Hirono Shimizu

nihongo|Hirono Shimizu|清水比呂乃|"Shimizu Hirono" is a character in the novel "Battle Royale", and the film and manga of the same name. In the film she was played by Anna Nagata. Ai Iwamura "stands-in" for Nagata as Hirono in one of the scenes [http://homepage.eircom.net/~screamanthology/br/aiiwamura.htm] .

Hirono has a blood type of O.

Pre-Program

Hirono Shimizu is one of the class of third-year students 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 the novel is in the Kanagawa Prefecture). She is a member of the gang headed by Mitsuko Souma. Hirono, described as a very attractive girl (just short of being compared to either Takako Chigusa or Mitsuko Souma) who looks like a high school or university student with spiked hair that stood straight up, she had a terrible fear of frogs. She was also a tall girl (167cm) and not far from Haruka's height.

She had been involved with both recreational drugs and prostitution, and she also shoplifted and bullied other classmates (including Megumi Eto). As a result of these things, she did not get on well with her parents, who treated her like a lost cause. In the film, Mitsuko Souma stole Hirono's boyfriend. This leads to animosity between the two girls.

Although considered a "bad girl" she bullied classmates such as Megumi Eto and Kaori Minami, Hirono was quite opposed to the idea of having to kill her classmates, besides Kaori Minami who shot her in the arm. Even though she committed various crimes, she prided herself on at least being genuine, as opposed to Mayumi Tendo, who she knew participated in "phone dating" yet maintained a prim and proper person at school.

During the Program

In the novel, Hirono hides inside a farmhouse and was also spotted by Shinji Mimura, but she never noticed. Shinji never called out to her because he doesn't trust Mitsuko and her friends. Hirono ends up fighting with Kaori Minami after attempting to run away from her early on in the program, and Kaori shoots Hirono in the arm. Shuya Nanahara distracts Kaori while trying to break up the fight, and Hirono takes the opportunity to shoot Kaori and run away; Hirono shoots Kaori in the arm and the head, killing her.

In the manga, Shuya stops the fight and Hirono steps over and tells him he is totally crazy for stepping out into the middle of a gun fight, but says he is "good crazy" and that she can relate to that. She shows interest in joining up with him, but while Hirono and Shuya are talking Kaori shoots her in the upper arm and she runs off angrily, Hirono does not kill Kaori; Kaori attempts to kill Shuya but is killed by Shogo Kawada instead.

Later on (in the novel and manga), Hirono suffers from septicaemia, and was severely dehydrated after using her water supply to clean her wound. She is tempted to kill Kaori and Shuya (for making her drop her gun) then she discovers a well outside a house, and rushes over to get a drink. As she pulls up the bucket, she notices a small frog was in the water, and she shrieks (possibly a foreshadowing as her killer was nicknamed Froggy). This attracts the attention of Toshinori Oda, who is hiding nearby. He creeps up on Hirono and tries to strangle her with his belt. Hirono pulls out her gun and shoots Toshinori in the stomach. She believes he is dead, and rushes to take the water from his daypack, but she is unaware that he is wearing a bulletproof vest, and had survived the shot. Toshinori gets up and attacks her again, this time managing to strangle her.

In the manga version, Toshinori kills Hirono by pushing her down the well, although she does not die immediately, and now suffering from a concussion when she hit the side of the well. She tries to climb out, but she cannot grip the smooth surface and her nails come off. She then has a final dream; in the dream, rainwater collects in the well, allowing her to get out of the well; when she gets out she realizes her arm has healed and that her burning dehydration is gone. She then sees her gun untouched and picks it up when she notices Shuya, Noriko and Shogo standing a few feet away. She points the gun at them but Shuya ignores the gun and tells her that there is a way out. Shuya pulls off his collar while stating that Kawada found a bypass circuit. She then starts to cry happily and reaches out to join them, but Hirono drowns during her dream with her arm reaching upwards like what she did in the dream and her last thoughts was the word "over...". Later in the manga, her body is found (still with her mouth open in what could be a deranged grin) by Hiroki Sugimura, who had been following the tracking device he was given, but after checking the nearby buildings and the truck, he discovers the readings coming from the well. After shining a light on her, and seeing her face, he laments her death before moving on. Though at first very nervous that it is the girl he is looking for after seeing her uniform, he is sad that Hirono died, but he reveals he is grateful it is not the one he is searching for all this time.

Although in all versions it is implied that, much like Yoshimi, Hirono wasn't nearly as bad a person as her classmates perceived her to be - her delinquent activities have given her a clearly advanced level of maturity and perception - she knows from the very beginning that Mitsuko Souma could not be trusted, and, noting that Yoshimi was dead, was able to correctly speculate that Mitsuko was responsible. Although she wanted to believe Shuya's invitation of peace in the novel as well, her experience on the streets renders her incapable of fully trusting him.

In the manga, the unfeeling Yonemi Kamon, after revealing Hirono has died, makes a cruel joke stating that the survivors should boil any well water they use in the future.

In the film version, Hirono does not meet with Kaori, Toshinori, Hiroki, or Shuya at all. Instead, she confronts Mitsuko about killing Megumi Eto, stealing Hirono's boyfriend, and pimping Yoshimi Yahagi. Hirono seems to be upset about Megumi's murder, and even accuses Mitsuko of hanging Yoji Kuramoto and Yoshimi. They fight, Mitsuko zaps Hirono's hand with a stungun and manages to steal Hirono's gun. Hirono tries to run away, but Mitsuko shoots her in the back and kills her.