The ultra-violent but very popular manga GANTZ is coming out from Dark Horse. Googling for an image we found the above and other stuff that somehow tells us this one will cause a bit of…comment among the uninitiated.

Inarguably the most highly demanded manga in the last half-decade, the enormously popular seinen manga series, GANTZ, has taken the bright path to Dark Horse. Hiroya Oku, creator of GANTZ, has put together a cast of characters that are both sympathetic and strong to which anyone can relate. The wildly renowned anime, also entitled GANTZ from ADV, primarily follows the same story and has been translated in several different languages captivating audiences all over the world.

Gantz tells the story of a team of dead people who are forced to take part in a “game” that has them hunting aliens and other creatures who live among the populace of Japan. The story focuses on Kei Kurono, a teenage boy who died saving a homeless man from a train. He, along with a band of others who are recently deceased, is forced to complete a series of dangerous and complicated missions by a strange device called Gantz. On these missions characters can even die again, only to be quickly replaced by others like them. As the plot progresses, so does the intricacy of relationships between characters.

“Throughout the years, there has been one title that fans approach us about again and again, and that is GANTZ. Dark Horse President/Publisher/Founder Mike Richardson has been pursuing the book since it was released, and we’re finally happy to bring GANTZ to English readers. Considered along the same lines as Ghost in the Shell and AKIRA, it is one of the greatest seinen manga ever created. GANTZ has found itself a very fitting home at the world’s greatest English-language seinen publisher,” explains Michael Gombos, Director of Asian Licensing at Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse is proud to deliver one of the most requested manga ever to be released. GANTZ has obtained a cult-like following that crosses mediums from print to DVD and back again. The devotion of the fans and excitement of the critics push this manga into a category all its own, surpassing any other in its genre.

GANTZ is tentatively scheduled for a summer 2008 release.