The Spring 2025 Manga Guide

GAEA-TIMA The Gigantis

What's It About? 

A monster that people call GAEA-TIMA devastates a small, seaside town. Ten years later, the resilient community has emerged as a tourist destination, and Miyako, who became a local celebrity by surviving the attack, is making a living selling mini-replicas of the beast. But when GAEA-TIMA returns, Miyako and her neighbors will discover that their enduring connection to the creature goes deeper than tourism and trauma. Just what is the true agenda behind the attack of the "gigantis?" Are there more like GAEA-TIMA waiting for their moment? And is humanity capable of responding to violence with anything other than more violence?

GAEA-TIMA the Gigantis has a story and art by KENT, with translation, lettering, and editing for digital edition by KPS Production Corp, while lettering for print edition by Tomoko Nagano. Published by Kodansha Comics (April 29, 2025). Rated 13+.

Is It Worth Reading?

MrAJCosplay
Rating:

When I started reading this series, I was not expecting it to eventually head into the direction of a potential Pokémon styled kaiju setup. GAEA-TIMA starts like many other kaiju manga do, focusing on the destruction and citizens living in constant fear of the next monster threat. I love how sketchy and exaggerated the overall art style is when it comes to the people. The designs are flat, but we have some great expressions with a strong focus on the eyes. These act as a great contrast to the actual kaiju themselves, who take on a much more detailed and almost realistic approach.

Granted, there aren't many in this volume, as this volume is very much here to establish the main premise of the series. I like almost everything as well as the seeds that were being planted regarding the overarching mystery of how all of this even came to be in the first place. However, I have two huge problems with GAEA-TIMA. The first is that the pacing is too fast to the point where there's barely any room to breathe. The series tries to have these moments of character introspection, but they barely last more than a page, as we need to get to the next major plot to end appropriately.

I think this series has the potential to do something different with the formula moving forward. You may find the premise a little bit archaic. The idea of people potentially summoning kaiju monsters to battle was very prominent during the nineties in a lot of cartoons. If the series was trying to be a more silly cartoon, then I think it would've left a stronger impact, and the faster pacing would have made more sense. But by trying to balance that with the more modern, serious tone and survivor's guilt, the story ends up holding itself back. Some stories can handle that balance, but this series doesn't look like it has the potential to do so.