Gantz

Gantz (ガンツ) is a seinen manga created by Hiroya Oku in 2000.

It combines action, science fiction, and personal relationships in contemporary Japan, where a group of people, who usually die in accidents, appear in an apartment with a large black sphere called Gantz. Then the sphere tells them that they have indeed died and are obliged to fulfill the orders that the being that lives within the sphere entrusts them, a reward being the salvation of their lives, if they survive the fulfillment of those orders.

The protagonist is a teenager of 14 years (at the end of the manga is 17) named Kei Kurono who must go through these missions in order to be resurrected.

Because of its bloody content and nude scenes, it was censored in some countries.


 * NOTE 1: In this article, we will only take into account the manga (and films), since the anime is quite deviated from the manga.
 * NOTE 2: This article has spoilers.

Phase 1: Missions

 * 1) Onion Alien: First mission of the manga (but not of the "Universe", since there were others). They must exterminate anthropomorphic beings with Chinese onion skin and face, as well as a childlike appearance. Its final boss was a corpulent "adult" (arguably that was their "father"), not a giant.
 * 2) Tanaka Alien: They must exterminate human-sized birds wearing a Tanaka costume (a person Oku Hiroya detests). The final boss is a huge bird.
 * 3) Buddhist Temple Alien: They must exterminate some aliens who have the appearance of Buddhist statues. At the beginning there are 2 giants (male-looking), and then there is a larger one (male-looking).
 * 4) Shorty ("chibi") Alien: Kei Kurono (alone) must kill childlike beings that attack in a group. There was no final boss, they were all the same.
 * 5) Dinosaur Alien: After the massacre of Shinjuku (where more than 300 people died), the people "selected" by Gantz must kill some alien who took the appearance of dinosaur (in museum). Its final boss is, apparently, a parody of Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece) of great size.
 * 6) Ring Alien: They must kill a group of giant aliens that look like medieval horsemen.
 * 7) Kill Tae Kojima: Because Tae Kojima took pictures of the previous mission, Gantz demands that she be exterminated.
 * 8) Oni Alien: They must kill a group of aliens with aspect of Japanese demon ("oni").

Phase 2: Katastrophe

 * 1) Nurarihyon Alien: The team from Tokyo and Osaka should ally themselves to exterminate the aliens of aspect based on the beings of [Japanese] folklore. Here appears a being that is debatable if it can be considered "giantess".
 * 2) Italian Alien: All the "gantzers" of the world are sent to Italy to exterminate some very powerful aliens that took the form of religious statues (Roman catholic).

About Nurarihyon
In Gantz, "Nurarihyon" is an alien that takes many forms (usually referring to Japanese folklore). Among these forms there is one that catches the attention of the GTS community:

It is a juxtaposition of several naked female bodies, which has generated a debate in the GTS community because:
 * 1) The monster, as a whole, has a feminine and human aspect.
 * 2) It is not a giant human woman, but several "normal" sized stacks (something like a "megazord").

These contradictory characteristics left open a debate in which not everyone agrees with knowing if this monster is considered giantess or not.

What do you think? You can use the comments to discuss this issue at the end of the article.

Do you consider this monster (Nurarihyon) as a giantess (GTS)? YES NO

Phase 3: Invasion

 * 1) The Invasion Begins: Planet Earth is being invaded by mysterious giant beings. They massacre humans mercilessly.
 * 2) Alien Ship Takeover Mission: Because giant aliens kidnap humans (to devour or use them for their personal fun), "gantzers" infiltrate to the enemy ship to rescue the kidnapped.
 * 3) United Rescue: Kurono, takes Fra Rarada as hostage, which helps him save some humans and find Tae Kojima (his girlfriend).
 * 4) Destroy the Tower Mission: Inside the giants' ship, there is a tower that can compress space. Humans must pilot super-giant robot (even bigger than the same giants, mega-size-like for humans) to be able to destroy that tower.
 * 5) The Final Challenge: The only thing left to beat the giants is to defeat their best soldier, and he demands a fight with Kei Kurono.

Tae Kojima as pet
Because Kei Kurono's girlfriend, Tae Kojima, escapes from the food factory, she is cornered in an alley next to a dying human. At that moment, a girl (of the alien species of the giants) takes her as a pet and takes her home.

Inside her house, the girl leaves her inside a "fish tank" with other animals and another human. This human is male and has sexual desires with Tae. Later, he dies from having eaten the extraterrestrial food and Tae manages to escape from the "fishbowl."

Trivia

 * The "saga" of the invading giant aliens seems to be inspired by Fantastic Planet. However, in Fantastic Planet, giants do not devour humans, only use them as pets.
 * On the other hand, this "saga" seems to have been inspired (indirectly) by Gargantua and Pantagruel (masterpiece of François Rabelais), since the giants are ruthless, powerful and devour humans.