An Incident (ある事故 , Aru Jiko) is the 1st chapter of the Gantz manga, written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku.
Cover Page[]
Kei Kurono with silhouettes of people running behind him in the background.
Synopsis[]
In a Japanese underground train station, high school freshman Kei Kurono is admiring a skinfold of swimsuit model Momo Ayukawa when an old lady asks him if she can get to Hinode station from there, to which in order to avoid explaining, he answers positively despite knowing that she can't. The woman leaves to immediately return saying that she doesn’t think she can actually get from there. This time an annoyed Kurono tells her to not rely on others and figure it out by herself, the lady apologizes and walks away once again. While negatively surveying the people in the station around him, he notices childhood friend Masaru Kato.
Noting that his former best friend hasn’t changed much physically he wonders if he still remembers him and states that he is probably just a “shit bag” now. His thoughts are interrupted by a drunken man who falls down on the tracks. While Kurono gets exited at the idea of seeing a man getting “splattered to pieces” due to the fact that the station attendants are nowhere to be found and there is no one willing to help him, he looks with disdain at a trembling Kato thinking he is too scared to even look. To everyone’s surprise, Kato goes to rescue the unconscious man while bystanders urge him to get back up. Unable to carry the man by himself, a desperate Kato begs the indifferent people to help him before recognizing Kurono and calling out his name.
Reluctant at first, Kurono climbs down to help the pair as he wonders if it was happiness for being recognized the reason for which he is acting so senselessly. As the arriving train is announced, they manage to successfully lift the bum but are unable to get back up themselves and after a failed attempt at climbing back up, Kato concludes that their best option is to run past the point where the front car will stop, their hopes however are crushed as they are informed by one of the watchers that the train they are running from is the non-stop express. As they look behind in shock, Kurono reflects on the unexpected turn of events and the plans he had for the day thinking he doesn’t want to die. In a final attempt to save their lives Kato suggest they look for an opening below to duck under but are unable to do so before the incoming express train hits the duo. They are both immediately decapitated by the impact as the terrified crowd watches, and in his final moments, Kurono’s flying head curses Kato’s for getting him involved in such situation. The drunken man wakes up and ungratefully walks away as a barfing man explains to him the events occurred while the disturbed crowd searches for the remains of the victims, all witnesses and station attendants are however mystified after noticing how every trace of both teenagers existence has disappeared.
However Kurono and Kato suddenly appear unharmed as they were right before the collision in an apartment room with a group of people and a dog sitting around a black sphere in the middle of the room. A man who states that two more have arrived comes up to them asking, "Were you boys... about to die too?” Despite being confused by the whole ordeal Kurono knows that he would “never, ever be going back…”
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Momo Ayukawa (swimsuit model)
- Ayato Kajimoto (photographer of magazine; name only)
- Kei Kurono
- Chizu Kumai
- Takao Tadō
- Masaru Kato
- Barfing Man
- Rice
- Masashi Yamada
- Kiyoshi Yoshioka
- Hiroshi Hatanaka
- Joichiro Nishi
- Takashi Inamori
- Goro Suzuki
Trivia[]
- This is the first chapter to show the death of a main character.
- Being the first chapter in the series, "An Incident" marks the beginning of both Volume and Phase 1 as well as the Onion Alien Mission Arc .
[]
| N/A | Onion Alien Mission Arc | Tanaka Alien Mission Arc |
| N/A | Chapters | → |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | ||
| N/A | Episodes | → |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||