Tokyo Team | Other Teams | Aliens
open/close all folders
Main Characters
Kei Kurono
- "At least my world views don't come from comic books and video games! You're living in a fantasy!"
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (series), Kazunari Ninomiya (live action), Yuki Kaji (movie) (Japanese), Chris Ayres (series), Lucien Dodge (movie) (English)
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Despite his brooding and occasional Jerkass nature, he gains the Affection of Sei, Tae, and Reika. In the case with Tae, it leads to a Love Redeems scenario as she helps bring out the best in him.
- Amnesia Missed a Spot: Played straight and inverted. After the Ikebukuro mission, Kei chose to be freed of the memories, which has the unfortunate side effect of erasing all of his time with Tae... but the physical evidence left ends up triggering his feelings anyway. Then he's Killed Off for Real by the vampires, and Kato uses his 100 points to revive him... but this Kurono's memories end after the Ikebukuro mission, meaning that all the time he spent as a free man is lost to him.
- Anti-Hero: At the start, he's an unlikable self-centered asshat only out to save himself and get laid on the side. However, after the death of all his friends, he works his way towards becoming a genuinely heroic figure with just a few rough edges.
- Badass Normal: Even without the suit, Kurono is a capable fighter.
- Bash Brothers: With Kato.
- Becoming the Mask: The whole reason he originally went out with Tae was because of a penalty game.
- Butt-Monkey: Outside of the missions, the guy's day to day life sucks. Part of his suffering is played for Black Comedy, though it also implicitly explains why he was such a Jerkass at the start of the story.
- Character Rerailment: A possible In-Universe example — when Kurono and Kato first arrive at the Gantz room, Kato reminisces about the way that, when they ran together as kids, Kurono was a fearless, unstoppable badass that Kato admired and wanted to be like, and indeed he tries to model his heroic character on how he perceived the old Kurono would have acted. Kurono, meanwhile, has become a bitter, self-centered Jerkass as he grew up, but his time with Kato (and the experiences he goes through) eventually bring back his old badass self (ironically by him recursively trying to model himself on Kato).
- Death by Adaptation: In Gantz: O, he dies before Kato even joins the group.
- Determinator: He's horribly outclassed, but his will to survive is strong enough that it doesn't matter.
- Driven to Suicide: Averted, but it was a very near case. After Tae was killed, Kurono spent some time just shooting himself with the gun until his suit started oozing.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kato.
- Hopeless Suitor: To Kishimoto, who is firmly attracted to Kato and ignores his advances.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He begins the story as a very self-centered young man, seen when a homeless man falls on subway tracks at the beginning of the story and he hopes that the more heroic Kato won't call him over to help. He also grows into a legitimately kind person whose still rough around the edges by the later parts of the story.
- Kid Hero: He's fifteen at the beginning of the manga.
- The Lancer: Begins the series completely dependent on Kato's leadership, but grows into a capable leader himself over time.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Though, the 'loveable' is disputed among fans.
- Love Hurts: His crush on Kishimoto ends badly for all involved on multiple levels.
- Magnetic Hero: Inspires loyalty, courage, and determination in his teammates. These traits and how he embodies them often lead to women wanting him and men wanting to be him.
- Male Frontal Nudity: There's a very graphic closeup of his erect penis in chapter 168.
- Mr. Fanservice: Probably the only male Seinen protagonist seen nude this frequently.
- Official Couple: With Tae.
- Off with His Head!: The story begins when he and Masaru die this way, decapitated by a speeding train. Later on, Hikawa decapitated him with his katana, which killed Kei again.
- Our Hero Is Dead: Kurono gets killed in a fight with vampires, although it doesn't take that much (in-story) time to get him revived.
- Ordinary High-School Student: He used to be this before his first death. He tried to be one once more after his second revival, but the Giants' invasion made this impossible.
- Sole Survivor: He is the only one who survives the Buddha Temple mission, though only because Masaru managed to commit a Mutual Kill on the game's target while Kei himself was on the verge of death.
- Technician vs. Performer: The Performer to Kato and Izumi's Technician.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the beginning, Kurono is just a selfish and pervert teenage boy, but the death of all his friends and the constant danger eventually turns him into a survival specialist and a competent leader for the Tokyo team.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Goes from a self-absorbed horndog to risking life and limb for someone he loves.
- The Un-Favourite: His parents couldn't give a rat's ass about him, preferring his outgoing younger brother Akira. His teachers don't respect him. And the only friends he has at school are disloyal and superficial.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Before his caharacter development, Kurono was very much like this, sheltering and taking care of Kishimoto with hopes of potential sexual favors in return.
- World's Strongest Man: Can sometimes give off this impression. Since he is essentially the one who defeated the Giants and championed humanity, he may truly be this at the end.
Masaru Kato
Voiced by: Masashi Ookato (series), Kenichi Matsuyama (live action), Daisuke Ono (movie) (Japanese), Illich Guardiola (series), Kaiji Tang (movie) (English)
- Bash Brothers: With Kurono.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Despite his large stature and troubled background, Kato is probably the most sensitive and caring male character in this series. He also counts as Good Is Not Soft — with his large stature and troubled background, he is a force to be reckoned with when forced to defend himself or others.
- Berserk Button: Never pratice violence against weak and/or undefended people or he will beat the crap out of you.
- Big Brother Instinct: He is very protective of his little brother.
- Cartwright Curse: When he finally acknowledges Kishimoto's feelings for him, she dies protecting him. Then happens the same with Anzu after she planned to move and merge their families. Fortunately for her, she gets revived.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: What gets him killed in the first episode, when he tried to save a bum at the subway. This also appoints him as the first leader of the team, because he is the only one willing to save others.
- Combat Pragmatist: In spite of being a very Nice Guy, Kato will fight dirty to prevent loss of life.
- Deuteragonist: Kato is the secondary view-point character for the first three missions of the series until he dies. Much later in the series, Kato gets resurrected and actually takes over as the Protagonist for the Nurarihyon mission.
- Good Is Not Dumb: He is about as morally upstanding as they come, but he'll still pre-emptively ambush a guy on the toilet in order to defend himself and head off further violence.
- Guile Hero: While he at first comes off as a delinquent turned Wide-Eyed Idealist, Kato is shown to be a particularly good liar when he has to be and is even skilled at manipulating fights to his advantage.
- Heroic BSoD: Watching the sheer callousness of the Room of Truth aliens shocked him to the core, especially when they killed Reika (again) and Kei's clone.
- Hero-Worshipper: He had a big admiration for Kurono back when they were kids, which lasted after many years of being apart, to Kurono's surprise.
- Heterosexual Life-Partner: With Kurono.
- Honor Before Reason: More often than not.
- Hunk: Kato is one of the bigger guys in the series, but is still quite easy on the eyes.
- Ideal Hero: The character that is closer to this trope in the series as a whole.
- Mr. Fanservice: A tall, well-toned guy with a great personality who of course frequently wears the skin tight Gantz suit.
- Promotion to Parent: Just as he got fed up with his aunt's mean treatment of him and Ayumu, Kato decides to move out after saving up enough for an apartment.
- Reluctant Warrior: Several of the Gantz team members (most of whom didn't exactly volunteer) aren't real gung-ho about the idea of hunting and killing aliens, but Kato is probably the purest example. Most notable in the initial hunt, where he tries to stop the others from killing the first Onion Alien and then tries to talk to the second one (after watching it slaughter several people). Later on he gets more accustomed to his teammates' use of lethal force to the point where it doesn't make him suffer a Heroic Blue Screen of Death and break down crying every time, though he still personally tends to almost always at least try to use the capture/Teleport Gun whenever possible as opposed to one of the "ludicrous gibs" type, and risking himself to save others is one of his defining character traits.
- The Strategist: Often embodies this.
- Technician vs. Performer: Technician to Kurono's Performer.
- Token Good Team Mate: Compared to many of the players (and even back then Kurono was as selfish as the others), he was the only decent and selfless person there.
Tae Kojima
- "I don´t understand... But if there is no God, then it means humans, on their own, have to treat life as something precious, and protect it themselves, right?"
- Adapted Out: Is not included in the anime as a side-effect of it only adapting up to the Buddhist mission before diverging.
- Amnesiac Lover: After she is revived and Kurono gets released from Gantz, both of them don't remember being a couple, since Gantz removed all their memories from that period of time. She is the first one to start remembering their relationship and suffers a lot for it, since Kurono's Character Development was temporarily erased due to the memory loss.
- Back from the Dead: Reika gives up her 100 points so Kurono can be with her again.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Kurono's arms.
- Informed Deformity: She's considered plain and homely by her classmates, but she's fairly easy on the eyes in the art.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Gantz targets her when she accidentally takes a picture of one of the Hunters with her camera.
- Morality Pet: For Kurono. She brings out the best of him and contributes for his Character Development.
- Official Couple: With Kurono.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Seemingly so much so at the start that she was considered "dull" by her classmates and bullied for it.
- Rescue Romance: She initially agreed to date Kurono and was implied to be aware of the bet. Then they grow closer after Kurono went out of his way to save her from the alien that massacred the entire classroom.
- Second Love: While it started as a bet and a Rescue Romance, Kurono grew to love her genuinely.
Introduced in the Onion Mission
Kei Kishimoto
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese), Shannon Emerick (English), Natsuna (live action)
- Anguished Declaration of Love: To Kato.
- Attempted Rape: Kishimoto finds herself the victim of this during the first two Gantz missions.
- Back for the Dead: Brought back by advanced aliens only to kill her again to prove a point.
- Bath Suicide: Kishimoto finds herself in the Gantz room after one. ...except she survived. This causes complications later.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: She has sizable breasts that people can't help but stare at and most of her scenes involve her breasts bouncing, to the point that Gantz's nickname for her is "Tits".
- Deuteragonist: A "Tritagonist" example. Kishimoto was the third viewpoint character of the series through the first three missions. Unlike Kato, she ends up getting Killed Off for Real and never resurrected.
- Hypocrite: For all her nagging Kurono for being a coward, Kurono internally snarks that she's guilty of doing the same, always seeking Kato to protect her.
- Naked on Arrival: She was in the shower at the moment of her death.
- Pretty Freeloaders: Deconstructed, since Kurono's UST and feelings of Entitled to Have You (Type B) soon drives her back out onto the streets.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: If she had a point for every time she was sexually assaulted, she'd have been free a long time ago.
- Stupid Sacrifice: An alien throws a highly corrosive acid at Katou. Instead of, say, pushing him out of the way, Kishimoto runs around him, blocks him with her body, and takes the blast.
- The Unfair Sex: Kishimoto chastises Kurono for his more cowardly traits, including hiding behind her when Nishi pulls a gun on her. He internally snarks that she does the same when it comes to looking for Kato to protect her.
- UST: Kishimoto is the source of this for Kurono and in turn pines for Kato.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Kishimoto who Kurono and Kato loved and lost was a clone. The real Kishimoto survived her suicide attempt and later, the alien invasion, living to the end of the series.
Joichiro Nishi
- "Remember how I said you had a little bit of potential last time? I was wrong. You should be the first one to die!"
Voiced by: Masahito Yabe (series), Tomohiro Kaku (movie) (Japanese), Chris Patton (series), Kyle McCarley (movie) (English)
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Quite creepy looking in the manga, but a more conventionally attractive (yet still creepy) Bishōnen in the anime. He becomes better looking later on in the manga as well, making this a case of Progressively Prettier. Also the movie cast Hongo Kanata to play him.
- Adaptational Heroism: While he's still an asshole in Gantz: O, the only person he actually kills is a thug who threatened him. Granted, Nishi provoked the argument that led to the incident in the first place.
- Asshole Victim: Although he is a selfish and apathetic asshole who let people die for his own agenda, at the end of the day he's just a fourteen year-old desperate to survive. In his dying moments, he calls out to his deceased mother apologizing for not being strong enough.
- Ax-Crazy: After his classmates throw him out the window of their classroom (on the second story of the school), he comes back and slaughters the entire class except for one girl because she was nice to him.
- Back from the Dead: He gets killed in the second arc and much later Kurono revives him in hopes he can provide more information about Gantz.
- Conflict Ball: At the end of the first mission, it gets revealed that Nishi is the most experienced of the team, having been taking part in the missions for a year now. By extension, he has the most knowledge on how the missions work, but intentionally holds back on relaying anything to his teammates since he only cares about getting points for himself.
- Dirty Coward: His recurring strategy is to stay invisible for most of the game and kill the alien once it's done with the rest of the party.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Was very attached to his mother and cries out for her when he feels he's going to die. It's also implied that her suicide is what spurred him to run away and eventually take his own life.
- Evil Gloating: He sure seems proud of trying to off Tae in front of Kei's eyes.
- Evil Laughter: Sweet Jesus, does he find Kei's Heroic BSOD hilarious.
- Eye Scream: Nishi, when he is killed by Suzuki Seiji
- Freudian Excuse: It's never explicitly stated, but considering he was thrown out of the second-story window of his school by his classmates, it's fairly freaking unlikely that his life is rosy, by any definitions of the term. The fact that his mother who he was very close to also took her own life only made things worse.
- Improbable Age: Already a sociopathic murderer at 14.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Just after saving Takeshi from the Alien Invasion and leading the readers to think he had any redemption arc ahead, he confronts Kurono and tries to murder Tae in front of him.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Particularly in episode 9 during his trolling rant. Also, near the end of the manga, Nishi acts like everyone is insane when they decide to use the teleportation ability of the Gantz spheres to rescue captured humans on the enemy mothership rather than immediately striking its weak point to destroy it. He's right, and humanity almost loses because of the delay.
- Killed Off for Real: He bites the dust in Chapter 366. It's interesting to note that Nishi, of all people, cries out for his mother as the alien ship disintegrates.
- Lack of Empathy: Doesn't hesitate to kill anyone or feel sorry for the frequent massacres at the missions.
- Pet the Dog: When Gantz starts going haywire during the Catastrophe Arc, Nishi is trapped in the Gantz apartment with Takeshi and a huge amount of exploding monsters. Despite initially seeming to abandon the boy to his fate, Nishi manages to escape the apartment with Takeshi in his arms, though he does chide himself for going against his "survival of the fittest" mentality.
- Sadist: He tortured small animals when he was a child.
- Serial Killer: Before Gantz, many of the other students noted that he killed animals. Becomes fully this when the entire classroom (sans the only girl who had a crush on him) tossed him out of the window and left him for dead without feeling sorry. In response, Nishi returned and slaughtered them.
- Slasher Smile: Boy howdy, does he ever sport one in chapters 364 and 365.
- The Sociopath: Kills animals for fun, constantly plays mind games and regularly lets random people (who he sees as bait) get slaughtered by aliens he knows how to fight.
- Sociopathic Hero: Nishi is a sadistic teenager that doesn't give a damn about who will survive or who die during the missions and was no problems with killing living beings, be it animals, humans or aliens. However, he does help the good guys, at least most of the time.
- Villainous Breakdown: Basically every time he finds himself at a disadvantage, he starts losing his shit and whining for the people he ruthlessly antagonized earlier to help or spare him.
- Teens Are Monsters: an Ax-Crazy Sociopath by 14 years of age.
- Token Evil Teammate: Aside from Izumi and the ocassional rapists or jerkasses recruited by Gantz, he is the most notably evil.
- Too Dumb to Live: Jumps into the river to fight a Tanaka bot without any support, even after noting how the mission would be more tough now that the enemy is no longer letting their guard down.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: He's only in eighth grade!
- Tsundere: In the Gantz PS2 game if you follow his route. He even says something along the lines of "Don't get the wrong idea; I didn't come here to help you" during one event. This is mind-meltingly weird for anyone who's familiar with the Jerkass Nishi from the manga and anime, to say the least. This is especially amusing as he appears to consider himself to be a Blood Knight with Nerves of Steel.
- The Worf Effect: On the receiving end of one in the second mission. It's unclear how many missions he survived, but he was certainly a veteran compared to Kurono and Kato.
- Younger Than They Look: He looks like he's 18 at the youngest. He's in middle school. Most likely done to save the audience the horror of seeing someone barely into puberty committing the atrocities he does.
Introduced in the Tanaka Mission
Masanobu Hojo
Sadayo Suzumura
Tetsuo Nemoto
- Adaptational Heroism: While he's still a thug, he's much more reasonable than the rest of is gang in the anime, as he stopped them from raping Kishimoto and as even willing to help Nishi if he apologized for killing one of his friends. In the manga, he was also willing to rape Kishimoto and laughed when Nishi got into trouble, he then later deliberated tried to kill Kurono to save his own skin.
- Delinquent Hair: The hair on the top of his head is painted red.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: In the anime, Gantz detonates the bomb in his brain after he used the X-Gun to murder a loan shark he had a debt with and later screamed Gantz's name in front of several members from a rival gang.
Introduced in the Buddhist Temple Mission
Sei Sakuraoka
Voiced by: Mie Sonozaki (Japanese), Kelly Manison (English)
- Action Girl: She's the first female Gantzer who can kick alien ass. Too bad a miscalculation from her part ended up with her being killed.
- Alliterative Name: Sei Sakuraoka
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She doesn't care about anyone, only Kurono.
- Back for the Dead: Brought back by advanced aliens only to kill her again to prove a point... That human life doesn't matter.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: She's very well-endowed, which is a major reason why she's a Dude Magnet.
- Dogged Nice Girl: To Kurono. She tries her darn best to impress him, and she doesn't want to be treated as a sex object. She... sadly fails.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In the anime, Sei makes a cameo during the prelude to the Tanaka Alien Mission, an arc before she originally debuts in the manga. She appears checking out Kurono in the at a retail shop.
- Ephebophile: Kurono was fifteen when she (eagerly) took his virginity.
- Expy: Sei Sakuraoka
◊ bases her appearance on that of Lara Croft. The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie specifically. - Horrible Judge of Character: Sei finds Kurono way more impressive than he actually was at the time they met, leading her to die defending his life against the 1000 Arms alien.
- Mrs. Robinson: She's 26, 11 years older than the 15-year-old Kurono, but it doesn't stop her from fucking him twice in the same night in a hallway where all their teammates could theoretically walk into.
- Romantic False Lead: She has sex with Kurono right after meeting him and already thought of herself as his girlfriend, while Kurono was still trying to move on from his failed attempts to woo Kishimoto. She dies on that very same mission and Kurono doesn't revive her.
- Sacrificial Lion: She gets far more characterization than a lowly Red Shirt but she gets killed all the same to raise the stakes for the story.
- Slipknot Ponytail: Her braid (long hair in anime) ends up untied after a fierce Battle in the Rain.
- Weakness Turns Her On: Sei immediately develops an attraction to Kurono, particularly after seeing him cry from the stress in everything in his personal life.
Introduced in the Dinosaur Mission
Shion Izumi
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- The first time he dies, his last thoughts are of his intense fear of death. The second, he looks back on his actions with shock and regret.Izumi: (Seeing the army of vampires he just massacred as he dies) Did I really do all this?
- YMMV on that one; it's possible to read it not so much as shock and regret as "damn, even I didn't know I was that awesome."
- The first time he dies, his last thoughts are of his intense fear of death. The second, he looks back on his actions with shock and regret.
- Ax-Crazy: Enjoys the thrills of the missions so much that he considers his decision of leaving a mistake... So he decides to kill a lot of people at Shinjuku dressed as a Black Man.
- Blood Knight: Izumi is only alive when fighting. So much so that it leads him to doing some really vile things.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Subverted, he's still a completely dangerous psychopath, but he genuinely finds Hoi-Hoi the panda cute enough to save him all throughout the Alien-Dinosaur Mission, it's also implied during his final moments that he genuinely has feelings for his girlfriend.
- The Dreaded: To The Vampires. His skill with the sword was unmatched. And the Vampires were terrified of him.
- Ineffectual Loner: What eventually gets him killed, since by the time of his death, the others refuse to go and save him from the Vampires.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex
- Jerkass: He's an Evil Counterpart to Kato. Both are long-haired tall guys. But Izumi is a crazy individual, meanwhile Kato is a Nice Guy.
- Katanas Are Just Better: When he becomes a Hunter again, the katana is Izumi's primary weapon.
- Lack of Empathy: None for anyone. Just ask the dozens of people he killed to get back into the game.
- Lightning Bruiser: Jesus H. Christ, is he ever. It's best exemplified by him killing 3 out of the 4 bosses of the Vampire's organization. Dropping their strength by a whole 40% in just a day!
- Master Swordsman: He can mow down Vampires, Aliens and other horrors without problem.
- Morality Pet: Hoi Hoi is his literal morality pet. Also his girlfriend, who he was at first indifferent toward but ended up dying for. He even tells her he's going to take her to Disneyland in his last moments.
- Nominal Hero: He initially appears as a model student that everyone admires and Kurono envies, later to be revealed that he is a sociopath and Serial Killer.
- Omnicidal Maniac: He goes on a shooting rampage just so he can get killed and return to the game. This also bulks up the team's roster.
- One-Man Army: As The Vampires quickly discovered.
- Pet the Dog: Cold-blooded killer Izumi will not hesitate to murder dozens of innocent Tokyo citizens, including Kurono's girlfriend, but he will save Hoi Hoi when escaping a bunch of dinosaurs.
- Redemption Equals Death: In a split second decision, Izumi sacrifices his life to save his girlfriend.
- The Resenter: Towards Kurono.
- The Rival: To pretty much everybody, but especially to Kurono and Host Samurai.
- Sociopathic Hero: For any given definition of hero. Just like Nishi, beside he's sort of on the side of the protagonist, he doesn't give a damn about the lives of anybody, except Hoi Hoi and (maybe) his girlfriend. He is only in it to satisfy his bloodlust.
- The Stoic: He rarely shows any sign of emotion.
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: An ace student, a powerful warrior and a sarcastic Jerkass.
- Technician vs. Performer: The Technician to Kurono's Performer.
- Thrill Seeker: His major motivation for rejoining the Gantz Games.
Yoshikazu Suzuki
Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda (Movie) (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (Movie) (English), Tomorowo Taguchi (live action)
- Back for the Dead: Brought back by advanced aliens only to kill him again to prove a point.
- Cool Old Guy: Instantly becomes Kurono's friend and also offers his house to both Kaze and Takeshi once he discovers the two are homeless.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Each death, but particularly when he is beaten and torn apart by the Renaissance Statue Aliens.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: In that case he went guns blazing, trying to defend Inaba.
- The Heart: The Old Man quickly becomes the team's backbone for moral support, being friendly and helpful to everyone, and he especially bonds with Kurono, Kaze and Takeshi.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Becomes a beloved friend and ally of Kurono, with Kurono depending more and more on his support, both martial and moral, as the series moves along. He also welcomes Kaze and Takeshi into his home witrh open arms when he learns they're both homeless.
- The Lancer: To Kurono, since he and Reika are the first ones Kurono directly helps to survive.
- Nice Guy: He gives advice to Kurono, has good interactions with the rest of the team and offers his house to Kaze and Takeshi.
- Nominal Importance: Subverted. When he's first introduced, we don't learn his name for ages, and as an unassuming middle-aged guy with an aversion to violence and no immediately distinguishing character traits beyond general geniality, he seems like he's certain to die without lasting one fight... but he becomes one of the main cast and survives longer than almost anyone.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The others only call him "The Old Man".
- Team Dad: Though he doesn't take as active a role in the team's leadership as the other members, Suzuki is the most supportive and caring for the team's well-being.
Daizemon Kaze
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Until he meets Kurono.
- Badass Longcoat: Sports a sleeveless one in his civilian life.
- Badass Normal: Doesn't wear a suit during his first mission. He ends up beating to death a few alien velociraptors and briefly defeats Gantz's superhuman target in a fistfight.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: After establishing himself as the tough guy from the group, he starts to open up to Takeshi's worshiping him as Muscle Rider, and cries when he tells his backstory. He eventually adopts Takeshi as his own, and Takeshi eventually upgrades from calling him "Muscle Rider" to calling him "Daddy".
- Doesn't Like Guns: Fights every alien hand to hand, regardless of how powerful they are or if they even have hands.
- The Drifter: He travels around a lot, basically looking for someone who can beat him. Stays put when he finds that person in Kurono.
- Expy:
- Master martial artist? Traveling Japan in an old gi and a duffel? Capable of delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown while incapable of genuine hostility? Daizemon Kaze IS Ryu.
- Given his martial art (bajiquan AKA hakkyokuken), hairstyle, and dark gi, he's a dead ringer for Akira Yuki. Considering Akira is something of a Shotoclone himself, the lines are a bit blurred.
- Evil Laugh: When facing a particularly challenging foe, he howls with laughter, sinisterly implying that he fears nothing. This might be a defense mechanism, actual joy or both.
- Gentle Giant: Towards Takeshi.
- In-Series Nickname: "Muscle Rider"
- Knight of Cerebus: It is quite a devastating display when he decides to really cut loose on an enemy. The rest of his team would agree.
- Made of Iron:
- Kurono can only match his power with the suit, sending him flying and bashing him into a wooden wall. And the only thing that really rattles him is the fact that he just lost.
- The first time he dies, Kaze is riddled with bullets at point blank range by Izumi while he himself is crushing Izumi's throat. He doesn't go down until the gunfire cuts his legs apart, leaving him crippled and vulnerable.
- Manly Tears: After finding out Takeshi's 'stepfather' beat him to death over a pudding cup, while his mother did nothing to stop it.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: A master of these.
- Papa Wolf: Kaze to Takeshi. When one of the Nura alien's attacks hurt Takeshi, Kaze went apeshit and attacked it, dealing more damage than Oka Hachirou did even with his Power Armor.
- Promotion to Parent: for Takeshi.
- Sarashi: He likes to wear this, along with old fashioned geta.
- World's Strongest Man: Is he ever. Yes, his strength is augmented by the Gantz suit, but the fact remains that Kaze still takes on every threat sent his way with his bare hands, no weapons used whatsoever, and he is one of the higher-scoring members of the Tokyo team. He's even been able to take care of threats OUTSIDE his uniform.
Hiroto Sakurai
- An Arm and a Leg: Turns out to be fatal
- The Atoner: Sakurai has a guilty conscience from murdering his classmates who abused him and tries to make up for it by saving lives during Izumi's massacre.
- Back from the Dead: Sakata uses his points to revive him.
- The Berserker: He becomes this when his girlfriend dies.
- Beware the Nice Ones: If you're a Giant alien, you are screwed if Sakurai catches you snacking on people.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Sakurai goes from twisting candle flames to popping giants' heads left and right.
- Heroic Sacrifice: As the building collapses, he uses his remaining strength to divert the rubble from falling onto two alien children mourning their dead mother.
- Killed Off for Real: The explosion removes all of his limbs. As if that wasn't enough, the building's roof collapses on him.
- Morality Chain: His was his girlfriend Tonkotsu, who made him use his powers to save people. When she gets killed during the invasion, Sakurai goes on an alien-killing rampage. He himself is also this to his mentor Sakata, convincing him that they should use their powers to stop Izumi's massacre as atonement for the murders they both committed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sakurai experiences this after realizing that his massacre of giant aliens involved taking the life of an infant and an elderly giant woman in Chapter 340.
- Person of Mass Destruction: After his girlfriend gets killed during the Giant Alien Invasion.
Kenzo Sakata
- Back from the Dead: Averted. He explicitly prohibited Sakurai from reviving him.
- Cool Shades: Always wearing them.
- Celebrity Resemblance: A lot of characters and aliens in Gantz fall under this trope, but Sakata gets special mention because in his first apperance he points that he looks kind of like Takuya Kimura
- The Fatalist: After a few missions, Sakata, tired of the life and death situations Gantz puts he and others through, tells his teammates not to resurrect him if he dies. These are even his last thoughts, which he conveys to Sakurai telepathically.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Dies in order to buy his team time to escape.
- Inappropriate Role Model: Zig-zagged, in his first appearance he convinces a suicidal Sakurai to stay alive and even teaches him some pretty nifty psychic abilities to boot... And then he tells him to go back to his school and murder all his bullies...Yeah.
- Killed Off for Real: Overloads his psychic abilities trying to stall the Nuraryhon Alien.
- Nerves of Steel: When he confronts the fire demon during their duel, after Sakurai has been killed.
- Punch-Clock Hero: He has a very nonchalant, indifferent attitude towards others, despite his heroic actions.
Reika Shimohira
Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Movie) (Japanese), Laura Post (Movie) (English)
- Action Girl: After training with the others under Kurono's instructions, she fully becomes The Lancer of the group.
- Back for the Dead: Brought back by advanced aliens only to kill her again to prove a point.
- Battle Couple: With Kurono's clone.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Like Kishimoto before her, she has some impressive knockers and is a major Dude Magnet.
- Devoted to You: She is totally devoted to Kurono.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: She finishes the monster that was about to kill Kei-2, but pays the ultimate price as a result.
- Fangirl: A Kurono fangirl, lampshaded by Gantz who calls her Kurono's #1 Fan.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Heavily implied between chapters 356 and 357.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Reika uses her 100 points to resurrect Kurono's girlfriend...and then later subverts the trope by resurrecting another Kurono for herself.
- Killed Off for Real: She saves Kei-2 at the cost of her own life between chapters 356 and 357.
- The Lancer: In the Osaka arc.
- Love Makes You Crazy: She appeared to be going down this road after being rejected by Kurono. She resurrected a second copy of him after getting 100 points in Italy. However, she feels guilty about it immediately afterwards and when the Alien Invasion begins, she seems more eager than usual to sacrifice her life in the defense of other as some sort of atonement.
- Ms. Fanservice: Definitely qualifies as one. She has good looks, especially in her Gantz suit, Reika is drop-down gorgeous.
- Rescue Romance: She falls in love with Kurono after he advised her to use the suit to survive and seeing him in action to save the group.
- Stalker with a Crush: Crush on Kurono.
- Teen Idol: She is a very popular idol... while still in Highschool.
- Younger Than They Look: She is a popular Gravure Idol, and she's still in high school.
Kouki Inaba
- Butt-Monkey: In the Tokyo team.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: What the Renaissance Statue Aliens inflict on him. He gets better.
- Dirty Coward: He avoids the battles as much as he can, and imediately sides with Izumi when he tries to kill Tae.
- Made of Iron: He is tortured and made a multiple amputee by the Renaissance Statues, and is still able to take down dozens of them before getting killed by their Knight of Cerebus.
- Mauve Shirt: Interestingly, he was perfectly fine as long as he kept a Red Shirt status, and got killed off right after receiving his Character Development.
- Redemption Equals Death: Though more of an Usefulness Equals Death or Action Equals Death, as he'd stopped being a Jerkass a bit earlier.
- The Resenter: He really can't stand Kurono for all the attention he gets for his actions, especially from his crush, Reika.
- Took a Level in Badass: Subverted. When he finally decided to don't be a coward anymore, Inaba managed to bravely kill some aliens, but then died being brutally stomped by a giant alien sooner after that.
Hoi Hoi
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is a lovable panda, but a bear all the same. See Offscreen Moment of Awesome below.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: During the Osaka mission, Hoi Hoi is mostly missing. When it is over, he returns with 40 points.
- Repetitive Name: Hoi Hoi.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Hoi Hoi disappears after the Italy arc; presumably he was killed, but it was never shown.
Introduced in the Oni Mission
Takeshi Koumoto
- Apologetic Attacker: He does this to the first alien he kills, despite the fact that it was trying to eat him just moments earlier.
- Children Are Innocent: Even with his abusive childhood and all the violence around him, he is still a good kid.
- Hero-Worshipper: To Kaze, who he literally thinks of as a superhero, since before his death he used to draw an imaginary hero named "Muscle Rider", who looked just like him.
- Morality Pet: To Kaze and the rest of the team... even Nishi.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In the Gantz suit.
- Took a Level in Badass: He goes from being The Load to actually being able to defend himself, channeling all his power to delivering an explosive elbow strike to an alien trying to eat him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we see of Takeshi is when Nishi teleports away and leaves him in some random room during the alien invasion. It's assumed he will be reunited with Kaze, though, since he's shown sleeping peacefully on a park bench still alive by the end. The final chapter shows him and Kaze as some of the people who have run to collect Kurono and Kato from the shore, showing that they did in fact reunite.
Introduced in the Italian Mission
Kei Kurono Clone
- Battle Couple: With Reika.
- Clone Angst: Similarly to Kishimoto, he goes through a crisis after learning that the "original" Kurono is in his place.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Invoked and deconstructed. Reika asked Gantz to create this copy of Kurono because she couldn't have the "original" one.
- Heroic BSoD: The Room of Truth aliens thoroughly shattered his mind by reviving and exploding Reika in front of him. He's reduced to a screaming wreck that loses himself to his grief and rage, and ends up killed as well.
- Killed Off for Real: In Chapter 372. He's disintegrated by the Room of Truth aliens after trying to attack them for resurrecting and then killing Reika, Sakuraoka, and Suzuki just to prove a point.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Happens to him when he finds out he is a copy of the first Kurono.
