Kazuo Kiriyama
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Kazuo Kiriyama (桐山和雄 Kiriyama Kazuo?) is a fictional character in the best-selling Battle Royale novel and manga by Koushun Takami. He is also a character in the film of the same name, played by Masanobu Ando.
Kazuo has AB-type blood.
The characters in Kazuo's given name mean "peace" and "male," respectively. The characters in his family name mean "tree" and "mountain."
In the novel and manga, it's implied that he is an illegitimately born child due to maternal infidelity. After killing his gang in the novel, he touches his left temple due to some elusive feeling he infrequently has. Kiriyama states that since the doctor who operated on him died and, as he puts it, "his real father" dying of complication, he has no one to question about this.
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[edit] Major differences in the novel, film, and manga
[edit] Personality
[edit] Novel
In the novel, having suffered from a brain injury during a car accident while in utero, he lost the ability to process basic human emotions (notably remorse and empathy), which made him indifferent to the suffering of others. This also made him an efficient, Terminator-esque killer, with no morals to keep him from callously murdering his classmates, even the members of his own street gang. Mitsuru, near his final moments, recalls that he has never seen Kazuo smile. Kiriyama also has a genius level IQ, and a talent of quickly adapting to any situation. In many flashbacks in the novel, Kiriyama is shown to have easily learned how to do otherwise difficult things, (eg. painting a beautiful picture, playing the violin) and then losing interest after mastering them (as he tossed both his violin and painting in the trash only moments after completion.) He also has specifically slicked back hair, which he adopted at Mitsuru Numai's suggestion, leading a false perception by Mitsuru of this being a bonding factor between the two. Though the novel states he's around the same height as Shuya at about 171 cm (5'8), the manga lists his height as 181 cm (5'11). Some fans have also noted that there are physical similarities between Kazuo and Hiroki in the manga. The two are near the same height, both looking alike as children and as teenagers (before Kazuo slicks back his hair), even acquiring the same eye injury by the same weapon. Before the game, his only question in to the situations was "When does the game begin?". Throughout the novel, he only really talks once, and that is before he shoots Mitsuru. He doesn't see the difference between drawing art, breaking into a classroom to draw art, or acting as a gangster.
[edit] Manga
In the manga, Kiriyama is much like what the novel depicted, mercilessly killing his classmates with neither hesitation nor regret. One of the more notable differences from the novel version is that Kiriyama's brain damage is caused by a car crash in his childhood rather than in utero, an event made clear in volume 14 in a sequence where a wounded Kiriyama(shot from an angle by Noriko Nakagawa that eventually hit the damaged part of his brain) flashes back to his earlier (and happier) years. The manga depicts Kiriyama as a near perfect genius, from his incredible talents when he was a child to his wide range of knowledge as a junior high student. He appears reading books about human anatomy and martial arts, and has the ability to quickly grasp anything not yet familiar to him.
[edit] Film
In the film, Kiriyama is an enigmatic sociopath transfer student, who signed up as a volunteer for the Battle Royale Program. In the film, his only apparent motive is given by Shogo Kawada, who says he signed up "for fun". Not much else is known, as the wild-haired Kiriyama says nothing and only smiles with glee as he murders his classmates with assorted weapons such as a submachine gun, a wakizashi, and grenades.
[edit] The Coin And The Devil
Kazuo in some ways is symbolically compared to the Devil in the manga. Having some crucial chapters centering Kiriyama named as so, "The Devil's Tactics" and "The Devil Of Nothingness" (in the English Adaptation), he also is boy number six, a number mostly associated with the devil. He is compared as such mostly by Hiroki Sugimura who sees him as cold and apathetic as Satan himself for he talks of Kazuo never having any limits to the carnage he can release (a reference is the "Jaguar" incident). This relation also is a subtle implication of how he is a sociopath and that his feelings are quite limited.
One of the most important elements revolving Kazuo is "The Coin". The coin is a heavy influence in both the novel and Manga. Kazuo sees the world logically thus his immaturity and lack of intuition is portrayed by a coin. A coin can symbolize coldness - a metal - so it is a separate entity to the flesh with is a substance of feeling. Kazuo decides to participate only through a coin toss: Heads - he would rebel; Tails - he would play the program.
[edit] The street gang
In the novel, Kiriyama's designated weapon was a knife, and he most likely killed the other members of his street gang by deception rather than by stealth or physical force, before acquiring his signature weapon, a Ingram M10 submachine gun. He was also nick-named "Boss" by his fellow gang members and joined the game by a flip of a coin (heads he rebels, tails he plays). In the film it is some what of the same thing only a little different, in the movie he signed up for fun, his initial weapon is a paper fan. In the movie Kiriyama is not the leader or member of the street gang and kills them all for fun after they surround him and accuse him of being a spy for Kitano. After spitting gum in the face of Ryuhei Sasagawa, he is able to grab the Uzi 9mm and mow down the other members without hesitation or mercy. He then picks up their remaining weapons, and tosses aside a pair of nunchaku.
[edit] Classmates murdered
Regardless of the adaptation of Battle Royale, Kiriyama is responsible for many deaths on the island during the events of The Program.
[edit] In the Original Novel
- Boy #9: Hiroshi Kuronaga, fellow gang member - throat slit with knife.
- Boy #10: Ryuhei Sasagawa, fellow gang member - throat slit with knife.
- Girl #5: Izumi Kanai - throat slit with knife.
- Boy #17: Mitsuru Numai, fellow gang member - shot four times with MAC-10.
- Girl #6: Yukiko Kitano - shot multiple times with MAC-10, finished off with Walther PPK (Walther P99 in the manga).
- Girl #7: Yumiko Kusaka - shot multiple times with MAC-10, finished off with Walther PPK (Walther P99 in the manga).
- Boy #12: Yutaka Seto - shot in the back (face in the manga) with MAC-10.
- Boy #19: Shinji Mimura - shot in the neck with Walther PPK (Walther P99 in the manga).
- Boy #4: Toshinori Oda - shot in the head (groin in the manga) with MAC-10.
- Girl #11: Mitsuko Souma - shot in the face with Beretta 92FS (.44 AutoMag in the manga).
- Girl #1: Mizuho Inada - shot in the shoulder and head with Beretta 92FS.
- Boy #5: Shogo Kawada - shot in the back with Walther PPK (abdomen in the manga).
[edit] In the manga adaptation
Same as the novel version, with the following additions:
- Girl #8: Kayoko Kotohiki - shot in the head with a Walther P99
- Boy #11: Hiroki Sugimura - shot in the stomach and head with Colt M1911
[edit] In the film adaptation
Same as the novel version, with the following additions:
- Boy #2: Keita Iijima - shot multiple times with Uzi.
- Boy #14: Sho Tsukioka - shot multiple times with Uzi (In the novel and manga, Kiriyama is partly responsible for his death - Kiriyama tricks him into a Forbidden Zone, where his collar detonates).
- Kiriyama does not kill Mizuho Inada (Girl #1), and Shinji Mimura (Boy #19) (who is instead killed in an explosion while fighting Kiriyama). In the film, Izumi Kanai is one of the members of Numai's gang. Mitsuko is repeatedly shot in the chest with a Colt M1911 in the film.
[edit] Weapons
In the novel he receives a knife as his original weapon and he takes his MAC-10 and Walther PPK from his gang, the grenades from Yumiko Kusaka, a Beretta 92FS from Shinji Mimura, a revolver and Class III Kevlar vest from Toshinori Oda and a Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum from Mitsuko Souma.
In the film, there are noticeable differences. He receives a paper fan, then takes the Uzi 9mm (a place where the film breaks with the other two versions) from Ryuhei Sasagawa. He then takes the revolver and grenades from the rest of the street gang, a sword from Yumiko Kusaka, a Kevlar vest from Oda, a Colt M1911 and stungun from Mitsuko.
In the manga, things go in much the same way as in the novel, except that he starts off with only the MAC-10. He acquires a Walther P99 from Mitsuru Numai, grenades from Yumiko Kusaka, a Colt Python and a Kevlar vest from Toshinori Oda, a .44 Auto Mag from Mizuho Inada and a Colt M1911 from Hiroki Sugimura.
[edit] Fate
All outcomes end with Kazuo's death. However, a different protagonist kills Kiriyama in the three versions.
In the novel, Noriko Nakagawa and Shogo Kawada both shoot Kiriyama in the face (in that order), leaving it unclear which character actually killed him.
In the manga adaptation, Kiriyama is killed by protagonist Shuya Nanahara, in the last volume. At volume 14 he is shot in the stomach with a shotgun by Shogo Kawada but he experiences a less fatal wound as he was wearing the kevlar vest. He shoots Shogo in the abdomen rendering him incapable of doing much and then points his gun at Shuya. Shuya is too spellbound to do anything but then Noriko shoots him in the face with a revolver. It is then that Kazuo regains his emotions and has flashbacks of his youth to his eventual brain damage in a car accident. All the emotions that were unwillingly and willingly suppressed by him come back overwhelming him intensely. He starts losing his composure and also a bit of his sanity as now the laws of logic alone that bounded him have been broken. He even ponders on why Noriko isn't finishing him off, referring to her in an obscene manner in his thoughts. Shuya finally gains his valour and stabs him in the eye with a spearhead making Kazuo partially blind. Kazuo shows immense symptoms of hesitation and fear as he looks with despair at Shuya. Noriko comes and blocks Shuya's form, saying how she will not let him kill Shuya. Though deeply troubled Kazuo in an almost trembling fashion tries to shoot her. Shuya realizes it is time to act and finally shoots him through the neck . Shuya prolongs the final shot through the neck in order to make sure Kiriyama feels it emotionally. Shuya attempts to resuscitate him (not wanting to be responsible for his death). Kiriyama briefly regains consciousness and calls out Shuya's name before his death (In the English adaptation, he says " Shu." "I can feel again"). In the end of volume 15 when Shuya and Noriko are finally heading for America and they are thinking of all those who died in the program, a scene is shown where all forty students, including Shuya's parents, Shinji's uncle and Hiroki's sensei, are all present around them and are smiling as if they are their guardian angels. Kazuo is seen with his gang and for the first time, (and shown for the final time in the manga), in the series he is shown to be truly smiling (sans sadism) as he looks at the couple.
In the film adaptation, Shogo Kawada kills Kiriyama, first by shooting him in his leg after he is blinded by Shinji Mimura's bomb, then into his collar, which subsequently explodes.
[edit] Official Class Designation
Kazuo Kiriyama, Shiroiwa Junior High School, 9th Grade, Class B, Boy #6.
[edit] External links
- Kazuo Kiriyama Fanlisting
- Kiriyama Discussion on the Battle Royale Film forums - "Stronger or Weaker since the accident?"
- More Kiriyama Discussion
