Shinji Mimura

Shinji Mimura (三村信史 "Mimura Shinji") is a protagonist in the novel "Battle Royale", and film and manga adaptations. In the English-language manga he is nicknamed Mim.

Mimura has O-type blood. [Character profile, French "Battle Royale" DVD release]

Shinji is one of the students sent to the Island, and hatches a plan to escape from the Battle Royale Program and the Island it is held on. His supplied weapon is a Beretta M92F Pistol. He is played by Takashi Tsukamoto in the film version.

Koushun Takami, author of the novel and co-author of the manga version of "Battle Royale" (with Masayuki Taguchi), said that the manga version emphasizes Mimura's "proud, cocky demeanor." ["Final Chapter Memorial Discussion: Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi." "Battle Royale". Volume 15. "Tokyopop"]

Before the program

Shinji is a student at the fictional Shiroiwa Junior High School in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (in the novel and manga, the town is in the Kagawa Prefecture, while in the film is in the Kanagawa Prefecture). Shinji is said to be left-handed in the novel, the only other classmate being Hiroki Sugimura, who switched to being right handed for unknown reasons.

Shinji, an athletic teenager, plays basketball well, earning him the nicknames such as the Third Man or Hoop King Mimura. He was a good friend of both Shuya Nanahara, Yoshitoki Kuninobu, Yutaka Seto, and Hiroki Sugimura, and is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable beyond his age. His uncle taught him many secrets, including the knowledge he uses to hack into the computer system, and how to create a bomb using items on the island. He also gave Shinji the detonator for his bomb. His uncle possessed an earring, a memento of a woman the uncle loved. In the novel and manga, Shinji's uncle died supposedly from being electrocuted, though Shinji suspects that the government killed him; after the uncle died, Shinji wore the earring. The manga indicates that Shinji's aunt is still alive. In the film, the uncle was an activist in the 1960s, and the uncle is alive during the Battle Royale; at the time the Uncle is fighting in an army in another part of the world. Shinji also has one sister named Ikumi Mimura (三村郁美 "Mimura Ikumi");

Shinji has had no girlfriends, but has slept with four different girls, leading many of the girls in the class to think he is a playboy. In the manga he comments "there's no shortage of eye candy in our class", referring to namely Takako Chigusa and Mitsuko Souma. He refers to Mitsuko as a "psycho bitch from hell", but as an afterthought says, "..the rack on that one". In a flashback, he calls Takako a "grade-A babe". In the novel Chisato Matsui has a crush on him and in the film Megumi Eto has a crush on him. It is also implied that the class homosexual Sho Tsukioka has a crush on him.

During the course of the game, Shinji is a figure of confidence and trust to his fellow students. Shuya Nanahara especially wishes to cross paths with him, and continually searches for him throughout the program. He is quick to think and act.

In all versions of the story, Shinji saves Shuya from dying after Yoshitoki dies. In the novel, Shinji's subtle facial gestures get Shuya to calm down and not lunge after Kinpatsu Sakamochi. In the manga, after Yonemi Kamon shoots Yoshitoki Kuninobu, Shuya Nanahara snaps and attempts to attack the "teacher." Shinji however understands that Shuya will surely be killed, and runs across the desks of the classroom, kicking Shuya in the face and knocking him downward. Arrogantly, Shinji places his hands in his pockets and approaches the front of the classroom, all the while the soldiers surround him with their rifles pointed directly at him. Shinji smiles confidently and questions how much money is deducted from the teachers pay for each contestant killed. Yonemi laughs this off and decides not to kill Shinji because he has a certain "flair." In the film Shinji is one of several students to hold down Shuya as he lunges for Kitano.

In the novel, Shinji is also noticed early on when he attempts to postpone the game using Noriko Nakagawa's injury. He tells Sakamochi that it is unfair to continue with Noriko's injury, and perhaps the game should be put on hold until she is fixed up. However, this plan backfires and Sakamochi rebuts, saying he could just kill Noriko and speed the process along. Shinji then said that his statements were part of a joke. These events also occur in the manga.

During the program

The Plan

Shinji's basic plan is to use a laptop to hack the government systems and disable the collars on the students' necks. In the novel he uses an Apple Macintosh PowerBook 150.

This however (in both the novel and manga) fails due to the microphones built inside all the students' explosive collars, informing the overseers of the Game of his plan. Afterwards, being careful to communicate via typing on his laptop or writing down instructions, he creates a bomb from materials found on the island, and plans to destroy the School containing the event organizers.
*In the novel and manga, he plans to do this by using balloons to float a rope above the School and running the bomb along the rope using a pulley, ready to cut the rope once the bomb is suspended above the school building.

*In the film, Shinji plans to disable the collars and then, while the collars are disabled, attach a bomb to a Honda Acty truck and plans to drive it to the school where the Program administrator and several soldiers are staying and detonate the bomb. Shinji figures out that the collars are bugged early on, preventing the unravelling of his plan to crack into the government system. Shinji evades the microphones by either typing on his laptop or by obstructing the microphone with his finger. In the film Shinji uses a computer with Microsoft Windows; he creates a file named demo.tml on WZ Editor to type his messages.

After these events his plan is to swim from island to island and eventually get back to the Japanese mainland and steal a car or stow away aboard a freight train and escape the country.

He is assisted by his best friend, Boy #12 Yutaka Seto. In the film, he is also assisted by Boy #2 Keita Iijima.

Fate

The fate of Shinji's plan varies slightly from the novel and manga to the film, but all outcomes end with his death.

*In the manga and novel, Shinji and his companion since the Game began, Yutaka (Boy #12), have an argument after Shinji accidentally fatally shoots Keita Iijima (Boy #2) (a friend of theirs who wanted to join them but was denied by Shinji due to a previous incident). The bullets and ensuing argument draw the attention of Kazuo Kiriyama, who arrives and kills Yutaka and wounds Shinji with his MAC-10. Knowing his plan against the school can no longer proceed, Shinji (who is critically wounded at this point and has no chance of surviving — in the manga, what appears to be his large and small intestines begin to spill out of his body) tapes himself up with duct tape and detonates his explosive device (this is seen and/or heard by all the students still alive and the "Teacher" and soldiers in the school) in a last-ditch effort to kill Kiriyama. Unfortunately for Shinji, Kiriyama survives unscathed by jumping into a tractor (a light truck in the manga) just before the bomb detonates, and kills the optimistically surprised Shinji with more gunfire. In the manga, while Shinji is on the ground before Kiriyama reappears, Shinji has a strange vision of Yutaka's ghost talking to him and encouraging him to find Shuya and Hiroki. In the novel his last thoughts involve his younger sister Ikumi; in his mind he tells her to find love before she dies. Kazuo destroys Shinji's cerebral cortex (the thyroid cartilage in the manga) with gunfire, and the rest of Shinji's body dies thirty seconds after his brain dies.

*In the film, Keita was part of Shinji's group from the beginning, and there was no altercation. Instead, Yutaka and Keita are killed when Kiriyama attacks, to which Shinji sets off the bomb. The resulting explosion kills Shinji and blinds Kiriyama, who is dispatched shortly after by Shogo Kawada.

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Shinji does not appear in the film sequel except in a very brief flashback. However, it does seem someone related to him had fought alongside Shuya Nanahara against the Japanese government. This particular individual is much older (around 50 to 60 years old), and is accompanied by other adults (including Maki Souda's father) as well in fighting the Japanese government. Their deaths motivated Shuya to form the Wild Seven terrorist group and declare war on all adults, leading up to the events of the film. It is arguable this Mimura is the infamous uncle of Shinji, who rebelled against the government following his nephew's death. He is only referred to as "Mr. Mimura" ("Mimura-san") throughout the film.

References