Hiroya Oku’s Manga “GIGANT,” Episodes Seventy-Five through Eighty-Two (Volume 9)

Good morning everyone,

I’m excited to once again revisit this manga! GIGANT has provided a lot of fan service to size lovers by providing many growth scenes, images of a voluptuous nude giantess, and brief sex scenes between giant Papiko and regular men.

That’s not to say that I have no complaints with GIGANT. For one, the reason Papiko dated Rei in the first place was to prevent him from making a scene in an Italian restaurant, during Volume 2, which was rather awkward and cringe inducing.

Maybe I’m just upset because now that’s all I can think about when I eat at Saizeriya 😉 (NOTE: Saizeriya, サイゼリヤ in Japanese, is a family-style Italian restaurant chain. The place where Rei had his meltdown until Papiko agreed to date him was technically called Haizeriya ハイゼリヤ, but I’m confident that it was a reference to Saizeriya based on the similar decor and name.)

(SIDE NOTE: If none of this is at all familiar with you, then I humbly suggest starting with my first GIGANT review, click here for that, and reading the subsequent GIGANT reviews. Also, I initially translated the protagonist’s name パピコ into “Papiko,” by spelling it phonetically. However, I later discovered that the author spelled it “Papico” in English. I considered changing the spelling, but kept it as Papiko for the sake of consistency. Last, but not least, for whatever it’s worth, “Papico” is also the name for soda bottle-shaped ice cream bars. Maybe Hiroya Oku named his protagonist after the ice cream?)

There was also a scene in Volume 6 during which Papiko and Rei discuss the tragedy of Satan’s rampage through North America while being completely and utterly oblivious to the idea that Papiko could intervene and potentially save countless lives:

Regardless of Papiko’s unexpectedly passive nature and the emotional manipulation undergirding their relationship, I still enjoyed GIGANT. So, let’s now dive into the latest episodes.

Continuing on from the last volume is the battle between Papiko and the future soldiers on one side and Satan on the other side. Satan was created by an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) consisting of two separate personas called “Plato” and “Socrates,” who created the wish-granting web site Enjoy the End (E.T.E.)

As already mentioned, Satan killed many people, both Americans and Mexicans, before arriving in Japan. (NOTE: In Episode 51, a news announcer reported that North America had suffered over ten million casualties and that the number was surely to increase.)

Once in Tokyo Bay, Satan emanated a psychic effect that caused an unknown number, presumably a lot, of people to commit suicide. Our heroes had seemingly defeated Satan during a previous episode, but he has a healing factor, like Marvel Comics super hero Wolverine, and returns to fight the good guys once again!

Rei had placed himself in harm’s way and that causes Papiko to leave the battle and carry him to safety. Afterward, she rejoins the combat. A few of the soldiers are killed, but Papiko eventually tears Satan into several pieces. (NOTE: The implication appears to be that the massive damage to Satan’s body means he has been conclusively defeated. I could quibble and argue that his body should have been similarly rendered into tiny bits when Americans nuked him on Hawaii, but we’ll just go with it 😉 )

There was a brief impromptu celebration and then the spaceship housing the aforementioned A.I. arrives and sucks up our heroes, as well as many aircraft. There the protagonists have a discussion with Plato and Socrates centered on the true nature of humanity, whether humans are basically altruistic or selfish. That could have been interesting, but the execution was poor. The discussion then shifted to whether or not the A.I., shown as enormous bearded dudes sitting on a couch in front of a TV and video game console, can touch Papiko’s boobs.

(SIDE NOTE: I’m all for consensual sex between adults and the accompanying act of touching boobs. However, this would have been more than a little strange. Keep in mind, the A.I. was literally guilty of murdering people on a heretofore never achieved scale. Thus, watching a personified A.I. grope Papiko would have been like watching an amateur sex tape between Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler. Sure, Eva might have had a tight body, but it’s a bit difficult not to think about all the horrors done by her partner.)

But wait! Before there was any touching of female breasts, we learn that the Americans launched several nuclear missiles. Thus, this ends with a tear-jerking cliffhanger when a nuclear blast presumably obliterates everyone.

(SIDE NOTE: The author may have meant for readers to be shocked that the Americans employed such devastating weapons. But, when considering how many people have died in Japan, Mexico, and the United States of America, I’m inclined to think that the choice was reasonable. Why not try to destroy this enemy when they had a chance? The A.I. has given no indication to any national government that it will stop or even made attempts to communicate. Based on the available data, launching those nuclear missiles when the ship was visible might have been the only chance they will ever have to eliminate a proven threat to humanity.)

Readers must wait until Volume 10, scheduled for a December release, to learn everyone’s fate. That will end this series. I’ve already covered the previous nine volumes; so, I can’t stop now! Therefore, I’ll review GIGANT Volume 10 in December.

In general, I enjoyed the action and recommend GIGANT Volume 9 to giantess fans that don’t object to over-the-top violence. Ideally, Papiko’s character would have been more proactive and Rei’s character would have been further developed, but the art was fun and worth a look.

That’s it for now folks. Thursday’s review will cover a new CGI comic from Tetsu called “Our Secrets.” Tetsu previously took an extended break, per his blog the last comic that he published was “Dr. Turner’s Chronicles – Reborn Deluxe Edition” in January 2014. He recently resumed making comics with help from Alex GTS. I’ve enjoyed Tetsu’s work, check out this review for example, and am excited to check out his return. Until then, keep growing!

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