Background[]
The Tokyo Team is the Gantz-team based in Tokyo, Japan. Its team members would become instrumental in protecting the world from the alien threat, playing a pivotal role in the invasion of the Giant Aliens.
History[]
Early History[]
Little is known of the Tokyo Team's early history. Akari Jinguu is the earliest known member of the team, already hardened and experienced when Ooki Kashihara arrives in the Gantz-room.
Gantz Minus[]
Gantz Minus depicts the earliest known era of the Tokyo Team. Ooki Kashihara, a high schooler who died trying to save a child, awakens in the the Tokyo Gantz room where he encounters Akari Jinguu, a veteran of the game who explains what is about to happen. Ooki is the only one of the new arrivals who puts on his suit, allowing him to survive his first mission.
For the next mission, Shion Izumi, a high schooler who steals a Yakuza-members car and crashes during his hunt for thrills, and Joichiro Nishi, a middle schooler who kills himself after his mother's suicide, also end up in the room. Izumi eagerly participates in the hunt, feeling that he has finally found a challenge worthy of him, and accumulates 10 points.
After some time, the group are sent to fight the Tiger Alien. During the mission, Akari accumulates 100 points and chooses to resurrect her boyfriend, who died during a previous mission. A new mission immediately begins, and the team are sent to fight the Specimen Alien. The Specimen Alien proves exceedingly dangerous, and also has the ability to see the future. It shows Izumi a vision of his death at the hands of Hikawa, and kills the majority of the team, leaving Nishi, Izumi and Ooki as the only survivors. Ooki has accumulated 100 points and chooses to leave the Gantz-room.
Izumi Era[]
Shocked by the vision of his death, the usually solitary Izumi starts cooperating with other hunters. As the most experienced fighter on the team after Ooki's departure (with Nishi not accumulating any points for his first few missions), Izumi emerges as the leader of a new team, presumably teaching them about the game and leading them in battle. After the bloody Hunt on Shinjuku Street, Izumi faces the Vampires, Hikawa among them, for the first time. Terrified that his death is near, Izumi, having accumulated 100 points, chooses to leave the game.
Kato and Kurono's arrival[]
Two high schoolers, Masaru Kato and Kei Kurono, are killed trying to save a homeless man who had fallen on the tracks of a subway station, and are sent to the Gantz-room, along with several other new arrivals, including Kei Kishimoto, a teenage girl who slit her wrists. At this point, the hunters that Izumi led appear to all have died or left the game, leaving Nishi as the only hunter present with any knowledge of the game. Nishi toys with the new members, tricking them into believing that the mission is merely a reality tv-show, and sends them to hunt the Onion Alien, presumably hoping that they will act as bait while he lies in wait, emerging to claim the kill after the others have died or distracted the final boss. Kurono is the only person, aside from Nishi, to wear his suit, and fights the Onion Alien to a standstill, allowing Nishi to emerge and claim the points.
Kei Kishimoto, Kurono and Kato are the only new arrivals to survive the mission, and Nishi explains the basics of the game, though doesn't really care enough to offer more exposition than necessary.
Tanka and Buddha Missions[]
For his second mission, Kurono forgets his suit at home. Kato attempts to explain the game to the new arrivals, among them several members of a motorcycle gang, a grandmother and her grandson, and model Masanobu Hojo and his stalker Sadayo Suzumura. Kato tries his best to ensure the survival of as many as possible, aided by Kishimoto. Nishi is the first to die, after one of the aliens detects him in stealth mode. Kato tries to save him, but fails. Most of the gang members, save one, are also killed during the mission, as are the grandmother and her grandchild. Kurono, coerced by two of the gang members, manages to find the final boss's nest, and kills it, despite having no suit, ending the mission.
After Tetsuo Nemoto, the chief gang member, is killed between missions while openly wielding his Gantz-tech in the outside world, Kato, Kishimoto, Kurono, Hojo and Sadayo are the only survivors.
Some time later, they are summoned to fight in the Buddhist Temple Alien Mission. By this point, Kato has emerged as the team's unquestioned leader due to his experience and selflessness, while Kurono cements himself as the team's greatest fighter. Kato once again tries to convince the new arrivals to wear the suits, his effort is countermanded by the presence of a Buddhist priest who tries to convince those present that Kato is a demon. Sei Sakuraoka is one of the few new hunters who wears her suit. This mission proves far more deadly than the previous ones, with a multitude of aliens to fight.
They manage to dispatch many of them, but suffer massive casualties in the fight against the Giant Buddha Statues, as well as the final boss Kannon. Kannon proves deadlier than any foe the team has encountered previously and kills several new arrivals, as well as veterans Kei Kishimoto, Masanobu Hojo and Sadayo Suzumura. This leaves only Kurono, Sadako and Kato left to fight. Kurono attempts to take the boss out, but is mutilated in battle, losing an arm and a leg. Sakado proceeds to fight it one-on-one, dealing considerable damage before being killed. Kato is now the final fighter remaining, and manages to defeat the alien, though not before it sneaks in a final hit, killing him. This leaves Kurono as the only survivor.
Kurono Alone and Intermittent Era[]
With the entire team being wiped out during the previous mission, Kurono is forced to continue alone. Meanwhile, Shion Izumi, the team's former leader who chose to leave the game, has been haunted by vague memories of the Gantz-game. He begins to piece together the fact that he once participated in the game, and with the aid of Joichiro Nishi's blog, the finds Kurono and befriends him, seeking to learn more about the game.
Kurono is summoned to another mission and is forced to fight alone. Kurono succeds in killing all but one of the alien targets, but runs out of time, causing all of his accumulated points to be reset to zero.The surviving alien swears vengeance against Kurono and comes to find him at his school, challenging him to battle and promising to wipe out all of his comrades should he refuse. Kurono initially flees, prompting the alien to massacre his class, leaving Izumi to fight the alien before being knocked out. Kurono returns and fights it, rescuing Izumi and his girlfriend Tae Kojima.
One day, Izumi finds a strange miniature Gantz-sphere in one of his drawers. The sphere tells him to bring more powerful members to the room, since the people lately have been so weak. Driven by this and his encounter with the Shorty Alien, Izumi confronts Kurono, telling him he knows the truth about him and asking him to kill him so that he can return to the Gantz-room, warning that if he does not he will go on a killing spree, taking as many people as possible with him.
Kurono refuses, prompting Izumi to don a mask and return to the place of his last mission, Shinjuku street, to begin a massacre. Izumi fires indiscriminately into the crowd of people, killing hundreds. In order to draw out Kurono, whom Izumi wishes to surpass by defeating, he kidnaps his girlfriend and challenges him to duel. The two fight, with Izumi seemingly emerging victorious and mortally wounding Kurono, only for the lag from Kurono's pistol to kill him.
Upon his death, Izumi is transported to the Gantz-room for a mission.
Kurono era and New Group[]
Izumi succeeds in fulfilling Gantz's wishes, bringing many powerful new members to the room, such as Daizaemon Kaze, a world-class martial artist, and a pair of powerful telekinetics; Hiroto Sakurai and Kenzo Sakata. Other new arrivals include Yoshikazu Suzuki, an elderly man, Reika Shimohira, a pop idol and Masanobu Hojo, a designer.
Forced to discard his suit by Izumi for their duel, Kurono is once again fighting unprotected. He manages to convince a few members, such as Reika and Suzuki, to wear their suits. Acting on instinct, Izumi opens a new section in the apartment that presumably no one has known about since Nishi's death, arming himself with the Gantz Katana, and revealing the Gantz Motorcycle to Kurono. While Izumi goes off to fight alone, caring only for the challenge and not whether or not anyone else dies, Kurono does his best to help others, teaming up with Suzuki to use the Motorcycle and take on the Dinosaur Aliens. Other members, like Kaze, Sakurai and Sakata prove capable of defeating several members by themselves, despite not having suits.
Kurono is successful in protecting and saving most of the new arrivals, and manages to kill the mission's final boss. However, after the transfer begins, the Vampires emerge and massacre several members, leaving Kurono, Izumi, Suzuki, Reika, Sakata, Sakurai, Inaba, Kaze and the panda Hoi Hoi as the only survivors.
Knowing that their survival depends on his experience, most of the survivors, except for Izumi and Inaba, ask Kurono to lead them. Inspired by Kato, he begins tutoring them between missions on how to use the suit and weapons, striving to ensure as many people as possible survive. He strikes up a close friendship with Suzuki, who admires Kurono's will to survive, and becomes the object of Reika's affections.
During the Ring Alien Mission, Kurono's training pays off and none of the core group members are killed with only one brand new arrival dying. During the mission however, Kurono's girlfriend Tae Kojima wanders onto the battlefield. While ordinary humans can not see the aliens or Gantz fighters, Tae takes a picture, prompting Gantz to immediately begin a new mission, with Tae as the target. Kurono asks to be sent first, and manages to gain a head start, vowing to protect Tae, while Izumi tries to convince the others that they have no choice but to kill her. The group splits in two, with most of the latest arrivals and Inaba joining Izumi's side and the rest choosing to protect Kurono and Tae. Kurono manages to kill two of the new arrivals who sided with Izumi, but is defeated by Inaba, allowing Izumi to kill Tae.
Kato's return and Kurono's departure[]
For their next mission, the team are joined by a small child, Takeshi Koumoto, who takes a liking to Kaze. Despite Kaze's initial reluctance, he decides to look after the child. This mission proves a great challenge for the new team, with bystanders able to see them and get caught up in the carnage. The aliens are the most powerful yet, especially their leader, and are masquerading as humans. Sakurai is killed in the battle, as are all of the new arrivals from the last mission. A grand total of six members reach 100 points. Sakata uses his 100 points to resurrect Sakurai. Izumi uses his points to select a powerful new weapon. Out of gratitude to Kurono for saving their lives Suzuki, Reika and Kaze all allow Kurono to choose the person of his choice to resurrect. Kurono resurrects his girlfriend Tae, his old friend and the team's former leader Masaru Kato, and finally, Joichiro Nishi, believing that Nishi holds answers for the nature of the game that the team will need, now that the hunts have started becoming more dangerous. Finally, the rest of the team convinces Kurono to use his own points to select his freedom, which he does, leaving the game.
With Kurono gone, the group chooses Reika as their new leader, after Nishi refuses and his suggestion of Izumi is rejected due to Izumi's tendency to hunt alone. The core group continue to train together, now joined by Kato, but between missions, the Vampires move against the Tokyo Team, and kill both Izumi and the retired Kurono. Two of the Vampires, Hikawa and Chiaki, grab onto Suzuki and Reika as the transfer for the next mission starts, causing them to be summoned along.
To their surprise, the Tokyo Team is sent to Osaka, where they encounter the Osaka Team. The Osaka Team, composed of psychopathic veterans who have cleared the game several times, tell the Tokyo Team to back-off. Led by Reika, they decide to hide, feeling that the mission is far to dangerous for them to participate without risking casualties. Kato breaks from the group, and is aided by Anzu Yamasaki from the Osaka team in helping civilians caught up in the battle.
Despite their vast strength, most of the Osaka Team are killed fighting the extremely powerful aliens, chief among them Nurarihyon, an alien worth 100 points all by itself. The Tokyo Team is drawn into battle when Nurarihyon attacks them, with Sakata sacrificing himself to allow the others to flee. Suzuki, Inaba and Nishi are all mortally wounded fighting Nurarihyon. While the most powerful member of the Osaka Team, Hachiro Oka, manages to destroy two of the monster's forms, he departs, stating that Nurarihyon is too dangerous, leaving the decimated Tokyo Team to fight him. After the monster defeats Kaze and leaves to kill Oka, the surviving members, bolstered by Osaka Team members Anzu and Tsuneo Nikaido, concoct a plan to snipe the alien from afar, exploiting a weakness Oka had noted while fighting him, with Kato volunteering to remain behind and distract it. The plan works with aid from Hikawa, though Anzu is killed saving Kato.
Everyone survives, with the exception of Sakata. Having accumulated 100 points, Kato chooses to resurrect Kei Kurono. After the mission, Nishi reveals the Katastrophe counter, a timer with just below 8 days left counting down to the end of the world.
Final Mission[]
As they prepare for their final mission, Reika confesses her love for Kurono and is rejected, as he is still in love with Tae. For their final mission, they are sent to Rome, together with Gantz teams from all around the world. This mission proves a failure, with the team extracted before the aliens are defeated, but not before both Suzuki and Inaba are killed. Nishi accumulates 100 points, and asks for a new weapon. Reika also receives 100 points, and attempts to revive Suzuki, only for Gantz not to respond. With their final mission over, the team leaves the apartment for the last time, though Reika returns, having forgotten her clothes, only to find Gantz walking about in the apartment. He asks her who she wanted to resurrect. Madly in love with Kurono and desperate to be with him, she chooses to resurrect a clone of him that can be with her.
Katastrophe[]
With the invasion of the Giant Aliens, the Tokyo team is scattered, with some being conscripted and forced to participate in operations against them, and others pursuing their own agendas. After his girlfriend is killed, Sakurai goes on a killing spree, vowing to kill as many of the Giant Aliens as possible, culminating in his death on the Giant's Mothership after seeing the error of his ways. Kei Kurono resolves to protect Tae, and when they are separated, he desperately chases after her in the Giant's Ship.
Nishi works with Gantz to combat the Giant Aliens, striving to connect to other Gantz teams around the world. They receive the plans for the Giant's Ship from an American team. While Nishi wishes to use this data to attack the aliens, the remaining members of the team; Kaze, Kei Kurono's clone, Reika and Kato, wish to use the information to save as many people as possible who have been captured by the Giant Aliens. With the help of Gantz, they contact all the other Japanese teams asking for volunteers, with several new members showing up to aid them. While they are transported onto the Giant's Ship to begin their rescue operation, Nishi and Takeshi stay behind with Gantz. Gantz is hacked and attacked by aliens who detonate in the apartment. Nishi saves Takeshi and flees, but Gantz is killed. Nishi is desperate to join the fight against the Giant's, believing that whomever defeats them will rule the Earth. He manages to hack his way onto a mission to destroy the Giant's Ship, piloting giant mech suits together with Kei Kurono and Sakurai. Kurono, having come to the realisation that for all their cruelty, the Giants are no different than humans, refuses to destroy their race, prompting Nishi to try and kill Tae in order to blackmail Kurono into destroying the ship, since Kurono has destroyed his ability to interface with the mech. After Tae is revealed to be alive, Kurono dispatches Nishi and flees, leaving Nishi to die on the Giant Ship.
The remaining members of the team manage to save countless humans but are stranded on the Giant Ship after Gantz's death. Fighting against violent parasitic aliens on the Giant's Ship, they lose one of the volunteers as well as Reika. They manage to arrange transport onto the core of the ship, where the American team has defeated the Giant's and are facing their greatest champions. They are transported to the Room of Truth where they encounter the God Aliens, the architects of mankind's salvation. A highly advanced race, they sent the technology needed to protect humankind from alien incursion, though claim no responsibility for the structure of the Gantz missions. The God Aliens prove cold and aloof, declaring humanity an arrogant race and claiming that human life has no value. When Kurono's clone disputes this, they resurrect Reika, Kei Kishimoto, Yoshikazu Suzuki and Sei Sakuraoka, only to immediately kill them, in order to prove the fleeting, meaningless nature of human life. Driven mad by grief, Kurono's clone attacks them and is killed.
The team tries to find a Gantz-sphere that can take them home, finally finding one which begins transporting them, sending Kaze home. After the Giant's greatest champion Eeva Gund demands that Kurono, his brother's killer, come face him or he will detonate the Ship and destroy the Earth along with it, Kurono re-unites with the Rescue Team to fight him. Kurono and Kato manage to defeat him, with the other fighters dying in battle, and flee the ship, returning to Earth and re-uniting with their loved ones. The only surviving members of the Tokyo Team at this point are Kei Kurono, Masaru Kato, Daizaemon Kaze and Takeshi Koumoto.
Structure and Abilities[]
The core membership of the Tokyo Team is constantly changing, due to the nature of the Gantz missions, meaning the structure changes as well, but for most of its known history, the team has been quite well ordered and based around co-operation. Izumi, Kato, Kurono and Reika have all lead iterations of the Tokyo Team that focused on fighting together in order to ensure survival. Under Kato and later Kurono's leadership, the team and its core members focused their efforts on protecting not only each other, but also new arrivals and civilians.
Despite no known Tokyo Team member being able to acquire a new weapon by clearing the game (with the exceptions of Izumi who died before he could use his and Nishi who only acquired his on the last ever mission), the Tokyo Team, especially the core that emerged after Izumi's killing spree, have proven themselves extremely capable fighters, ultimately proving themselves to be in a class of their own. Their penchant for teamwork allowed them to take down enemies that individual hunters more powerful than them (such as Hachiro Oka) were unable to defeat, and the team members boast diverse skill sets well suited for the Gantz-missions.