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Tae Kojima (小島 多恵 Kojima Tae) is the first actual girlfriend of Kei Kurono. While he started dating her due to a dare, he actually falls in love with her and they build a real relationship, with Kurono growing to be very protective of her. Kurono cheats on her once with Reika Shimohira and he gets caught in the tabloids, but he soon convinces Tae to take him back.

Appearance[]

Tae is described by other characters as looking 'homely', sometimes 'dull'. She is an average, petite teenage girl with black hair, usually in two pigtails with bangs.

After her revival she is seen wearing her hair down and growing it longer, though the bangs remain.

Covers[]

Tae has appeared on the cover of chapter 118, Sweetheart, with a nude but chest-up portrait.

In chapter 125, Pedestrian's Paradise, she's seen on the cover, smiling with Kei.

Personality[]

When Tae was first introduced into the series she was known as a shy and awkward girl. However, as Kurono begins dating her, he begins to understand what kind of person she really is. Tae is a kind and understanding girlfriend to Kurono, giving him a reason and something to look forward to from coming back from the Gantz missions. She is a talented artist, having been complemented on one of her drawings of Kurono by a girl in her class, in addition she is shown to be working on writing and drawing a manga. Tae herself shown she is very attracted to Kei as she told Kurono that she couldn't stand the idea of him being taken away from her.

Background[]

Not much is known about Tae's background. She lived with her parents although only her mother made an appearance a few times in the manga. At some point, she began drawing manga and is shown to be an extremely talented artist. Upon entering high school, Tae developed an interest in Kurono. However, due to her shy personality, she was unable to tell Kurono she developed a crush prior to him asking her out.

Plot[]

Shorty Alien Mission Arc[]

After surviving the Shorty Alien Mission due to a time expiration on Gantz (that cost him all his points), Kei Kurono, still traumatized by his encounter with the Surviving Shorty Alien, is dared to ask Tae out on a date as part of a "punishment game". During this, she reveals to Kei that she developed feelings for him.

The Shorty Alien then appears at Kei's classroom, and he leaves in fear (though it promises to kill all his other "comrades" first). The Alien then starts a massacre in Kurono's classroom, killing everyone except for Izumi, who managed to fight back, and Tae, possibly because it overlooked her. Wracked with guilt, Kurono decided to don the Gantz suit and go back to the class, soon becoming relieved to find Tae still alive and unharmed. He escaped with from the classroom with her while the Police Officers distracted it, though Tae was still in shock from what happened.

The Shorty Alien, however, still follows them, and makes Tae it's prime target, realizing that she means something to Kurono. Eventually, after being wounded by several armed police officers, the Shorty Alien went into a blind rage, killing off several of them before going after Tae (who was still in shock). As it was about to kill her, Kurono leads it into a trap and finally killed it with the X-Gun, saving Tae's life.

Two weeks later, Kei and Tae have been transferred to different classrooms and have started walking home together. Though Kei is more withdrawn and less social, he grows fond of Tae and soon takes a liking to her. One day, she asks him to go to Shibuya with her. Afterwards, she stops by Kei's apartment and says goodbye to him, only for Kei to stop her from leaving, despite being at a loss for words. He then suddenly finds himself having consensual lovemaking with her in his apartment (though he doesn't remember starting), after which she leaves and goes home in a pleasant mood.

In chapter 118 "Sweetheart", Izumi asks her out on a date to show Kei that she is like any other girl, but she refuses. In the same chapter Izumi states that Kei was a cold and untrusting person, but since dating Tae he changed, opening up and trusting her. After Kei has a nightmare where Tae never existed, he wakes up crying and holding her, stating that he had been lonely his entire life until he met her.

In chapter 170 "Separation", as rumors of Kei and Reika's date spread, she states she never wants Kei to be taken away even if it's by an idol because, to her, it's the worst thing imaginable. Kei also mentions that Tae has PTSD due to witnessing her classmates being massacred. After finding out an article about Kei and Reika's date, Tae confronted him over the phone. After Kei confirmed that he did indeed go on a date with Reika, Tae tearfully broke up with Kei. The two of them were devastated over their breakup; at school, Tae avoided Kei whenever he saw her.

Ring Alien Mission Arc[]

During the Ring Aliens mission, Tae just happens to be where they are fighting the aliens and takes a picture of one of the new hunters, as he plays with his controller, switching frequencies, and makes himself appear visible to her. Immediately after that mission is over, Gantz gives them a new one, to kill her. Most of the team is against this, but Izumi convinces Inaba and some new people to join him, in trying to kill her.

Both sides fight each other, ending when Izumi slashes Tae's back open with his sword. She manages to stumble forward and die in Kurono's arms. Although not a hunter, Gantz transfers Tae's remains after the mission, sending her back completely, before he begins transferring the rest.[2]

Reika earns her first hundred points during the following mission and uses them to bring Tae back. While others who are brought back remain on the team, Tae is given her freedom as well, and sent home. Kurono uses 100 points to leave the game, at the end of that same mission, and thus both Tae and Kurono have memory loss. They both realize parts of their memory was missing, as hinted by pictures they find of each other, and from what others tell them, and eventually start dating again. She is very devoted to Kei often spending time with him at his apartment and always walking to and from school together holding hands and spending time in-between classes with each other.

In her room like Kei's, she has many pictures of her and Kei together she also has two small doll versions of her and Kei sitting side by side in a chair.

After Kei dies a second time, he has all his memories of Tae again and their relationships resumes exactly as the way it was before either of them died.

Tae and Kurono are together mostly during the events of the Katastrophe. Kurono protects her diligently while fighting against the invaders. Kurono, her and the rest of the class go to a hotel to rest for the night. She and Kurono discuss what is happening now and what might happen later. Both of them start to fall asleep when the mecha reactivate and start attacking the building. Both of them rush to the door when Kurono starts getting transported, much to both of their confusion. Tae starts crying when Kurono is gone and leaves the building. She walks around the streets crying and looking desperately for Kurono. She comes across a large pile of dead bodies and sees her mother playing dead. Her mother tells her that her father is dead, which causes even more shock for Tae. An alien comes towards them and they act like they are dead. Kurono finds her and calls out to her. Her mother pushes her away and tells her to run. She gets captured and put in a cage. Kurono tries to save her and fails to do so. He promises her that he'll save her.

The cage is brought to a facility where the aliens hose her and others with a dissolving fluid that dissolves their clothing but leaves them unharmed. They are then forced into an area with water rising around them. They find the aliens hang humans up and drain their blood, like livestock.

Currently a suspicious looking man (it is not confirmed who or what he is as of late) has made contact with her and brought her away from that. They make it to the edge and the man that brought her out, stated that they were going to go to a hole in the wall to hide. They make it there with a few other survivors and climb up into the vent. They notice a disgusting smell and discover small insect-like aliens on the floor. Tae asks the man why he saved her, and he replies that he is a lolicon. This confuses Tae and she states that she's 17, which is all the better for the guy. The group spot much larger insects further in. They plan on moving slowly to not alert the aliens, as they weren't moving. One of the insects is shown hovering behind Tae and it lands on her back.

Tae is saved, however, by the lolicon who managed to successfully use brute force on the alien insect and knock it away from her before it can infect Tae. Tae and the remaining human survivors make their way towards the surface where they are ridiculed and laughed at by alien bystanders. After maneuvering through the alien streets and discovering a few horrific scenes they are stopped by the alien pest control, who then manages to round up the humans who traveled with Tae, missing her by sheer luck. The lolicon painfully escapes and urges Tae to run. They both stop in an alley to catch their breath, and shortly after the Loli seemingly dies of his wounds. Before his death, he reveals to Tae that the real reason for his benevolent actions was that she highly resembles his teenage daughter who died in the invasion.

An alien child finds Tae, asks her if she's crying due to the death of the lolicon who is mistaken as her dad and picks her up and carries her away. When Tae screams out for Kurono, the alien covers her mouth to keep her quiet. Kurono is nearby, but thus unable to find her. The alien girl is later seen with Tae enroute somewhere in a car-like vehicle.

Back at her home, the alien girl places Tae in a clear container, where she finds herself with various animals, all larger than her, and a human boy named Nakagawa Shun, both of them naked. He asks her for sex, she refuses.

In chapter 327, she learns to use the toilet after she talks with Shun and sees the rabbit-like alien using it. She asks Shun what they do to eat, and he shows her another pipe with some kind of jelly in it, which she pukes out after trying, he saying it takes getting used to. She is later shown waking up with a panting Shun over her.

Chapter 328, shows Shun attempting to rape Tae in her sleep. She wakes up and screams which causes the alien girl to pull Shun off of her. Later on, he begins to have stomach pains which wakes Tae up. Tae yells at the alien girl to wake up as to help Shun. The girl takes Tae out of the container, thinking that she is lonely and wants to sleep in her arms, but places her back in there sometime after. Shun is dying and she cuddles up next to him begging him not to die.

In later chapters Tae attempts to flee from the house of the little alien girl but is caught by one of her relatives (seemingly the older brother) that ponders whether to kill or torture her, but later frees her on a bush out in the street. Tae runs away, calling Kurono's name to find him but she's entangled by a group of giant alien children. Suddenly two humans in military outfit and holding automatic rifles came out and rescue her from the hands of an alien girl. The three of them then sneak away and reunite with a group of dressed humans that in some way escaped the meat factory. A compassionate girl gives Tae her jacket, but they haven't any food or water, so they move on to search for those supplies together.

In chapter 344, the group is lured by a bait resembling a human and then hunted by an alien family using harpooned weapons. All of them are killed, and Tae Kojima is about to be decapitated too. In the next chapter, 345, she's although inexplicably freed by her captor, a young man, that goes on to remove her harpoon. Then she manages to run away from the group of giant hunters. Meanwhile, Kurono and Fra Rarada are searching for Tae with an alien computer software at her house using a program to retrieve lost pets. They are unsure if Kojima is still alive, but they move on to check on her whereabouts. In Chapter 351, Kurono and Tae reunite, and Kurono asks her about the blood on her face, but he tells her that it's not hers and she got hurt, but she is fine. She then tells him about all the people who help her try and find Kurono, but their reunion is cut short when Kurono is transferred once again. Fra Rarada vows to take her to Kurono as long as he doesn't leave the spaceship. As Kurono tries to fight off the defensive forces, the ship Fra and Tae are on gets blown up, and Fra uses her last energy to throw Tae to Kurono's flying Gantz bike. Later on, when Kurono takes on Nishi to stop him from destroying the Alien's tower, Nishi tries to kill Tae by firing a palm beam at her. Later, it's seen that she's alive, and Kurono decides to ditch Nishi and save her.

Back on earth, Tae is with Kurono as he is called out by Eeva Gund to fight. She tells him not to go, but he promises her he'll be back for her as he goes to the final challenge. After defeating alien's champion, he returns to Earth with Kato, they crash into the ocean and eventually reach land where they are greeted by Ayumu and Tae.

Abilities & Skills[]

Tae is a skilled artist who is shown drawing sketches with pencil and painting a portrait of Kei with brushes. She seems to work on a manga and even wanted to go on a date with Kei to take reference photos.

Etymology[]

  • The name Tae means "many" (多) (ta) and "favor, benefit" (恵) (e).
  • Tae's surname Kojima means "small" (小) (ko) and "island" (島) (shima/jima).

Trivia[]

  • Strangely enough, Tae's Gantz point value is 30 and there is no reason given for this, but it could be because she would reveal the existence of Gantz hunters with the picture she took, or because the effort in killing her while Kurono and others tried to help save her, was worth that much. Or perhaps Gantz wanted Shion Izumi to get enough points to be able to get a Z gun.
  • Tae is a playable character in the official Gantz game for the PS2, unlockable by clearing the game on all difficulties. She uses Y-Gun attacks.
  • Although Tae's appearance has changed somewhat since her introduction, she is still mistaken for an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl.
  • During the dinosaur mission, Tae states that her "head hurts" and staggers around, at the same time Kei Kurono is having the same problem out on the mission.
  • At the start of Chapter 168, Tae is shown giving Kei a blowjob.
  • It is possible that Tae had an effect on how Kei talks as he noticeably cusses much less after meeting her, even in thought bubbles.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Chapter 321, page 14
  2. Chapter 184, page 16

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