Kitano (Battle Royale)

Infobox character
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name = Kitano
series = Battle Royale


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creator = Koushun Takami
portrayer = Takeshi Kitano
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gender = Male
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children = Shiori Kitano (daughter)
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nationality = Japanese
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Kitano (キタノ "Kitano") is a character in the 2000 Japanese film "Battle Royale". He is the teacher of the Shiroiwa Junior High School 9th Grade Class B group of students and administrator of the Battle Royale Program. He is played by Takeshi Kitano, who is credited as "Beat Takeshi". [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308/fullcredits#cast|title="Batoru rowaiaru" (2000) - Full cast and crew|publisher=Internet Movie Database | accessdate=2008-09-24 ] "DVDActive.com" mentioned Takeshi Kitano acknowledged that he was hired by Fukasaku precisely to play a version of himself. [http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/battle-royale-special-edition.html]

Character outline

Kitano, a less sadistic equivalent to the Kinpatsu Sakamochi character in the novel and the Yonemi Kamon character in the manga, leaves his job as a teacher (after being stabbed by a student) at the fictional Shiroiwa Junior High School in Kanagawa Prefecture before becoming a Battle Royale instructor. Whereas the two previous characters took a certain amount of glee in the students' killing of each other, Kitano comes off as more apathetic to the deaths. The movie also paints him in a much more sympathetic light than his counterparts, with Noriko once even stating she believed Kitano was just "lonely". From his various conversations on the phone with his daughter, Shiori Kitano, Kitano reveals his trouble getting along with his family to the point Shiori tells him not to return home at the end of the film.

Kitano has the same surname as the Shiroiwa Junior High School 3-B student Yukiko Kitano, but is unrelated to Yukiko.

Kitano seems to have some sort of affection for Noriko, as he considered much unlike the rest of her class. At one point in the movie, he saves her life from Mitsuko Souma by scaring Mitsuko off. Afterwards, he then gives her his umbrella telling her "not to catch a cold". After Shogo Kawada is declared the winner, Kitano orders the military to leave the island and to not bother to check for the bodies of Shuya Nanahara and Noriko. When Shogo arrives to meet Kitano, Kitano reveals that he knew Shogo had deactivated Shuya's and Noriko's collars and then threatens to kill him.

Shuya and Noriko both burst into the classroom in time. Kitano then reveals a painting he had created with all the other students dead, and Noriko triumphant. He tells her that he wishes to die, and he would prefer to die with her. He then threatens the trio with a gun once more and orders them to shoot him, or he would shoot them. Shuya promply shoots him with a machine gun; Kitano rises and fires his gun (which turns out to be a harmless water gun). Shocked by the fake gun, Shuya accidentally lets loose another volley and supposedly kills him. Kitano rises again once more to answer his cell phone. After hanging up angrily on his daughter, tossing the phone to the floor, shooting it with a real gun and then eating the last of Noriko's cookies (complimenting the cookies while doing so) Kitano dies.

Kitano returns in the sequel "" in a flashback scene of his daughter Shiori Kitano. After giving Shiori a birthday present, even though it had already passed, he asks her if he's better off killing himself before leaving her room.

Reception

Several publications have provided praise and criticism on Kitano's character. Accroding to JPReview.com, he "presents the most intriguing of the film". [cite web|url= http://www.jpreview.com/reviews/review-battleroyale.php |title= Battle Royale - Film Review|publisher=JPReview.com | accessdate=2008-09-24 ] "The Guardian" called him "scornful, furious, disapproving and droll all at once - a combination utterly unique to him - as he addresses the dumbstruck teenagers, who now have hi-tech bracelets fixed immovably around their necks, designed to explode at his whim, and otherwise to alert him to their whereabouts and health". [http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/sep/14/1]

Takeshi Kitano's performance was considered "unqualifiedly fantastic" [http://www.deep-focus.com/flicker/battlero.html] , "each of his appearances on screen are striking and memorable" [http://www.kfccinema.com/reviews/horror/battleroyale/battleroyale.html] . "Stomp Tokyo" wrote that he "uses his partial facial paralysis to great effect. This is definitely the most animated we've ever seen the actor, and the fact that only half his face moves adds some surrealism to the moments in which he shows emotion". [http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/b/battle-royale.html] Gotterdammerung.org called Takeshi Kitano's "stiff" and "plain bad", adding that his appearance was "very robot-like and with no clear sense of purpose". [http://www.gotterdammerung.org/index.html]

References

External links

* [http://www.battleroyalefilm.net/movie/ BattleRoyaleFilm.net]