Kei Kurono

Gantz Wiki:Character Template (Human)

Kei Kurono (玄野 計, Kurono Kei) is a Human who has become an unwilling Alien-Hunter in a game ran by the Gantz sphere. A reluctant hero and leader of the Gantz Tokyo Team.

Appearance

He has short brown hair and is the average height of a teenage boy.

Personality

Throughout the entire first two arcs Kei is seen as selfish, hesitant, and reckless, however his entire view on life and the Gantz games change after watching Kato's determination to keep everyone alive. After Kato and Kishimoto die during the fight against the Buddha aliens, he finds it in himself to overcome most of his fears and takes it upon himself to make Kato's mission a reality (To keep all of the players alive through the missions). As the missions go on, he is regarded as a "hero" and "leader" by the new members in the Gantz Tokyo team. When he was cloned by Reika, his clone seemed to develop the tendency to prove his abilities to himself, showing arrogance, recklessness, occasionally being selfish, and an almost self rivalry, this has been proved as knowing he was a clone, and not really the real Kei, he attempted to accomplish a seemingly overpowering enemy by himself so as to show he is not just a clone, but is as capable as the real Kei. This however results in failure and is defeated, but saved by Reika at the cost of her life, he then seemed to almost loathe himself for his failure. It was probably due to his psychological condition that he lost the fight, not due to a lack of skills. His real self is also fairly confident after his many previous fights within Gantz, as when Eeva Gund challenges him, he promised Tae he would be back soon, even after witnessing Eeva annihilate an entire American team in a matter of seconds, despite their individual prowess. The clone loved Reika, although she was the person he claimed to have hated for her reviving him, but secretly loved, seemingly more than Tae, as when she was revived he declared her love for her, and apologized, she was then killed by the "Second Aliens", he charged recklessly at them in a rage, silently demanding they take him to Reika, and he met a swift end in his suicidal assault. The clone showed a great amount of care but also recklessness in this act.

Kei has been known to fight recklessly against the aliens, going up against the Rowdy and Grumpy Buddha aliens by himself, and against the Kappe Alien's Brachiosaurus. Originally he fought so hard, just to survive, and this the time he felt truly alive. Later he thinks of Tae during battle, determined to make it home again to see her. Izumi mentioned once that no one should be able to do what Kei does, and doesn't understand how Kei is so strong. Kei's strength and biggest change in personality after Arc 1 from was mostly a result of him being together with Tae. Sometimes he is seen leading people, or going with someone, other times he goes off on his own. Kei has been stated by many to possess an amazing ability, the ability to survive. Kei commonly finds a way out of situations many would consider impossible to escape alive, let alone unharmed. Kei seems to be more agile than most Gantz players, with several complimenting his speed when wearing the suit, keeping up with, evading and even fighting against Eeva Gund, who used his speed to completely destroy a suited and skilled, American team, Eeva's motion is said to defy logic, the fact Kei can keep up with, dodge, counter and fight back without even being so much a touched by Eeva shows testament to his remarkable speed and skill. During their fight Kei could move so fast and attack with the sword, he looked like nothing more than a blur to untrained eyes.

He also seems to be a quick thinker even when in the midst of combat, demonstrating the ability to find the vulnerable point of most of the aliens confronted by himself and his team, quicker than most others. He has shown excellent use in all of the Gantz equipment. He seems to favor the various guns, but still uses the Katana occasionally and has shown great proficiency in using it, Kei is skilled enough with the Gantz Sword to fight on par and even injure the notoriously fast Eeva Gund most likely the Katasrophe Aliens greatest warrior, a considerable feat, given the fact that Eeva doesn't seem to have been injured by anyone except from Kei. As a last resort he will use full frontal melee attacks, although nowhere near as well versed in martial arts skills like Kaze and a few other Gantz players, he can still hold his own against most foes and even use the strength of the suit to surprise attackers, or use the suits strength in ingenious ways, such as punching his fist into the ground to prevent being blown away by the wind of a Buddha alien. His survival skills and desire to live, and overcome the impossible has inspired many of his team mates, such as Suzuki, Kato and Reika to live and fight to the end. Despite his short time in Gantz he is easily able to overwhelm the more veteran players such as Nishi in a direct fight, and even score higher than players such as Izumi on a regular basis, showing a natural affinity for battle. Kei doesn't even need a suit to be able to attain the highest score, showing his knack for fighting the physically superior aliens and coming out on top. In fact his survival instincts seem to come naturally as after having his memory wiped, he killed many would be vampire assassins, by fashioning a UV light to shine at them and even out maneuvering the physically superior vampires without a suit.

Unlike the rest, he had sense to take an x-gun home and test it out, and figured out that the x-shotgun can lock onto multiple targets and fire at them all at once.

Kurono as he appears in the Gantz score board

He has constantly shown the ability to improvise and see the bigger picture. He is very intuitive and is able to comprehend a majority of the Gantz equipment in a matter of moments after first using them. He is also an excellent leader, and has on several occasions shown excellent teamwork, especially so with his rival Izumi, with the both of them being able to take down the so called "Strongest Alien in Gantz", the boss of the Oni, despite said alien nearly killing his entire squad. In fact he delivered the last few blows without the power of his suit. He has shown excellent tactics for survival, telling people when to stick together, hide, and run in the utmost perfect timing to great success.

Background

Kurono before gantz always had problems with his family and with his school.

Plot

Italian Alien Mission

After being revived by his friend Kato and received the news from Nishi that the world will end in 1 week, Kei has spent more time with his girlfriend Tae and is seen at the Tokyo Gantz team meeting with Nishi talking about the "End of the World" in 1 week's time.

As Kurono enjoys and wastes his last days together with Tae, Reika visited his apartment and confessed her love to him, asking to sleep with him, but he rejects her saying he can't understand as to why she would have any feelings for him and tells her they are "worlds apart", meaning he is just a High school student and she is a celebrity.

Kurono and the others have been recently transferred to the Gantz room, there he wonders if "this is our final mission" and gives a speech to everyone on how their bold determination and skills have gotten them this far. He and the others have been transported to an unknown country for their supposedly final battle where other Gantz players have also been transferred to.

Kurono and the team are sent to Italy where the final battle with the Roman aliens is taking place, he and the rest of his team witnesses the amazing power of the Roman statue aliens as they break his and Kato's Gantz Sword with ease.

Along the way Kurono picks up an Z-Gun and fights together with Kato, both of them witnessing Inaba being crushed to death. They fight the giant statue that killed Inaba with Kato being transported out by Gantz. Before being teleported himself the left side of Kurono's body (including half his face and his left arm) are blown off by the statue while Kurono does significant damage to the alien.

At the end of the last mission, Kurono yelled at Gantz for not resurrecting Suzuki after being requested to by Reika. He later calmed down and left the room with the others. When Reika came back in, she ended up resurrecting a 2nd Kurono instead of Suzuki, although unwillingly. The copy appears with his suit on and an Z-Gun in hand.

The Invasion Begins

Kurono later runs into 2nd Kurono who tries to get Kurono to switch places with him. Kurono refuses and says he belongs to Tae and the second Kurono should stay with Reika to make her happy.

After waking up one day and noticing people standing around looking at the sky, Kurono sees that it has turned red. Quickly putting on his suit and stuffing his Z-gun in a bag he meets up with Tae and while on the train he swears to himself that he will only protect Tae. At school that same day, Kei gets into a fight with some students and is sent to the office after school and while in the office he watches a TV that shows the destruction of America.

After a while, he sees the arrival of giant machines with the same technology as Gantz arrive in Tokyo, that soon starts to destroy everything in their way. He then goes with Tae to the roof of the school, to see how some of these kind of machines are going directly to them. Kurono decides to fight until then end, so he and Tae could survive. Two machines arrives at the front of the school, where they intend to kill everyone that was outside, yet Kurono uses the Z-Gun with his suit to attack both of them. Then he discovers that the machines were actually suits, with a creature similar to Gantz inside. One of this aliens tries to kill the director of the school, but Kurono saves him by killing the alien with the Z-Gun. Later, the second alien tries to kill Kurono, killing one of his classmates instead, while he escapes with Tae on his arms. Kurono tries to run from the alien, but the creature matches his speed. Then, he throws Tae away so he can fight the alien alone, successfully punching it in the leg. As the wounded alien starts to get away, Kei is about to shoot him with the Z-Gun but then unexpectedly lets it go. The Principal questions Kurono about what he just did and what is happening but Kurono just ignores him and walks away with Tae.

The second Kurono along with Reika battle numerous aliens. Together they save many people from the invaders. Reika tries to rescue people while the second Kurono fights off the aliens. While fighting the aliens, dodging their razor discs, he crashes into the ground on his back. The aliens prepare to fire at him when they all suddenly flatten into the ground. Reika comes to help the surprised second Kurono when suddenly unknown Black suits appear around them.

The original Kurono, Tae and their classmates go to rest at a hotel for the night. Kurono and Tae are laying in bed discussing the current events for them and what is going to happen. They are both about to fall asleep when the mecha start attacking again. Kei and Tae rush towards the door when Kei is getting transferred, much to the confusion of the both of them. Kei is sent to a different area where there are Gantz hunters everywhere. Kei groups with Kato, Kaze, Takeshi and Sakurai. After a brief argument with the men out the front, both Kei's are sent to another location. Both Kurono's fight the targets once the aliens start attacking. When one of the leaders attempt to engage numerous aliens in the hopes of capturing one, one of them looks directly at Kurono 1 and approaches him with the hope of engaging him. Kato yells at Kurono to run but Kurono 1 and 2 engage the blond alien (Eeva Gund) but both fail to hit it. Both seem to have survived the transfer, although Kurono 1 is only seen. Both Kurono's get released in random areas. Kurono 1 protested about getting transported to a random area, but gets sent there anyway. Kurono 1 looks around desperately for Tae and finds her at the last minute. Tae gets put into a large cage and Kurono 1 swears to rescue her. Kurono 2 and Reika get sent to a random area as well.

Alien Ship Takeover Mission

Kurono 1 goes into a cage and gets transported to where, he hopes that Tae will be. He gets sprayed down with the dissolving liquid, which has no effect on his suit or Z-gun. He notices the bodies of people that have been hung upside down, and thinks that Tae might be among them. Kurono realizes that he may have arrived too late and starts to cry over the idea of losing Tae.

He finds she is still alive, and follows her path, others going along with him. Once at the surface, he ends up helping others by using the Gantz sword to slice apart giant aliens that are stomping on them for sport. They are soon under attack by the aliens and Kurono decides on fleeing.

As they run, a survivor mentions a girl calling out for him, Tae, but is killed before he can tell him where he saw her at. Kurono then leads them in a building which turns out to be a zoo with creatures from all the worlds the aliens had invaded. They soon discover that humans are on display there, two of them happen to be Natsu and Ryou. Ryou begs Kurono to free them, but Kurono has second thoughts about it. As the other survivors question Kurono why he is not saving them, being because he hated the guy, he lashes out on them saying that they can save themselves if they're going to keep bugging them. He changes his mind after thinking about it, taking out an X-gun and blasting the glass wall.

Kei breaking the glass wall

After he breaks the glass wall he is seen fighting one of the aliens with the Gantz sword and cutting half of his face and probably defeats him.

In chapter 327, he is seen jumping down a building and taking on an alien as hostage he then talks to her and says he wants her to take them outside.

Kuruno 2 is seen with Reika and the others climbing the Gantz building up and trying to talk with the Gantz ball. Kurono 2 asks Gantz to remove the bombs from their heads so they are free of the other Gantzers control. Kurono 1 is trying to still get the alien named Fra Rarada outside in order to steal one of the suits that the aliens wear, but she insists that only soldiers are allowed out.

United Rescue

Kurono 2 has the bomb removed from his head. After Nishi explains who the people are, he is confused as to how simple it is to take control of the world by defeating the 'giants'. When they find out that the ball can be used to communicate with other teams, he posts a message to the other players about the situation in Tokyo. He initially doesn't get a response, so he gets Reika to help out in delivering the message. He is annoyed that they get a response when Reika is the one delivering the message.

In chapter 331, Kurono 2 meets more of the new Black suits that answer his call across Japan. He is especially taken aback and slightly nervous when a beautiful buxom blonde woman named Mary McClane is transported to the Gantz room. Meanwhile Kurono 1 has been betrayed by Fra Rarada and is surrounded by numerous aliens in the Gantz suits. He tells her at swordpoint to tell them she's his hostage but she refuses. When one of the aliens attempts to grab Kei from behind he spins around and slices off its arm with his sword. A fierce battle between the suited aliens and Kurono ensues while Fra Rarada looks on helplessly. The final scene of the chapter shows Kurono standing before her, his adversaries piled in a bloody heap behind him. With x-gun in hand Kurono then demands the alien woman to put on one of the dead soldiers' suits.

The Kurono in the room questions Kaiji Yoshikawa about his earlier statement. He tells Kurono that Gantz can no longer heal any injuries.

While Kurono 1 keeps searching the mothership for Tae and helping captive humans escape, Kurono 2 ensembles a small Gantz team to try and save as many humans as possible from the slaughter house. However, after a few successful transmissions, Gantz gets hacked and his crew, along with the latest rescued humans, are forced by the aliens into a battlefield. Kurono 1 has since managed to find out Tae's location helped by Fra Rarada, but is unsure whether or not she's still alive due to being last seen at a hunting ground. Meanwhile Kurono 2's team began a battle with a series of powerful alien creatures, battle which is apparently being broadcasted to the invaders as entertainment.

Since the invaders have seemingly made a truce with the world's governments (A gimmick to lure more humans into the mothership), the Black Suits and most prominently Kurono, have become target of defamation from the media. Kurono has been dubbed the leader of "Terrorists", The reaction of his classmates, neighbors and the general surviving human race is mixed; While some believe Kurono to be a savior and reject the aliens others have decided to believe the lie. In chapter 351, Kurono 1 finally reunites with Tae while Kurono 2 and his team arrive in time to help Anzu and the Nerdy guy fight the alien monsters. Kei's clone decides to face off against a huge monster, many people of the retrieval team decide against facing it, but determined to prove himself to be as capable as the real Kei, he elects to fact it one on one. However he is quickly defeated by this Alien after his team leaves, which uses to be somewhat of a telekinetic power. As he lays helplessly on the floor, Reika comes to help him, but she is also knocked down by the Alien, Kei tells her to stay out of his way, he wishes he could have seen Tae one more time, he charges at the Alien with his Sword at the ready, and begins to push the alien back, cutting off several of its limbs, he smiles as he sees a glimmer of hope, but it hit by a powerful telekinetic force and loses consciousness. He awakens to find that Reika had defeated the monster, an extended Gantz sword is lodged into the ground, keeping the dead alien in place. He finds an "unconscious" Reika, and tries to resuscitate her, however she is dead, he then cries and brings her body back to his team to be buried.

Destroy the Tower Mission

As the real Kei reunited with Tae, he is soon transported by what seems to be the "big wigs" of Gantz, who organize an attack using the giant "gundam-like" suits to attack the alien mothership's weakest point a space compression facility in a bid to defeat the aliens. He tries to escape, but cannot, he is forced to defend his Giant robot suit, to survive. However thanks to the aliens attacking the Gantz leaders, Kei regained control of his suit, and Giant Robot, and freed himself. He takes a flying vehicle to Fra's small craft which is carrying Tae, however as he finally sees Tae, Fra's ship is shot by an Alien walker. Kei follows the burning craft as it flies towards the Alien city, he sees an injured Fra holding up a safe Tae, Fra then throws Tae out of her burning craft towards Kei, before Fra dies, she begs Tae not to destroy her people. Kei catches her, and they fly off after being reunited, however Tae describes Fra's departing words, about the Tower Kei was going to attack, she says if that is destroyed, so is their race. These words persuade Kei to save them from the one person piloting the Giant mech, attacking the tower. Kei attacks the pilot to find out it is Nishi. Nishi, beings yelling at Kei for ruining his plans. The two then begin to fight and Kei overwhelms Nishi, however he declares he will become the most powerful man in the world and shoots Tae with the hardsuits laser. Nishi beings to taunt Kei, a tearful, but furious Kei assaults him, in the process, Nishi hits him with a laser and Kei loses a hardsuit arm, Kei then dodges and uses his own laser on Nishi's suit, destroying it. Kei triumphantly stands over Nishi, charging his laser to finish him off, Nishi begs Kei to stop as he knows how to bring Tae back, but only if Kei does as he says and destroys the space compressor (Nishi can't, his suit is wrecked, so Kei has to). Kei cries, remembering Tae's last words, but disheartened, he does it anyway. Just as he lands the final blow, starting the destruction of the space colony, he hears the voice of Tae - who somehow survived - from outside. He departs with the hovercraft, and finds Tae hanging onto a ledge, he then grabs her and flies away as Nishi is left in the giant mech as it is destroyed, he appears to have died, while crying and begging for his mother. Kei leaves the ship with Tae, and returns to Earth, while the colony they tried to save falls apart around them.

The Final Challenge

Kei's clone alongside the remaining retrieval team are taken to the "Room of Truth" to ask the second aliens anything they want. After being told by the Second Aliens that God does not exist, and that humans are just complex, biological computers, and that their lives are nothing more than dust in the wind, matter, and electrical signals, Kei begins to state that human lives have value, and how everyone who died were great people. To prove a point the Second Aliens "recreate" Reika, Suzuki, Kei Kishimoto and Sei Sakuraoka, they allow Kei to talk to them, as they catch up, and Kei declares his love for Reika, the Second Aliens kill them again. A furious Kei (clone) charges towards them silently asking to be taken to Reika, they make him explode into a bloody mist, and he dies, much to the shock of Kato.

Later the real Kei watches on Earth at the television as the Americans duel the remaining captured Katasrophe aliens, a skillful American dispatches several of them with his Gantz sword. However Eeva Gund (The God of War) steps up to the challenge and defeats the American in a matter of seconds, and shortly after, kills the entire American team effortlessly, despite their individual skills. He calls out to Kei Kurono to come and face him. He states that if Kei does not come and face him, by speaking his own name to be transferred, he will crash his civilizations ship into the Earth, destroying both of their races, implying how weak everyone is, he states he will do so even if he has already killed Kei, and he will kill everyone to find him. Kei says his goodbyes to Tae, and says he will be back soon as a promise, he speaks his name to be transferred. When he stands face to face with Eeva, he warms up by jumping on the spot, stating that he doesn't care if they Earth, or Humanity is destroyed, all he cares about is getting back to Tae. He than charges as Eeva readies himself for combat. During the battle Kei is initially on the ropes, Eeva's speed makes it difficult for Kei to dodge, let alone fight back, and many spectators think Kei will die very shortly, come people even jump from buildings due to their disbelief Kei will win. Kei grabs a dead Americans Gantz sword, and readies himself for battle, onlookers state he is holding the sword wrong and he doesn't stand much of a chance of winning, one spectator even counts down from ten, saying Kei will be dead by the time he counts down. However, Kei proves to be more than a match for Eeva Gund, he cuts off a button from Eeva's suit and even cuts his face, a surprised Eeva, repels Kei's next assault after extending his sword. With everyone watching the television cheering Kei's name. As Eeva is being put on the defensive, he beings to viciously swing his blades at Kei, however Kei refuses to lose, and blocks and dodges every high speed assault Eeva throws his way. Kato stands amazed along with all of the other Suit teams at Kei's fight, he remarks that "this" is the Kei he knew as a child, the boy who didn't take losing for an answer, the person who won against insurmountable odds. As Eeva and Kei's fight continues, Eeva suffers a cut along his ribs. During the entire fight, Eeva has yet to even touch Kei. As Eeva stands flabbergasted at Kei's combat prowess, Kei swings his sword upwards. He then swings it downwards, intending to deliver the finishing blow, but Eeva dodges and kicked Kei, as Kei is on his knees in disbelief that Eeva can still fight. Eeva readies to stomp Kei, and end his life but Ryuuji Maeshima intercepts and punches Eeva's leg, saving Kei's life. As he continues to defend Kei, he gets slashed across the chest, left to die. Other members of the Katasophe team come to Kei's aid and attack Eeva viciously, distracting and wounding him, Kei holds Maeshima in his arms and cries at his death and mourns him. As Kei continues to mourn Maeshima, the other members of the Katastrophe team begin to fall, one by, one. Starting with Kaiji Yoshigawa who was bisected at the waist, then Virgin-Kun who is slashed across the shoulder, Toshio Yazawa was then cut on the stomach, and all that stood in the way between Eeva and Kei was Hyouma Takeda, who, while being put on the defensive gave Kei enough time to recollect himself. He was however knocked aside by Eeva, as Eeva turned his attention to Kei, Kato viciously jumps to intercept, but is knocked aside. Kei then becomes enraged, and seemingly maxes out the suits full physical potential, causing him to have a nosebleed and make the ground to crack around him due to exerting such extreme physical force, he then jumps toward Eeva at an astonishing speed, suprising him and preventing him from finishing the rest of the Katastrophe team.

As Kei flies towards Eeva, he flies like a speeding bullet, Eeva falls over backwards, and it is revealed that Kei went straight through his head, finishing the Katasrophe aliens hero once and for all. As the entire world cheers for Kei and his victory. Kei pleads with the remaining alien not to self destruct, as they can find another planet to inhabit, so long as it is unpopulated, Kei promises no humans will lay a hand on them seemingly keeping to Fra Rarada's plea not to destroy her people. The alien however, slashes his own neck in suicide, and the ship begins to self-destruct. Kei shouts for everyone to transfer, however the black ball committing to the transfers is destroyed, Kei and the others are forced to ride the flying Gantz bikes to Earth, narrowly dodging the explosions of the ship. Kei and Kato stick together and fly into one of Earths oceans, they then talk as they float adrift for what seems to be several days and they note that the suits are starting to fail and they are succumbing to various effects of cold, hypothermia and perhaps starvation. As Kei wishes to see Tae one more time and he closes his eyes, Kato notices a shoreline with helicopters, they realize that they are safe. As they emerge from the cold sea, they see Tae and Ayumu, as Kei and Kato both walked towards their loved ones, they collapse into their arms, both exhausted and pleased to be in the embrace of the people they fought so hard to see, they are surrounded by a huge crowd praising them for their efforts during the war in thanks, and for saving the entire human race. Their struggle is finally over.

Abilities & Skills

He is a 10th grader summoned by Gantz, along with Kato, after being hit by a subway train in an effort to help a hobo passed out on the tracks. Initially Gantz refers to Kurono as "Bitch" and "Loser," though he settles on "Kurono" as the series progresses.

In the beginning, he is a rather selfish character who often ends up being the reluctant hero. At one point, Kurono actually enjoys the brutal missions, having a chance to prove his mettle and to use the power Gantz's technology grants him to decimate his foes, as well as to receive the admiration of his team members (such as Sei or Kishimoto). This ceases after the death of Kato, where he becomes frightened of the missions and hesitates to act as recklessly as he had in the past. Another deciding factor in Kurono's decision to prioritize brains over force is his growing attachment to Kojima Tae. He starts to believe that he must come back alive in order to be with her.

Kurono is eventually regarded as a hero by the other players who look up to him (he takes up Kato's philosophy that everyone should come back alive, ironic considering that Kato had tried to model himself after Kurono's younger self). To increase the survival of the Gantz Team members, Kurono holds meetings at his apartment where the team discusses missions and practice using the suits. These meetings appear to help greatly during the Oni mission as nearly all of the members survive in spite of the outstanding number of enemies. At the end of the mission, Kurono requests the revival of Kato and Nishi Joichiro.

In Chapter 221, Kei leaves the game at the behest of his teammates.

Kurono's memories of the hunts are supposedly erased, however he begins to remember his old life through pictures in his apartment. In addition, he rekindles his relationship with his former girlfriend Tae, whom he had forgotten because of his memory wipe. A meeting with a tabloid journalist also stirs up more Gantz-related memories and questions. In Chapter 236, he recovers some of his lost memories of being the Gantz team leader after being attacked by a group of vampires in his apartment. He fights bravely and nearly kills all of them using a "sun gun", although in the end he is slain by the same vampire that slew his brother, Kurono Akira.

Kurono was dead as of the end of Phase 1, however Kato Masaru had planned to revive him. After an extremely hard fought mission, in which a team of highly skilled Gantz players from Osaka were all but defeated, Kato held good on his promise and revived Kurono at the end of Chapter 279. Kei has been revived in his Gantz suit and with memory up to the oni mission.