Mafia: Battle Royale

[Guest muddatrucker]

So for someone who hasn't read the BR diary and would rather just have a summary, how does this game differ to Mafia other than the characters being Japanese or something?

[Ace]

in BR there is 40 kids thrown on 1 island, given a map, and a collar around their necks which monitors their movements and can explode if they go into the wrong area.

Did I miss anything?

Oh yeah there also given a weapon and told that to win they have to be the last one living. Have Fun

[Gongsun Zan]

Story wise, yes, that's how BR goes.

As for playing the game and the actual differences between regular mafia, I do beleive Hamster covered it nicely in the actual game thread.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Rather than having teams of mafia and town (or mafia, town, cult as in MII) people are more out for themselves and/or trying to protect one or two people as well as having specific people they need to kill.

[Kaney]

Good to see the game finally get underway, but I think it's slightly skewed in favour of those who are actually familiar with the BR universe. I'm not saying you guys should have a full length description of what happens to everyone in the story, but maybe a short summary wouldn't go amiss to help those unfamiliar people understand who each character actually is. I mean, we started this without a mafia to search for, but why should people be suspicious if they don't even know who Kazuo is?

Damn you for not letting me post in the main thread without signing up >_>

Edited January 24, 2006 by Kaneanite

[Mick]

I say we give Kaney a special honor by making him the program director, and letting him announce people's deaths followed by some smartass remark.

[oldskool]

It's funny, how you all continue to bitch and bitch, say "Give me proof, give me proof, prove you're who you say you are", and then when they give proof, the immediate response is "Well anybody can just say that". Make up your minds people, you can't bitch about wanting solid proof and then throw the "Anybody can say anything" line when the most solid proof you've got is made available.

[Zaz]

There is no such thing as proof (unless they copy and paste, which is against the rules) in this game. People could lie out of their asses and easily get away with it.

[Mr Evil Guy]

Yes, anyone can lie. And I bet I'll fall for it most the time because I'm so intergullable.

Edited January 24, 2006 by MrNiceGuy43

[Ace]

But what if there telling the truth and you accuse them of lying?

Or what if there lying and you think their telling the truth?

Ladies and Gentlemen...welcome to MafiaBR: The Mindfuck Begins Again

[Fitzy]

See, I told you all Mick was lying. Once again, people never seem to believe me in this game. Sure, you got lucky and I was worse than Mituko, but still, Mick lied and you all believed him. Losers.

Now you can see why I didn't want to reveal my character. For one, saying I was someone else would have that person (who I was claiming to be) be like "no way, that's my character" and if I said I was Kiriyama, then you'd know that I was worse than who Mick said I was (but of course, Mick's all like "I knew he was this. I knew it all along," which is probably another lie of his).

In conclussion, Mick sucks.

I have a question, though. Did you ever think of adding in that rule of having to be a specific spot on the island and each day you need to move to a new spot? I think that would make for an interesting game. Maybe in Mafia: BR II that would be included? So someone can say they are attacking you but it could turn out to be useless as they are no where near you to actually execute the attack?

[Pesci]

I don't like that idea. It goes too far into BR territory and wipes out the Mafia aspect of it, which is what makes it the most fun in my estimation.

[Ace]

Boys

BOY #1

NAME: Yoshio Akamatsu.

WEAPON: Crossbow.

DEATH: Arrow in the chest by: Kazushi Niida

QUOTE: "Shit, what am I doing?!"

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A minor character of who we know nothing about. Nothing about what he does or how he acts, that's the only way to know much about him.

Akamatsu isn't someone popular, he is slow and clumsy, a bad Battle Royale contestant for sure. He doens't seem to have much friends, since we never see him exchanging words or even smiles with anyone else personally. But, unlike Mitsuko, he did join in Class B in their victory.

However, Akamatsu seemed to be a smart fellow; not trusting anyone else, he steps out the first and does the tactic everyone would say is the quickest way to win. He waits outside the school and eliminates his classmates.

However, he is clumsy and slow, probably had no idea about how to use his crossbow and only managed to kill one of them, Tendo with an arrow through the neck and the leg. He wasn't afraid to shoot Nanahara or charge Niida, who takes his weapon and kills him on self defense.

BOY #2

NAME: Keita Iijima.

WEAPON: Jitte.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "When we escape . . . it'll be together."

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An important character who takes place in and helps the most important subplot on the movie.

Iijima is a member of Shinji Mimura's clique, like Yutaka Seto. As Shinji's little escapade with his computer takes place, Iijima helps him without asking why.

Iijima is a proud member of the class, who almost seems to consider being part of the Battle Royale program (not really, I just thought so with his 'let's do this' move when he leaves the classroom. Immediately after leaving the classroom, he reunites with his closest friends, Seto and Mimura, who go and take shelter inside a small house.

Once their small plot is consumed, they set out to destroy the people who put them there. That's when Kiriyama spoils his plans, gunning down both Shinji's friends, Mimura's last words being their small light of hope: "When we escape . . . it'll be together.

BOY #3

NAME: Tatsumichi Oki.

WEAPON: Handaxe.

DEATH: Axe buried in his head by: Accident.

QUOTE: "Sorry, I'm fine."

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Oki isn't the best or most developed of characters, but his presence and deaths take huge repercussions during the story.

Not much is known about Oki or his role in the class, we don't know of any friends he has or who he hangs out with. All we know is that he is a calm person . . . not someone you'd expect to pop in front of you swinging an axe at you.

Oki dies shortly after the game begins, without us knowing what he's been up to until he pops out from the bushes in front of Shuya and Noriko. Shuya's reaction tells us what a shock to see him "like that".

What was he doing there? God knows, all we know is that, with his attack, Shuya proves himself to be more raw, proving that he'll do anything to protect Noriko.

After some struggling and some ace use of the pot lid by Shuya, both kids fall rolling down a ridge, which results in Oki's axe being buried deep in his head . . . on comes Yuko's viewing range and what came after.

BOY #4

NAME: Toshinora Oda.

WEAPON: Bulletproof vest.

DEATH: Decapitation by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "I survived!"

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Oda . . . Oda . . . The screaming person himself. Oda is most likely the most memorable character we know shite about . . . not really, but the shot of his severed head with a granade stuffed in his mouth is priceless.

Who is this guy, anyway? We can't know but looking at his scenes in the movie, we can maybe tell how he is. He isn't a lonely character, he's there with all his companions in Class B, celebrating.

Oda seems to be a neurotic students who overreacts to everyting. So what happens to him, is he at all important? Not really, in fact. Oda spends the first day of the game alone, hiding. That until Kiriyama found him.

Oda took one of the bikes outside the factory and ran away from everyone. He has a great action sequence with Kiriyama chasing him, shooting more bullets than Schwartzanegger on steroids. This results on him surviving thanks to his ultra lucky weapon.

When he thinks he's finally safe, Kiriyama attacks with the weapon he stole from Kusaka, the sword. Then comes the freaky "head avec granade" shot.

BOY #5

NAME: Shougo Kawada.

WEAPON: Pump Action Shotgun.

DEATH: Shot by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "Wait here . . . "

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A main character, Kawada is one of the two deadlies, one of the two exchange students, foreign to the class. He seems to be a dangerous, scary and not someone to fuck with.

In a quick note, that's only half true. Kawada isn't a Kiriyama, instead, he doesn't mind helping out two of the students he had never known. Kawada is a survivor of a previous Battle Royale, where he lost at least a great friend and his loved girlfriend, Keiko. The way I thought it went down, Kawada swore to himself that he'd not only understand Keiko's last smile, he'd also avange her death.

He put himself in the roster (apparently, he can do hacking himself) and swore that he wouldn't die. He swore to bring them down. Once he saw "Pot lid" and "Vinoculars" (Shuya and Noriko respectively), he found two reasons to help them: One, he needs them to consumate his plan of breaking the BR rules, having more than one survivor. Two, he maybe saw himself and Keiko in Shuya and Noriko.

Kawada helps and protects Shuya and Noriko throughout the entire game, killing people if necessary. In the end, he suffers the wounds when protecting them from the ultimate threat, Kiriyama.

BOY #6

NAME: Kazuo Kiriyama.

WEAPON: Paper fan.

DEATH: Shot in the collar, explodes: Shougo Kawada.

QUOTE: None.

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Kiriyama, maybe the most memorable character of Battle Royale, everyone recognizes this guy quickly and everytime anyone mentions the movie, someone goes "Hey what about that blonde psycho!".

Kiriyama is an enigma wrapped in a mistery. We don't know hell about this kid except the basics. He's a fucking lunatic. Kiriyama never ever speaks during the movie, all he does is walk ominously, shoot, stab and decapitate without touching his heart.

Kiriyama is another "deadly", an exchange student like Kawada. Apparently, he signed up himself to this years Battle Royale act, just for fun.

He is silent and only follows the screaming and shooting to get himself more killings, at the end of the game, he is the one with the most kills, with a total of eleven deaths.

During his final killing spree, Shinji Mimura manages to sacrifice himself to burn Kiriyama's eyes, leaving him blind, walking on the fire, only to confront Kawada, which ends with both their deaths in an amazing action scene.

BOY #7

NAME: Yoshitoki Kuninobu.

WEAPON: None.

DEATH: Collar explosion by: Mr. Kitano.

QUOTE: "Shuya!" *boom*

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'Nobu', as Shuya calls his best friend, is the orphan he spent time in the fster home with. They've known each other for a while and are inseparable friends.

Nobu is quite the character, he changes his personality like a schitzo but this is so subtle, you won't even notice. You can see the friendly, calm and pacific Nobu during the bus scene and you can see the crazy ass Nobu during the classroom scene when he fights Motobuchi.

Kuninobu had a key moment early on, when he slashed Kitano in the leg/butt. This made Kitano leave the school and eventually come back as the Battle Royale 'teacher'. Kitano just wanted to show everyone how for real this was (even after Fujiyoshi's death) and to quench his hate for Nobu. He triggered Nobu's collar.

Nobu's death is by far the most shocking moment in Battle Royale, where the director showed us his ability to create tension. Then, a huge shock, when his collar explodes in a rain of blood. Add to that a very touching moment with Shuya crying over his friend's dead body as the class watches with dismay.

Nobu had a crush on Noriko, and upon his death, Shuya decided to protect Noriko till the end.

BOY #8

NAME: Youji Kuramoto.

WEAPON: Rope.

DEATH: Suicide.

QUOTE: None.

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Kuramoto doesn't say a single word during the movie, not one. So it's almost impossible to know exacty who he is. But I managed to get something.

Youji isn't the most popular guy from the class, but some people care about him. Hirono for one. He is dating or having a very very close relationship with Yoshimi.

Kuramoto is an insecure fellow, easily pushed over. I see this at the moment when Kitano throws a piece of chuck at him. He doesn't move, instead, his girlfriend Yoshimi stands up and confronts Kitano.

Kuramoto had met Yoshimi because she had been pimped by Mitsuko, somehow, they just clicked togeher and stayed like that until the end.

On the dawn of day 1, he and Yoshimi commit suicide using his rope which comes in handy. Hirono and Mitsuko get a huge impact with the look of their hung corpses. Hirono suspects Mitsuko, while Mitsuko realizes that she doesn't want to die here. So her spree begins.

BOY #9

NAME: Hiroshi Kuronaga.

WEAPON: Dagger.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: None.

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Yet another "who the hell?" scenario character. Not even by looking at this picture you'll recognize him. Well, he's one of the members of Kanai's gang.

I don't remember him saying a word during his short scene or the classroom scene so this is one of the minor-minor-minor characters. He is friends with Kanai, Numai, Sasagawa, Kuronaga in a very tight group who quickly threaten Kiriyama.

Of course, Kiriyama was too good a warrior for them . . .

BOY #10

NAME: Ryuhei Sasagawa.

WEAPON: Uzi 9mm.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "What the hell?!"

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You can check out Boy #9's character guide. Basically, Ryuhei is another character we don't know much about.

We do recognize him quickly mainly because of the visuals, he's the only blonde with long hair. He first speaks during the classroom scene, showing off a bad temper and attitude towards those outside his group of friends..

He has enough balls to point his Uzi to Kiriyama's head, calling him out to be a spy. Of course, he and his group don't want to kill anyone else, let alone each other, clearly with the line "We won't kill anyone."

BOY #11

NAME: Hiroki Sugimura.

WEAPON: BR GPS Device.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kayoko Kotohiki

QUOTE: "You're the coolest girl in the world."

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One of the submain characters in the movie, like Shinji Mimura. When watching the Special Version, there's a litte more about this character.

Although he is a loner (as said in the movie), Hiroki is an important member of Class B, who is friends with a lot of the kids. Shinji Mimura, Seto and Iijima are some of his closest friends. But his closest friend indeed is Takako Chigusa.

During Chigusa's flashback before her little exchange with Niida, we see that Sugimura and Chigusa have a very tight relationship, Chigusa might have a crush on him. His attention is for someone else, his killer, Kayoko Kotohiki.

Somewhere deep inside, Sugimura new that he wasn't going to be the winner of the game, so he set off to find the two most important peopls for him. He wanted to find Takako Chigusa to ask for forgiveness, he couldn't protect her. And he wanted to hind Kotohiki to tell her his feelings for her. Luckily for him, he got one of the most uselful weapons, a GPS device.

After walking out of the school, he spotted Chigusa running away, he tried to catch up but couldn't, and spent the game looking for her. Sadly for him, when he found her, she was already tagged.

After Chigusa's death, he sat off to find Kotohiki and in the progress, he managed to save Shuya Nanahara's life, leave him with Yukie and go find Kotohiki. When he finally found her, her lack of trust led her to murder and she put an end to Sugimura's life. Before dying, he told her what he wanted to tell her, her reaction was very tragic.

BOY #12

NAME: Yutaka Seto.

WEAPON: Fork.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "Maybe it's Nanahara!"

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Yutaka Seto is one of Shinji Mimura's main clique, like Iijima and Sugimura.

During the classroom scene, we can tell that Yutaka is aboslutely terryfied of the game and of Kitano. His ultra scared face after Fujiyoshi's death tells us this.

There isn't a lot to be said about Yutaka Seto. When the game started, he joined his two best friends (Iijima and Mimura) and ran to take a safe hide, away from everyone.

Luckily for them, Shinji Mimura had a plan. When he found out about the mic in the Battle Royale necklace, he told Iijima and Seto their 'mission', which was to find certain elements that would create a bomb. Without making a deal, they followed his orders.

When their bombing bandwagon was complete, and there were only seven students left, they heard someone coming. Seto, thinking it was Nanahara, called for him. Big mistake . . . it was Kiriyama.

BOY #13

NAME: Yuuchiru Takiguchi.

WEAPON: None we ever see but he got a Machete.

DEATH: Unknown by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: None.

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This character is, without a doubt the one we know the least about, since we don't see him at ALL until a quick shot of his dead body. Problem is, we don't even know how he died!

Takiguchi is most probably best friends with Takakaksu Takagami, since both were killed together inside a secluded area only Mitsuko could find.

Nanahara finds out about them when he wakes up in the lighthouse, Satomi tells him that in one of the reports, both Takiguchi and Takagami were killed.

Nanahara's reaction is almost void, which tells us that they weren't too close friends. Too bad we couldn't know more about him.

BOY #14

NAME: Shou Tsukioka.

WEAPON: Nunchaku.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: None.

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Shou Tsukioka is part of one of the bigger cliques in Class B. That's Kanai's.

He is the one who almost doesn't say a word and is swinging his weapon in front of the threatened Kiriyama.

We can deduce that he is also friends with at least Mimura, Sugimura and Nanahara, since Shou is also on the Basketball team (seen only in the Special Version).

After Ryuhei is outforced by Kiriyama, he went in his first shooting spree, offing everyone in Kanai's gang. He then proceeded to kill Ryuhei and later, Kanai, who was pleading for her life.

BOY #15

NAME: Shuya Nanahara.

WEAPON: Garbage Can Lid.

DEATH: None. He's one of the two survivors.

QUOTE: "I will protect you 'till the end in this place."

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The main character of "Battle Royale". Nanahara is the perfect 'hero', strong, good hearted and very fucking brave. He went through everything and suffered a lot during the game.

Nanahara is, in my opinion, the most popular kid in Class B. He is one of the few that really care for everyone, and is extremely shocked when seeing someone getting killed. Like I mentioned before, he is the lucky mo-fo girls have a crush on. Some of the girls that have a crush on Nanahara are Yukie Utsumi, Yukiko Kitano and Noriko Nakagawa.

Shuya's mother dissapeared and his father comitted suicide two years before, in 7th grade. His best friend is Nobu, the kid he spent most of his childhood with, in a foster home. His other friends are Noriko and Shinji Mimura's gang. He is part and maybe star of the basketball team.

Halfway through, Shuya had a dream (Requiem II, Special Version only) where he saw his friend, Nobu, telling him to take care of Noriko.

Upon witnessing his best friend's death at the beggining of the game, Shuya made a bow that he wouldn't let Noriko die, that he would protect her until the end. And he does.

After a big encounter with Kiriyama, Shuya and Noriko get separated, Kawada protects the latter. Shuya ends up with Yukie and her gang, only to watch/hear them all die. After they are back together, the final act begins, with only 10 kids left.

BOY #16

NAME: Kazushi Niida.

WEAPON: Coat Hanger.

DEATH: Stabbed in crotch and chest by: Takako Chigusa.

QUOTE: "It's for real!".

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This unfriendly looking fellow is Kazushi Niida, a character that showed me exactly how well "Battle Royale" can play with your emotions.

We do not know much of Niida's social status in Class B, we do know, however that he has a huge crush on Takako Chigusa. Since before the game began, Niida had been gossiíng about him and Chigusa, being it all fake. This gave the girls and boys of Class B a lot to talk about. Of course, this irked Chigusa, who during the movie openly tells him that she "hates his guts".

When the game began, Niida seemed like a nice guy, even offering Akamatu's weapon back, the crossbow he had dropped. When Akamatsu charged frightened towards Niida, he fell back on the floor and shot an arrow to Akamatsu's heart out of pure reflex.

Then, he sat off to look for his platonic love, Chigusa. When he finally found her in the shrine, she was just remembering Hiroki Sugimura, her probable crush (or maybe her ex-boyfriend).

Niida started mentioning how he wanted to have sex with Chigusa before they died, how he could force her to do so, since he had already killed (Akamatsu).

Chigusa told her that she would resist him with all her strenght, after accidentally shooting an arrow to Chigusa's face, she chased him out of pure hate, stabbing him in the crotch and the chest. I felt really bad for Niida there (and for Chigusa a minute later), imagine the girl you want killing you out of pure hate.

BOY #17

NAME: Mitsura Numai.

WEAPON: Colt 357.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: None.

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Not much is known about this particular character by the name of Mitsura Numai.

Mitsura Numai is another member of Kanai's gang, the one that is waster literally minutes into the game. Mitsura Numai seems awfully close to Kanai, which hints us (me) that there's a latent relationship among the two.

Mitsura stood there on the rocks as his friends ganged up on Kiriyama, unsuspecting of his great fighting abilities.

Unsuspecting, Mitsura was gunned down by Kiriyama, holding his friend Ryuhei's weapon.

BOY #18

NAME: Takakatsu Hatagami

WEAPON: Baseball Bat.

DEATH: Unknown by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: None.

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Takakatsu Hatagami is yet another character we don't know anything about.

We see him numerous times during the classroom scene, looking scared and concerned about killing off his friends.

All we can tell/asume about Hatagami is that he is friends with Yuuchiru Takiguchi, since both are killed together by Mitsuko. How? We are never told. All we see is their bloody naked corpses strewn and Mitsuko taking off the area.

He is one of the five kids Yukie Utsumi mentions to Nanahara during her talk with him in the lighthouse. In the Special Version, we see a closeup of his and Yuuchiru Takiguchi's faces before opening to the wider shot with Mitsuko.

BOY #19

NAME: Shinji Mimura.

WEAPON: Beretta M92F Handgun.

DEATH: Explosion. Sacrifices himself.

QUOTE: "Why are you doing this?"

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Another sub main character of the movie, Shinji Mimura takes part of a very important subplot.

Shinji is friends with Yutaka Seto, Kieta Iijima, Kiroki Sugimura and of course, Shuya Nanahara. He is in the basketball team of Class B, and is quite popular. Megumi Eto has a crush on him.

His uncle was an activist in the 60's, and he tought him a lot of warfare and bombmaking, even at his young age. Shinji is also a very competent computer hacker, whcih comes off as very handy. He is the one who actually puts up a fight against Battle Royale.

He is the one who discovered the mics in the explosive collars, and when that done, he sent his friends to look for ingridients to make a series of explosives, to escape the island.

He spends most of the game crafting a hacking software called "Third Man", which he succesfully uses to hack the system and even clear the danger zones.

After they set off to make the school go kaboom, Kiriyama attacks and kills off Seto, then his friend Iijima. This causes Shinji to go ape shite, he rams Kiriyama and makes his equipment explode with him. He dies and blinds Kiriyama, but doesn't kill him.

BOY #20

NAME: Kyouichu Motobuchi.

WEAPON: Smith & Wessen M19 Handgun.

DEATH: Shot by: Shougo Kawada.

QUOTE: "If I survive, can I go home?"

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Kyouichi Motobuchi comes off as the class nerd, not only because of his glasses and nerdy look. Too bad we really don't learn much about Motobuchi.

He is a guy that comes off as very insecure and shy. To his character's name, he isn't in the shadows during the classroom scene, he is the one who asks Kitano "If I survive, can I go home?", and upon Kitano's answer, "Sure, but only if everyone else is dead", he drops on his chair, his head hanging.

Later on, we see that his afraid and respects (out of fear, of course) the Battle Royale 'staff'. When Nobu yells during the video, Motobuchi goes "Shut up! We can't hear the video!", which starts a fight with Nobu, resulting in the kid's death.

Soon into the game, Motobuchi encounters Noriko and Shuya, he doesn't hesitate to shoot them. Saying mathematical equations to himself, he then proceeds to say that he will survive, he will survive and go to a good school.

Enter Kawada a second later, who shoots Motobuchi with his shotgun, the latter runs up towards him, but only gets another shotgun blast, this one in his stomach, resulting in his death.

BOY #21

NAME: Kazuhiko Yamamoto.

WEAPON: None we ever see but he got a Bandana.

DEATH: Suicide.

QUOTE: "I'm sorry . . . I couldn't help you"

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We don't know much about Kazuhiko Yamamoto, but still, the small scene he has is one of the most touching of the entire movie.

Kazuhiko Yamamoto is boyfriend of my favorite 'unimportant' character, Sakura Ogawa. During the classroom scene, he doesn't let go of Ogawa, who holds him.

When Ogawa leaves the classroom, he just stares and watches her return her kit to Kitano, angrily. Later on, both are reunited and, before the dawn of Day 1, they go together to the cliff and hold each other.

Sakura wanted to commit suicide, she didn't want to kill anyone. Yamamoto loved her too much and followed her even to her death. Before jumping, he ask for Sakura's forgiveness, "Sorry, I couldn't help you". He then drops helpless ot the floor, "Can't anyone help us?". His girlfriend walks towards him and tells him "No one can".

Then, both jump holding each other. One extremely tragic scene from my point of view.

Girls

GIRL #1

NAME: Mizuho Inada.

WEAPON: Kitchen knife.

DEATH: Stabbed with pick by: Kaori Minami.

QUOTE: "I know."

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Mizuho is part of the seemingly tightest friendship in the class. She and Kaori are best friends.

Being one of the minor characters, there's not much to be said about Mizuho. Her outcome is one of the most tragic deaths in the entire movie. Pretty much like Yukie's gang, she and Kaori suffered from each other's mistrust. This drove them to killing each other off, each stabbing the other off screen.

We don't see their deaths, but only the aftermath. After Nanahara wakes up in the lighthouse, Yukie tells him that both girls were mentioned in one of the reports Shuya missed. Both appear lying dead over a rock, Mizuho with the pick rammed on her. In the Special Version, there's a flashback to the friends' goodbye: "You're still my friend."

GIRL #2

NAME: Yukie Utsumi.

WEAPON: Smith & Wessen 357 Handgun

DEATH: Gunned down by: Satomi Noda.

QUOTE: "Idiots. We could've survived."

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Yukie is one of the sub main characters but due to the movie's layout, she doesn't get much screen time, much like most sub mains. She is a member and the apparent leader of one of the three main cliques (the others being Mimura's and Kanai's).

Since the very beggining of the game, she and her friends (Satomi, Yuko, Yuka, Haruka and Chisato) quickly run for shelter in the lighthouse, which is an excellent hiding point apparently. When Sugimura delivers the wounded Shuya, she takes care of him.

Once he wakes up, it is clear that she has a crush on him (like half the girls in BR . . . lucky bastard). This is revealed in her chidlish words and giggling.

Like Mizuho, her clique suffers from the distrust after a horrible accident that results on Yuka's death. From that point, it all goes downhill and they all die horribly. Sad thing is, if you think about it, they COULD've survived.

GIRL #3

NAME: Megumi Eto.

WEAPON: Stun gun.

DEATH: Throat slit by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: "Noriko's been waiting to give them to you."

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The way I see it, there's one big chain with the students in Class B. Like, this girl has a crush on this guy, who is best friends with this girl, whatever. Megumi is part of the "main" group, but doesn't live enough to show it.

Megumi is Noriko's best friend, we can see this since the very beggining in the bus. She takes her trusty little camera everywhere she goes. Inside the bus, before being gassed, she took many pictures, mainly of her love interest, Shinji Mimura. She also takes the picture that becomes emotionally important for Shuya, since it shows the happy moment with Nobu and Noriko.

It is clear that Megumi is a trusting (probably too trusting) and nice girl, who isn't afraid of getting along with someone new. She was never friends with Hirono or Mitsuko from before, but she welcomes the evil willed Mitsuko in her cabin.

We don't see much from her but soon enough, she takes a hide inside a small cabin, where she sits to watch the pictures of Mimura. On came Mitsuko, who gives Megumi her death with her sickle.

GIRL #4

NAME: Sakura Ogawa.

WEAPON: None we ever see.

DEATH: Suicide.

QUOTE: "I'm never playing this game."

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Aaah, Ogawa, one of my favorite 'unimportant' characters. Again, we don't see much from her, but we recognize her because she's the one with the biggest balls on the entire class. How to prove this? She has the cojones to toss her assigned BR bag right back at Kitano.

She clearly refuses to play.

Her friendship background is mainly unknown, all we know about Sakura is that she's been dating Kuramoto for some time, a long time I'd say. Why would I imagine that they truly love each other? Because Kuramoto is next to Sakura at all times, even at the face of death.

Sakura is a nice girl, lively, happy . . . not the one who you'd expect would end up commiting suicide. Her tragic death though, has a reason. There's one thing she refuses to do, and that's being a murderer.

Again, she refuses to play along with the adults and chooses to kill herself, holding the one she loves as they fall to their deaths.

GIRL #5

NAME: Izumi Kanai.

WEAPON: Granades.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "You better come clean now."

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Kanai is another of those characters you never really get to know about. She doesn't spurt a word before her main scene, the scene where she dies.

Kanai is probably the leader of one of the three main gangs (I'm not sure she's the leader though, the group is just referred to as "Kanai's gang"). Her group consists of Kuronawa, Sasagawa, Tsukioka and Numai.

There is a latent love interest with Numai, only being able to tell because of the way they're so close.

This is a tight group and all we know is that this clique doesn't beat around the bush. When the game starts, they all go, as a tight group to the shore and as soon as they grab hold of the seemingly pacific and quiet 'spy', Kiriyama, they are all over him.

Kanai's line is only one and doesn't tell us much, it would be nice to know more about her and her small clique.

GIRL #6

NAME: Yukiko Kitano.

WEAPON: Megaphone.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "Stop shooting!"

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To make a thing clear, there is no relation to Kitano the teacher.

Nanahara, Battle Royale's lucky bastard, is friends with a big part of the class, Yukiko is included there. Yukiko's best friend is Kusaka, clearly, they're very close.

From the movie's beggining, we can tell that they're also friends of Megumi's, talking with her and watching the pictures she takes with her trusty Polaroid.

Yukiko's love interest, or her crush is . . . you guessed it, Shuya Nanahara. Like most crushes during the movie, they're kept secret and the only one who knew was her best friend, Kusaka . . . until the end.

Kusaka and Yukiko run together during the game and, like Ogawa, they refuse to fight, trying to call everyone's attention saying "Stop fighting", which only results on their deaths on the hands of Kiriyama, who adds his own brand of darkness with the megaphone gig.

GIRL #7

NAME: Yumiko Kusaka.

WEAPON: Sword.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "Nanahara! Yukiko's got a crush on you!"

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Not much to say about Kusaka that wasn't said in her best friend's analysis above.

Kusaka is Yukiko's best and inseparable friends. They were together since the beggining of the game until the very end. Both are friends with Nanahara's and his small group. Nanahara declares so when both are killed without any mercy, "Those were my friends! How can you kill each other like that?"

Somewhere inside her, she knew that she couldn't survive if she played, proved in two reasons. One, she does what Shuya calls "the right tactic", which is calling for peace. Not a good tactic it would seem. Two, she declares her friend's feelings before being gunned down by Terminator himself.

For more information about Kusaka and her friendship profile, read her friend's profile above.

GIRL #8

NAME: Kayoko Hotohiki.

WEAPON: Sig Sauer Handgun.

DEATH: Shot in the chest by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: "What am I supposed to do now?"

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Probably the reason of "Battle Royale"'s biggest 'Aawww' and character of one of the most touching scenes.

So, Hotohiki is the final link of the four-link love chain (though she has no idea). This chain starts with Niida who loves Chigusa, who probably digs Sugimura, who is in love with Hotohiki.

We hear nothing from her at all, nothing until the very end of the movie, when Sugimura ends his quest to find both girls (Chigusa and of course, Hotohiki). She is hiding inside the factory, staying away from everyone, everyone she doesn't trust in.

It's pretty obvious that she doesn't trust anyone in her class. Once Sugimura enters the room, she hides, hoping she doesn't have to kill. When Sugimura sees her, she immediately sets off a shooting spree that kills him. Then, the revelation comes, which is followed by her long sobbing . . . and her quick death.

A tragic incident and a tragic character indeed.

GIRL #9

NAME: Yuko Sakaki.

WEAPON: Poison.

DEATH: Suicide.

QUOTE: "It's not my fault. It's not my fault."

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Oh, Yuko . . . Sakaki is another member of Yukie Utsumi's gang, but she is something of a black sheep.

Woah, hold on, why am I saying that? Well, I'm only deducting it but, she was the only one of Utsumi's clique that didn't run straight away to the lighthouse. Instead, she wondered by herself for a while, hidden from everyone. This resulted in a key point in the movie's plot, when she sees Oki and Shuya's little fight.

Shuya would be someone she trusted, clearly, but when she saw an axe buried in Oki's head, she became afraid of Shuya . . . and once he arrived in their safe zone (the lighthouse), she plotted on Shuya's death, which went horribly wrong.

Once the poison had been poured over Shuya's plate, poor and unsuspecting Yuka manages to eat Shuya's poisoned food. This subsequentially lead to the death of all her friends. This proved itself to be a huge guilt . . . and eventually, she jumped off the lighthouse, killing herself in a horrible and tragic scene.

GIRL #10

NAME: Hirono Shimizu

WEAPON: Colt 45 Handgun.

DEATH: Shot in the back by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: "Think about what you did!"

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Hirono, for one moment, after watching the Special Version, I thanked for her existance.

Hirono is one of the characters I would like to know more about, from first sight, we can tell that she is Mitsuko Souma's only friend, how? She's sitting with her in the bus and she is the only one she has a real exchange of words with.

We don't know anything from Hirono until her final scene with Mitsuko, although she does say "Kitano!" when Kitano walks into the classroom. She isn't the most unessencial character.

Hirono follows Mitsuko's steps during the game, watching a trail of death that leads to suspicion. First, Yoshimi and Kuramoto hung outisde the cabin where she finds Megumi (a probable friend of Hirono's) with her throat slit, "like with a sickle". Mitsuko is the first that pops in her head.

Once she floods in Mitsuko's hiding place, she puts Mitsuko to suffer a little with a gun pointed to her head. Then, comes the "You're a loser!" speech, which adds character to both. Finally, after some struggling, Mitsuko ends up shooting her friend in the back. Literally.

GIRL #11

NAME: Mitsuko Souma.

WEAPON: Sickle.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Kazuo Kiriyama.

QUOTE: "I just didn't want to be a loser anymore."

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Mitsuko Souma is by far, by FAR the best character in the entire movie, too bad this isn't entirely apparent in the theatrical version. The special version though, that's what shows Mitsuko's real meat.

Mitsuko is the class loser, the outcast, who doesn't have anyone to talk to (which is odd because she's the best looking girl of the entire class by far). Right now, my look on Mitsuko is something more than just 'I want to prove myself, so I use the Battle Royale game'.

During your first watch of the theatrical version, you'll only see Mitsuko here as the psychotic girl, with six deaths under her belt. If you watch the Special Version, it'll add layers and layers to her character. In fact, I see her as the most tragic and yeah, my favorite. Even if she offed three characters I loved (Kotohiki, Megumi and Chigusa).

Mitsuko walked out of the school, confused and scared. That moment, he saw both Yoshimi and Kuramoto hung outside a small cabin, she decided that she wasn't going to die like that, in fact, she wasn't going to die at all.

She grew in a broken home, her mother was an alcoholic, who pimped Mitsuko to men. This scarred her for life, Mitsuko herself started pimping people from her class, like Yoshimi.

During her stay on the island, Mitsuko goes in a killing spree, offing all of those who didn't care about her. Then, when she killed Kotohiki, making that scene more dramatic, on came Kiriyama and shot her to death. Mitsuko fought for her life and managed to slash K's chest, which was useless, since he was wearing the vest. Later, she is shot to death, and her line "I just didn't want to be a loser anymore" came. The perfect ending would have been Mitsuko being the victor, but they added emotion like no one's business.

During Requiem I: "Class B: [Friends]", we see the saddest bit in the movie, when class B wins the basketball game, Mitsuko (who seemed bored to death) stands up, excited, and watches everyone celebrate. For a moment, she is going to join in but doesn't . . . instead, she wonders off in her loneliness. Where the hell is pre-BR Hirono when you need her?

GIRL #12

NAME: Haruka Tanizawa.

WEAPON: 9mm Handgun

DEATH: Gunned down by: Satomi Noda.

QUOTE: "You don't trust us!!"

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Haruka is a character that plays an important role in one of the movie's most shocking scene, it's a bad thing that we hardly know anything about her.

Haruka is one of Yukie Utsumi's wonder five. She's the third member of her close group of friends, who we see playing with their Ninth grade teacher on the bus.

As well as all her friends, Haruka took a hide in the lighthouse south of the island, where they remained out from everyone's reach until they hurt themselves. They all put together their water bottles, their food and almost hid the guns, they all had hope of survival thanks to Utsumi's questionable leadership. Haruka is quite the lively girl, like Yuka, she seems to be happy with Utsumi's plan.

Unlike Yuko or Satomi, she does trust her friends . . . but something tells me that she wasn't surprised with Satomi's trust misunderstanding, when she didn't sleep both days.

Haruka takes Yukie's side when Satomi goes apeshite after Yuka's death. But even when she saw Satomi was badly wounded, she continue to shoot, which hints us that she really disliked Satomi's lack of trust . . . she gunned down her friend.

In the end, she dies side by side with Yukie Utsumi, probably hating Satomi for her sudden outburst of violence.

GIRL #13

NAME: Takako Chigusa.

WEAPON: Flick Knife.

DEATH: Shot by: Mitsuko Souma.

QUOTE: "Come at me. Every inch of me will resist you!"

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Takako Chigusa is another main character we don't see much of but recognize easily. First off, we can recognize her because of her looks.

Chigusa is one of the most memorable characters of the movie, that's why we consider her a main. What's so special about this girl is the way she adds a lot of emotion to her scenes, and it seems to come out from nowhere.

First, Chigusa is the second link in the main love chain of the kids in Class B. Niida loves her, apparently for real. He started making up stuff about him and Chigusa, this resulted in everyone's gossip. This pissed her off.

Chigusa on the other hand, is latently into Sugimura, a kid he has a great relationship with. A kid that promised to protect her at all times, someone who found her too late.

Chigusa took off at top speed from the school, Sugimura followed but couldn't catch up, from that moment, he has been looking for her. Chigusa wandered alone for some time, until Niida found her at the shrine.

After their ill fated talk, we feel bad for Niida, who ends up running away from a rage driven Chigusa, who stabs him in the crotch and chest. On comes Mitsuko, who shoots Chigusa several times. She runs away for a long time, until she falls halfway dead. Sugimura finally finds her, and dies in his arms. In this scene, we can tell that Sugimura loves her, but in a friendly way, "You're the coolest girl in the world."

GIRL #14

NAME: Mayumi Tendo.

WEAPON: None we ever see, but she got Boxing gloves.

DEATH: Arrow in the neck by: Yoshio Akamatsu.

QUOTE: "What am I going to do, about this?"

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Tendo, she is one of the girls who are tough to recognize before her death, but once she dies, we know right away because it's the first in-game death in Battle Royale.

Like Yukiko and Kusaka, Mayumi Tendo is one of the 'far' friends of Nanahara's. They often talk and whatnot but they aren't part of the same clique.

Some of the girls Tendo is friends with, more closely are Yoshimi and Fujiyoshi, the class bullies. We can see her after her death when Noriko remembers the time the bullies (Tendo, Yoshimi and Fujiyoshi) locked her inside the girl's bathroom and called her an "ugly shrimpy nit".

She is the only girl the clumsy Akamatsu could get with his smart strategy. As soon as she walked out of the school, Pre-dawn Day 1, she got an arrow on her neck.

Other than being one of the bullies and her well executed death via Akamatsu, there's not much we can say about Tendo.

GIRL #15

NAME: Noriko Nakakawa.

WEAPON: Binoculars.

DEATH: None. She's one of the two survivors.

QUOTE: "Why did you bring weapons?"

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The main female character in Battle Royale plays an enormous role, we get to know a lot about her.

Noriko doesn't have many friends, her best friend is Megumi Eto, and the others she hangs out with are Nobu and, of course, Shuya. Noriko isn't the popular girl in the class, in fact, she's often bullied. We can see one of her misadventures during her flashback were Tendo, Yoshimi and Fujiyoshi.

Nobu has had a crush on her for almost two years, but she never found out. When Nobu died, Shuya promised that he would "protect her until the end in this place". And he does, man, he does.

Noriko is a nice girl, who was great friends with Kitano, the teacher. In Requiem III, we can tell that Noriko has a great friendly relationship with her teacher, and she's bullied for it. Kitano wanted Noriko to win, "If there's someone worth dying with, that's you, Noriko" he says.

She is with Shuya all the time during the game, being protected by both Shuya and Kawada. They are separated once, but are reuinited a day later. Shuya and Nanahara escape with Kawada (who dies during the escape).

GIRL #16

NAME: Yuka Nakakawa.

WEAPON: 9mm Machine Gun.

DEATH: Poisoned accidentally by: Yuko Sakaki.

QUOTE: "Mmmm! Chisato marry me!"

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Not related to Noriko. Yet another member of the Wonder 6 girls possibly lead by Yukie Utsumi.

Yuka and her friends (except her accidental killer, Yuko) ran to the lighthouse down South for safety. Yuka Nakakawa's death triggered the most shocking scene to many in the movie. Her death is quite shocking itself. Yuka is clearly a lively and childish girl, overplaying her happiness during the grim game.

After seeing Oki's death, and blaming Nanahara, the poison wielder Yuko plotted Nanahara's death by poisoning his stew. She didn't even believe Utsumi's words, saying that it wasn't Nanahara's fault.

The moment Shuya Nanahara woke up,Yuka wasn't with all her friends in the lighthouse's kitchen, but keeping watch outside (it was her turn).

When she found out that Nanahara was awake, she ran down, happy for her friend, Utsumi. When she got there, she saw Yuko carrying the poisoned plate she unexpectedy took. A minute after taking thye poison, it made effect, making her puke blood and fall dead on her plate. You know the end of the story.

GIRL #17

NAME: Satomi Noda.

WEAPON: M870 Shotgun.

DEATH: Shot by: Yukie Utsumi.

QUOTE: "Were all dying tomorrow . . ."

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One more of the lighthouse girls, Satomi is very recognizable as the complete freak-out girl.

Hid in the lighthouse, Satomi Noda is absolutely terryfied of the game, and of her friends. She is the only one of her gang that doesn't trust her friends at all. Yuko at least trusted her close friends, Satomi doesn't.

Constantly calling out that the girls are doomed, Satomi seems to be depressed at all times, Yukie's faith in surviving not helping. The second she watches her friend, Yuka, die, she absolutely lost it.

When panic had taken over, she plunged towards Yuka's Machine Gun and pointed it at her terryfied friends. "Who did it?", untrusting, she began the crazy shootout that ended all their lives when Chisato ran for a gun.

After being hurt, she still continued shooting her friends, which hints us that she was plain pissed at them. With her dying words, she saw Yuko (the one who started it all) and said "Not you . . . right?". Yuko nodded. Satomi let her live and fell down, dead.

GIRL #18

NAME: Fumiyo Fujiyoshi.

WEAPON: None.

DEATH: Knifed in the head by: Teacher Kitano.

QUOTE: None.

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Probably the first real shock when watching "Battle Royale" is Fumiyo Fujiyoshi's death.

Fujiyoshi is one of the three bullies of Class B, seen when she locks Noriko in the bathroom. The teacher, Kitano had a special dislike towards her, since she bullied his favorite student.

This is also seen during the classroom scene. After throwing a piece of chalk at Yoshimi and Kuramoto, he puts it clear that he wants no one whispering. When he sees Fujiyoshi gossiping in front of him, he doesn't hesistate to throw a knife and bury it in her head.

This was it, when she died, the students finally realized that this was for real and that their teacher wasn't playing around when he said "kill each other".

Other than that, there's not much that can be said about her, she's the first to die, and naturally, one of the most unexplored characters in the class.

"41 to go."

GIRL #19

NAME: Chisato Matsui.

WEAPON: Walther PPKS 7.65mm Handgun.

DEATH: Gunned down by: Satomi Noda.

QUOTE: "Stop it!!"

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The final member of Yukie Utsumi's lighthouse group.

Chisato is a voluble character, she can change moods quickly. During her stay in the lighthouse with her friends, Chisato and Haruka are the ones who cook, and apparently, they're good at it.

When her stew was ready, Yuko took one of Chisato's plates and poisoned it for Shuya. Naturally, after Yuka's death by deadly poisoning, Chisato was a prime suspect. Satomi pointed the gun at her and she couldn't take it.

Desperate and frightened, Chisato grabbed the stew and tossed it at the table with anger. This shocked her friends. When Utsumi told her that she was should calm down, she bared her edge: "Cut the leadership crap, Utsumi!", she said.

Chisato pulled the same move Satomi did, when frightened, she reached for her gun, but it was too late, Satomi gunned her down. When she died, Utsumi and Haruka saw Satomi's intentions and proceeded to shot each other to death.

Easily the most shocking scene in the movie, 6 friends end up savagely killing each other because of a misunderstanding.

GIRL #20

NAME: Kaori Minami.

WEAPON: Pickeaxe.

DEATH: Stabbed repeatedly by Mizuho Inada.

QUOTE: "You're still my friend!"

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Kaori isn't a character that is very well explored, she dissapears for almost the entire movie and we only see her again to watch her corpse.

So why the hell is Kaori's death so goddamn tragic? Well, in my opinion, the tightest friendship in Class B is Kaori Minami and Mizuho Inada.

When Mizuho leaves the classroom, Kaori stops her and reminds her that they are still friends. From that moment, we never hear from them again until much later in the movie. She and her friend ran together for the entire game, but die after the first day.

When Nanahara is nocked out, he misses the reports of the deaths of five of his classmates, Yukie explains. Two of the dead classmates are Kaori and Minami, we see a shot of their dead bodies. Both girls with each other's weapons buried in their bodies. In the Special Version, we see a flashback to their goodbye.

Like the lighthouse gang, Kaori and Mizuho died because of each other's mistrust. Of course, one must have used the first weapon onm the other. We'll never know who was. We are hinted that Kaori did, since Mizuho died first.

GIRL #21

NAME: Yoshimi Yahagi.

WEAPON: None we ever see but she got a Plastic Hammer.

DEATH: Suicide.

QUOTE: "You asshole!"

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Yoshimi is one of the characters we don't see much of but still know some stuff about.

Yoshimi is Kuramoto's girlfriend, and she seems to have the pants in the relationship, seeing as how she's the one who stands up to Mr. Kitano when he throws a piece of chalk at them.

She is friends with the other bullies in the class, Tendo and Fujiyoshi. She is also friends with Hirono, who mentions her disgust to Mitsuko.

Mitsuko had been pimping some of the girl students in the class. Yoshimi was one of them. I am ausming that she pimped Yoshimi to Kuramoto and they've been dating ever since.

Both Yoshimi and Kuramoto walked out of the classroom together and nearby, they saw the rope Kuramoto got.

They found it quite handy.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'd like to add more to Numai (Boy #17)'s background.

He had a troubled childhood, pretty tough, at least he thought he was.

Went to secondary school where he started a fight with three older guys who got the better of him and started breaking his fingers one by one.

Kiriyama is in the library where this is happening, and although the same age as Numai, beats the hell outta the three guys with the library book he's holding...cool as ice.

Numai hero worships the guy and steps behind him as the start of the gang.

Only in the film is Kiriyama an exchange student. The above info was taken from the BR Manga where he is a member of the school.

[Pesci]

So just to clarify, are we relying more on the film or the book here? I'd assume the book because Kiriyama doesn't have a gang as such in the film, but I wanna be sure.

[Mick]

So just to clarify, are we relying more on the film or the book here? I'd assume the book because Kiriyama doesn't have a gang as such in the film, but I wanna be sure.

Judging from how things are going, I'd say it's the book/manga.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

We are working more from the book and manga (the manga being very true to the book, just adding more backstory for some characters).

However the overview posted from the film IS very useful! (Thanks)

If you've only seen the film (or nothing to do with BR) then use that list as your BR Bible....It's close enough!

For me, the other two major character differences between film and book/manga are Sugimura and Kawada.

In the film Sugimura seems quite fragile and almost geeky.

In the book/manga he's a martial artist, solitary and pretty slick.

In the film Kawada sometimes comes across very selfishly and sometimes fearful.

In the book/manga he's like a professional soldier who's just doing what he has to do.

Edited January 24, 2006 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[Kaney]

I'd like to add more to Numai (Boy #17)'s background.

I'd like to add more to the characters that are actually in this game, if you don't mind

What Ace posted is what I meant earlier, though it only covers the film characters. Most I feel, are much more interesting in the book than the film. I'll just c&p what I PMed naiwf, since it makes it a bit more fair on those who haven't had any knowledge of the BR story. I just summarised (much shorter than Aces ) each character within this game, taking points from the film AND the novel (Y)

Boy #1: Shuuya Nanahara - Shuya is the main character of the book. He's sworn to protect Noriko Nakagawa, and wants revenge against the system for putting him in the game and killing his best friend, Yoshitoki Kuninobu. In the book his friends/allies are Shogo Kawada, Shinji Mimura and Hiroki Sugimura, although he only teams up with Shogo during the story.

Boy #2: Shogo Kawada - Shogo is the badass hero type character in the story. He was the winner of a previous battle royale, and he's been forced to enter the main one. He groups up with Shuya and Noriko so he can protect them and rescue them from the game, effectively screwing over the government that put them there. He rescued Shuya and Noriko by deactivated their collars so they'd appear dead, then went on to act as though he won the game.

Boy #3: Hiroki Sugimura - Hiroki is a martial artist who's sole goal on the island is to find his best friend Takako Chigusa, and the girl he loves Kayoko Kotohiki, but she isn't in the game.

Boy #4: Yutaka Sato - plubby - Yutaka is the joker of the class, he's best friends with Shinji Mimura. He's usually pretty cowardly and doesn't do anything significant in the novel, other than help Shinji make his bombs.

Boy #5: Sho Tsukioka - Sho is part of Kazuo Kiriyama's gang from school. He's gay and he realises that Kazuo would stab him in the back so he secretly follows Kazuo, rather than try to ally with him. Eventually Kazuo tricks Sho into getting himself blown up.

Boy #6: Mitsuru Numai - Mitsuru is also a member of Kiriyama's gang. He hero-worships Kazuo and was killed by him when he thought he was allying with Kazuo. He was a bully in school, but he gave over his position to Kazuo.

Boy #7: Kazuo Kiriyama - Kazuo is perfect. He was born with brain defects that cause him to feel no emotion, and is a genius at everything he's ever tried. He kills people including his own friends just to see what would happen, and he's the most dangerous person there.

Boy #8: Shinji Mimura - Shinji is the jock of the class. He was pretty much brought up by his uncle, who was a rebel against the government. Shinji gets his beliefs from his uncle, and is a master hacker. In the story he hacks into the governments computer system to temporarily shut off the collars, so he could set off a homemade bomb, but he gets killed by Kazuo before he could pull it off.

Boy #9: Kyoichi Motobuchi - Kyoichi is the class nerd, he spends all his time studying so he can stay top of the class. He's also the class representative, but he's a coward and only wants to go home to his rich father. Other than being killed by Kawada after failing to successfully attack him, he does nothing of note.

Boy #10: Yoshitoki Kuninobu - Yoshitoki, or 'Nobu' is Shuya's best friend. He has a crush on Noriko, and is fiercely protective of his friends. He is killed off before the game starts, because he got pissed off at the teacher who runs BR.

Girl #1: Noriko Nakagawa - Noriko is friends with Shuya and Nobu, and secretly has a crush on Shuya. Shuya is oblivious to this, just as Noriko is oblivious to Nobu's crush on her. She stays alive throughout the game purely through Shuya and Shogo.

Girl #2: Takako Chigusa - Chigusa is the fastest runner of the class, and is the track-record holder. She's in love with Hiroki Sugimura, and both parties know it, but both know Hiroki is in love with someone else. She's generally carefree, but she gets really pissed off with one guy who isn't in this game. She kills him before being killed by Mitsuko Souma.

Girl #3: Mitsuko Souma - Mitsuko is the class bitch. She's unpopular, and she hates that. Her reasoning for killing people is that she 'doesn't want to be a loser anymore'. She's had a horrible childhood, being raped by lots of male figures in her life, and she feels like BR lets her get revenge.

Girl #4: Hirono Shimizu - Hirono is a pretty unspectacular character. She was a part of Mitsuko's small gang, but secretly hates Mitsuko due to her sleeping with her boyfriend. She attempts to kill Mitsuko in the film and is killed by her, but in the novel she dies in an unimportant gun fight with another of the girls. I think >_>

Girl #5: Kaori Minami - Kaori is just as unsignificant. She's best friends with another of the girls who isn't in the game. She's so unimportant that her death in the movie is relegated to a flashback with no explaination or even a cause of death.

Girl #6: Sakura Ogawai - Sakura is a pacifist. She's in love with one of the boys not in this game, and she commits suicide with him rather than play the game. Her chapter in the book is one of the most referenced as both her and her boyfriend are hopeless romantics and it's seen as the saddest deaths. In the film she practically forces her now-turned-wimp of a boyfriend into suiciding. I don't know how Hamster and Zan are doing it, but I imagine she's based off the novel's version.

Girl #7: Yuko Sakaki - Yuko is paranoid, she thought she saw Shuya Nanahara muder someone early on, but was mistaken. Eventually she is in a lighthouse with a lot of other girls who are looking after Shuya. She tries poisoning Shuya's food, but one of the other girls accidentally eats it, which was the catalyst for one of the biggest all-out bloodbaths in the story. Yuko is the only one who survives, causing her tremendous guilt. She then takes her own life by leaping off the lighthouse.

Girl #8: Yumiko Kusaka - Yumiko is another pacifist. She uses a megaphone along with her best friend Yukiko to try and tell the other students not to play the game, but she is gunned down by Kiriyama before anyone could answer the call. I can't remember if it's Yumiko or Yukiko, but one of them has a crush on Shuya.

Girl #9: Satomi Noda - Satomi is one of the girls in the lighthouse massacre, and she feels like theres no point carrying on since they'd all die sooner of later. When one of the girls gets poisoned, she goes nuts, grabbing an uzi and starting the fight, thinking one of the girls is out to get her.

Girl #10: Mizuho Inada - Mizuho is an interesting one. She's best friends with Kaori, and in the film receives the same insignificant death. In the novel however, she is delusional, thinking of herself as a superhero type character. She imagines she's a powerful warrior princess taking orders from some anime cartoon character, and believes Kazuo to be some sort of demon. She's killed by Kazuo immediately after being introduced, without him even turning his head to look at her.

Hope that makes things a bit fairer on all parties

[Pesci]

Mitsuko also had her own gang of groupies she used to pimp out. I think whereas Kiriyama's gang adored him because he was so awesome, Mitsuko's gang hung around with her because they were losers with no goal in life.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The Ogawai death is covered exquisitely in the Manga (book 2), given 23 pages including flashbacks and a very emotional suicide scene.

The film interpretation doesn't really do it justice.

Out of interest Tsukioka's death in the book is, to my mind, one of the cleverest and it's a shame it's not really covered in the film.

Hirono and Kaori get into a gunfight which Shuuya jumps into the middle of. Hirono fancies Shuuya so stops fighting but Kaori injured Hirono before going after Shuuya and being drilled by Kawada.

For me Hirono is a great character as she goes from ice-bitch to a moment of tenderness with Shuuya.

Also in the Manga Kaori's descent into craziness is covered. She idolises a pop star calld Junya and has a picture of her that starts speaking to her, telling her to stop anyone or thing that tries to touch her spots, as touching spots makes them spread. She shoots dead a cat because it was gonna 'poke her spots and make them worse'.