He is a childhood friend of Kurono and serves as a secondary protagonist until his death, then as the main protagonist in phase 2. Masaru Kato ( 加藤 勝 Katō Masaru ?) is summoned, along with Kurono, by Gantz after they were hit by a subway train while helping an unconscious hobo who fell on the tracks. His seiyu is Daisuke Namikawa, and his English voice actor is Christopher Ayres. However, he was also created to "make a synthesis of the basic conditions for a work of entertainment" ( Template:Lang-es). Oku developed Kurono's character with the idea that the readers from the manga could identify themselves with him. After meeting the original Kurono, he decides to live with Reika. After the failed Italian mission, Gantz revives an additional copy of Kurono at Reika's request, unknown to the others. After the first mission of Phase 2, he is revived by Masaru Kato but remembers nothing beyond his choice to leave after the Oni Mission. The vampires group searches and eventually finds Kei, killing him. After reviving some of his former friends, Kei leaves the game due to a request from his comrades. He lives alone in an apartment complex, as he was not on good terms with his family.
During missions, Kei often uses unconventional tactics to great effect. His innate skills and physical prowess eventually make him a hero to most of the other members. However, after Kato dies in the third mission, Kei starts taking care of other people as well, and he starts to avoid casualties amongst Gantz team members. In the beginning, he is a rather selfish character, with a penchant for sexual perversity, who often ends up being the reluctant hero. Kei is a 10th grader who is summoned by Gantz, along with his childhood friend Masaru Kato, after being hit by a subway train in an effort to help a hobo who passes out on the tracks. Kei Kurono ( 玄野 計 Kurono Kei ?) is the main protagonist of the series.
Finally, he then adds tone to the pages and colors them, and starts adding sound effects as well as dialogues. Once done, Oku scans the characters draws he made in the 3D models, and the backgrounds are reduced to lines. He then creates 3D models of the characters and backgrounds on his computers. When creating the chapters from the manga, the author Hiroya Oku first makes a draft of the pages. Names are in Western order, with the given name before the surname (family name). As the characters participate in the game, they start discovering more things related to Gantz such as what happens when they defeat several aliens, and why Gantz holds the game. All the participants are given powerful weapons such as guns, and black bodysuits that increase their strength. A black sphere named Gantz revives them and then it sends them messages, telling them they have to kill aliens if they want to live. Suddenly, they appear in an apartment from Tokyo along with several people who have recently died.
The series starts with the teenager Kei Kurono, who dies in a train accident along with his childhood friend Masaru Kato. The series takes place in a modern Japan, in which several creatures known as aliens start attacking citizens. The anime and manga series Gantz features a large number of fictional characters created by Hiroya Oku. Several characters wearing the black suits, including Nishi, Kurono, Kato and Kishimoto.