal everyday people and watches them deal with the stress of war. Each character is unique, and the details of their actions give each character a level of humanity that is not often achieved in works of fiction.
Now that you know a little about the Gantz, lets talk about the main protagonist and focal character “Kei Kurono“. Hands down this is my favorite protagonist out of any animanga I’ve ever read. His story feels incredible from start to finish, its amazing to follow.
What makes Kurono a unique character (and my favorite character) is simple. Of all the animanga series that I have ever seen, Kurono feels the most realistic. Someone like Kurono could exist somewhere close to you.
Kurono deals with high stress situations in a way that is rarely seen in popular fiction. Kurono is constantly struggling with the pressure of losing his life, and the lives of the people he cares about. As apposed to a character like Shinji, (whom he does share characteristic with) Kurono doesn’t get dominated by the pressure. His character is a finely tuned balance of cracking under pressure, and then rising to the occasion.
A lot of people have criticized the series because they find Kurono to be a despicable character.Much in the same way that people criticize Evangelion because they don’t like Shinji. They say things like ‘all Kurono seems to care about is himself‘ ,and ‘all Kurono wants to do is try to get laid‘. This is true, Kurono starts the series off as a piece of shit. This is only the starting point for the character though. I would say to all these people, give the series more time.
Slowly we see Kurono become a better person in a variety of areas. Most animanga(especially Shonen) tend to keep the character more static. A lot of protagonists seem to grow almost exclusively in their fighting ability. Kurono does improve as a fighter, but he also improves his as a friend, a leader, an underachiever, and a wimp.Their are so many layers of the character that need improvement. The character changes so slowly and so dramatically you can’t help but connect with Kurono by the end of Gantz’s 37 volume run.
(Editor correction: Gantz is a Seinin, not a shonen.Hence why it is so different, also this is typical for action shonen, other genres do not tend to have this problem so profound)
Kurono is not just a set of troupes and ideals thrown together to function as a character. Not only does Kurono function in the story to tell something philosophical, he has a past, desires, regrets, wavering, indecision, and fears. Kurono isn’t part of some secret sect of ninjas, or have some kind of otherworldly indestructibility. Kurono has no magical power boosts or demon modes to Deus Ex Machina himself to safety when things are going bad, he has to work hard to get stronger. Kurono has to fight through his darkest hours, and he has to preserve to not only get what he wants but to understand himself.
(Editor comment: in most shonen, the character starts off weak. Additionally Kurono has technology which functions on a similar level to a magic power. Also a Deus Ex machina is present in the story(2x) this objectively does not make Kurono better)
I understand that the hero’s journey is nothing new, but the devil is in the details. The small things this character does make the him feel great. Seeing the character dealing with loss of loved ones, and witnessing its effect on his personality is great. The details of his romance and how it connects to Kurono’s self worth is also interesting.
Kurono goes through single handedly the greatest and most natural character growth I’ve ever seen. Over the course of the manga you see a cowardice and selfish character transform into brave and selfless one. If you make it though Gantz’s thirty-seven volumes Kurono might not be your favorite animanga character of all time, but I guarantee he will be damn close.
