Hiroya Oku’s Manga “GIGANT,” Episodes Sixty-Six through Seventy-Four (Volume 8)

Good morning everyone,

There She Grows last reviewed Hiroya Oku’s manga GIGANT in January with a look at Volume 7 which included Episodes Fifty-seven through Sixty-five. (NOTE: This series was first published in December 2017; thus, this post won’t provide much background. Instead, this was written under the assumption that readers are already familiar with GIGANT. If that’s not the case, please start with my first GIGANT review.) In the previous volume, readers learned that Papiko was pregnant and that a monster dubbed “Satan” was en route Japan after it had rampaged across North America. (NOTE: Satan was created by an artificial intelligence which serves as the true series antagonist.)

Volume 8, the most recent compilation, was released on March 31st. Right off the bat, let it be known that this is all action! From start to finish, this volume details the battle between a combined team consisting of Papiko and four soldiers from the future against the monsters created by the artificial intelligence (A.I.) which runs the “enjoy the end” (ETE) web site. Furthermore, the battle was still very much ongoing at the end of this compilation.

Initially, it was only Satan attacking Tokyo, but more monsters arrived after he was seemingly defeated. Satan himself had a run-of-the-mill design. That’s to say, he looks like the stereotypical Western depiction of Satan. He is a large being with horns on the top of his head, red skin, sharp fingernails, a tail, and bat-like leathery wings. Additionally, he possessed the ability to breath fire, move his foes using telekinesis, and had supernaturally rapid healing.

I enjoyed the combat scenes and also felt that there was a strong, believable motivation behind Papiko’s decision to not only defend Tokyo, but also her boyfriend and the father to her unborn child.

However, I am curious if our heroes will ever directly attack the satellite orbiting Earth which holds the artificial intelligence and runs the ETE web site. Presumably, taking out the satellite would also eliminate the many threats that the A.I. continues to generate. On that topic, it is unclear what consists a “victory” in this current battle. For instance, in other stories defeating the main enemy would ensure victory. However, as previously mentioned, no assault has been made against the A.I. itself. Instead, there have only been proxy battles between Papiko and the future soldiers and whatever the current threat is that the A.I. has made.

Presumably, since Satan has been the consistent threat for many episodes now defeating him will be some sort of victory. However, when Satan was briefly incapacitated four more monsters appeared. Thus, I do not understand the conditions required to win. If all of the current giant creatures are defeated, will that mean that Tokyo is safe? Or will additional giant creatures appear?

For example, it is unknown how many monsters the A.I. can operate at a single time. If the A.I.’s power is almost exhausted then I would be more excited about the outcome of this battle. Perhaps when the good guys destroy these baddies then the world will be saved! Alternatively, maybe the A.I. is capable of producing an unlimited number of monsters. If that’s the case, then why would anyone care about the battle? Our heroes may defeat Satan, but is there any reason that the A.I. can’t make another Satan, or four more Satans, or 1,000 more Satans? I do not know what the A.I. is capable of doing thus I also do not know what it would mean to defeat the A.I. Accordingly, that makes it hard to care about the narrative.

As previously noted, this volume is all action. For instance, the now tried and true tactic of entering a monster’s orifice and then growing to immense size and ripping their way out of its body was repeated many times.

This also provided opportunities for Papiko to demonstrate her newly-gained prowess with flying and shooting energy beams! Overall, this volume was fairly exciting. So, I give it a recommendation. (NOTE: But I must warn potential readers that folks bleeding from their eyes, gore, mass death, etc. were shown. So, this is not for those who are squeamish about graphic violence.) The next volume should continue, and hopefully resolve, the battle between our size-changing heroes and Satan! Of note, I intend to keep review GIGANT volumes until the series concludes, which maybe soon.

GIGANT Volume 5 will be released in the U.S. this May. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the English editions and their release schedule is here: https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/gigant/ Volume 6 is not listed yet so it’ll likely be awhile before they catch up to the most recent releases in Japan. Alternatively, you could order the original language editions from a seller in Japan.

That’s it for today folks. Next week’s reviews will kick off with a look at a Giantess Zone clip that caught my eye. Until then, keep growing!

This review is protected under Fair Use copyright law.

All Rights Reserved.