Keita Iijima

nihongo|Keita Iijima|飯島敬太|"Iijima Keita" is a character in the novel "Battle Royale", and the film and manga of the same name. In the film he was played by Ren Matsuzawa.

Keita has B-type blood. Fact|date=September 2007

Pre-Program

Keita Iijima is one of the class of third-year students at the fictional Shiroiwa Junior High School. He is friends with Yutaka Seto.

In the novel, he was previously a friend of Shinji Mimura, until Shinji lost his trust in Keita. The two of them had been to the cinema, and then to a comic book store. Keita returned to the store for something he forgot, and while he was gone, Shinji got into a fight with a group of men. Keita saw Shinji fighting, and ran back to the store, pretending he'd been there the whole time. Although Shinji won the fight with no problem, he knew that Keita had deserted him, and lost all respect for him.

In the manga he lost to Shinji in an arcade game, and as a result, had to buy drinks. While getting drinks, Shinji gets into a fight with a pair of hoods. During the fight, Keita returns, but, being a sore loser, refuses to help Shinji. Shinji notices this and walks out on Keita, leaving his trust for him behind.

In the film, Keita is portrayed as a basketball player for Class 3-B; Keita, Shinji, Hiroki Sugimura, Shuya Nanahara, and Kazuhiko Yamamoto competed against Class 3-A in one scene. Keita also has a habit of laughing at innapropriate times.

During The Program

In the novel and manga, Keita received a kitchen knife as his designated weapon, but knew that he would probably not be able to use it if attacked. He thought he had some hope of survival when he happened across Yutaka and Shinji.

Shinji refuses to let him join them, remembering his cowardly behaviour in the past, and realising that Keita would not defend them if they were attacked. Shinji is also concerned that Keita would give away their plot to bomb the school. Yutaka is happy to have Keita join them, but Shinji insists on not letting Keita join them, and attempts to shoot him in the arm as a warning. In the novel Shinji's finger slips on the trigger while firing, and he accidentally shoots Keita in the chest, killing him.

In the manga Keita chases after them and has obviously lost his nerve; Shinji aims to fire a warning shot past his head, but because of the momentum of his bag in his arm due to the quick movement, he misses and shoots Keita in the face. This leads to an argument between Shinji and Yutaka.

In the film, Keita's character is very different from the book and manga. Keita nervously laughs after Kitano announces the premise of Battle Royale. When Kitano demands to know why he laughed, Keita can give no answer. But when his name is called, Keita leaves the classroom in a dignified manner by looking back at his classmates and thrusting his tote bag over his head.

Keita receives a jitte as his weapon instead of a knife and aids Shinji in his plans to blow up the school by helping Yutaka gather the ingredients and create the bombs while Shinji works on infecting the computers. Their plan is derailed however, when Kazuo Kiriyama comes across the group as they load the bombs into a truck to drive to the school. Initially mistaking Kiriyama for Shuya Nanahara, Yutaka calls out to him and is fatally shot. After a brief and unsuccessful gunfight, Keita is also shot by Kiriyama.

Before dying, Keita laughs and repeats Shinji's promise from before that they would all survive and return home together.