Hiroya Oku Reveals He Created Thunder 3 as Yuki Ikeda
Kodansha USA publishes the manga in English; its 10th Japanese volume came out on August 17.
Hiroya Oku confirmed that he created Thunder 3 under the pen name Yuki Ikeda to preserve a first-chapter surprise for new readers.
Gantz creator Hiroya Oku confirmed on social media Thursday that he created Thunder 3 using the pen name Yuki Ikeda.
Oku said he used the alias to protect a surprise in the first chapter for new readers. Publishing it under his own name would have weakened that surprise.
The manga ended on June 5, following its return from hiatus in February. Kodansha released its 10th volume on August 17. English publisher Kodansha USA shipped volume eight on February 10.
The series debuted under Ikeda’s name in Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Magazine in May 2022. It reached its climax in January 2025 before taking a hiatus that March because of Ikeda’s health.
The anime premiered on Fuji TV’s +Ultra programming block and other channels on July 8 at 24:45 JST, effectively July 9 at 12:45 a.m. JST. Exclusive worldwide streaming on Netflix began July 8.
Kodansha USA’s synopsis follows three ordinary schoolboys who acquire a DVD said to open a passage to a parallel universe. While they are distracted, Pyontaro’s younger sister Futaba enters that world, where aliens have overrun Earth, and is kidnapped.
The boys discover that their cartoonlike bodies give them superhuman abilities in the hyper-realistic alternate world. They head out to save Futaba.
In an August interview with Courrier Japon, Oku said he intends to retire after completing his latest manga, The Sweet Sixty Princess (Kanrekihime).
That series began in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior magazine in December 2025. Shogakukan released its first collected volume on May 29.
Oku also created Inuyashiki and GIGANT. His Gantz manga ran from 2000 to 2013, and Dark Horse Comics published it in North America. It spawned:
- A television anime.
- A CG anime film.
- Two Japanese live-action films.
- Two spinoff manga.
Oku and artist Jin Kagetsu launched the historical spinoff GANTZ:E in January 2020. In July 2025, Shueisha’s Jump TOON vertical-scrolling manga service introduced GANTZ: T, a new full-color, vertically scrolling edition of Gantz.
Deadline reported a Hollywood live-action adaptation of Gantz in November 2021.
