Kei Kishimoto (岸本 恵, Kishimoto Kei) is a member of the Tokyo Gantz Team and is a central character for the first three missions. Kishimoto is unique in that her original body survived after attempting to commit suicide, causing two Kishimoto's to exist at once, and preventing her from returning home after completing her first mission.
Appearance
Kishimoto is a pretty 15-year-old girl with short brown hair (pink hair in some representations), big brown eyes, large breasts, a slim waist and wide hips. She is mainly seen wearing her school uniform which consists of a white blouse shirt over a peach coloured cardigan, blue miniskirt, white socks and brown shoes.
She appears on a great many cover pages in various states of undress.
Personality
Kishimoto possesses a gentle and kind-hearted nature who is also rather clueless around boys, as evident by her asking Kei Kurono to be his pet, and then sleeping in the same bed with him. Naive as she is she does not realize, he might get the wrong idea. Which she finds out when he forces her to ‘cuddle’ with him.
She also unintentionally tends to irritate Kurono by constantly talking about Masaru Kato, a man she has fallen in love with. What adds insult to injury is that Kurono had feelings for her but was unable to make her fall for him. During the Buddhist Temple Alien Mission, she proves her love towards Kato by selflessly sacrificing herself to save him, she confesses her love for him as she passes away in his arms.
Background
Due to a large amount of stress put on her by her mother to increase her studies and achieve good scores on her tests, Kishimoto's despair reached a point where she attempted to commit suicide by slitting her wrists in the bath. Gantz, assuming that she is dead, creates a copy of Kishimoto that is teleported naked into the Tokyo Room, but unbeknownst to them, the original Kei Kishimoto was revived at a hospital, and later went on to make a presumably full recovery.
Plot
Onion Alien Mission Arc
Kishimoto is first seen being copied to the room onto Kei Kurono while naked. She wakes up confused and then gets grabbed by the yakuza Hiroshi Hatanaka so he can rape her, Masaru Kato however interferes and protects her, then while struggling together the mysterious Black Sphere in the room starts playing an old exercise song. As the Yakuza leaves to check out the Black Sphere, the dog Rice which is also in the hallway starts licking at her vagina, apparently having been trained to do so by his previous owner. Kato inteferes and throws her his jacket telling her to put it on. As they leave to see what is going, she tries to regain herself but accidentally walks in on a naked Kurono whom is putting on the Basic suit. As he is transported out she runs away, only to be transported herself several minutes later, as the others run off to try and find the Kid Onion Alien which they are supposed to be hunting she stays with Kurono and Kato. They find out they are in Ichinomiya. While trying to get home, the kid onion alien lands in front of them and Kato goes off after it to help and protect it leaving her alone with Kurono. She then parts ways with him and as she hears some ringing she comes across the body of Goro Suzuki and she runs back to Kurono, who then leads her away. They then come across the carnage left behind by the Adult Onion Alien after he beat Masaru and killed the other four. As they try to back away it comes after them, initially chasing her before it switches focus to Kurono. After Kurono beat the alien and a middle schooler Nishi send it away and gets the point, she finds herself back in the room they were before. Kurono and Masaru then demand explanations but Nishi is reluctant to answer them and eventually he disappears by using his suit to become invisible and leave. They then leave to and she hails a cab and gets brought to her home where she changes into clothes so that they can get theirs back. As she enters her hallway again she picks up the phone and hears her mother telling her she is in the hospital. Her sister then comes home, confused and upset she grabs some things and runs away from her home spending the night on a public bench until being woken by a homeless lecher. Having nowhere to go and seeing Kurono's address on his schoolbook she goes to his place and falls asleep on his doorstep to be woken by him as he arrives home. He invites her in and she explains her situation and then asks to stay with him as his pet which he agrees to. She then starts to take a shower.
Tanaka Alien Mission Arc
Kei Kishimoto is taking a shower and a bath inside Kei Kurono's apartment. As she comes out of the shower, Kurono returns from the store. When it turns out that Kurono doesn't have a futon, so they share his bed, when he tries something later on that night, she rejects his advances, much to his frustration. She also tells him that all her scars are gone and that there is another her whom survived the suicide. Kurono the notices his burns are gone too.
The next day the go to look at her original self to make sure it is true, knowing it is all true makes her feel much better. She then tells him she is free now and in love with Masaru Kato. Kurono then offers her a neck massage, Kurono then reaches around and gropes her. They are frozen by Gantz, who begins bringing them over, as she struggles to get free. In the anime, she is shown stretching herself which gives Kurono an erection, then when they arrive in the room she runs away from him.
Four motorbike gang members arrive in the room, and start harassing her straight away. When she goes to change into her Gantz suit, in the anime, three of them follow her, intending to rape her, but the 4th one, their apparent leader, stops them. Kato then goes and makes sure nothing happens. In the Manga, it is the gang leader that goes back there with one other biker, and Kato stops them. Then as Kurono is transported out without a suit or gun she hands him an X-gun. When everyone else is sent out, the gang leader and Kishimoto are left alone, he trying to rape her but gets transferred out by Gantz before he is done getting her clothes off.
Shen then joins them as Joichiro Nishi is losing his fight with the Shopping Tanaka Alien. As Masaru goes to help him she initially want to jump after him but Kurono stops her and the run to the nearby stairs where Kurono tries to shoot the Tanaka with an Y-gun which misses, causing her to run down the stairs to help. As Kurono sens up the alien, she looks in shock at the dead Nishi. They also find out that with the Controller they can find the location of the aliens and how much time there is left. She then goes of with Masaru and the others leaving Kurono with the bikers.
They then get approached by a Tanaka from either side, while a third one lands in front of them as two more join them. Masaru attacks one of them when the other four Tanaka's flock around him, she tries to shoot one but is blown backwards by them. Masaru gets the one he attacked out of his Tanaka Shell and chases it down killing it with a punch. As the other four open fire on Kato she shoots one of them, this time killing it. The other three then approach her but Masanobu Hojo grabs one of them, making the other two fly off. The remaining one then tries to get back into its Tanaka Shell but dies before doing so.
She then goes after the other two tanaka's with Masaru and Masanobu. She then kills her second Tanaka as Masanobu does the same. The three of them then catch up to the two remaining bikers and Kurono who just took down the Tanaka's lair. The Tanaka's Boss then grabs the biker Haruya Numata and rips of his head, which scares her, making her scream. It then attacks Masanobu but chooses to chase Kurono instead. As it grabs Kurono and takes him high into the air she is genuinely afraid for him. She then watches as Kurono defeats the alien and is relieved as they get sent back to the Tokyo room.
She then still being called Tits by Gantz gets 10 points for the two tanaka's she killed. As Masanobu gets his points and is called homo, she is surprised to find out that Masaru seems to have something against them. As the leave the apartment Masaru tells the new people that in a couple of days they will meet again in the room to fight aliens. She then asks him if he lives alone, finding out this isn't the case she goes home with Kurono again, who talks about how he took down the tanaka's lair, Kishimoto however ignores him and obsesses about Kato instead. Kurono then gets angry at her and his anger drives her away and she leaves Kurono's place. Where she goes is unknown.
Buddhist Temple Alien Mission Arc
Kurono is seen fantasying about her while masturbating. Hours later after he and all the others have been brought to the Tokyo room, she is brought to the room in her pajamas, apparently having found another place to stay. She then looks on among the other old hunters and the new people under leadership of Musō Tokugawa start chanting a Buddhist prayer. She then tells Masaru Kato that she has being staying with Kurono since she ran away from home, telling him, she rather would have stayed with him and that Kurono didn't do anything weird to her. Kato then tells the people that the Black Sphere will start playing a song, they don't believe him until it happens, as she goes to put on her suit after the sphere opens she catches Kurono fucking the new girl Sei Sakuraoka. As Kurono comes back, she changes into her suit, Kato then tells them to put the suits on, or at least to have them with them, some listen and take them with them while the others don't. She is then transported to the Rateiin Temple along with the others. She then names the X-gun the X-gun because it shoots an X and it has an X-ray vision, which Kato then use to look at the statue seeing it has a skeleton, as he is about to shoot it they come alive and chase them into the temple. She tries shooting the Grumpy Alien along with Kato to no avail, whom gets kicked away by the alien. As she cowers, Kurono charges and slides underneath the alien and blows up its ankle, showing they can hurt it and have a chance to win. She then watches Kurono defeat it and give it a head shot. She doesn't follow Kurono as he charges towards the Rowdy Alien followed by several others. It gets sniped by new-comer Juzo Togo in stead, whom she and Kato go to talk too. 10 more Smaller Sized Buddhist Temple Aliens then start attacking them as the Daibutsu Alien comes alive. Kato then leads the people in attacking it, telling Togo to snipe the smaller ones in the meanwhile. A Stunned Passerby then comes across the damaged temple goes to investigate only to be saved by Kato, Sadayo Suzumura, Masanobu Hojo and Kishimoto herself whom get squashed by the alien while the man gets away. She and the others are all still alive luckily. She then witnesses Kurono head shooting the alien with himself and defeating it.
They then find out that there are two lefts, Hojo and Sadayo and three others go towards one of them while Kato, Sei, Kei and Kei go after the other one, which is very quick and lifts Kato into the air were it gets sniped by Togo. They then go towards the others to find two of them running their way and finding out that the other three, including Hojo and Sadayo are dead, having been killed by Kannon, as Kato charges at it in anger shooting it in the face to no avail since it heals itself. It then throws acid at him and Kishimoto jumps in front of it and as it burns away the middle of her body she dies in his arms, getting Kurono angry he jumps over them and attacks the alien. Grieving Kaot lays down her body, while Kurono gets beaten by the alien while remembering Kishimoto. Sei and Kato then run away from it, with the dying Kurono leaving Kishimoto's body behind. Kato later returns to Kannon's shrine to retrieve the Y-gun in order to beat it and apologizes at her corpse before being attacked by one of Kannon's 4 Guards. While Kato as the last person standing fights Kannon her remembers her death, his childhood with Kurono and his brother, giving him the strength to beat it. As Kurono returns as the only survivor he grieves for her, Sei and Kato's deaths. He then forces Gantz to show her portrait and to bring her back, but Gantz ignores him. Later Kurono remembers she has a double and goes to see the Original Kei Kishimoto telling her of the other her's death, while crying.
Oni Alien Mission Arc
The Final Challenge Arc
Anime/Manga Differences
- Gantz calls her by the name "Titz" in the manga, "Miss Melons" and "Boiled Eggz" in the anime. This was most likely also a reference to her large breasts.
- In the manga, the only one who she had feelings for was Kato, barely giving Kurono any attention and only caring for her and Kato's well being. In the anime version, she spent more time with Kurono onscreen and developed more of a platonic friendship with him (for example, when Kurono was being chased by the adult Greenonion, Kishimoto ran in a different direction and didn't show up again until after the alien was defeated. Whilst in the anime, she stayed with Kurono for most of the chase and was also present when Kurono was grieving over Kato, and then rejoiced when they saw that he survived).
- Another difference is that when she leaves Kurono's house in manga, she does so rather quickly and doesn't do or say anything to deny her desire to live with Kato instead of the former. The anime version had her trying to argue back but with Kurono having none of it, she decides it would be best to leave, but not before confessing to Kurono that she really thinks that he's "a great guy", even though he's nothing like Kato. Also, just before the argument, Kishimoto tells him that his role is to defeat the aliens just like it's Kato's role to protect people, while in the manga she never mentioned anything about Kurono and only talked about how hard Kato must have it at home.
- Most likely the biggest change was her death scene. In the manga, she just jumped in front of Kato and took the acid for him, finally telling him that she loves him before dying. The anime gave her some internal monologue, saying that she wants to spend her last moments with Kato, and how sacrificing herself for him somehow feels right. Her last inner thought is for Kurono to continue to protect Kato in her place, with her even calling him by his first name saying: "Please, Kei...", despite telling Sei earlier that she and Kurono are just too different from each other to be together. Also, just before she takes the acid, she shouts at Kurono to protect Kato, while she never said anything of the sort in the manga. The anime also has a brief scene of the "real" Kishimoto at home studying, unaware of her clone's existence or fate, with her mother noticing her still studying and asking her how long she plans to stay up, to which she agrees to stop for the night.
- Yet another (relatively minor) difference is that while Kishimoto leaves in her pajamas in the manga, in the anime she changes back to her school uniform and then leaves. While the manga implies that she had been sleeping on the streets before the start of the third mission, the anime depicted her in a restaurant living off of table scraps and then showing her transference to the apartment (during which she runs into the girls bathroom to avoid being seen by other people).
- All in all, it seems that the anime version of the series tried to ship Kishimoto with Kurono for many of their scenes together, something that was practically nonexistent in the original manga.
- Kishimoto's father is never brought up in the manga. In the anime, during her flashback in episode 8, her mother mentions how she (Kei) is just like her father (not very bright) while on the phone and scribbling insults aimed at her daughter. It can be inferred that Kishimoto's parents are divorced or that her father is dead, but this has not been stated officially.
- In the anime, in episode 7, Kishimoto wears Kurono's suit when he is explaining how to use it (though he probably just made her wear it just to get a sexual rise out of it). As Nishi later explains before the Tanaka mission starts, a hunter wearing another hunter's suit would not be effective at all. This marks the only time in either the anime or manga that someone has done this, albeit outside a mission.
Abilities & Skills
Kishimoto shows little skill and initiative during her first mission, choosing to try and go home instead and running away from Adult Onion Alien. Yet in the second mission she wears the suit and after seeing Masaru Kato in danger becomes actively involved in the mission, she does the same in her final mission where she sacrifices herself for Kato. Utilizing the suit she can do many power feats, way beyond her normal capacities. She also quickly learned to use the X-gun even though she was initially reluctant to use it. She has no real fighting skills to speak off and as it comes to abilities, she is reluctant to make risks, hasn't shown to be able to think on her feet or strategically. She was also mentally weak and exhausted when she arrived in the Tokyo room having just tried to kill herself, the mission however gave her a new respect and hope for live, feeling free for the first time in a long time she resolves herself to keep on living and goes through tremendous mental growth in a short time. She has also show empathy and understanding towards Kurono especially and her fellow hunters as well. Any possible other skills and abilities are not show.
Quotes
- (Kishimoto trying to prevent Rice from licking her vagina) "Hey, stop!"
- (After finding out her score and nickname from Gantz) "What the heck. - And I got 0 points"
- (After asking Kei Kurono if he can keep pets in his apartment) "Then would you keep me"
- (After shooting and killing her first Tanaka alien.) "You can't kill Masaru, I won't let you."
- (After Masaru Kato can't get anybody to listen to him) "It doesn't looks like anything else will work, I guess we'll just have to make due by ourselves."
- (After arriving at the Reitei Temple) "What about the X-gun."
- (Explaining the name of the gun) "It makes an X when you shoot it and it also has x-ray powers, Masaru made it up."
- (While under the Daibutsu Alien's foot) "I'm fine!"
- (Being killed by Kannon's acid) "Ah!"
Etymology
- The name Kei means "favor, benefit" (恵).
- Kei's surname Kishimoto means "shore, bank, coast" (岸) (kishi) and "base, root, origin" (本) (moto).
Trivia
- Kishimoto is portrayed with both brown and pink hair.
- Kishimoto is the second main character to die, but unlike Nishi and Kato, she is not resurrected in game.
- After initial discomfort, Kishimoto really enjoys the freedom being a copy brought her.
- Kishimoto has double D's, even though she is a fifteen year old Asian girl.
- Thanks to Kishimoto popularity, she had several figures made of it and got to star in her own spinoff GANTZ EXA