Thread: GANTZ cover question

On every cover cover of GANTZ there is something. what does it mean?

This is what is on the cover:

Before the world was created, the Word already existed. The Word was the soures of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

^ It's based vaguely on John, I'm not sure why though.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Just interpret the meaning. This is how im seeing it as.


Before the world was created, the Word already existed. = Before humans developed the world it was already thriving.

Same with the other stuff also, well its more of a simple answer cause you can interpret it diff.

I thought it meant that since they died and then revived by gantz that they get to live some more. I suck at explaining. Basically what I think it means is it don't matter what you do since everything's gonna keep happening whether you're there or not.

I'm curious, I searched through the sub-forum, and it seems like this was mentioned only a couple of times.

Does no one no what John is?

I don't know too much about theology but I can explain most of it I think, if that was the way that Oku intended for it to be read, I have no idea whether he even knew what it meant or read that passage directly from the bible.

As I understand it, the word is the name of God, which in Jewish theology is supposed to embody god, it acts as a creative force, which can be seen in myths like the golem that is animated by a name of god. As I understand it, in Christian theology, specifically this passage from John, it also embodies Christ.

As for why Oku paraphrased this, I guess that it could mean that life on Earth is artificial and the creative force behind this life seeks to defend humanity from outside forces. So it has pretty much nothing to do with where he took it from.

Originally Posted by ssjasper2003

Just interpret the meaning. This is how im seeing it as.


Before the world was created, the Word already existed. = Before humans developed the world it was already thriving.

Same with the other stuff also, well its more of a simple answer cause you can interpret it diff.

How can the world be thriving if it was not yet in existence?

No

Originally Posted by adonai

I'm curious, I searched through the sub-forum, and it seems like this was mentioned only a couple of times.

Does no one no what John is?

I don't know too much about theology but I can explain most of it I think, if that was the way that Oku intended for it to be read, I have no idea whether he even knew what it meant or read that passage directly from the bible.

As I understand it, the word is the name of God, which in Jewish theology is supposed to embody god, it acts as a creative force, which can be seen in myths like the golem that is animated by a name of god. As I understand it, in Christian theology, specifically this passage from John, it also embodies Christ.

As for why Oku paraphrased this, I guess that it could mean that life on Earth is artificial and the creative force behind this life seeks to defend humanity from outside forces. So it has pretty much nothing to do with where he took it from.

The scripture you refer to is probably the one at John 1:1. In the bible when it mentions the "word" it's usually reffering to either Gods laws/commands/prophecies (refer to Judges 3:20, Psalms 119: 105, 2 Timothy 4:2 or James 1:22) or to Jesus himself (refer to John 1:14). The scripture is used to show that Jesus existed with his father in heaven prior to the creation of the physical universe.

He seems to take some creative license in paraphrasing the scripture. The Japanese seem to often use things from western culture (especially things that are thought of as part of Christianity) in this way. Similar to the way that Western culture uses things from eastern culture all the time. It's often just considered cooler. Everyones culture seems cooler than the one you were born into lol.

Originally Posted by Tousen

The scripture you refer to is probably the one at John 1:1. In the bible when it mentions the "word" it's usually reffering to either Gods laws/commands/prophecies (refer to Judges 3:20, Psalms 119: 105, 2 Timothy 4:2 or James 1:22) or to Jesus himself (refer to John 1:14). The scripture is used to show that Jesus existed with his father in heaven prior to the creation of the physical universe.

He seems to take some creative license in paraphrasing the scripture. The Japanese seem to often use things from western culture (especially things that are thought of as part of Christianity) in this way. Similar to the way that Western culture uses things from eastern culture all the time. It's often just considered cooler. Everyones culture seems cooler than the one you were born into lol.

I know, I quoted it over here, it is pretty annoying how he mentioned it that once and then just seemed to forgot about it, I'm still convinced that Oku has no idea where the story is going.

Hmmm... I was just about to say something about the scripture in front of each Gantz book, but it has already been explained. I wonder if he had the ending planned out from the beginning. It could also relate to a christian type apocalypse, because the end of the world was mentioned several times, or maybe he's using it in a gnostic way. Who knows. Useless rant sorry.