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Manga / Gigantomakhia

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... And with them, monsters.

In the distant future, at the end of history, myths... are reborn...

Gigantomakhia is a six-chapter (plus one "bonus chapter") long Science Fiction manga by Kentaro Miura of Berserk fame. It tells the story of a world ravaged and turned to lifeless desert by "The Great Destruction". The mini-series was first published in the 23rd issue of Young Animal in 2013.

Taking some time off from working on Berserk, Gigantomakhia was Miura's first new original work in 24 years. Those who know Miura primarily for his work on Berserk can be surprised to find that the tone of the series is quite lighthearted and idealistic, at least when compared to his long-running main work.


Gigantomakhia provides examples of:

  • All-Loving Hero: Delos is compassionate toward all people whether human or Demi-human, and even his fighting style is based around winning without hurting his opponent more than necessary.
  • After the End: The story is set, at least according to the title page, one hundred million years in the future. The world has been turned to lifeless desert by a cataclysmic event, where "the stars fell from the sky, the earth erupted, and the world was covered with ice". Humans and animals alike have had to adapt to living in the desert world, creating new species like "sand anglers" and demihuman tribes, like the beetle folk, "the Scarabaei".
  • Animal Eye Spy: The Scarabaei can share the sight of beetles. See Literal Surveillance Bug.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies:
    • The Scarabaei are a bug-wrangling clan that lives in a symbiosis with giant beetles. Their whole city is essentially a huge nest built from the excretions of the beetles, which makes it possible to cultivate crops even in the middle of the desert. They also make for good mounts.
    • The heroes run into a giant tardigrade which, fittingly enough, is the size of a bear.
  • Book Ends: The story both starts and ends in Delos and Prome wandering on the desert.
  • Breath Weapon: The Empire's Great Octopi can breathe fire.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Averted until the final move of the final fight, when Delos uses a Meteor Move dubbed as "Ikaros Fall".
  • Chekhov's Skill: Delos demonstrates his wrestling skills in the fight between him and Ogun. Later he uses the very same moves while in his Gohra form in the fight against the Titan.
  • Crossing the Desert: As the story starts off, Delos and Prome are wandering on the desert, looking for the Scarabaei tribe.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: The Myuu accept Delos after he defeats Ogun the Hero.
  • Desert Punk: After "The Great Destruction", most of the world has turned to lifeless desert.
  • Embarrassing Superpower: In order to heal Delos, Prome secretes what she calls "nectar" from her body. Prome being Ambiguously Human, she doesn't care what it looks like. To anyone else (especially Delos), it looks like a young girl is pissing on him. After she heals him, he feels part of his humanity is irretrievably lost.
  • Expy: Delos looks a hell of a lot like Roderick, if considerably bulkier.
  • Fantastic Racism: The Myuu, or the demi-human tribes, despise the human tribes who are all considered to be "dogs of the Empire". On the other hand, according to Ogun, the trespassing Hyuu use to call the Scarabaei people "bugs".
  • Gladiator Games: Delos used to be a gladiator, forced to fight to death against various kinds of Beast Men. Being somewhat of a Gentle Giant, Delos didn't enjoy this, so he invented an overly flashy way of fighting to give the audience enough entertainment so that both the fighters could leave the arena alive.
  • Healing Hands: Prome is capable of healing Delos' wounds using her "Nectar".
  • Humans by Any Other Name: Baseline humans are known as the "Hugh" and demi-human races like the Scarabaei as the "Mew", presumably short for "Humans" and "Mutants".
  • Humongous Mecha: The Empire has huge battle titans commanded via psychic link by an oracle. Prome has the ability to envelop Delos and transform into an organic mecha known as "Gohra".
  • Literal Surveillance Bug: The Scarabaei Patriarch is able to follow the fight between Delos and Ogun through the eyes of beetles latched on the wall of the arena. When he and Delos meet, it is revealed that the reason the Scarabaei riders ran into Delos and Prome in the first place was because a beetle spotted them crossing the desert, after which the Patriarch sent his men to intercept them.
  • Luring in Prey: Sand anglers are a species of anglerfish that has adapted to living on land. They bury themselves under the sand and disguise themselves as an oasis to fool unsuspecting creatures to jump in their water-filled mouth. They even have a palm tree growing from their head in the place of the usual lure.
  • Meaningful Name: Ogun the Hero, greatest warrior of the African-descended Scarabaei tribe, is named for a Yoruban War God.
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: The Empire calls their towering humanoid war-machine mechas "titans". The Myuu call them simply "giants".
  • Meteor Move: Gohra's Ikaros Fall is this. Gohra uses his nitro-nectar jets to lift himself and the enemy Titan up in the air. Then he uses them to come back down.
  • Plasma Cannon: The Empire's Titan has the ability to shoot balls of fire. Prome explains it to be a reaction creating superheated plasma.
  • Riding into the Sunset: The manga ends in Delos and Prome continuing their journey through the desert towards the setting sun.
  • Rocket Punch: Gohra can use nitro-nectar propulsion to give his punches some extra... um, punch.
  • Salt the Earth: The Scarabaei claim that the men of the Empire did this to their lands after burning down their city.
  • Scary Black Man: The Scarabaei look African, but also have beetle carapaces covering parts of their skin.
  • Sizeshifter: The more Prom produces, she regresses in size, apparent age and behavior.
  • Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: All of the Scarabaei clan have some insect characteristics, some more than others. Most seem nearly completely human with only small parts of beetle carapace on their skin. Ogun has a full hardened insect hide covering his body, and the Patriarch has antennas and insect mouth parts, making his features more insect-like than human.
  • Stout Strength: Like Miura's other protagonist, Delos packs a lot of muscle on his body. Unlike Guts, who's tall and herculean, Delos is much wider.
  • Title Drop: Prome says this as the final battle is about to start: "Commence Gigantomakhia!"
  • The Unsmile: Delos tries to convey his friendly intentions to the Myuu by smiling. This ends up both him and Prome getting caught.
    Prome: Hm. It seems they interpreted that as ridicule, or a threat.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: In the fight against Ogun, Delos pulls off some fancy suplexes. It's justified though, since Delos is actually a wrestler. Later Delos uses the same wrestling moves while in his Gohra form, culminating in a Meteor Move level Suplex Finisher.
  • Worthy Opponent: Ogun gains respect for Delos's determination and skill during their fight.

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