[ PRELUDE ; info ]
Character:Sakata Kenzo [坂田 研三]
Series: Gantz
Timeline: Right after chapter 268, shortly after his death.
Wiki Us a Bio/History: short snippet here
Elaborate, if necessary:
APPEARANCE: Nothing special here. Slightly on the short side, average sort of build, a head of bushy brown hair -- sometimes spiked up, sometimes brushed back, sometimes styled wild. (He does seem to care about his appearances a bit.) Eyes concealed by a pair of sunglasses, and right cheek marked by a mole. And that's -- really about it. And of course, the first time you see him, you might do a little double-take because of what he's wearing. The Gantz suit, a skin-tight black bodysuit (that he thankfully doesn't look too horrible in), embedded with capsule-plugs containing a viscous, neon-blue liquid. Looks a little bit like -- cosplay, doesn't it? (Haha, if only if that were all it was.)
HISTORY: You know how, in every class, there's always this one kid that gets bullied for no other reason than just the fact that he's just a little bit different? That one kid who never really did anything wrong, but the bullies all mutually agree to pick on, just because he happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time once? That kid who gets beaten up and hurt and pushed around, but no one really bothers to help, because everyone figures that if he's being bullied, he must deserve it -- even though he doesn't really?
Sakata was one of those kids.
Starting from when he was still young -- in the beginning of fourth grade -- he found himself at the mercy of the school bullies and thugs, beaten around, abused, shunned for absolutely no reason that he could fathom. Of course, he tried at first to make friends, to escape this miserable situation -- he was still a child back then, hopeful and good-natured and friendly and trusting -- and believed that this situation would come to pass eventually. But as one year went by, then two, then four, and the bullying didn't stop, he turned bitter, angry, and more than a little cold. Desperate, in other words.
Of course, the bullies never caught on. No one in school realized that he was going to meet the local old-guy-called-madman, the man that he knew had amazing powers -- psychic powers. Why? It was simple. He wanted to learn those powers, and use them to kill those who had made his life so miserable. It was a simple train of thought, but the old man just didn't seem to understand it. Why? Those bullies who beat on him every day were trash, the dregs of trash that no one would miss, what bad would come out of killing them? Every day, he begged the old man, turning up with new bruises and cuts and wounds each time, until the old man finally relented -- "very well, young man. I'll teach you."
It was at that point that his whole life changed. It took him two days, to learn to utilize his powers, and when he returned to school, of course, the bullies were waiting for him. They caught him while he was walking to class after lunch and dragged him back behind the storage room building and began kicking him, beating him, jokingly swinging baseball bats dangerously close to his head -- "hey, maybe we should just kill'im, he's starting to get boring, no one would miss him, come on, let's kill him," -- except they were wrong. At the first opportunity he saw, Sakata killed them one by one, bursting half the blood vessels in the brains of the first few, them systematically shutting down the hearts of the others. He was never caught.
The rest of his life progressed in a fashion that most people would call 'normal.' He began making friends -- only in the loosest sense of the word, since he never really learned to trust people too well -- and graduated high school with amazing grades, enrolled in a high-tier college. Learned to get along with people, to laugh, to smile, to relax and pretend that he didn't have any hidden resentment. He came to use his powers more rarely, relying on them only when someone dared to try and take advantage of him again, which soon became rare -- not many people will attack a guy who's rumored to have a curse on him that will kill anyone who dares touch him. These rumors, he found terrible amusing, but all for the better -- he'd suffered enough already, he wasn't going to put up with it any more.
But maybe Karma really just had to come back and bite him in the ass, because this peaceful everyday-life bullshit came to a stop soon enough. First, some kid on an internet message board saying he was going to commit suicide -- and Sakata, on a whim, stepped in, realized that this kid was going through the same thing he'd been through, and he taught the kid, Cherry, the very psychic skills that had saved him. Taught the kid to kill. Then, as if this wasn't bad enough, voila -- he was gunned down in a mass shooting in Shinjuku and brought into the game of Gantz.
And what an amazing game it was -- sent to fight aliens every week at the risk of his life, protecting his 'teammates' and innocent civilians -- it was almost like he was fighting for justice, something that he'd never really believed in. It was almost nice, haha, to think that he could play the role of the good guy, instead of the cynical, half-jaded bystander he was used to being. And he even surprised himself -- gave up his chance to run away from the game in order to save that kid, Cherry and give him another chance at life. He never did realize just why he'd done it, but he never regretted it. That kid had the right to live.
But like all games, Gantz just grew harder as the levels went up, and there eventually came a time when he knew he would die, when he knew that he'd be torn to pieces and left in a bloody mess -- and he wasn't wrong. The Osaka round. "No matter what happens," he'd told Cherry. "I don't want to be brought back if I die. I don't want my life cheapened by being revived." Those were pretty much the last real words he said to his apprentice before he gave his life holding back an alien, straining his psychic powers to restrain its movements. And even as blood dripped from his nose, his ears, his eyes, his lips, he didn't really care -- maybe this was the right thing to do.
Karma, it just had to come back and bite him in the ass yet again, because death wasn't a quiet blackout and a trip to hell like he expected -- no, he woke up in Nuadoria, and thought to himself, 'fuck, karma is a bitch.'
PERSONALITY: Take a perfectly normal, optimistic kid -- then beat him down, force him to resort to murder, and let that fester for a few years. Voila, you've got a pretty good idea of what kind of guy he is.
At some point, Sakata probably used to be a happy, innocent kid. Probably would have liked to stay that way, but was forced to resort to a colder mindset in order to survive. And this shows the most in terms of his -- convoluted morals. They're not missing entirely, no, that's not it. It's not like he's a depraved, psychotic serial killer he doesn't like taking lives, no -- but it's just that he doesn't really mind killing people if it's justified. People are responsible for their actions, he thinks, and if those actions are bad, then. Well. Let's just say he thinks people who torment others for fun are trash, and trash should be taken out, yes? Killing does leave a bit of a bad aftertaste, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and he only kills for the sake of survival. Is that so wrong? Perhaps it's a way of defending his actions, or a way of keeping himself from being plagued by guilt, but he claims that some people just have to die, and he seems to have no remorse over his past actions.
It's not that he's irrational, though, because he's a fantastically rational, level-headed sort of person. Terribly calm, almost weirdly so, actually. Observant, analytical, and somewhat cold, he's pretty good at keeping from panicking, no matter the situation. A logical assessment of the circumstances comes first, before any hurried action, and once he reaches a decision on what to do, he doesn't hesitate. And it's not just logic -- he's pretty smart, too. Or, at the very least, considerably street-smart. He does seem to have a decent knowledge about drugs and narcotics, knows enough about anatomy to effectively rupture important organs, and probably speaks fairly fluent Spanish. Street smarts, book smarts, whatever -- eventually, it all comes down to making the appropriate observations and acting in the manner that would most effectively diffuse a dangerous situation.
Now, taken this far, you'd think he's a cold bastard beyond change. But that's not it, not at all. Because at times he shows surprising compassion, enough to seem like a hypocrite. Life isn't cheap, he snarls, calling it wrong for the Gantz players to be revived for points -- but still, he uses his points and sacrifices his freedom in order to revive his student. He seems to place his survival at highest priority, and yet, stands up against an armed gunman at the risk of his life (and eventually is killed) when Cherry insists that it's the right thing to do. It's like he's looking for a reason not to be the cynical, nihilist he is now -- give him a good reason to be optimistic, and he'll actually listen. And sure, he might play the devil's advocate and point out how illogical your hopes are, but he'll never completely brush them off. After all, it's not like he was born such a bitter person, it's only something he established in order to defend himself.
Hang around him a while, and it's not hard to see that he's actually a fairly decent guy, just hardened by circumstances. He acts normal for the most part, after all -- ever so slightly vain, putting up a confident front and speaking his mind when the situation calls for it. Sure, he takes some time to trust people and doesn't form attachment easily -- but once he does, he's a pretty damn reliable person. Sure, he thinks some people just need to be killed to spare the rest of society -- but that doesn't mean he thinks all people are trash. After all, he still does feel empathy and pity towards those that deserve it, and if you're innocent enough -- sure, he'll try and help you.
Survival comes first and foremost in his mind, but maybe (just maybe, though he doesn't really believe in 'hope') there are times when something else is more important.
ABILITIES: Sakata is a psychic -- and not one of those namby-pamby fake ones who use number tricks and false wires to do show magic, either. He's the genuine article, and it's nothing to laugh at. Although looking through people's minds might be a little too much for him to do, he's perfectly capable of looking through flesh. X-ray vision, to put it simply. Through cloth, flesh, muscle, he can seek out your internal organs -- and then take it a step further and destroy them. It's a combination of that special vision and a sort of telekinesis that make him so deadly. Just a few moments times, and he can pry into your heart to stop your heart in its tracks, or peer into your skull and cause all the veins to bubble up and burst. With a bit of concentration, he can move larger objects with his mind -- slow down bullets in their flight, slow enough to keep them from causing anything more than slight bruises -- even lift people into the air, though that one takes a little more effort than usual. And when he starts using his abilities too much, the stress will start manifesting itself in the form of a vicious nosebleed. (Take it a level higher, and his entire brain might start hemorrhaging, but if he actually took it that high, he could probably crush a truck.) Over the years, prolonged use of the ability has caused his internal organs to deteriorate noticeably -- a doctor's visit revealed that his organs had aged to that of an old man already, despite his young age -- so the ability doesn't come without its downsides, but hey. Better than nothing.
Besides this ability of his, Sakata's also been transported straight from Gantz, so there are those perks, too. That black plugsuit he's wearing? It might look ridiculous, but you'd be surprised at how powerful it is. Enhancing physical strength tenfold, and able to absorb massive amounts of damage, it acts as an all-around level up. That is, until the liquid capsules embedded here and there burst and start leaking a bright blue fluid -- that's the signal that the suit's reached its limit. At that point, the suit's no better than a normal jumpsuit until it gets a few days' time to recover and recharge. Along with the jumpsuit, Sakata's got one of Gantz' specialized weapons. A black steel affair that looks terribly clunky -- and it really is pretty clumsy. The lag time is horridly slow, and it's hard to aim -- but once it hits its target, the target explodes.
So between a gun that explodes things, mind powers that explode brains, and a suit that prevents any exploding -- really not something to laugh at, yes?
What are they bringing to Nuadoria?: His Gantz suit (restored, with liquid capsules intact), one of the Gantz guns, and his sunglasses, now with an unfortunate crack down the middle of the bridge of the nose. Nothing else, as the Gantz suit is rather lacking on pockets.
However, there is also a digital chip implanted in his brain. In Gantz, it will blow his head up if he A) leaves the assigned perimeter of Gantz or B) talks about or reveals anything about Gantz to someone not involved in it. It's deactivated in Nuadoria, but he doesn't know that.