Disclaimer – I do not own Gantz, or Nishi… not even ButterDog… Though I do have the complete series on DVD…


"Joichiro Nishi, eighth grade, and I fell," he said looking up at Kurono. His voice, very low as he spoke. Though this isn't about that, to find out more about Nishi and Gantz, we have to go deeper into the story. It takes place one year earlier, before this even started...He sat at his desk, the teacher was a bore. His peers didn't seem to be paying much attention to the teacher either. That is when the bell rung. All the kids got up and walked towards the door, except for Nishi.


"Hi, Joichiro," he heard someone calling.

When he turned his head he saw Rina standing next to him. She was a kind girl, always looking to help. She flicked her died blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Hi," Nishi responded.

"Are you just going to sit there all day," she started pouting.

"No," Nishi responded, his voice seemed distant. "I'm ready to go."

The two walked to Rina's house, "Pick me up at 8?"

"Yeah," Nishi responded.

There was a school dance that night, little did they know, they were in for a hell of a party...


A dog sat next to a homeless guy on a street corner. The homeless guy was eating a chicken wing, the dog stared at it, hoping to get a bite. The homeless guy was now down to the bone, he looked at the dog as it was begging.

"You want this?" he said, drunken.

He started waving the bone around, and the dog followed it.

"Go git it!" he yelled throwing the bone.

The bone landed in the middle of the street, but the dog, being a dog, didn't know not to go into a busy intersection. As the dog stepped into the street, a large truck was heading towards it. The truck's horn blazed but it was too late, and before anybody knew it, the truck's wheels crushed the dog. Blood oozed out from under the truck.


"Daddy's home!" the little boy screamed.

His mom had died at his birth and his father called him a monster, thinking he was the one that killed her. He is afraid of his father; whenever he comes home, he is drunk. The door slowly opened and in walked a staggering figure. The little boy looked from where he was hiding, under the coffee table.

"Hey, you little shit," his father yelled, staggering drunkenly over to the chair. "Come out! Olly olly oxenfree!"

He saw the little boy under the table, and he staggered over. He reached as the boy tried to crawl away, and he grabbed the boy's foot, dragging him out from under the table. The little boy had terror in his eyes as his father lifted him up by his foot. That is when his father started hitting him. The boy couldn't do anything because his father was still holding him, he was crying.

"I'm sorry!" the little boy yelled, but his father paid no attention.

"You little shit!" he yelled swinging the boy towards the wall.

The boy crashed into the wall, blood sprayed out all over the wall and dripped onto the carpet.

"Now, who's gonna clean that up?" the father said dropping the boy onto his head.

The boy was in shock, hanging onto life. His entire body felt broken. His father looked down at the bloody boy and lifted his foot. He stomped down on the boy's head, crushing it. Blood leaked out from under his foot, nothing was left of the boy's head.

"Little shit..."


Rina and her father, Yu, sat in their living room watching TV. It was 7 and Rina was already in her dress. They stared at the TV as their dinner was cooking in the kitchen. That is when they heard a crash from the kitchen. Yu got up and walked into the kitchen, he screamed running back to get Rina.

"FIRE!" he yelled.

Rina stood up and they ran towards the front door, but the fire had already spread and was blocking their escape. The fire spread quickly, as if it was their destiny to die.

"Window..." Yu muttered.

He grabbed Rina's arm and pulled her. That is when they heard cracking, and then Rina got lighter to pull along. Yu looked around and all that was in his hand was her arm, disassembled from her body, which was crushed under rubble. The ceiling had collapsed on her. Blood leaked out. Yu ran over and started digging.

The fire surrounded Yu, and it spread closer, and closer, until it reached him. His shirt caught fire and he got up screaming. His flesh peeled off, like an orange, and then he fell onto the floor, dead.


Two kids ran out of the convenience store, one Japanese the other American. Their pockets were stuffed with candy and condoms.

The store clerk ran out of the store, "You better run, you punks. I've already called the cops!"

"That was easy," the Japanese one stated.

"We gotta hit better places," the American one said.

"We're far away now," the Japanese one said. "We can stop."

The two stopped each grabbing a box of Pocky out of their pockets. The Japanese one had Strawberry Pocky, the American had regular. A black limo turned the corner and stopped next to the punks. The window rolled down and the punks looked inside.

"Hi, Tsukasa," the man inside said.

Oh, great. Yakuza...

"Where's my money?" the Yakuza asked.

"I'll get it to you," Tsukasa said.

"What is this?" the American asked.

"No, you'll get it to me now," the Yakuza was furious at Tsukasa.

"Spike," Tsukasa started. "Start running."

The two started running from the black limo that chased after them. Gunshots were fired. A bullet plunged into Spike's back, and emerged from his chest. More shots were being fired as Spike fell onto the ground. Blood gushed out of the wounds and he was dead. A bullet hit Tsukasa in his head, and he died instantaneously.


Nishi was in the car with his father, heading to pick Rina up. He was dressed in a suit, but not too fancy. As the car turned onto Rina's street, Nishi saw the fire trucks. He leaped out of the car and ran towards Rina's house. The house was completely impacted.

"Whoa, you can't go in there," a fireman said grabbing Nishi's arm.

"Rina!" he yelled.

"Was she a friend?" the fireman asked.

"Is she alright?" tears were flowing out of Nishi's eyes.

"I don't know how to say this, but as of now, it doesn't look like anyone is alive inside,"

Nishi fell on his knees and started to cry. His dad was yelling for him from the car. Nishi didn't want to deal with his father, after Rina's death. He got up and darted away. He ran to Tokyo Tower and went all the way to the top.

"This is the end," Nishi muttered as he climbed over the rail.

He looked down, cars drove passed Tokyo Tower below. He saw little speck people, seeming to enjoy the mundane everyday life. But Nishi didn't want to go on living, his girlfriend's dead and his father treats him like a child and beats him.

Nishi let go of the rail and started to fall forwards. Nothing seemed to matter anymore as his feet left the platform in which he was standing. Falling now, everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

Why did I jump off? Nothing's going to be changed by this. If this is the way...

Before he could finish that though, he landed on the hood of a taxi. He died instantaneously. The hood indented and the driver was crushed, dead as well. Blood leaked out of every spot on Nishi and ran down the sides of the taxi. People ran towards the taxi just to see what had happened, but what they saw probably scarred them for life.


Nishi awoke in a room full of people. "Where am I?"

"Joichiro!" a voice yelled with joy and fear.

He looked up and saw Rina. Standing about the room he saw Rina and he father, 2 punks, a little boy, and a dog. In the center of the room was a giant black ball.

"What's going on here?" Nishi asked.

Just then, lasers shot out of the ball. It started drawing a man.

"What the fuck?" Nishi yelled.

"That's the same way you got here," Rina said.

The guy who just appeared was wearing a taxi driver hat. "Where am I?"

This is the taxi I landed on...

The little boy started tugging on Rina's arm, she bent over. "What is it, Daisuke?"

Daisuke reached out his arms, Rina picked him up.

"It's the beginning of a brand new day," singing started.

"What's that?"

"A day filled with hope," the singing continued.

Words appeared on the ball.

"Your lives are now over, you bastards," Tsukasa started reading. "What you do with your new lives is for me to decide, so there you have it."

The words changed showing a picture and more words.

"Please go eliminated this target. The Shiitake Alien," Spike read. "Traits: Strong, smelly. Likes: Killing, eating people. Catch Phrase: 'I'm gonna get ya, I'm gonna eat ya.' What the fuck is this?"

The sides of the ball opened revealing guns and boxes. Nishi grabbed a box that had his name on it, inside was a suit. He also grabbed a gun.

"What are these, toy guns?" Yu said putting the gun back down.

Nishi walked out into the hall and put his suit on by instinct. Whatever this ball gives me, I might as well use.

Rina walked out into the hall. "Joichiro?"

"You should put one on too," Nishi stated. "Unless you want to wear that dress wherever we go or do."

Nishi walked out of the room and came back with a box. He handed it to Rina and left. Rina changed with Nishi standing at the door. She walked out, and Nishi blushed.

"You look good in that," he said.

Nobody else seemed to put their suits on. They just stood around holding weapons. Yu wasn't carrying a weapon and Rina was holding Daisuke.

"What now?" Nishi asked.